This afternoon I sit wearing a T-shirt and watch and feel a warm breeze sweep through the open windows of our camper.  What a change even from this morning when we left in the dark dressed in long underwear and heavy jackets.  Dawn found us sitting in a creaky metal blind on the Cimarron National Grasslands.  The first sound, not our own, was of a Western Meadowlark prematurely greeting the day. 

Lovely lonely farm in southeast Illinois.  It is early spring.  Newton is the eaerstern most location where Greater Prairie Chickens can be seen.

Near the center is a hiding female woodcock.  She is sitting on her nest in the leaves under a branch.  These birds are hardly ever seen and you can tell why!

Noon finds us in the Newton library.  We were up before dawn to find a foggy drippy morning.  We went to Prairie Ridge State Preserve anyway to find it equally gloomy.  Still, when we approached the Greater Prairie Chicken viewing area we heard the eerie calls coming from the booming ground.  We stayed until 9 a.m. when the birds became silent.  Only later did the warm sunshine clear the air and sky.

This late afternoon we have settled in at Sam Parr State Park in southern Illinois after a successful two days of travel in our Winnebago Minnie motorhome, or “Harley” as we call this vehicle.

Cross country skiing 2010

I completed my taxes this morning.  Or, at least I did for now.  Quarterly filing means I have to spend a few more frustrating hours on the activity this year.  I had hoped that the time would be less than twenty hours, but guessed thirty.  That is about how many it took.  The final frustration was that, for whatever reason, my Acrobat Reader seems not to be able to download the quarterly estimated filing forms.  I'll have to stop at the library to pick them up.  All this effort and we owe the IRS $757 for last year.  Most of this was for wage tax.&nb

More Irish Music Please!

November 2009