Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

After eight years it is time to try something new.

We have come to a decision to no longer post new information on the blog.
Instead, we would like to take a more direct route of communication with our readers.

Those of you who would like to continue knowing where we are going or what we are doing can now receive 'The Latest' directly via email.

To do so please use the form we have added to right side of the page entitled EMAIL US!  Leave us a quick message to say 'I'd like to stay in touch' and be sure to include your email address before hitting the send button.

We look forward to hearing from you! 

(Important Disclaimer:  If it is not already obvious, we have never supported advertising nor do we have an association with products of any kind and we want to assure you that we will never email you anything other than a link to the latest video of our fun or an attached .pdf with photos of our latest adventures.)

Have a bright, sun-shiny day!

Went To Miami and Got Local Birders All Fluffed Up

Back in November we took a trip to Miami to hang out with Alex for a few days.  Little did we know that this would cause quite a flutter in the bird world.

To read the story CLICK HERE and enjoy.

A Little Computing

The fan on one of our laptops stopped working a few years back.  As a result, it was prone to heating up more than it should.  If it got too warm the video card, motherboard, etc. would suddenly decide to stop working.

We've managed to keep it limping along via the presence of air conditioning, the use of an external fan blowing on the computer and a few other tricks.

The biggest issues though came when the ambient temperature was already elevated and that happens quite a bit when you live in metal box.  

A few months ago though our bag of tricks was losing its magic and it was looking like a new laptop was the only option.

That was until....  Nicole decided to investigate.

Will this every go back together?

Looks like excessive amounts of dust had clogged the cooling fins and prevented the fan from turning.

Even the vents on the case were clogged.

All cleaned up and ready to re-assemble.

We're back in business!

Cool air blowing from the now free-turning fan and circulating over the motherboard and video card.  

Don't tell Annie though or she'll decide we could use the money we saved on her!

BP3 and Pauly Come To Visit... Climb On!

Way back in July 'the Boys' came to visit us while we were Camp Hosting at Penitente Canyon.

It was time to climb!  

Enjoy the video below...

A Threat To The President???

The other day we took a drive south for the afternoon.

Returning north we decided to drive along the island beach road.


At some point we rolled up on a police check point and the officer greeted us with a "Where are you headed today?"  

After informing him of our destination he paused for a moment before telling us we needed to turn around and go another way.  

We looked at him with a puzzled look on our faces and he clarified his original statement with... 

"You are driving a large enclosed vehicle and I cannot permit you to get any closer to the President."


It had completely slipped our minds that we were nearing Mar-a-Lago.  So, we turned around and headed off island and resumed north on the next main road.

A few minutes later we were sitting four cars back at a blocked intersection, watching a slew of secret service vehicles, one containing the President, roll by as he returned from a day at the golf course.

In the end, we wound up closer to the President than we ever could have gotten had we driven the beach road past Mar-a-Lago.  

So, that was kinda funny.

The Coast Guard monitors activity on the Intracoastal Waterway in front of Mar-a-Lago.

Roads We've Traveled

We've been busy... relaxing, helping out family, discovering rare birds and camping now and then.  Needless to say, the blog has not been a priority.

So, here's a quick blurb to keep it somewhat active...

From the time we started wandering we made note of the roads that we traveled on each trip.  We are preferred shunpikers (which means that although we do drive the highways now and then) our preference is to travel the smaller back roads to our various destinations.

Tracking our driving has led to quite a map when all of the roads are recorded in one place!

The red lines are roads that we traveled for a few years pre-Annie.  The blue lines are all Annie.  When a blue repeats with a previously traveled red we go ahead and switch it to blue.

So, what do you think?  Despite exploring our 48th contiguous state this past year, looks like we've still got a few spots left to check out. 

Birds of Penitente Canyon

As we continue to enjoy the typical FLA fall temperatures (at just below 90 degrees) we are still looking back to a wonderful summer Campground Hosting at Penitente Canyon in Colorado.  Our latest installment talks about our birding experience over the four months that we lived in this beautiful area. 

Click HERE to read all about it!

Friends, Butterflies, Birds, Insects, Flowers, Trails and Caterpillars

Even though we are still posting photos from July... in real time, our volunteer position at Penitente Canyon ended September 30 and we have made a last minute mad dash to check in on Family in FLA. 

