Kaylee about to emulate a Wood Duckling :)

[American Nomad Patriot]

Kaylee , I'm a little late to the Welcoming party but looks like they haven't turned the lights out yet..but the beer is warm. 
I'm a 13 yr nomad contractor in the oil and gas pipeline industry.  I started with a tiny TT. Now in a bigger/huge TT. Someone told me when I first started this career and was staying in motels (I get $130-$160/ day per diem). "You can't own that hotel room" and "Wouldn't you rather walk on your own floor, sleep in your own bed, etc instead of something a 1000 people have used and was barely cleaned?" and lastly " Get a black light , turn off the lights in the hotel room, and try not to puke when you see the results. "   I never did the black light thing..so not sure if it actually works. Did not want whatever mental picture seared into my head. 
For the last 3 years I have had a constant squealing in my ears as well . Doctor told me that it was a mental thing. And thats why I don't hear it sometimes.  
Anyways, Feel free to ask any questions and make yourself at home. I look forward to sharing life's journey's with each other.  David

[MN C Van]

Looks like she's gone-
There's an awesome spot outside Tofte- AT&T, gravel pit in the woods (no grass/bugs), stuff kinda nearby.
Awesome hiking base- right in middle of North Shore besties!
Mild up here.
Too bad i hadn't discovered it before.

[Kaylee]

First, my apologies for failing to update y'all, particularly after all the kind & helpful support!

After my feasibility experiment, I concluded that "living" in my stationwagon is "possible", and I do have a viable bare minimum to stop working immediately, however it would make a ton more sense to buy a van and have a much bigger financial reserve than I have.
The big tipping point was five (yes 5!) unexpected (albeit relatively minor-ish) equipment failures, all occurring during a one month period.
Soooo, I made the decision to prioritize doing at least one more contract. :\

For more than two months now, I've been in wait mode on a potentially awesome cybersecurity gig, doing work that I enjoy and yet is not stressful (mostly data analysis). Usually, contracts don't take so long (1 to 3 weeks max), so I had figured I'd post as soon as I got word.

Things are still up in the air.
So, I'm still plonked down on a branch, contemplating the rest of the drop.
I've been spending almost all of my time working on some anti-spam programming (one of my volunteer projects), and getting a lot done (found a motel that's genuinely quiet for much of the day - yippee!).

A couple of days ago, I did see a different contract job that I'm well qualified for, but would be stressful (pure programming), however the manager has released some non-trivial open source code, which is promising, and would be a first for me (a lot of IT managers are bottom feeders).

I'm going to give it one more full week, and if nothing promising comes up, I'm going to "hop" off my little safe-ish branch (a remarkably quiet indie motel in Wisconsin), and head West, while still continuing to look for a contract.

It was a lot easier making this decision, knowing that vehicledwelling is possible, and that there's a great & supportive community out here!


P.S. One of the failures was a tire puncture, which was the fourth on that particular tire, so they had to replace it. I view that as a Badge Of Boondockingness - birders, we know how to flatten tires!

[Motrukdriver]

The tire wasn't really flat, someone just stole all the air out of it. Compressed air is high dollar on the black market ya know...

[Xanthorhizas]

"...Has everyone seen videos of Wood Duck ducklings leaving their birth nests for the first time?
Wood Ducks nest in tree cavities, fairly high up. Their ducklings peer down, then Leap... then Bounce.
That's how I'm feeling right now. : ..."

Ducklings Jump from Nest 50 Feet in the Air (3m27s)


I just did...amazing! ...and I feel the same...
Thanks! I learned something new!

[Kaylee]

The tire wasn't really flat, someone just stole all the air out of it. Compressed air is high dollar on the black market ya know...

What about dehydrated air?!?

[Kaylee]

Ducklings Jump from Nest 50 Feet in the Air (3m27s)


I just did...amazing! ...and I feel the same...
Thanks! I learned something new!

LOL! Glad to share with you, both the analogy and the life transition!
We'll both get there, eventually.

The longest location I've ever lived in my adult life, was after the car accident, in an old house in the country.
It had great habitat, and I was the only bird feeder in the area, so I "got" some pretty good "yard birds" (i.e. any species which is visible from one's yard).

The absolute coolest was a pair of Wood Ducks who showed up at dawn, and checked out an old raccoon hole high up in a tree that was visible from my work window.
Alas, they left after a few minutes.
Given that the closest pond was quite a long waddle away, I didn't blame them, and was delighted they'd even consider being my Neighbors.

The most terrible sighting was in mid summer, when the fledlings of all my breeding neighbors showed up, and I had the opportunity to learn what they looked like.
One year, a particularly large, and particularly homely fledgling showed up on my favorite tree, and I had a growing Han Solo "bad feeling about this"...

...

...

which was confirmed when "my" pair of Chipping Sparrows showed up, and started to feed the monster.
Yes, it was a Brown-headed Cowbird.

Cowbirds sneak into the nests of other species, remove (thereby killing) one or more eggs, and laying replacement(s).

Chipping Sparrows are my absolute favorite species of sparrows. They're native (non-invasive), brave, no-nonsense (basically ignore humans, neither sucking up to or freaking out at our presence), and esthetically pleasing. They've got a rusty cap with adjacent racing stripes - very distinctive.

I took out the cowbird eggs...

Bless you.

The next summer, "my" Chipping Sparrows showed up with three hungry real offspring.

[Cammalu]

I have quite a few cowbirds here. At least it doesn’t seem like more every year. I don’t believe I’ve seen that kind of sparrow.

I can’t identify all the birds that come to eat but I sure enjoy watching them all.

[MN C Van]

Yikes!
On a tour, a Park Ranger explained the Cowbird's parenting habits.
She said it was illegal to remove their eggs from nests; All but a few birds are protected.
At the same time, she admitted she seriously thought about removing the eggs, and I wondered, by her reaction, if she actually did remove the eggs and just kept it to herself.

If so, I'm with her, and you- But I wouldn't take photos, or post them on the internet.

[Cammalu]

I actually like the cowbirds but I also liked the tiny bird that built the cute nest on the edge of my field... I had never seen that bird before so out went the cowbird eggs. I have plenty of cowbirds.