2018 November Our Road trip to Fort Worth Texas & Back

I checked the US weather forecast for the coming week on Thanksgiving Thursday.  We had to be back on the 29th of November at the latest. The weather forecast for the mid was for a snow storm which they got (Chicago got 8 inches) on the weekend and which could have headed east.  Eastern Ontario also was not good with snow predicted for Monday and Tuesday.  So Friday we packed up, said a sad farewell to the kids near Fort Hood and took a perpendicular route to Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio to mitigate the chance of getting stuck in a storm for a couple of days.  Here we are in Kentucky. On the route we took, we only had to cross a corner of Pennsylvania which was a big change from the whole day on the trip down.   Once driving home from Florida, Pennsylania was difficult to get through, every mountain pass had a snowstorm with little visibility and mobility.  Then we would drive out into dry pavement and sunshine.  This happ...

We are on the road home and just some quick thoughts before this shuts down on me. I know where all the Snow Geese go!  There were strings of "pearls" in the sunny skies over Tennessee and the Snow Geese were coming in from all over and landing the in the recently mowed corn fields. Like the cotton fields it looks like it takes two mowings for each field crop.  First mow is to get the crop which still leaves some crop and about a 2 feet of stalk in the field.  Then later there is a second cut leaving stubble and then this is turned over for next year or the next crop.  The fields were covered in Snow Geese along the interstate.  Also seen over the hills of Kentucky was a Bald Eagle flying in the sunshine.  For the time we have been driving there have been many Red-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks and the odd Osprey flying by near bodies of water.  There are many Turkey and Black Vultures.  We stopped at Cave City for a leg break and I p...

Hi All My computer updated all by itself and now it is not working and shuts down so this will be brief. We had several days with the kids and spending lots of time of Lu.  Cassi had school stuff to get through. We did the Botanical Gardens with Lu and a picnic lunch.  Played a lot and did some crafts with him.  Lu  is enjoying some unstructured days.  We visited the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth, which are less than a 5 minute drive from Cassi's.  One could walk there but there is that big hill to go back up to get to Cassi's place.  We continued to look for lizards as the sun was out and the temperature was rising.  Here is one of the two lizards we found.  Lu just loves an expedition to find lizards.  We then had a picnic lunch on a bench there and it was lovely.  The roses are still in bloom here even with the couple of cool nights we have had since we were here last week.  We headed back home after our outing for Lu's...

Friday, Norm and I jus ran some errands in the afternoon.  It was 19 degrees and beautiful out side.  It was  HO HUM day.  This morning, Saturday I joined the Fort Worth Audubon birders for am outing to Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Centre just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.  It was about 45 minutes away at 6:45 am on a Saturday.  A very nice gent who was coming from south of Fort Worth and had offered to car pool from FW picked me up.  We connected when the trip final notice came out.  I was good to drive but he used to live in that area and said he would drive.  So we drove in his car to LLELC for the meet-up time.  So there were no worries about getting lost.  I had visited this place on my own last year after it was suggested to me by some Audubon Birders. The day was cool and there was a wind probably from the lake.  I had my light top and scarf and my down vest on and I could have used a fleece but ...

Today was another touring day.   It was sunny and 15 degrees by 10 am and by 2 pm is was 19.5 degrees.   A gorgeous day and when we went by the golf course, it was open and people were playing golf. After I dropped off Lu at school this morning I went back home.  Norm and I packed up a picnic lunch and we drove to one of my favourite places here, Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.  I came here first on a outing and then have come several times with birders or on my own.  It is a huge place and they have a herd of Buffalo/Bison also.  We did not see them today however.  I have seen them by the fence a couple of times and we looked but did not see.  First stop was the Visitor Center.  When we went in people greeted me, one birder that I birded with last year and was in the birding group yesterday and two people I met last year Jim and I forgotten the lady's name unfortunately)   I introduced Norm to the group.  We chatted for a...

This  is going to be short as last night for some reason my Microsoft did an update (8 parts) on my laptop and I went to bed and it was still updating which is never a good thing.  I had to start my computer three times and it is very slow and then shuts down.  I will have to get the techie I found to take a look at it when I get home.  I am not sure if it will let me post or not. day started early for me. I got up at 6 am to get  ready to go birding.  It was zero and dark.  I first took Darla for a walk for her constitutional.  Cassi did not need me today as she had a check-up for Lu at 8 am before her classes started today and so I will just pick Lu up at the end of the day. The Fort Worth Audubon had a birding outing in Arlington about 20 minutes away in rush hour at the Village Creek Drying Bed which is a great area to bird.  That is where I had the Bewick's Wren last year.  And Jim was leading this outing again.  We first ...

Norm and I have been on the road traveling for days and then we have enjoyed treasured days with the kids but today.... everyone is occupied by school and work.  There is just the two of us at home and Darla is here with us. I took Lu to his Montessori school this morning and I  talked with his old teacher who I got to know at other trips.  I then met his new teacher also.  Lu likes his class and has friends there also.  Cassi went on to school later in the morning she was studying for this afternoon.  I will be leaving soon to pick Lu up and we hope to do a craft with him, if he is in the mood.  So Norm and I went out to get some groceries and treats and are now taking advantage of having Netflicks here and some junk food like chocolate milk and are binging on TV shows and movies.  This is a day off from everything.  It is not our house, so we don`t know what has to be done, other than passing the Dyson cordless on the carpet and replac...

Today was a regular school day for Cassi and she had some practical exam, so she went off to school this morning.  That left Matt and Lu and us at home.  Weather-wise, it was a cold day for everyone about 3 degrees with a bitter wind.  It was overcast pretty well the whole day.  So a good day to be inside somewhere interesting.  Matt, Lu, Norm and I went off to Dallas, about 45 minutes away to visit a favourite spot for Lu,  the Dallas World Aquarium.  This aquarium not only has fish, but it has birds and animals and spiders and Vampire Bats (I gave the bats a pass - did not look at them).  Plus today we all saw the Ocelot several times and close by.  The last time the kids visited they had not seen the Ocelot.  This is a very striking cat about three times the size of a big tomcat.  It must have been close to feeding time as it was getting impatient and was pacing.  The aquarium was jammed with school kids and families....

Norm and I slept great at Cassi's and we were up by 8 or so this morning.  The day was gray and it looked like it would rain but it did not until late in the day. We had a relaxing morning and we went out around 11 am to visit the Botanical Gardens which are a five minute drive from Cassi's.  We visited the children's garden and little house and usually Lu and I look and find lots of lizards but with the cool temperature - 8 degrees, the lizards were probably hiding somewhere.  This is a lovely spot when it is really hot as there is plenty of shade and a nice covered picnic area which is where we usually had our snack. Today Lu was in a running mood so after the children's garden area we went to the lake area and looked at the Giant Koi ponds.  The fish are huge and they are smart.  Lu had a great time and so did we trying to find the king of the pond.  There is a huge blue/gray Koi that looks to be the biggest.  The fattest we could find was a wh...