TULIPS IN PELLA IOWA

Kellogg IA (Low 54 Mostly Cloudy with a Thunderstorm High 70)


As promised here is our continuing tour of Pella Iowa. We were in Pella a couple of days after Tulip Time so the tulips were there but the weather was much better than during the festival.


Going to let the photos speak for themselves in this one. This is a subset of the photos we saved and a small subset of the photos taken.

Till next time,


Bob and Jo

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL, PART 2

Kellogg IA (Low 52 Sunny then becoming cloudy and rainy High 75)

We had quite a day yesterday and added yet another "it's a small world after all". We went to Pella Iowa to visit Bob's friend Mike from college and his family and to do some sightseeing. Pella is an amazing small town, so much in fact that we took so many pictures we ran down the batteries on three devices, 1 camera and 2 phones. We will catalog all the photos and blog on the major areas later so stay tuned. The following photos were found on the internet.

We started off the day meeting Mike for lunch at Subway. Had a nice chat with him but then he had to go back to work. We told him we did not like 4 letter words spoken around us :-)

Our first stop was the Jaarsma Bakery for a Dutch Letter, an "S" shaped puff pastry about eight inches tall, with moist almond paste filing, baked and sprinkled with sugar. It was our first Dutch Letter and it will not be our last, it was incredible. The locals say that Jaarsma Bakery is the best in town.



We then walked around the square and saw a lot of tulips (more on this later). Here is a teaser:



We then went to the Vermeer Mill and Historical Village (more on this later). Here is a teaser:



This is where the "it's a small world, part 2" happened. We went on a guided tour of the Mill and there were 4 of us in our group. The tour guide asked where we were from and the other couple mentioned Perry Iowa which is where Bob is from. Turns out the gal worked with Bob's sister for a number of years and Bob and his sister coached their daughter in softball, truly a small world.

Next on the whirlwind tour, since it closed before the Historical Village, was the Scholte House Museum and Gardens (more on that later), they call it Pella's best kept secret.

We then went back to the Historical Village (more on that later), mainly to see the boyhood home of Wyatt Earp.



We never knew that Wyatt Earp spent most of his boyhood years in Pella Iowa. This is the house he grew up in moved to the Historical Village and restored to the 1850s. By now we were getting pretty worn out and luckily the places were all closing. This was our first big sightseeing outing and we overdid it, we parked the truck at Subway and walked to all these places. Didn't seem to bad when we started out but got worse as the afternoon progressed. We didn't get much walking done in the winter with all the snow and ice so we need to pace ourselves a little better.

We had some time to kill so we got back to the truck and drank some water and checked our email up to the time we left to meet Mike's family at their place. We sat and chatted with them for awhile and talked about the bad weather and the recently concluded Tulip Time. Mike's daughter Jessica said it was so weird, they had 4 seasons in 4 days; summer in the 80s, a rainy fall day as the snowstorm approached the next day, a winter blanket of 6 inches of snow on the tulips the next, and a rainy spring day the next. 

By then it was past time for supper so we headed to the Panda Garden for what turned out to be a very good Chinese buffet. One thing we do need to mention is the peanut chicken, but not like the Thai variety that we have had. The sauce looked like runny peanut butter and the peanut was crunchy on the chicken. It was unique and a very good dish. Jo usually doesn't go for egg rolls in a buffet because they can sometimes get soggy but she tried one and it was one of the best egg rolls, sit down or buffet, that we have had. All the food was good and we ate way too much.

It was quite a day and we look forward to blogging about all the places in the future.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

Kellogg IA (Low 46 Mostly Sunny High 76)

To all that have been to Disney and now have "It's a small world after all" ringing in their ears we do apologize :-)

Our mail forwarding usually works like clock work but this time the USPS did quite a number on it. Tracking online the envelope was delivered at 11:49a Saturday. We asked at the park office and no one had picked up the mail on Saturday but they would Monday. On Monday they said that there was nothing for us at the Post Office. Since it was right on our way to some sightseeing we headed there after lunch.

