Simple Living and Simple Travel

Last year I wrote 14 pages about Timberon. I don’t understand why one would choose to build a house here. At least five or six Arched Cabins and some houses have gone up in the last year of so. Unreal. If one wanted a house here, there are a number of houses that I’ve never seen a person, vehicle, or tire tracks around, and a couple, just a time or two. There is even a new pre-fab that has been on the market for a couple years and I was told the people only lived in it for six months. One could look into seeing if the owner of these unused houses would be up for selling. One would save tens of thousands of dollars over the high cost of building here. This lot has a nice secluded house on a little used road (my kind of spot). Their tower provides an awesome view. Never saw anyone here, and no tracks on the access road. I have not seen my neighbor from last summer, the horny toad. But now I’m thinking I might have been seeing two of them. Recently, I saw a young horny toad but cou...

This Montezuma quail is awesome. There is a pair that has visited a few times. As you can probably guess, the female is kinda drab in comparison. Why is that so often the case with birds? There are nowhere near the amount of turkeys around the area this year as opposed to last. When I got here in March one could hear what sounded like quite a few, off in different directions. Since then no families, and just a group of five gobblers that come by every few days, no hens. One day a single hen with this single chick stopped by to feed, well, at least the hen fed. In the past I’ve always seen Mom, Pop and a dozen or so little ones, never a single hen and chick. I wonder what the story is with these two. I had my furnace fixed. I found out there is someone up here who used to work as a RV technician. He stopped by one day, took the furnace back to his shop, ordered parts (circuit board and sail switch), and re-installed it the following weekend. Not bad. I also finally got around to...

Okay, another identify-the-bird question. Anyone? Thanks. Thanks, Rob, yes, the bird on last month’s page looks like a Spotted Towhee. Really nice looing bird. Now I think there are just two more birds I want to identify. I have not yet been able to take any useable photos to upload. And thanks for the info on allaboutbirds.org and National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. I’ll be checking them out. I’m really enjoying hearing birds in the morning, unlike last year. You think there might be a few who are just squabbling with their spouses? I don’t know for sure, but I think some mountain bikers might be insane. I came across this photo on the Trek bicycle site as I was researching one of their bikes. I REALLY hope this is the last piece of medical info. The doctor who performed my surgery last May might not have closed things up all that well. I had to have a loporoscopic incisional hernia repair with mesh, in my abdomen. It went well but I have to take...

The Stellar Jays (thanks, Rob) are back, along with a variety of smaller birds, and even a couple doves. Anyone know what this bird is? I did not notice any last year. And, what’s really cool, this year there are birds singing in the area. Don’t know why there were none last year. Maybe putting out birdseed out as soon as I got here, had something to do with it. It wasn’t until the fall last year when I thought of putting out birdseed. But still, I would have thought birds would be around. This is a photo of a problem, however. One or two come by every day. I wonder what birdseed is going to cost me this year. The first time turkeys came through, it was a whole family. The evening before, I had put the pan on the steps, since it needed to be refilled. After a couple minutes, two stragglers came through and their path took them to where some scattered seed was still on the ground. I wonder if those two are the ones that keep coming back. It seems they did not share this feeding spo...

Back in 1950 (my birth year), Alfred Eisenstaedt, a Life magazine photographer, was covering the University of Michigan’s famous marching band. He noticed a drum major practicing his high steps over on a playing field, A small boy ran out after him and fell in step behind him. Other children then ran out and fell in line. Eisenstaedt ran after them and took this shot. This is one truly kick-butt joyous photo. Life’s director of photography called ‘Drum Major,’ an ‘ode to joy.’ I would guess that the director of photography enjoyed the fourth movement in Beethoven’s 9th. I replaced the bland blinds in the Casita with Bali 1” aluminum light blocker ‘forest shadow’ blinds to add some color. In the Nash, I started with the galley blind. I’ll order two more later in the year. Check out the strips of painter’s tape that I put inside the light covers. The under-cabinet light shown too brightly into my eyes. The cabinet edge should have extended lower....

With all the light-weight trailers out there now, I went back to the November 2006 page, “choosing a rig,” and added my thoughts on these rigs. Might have touched on issues that could be missed. Noah Smith, PHD and economist, stated that economists who study happiness have begun to entertain the notion that perhaps what matters isn’t the degree to which people get what they want but how much they like what they get. Good emotions may be more important than satiation of desires. I like that. I missed staying in the parks last winter, and this winter I was somewhat bummed with the increased numbers of RVers. But it jives with the increase in RV sales. Guano. The last few years I noticed the increase of women RVers. That, at least, is good. This winter I met five whom I enjoyed talking with. Sure beats talking with the scruffy, old fat guys that inhabit the parks. At one spot where I exchanged some paperbacks, I looked through a stack of magazines that were up for grabs. There ...

A view out the back window. I went back to the July 2006 page (Table of Contents) and added some of my favorite photos from this lifestyle. There are so many more. Might be worth a look. When I had the Casita, Onyx stood up at the screen door twice, pulled down the handle and walked out. Not good, if we were in the winter state parks. Up in the mountains, off the grid, it’s generally okay. Wish I thought of this, then. Recently I picked up a sash lock at Lowe’s and instead of using it on a window, I screwed it onto the screen doorframe with 1” sheet metal screws. Didn’t even have to use the other part. A good, quick screendoor lock. If there is a next time for getting a flat on the Nash, I will try something else. The hydraulic jack needed to be put on a stack of wood since it did not have enough range of motion. Not the safest arrangement. Next time I’ll build a ramp with my wheel blocks for the other wheel on that side and drive the good tire up onto it. It should have the ...