My 32 Ducks

A week ago today I was at party in Charleston, Illinois and today I am in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It seems a lot longer ago than that. When we are traveling from place to place it seems that time has little meaning. I think that fact is very desirable. I have known people that thought that every day was a week long, and that would not be a desirable to live. I like what I do and the way I am living.

One the way down here we stopped a couple days in Nashville, TN. I did not know that the town was as large as it is. We drove across town a couple times and I was surprised at the distance across town. Across town was the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson. I was very surprised to find out that he was the only President to ever pay off the national debt, and leave the treasury of the USA in the black. We sure need another President like him. We had quite a tour. We were given a set of ear phones and a small device that had a recording for numerous stops around the plantation. It was recommended that we allow two hours for the tour and we could have taken twice that much without any problem except we were getting hungry and to be honest tired of walking. It was a great place to visit. One of the buildings was a detached kitchen that was built of brick with deep grooves between the bricks. Evidently there were bugs that would get in those spaces because there were the prettiest little yellow birds that clung to the bricks and seemed to be getting bugs. With all the people around in the area scaring them I felt lucky to get a picture. They did not spend much time on the side of the building. I have not had a chance to find out the variety.


YELLOW BIRD SEEKING BUGS ON THE SIDE OF THE SEPARATE KITHEN

Every person has heard about the Country Music shows and performers that call Nashville home. It is also the home of the only full scale replica of the Parthenon. It was built in 1897 for Centennial Exposition. It was only supposed to last a few years but it proved so popular that in 1920 it was repaired and converted to a museum. The building is used as a backdrop for plays in the summer and has been featured in scenes in movies. It is impressive. I will never go to Athens, Greece but at least I have seen a replica of one of the most famous building in that city.


THE NASHVILLE PARTHENON AT NIGHT

We had barely gotten into this camp before we had a bunch of two legged visitors. There must be at least fifty small brown ducks running around the camp. Some of the little guys came running around hoping for handouts. I promise you that when a duck comes around wanting to be fed if I have anything available they will be fed. We had thirty two (if I counted right) that came around to the Vectra the next morning. These are wild ducks technically, but when they are willing to sit on the ground six inches away from your feet the word wild does not seem to be proper. It would be better to call them free roaming ducks I think. This town must have ducks near any body of water or river that is around here. Some business's have signs that encourage the people to fee "their" ducks. When we drove around the camp to check out the route that I will use to leave in a few days we saw small groups of ducks sitting close to many of the campers. I think that they get fed by every person that sees them. A lot of them are very young ducks or at least they looked young to me.


FOUR OF THE LITTLE BROWN DUCKS BY OUR VECTRA

Tomorrow we are going to meet with some friends that we made when we were down in Florida. It has been several years since we have seen them so it will be a good day. They are very familiar with this area so they may be able show us places that we should see.

Till later this is Uncle Duck (I would like to think I look like the one on the upper left.)

Its Party Time

This has been an amazing day. This has been a party day. This has been a fun day. This has been a day that was a spur of the moment that took three days to cause happen. Earlier this week we had planned to head down to Smoky Mountain Parkway area. We would like to see the country and we have some friends down there. So we were working slowly that way. I had two days of driving and needed a day of rest. Well at least a day of not driving. We did go to a glass factory and visited a covered bridge on the day of rest. That was fun and relaxing. That evening, Thursday, I got an e-mail about a party for a Bentsen Grove friend about 450 miles away. Somewhat back tracking north so we did not know if we really should try to go. We slept on it all night and had not made a decision even after we were moving along the road on Friday morning. About a mile from an intersection where we had to go left to the Smoky Mountains or right to the party we finally decided that this is the reason we are traveling. We turned right and headed to the party, a surprise party. So Friday and Saturday we drove towards Effingham, IL. We could have driven the distance in one day but that is simply too long to drive. I want to start late and stop early and NEVER drive too far in one day.

This morning we got up, went to church, and then tried to find out where the party was going to be held. It was not on any of my mapping systems and we wanted to arrive without anybody knowing that we were going to be there. After all if it was going to be a surprise party why not made more surprises. The firemen in the local city gave us directions to the address. One of them knew Popham Lake and the two brothers that owned it. After a few wrong turns and a few u-turns we found the location. And we were surprised too. We expected that there would be people that we knew from Bentsen Grove in McAllen, Texas but there were a lot more than we ever guessed there would be. Tammy Popham, the one that sent us the E-mail was so surprised that she had tears that ran out of her eyes when she saw us. The surprise was perfect. And George and Janet Whalen had not even arrived when we got there so that was perfect. It was George's 75th birthday party and he did not know that anybody besides his immediate family would be there. He did not know that the Bentsen Grover's that live near his hometown would be there and he had no clue that we would be there. It was perfect. The picture below has perhaps a third of the people from Bentsen Grove.