Here is where it gets real interesting; at the Post Office I was told that they closed at 9:30a on Saturday and that the 11:49a delivery must have been by the carrier. The clerk then called the carrier and he remembered a delivery to the same last name on Saturday. Let's be clear, the priority mail enveloped was addressed to:

Bob & Jo
c/o Kellogg RV Park
P.O. Box 310
Kellogg IA 50135

It was not addressed to someone with a different first name, albeit the same last name but a totally different address. As luck would have their address was on the way to our sightseeing, which is becoming less and less likely as this took a lot of time. Bob walks up to the door and says, "we may be related and you may have our mail". Well we were 1 for 2, we were related, Lester's grandfather and Bob's grandfather were brothers, but they did not have our mail. He has looked into genealogy a little bit and had lost track of us. We gave him our card so he could email us and then we can give him what we have for addresses. We sat around and caught up on old family stories and what we have been up to. They RV going to horse shows so we may see them on the road sometime. It was a great afternoon but by now our sightseeing window had closed.

We went to our home away from home, Wal-Mart, for some shopping and then back to the park for supper. After we had finished the story got very, very interesting. We got a call and it was Lester and our envelope was in the mail today. When Bob got back from picking up our mail here was the sunset.

We don't know about you but we feel very confident turning over our entire healthcare system to the government :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo
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ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO KELLOGG IOWA

Kellogg IA (Low 36 Mostly Cloudy and Warmer High 65)

Snow finally ended changing over to rain clearing off the roads and raising the temperatures to the mid 50s so we left Waukee and headed to Kellogg yesterday. It was a short trip even for us, only 70 miles, so we could wait until it warmed up. Here is the route we took.


View Larger Map


Although only 70 miles it was an eventful day. Rained off and on for the trip but had stopped when we arrived. One of the curl pins for our rotochoks got disconnected while in Waukee which we did not notice until we got to Kellogg. A screw is being used until we can get a replacement. To top that the Big Foot Automatic Levelers quit working. System worked fine as we were breaking camp and also when we got to Kellogg raising the Cameo so we could disconnect the truck. When we tried to level though the panel was dead even though the emergency retract button did work which meant the panel had power. Bob could not find a fuse in the panel for the Big Foot so we used the retract button enough to get the Cameo fairly level and then called for help all the while it had started to rain very hard. Quadra called back, even though it was the weekend, and told Bob where their fuse was. They told him to remove it and wait 30 minutes and it might reset. Thank goodness this did work and by now it had quit raining so Bob finished up the outdoor tasks. Always an adventure in this lifestyle that is for sure.

While in Kellogg we do plan to visit Pella and see what it looks like after the annual Tulip Festival is completed. They sure had some bad weather for a spring flower festival didn't they? We also plan to visit Bob's friend from college and his family. After Kellogg we head to Clear Lake continuing our trek to the Upper Peninsula for the summer.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

SALISBURY HOUSE (A CASTLE IN DES MOINES IOWA)

Waukee IA (Low 33 Breezy and Chilly with Snow Changing Over to Rain High 37)

With more snow yesterday and overnight (6" total) we decided to stay another day in Waukee. This gives us time to document our visit to Salisbury House.

Salisbury House was built by Carl and Edith Weeks in Des Moines from 1923-1928 at a cost of $3 Million (about $40 Million in today's dollars). Carl made his money as head of Armand Cosmetics inventing and manufacturing one of the first makeup foundations. 

Here is the house from the front.

It is 22,000 sq. ft. with 42 rooms and modeled after the "Kings House" in Salisbury England, hence the name Salisbury House. Carl Weeks was proud of his English ancestry and wanted to honor his heritage with their new family home. We took a self guided tour and learned a couple of neat stories about the house. There are guided tours and special tours that sound really neat that we may do the next time we are in the area.

