Beer cans in the wilderness...

Okay, we (the hubby and I) went hiking this weekend.   We went to a place we had not been before; a rather unspoiled hike down a path in the national forest.  When I say "unspoiled" I mean, no motor vehicle tracks, no tracks of any kind.   BUT, there were signs that others had used that trail.  They left beer cans like Hansel and Gretel left bread crumbs.  Now it seems every time we go on a hike, anywhere, there are beer cans, NEVER soda cans, only beer cans.   Can't we go anywhere without taking beer with us?  Should we put more of a tariff on beer, like a deposit of $.05/can?  I'm not anti-beer, but leave it at home!!! 

And for all you Chevy truck haters/lovers, they may have a tendency to rust around the wheel wells, but the beds never seem to rust!  We also found a chevy truck bed, on our hike, that had obviously been there for quite a while, and the paint still looked pretty good.  I guess we could say it's now "habitat" for some of the forest creatures.

So if you're walking around in the great outdoors, leave the car parts, and the beer at home.  Bring a water bottle you can strap to your belt.  You can always put something other than water in the bottle.  As the saying goes "...leave nothing but footprints!"

Bird Watching...

Since I'm unemployed, I have time to take care of matters around the house during the week.  Of course there are things everyone says they're gonna do on weekends, but the weekends tend to be filled with too much to do.  The other day I finally got around to emptying out last year's bird houses of old nests, etc.   I also repositioned a couple of the houses because they did not have bird nests in them (wasp nests yes, but no birds.)   

The next day, while I was out feeding one of the horses,  I heard an odd chirping, and looked around to see what type of bird it was, as  I am not an expert on bird calls. Looking over one of the bird houses was a downy woodpecker.  I never thought that woodpeckers used man-made bird houses, so I will be watching that particular house more closely.

Which brings up another subject...I need to clean up my hummingbird feeders.  I believe I read some where that the hummers are due back around the end of March, and that's right around the corner.  At our first house, when I had out feeders, I was always greeted by the birds hovering by my kitchen window when they first arrived, as if to say "We're back!!!"  That usually corresponded with Memorial Day, but experts say it's much sooner. 

I'm also watching out for favorites who seem to have found my feeders on their way north  This includes the grosbeaks.  The first year I noticed them, I had one.  Since then each year has offered a couple more, and last year I also had an oriole.  

The birds that have overwintered here are probably some of the fattest in the area, as are the squirrels and chipmunks, but  that's okay!  It's cheap entertainment, and with the loss of suitable habitat in the area, I'm glad to do my part.  Speaking of habitat, we have a flock of over 20 wild turkeys that have taken up residence.  That's a future story...

The start of nothing big...

Nothing like unemployment to make you go places you didn't dare, or have time for. I was recently let go from the "biggest retailer in the world." I guess more of my shopping will be at Target. I just wish they'd increase the size of their grocery departent.



I've talked about doing a blog for more than a year, but my recent, unintended, departure from the working world, affords me the time to put my thoughts to paper. I fancied myself to be somewhat of a "good" writer, so this will be a test of my ingenuity, and endurance.



Topics may include everything and anything, since my interests outside the working world of retail and MUCH different than any job I ever held. Topics relating to the environment, horses, house pets, and reptiles of all sorts, will be mentioned from time to time. Politics is not off limits, but I feel whomever we have in office, we'll never be happy.

Comments, or suggestIons are appreciated This is my first rant, but won't be my last!