SOME OF THE PARTY ATTENDEES MOST OF THESE WERE FROM BENTSEN GROVE

We had a great time talking to friends from Texas. We had platefuls of good food. The scenery around the lake was a lot better than I would have dreamed. The place that the party was held was by a pond that has existed for an unknown number of years and had been joined to an old limestone quarry to create a 21 acre lake. There was a really nice lake cabin with everything that can be desired. A lot of effort has been put into making it an enjoyable area to spend time.


A VIEW OF THE POPHAM LAKE FROM THE CABIN


THIS HAS GOT TO BE A GREAT VIEW ANY TIME OF THE YEAR

We did not spend all the time on the road just getting from one point to another. As we came across Ohio we stopped in Cincinnati to see an Aunt of my wife's. And we also spent some time going to see the largest free swinging bell in the world. It is called The World Peace Bell. Most bells of this size are fixed to a solid mounting and the clapper is swung into the bell to make it ring. With this one the bell is allowed to swing and it hits the suspended clapper just like a hand held bell. It is really impressive. The time that we were in Cincinnati was short but it was great. To see family is always nice. When we have been in Cincinnati before, both times were during their Tall Stacks Festival for river boats, there was so many people in the area of The World Peace Bell that we would have had a hard time taking pictures.


THE WORLD PEACE BELL WITH WITH MY WIFE AND HER AUNT

Till later this is Uncle Duck.

A Funny Day

No matter how many years we do this full time RVing there will always be new things that happen or at least thing will happen that out of the ordinary. Today has had several of those happenings.

We left the campground near Rochester that we have stayed in for slightly more than two months this morning. We needed to get some propane, which was available at the the camp it self and we needed to pay for the days over two month plus the electricity that we had used in the last month. The male owner got us our propane and asked me to double check his figure for the cost. He said "I don't like calculators. I have never liked using them." No problem, his figure was right. Then he was unsure of how to calculate the charge for the extra days based on a monthly charge, so I did that for him. Then I guess that his wife, who works one day a month at another place, reads the electric meter and figures the charge. He did not know how to do that. Now this is a man that can fix almost any piece of equipment and build anything that a person might want. Tomorrow we will call and find out how much we owe for electric and figure out a way to get them paid.

We decided to go to Mercer, PA to spend the night, and likely go on in the morning. They assigned us to a very nice site, a bit narrow but nice. As I turned into the site there was a picnic table that making the turn a bit tighter. I figured at worst I would have to move it and/or jockey the motor home to get parked like I would like. Erma was outside making sure that I did not hit any of the trees, which is like a thin forest here. Suddenly there were two young women that came up to her and said that would help her move the table, which they did. I was not going to disconnect the Jeep for the night. I positioned myself and extended the jack on top of boards that I had placed under them. The slope was such that the jacks were not long enough to level the Vectra. To put blocks under the front wheels and more blocks under the jacks I had to disconnect the Jeep. So much for not disconnecting for the night. I repositioned with four inches under the front wheels and six inches of blocks under the jacks and the leveling computer still said I had excess slope. But my level bubbles indicated that I was so close to perfect that I accepted the level. I am unsure why sometimes it quits when it does and sometimes it will lift the wheels off the ground before it quits.

This is the first time we have tried our new satellite dish anywhere except near Rochester. I guess that it worked the way it was supposed work, but it seemed to take a long time to find the satellites. I think I was also lucky to have an available shot in amongst all the trees. As long as it is not raining hard I have TV and it has been raining hard some of the time.

I have a system that monitors the air pressure on the tires of both the motor home and the Jeep when I am driving down the road. There are little sensors that screw onto the tire stems and send a signal to a monitor in the motor home. I can see the pressure of all my tires anytime I choose to look. Also if I lose ten percent of the pressure in any tire I will get a warning. Each sensor has a small battery in it that will have to be sent to the factory for replacement when it goes dead. The guy that I bought the system said that his had been running for four years and did not need replacement yet. To extend the life of the battery I remove them from the Jeep and loosen them on the motor home when I am not driving. This will extend the life substantially I have every reason to believe. This afternoon for the first time ever I decided to only loosen the ones on the Jeep. Bad mistake on my part. A little later we decided to take a short drive with the Jeep. I had two flat tires on the passenger side. Since the Vectra has air brakes it has an air compressor on the engine. I started the engine and inflated the one tire I could reach with my hose. Then I had to turn the Jeep around on its flat tire so I could inflate the other tire. First of all I will not just loosen the sensors on the Jeep again, I will take them off. It is not hard to do that. Second, I have thought many times that I should have an extension hose for the air so that I can reach the rear of the Jeep when I am attached to the hitch. I may have to buy a twenty five hose to carry for times like this. Then I will NEVER need it.