The neat stories deal with getting authentic materials for the house. They wanted the house to look like it was a lot older than it was so they procured materials from Salisbury, England. There was an old mansion in Salisbury being used as a boy's home that needed a new heating system. In exchange for the heating system for the boy's home, paneling and other furnishings were removed and sent to Des Moines. As they were removing the paneling they found old tudor fireplaces, a mantle of one ended up in the Great Hall.

The most unbelievable thing though was an engraving they found behind the paneling in a corner of a fireplace with "C. Weekes" in chalkstone. Carl Weeks knew his ancestry led back to Salisbury England and we now know that Christopher Weekes was Mayor in the 1500s and we know at one time the spelling of Carl's family was Weekes instead of Weeks but no one is sure if they are related but the coincidence is amazing.

The last neat story deals with the ceiling in the Great Hall.

As Salisbury House was being finished the White Hart Inn in Salisbury was being demolished. As they pulled down the false ceiling they discovered the Tudor beamed ceiling which was built about the same time as the Kings House (the model for Salisbury House) and probably by the same architect. They asked Carl Weeks if he would like the ceiling and he said of course, if it fit. Since the same architect probably did both the dimensions were within an inch so that ceiling from the White Hart Inn is now in Salisbury House. It is believed that William Shakespeare watched his plays under this very ceiling at the White Hart Inn. Here is another view of the ceiling from the balcony overlooking the Great Hall.

A closeup view of the ceiling.

Here are some other photos that we took.

The photos and story do not do justice to this place. Self-guided tours don't visit the Library which houses an incredible art and book collection. We highly recommend this as a place to visit. Also, if you have a hankering to visit England you can tour this home and get a taste of England at a fraction of the cost.

While in Des Moines we found a new favorite place, the Perkup Cafe in Urbandale. On Friday-Sunday they serve some of the best, if not the best we have every had, homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. A great day is eating at the Perkup Cafe and touring the Salisbury House.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

MAN PLANS, MOTHER NATURE LAUGHS

Subtitled: Weather Gods Have Found Us 

Waukee IA (Low 34 Cloudy with snow tapering off High 43)

That right, you read it right, snow tapering off, and it is May 2nd for crying out loud. Here are the views from our windows we woke up to today.

We had "planned" to leave today, needless to say we are not going anywhere. It took awhile for the weather gods to find us but they sure did. After we left the Kansas City area the next couple of days there were in the 50s and rainy while in Waukee near Des Moines we were in the 70s and sunny. Both areas are now being hit with this storm we guess just to make sure we get our last taste of winter.

This is getting ridiculous,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WHY IS IT ALWAYS MONDAYS

Waukee IA (Low 47 Afternoon Thunderstorms Cooler High 50)

Why is it always Mondays when places are closed? Seems like there are a lot of places that we want to see and eat at that are closed on Mondays. We had great plans for last Monday, eat at Zombie Burgers in Des Moines and then tour Terrace Hill and maybe Salisbury House.

Since we knew about Mondays we did remember to check that Zombie Burgers was open, at least we have our priorities straight :-) The burgers were wonderful, Jo got the LA Horde; a burger concoction of goat cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and mayo. Bob got a burger special called the Dead Breakfast; a burger concoction of sausage patty, bacon, cheese, fried egg and gravy. We split a side of fries which was enough for both of us. Both burgers and the fries were excellent, we recommend this place if you are ever in Des Moines.

We then went to Terrace Hill, also known as Hubbell Mansion, Benjamin F. Allen House, and Iowa Governor's Mansion, is the official residence of the Governor of Iowa. Well guess what, it is closed on Monday. Here is what we saw :-)

We then checked to see if Salisbury House was open and guess what, it is also closed on Monday. By now we decided it was not meant to be so we went back to the park to sit outside and read, at least it was open on a Monday :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

FINALLY!!! ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO WAUKEE IOWA

Waukee IA (Low 32 Breezy with Clouds and Sun High 65)


Sure was different to be on the road again after 7 months in one place. We drive 220 miles yesterday to the Timberline Campground in Waukee Iowa just west of Des Moines. Here is the route we took.


