Friday, May 28, 2021

We're storing the motor home . . . but it won't be lonely

After our long drive back to Oklahoma from the tip of Texas, we're putting the motor home in storage for a while. We are blessed that we have a first-class place to store it this time. Mark's brother and sister-in-law offered to let us park it at their place. This is the first time the motor home has had a roof over its head since we bought it almost seven years ago. With 50-amp electricity, it is very happy with its home for now.

It has a view of the pond . . .

with the bachelor mallard that has taken up residence here.

There's a resident cat patrolling for mice, and three horses just over the fence.

Even though we're not fans of grackles, this one was almost iridescent in the sunshine by the pond.

The motor home shouldn't be lonely, with the songs of the meadowlark to keep it entertained.



The weather was lovely, and we took a walk down the driveway. Can you see what we found?

Right in the center of the picture above is a killdeer nest with two eggs. We had to do some research to find that the mother killdeer will lay 2-4 eggs over the course of a week or so. The first eggs will lay patiently until the mother begins sitting on the rock nest after all the eggs are laid. The warmth of the mother will stimulate all the eggs to begin forming baby birds at the same time, so they will all hatch at the same time. The mother killdeer is on alert now, and will fake a broken wing to lure any strangers away from her nest. 

We found another nest near the pool, and did more research. Even though the killdeer bird is about the same size as a robin, these eggs are much bigger than a tiny blue robin egg. They have enough food inside to nourish a baby killdeer far longer. So the just-hatched killdeer baby will be much bigger than the tiny, bald, blind, baby robins that must be fed in the nest when they hatch. In fact, these baby killdeer will walk right out of the nest and begin feeding themselves within hours of hatching. We have discovered more of God's wonders just wandering around here!

As the sun sets on the motor home in its storage spot, we are packing our bags to leave without it. But if it keeps its windshield open, it might even see those baby birds as they hatch and leave those rock nests. We're storing it for a while . . . but with all the animals here it won't be lonely.


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