1-15-17 --- 7 birds park--I mean 7 islands birding park!

Since the kids have moved to Knoxville, they have become hikers.  Even plan on going on an overnight hike in the Smokey's this summer.  So they asked if I'd like to go to 7 Islands birding park about 30 miles away.  Of course I said yes.  We knew Ken wouldn't do it, but he's content to sit at home with the animals.  But first----breakfast was in order.  So we headed to First Watch and had a great breakfast.

My first quinoa blueberry pancake and hopefully not my last.  Yummmm!

1-14-17  shopping!

The kids had errands to run which was mostly shopping, so I joined them.  We left Ken with the "kids"---Clawdine and Jesse.
Miss Clawdine

Mr. Jesse

1-13-17  walking around the neighborhood:

Since it was Friday and the kids had to work, Ken and I were left to our own devices for the day.  Since it was in the 60s, I decided to take a walk down to the nearby lake.

Looking up at their house as I was turning the corner.

 Looking back at their back yard and extra lot.

1-12-17  off to Knoxville:

After some debate, we had decided to leave on Friday the 13th and spend the holiday weekend with Tim and Faith.  I think Ken was just using that rational as an excuse for staying in ST. Louis a little longer then we "needed" to.  But the weather made it necessary to leave on the 12th instead.  They were calling for a huge ice storm to hit on the 13th.

We did hit rain in Illinois---as always!  But it was above freezing and the farther south we went, the warmer it got.

It was quite foggy, too.

1-9-17  back to Alton and the bird refuge nearby:

Not too exotic, but interesting birds none-the-less, Canadian Geese.  There are a lot of them in the Midwest.

Looking over towards some of the migratory birds---Swans and Mallard ducks.

1-6-17  snow and ice:

Time to head back over to Alton for another eye appointment---Ken's 1 week after surgery follow up.  All went well there.  Other then complaining of a "hairlike" line in his peripheral vision which the Dr. said some people experience and should go away in time---he's seeing as good as ever.  Must be nice to have never needed glasses (except for reading glasses for really small print now)!  I've had glasses since 4th grade.

Since we were out by the river, we decided to check it out.

 We're in a deep freeze right now so the ponds are freezing and the little bit of snow we got is sticking around.

1-5-17  Cold and snowy !!!

Didn't know if we were going to be able to make our pre-arranged lunch date with some Illinois friends of ours because of the snow storm, but the roads were well treated and we made it.  Times like these are when I miss South Florida the most!!!

At least the snow was light and it didn't take us long to plow the driveway.  

 Just a few random pictures from the highway as we headed to O'Fallon, Illinois to meet up with our friends.