In a matter of hours we went from a high temperature of 73 to a high temperature of 103. The awesome temperatures peaked at a 'feels like' of 106 in Alabama as we moved on through. 

After four months of evening lows that never got out of the 40's it was pretty crazy to be experiencing evening lows around 86! 

So.... in between family and basking in some good ole Air Conditioning, we'll do our best to get ya'll caught up. 

Be back when we can. Meanwhile, click HERE to check out our latest share.

Flowers, Bugs, Critters and "Stuff" at Penitente Canyon - Part II

We've been blog lazy lately.  It all started two weeks ago when we came to town and (once again) the public internet was non-functional).  Then we just got busy.  Taking care of the campground, relaxing, having lots of visitors, hiking, climbing, raising caterpillars, bird watching... etc. 

So, despite four days off where we came to town and the internet is actually working we only have one post for you this time around.  Sorry about that.  In two weeks time though we will be internet rich for many months to come and perhaps we'll actually finish up everything to do with our time at Penitente Canyon. 

Meanwhile... this is what we have for you now.  Hope it holds you for a few more weeks.  Click HERE to see it!

Flowers, Bugs, Critters and "Stuff" at Penitente Canyon

We've got some random stuff for you today.  When we return to town in another few weeks we'll have more random stuff and some other more specific stuff.  Stay tuned for that...

Meanwhile... Click HERE to see the latest.

The Los Hermanos to the Iglesia de San Juan wrapped up by the Blue Sky

We have recently heard from a few of you that our latest postings are difficult for you to open or read.  Sorry about that.  Given our current situation with internet there is nothing that we can do about it at this point in time.  For now we will keep posting for those who can read them and see what we can do for the others when we are done with our current volunteer position in October.  Meanwhile, hang in there.  We are still out here having a great time, enjoy sharing it with you and appreciate your emails when we do get to town every two or three weeks.

This latest post can be found by clicking HERE.  Enjoy!

Decisions, Decisions.... Let's take a drive.

This is our latest installment.  Internet is still a rare occurrence for us.  We appreciate you following along and keeping in touch via email.

Click HERE for our latest post.

Walking The Penitente Canyon Trail - Practice Makes Perfect

Can't believe we are getting to post this!  The internet in the three nearest towns to use was down this morning and so we went shopping first.  That now means that we have only an hour and a half before the 5 p.m. shut down. 

Without further adieu - this post will start us off on our summer at Penitente.  Better a month and half late than never!

Click HERE to check it out.

Colorado Travels - Part 6 - Dispersed Camping At A 'Reasonable' Elevation

YEAH!  We have reached the final installment in our month of Colorado travel before settling into our current camphost position at Penitente Canyon.  We are absolutely LOVING Penitente and look forward to sharing it more with you after this post.  We love it so much that our normal two weeks between town visits stretched to three this last time and even then we begrudgingly started Annie and departed for the day.

Anyway, click HERE for the final installment of our Colorado explorations before Penitente.

Travels In Colorado - Part 5 - The Million Dollar Highway

We are still wrapping up our pre-Penitente Travels.  So, click HERE for the latest installment of our month pre-Pen.

Travels In Colorado - Part 4 - Gunnison Black Canyon National Park

Click HERE for Part 4 of our travels in Colorado prior to starting our current volunteer position. 

We'll see ya in another week or so.

Travels In Colorado - Part 3 - Driving to Gunnison

Click HERE for Part 3 of our travels in Colorado prior to starting our current volunteer position. 

Part 4 will be posted soon....

Travels In Colorado - Part 2 - Wildlife Refuges and Russell Lakes

Click HERE for Part 2 of our travels in Colorado prior to starting our current volunteer position. 

We are back in the canyon but have a few more posts scheduled to upload so watch for them over the next few days.

Travels In Colorado - Part 1 - The San Luis State Wildlife Area

Click HERE for Part 1 of our travels in Colorado prior to starting our current volunteer position. 

Also, stay tuned for several others that will post over the next couple of weeks while we are back out in the canyon.

Penitente Canyon For The Summer

Hopefully, this worked last time.  If not, we'll try to fix things when we get to town in a couple of weeks.

Click HERE for the link to a .pdf about our new camphost position in Colorado.