Remnants of the deep freeze, sleet, and snow continued to hang around through the beginning of the month, negating the ability to play pickleball or golf more than a couple of times.

Kay kept busy attending various meetings, reading, and occasionally baking. I continued “organizing” the shop, rearranging tools and designing and building small diy touches to increase efficiency. These included a paper and shop towel holder, cord holders, and several small lidless boxes/trays to hold drill bits, etc. and drawer dividers. As part of the efficiency process, I sorted through wrenches, sockets, screw drivers, and pliers to identify duplicates/redundancies to donate to our church’s United Women of Faith garage sale in May. Several sets of both metric and English sockets were found and embarrassingly, some six extra pairs of needle nose pliers the same size were found. While this was a major time consumer, it was also rewarding.

A few photos were made during this time period, including this Red-breasted Nuthatch observed on Sunday, February 1.

On Wednesday, February 4, a Carolina Chickadee, America Goldfinch, and Dark-eyed Junco were photographed.

And then on Thursday, February 5, an immature Bald Eagle was seen on a island in a nearby lake.

Seeking other subjects to photograph particularly wildflowers, a number of Fungi were seen along Cedar Creek Trail in Hot Springs Village.

And, how about this monster fungus, measuring about 15 inches.

Also, a solitary wildflower bloom was discovered.

As were some miscellaneous subjects.

On Saturday, February 14, we began another “adventure,” though it was pretty uneventful. Be it experience, a known commodity, and/or our planned lack of activity,, we didn’t begin packing until the morning of our departure. This “adventure” was another cruise out of Galveston, Texas, aboard the Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas. Yes, another cruise. 

Here’s the explanation. Last winter while in the Villages in Florida, there were several discussions about a fun-filled cruise to include the group of friends, mostly from Hot Springs Village, that had wintered in Arizona at one time or another. And then, a friend(s) suggested that Kay research cruises. Those of you who know Kay know that when she is given a task, consider it done. Consequently, she found back-to-back cruises to the Caribbean in early 2026. In order to lock in the cruise, we had to make a sizable deposit. Well, after all was said and done, no one wanted to go on either of the cruises, but we were committed financially to go. Rather than default with a sizable financial penalty, we paid an extra $100 per cruise to change to one of the least expensive out of Galveston, though neither of us wanted to sail. Thus, we began our second cruise of 2026 on which neither of us wanted to go. 

The approximately 5 hour drive to Nacogdoches, Texas, was uneventful. Nacogdoches was  our overnight stop, at the Continental Inn and Suites. It was a bit on the older side, but was really clean.

We made the short three-hour drive to the Galveston port Sunday morning, dropped off our suitcases, parked, and caught the shuttle to the Royal Caribbean cruise boarding area. Boarding was efficient and quick, and lunch was okay. Once again, there were not enough AC receptacles to support our CPAPS, and an extension cord was requested and provided. The We were surprised to find only two AC receptacles in the entire room. A request was made for two extension cords (for our CPAPS) and they were delivered shortly afterwards. The Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas was huge, at least by our standards, hosting about 5500 guests plus another approximately 2500 workers.