1999 House projects

Our first full year in El Dorado Springs was one of delight, especially in the wildlife.    The daily visits from the deer never grew old, and we would have an occasional glimpse of fox and wild turkey.    I also saw a possum laying on its back on one of the paths in the woods.    It was amazing how each one of the dogs sniffed it and walked on.    I felt terrible for the 'poor' thing.    Imagine my surprise when I came back to find it gone!    I knew the concept of a possum playing dead but had never witnessed it before.

Dick fed his fish every night and it wasn't long before they would recognize his golf cart coming up to the dock and would be thrashing around waiting for the feast.    I fed my birds and had a huge variety come daily.     It was a different type of bird feeder and the blocks on the posts were to stop the squirrels from eating the seed.    And we had a ton of squirrels.

We had a wonderful snow storm - to me there is nothing so magical as the crunch of snow under your feet!

One of the things that I failed to take photographs of was our Purple Martin feeders.    They were long poles with six 'homes' on top of each pole (we had three poles).     The condos could be lowered down so that I could prepare the homes before the birds arrived.     I would clean them out and put sulphur powder inside to disinfect them.    Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the purple martins would arrive the middle of March.    First came one, who would check out the homes, then he would be gone to return about three days later with the whole group.    They came all the way from South America.    They were fascinating to watch.     They never landed on anything other than their homes, and would consume thousands of bugs each every day.    They got their water on the fly from the lake (their timing was perfect).    Then would come the day when the chicks were ready to fly and Momma would kick them out of the nest, but ever ready to catch them if they didn't get it the first time.    Then when they were certain the chicks were strong enough, they would all take off on a longer flight, increasing the time they were away every day, until one day they were gone on their long flight back home.

Dick kept the original paths open in the woods, so that the dogs and I could walk there daily.

Emma impatiently waiting for me to catch up with her.

I was amazed to find in the middle of our woods an ancient cemetery with a few headstones that were still readable from the early 1800's.   It was sad to see how many were children.

The white was the dogwood in bloom.

Our main emphasis this year was the house.    The house had a full basement, which contained Louise's living quarters at one end, but the rest of it was unfinished.    Dick converted it into two guest bedrooms complete with private baths, and a large den.    I did the painting and decorating, but everything else was Dick's plans and work.

Louise and I did some outside touch up on the gazebo and dock.    We were all getting very proud of our new home.

1999 was a very busy year - with the house, many visitors and some trips - but will keep those for the next two times.

Missouri Bound

I tried to upload this photo with the last blog, but somehow couldn't make it work.     This was taken at Bill and Frances' 50th celebration, just before we left.

The trip itself was quite an adventure.     We had our furniture and belongings shipped, but we still had the motorhome, Dick's pickup, my car, Louise's car, four dogs and two cats to transport!     Dick drove the motorhome with Bill mostly as his companion, and with three of the four dogs.    I came behind in my car and little Pedro who managed to endure the whole trip so long as I had my hand on him.    Louise came behind with Frances and the two cats in cages.    Bill and Frances, and Louise would take a motel room and Louise took care of the cats there.     Dick and I slept in the motorhome with the four dogs.    We traveled Monday through Thursday, arriving late afternoon at our new home:

Dick gave me a correction after I sent the last blog, we actually had 14 acres, not the 10 I reported.
After four days of being cooped up and let out only on leashes, (something none of them were used to), we pulled into the driveway and let them out.    It was obvious from the beginning they were going to love this place and took off exploring all around.     The cats adjusted amazingly well.    We had lunch with Tricia yesterday and she had recently moved her three cats, less than three miles, to their new home.    They were totally traumatised for a couple of days.     My cats adjusted to every move without batting an eyelid, and I came to the conclusion that the main difference was probably the dogs.    One of the great things about dogs is that one can move monthly and they couldn't care less so long as they are with you.    I think their total acceptance rubbed off on the cats.

We quickly learned to enjoy our new surroundings, especially the wildlife.     The pond was full of fish with some very large catfish.    The birds were colorful and plentiful and soon responded to the many feeders we had there.    And the deer became our nightly visitors.    Just before dark, they would arrive, feast themselves on the corn Dick put out and generally graze on our grass.

The house is on the left, and you can see one of the barns in the background and the gazebo on the lake in the middle.    This was a favorite lake for the Canadian geese and I used to love to see them organize themselves for the takeoff and then land in formation.

It was great to have seasons again, the street leading into the small town of Eldorado Springs was really pretty in the fall.

Even the big ice storm was spectacular, I wish this photo showed if off better.     I almost broke my neck taking this photo!!

It wasn't long before Dick started to make plans to develop the woods behind, but more about that in future blogs.

I ended up with three favorite pet photos this year:

Thumbelina (for obvious reasons) better known as Lena

And Miss Emma.    One is not supposed to have favorites, but there is no doubt that Sweet Emma was mine.     She can still bring tears to my eyes.    I love this Charlie Brown cartoon:

Of all four dogs, none of them enjoyed our new home more than Willie.    It brought all the coonhound features out of him and one could hear him chasing through woods braying.    He loved to just look out of the window and watch the deer come - our dogs were not allowed to chase them.