View Larger Map

This is a nice campground and good place to explore Des Moines as we are only 15 miles from there. It is a little expensive for our tastes but choices are somewhat limited in the area. We plan to sightsee and eat in Des Moines and visit with Bob's sisters who live in central Iowa.

This gives a good idea of just how cold it has recently been, and throughout the winter.



Till next time,

Bob and Jo

DID OUTDOOR PREP TASKS YESTERDAY

Peculiar MO (Low 33 Mostly Sunny and Warmer High 65)

Just a quick note to say we did the outdoor prep tasks yesterday and it was quite a chore de-winterizing. If winterizing to live in your RV for the winter requires more than 3 rolls of duct tape - you might be a Redneck :-)

We are proud rednecks but it sure was a lot of duct tape as shown in this picture.

We were surprised that the water hose still looked good but the sewer hose looked pretty bad and we threw it away along with a big trash can full of foam and a lot of duct tape. We bought new sewer hose and a new water hose which we will use at Waukee when we get there later today.

Should be a good travel day and it will be sunny and the high 50s when we get there.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo




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A COUPLE OF VERY GOOD DIVES!!

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Sunny and Warmer High 52)

As we wind down our 7 month stay in the Kansas City area (yes we still plan on leaving tomorrow yeah!), we thought we would let you know of a couple of new places to eat that we found that are very good. Ever since the Main Street Inn in Grandview MO has closed we have been on a fairly unsuccessful hunt for good tenderloin sandwiches, that is until now. Diamond Rays in Harrisonville and Lucille's Diner in Peculiar are both very good.

Diamond Ray's is located in the Mill-Walk Mall in Harrisonville about 7 miles south of Peculiar on Interstate 49. Not only do they have great tenderloins but just about everything we have had there is really good. Open for lunch or supper we highly recommend this place. They have a Friday night special; sirloin steak, shrimp or chicken, potato, green beans, salad, garlic toast for $13.99 that is very good. The Thursday night chicken livers are also very good.

Lucille's Diner in Peculiar is another place we highly recommend for items beyond the great tenderloin. In fact we are going to have lunch there today taking advantage of the buy one get one free tenderloin special. The sandwiches are so big that we split them so the other tenderloin is the dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans and garlic toast that we will have for supper when we get to Waukee IA just west of Des Moines tomorrow. If you like biscuits and gravy go to Lucille's and give them a try, some of the best we have ever had. Everything we have had there has been good.

It is hard to believe we might actually be leaving tomorrow after so long. We "may" have waited long enough for winter to be over, but just barely. There were flurries in the area and some accumulation of snow just a few miles from here and it was 25 degrees overnight. But it should warm up quickly to the mid 50s today and mid 60s tomorrow so we should have good travel weather and no forecast of freezing temps in the immediate future. Hopefully it will also be good blogging weather too.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

In a Blogging Funk (and an update on our plans)

Peculiar MO (Low 30 Mostly Cloudy, Windy, Colder High 45)

We cannot believe we have not blogged in such a long time. We are in a blogging funk that is for sure, both reading (about a week behind) and writing.

Yes we are still in the Kansas City area which contributes to our funk, seems like every time we thought about leaving it would freeze again. We are winterized outdoors with heat tape on the water hose and sewer hose that we don't want to tear that down until we are reasonably sure we won't have another batch of freezing weather.

Also contributing to the funk has been all of our Canadian friends that we follow their blogs are either on the way home or already have made it. We were here when they left Canada for warmer climates and to think we are still here when they got back is discouraging. The weather has been an issue for them also as a number of them are dealing with a snowstorm or ice storm after they got back. It has been a crazy winter for all and we hope everybody has safe travels.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. We have a couple of doctor's appointments this week and are paid up at the park until April 25th so that is our new departure date to central Iowa, probably Plan ZZZ by this time :-)

We will spend some time in Iowa working our way up to Houghton Michigan where we will spend the summer, May 30 - August 31.

