We were thrilled to host our central Arkansas grandkids Sunday afternoon, Monday, and Tuesday morning. We played pickleball, made lemony blueberry muffins, practiced basketball, and hung out—one of our best visits ever! And now, they are at an age where they pretty much do their own thing and don’t require or necessarily want constant supervised entertainment. Birds continue to enjoy early spring in west central Arkansas.
Monday morning, before the kiddos were “up and around”, I photographed a few birds actively feeding in trees near our deck. This Northern Cardinal played hard to get, but finally posed long enough for a photo.
Several Yellow-rumped Warblers were flitting among the dense tree limbs.
And then, this Red-bellied Woodpecker, never coming close in, paused long enough in a distant tree to be photographed.
After playing in the pickleball ladder early afternoon on Wednesday, this Tufted Titmouse was photographed in the back yard.
A few more birds were “shot” Thursday morning before golf in the afternoon. Speaking of golf, the front nine was terrible, but a 41 on the back nine more than made up for it. The greens at Ponce de Leon golf course were lightening fast!
Back to photographing birds. This American Crow would come no closer to a tall tree on an adjacent property some 50 yards away.
This Carolina Wren, whose song is one of the most beautiful in my opinion, was caught singing it’s heart out—possible for a potential mate.
And then, a surprise visitor to our backyard, an Eastern Phoebe, was spotted in a tree some 30 yards away. This is the first time an Eastern Phoebe has been observed one our lot.
Kay and I continue playing pickleball (her more than me) and golf when weather allows. Though our lives are not boring, there are no new adventures to report.
Good news; bad news. The good news is that wildflowers have begun blooming, but the bad news is that high winds have prevented most flower photography these first few days of spring. Nevertheless, with a high shutter speed, a few of the blooms have been photographed. Also, a few “new to us this season” birds have shown up at the feeders.
Grandson Ridge ran several races in a multi-school track meet on Monday, March 17, 2025. He placed first in all but one, and second in that one. Not only is he a great athlete, but he’s a great kid, too.
On the first day of Spring, Thursday, March 20, 2025, feeders in the back yard attracted enough birds to generate several photos. An American Goldfinch came in close enough for a portrait.
And then, a Purple Finch, the first I’ve photographed, landed in a nearby birch tree before coming in to feed. The immature female Finch didn’t hang around long though, and only came that one time.
More American Goldfinches visited the feeders, landing in the nearby birch tree. The tree seems to be a popular hangout for birds!
And finally, a Tufted Titmouse landed in the birch tree.
Wildflowers were the order of the day on Friday, March 21, 2025, despite heavy winds. The photographic quest for the day was a white Trout Lily spotted at Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area by good friend Dan. I walked the usual circuit twice trying to find one in bloom, but no luck because of cool temperatures. However, several other wildflower began blooming as the morning progressed towards noon.
And most surprising—and best of all—a Black Swallowtail butterfly flitted by and landed in the grass about 10 yards away. I began photographing it, approaching nearer and nearer with each burst of shots. The butterfly photographs made the almost two-mile walk worth it.
From Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area, I drove to Cedar Creek Trail in search of the more numerous yellow Trout Lily. Several other wildflower species presented blooms as noon arrived.
And finally, near the trail’s parking area, a few Trout Lilies began appearing, though sparsely, on the forest floor.
Warmer temperatures and more daylight have resulted in birds singing their beautiful tunes throughout the day, calling their mates. And a few new bird species, at least for our place this year, have appeared.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, saw an American Goldfinch, a Brown-headed Nuthatch, and a singing Tufted Titmouse, searching for mates and food.
American GoldfinchBrown-headed NuthatchTufted Titmouse
We keep busy playing pickleball and golf, when weather conditions allow, and as always, Kay maintains a full social calendar, including a meeting of The Book Club on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
And then on Friday, March 14, 2025, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and Eastern Bluebird appeared in tress near our place.
Yellow-rumped WarblerEastern Bluebird
Additionally, an American Goldfinch and aCarolina Chickadee were searching for food in a nearby tree as were an American Goldfinch and a Carolina Chickadee. And, a Northern Cardinal and Tufted Titmouse were eagerly calling for their mates. A Dark-eyed Junco was scrounging for food on the ground beneath a feeder.
American GoldfinchCarolina ChickadeeNorthern CardinalTufted TitmouseDark-eyed Junco
A search for blooming wildflowers along Cedar Creek Trail on Saturday, March 15, 2025, yielded several Bloodroots and Rue Anemones.
After the brutal cold weather a couple of weeks ago, it appears that spring is near. The first few days of March were limited to photographing birds as wildflowers had not started blooming in the usual nearby places.
On Sunday, March 9, 2025, the common trio of Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and American Goldfinches were the only species observed.
And then on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, I hiked (more like strolled) the Cedar Creek Trail with good friend Dan with the objective of finding wildflowers. Fortunately, Dan had been out previously, and knew their locations. Both live and dead trees hosted fungi—mostly Turkey Tail.
And the forest floor had sparse blooms of Spring Beauties and Blood Root wildflowers, and a beautiful Cutleaf Toothwort.
