Flight of the Whooping Crane Take-2 Friday CANCELED

[Liz]

The whooping crane migration, led by costumed ultralight aircraft will try again to fly over Marion County, FL this morning...around 7:30-8:30 Eastern time. You can watch it too by live web cam if you're up in time. They are preparing to take off on a test flight to check the weather conditions aloft in a few minutes.

http://www.operationmigration.org/crane-cam.html

After the test flight, today's attempt was cancelled....I heard them say possibly Sunday.

[Carolinagal]

Good -morning Everyone !! Thanks for trying again for us , Liz. It will happen, and you are so on it, we will all know when it does happen, Thank you.

Really good news from here, THE SUN IS OUT. I have not seen the sun for days and days. Don't think my spirits have been down, but they sure got a real lift this morning when that ole sun came up. This past week has been a good one as far as ph. calls from old friends , that I don't hear from often. Really nice surprises. So inspite of rain, snow, sleet etc. I have had a great week. To top it off, I may get ALL the cards I want out, thats a first, and also before Christmas, still working on that

Have a Great day everyone, Please stay safe and warm,
CArol

[Colliemom]

Good morning LIz and everyone else,

One of these days, the cranes will fly. Do they need that ultraflight plane to start them or can they go on their own if they want?

I am up and going this morning, although later than I would like to be. Slept in till a bit after 7. Had a furry body keeping me company last night and we were all nice and comfty. But the day is calling, so time to get with it.

Yesterday I got going early too, but didn't get on the road to town as early as I wanted to. But I had some bills to pay, namely the property taxes and a medical co pay Those necessary things in life I guess. So had to write out the checks etc. Paid the taxes on my way to town as the township treasuer has office hours on Tues and Thurs. So that's out of the way till next year.

Then went in and did some shopping, not much but still spent more than I wanted. Doesn't take much with prices they way they are. Had to buy the "furry crew" some dry dog food. Can't have them running out or they might swipe my charge card and go on a buying spree Lucked out for lunch, in that the Gordon Food Service store here (wholesale restaurant supplier, open to puubic) was having free sample tasting day when I was there yesterday. All kind ofgoodies from baked ham, pototoes, green bean cassarole, sweet corn bake, rolls, pies, cookies, cheescakes. Course it's just little bite sized samples but still makes a plate full. And then one of the local grocery stores had free samples of a new ice cream they were selling. So much for lunch. .

After I came home, it was off to the park with the girls for a walk. Can't walk a lot cause of deep snow, but did give them a little breather from being on leashes. We were probably out an hour at least. They enjoyed it. And so did I.

The temps have moderated into mid 20's here. Comfortable to be outside as very little wind. Just some light LES showers once in awhile. But later on today I will run the shovel over the deck and my neighbors walk and porch. A little dusting one day and some the next does begin to add up eventually down the line. Maybe a quarter inch.

Today I plan to spackle some nail holes in the kitchen wall. Moved a picture and want to cover up the holes. Have a couple of spots that need a touch up that I found the other day. While I have the spackle out, I am going to do the laundry room walls too. Getting ready for the next painting project in there.

I'm also studying this workcamper stuff too. Joined Workamper Dreamers, a new site of Workamper News and have a ton of stuff to read through and videos to watch. Figure a little education can't hurt. It didn't cost any more to do that, then to get a regular subscription to Workamper News. I'm not sure if I really want to do that ,but the interest is there and so are the possiblities. Everybody has to find their own way, and this is mine. Since the tax bill just got passed, that will help by keeping unemployment checks coming, while I have a chance to plot my future course here. I'm also wondering though, if the decrease in SS tax will do anything to my future SS in that I would be earning more, therefore getting more or not. Will see what happens down the line here.

Well, it's time to get this day rolling. Have a good one

[Birdie]

The Whoopers would normally fly on their own, but the problem is that they don't know "where" to fly to as they haven't been there or been there enough to know the "route". Once they learn that they will take off and fly until their internal GPS cannot read the signs, then they will sit down. But they will have learned the feeding spots and the direction and flight time. They are kind of like us. They fly so far and stop to feed up a few days. They normally stop at the same places every year and near the same time. So they may fly for 12 or 14 hours or just 3 or 4 hours. Nature is pretty well and runs on it's own very smoothly.

Had the cold front start heading into the area during the night. This morning I got up to 39 degrees and it is now only 45. When I look out to the N NW it s gray clouds. A little later this morning will be headed to Okla for our Christmas celebration up there. Will share the ride with my brother and sister-in-law. Haven't decided if we will drive Herbie the HHR or Goldie the Jeep . Will depend on how much stuff they have when they get up here. So need to go out and unplug the water and drain the water hose just in case the temps get down below the predicted lows of 33 tonight and tomorrow night. Temps are predicted to go back up Sunday and most of next week. Will be colder up there which is normal.

Hope you ladies are keeping safe, warm and having fun.

[Nasoosie]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!

Interesting about the whooping cranes----it would be fun to see them fly in real life.

