Mom passed last week, just shy of 93 years and 2 months.  So, the country roads took her and us to West Virginia for her funeral and a few days with family.  The perfect fall weather allowed us to visit old family homesteads and cemeteries that host grandparents that go back as many as 5 'greats.'

We also drove past the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV but for some reason, nobody wanted to stop there.  Not even with some encouragement.  This building is the 2nd largest cut stone building in the world.  It is second only to the Kremlin in Moscow.  That's Russia, not Idaho.

Henry seized the opportunity to arrange seeds in a bird feeder at his uncle's farm.  The birds were patient but not especially grateful for his efforts.

On the drive back to Florida, we enjoyed a quick visit to West Virginia's famous Babcock grist mill.  The summer drought has left little more than a trickle of a waterfall.

With the late afternoon sun providing a glare that drives photographers crazy, we also visited the New River Gorge bridge.  This bridge is the longest single arch steel span in the western hemisphere at just over 3,000 feet long.  The bridge crosses the New River which oddly enough, is one of the oldest rivers in North America.  Go figure.

The Bridge...

The Gorge...

Further south, we stopped at Gumbo Limbo park in Boca Raton to record our first and last bird for October.  With just 12 hours left in October, we located the Bananaquit feverishly working the park's butterfly garden.  The feverish part comes from the fact that these birds love sugar as much or more than hummingbirds.  These birds are typically found from southern Mexico to Argentina.  But, this one found its way to south Florida.  So, we avoided the 'o-fer October' with lifer number 537 and number 467 for 2024.

We're excited about son, Dr. Nicholas Jolley opening up his own chiropractic and wellness office in Winter Park, FL.  Encore Chiropractic and Wellness is going to be a tremendous success.

Otherwise, its back to house and yard projects for a while.

Milton has passed Key West and we're back to normal.  Being on the fringes of the storm, we experienced winds of 30-50 mph and almost no rain.  No big deal for this area.   Our folks in Orlando and Daytona fared well also. 

So, what do you do when it's windy and you can't take a walk?   You take a nap, of course.

Now, we are hoping we can get to Sanibel next week for what should be several days of exceptional shelling.

 #1 Alabama  35

      Vanderbilt  40

First of all, I didn't realize Vandy still played football.  Secondly, Judson... remember... Alabama can lose 3 more games and still make the football playoff.   So, don't let this loss ruin your wedding.

In other news, birding has taken a backseat to house and yard work along with walks and pool time with Henry and O.G.  However, we did manage recently to get 2 more species for the year including the Smooth-billed Ani shown below.  

Anis are actually cuckoos.  The smooth-billed is found primarily in South America and throughout the Caribbean. But, a few make their way to south Florida each year.

While the YTD tally stands at 466, I'm not sure we'll make it much past this total prior to year end.  A trip to the west coast that might get us to 500 is looking very iffy.