Life’s Challenges and Acceptance - Hanging Out Until Time to Leave and Birdwatching

Sept. 15.  “Never let the rough and tough times stop you from getting what you want in life and chasing your dreams.”  I haven’t posted in quite some time because we had an unexpected health issue that required us to extend our stay here in Virginia Beach, VA, until mid-September.  We never know what will be placed before us, but we can always pray for the strength to overcome obstacles and move on.  So we remain humble and are determined to continue our fulltime RVing lifestyle as long as we can. 

How many times can you eat out, sit with your parents, go to Wal-Mart and the commissary, walk around the campground, walk in the mall, surf the internet, and, worst of all, snack all day long!?  Oh, boy, sitting here in Virginia Beach for 4 months has been so boring!!!  We originally only intended to stay for just 2 months.  Yes, it has been wonderful to see family and friends again, but having grown up here, there really isn’t anything that exciting that we haven’t already done.  Gosh, the the beach was so nice when we first arrived, as seen in a couple of previous posts.  But then, after Memorial Day, the tourists descended in droves! Crowds, traffic, parking, heat and humidity!  Get me back out West ASAP!!!! 

At least a friend here in the park got me interested in feeding the local birds after seeing some of her beautiful bird photography.  So that has become our entertainment!  I never have been one to do anything half way, so off we go to the hardware store to buy a feeder pole like my friend’s, a couple of seed socks for the Finches, a larger wooden feeder, a large bag of seed, plus a new hummingbird feeder for the back window.  Gee, you would think I was opening ‘Simpson’s Bird Spa’!   We set it all up, and here they came!  Oh, Boy, I sighted my first Finch after a day of worrying if I bought the right stuff.  Then there were 2, then 4, then 6, then on and on……  There were the yellow Finches and the sort of reddish House Finches.  “Uh, excuse me cute little guys, but can you sort of space your meals a little”?  Why?  Because they went through a seed sock about every 2-3 days!  Hungry little guys!  The seed in the house feeder went about every 3-4 days.  Holy cow!  I should have bought stock in Home Depot’s outdoor center!  But seriously, we really enjoyed watching these colorful birds play around the feeders.  I sat in my recliner with my camera at the ready, and Doug heard “click”, “click ” all day long!  I think you know by now it was just another excuse to practice my photography!

First pictures are the Hummingbirds.  These little guys were such fun to watch and they are just so cute!

 

Then there were the beautiful colorful Yellow Finches and the House Finches.

Of course this squirrel thought he was going to eat at the ‘Free Meal Café’, but I took care of that!  When I saw him on top of the feeders, I chased him off and grabbed the jar of Vaseline.  I greased that pole with a think layer, then sat back and waited for the entertainment to begin!  Show time!  Here he came thinking he was going back up the pole since I wasn’t around.  He jumped up onto the pole and his “uh, oh” expression was priceless!  He immediately slid down the pole holding on just like a fireman sliding down a pole in a firehouse.  We laughed until we almost cried!  Hilarious!  I did take a couple of videos.  The picture gives you an idea of  the squirrels determination to get to the seed.  He even climbed onto the bikes thinking he might be able to just jump onto the feeder!  Nope, too far.  Notice the optical illusion I captured when I took the picture from outside our rear window.

 

We had many days of entertainment right from the comfort of our chairs.  The hummingbirds are now gone for the winter and the feeders packed away until our next chance to enjoy bird watching.