Learning Wordpress – Mark Moeller's Blog

It is amazing how ‘Nuttin continues to evah happen in NewMahket.’ I am posting these photos and continuing to take more. It seems that our yard can be a tough place to grow up. It is enjoyable to watch.

Chipmunker has been active in our yard earlier this season than the past two years as usually we don’t see him until July. The yard is teeming with chipmunks so we don’t mind.

We live at the mouth of the Lamprey River. Here are some pictures of an eagle eating an eel right on our mudflat.

The ground hog babies are already getting big.

We have seen two hen turkeys together so we know we have more than one in the yard.

The bird channel continues to provide entertainment.

Goldfinch

Cardinal

Red Bellied Woodpecker

I would like to introduce a relative newcomer to our menagerie: ‘Violet Rose.’

Violet Rose

And I will leave you with a little air freshener:

That is about all for today.

Mark and Wink

It is late spring transitioning to early summer. We have had a fair amount of rain and have greened up nicely. The bird channel has been active and we have enjoyed our bird watching.

It has been fairly wet and we have had a bumper crop of mushrooms in the yard.

We have seen juvenile foxes multiple times in the general area where a den is known to exist, but haven’t managed to get a picture yet.

The deer are starting to have their fawns. We were aware of the fawns for about a week before they peeked their heads out so we could get pictures.

On one of our walks with Frodo we saw an interesting event. A juvenile bald eagle flew too close to an established Osprey nest and the Ospreys attacked the eagle. It was spectacular to watch. We have also seen the red wing blackbirds chasing the hawks and crows from our yard.

Mark and Wink

Last minute addition. Looking for monks. 🙂

 

Meg hung out one afternoon and took some pictures of birds.

Mourning Dove

Goldfinch

Bluebirds

House Finch

Chickadee

Baltimore and Orchard Orioles

Hummingbird

Brown Headed Cowbird (female)

Catbird

Red Winged Blackbird

TBD

Thomas

The bird channel has been spectacular lately. We will continue to take and post pictures.

Mark, Wink and Meg

Vesuvio dominates the skyline around Naples. It was a prominent feature of our view from Sorrento. Meg expressed a strong interest in climbing it.

So we were off for an adventure. The weather was good at sea level. The guide books said to dress warmly and they were correct as it was windy and chilly at the top. We drove from Sorrento to the park entrance at the base of the volcano. Then we parked and took a shuttle bus to the ranger station and bought a ticket to enter the park for the walk to the top. There are no public restrooms and the park vendors have only two private ones. It was a long wait to use the restroom before were started up to the top.

Then we began our climb to the top. It was a well groomed trail with loose gravel but even so the wind, altitude and slope were tiring. Meg, Mark, Wink and Jim all made it to the top. The views were slightly obscured by low clouds but were stunning and well worth the climb.

Trip to the top

Views of the Volcano

Views from the volcano

Proof

It was definitely a worthwhile experience. Stunning! We saw two steam vents at the top!

Mark, Wink and Meg

We took a 13 day re-positioning cruise on Holland America’s Konigsdam from Fort Lauderdale  to Civitavecchia, Italy. Once we decamped the cruise ship we rented a car and drove to Villa Ada in Sorrento, Italy. We booked the villa using airbnb. This was our second rental using their service. You can Google Villa Ada – Sorrento and get a good introduction to the villa.

Frankly, it was amazing as we had the whole villa to ourselves. There were five of us: Mark, Wink, Meg and James and Kate Carroll (Wink’s brother and sister-in-law). The villa has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and is situated up on a hill overlooking Sorrento. The villa is surrounded by an orchard that includes orange, lemon and olive trees. There was fresh fruit on the trees which we enjoyed for breakfast each day.

Villa Entrance

Villa Rooms

The Kitchen

The kitchen was well appointed and had a stove, toaster, coffee maker, dishwasher, refrigerator/freezer and a clothes washer. We hung the laundry to dry. There were all the dishes needed to prepare and eat meals at the villa when desired.

The villa had two patios and the views were stunning. We predominately used the main patio. The awning extended.

