10/26/13

Birds and More Birds

It was a busy day today. We took off early this morning for Tacoma, Washington. As I hinted in a previous blog post, we've been interested in getting a camper for our truck that we could use on short trips in lieu of our humongous 5th wheel. We want to keep the 5th wheel for long trips and for when we fly south for the winter. But for shorter trips, we've been thinking of getting a camper. Aside from its more compact size, it would allow us to hitch up our flat bed trailer so we could tow our ATV's or our boat up to the lake in the summer. Yes, we are flush with toys around here. We have several "big boys" hanging around the place.

But to get back to our morning, we drove up to Tacoma, which is a three-hour drive both ways. As it turns out, there is only one brand of camper, Lance, that we could load into our truck bed and still safely tow a trailer. The Lance is lighter than most, and Mike found the best price in Tacoma. So this morning, we drove up to take a look at it, and yes, we bought it. Here's a picture of the interior from their website:


Not much to see because it is small. But it has a slide out on one side that gives us a full extra foot in the dinette area. The door on the left side of the picture leads into a bathroom with a flush toilet, a sink, and a shower. There is a queen bed over the cab and enough headroom to allow us to sit up when we're in the bed. So...there it is. Just in time for our crappy winter weather. We won't take possession of it until November 9th because our truck will need a few modifications. It'll be a fun addition, and the kids can borrow it at times too. A toy the whole family can enjoy.

So as long as we were up in Tacoma, I took the opportunity to find a quilt shop to visit. Oh boy, did I find a good one! I'm excited to tell you about it, but I'll save that for a separate post. 

Once we got home, I finished binding my White Trees quilt...and I've decided on a new name for it: "Snow Birds". Thanks to Janarama for suggesting that name. It fits on many levels, since we are sometimes snow birds in the winter. And here it is:


And now that it's all finished, I'm linking up to the Finishing Party at:


And here are the rest of the birds. These are the latest pictures from my bird cam. I've decided it is working properly now. It just needed a new set of batteries and adjustments to the settings again. Interestingly, the most pictures I've ever seen it take in a 24-hour period was around 120. I increased the sensitivity by decreasing the amount of time between detected movements to 10 seconds, then telling it to take 4 pictures for each 10-second interval. OMG! I ended up with 3,600 images! Don't you know that took some time to wade through. Nevertheless, I got some great shots. Here are just a few of my favorites:






I really like this image below of the two jays fighting over the peanuts.


I like this next one for the way it shows the blue markings on his head. Usually I can only see his black topknot.


When the peanuts were all gone, I switched the feeders around so that the camera was trained on the suet feeder, and I got these great images of the Northern Flicker.


I can't help but think they know they're being photographed. Mike told me it makes a tiny flash just before it shoots the picture to get the bird to look at the camera.



Finally, this little bird, whose name I do not know. I will need to look it up.


And that's about it for today. I'll tell you about the quilt shop in tomorrow's post. For now...I'm tired. Jammie time. Hope you had a good Saturday.

32 comments:

WoolenSails said...

Very nice trailer, would love one like that. The shots came out great and it really captured their, don't touch my food look,lol.

Debbie

sunny said...

Love the bird pics! And I love the snowbird quilt. You've inspired me to take mine to retreat next weekend! Have fun with the new camper.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Congrats on the finish! Lovely camper. What great bird pics - the little one with the cap looks a little like our chickadees.

Samantha said...

My curiosity is peaked since I live near Tacoma and I'm wondering which shop you hit! :D

Camper looks really nice! I also love your birdy pictures.

Sheila said...

Love your new camper. The bird cam is working great. It looks like a black cap chickadee. In our area, they will eat out of your hands. Their song is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing.

MalinisQuilts said...

Your birds are beautiful!

I love your quilt!
I have this book and this one is in my todo list.

Janarama said...

Great name you picked for your beautiful quilt. ; )

Cute little camper. Will you be adding a catio for Smitty and Gracie?

OMG 3,600 pics? Very interesting to see them up close.

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Love your camper, the quilt and the photos.

Quilting Babcia said...