Spring BeautyBloodrootSpring BeautyCutleaf Toothwort
Wildflowers are blooming late this year. In fact, a look back at photographs of wildflowers from previous springs, it appears that Spring 2025 is about 2 weeks later than usual.
We continue to play pickleball and golf, and Kay attends to her social activities. And now that basketball is finished for the school year, we have begun traveling to central Arkansas to watch Ridge play school soccer, Next fall, Harper will be playing softball, and we plan to attend as many of her games as we can.
Only one bird showed up for a portrait on Monday, March 3, 2025, and it was a Tufted Titmouse.
My shoes were taking over the bottom of our closet, necessitating workable solution. On Tuesday and Wednesday, March 4-5, 2025, respectively, a slatted shoe rack was conceptually drawn and sketches were made for cutting wooden pieces and assembly.
It’s been a struggle the last few weeks to find new subjects to photograph. So, the hunt was on.
On Saturday, March 1, 2025, the intent had been to “chase” birds with the Sony A7R5 and Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS + FE 1.4x Teleconverter. With the absence of birds close enough to photograph, a peaceful and relaxing walk on the Mourning Dove Trail in Hot Springs Village yielded my first Arkansas butterfly of the season, a Question Mark. It was photographed both coming and going on the mile and a half walk using the Sony A7RivA camera paired with the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens. That’s my “go to” lens for about 75% of shots.
Less stellar but interesting just the same were these fungi growing on trees along the trail.
Mid-February started off with cool temperatures and after only a couple of days, rain began, turning to sleet and snow. And, temperatures plunged to single digits. For four days, temperatures never exceeded freezing.
With us spending more time at home in Hot Springs Village, we are going to try and play more cards (Hand and Foot) and games. But for Hand and Foot particularly, we don’t have any of the accessories such as shuffler, “book of cards” holder, and deck tray. So, it was off to the shop to make the latter two. However, as a consequence of the brutally cold weather, only the first couple days of the reporting period (Sunday and Monday) were fit to do anything woodworking in the unheated shop. Nevertheless, 1x4x8’s were glued together, decorative edges cut, slots made, and supports attached. Sanding and application of several coats of polyurethane finished the process.
Hand and Foot accessory
Tuesday morning, February 18, 2025, I braved the dropping temperatures and the beginning of frozen precipitation to “shoot” some birds.
American Goldfinches, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice were frequent visitors to the seed feeders, and permitted a few photos to be made.
American GoldfinchCarollina ChickadeeTufted Titmouse
A lot of reading was done on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during the day, and YouTube videos and a French detective series, Balthazar, were viewed in the evening. A gradual warmup began on Friday, February 21, 2025, with many of the roads and streets free enough of ice to be usable.
These are some of the photos taken on Sunday, February 23, 2025. American Goldfinches hoarded the feeders, but a Northern Cardinal and Carolina Chickadee slipped in for a seed or two.
Northern CardinalCarolina Chickadee
On Tuesday, February 25, 2025, the “regulars” returned with lots of American Goldfinches, a few Carolina Chickadees, and a Tufted Titmouse using the feeders.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025, was a warm day, and though few birds came in to the feeders, many hung out in the trees, necessitating a steady tripod to reach out and “touch” them with the camera/lens. A Brown-headed Nuthatch stole the show, but played coy with the camera and made taking its portrait quite difficult.
PERSONAL NOTE: Now that we don’t have near as many exciting adventures to relive in the blog, I have decided to change it up a bit and focus more on photos and unique activities. We will still capture our travel, and perhaps craft projects, but no more verbiage about our boring everyday life.
Kay and I have been RVing pretty much since we got together—25 years. Now that the RV is gone, and there is not one in the future, what will we do next? First and foremost, we’ll stay home in Hot Springs Village more, enjoying our house and lakefront lot. We will continue to play golf and pickleball. And Kay will likely fill up her social calendar while I’ll ramp up photography experiences. If my back will tolerate it, I would like to do some yard work and gardening, particularly for pollinators. And time will be made for even a bit of woodworking now that the absence of a third car frees up a portion of the garage. Maybe, even car/tent camp. And, we will continue to travel—just not for extended times, likely three weeks or less at a time.We still have several places to go on our life list: Switzerland, Ireland, New Zealand, more of the Pacific Northwest, northern Arizona and southern Utah, and maybe even Africa. Whereas financial aspects used to be the limiting factor, now it is health and wellness, or lack thereof, so we’ll see.
Now, for this reporting period. Because of lots of rain, conditions in the Village have been wet so no pickleball and no golf. We’ve both done a bit of cooking and baking, and I have made a couple of things in the “shop”. Our shoes—golf shoes, outdoor shoes, gardening shoes, swimming shoes, etc.— were seemingly everywhere in the garage. So, a shoe bench seemed like a good idea. And, we had a cushion left over from “our” first house (actually Kay’s house). Made with a “trout and fly fishing” fabric that I wanted to use. Consequently, that set the dimensions of length, width, and height. Cheap lumber was used, i.e. #2 pine; it was of very poor quality, but “good enough”. So, after a bunch of sawdust, measurement errors, and wrong screws, the bench was finished. It’s not something to be proud of, but is serves it’s purpose quite well pattern.