The kids and I had a great time at Disney last night-----that Osborne family Christmas light display was something else----talk about visual overload! I missed the figures they gave about how many miles of extension cords and strings of lights they put up, but I did hear that they started stringing them up in August! A couple of the displays in that group, namely the huge globe that turns and Santa's sleigh and reindeer spanning the street between buildings on each side, were wonderful to behold. The dancing lights and music were both beautiful and too much for me. When we left that area of the park, I found myself longing for the blackness of night, some moonlit snow, and perhaps a little cabin with one blue candle light in each window. I was watching the little kids as they sat (or lay) in their strollers, and wondered what they were thinking as their senses were being overloaded, and what they would think of their own light displays at home after that extravaganza! I guess I can't fathom what motivates people to go so overboard with stuff. Walking down the streets of that park, and then at Epcott's countries circle around the lake was a great experience. I like that place better at night than during the day. The bandshell had a beautiful choir holding candles and singing traditional Christmas carols, which I really loved.

Unfortunately, for me, we ended up at the Mexico site when the fireworks show began----directly in front of there! I have always disliked fireworks up close due to the noise that kills my ears and makes me dizzy, and the too-bright lights that hurt my eyes. So I plugged my ears and ducked back inside a building in Mexico to wait them out! I wonder why parents expose such tiny kids to that hearing-damaging sound, the bright lights, and the sulfur-laden smoke that hung over everyplace following the show. (I am sounding like an incredulous geezer, aren't I? ACK!) Now, sky fireworks from a good distance are truly beautiful, but there was no getting to that comfortable point last night. Other than that, I had a very enjoyable night at Walt's Park. (I didn't have my camera with me, so no pics.)

Weldon and Melissa were shopping in some of the country shops, as with his employee card, they could have bought anything for 50% off. Of course, when sweaters and jackets all were marked upwards of 200 bucks, 50% off is still too much! The prices for food, beer, goods in the shops are shocking at Disney. Granted, we all got in for free with Goog's card, but I still couldn't enjoy paying $8.00 for a beer! All in all, it was a fun night and I emerged financially intact!

When we got back here, Melissa went to bed as she had to go to work today, but Weldon took the day off to enjoy the return of the warm weather. He and I stayed up until the wee hours playing checkers, of all things, on my HUGE rug checkerboard with 6 inch checkers! Neither of us had played in years, and it was fun-----I got skunked royally!

The sun is out, the temperature is rising, and I am off to get a new water/ice filter for the refrigerator at Lowes. After that, I may head over to the jacuzzi, if it's warm enough, for some sun and basking.

Happy Friday everybody!

[dayspring39]

Good Morning... very pleasant over night... and it is now 64 will be in the mid 70s later... this is why I am here finally... Shadow and I went out for a bit yesterday it was nice to get out in the neighborhood and see what was going on... that can be summed up with not much... I finally figured out what is causing part of the pain in the shoulder... when we go out Shadow jerks and jerks me so hard... then when I am riding if he wants to stop he plants his feet... first dog I have not trained so it is my fault...
I will cook a steak outside this afternoon... that is the last one from this past summer... will have green beans and maybe rice...
Tammy said she would come back today to lift the bed and a friend told me to get the numbers off the side if the lift system needs replacing... that would make life much easier...
I see the moss is being moved by the breeze...
Hope the Whooping Cranes get better weather to take off in by Sunday... thanks Liz for the link...
Have a great day everyone...
Kathleen

[Echo]

GOOD MORNING SISTAHS!!!

Brrrr, get a mild case of the shivers when going outside here today. Yesterday was yucky with drizzly rain, gray overcast sky and today is more of the same. No rain yet today but now with 2 days of damp weather, no sunshine and a slight breeze it feels colder. It did get down to about 37f just before I went to bed tho. I am really looking forward to the sun coming back. Hopefully soon. hehehe

Went to a pot-luck at the rec room last night. Had a pretty good time. Not a whole lot of people, maybe 12 or so. But had some good food and one of the snowbirds here plays guitar and has the equipment to do his own solo act played for us. Old time CW songs. Not really my choice of music these days but I did enjoy it for a change. It all started at 6pm and I came on home around 8pm or so. It was nice meeting a few of the other neighbors here. And for sure as long as more than a few of the others had a hard time remembering names I wont feel like a doof when I run into a neighbor and have to ask their name again!

Have a nice pork roast out that I need to get into the crockpot for supper so I guess I better get off here for a few and get that going! Hope everyone has a great day and does so safely. Kathleen and Carol sure glad your weather is better for you.

Love to all

[Liz]

Interesting about the whooping cranes----it would be fun to see them fly in real life.

They'll do a fly by over the Dunnellon airport on their last leg (about 30 miles from me). People gather there about 8 am to watch them fly "in real life." They've been disappointed the past 2 mornings and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy. So Sunday is the next best chance.

Because they are endangered people are trying to establish a second migrating flock....separate from the one that migrates to So. TX. The ultralights lead young cranes to a wintering refuge in Florida. (Actually 2 places, because they lost all of them in a bad storm a couple years ago when they were all in one place.) They will migrate back to Wisconsin by themselves.

[Nasoosie]

Thanks for the info, Liz. I saw the program on TV once, but didn't know the background on this procedure. Sunday, eh? Maybe you can take some pics to share?