As I began titling this entry, I added a week—7 whole days—because we’ve been so busy since arriving home.  For example, on Friday we continued unpacking the motor home; backwashed, sanitized, regenerated, and stored water softener (it had some algae growth); filled the tube bird feeders with sunflower seeds (though no birding activity); moved furniture and cookers back into place on the patio; had Wayne up for hot chocolate and saw a solitary Mourning Cloak butterfly as we were sipping our hot beverages; went into town to run errands (1 1/2 hour car wash, lunch, shopping, and hitting golf balls); rested briefly; and attended dinner party hosted by the Luekens.  It seems like the only public driving range in Mountain Home lost their lease, and was being razed as I drove by; Twin Lakes Golf Club does not have a driving range (I stopped to check), and finally, after chasing around for a half hour, found that Big Creek Country Club allows the public to use their range, and it was far and away the best driving range I’ve ever seen.

Another busy day followed on Saturday.  We filled the deer and turkey feeders with corn and installed new batteries; made and put out fresh suet for the birds (we saw Tufted Titmice, American Goldfinches, a Carolina Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatches, a Blue Jay, a Downy Woodpecker, and Carolina Wrens); continued unpacking the motor home, with Kay doing most of the “heavy lifting” unloading the pantry in the RV (we could eat a year on the RV food alone); drained and flushed the motor home’s hot water heater, and began sanitizing water lines in the motor home to rid them of algae we picked up in the Rio Grande Valley (while in the Rio Grande Valley this winter, the water line to our site broke, and after it was repaired, we began to have significant algae problems stopping up the water filter; it obviously transferred and began growing in the water lines, necessitating a heavy chlorine dose for sanitization, and lots of time and effort!); trimmed shrubs and decorative grasses and extended the bird habitat near the feeders; visited neighbors Bill and Bootsie; and restored phone settings from old phones to new ones (not an easy process) before spending a quiet night at home.