And then, a coat and cap rack was necessary to hold all the umbrellas, rain jackets, work coats, and caps and hats. If it’s length were the same as the bench’s, the two would look quite matched. A couple of rare pieces of clear 1 x 4 x 8 pine had been purchased previously from Lowe’s and one was used for the coat and cap rack. It was a simple design and build: cut to length, edges routed with a decorative pattern, sanded, a finish applied, and the coat and cap hooks installed.
I did manage to snap a few photos of birds the last couple of weeks, though they are the same species that have been hanging around all winter.
We finally did it. We sold the motor home and the “old” Honda CR V. This was the third time we had put it up for sale; Kay backed out the first time, I backed out the second time, and this time we both bit our lips and said goodbye—it was time! At some point in the future, I’ll post a blog on the various places we traveled/stayed in the coach.
As we consummated the sale on Friday, February 7, we both had a feeling of melancholy, though not necessarily sad, but for me, like admitting defeat (Kay doesn’t agree) due to health/age. I am not physically able to prepare to travel, nor am I able to drive for more than an hour or two without back pain and sciatica. We both knew it was time though I will profoundly miss the lifestyle. If only… We are comfortable that the new owners will immensely appreciate and enjoy the motorhome and tow vehicle.
We keep moving our departure date forward, finally opting for Sunday, January 26. The weather in central Florida, i.e. The Villages, has not been real conducive to outdoor activities. The Villages of Florida offer just about any activity one might be interested in pursuing. The grounds are wonderfully landscaped and kept immaculate. It is definitely a golfing community and the well-groomed courses were extensively used, though we were almost always able to get a tee time even if was late in the afternoon. It is difficult to complain about life in The Villages, except it is crowded, traffic is horrible, and the weather, for the most part, was cold, wet, and windy. Kay and I were just a bit overwhelmed by it all. While the people were not unfriendly, there was little social interaction except for cards, golf, and dinner with the Starr’s and early on the Graham’s. Our neighborhood or “village” was socially sterile. But, we were temporary renters, and not owners. We, therefore, have no regrets in leaving early, except we will miss socializing with the Starr’s.
We keep moving our departure date forward, finally opting for Sunday, January 26. The weather in central Florida, i.e. The Villages, has not been real conducive to outdoor activities.
We played a lot of golf, albeit on “executive” courses or “pitch and putt” courses. On Saturday, January 18, we played the Bogart executive course with the Starrs. Photos were taken by Kay and me.
And then on Tuesday, we played the Richmond Pitch and Putt course. It was windy and cool. We returned to play the Richmond Pitch and Putt course on Thursday, and again it was windy and cool, but not as bad as on Tuesday. Photos were taken by both Kay and me.
We played our last round of golf at The Villages with the Starrs on Saturday, January 25, playing the Mickylee Pitch and Putt course. Afterwards we ate at Cody’s, but it wasn’t quite as good as the previous times we ate there, and it was crowded as was the entire Sumter Landing area, such that it was difficult to find a parking place.
Also on Saturday, January 25, we packed up our toys and clothing, and pre-positioned the bags near the garage door for loading on Sunday.
As per schedule, we packed the car, fulfilled the requirements for leaving the AirBnB (regarding dishes, towels, bed linens, trash, etc.) and departed The Villages at 8:10 AM on Sunday, January 26. We were both ready to go home. The day’s drive took us north through Gainesville, then west through Tallahassee, and much of Florida’s panhandle, north northwest through Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama, and finally northwest in the rain and semidarkness to Tupelo, Mississippi, where we overnighted. The hotel, rated 4.5/5.0 was not great nor even good. It was clean and basic, and had a cleaning odor that prohibited me from sleeping much, though Kay slept fine.
After the unrestful night, we departed at approximately 7:30 AM on Monday morning driving through Memphis and then westward to home, stopping for groceries. The leg from Memphis to home seemingly took forever as we were stopped on I-40 for about 45 minutes because of an accident. Regardless, we arrived home about 1:00 PM, and exhaled a long sigh of relief. We unpacked, began filling the hot tub, filled the bird feeders, set up the computer for photo editing, and enjoyed being in our house. Did I say we really like where we live!
Tuesday, January 28, was spent unpacking and stowing clothes and getting things organized in the house and garage; Kay did a bit of grocery shopping and picked up “held” mail. Of course, we both reconnected with friends.
And then on Wednesday, January 29, I got a haircut for what little hair I have left, and we both played the new pickleball ladder at Diamante. It’s so good to be home.
Both Thursday and Friday were quiet, and we continued enjoying being back in our house, though I did manage to photograph an American Goldfinch.
Collection of trails and greenway quotes, terms, acronyms, tools as well as trail publications and presentations and 100s of photos from my bicycle and hiking adventures. .
This journal was begun several years ago, and reflects an accurate record of each day fished. Please enjoy it, and remember that fish are too valuable to be caught just once, and the places they live are too valuable to be mistreated.
Dunngone's Photos and Blog 