Down a Two Lane Highway

I recently traveled to my daughter's house. It is a 2 hour drive on an 2 lane highway. I could take the freeway but enjoy the sights along the way. Besides the freeway shaves off only 10 minutes. Why give up beautiful scenery or even dull little towns for nothing but a highway and trucks barreling down on you.

Many interesting sights along that 2 lane highway. And several Lakes and Rivers. One very dear to my heart since it also runs thru my town is the St Joseph River.

This is the St Joe River running thru Mendon, MI

There are several small towns along my drive. One of my favorite towns is Mendon.  This is the Wakeman House built in 1843. (Now a Country Inn) Adam Wakeman named his house the "Queen of the Prairie" I don't know too much about this man except he was born in 1804 and died in 1901 and is buried in the Mendon Township Cemetery.

	The Catholic Church in Mendon is quite interesting,  St Edwards Church

Another interesting little town is Homer, MI

 

Michigan is home to 5 Amish settlements.  And Homer is one of them.

 

Another town I go thru is Union City, MI. A charming town. Here is the Victorian Villa Inn built in 1876 as a private home. 

Union City's famous Riverside Cemetery on the banks of the St Joesph River. Famous for the Civil War Veterans buried here.

 

Some stones date back to the 1700's. A fascinating cemetery!  

Tekonsha, Michigan. Only 712 people live in this town. Many aurora's appear in rural Tekonsha, Michigan. If only I would see one sometime!

Driving down this country highway one sees many old abandoned buildings. This one in Mendon.

 

Don't recall where this is but it is along the way

This looks to be an old school. Wouldn't you love to know it's history of this building and all the others?

I love old barns. I have a collection of about 200 pictures I have taken along my travels. This one is along the highway I take to visit my daughter.

Also along the highway is roadkill. Many many deer and other animals. I once saw a fox dead along the road. Too bad. It was a beautiful red fox not dead long. I have lost track of the count of dead deer .

But I also see life. I have seen a flock of wild turkeys eating, running, chasing each other in a farmers field. There seemed to be about 50. Did you know if  they are wild they are called a Flock if they are domesticated they are referred to as Rafters. Another crazy name for wildlife!

This beauty was sitting on a fence post. A Red-Tailed Hawk

Many more interesting things to see as I travel this Michigan Highway. Stay tuned....

Starting over

Starting over with a new blog. No matter what I did I could not get into my old blog.

So be looking for a fresh new start coming soon!

Meanwhile enjoy these pictures of birds I have seen around my feeders and back yard!

The Baltimore Oriole is a beautifully colored bird. Males being orange and black.
The adult female is yellow-brown on the upper parts with darker wings, and dull orange-yellow on the breast and belly. They mainly eat insects, berries and nectar, and are often seen sipping at hummingbird feeders. Mine always try to drink from my hummer's feeders. Not sure how much they get tho. I also have them at my suet feeders. I do put out grapefruit, oranges and grape jelly.

The Red-Headed is a small or medium-sized woodpecker. The Red-headed Woodpecker is a once common but declining bird species. I think they are a stunning bird.


These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers: they’re adept at catching insects in the air, and they eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later.
Both male and female look the same.

The mute swan is an introduced species in North America. It is now considered as an invasive species. They are extremely aggressive. I was once charged by a male Mute Swan while gardening.
I wasn't aware his family, wife and two babies called cygnets were swimming right near where I was weeding. You know how a feeling comes over you when you feel someone is watching you? Well, someone was...the male mute and was he pissed. I looked up made eye contact and the hissing started. He tried to get over the pier edge but was to bottom heavy. I saw him getting madder at me so I crab walked backwards until I reached my deck. Who knew I could do this? I reached the deck and started yelling for my husband all the while never taking my eye off mad hissing dad.
Dick never came out he said he never heard me. He then had to listen to a mad hissing wife.  No, just kidding. But I did say "didn't you hear me calling you" lol. By the way a Male Mute Swan is called a Cob. The female is called a Pen. Very weird names. I wonder who comes up with these names for birds.
I also had a female Mute sit in my back yard all afternoon one day in April.

  Invasive species or not, they are beautiful!

Can't close without mentioning the beautiful Decorah Eagles I follow. They are almost 2 months now. Seven weeks old. I follow them every day. More on them later......
Dad with his offspring.......

Happy birding....over and out for now!