We hope to do more blogging as we prepare to leave and then be more regular once we hit the road again. In the mean time here is a photo of one of our 1 foot snow storms that we dealt with this winter.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Maybe Next Year We Get The Breaks

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Foot of Snow on Ground High 35)

We are hoping that maybe next year we will get the breaks, both from a basketball refereeing perspective and weather. Weather wise we have another foot of snow on the ground, that is three times in three weeks where it has snowed a foot. Here are a couple of views.

 

This one in late March makes us wonder if we will be able to leave in early April. Next winter we plan to be in Goodyear Arizona so maybe we catch a weather break

Now we just have to catch a refereeing break for Bob's Iowa State Cyclones which consistently have been on the wrong side of bad calls this season, the latest was the charging foul on Iowa State in the NCAA tourney today that should have been a blocking foul against Ohio State wiping out a made basket and a free throw to possibly go up 4 late in the game. Nothing against Ohio State which is a great team and not to say that it decided the game because there was time left on the clock, and we know that refereeing is a tough job, but why are the Cyclones always on the wrong side of these calls? One incident that did decide a game was the game against Kansas in Ames where a charging foul against KU should have been called in a game with Iowa State in the lead by two. Then a shoving call underneath by a player that already had fouled out but was still in the game was not called but a touch foul with two guys on the floor is called against Iowa State. It was so bad that the Big12 Office sent a letter acknowledging the many mistakes. Sad but true but that was the second letter, the first being after the Oklahoma State game and another set of bad calls costing another potential victory. Maybe next year we will be on the other side of the bad calls, even better maybe no bad calls. We should be talking about a great NCAA basketball game between the state schools from Iowa and Ohio instead of the refereeing.

Bob has been holed up watching all the March Madness games. The new Genie DVR has worked out real good. We didn't have to worry about programming the 2nd DVR beforehand, all of her programs were already available. With 12 hours a day Thursday-Sunday of basketballs games she did have to add more programs to watch.

We'll end with a cute photo, we bought the birdola, basically a corn cake on a bungee for the squirrel to keep it away from our feeders. It took awhile but they finally found it.

 

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

I Dream of "Genie"

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny High 40)

The first step in solving any problem is admitting you have a problem. Well, we have a problem; we are TV junkies, we watch way too much TV. That being said we recently upgraded to the new Genie DVR from DirecTV and we have to say we like it.

Some of the features we like:

- 5 programs at 1 time, already have a time when 7 programs are needed. Luckily some of these programs are not on network stations and they repeat during the week.
- Genie client in the bedroom that has the full functionality of a DVR and the ability to watch and program shows on the main Genie DVR in the living room
- 1 terabyte of storage. When we went from our cable DVR a few years ago to the regular DirecTV DVR we were amazed at how much program storage that DVR had, and this DVR has even more. The 1 terabyte number just amazes me. Now this has been a number of years ago but when our company got a robotic offline mass storage unit the initial buy was for 14 terabytes and it was very expensive. Now PCs and DVRs have 1 terabyte storage, simply amazing.
- ability to have 100 series programs. Our old DVR had a limit of 50 and we were constantly having to manage that. Deleting old programs after the finale so that another program can be added happened way too often. We still have a couple to add but right now we are sitting at 55 series programs.
- ability to program in the future past the 2 weeks of programming in the guide for some programs. For example 'America's Got Talent' starts June 4th but Bob was still able to program the series.
- Picture in a Picture (PIP) is provided by Genie.

Even though we know we watch way too much TV we probably won't be changing anytime soon, it sure came in handy during our winter storms that is for sure. We will say that although we do watch a lot we still have avoided watching 'Duck Dynasty'.