Congrats on your new home away from home! Smitty and Gracie will have a new place to explore and stake out their territory. Will you be able to add a catio somewhere?

Nancy said...

It almost seems as if your birds may have been shy or fearful of the camera when you first put it out and they are now becoming accustomed to it. It is almost like they are posing for you. It's very fun to see such wonderful bird photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Brown Family said...

Can't wait to see which quilt shop you visited! WOW! You did get the bird can working. What lovely pictures!

Andra Gayle said...

Your camper looks like tons of fun! I have been trying to convince my husband to get one for years but he's just not that in to it so I guess I will have to live vicariously...enjoy!

Celtic Thistle said...

Perfect name for your quilt. Great bird photos too, love the colours in those Jays!

Lyndsey said...

The trailer looks very comfortable. I guess this means I will get to enjoy even more travel pictures...yippee. The bird photos are great and show their plumage very will. As for your beautiful quilt, well done a great piece of quilting, I love it.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

The camper looks so roomy, I was surprised! I like the colors too. Maybe your bird cam makes a slight noise that the birds pick up? The flicker is my favorite!

gpc said...

So many fun toys -- great for play dates. :) Your bird pix are amazing. What beautiful critters.

Kate said...

I'm having a hard time of fitting whats in that picture on the bed of a pick up truck. Campers have certainly changed!

Love your bird pictures. You got some great ones!

CaroleM said...

Wow campers have come a long way! Looks really great, and would totally do in a pinch, hey?

Dar said...

Beautiful shots of your new camper. Just curious as to how long it is?
Your Snow Birds quilts turned out beautiful. Good job finishing it so quickly. Fantastic pictures of the birds. The last one looks like our little chickadees here in the Midwest.
Thanks for sharing.

Mary said...

Loving your bird pictures! WOW! What a great way to get pictures. Thank you for sharing these. Your quilt looks wonderful. Great name for it. I think traveling with a trailer would be fun. Can you take your sewing machine along?

Tami C said...

Love your new camper! You're sure to have lots of good times with it. Great that you got Snow Birds all finished. I think it's a great name for it! Love you bird pictures too!

Lee said...

Campers have sure come a long way since the one I (and my 1st husband) had back in the early 80s. But then, that one only fit on a mini-truck so amenities were minimal to say the least. Congrats on your new purchase.

n Carter said...

I love your bird pictures! I'm glad you've got things working better now. How fun! And I like your quilt very much. Have fun with the new camper. It looks pretty cozy. I have a pop-up now, but someday when I can't do all the set-up work involved, I might check into truck campers. I didn't know they have slide-outs on them nowadays, so I just learned something new.

kc said...

Camper looks GREAT! Boy, they sure have come a long way, haven't they? Sit up in bed? And a slide-out to boot? Unheard of! We've been toying with the same idea, only different - a class B+ or C.....just so long as it has a potty, a stove & a place for my sewing machine, I really don't care what it is! (apparently, the washer/dryer combo will have to wait until we win the lottery & can buy a Tiffin, Newmar or American Coach class A. Yeah, our chances might be better if we bought a ticket now & then....

The jays are really, really pretty - we've never seen any but a blue jay, green jay & once, in Florida, a scrub jay (they're endangered there, and really scarce anymore!). I bet the pre-flash is similar to what our cameras do to prevent red-eye, but it seems to get their attention. Maybe there's a slight click, to go with?

Love how SnowBirds came out! You did a nice job on the quilting of it!

otterdaughter said...

Your last little birdie is a Black capped Chickadee. :)

LethargicLass said...

I cannot tell you how much I love your bird camera... so much fun to see all the pics!!

barbara woods said...

Where are you putting your sewing machine?

Michele said...

Yeah for finding a camper and the bird cam photos are great. The new quilt name is just perfect.

Kris said...

Love the tree quilt and the bird pictures are just crazy cool.

Becky said...

Love the quilt, and the bird pictures!

Jane Holbrook said...

Sounds like we are kindred spirits. Great photos. The quilt is very nice. The simplicity is sweet and modern, and so is the super quilting job. I will be back to read your blog again. Happy Sewing.

Amanda said...

Your quilt looks great! I love the red cardinals on the whites.