When I had a home with a foundation I had several hoses in the garage. When I moved into the Vectra I figured I would never need them so I got rid of them. I did not figure I would want my shop vacuum cleaner either, but recently I bought one to carry with us. To be sure the new one is smaller. I also had a boom box that I figured I would never need. Recently I bought another one because I do need it. Again it is smaller than my old one, much better suited to my lifestyle. Another thing that I have bought is a battery charger to replace the one (actually two) I did not think I would want. Again it is smaller. What this makes me wonder is what will I come up with next that I had before and will have to buy a replacement. Oh yes, add to the list a small hand saw. I need it to cut 2x8's to create blocks to go under the motor home jacks and wheels.

I have not been taking any pictures lately but I would guess that will change shortly. We are heading to meet some friends along the Smoky Mountain Parkway. That is beautiful country and should give me scenes that I want to photograph. Since I have a video camera now, don't know much about using it yet but maybe in the future there will be something worth putting in here. In fact I think I will try it here. The big dog, Hagrid, belongs to some friends of my daughter. He has been a companion of a two year old red headed girl since before she was born. The little girl with him here is three. Hagrid is a huge gentle dog that is nearly as big as a small horse. He is a beautiful dog.



I did not know how that would work. It took quite a while to load but I guess it is okay. Maybe I will have something that is not an experiment soon. You are being a test trial for me. So, thank you.

Till later this is Uncle Duck

You Are Under Arrest

"You are under arrest!" No, not me, but a person I saw. I was in the Post Office mailing a small package this morning. There was a Law Enforcement Agent that was talking to a lady there. The first thing I heard was something to the effect of, "I am asking you to leave again." I will say that he was very subdued and not loud at all. She said, "I am not doing anything." The I heard, "They have asked you to leave three times. (I guess the postal personnel.) If you do not leave now I will arrest you." "I am not doing anything!" (Plus some other comments that did not mean anything to me.) The cop says, "Okay, you are under arrest." And then he took her by the arm and started to take her out towards his patrol car. I heard her say, "I am not under arrest." A bit later when I saw her in the back of patrol with handcuffs on I figured that she was wrong. I have a feeling that she was trying to get resisting arrest added to any charge that was against her by her actions in the car.

I do not know what was going on in the Post Office and judging by the looks on the faces of th patrons and on the employees faces I think they were puzzled by the situation too. I cannot imagine any thing that I would do in a Post Office that would lead to being asked to leave much less having the police called. Maybe it could happen for some causes but I don't think any of those would ever happen in a Post Office and not all by myself. Plus add to that I think unless it was really a serious protest of some sort I would leave quickly if I heard, "If you do not leave now, I will arrest you." It was an interesting situation. I don't know if I really would like to know more about the situation or not.

I had another interesting situation earlier in the week. I decided all on my own that my daughter needed her rain gutters cleaned. It is something that I had done before for her. Because of the location of the drains on one side of the house I had to reposition the ladder a dozen times and climb up and down every time. By the time I was done with that side I was already tired. Now the other side of the house was quite different. There were bushes by the house. So putting the ladder between them and the house makes the angle too steep for comfort, but doable. If the ladder was place outside the bushes the ladder was leaning too far for comfort, but also doable. I chose the too steep angle like I had done years before. I could get most of the gutter from one location and got all cleaned except a couple feet. I guess I should have been wearing long pants instead of shorts. I am down to the last two foot and trying to find somewhere to set my foot and every time I moved my legs the bushes are trying to poke, grab, and scratch. Suddenly I felt the ladder pulling away from the house and I was sitting down into the middle of the bushes. The tree behind kept the ladder upright and the bush kept me from hitting the ground. However my feet were higher up than my behind. I had quite a time getting my feet on the ground and the rest of me upright. To finish the last two foot I put the ladder on the outside of the bushes. I did not like the angle but there was not chance of making another hole in the bushes with my body. And that is the place the ladder will go next time I clean the gutters. Already I am getting ready to volunteer for that job.

There are many farmers markets located around the country. Many of them are located totally outdoors or they only operate during the summer time. In parts of the south they might operate more in the winter instead of the summer. Here in Rochester there is one that has both indoor booths, outdoor covered areas and totally outdoors areas. It has been operating for well over a hundred years all year long. If there is any home grown produce that is in season it can be found at the Public Market. I have seen varieties of produce there that I have never seen anywhere else. It can be very cold out there in the middle of winter and I have been there. It is interesting too because of all the different ethnic groups that shop there. You can hear so many languages there and see clothing of many different countries. It is a fun place to visit.


ROCHESTER FARMERS MARKET

We will be starting to travel again before I write here again. As I have said to many of you before we do not have a destination decided yet. I heard that there has been up to two inches of snow forecasted for parts of the US and that is an indication that it is time to start thinking about heading south. My sandals just do not fit well in the snow.

Till Later This Is Uncle Duck

Deja Vu

Thirteen years ago, minus two or three months, I was in a very nice restaurant some miles away from the north side of Lake Ontario seated across a table from an attractive young woman. I had some thoughts about her that might be considered a bit strange. First I wondered who she was, in spite of the fact that I had known her for years. I wondered how she could be so sophisticated and yet how she could be so world wise. I was wondering how it was that she had become so intelligent in so few years. At the end of the meal I paid the bill, held the door open for her and we walked out. Another thing that I had also wondered was why she was calling me Dad. Of course that made me wonder how it was that I was blessed with such a wonderful daughter. It made me feel that I was walking several inches above the ground because I was lifted up by pride.

Four days ago, minus a few hours, I was in a very nice restaurant on the south side of Lake Ontario seated across a table from an attractive young woman. I had some thoughts that were very similar to ones I have had before. How did she get to be so smart in the few years that she had been learning? When did she learn so many truths that most people don't ever learn? How did she become so talented. The truth is that I would not expect less from her. Instead of a feeling of wonder the feelings I had were pride. I could look a the chair that was in between us and have another reason to feel proud. There was another woman sitting there that was known as Mom. I had with me the two most important women of my life. I had a lot of reason to be proud. This time I did not even have to pay the bill. I heard my daughter say "Happy Birthday, Mom," as she picked up the check. I still walked out the door a few inches off the floor.

It has been said that life is a circle, a person comes back to the same place that he started. Others say "What goes around, comes around." What people don't do is think about what a circle really is. A circle has no beginning and no end. Where the ends come together is not distinguishable from any other point. Life is not quite like that. I have just written about two times that were very similar and could be called "deja vu" or perhaps a circle of life. I think that life is a lot more like a spiral as you would find in a door spring. There are circles that come back to the same point it began, ALMOST. It is the same place that is offset in some manner. Science tells us that the earth travels in a circle around the sun and as we all know every winter is followed by a spring that is followed by a summer and then an autumn. But in the universe our solar system has moved to another location without us knowing that it has moved. My daughter, my wife and I keep coming back to the same places and situation with some changes along the way. It is so deja vu.

I have mentioned to many of you that I have digitized all the pictures that I took as slides and prints in the past. It took me about five years to complete the project from start to finish. But now I have all my pictures on my computer. Conversion or update from one format to another seems to be common in the modern age. Music started out being put on cylinders on Victrola players. Next was a record that must have been a quarter inch think. Sometime later this was followed by "78's" then "45's" and "33 1/3's". You know what was next, "8-tracks", "cassettes" and "CDs". Some years ago I recorded all my 45's and 33's to cassette. But with the computer age pulling me into its grasp I do not have a reasonable way to play my cassettes anymore. And cassettes start to deteriorate after a time and do not sound very good. So before I lost more cassettes to old age I wanted to get then on the computer where I can listen to them or even burn CDs. When I decided to travel I did not figure that I would want my boom box to play cassettes and CD any more. It was too big to carry in the motor home anyway. Just recently I bought a small portable boom box so I can listen to cassettes and play CDs anywhere I go. The biggest use of the CD part will be to play line dance music. But I am also now in the process of digitizing all my cassettes onto the computer. This project will take me several years I would suppose.

The line dancing is part of the reason for needing a portable CD. Line dancing has gotten me into more activities than I would have ever dreamed it would. One of the things that I have seen a need to do is to make instructional DVDs for line dancing for the people at Bentsen Grove where we seem to be committed to spending our winters. I bought a digital camcorder. Now I have to learn how to use it and learn how to make DVDs. In certain respects I have spiraled back to the time that I bought a Super 8 camera some forty years ago. I had to learn how to use it too. Now I want to take the pictures that I made with it and convert them to DVDs also.


MY NEW DIGITAL CAMCORDER

I would like all of you to cross your fingers that I can learn to do a good job of using my new toy and be able to create something that is of value to other people also.

Till later this is Uncle Duck