For those old television watchers like us, I Dream of "Genie" - get it :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Update and a tip

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny and Warmer High 67)

We will have a couple of nice days with a high in the 70s tomorrow but then colder. As the tentative date for our departure gets closer a frantic nature has emerged; there is so much to do and so many people to see before we leave that it seems a little overwhelming. This is probably due to the fact that we always had months before we were leaving and not it is just 3 weeks.

We are getting things done; yesterday we had the Cameo washed and detailed and the Ford washed and detailed. Today we get the roof mounted automatic Winegard satellite dish rewired to be single wired multi-switch (SWM) so that we can get the new Genie DVR from DirecTV. We are such TV junkies that having the ability to record 5 things at a time and watch the programs on the living room Genie in the bedroom is very appealing to us.

As promised here is the tip. We recently had a scare on our Norcold refrigerator which luckily turned out to be the cheapest option of a new thermistor. While researching the problem we came across the Acu-Rite Refrigerator Wireless Digital Thermometer (approx. $25 on Amazon), showing here.

With a sensor for both the freezer and refrigerator compartments with a wireless connection to the monitor it is a great idea. The monitor has magnets that are designed for use on the refrigerator but RV refrigerators, and most RVs in general, have hardly any metal for anything magnetic. Luckily in our Cameo there is the bottom part of the convection oven exposed where the monitor sets just fine. If no metal there is a stand that clicks open. What we also like about it is that you can set individual alarms for each area so you know when problems are occurring. We have used it so far to monitor the temperature so we can get the right temperature setting. A neat gadget for RVs and homes alike that is not that expensive.

As the departure date approaches we hope to do more blogging and we will definitely do more once we hit the road again.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Netflix Milestone reached

Peculiar MO (Low 25 Mostly Sunny High 36)

We recently passed a significant Netflix milestone, we have rated over 1,000 entries of the Netflix library. Starting with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" in April 2004 we have rented and returned almost 500 movies and TV shows. There are currently 336 in our queue with another 8 in the saved area waiting to be released. A great way to spend the cold winter days is to watch something from the Netflix envelope.

Speaking of cold winter days the second snow storm dumped almost a foot of snow bringing the 5 day total to almost 2 feet. It has warmed up and the snow is starting to melt so all we have now is either snow or mud. We cannot wait to get out of here and for spring to be sprung.

One of the few bright spots has been our backyard bird cafe. We recently added a "Birdola", which is a big cake that hangs on a bungee cord and is supposed to keep the squirrels away from the cafe. The birds liked the first one and the squirrel couldn't be bothered since he likes the woodpecker cage showing here.

One thing that has worked is a bag of stuff to throw on the ground, the squirrel likes this.

Of course JJ likes to keep track of everything, here he is right up to the window with a Junco on the other side on the ladder.

We have been lax in our reading of blogs and blogging, hopefully when we get back into moving and sightseeing mode that will improve.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Storm Report

Peculiar MO (Low 20 Becoming Clear High 28)

We don't know the official totals yet but unofficial estimates are that the snowfall total yesterday for our area was 10-12".  There was some lightning flashes and thunder during the snowstorm which was kind of weird to experience. 

We cannot take credit for the following photo but since it involved a cat and snow we just had to use it.

"While having breakfast, Kansas City Star videographer Todd Feeback snapped a photo of his cat looking out the window. Then he did the same thing at lunch. Here they are, five hours apart."

 

 

 

We will probably just take it easy today although Bob will have to go outside for just a bit. We, meaning he, lost track of when to dump the black tank and of course the burping started last night. For the non-RVers when the black tank that contains sewage starts getting full the pressure in the tank causes a burping effect while flushing. This is good because at least you know when the tank is getting full but also bad because it always seems to happen about 10 in the evening. In addition to the black tank he will check the big propane tank level and fill the bird feeders.

 

Just another fun day living full-time in 359 sq. ft. in the winter. We cannot wait until we can spend more time outside because we are really starting to get that closed in feeling.

 

Till next time,

 

Bob and Jo

Big Storm on the Way?