Main Patio

Views of the Bay of Naples from the villa

Nighttime view

We used the villa as a staging area for exploring archaeological sites and museums around Naples. We arrived the Saturday before Easter and many places were closed for the holiday. However Paestum was open, so we drove the Amalfi Coast to the site on Easter. Monday we went to Pompeii, Tuesday was Herculaneum, Wednesday was climbing Vesuvius and Naples Archaeological Museum. We should have added more time, but on Thursday we drove to Florence to another airbnb. We stopped at Orvieto for an hour to break up the trip. James and Wink had been there with their mother years ago and wanted to see it again. It does have an amazing duomo.

We plan to document some of those adventures in the coming days.

Mark, Wink and Meg

We just got back from a vacation in April and while we were gone, Spring happened. The weather since we arrived home has been spectacular. So I thought I would share a few pics of our yard and neighborhood.

Trees in Bloom

Blooms

Thomas

This guy was sneaky and surprised this bird. We were just taking Frodo for a walk when we saw this guy grab a bird from a pine tree. The hawk approached the pine tree from the opposite side of the tree from the perching birds and swooped around to make the snatch.

Heron and Greater Yellow Legs

Mature Bald Eagles

Chipping Sparrow, Robin, Mockingbird and Gold Finches

Just a quiet time in NewMahket and it feels good to be home from vacation. Vacation blogs to follow.

Mark and Wink

The calendar says it is spring here. We are starting to see some buds on the plants and the animals think it is spring but we are expecting 8-13 inches of snow this weekend.  Meg is here and Frodo is still hanging on. So here is the evidence that Spring might be coming….

Turkeys Finding Territory

Deer browsing grass

Possums

Robins are back

Birds- Nuthatch, Red Tailed Hawk, Chickadee, Rose Breasted Nuthatch and Red Winged Blackbird

Squirrel chillin in the sun

Frodo – Hanging in there

Many of the pictures are by Meg.

We got our taxes organized and dispatched to the accountant so that also says the Spring is on the way. We are looking forward to milder weather.

Mark, Wink and Meg

For awhile I thought this was the winter that almost wasn’t. It was very mild through January. If we got snow, it was light and fluffy and easy to deal with.

Hawk

Snow Dusting

The patterns in the snow suggest a struggle. Wondered what happened?

Lunch anyone?

Yes Lunch Anyone?

 

How about Supper?

Oh My!

Meg and I went for a walk after a snow storm. It was an eye opening experience. We saw an eagle on the point. Down by the salt marsh we saw incontrovertible evidence of a fisher cat. That is a very mean weasel that inhabits this area. We have seen the fisher cat twice but never gotten pictures. Their tracks are definitely fisher cat tracks. Since we have seen the fisher cat, we have not seen the foxes. Fisher cats can be really hard on dogs.

Winter

Our porch seems to be three and a half seasons, as long as we have good sun the porch is warm enough for the bird. We also added a heater.

Three 1/2 Season Porch

March – In Like a Lion

Yes – Lunch!

Lunch to go!

Coopers Hawk watching Red Tail Eat

Carry Out

Nor’Easter

Cyrus

Howdy

Mark’s Bday Present

It can be tough living at 27 Lubberland Drive.

Mark, Wink and Meg

Meg and I have a contest to see who can get better pictures of birds. The metric to assess the picture is whether or not you can count the tines on the birds feathers. It is a fairly even contest as we both have the same camera. She got a Nikon P900 for a college graduation present. She spent her Christmas Holiday trying to humiliate me. I will let you be the judge of whether or not you can see tines.

Bluejays

Nuthatch

Chickadee

Titmouse

Cardinals

Finches

Bluebirds

Hawks – frequent visitors

Carolina Wren

Woodpeckers

Seagulls

Eagles

Robin

Squirrels

Junkos

So your job as judges is to count the average tines per picture. I will post some Mark pictures shortly for comparison. We need unbiased judges for this competition.

Mark and Meg

Well, had another one and I just keep feeling older. We made an effort and cooked up a storm. Meg made the birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. The kicker was that it had ‘Tornado‘ Ice layer in the middle. We weren’t the only ones celebrating my birthday.

Pictures

We got a roast beast to celebrate…

Roast Beast

Roast Beast Video Click Here

Dinner is Served

Survived another one.

Mark

(The collections of pictures are galleries, You can click on them and go through the pictures individually.)

much more to come. hopefully?