Peculiar MO (Low 21 p.m. icy mix with snow later High 31)

There is a "Big Storm" on the way they have been talking about for awhile which makes us wonder if it will be as bad as they say. Seems like the "Big Storms" always seem to peter out but who knows about this one. Our forecast is for 3" to 6" before it is over Thursday night with parts of the metro getting over a foot. The nice thing about being retired is that we will just wait it out catching up on TV shows.

Mr. & Mrs. Downy - We caught this great photo today of the male and female downy woodpeckers at one of our bird feeders in our backyard bird cafe.

The male has the red cap. Downys look alot like the hairy woodpeckers but the hairy is bigger and has a longer beak.

We also remembered we forgot to mention that chickadees are among the many birds in our backyard.

We'll let you know how much snow we get from the "Big Storm".

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

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We Are Not Completely Sold on LED

Peculiar  MO (Low 27 Mostly Sunny High 52)

We have tried, we really have, but we are not completely sold on LED bulbs. Since we do not boondock, which in the RV world is living completely off the grid with no electrical, water or sewer hookups which utilizes a lot of battery power, we just don't need the main advantage of LED light bulbs which is the lower power consumption. The other advantages are that they are easier to change since you don't need to worry about oils from your fingers frying the halogen bulbs and that they give off a lot less heat because of the lower power consumption.

We first tried some very high priced bulbs (>$25/bulb) and we just didn't like the type of light that they provide, we don't feel they are as bright even though they may have had the rating we were looking for. A representative at Light Bulbs Etc., the retail outlet for Light Bulbs Direct, http://lightbulbsdirect.com/, told us that the LED light just does not carry as well as the halogen bulbs we were replacing. Now LED bulbs are also supposed to last a lot longer than halogen but ours failed a little after a year which incidentally was the warranty period.

Next we tried some cheaper versions we found on E-Bay and again we just did not like the light provided, although it was slightly different than the very expensive ones.

We did mention that we were not completely sold on LED but there is one area where LED is performing better than halogen and that is the three bulbs above the sink area in the kitchen. These were always failing but the LEDs have much longer life. It is a much shorter distance from the bulb to the first surface it touches so the fact that the light does not carry as well is not that big of a factor.

Since we are in the area where Light Bulbs Etc. is located we recently visited there and got ten of the 10w bulbs and 6 of the 20w bulbs. The total price for this was a little over $30 or a little more than 1 LED and we got 16 bulbs. Until the price of LED comes down and the light they provide is better we think we will remain as mostly halogen bulb users.

Before we go here is a picture of one of our cats, JJ, sleeping under a piece of fleece. He likes to tunnel under the fleece sometimes and catch some Zs.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Our Backyard Bird Cafe

Peculiar MO (Low 22 Mostly Sunny and Mild High 53)

Subtitled: Small House - Big Backyard

We have added bird feeders to our Backyard Bird Cafe. If we are going to be stuck in the Kansas City area this winter we might as well get a little enjoyment wherever we can find it. We saw another RV'er put out his bird feeders shortly after we started full-timing and that inspired us to get a bird feeder we could hang on the ladder, showing here with winter in full bloom.

We got the bird feeder for the cats but truth be told we think we enjoy it as much or more than the cats. We added a shepherds pole and another feeder and that did us for awhile. While here we decided to go all out and added a sock, small suet and large cage for woodpecker cakes. Here is all the feeders in our 'backyard'.

This winter has been a good birding adventure as we have seen 4 woodpecker varieties; the downy, common flicker, red bellied, and hairy. Along with the woodpeckers we have seen the tufted titmouse, cardinals, juncos, American goldfinch in winter plumage, also the starlings in winter plumage, sparrows, blue jays, and possibly others.

Here is the downy woodpecker.

 

Here is the red bellied woodpecker.

Here is the common flicker.

Here is the hairy woodpecker.

Don't get us wrong we wish we could see these birds in a warmer climate but it has been a bright spot in a winter with not too many bright spots.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo