Yesterday Terry and I drove down to Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch at Exit 219 on Intestate 10 to pick up 
a door prize for the rally, and while we were there Terry snapped a few photos of the birds there. As critters go, you’d have to look long and hard to find anything as ugly as an ostrich, but they sure are interesting birds. Did you know that ostrich eggs are both delicious and nutritious? They make some of the fluffiest omelets you’ll ever taste.
The Ostrich Ranch is also home to several miniature deer, 
an aviary full of neat lorikeet parrots, and some miniature donkeys. Visitors can feed the animals, and it is a great place to introduce children to some neat exotic animals.
When we arrived back at the fairgrounds, we discovered that our friends Peter Wray and Andrea Kaye had arrived. What a surprise, we had not expected them! They had new toys that we just got a quick glace at, motorized parachutes of some kind. I need to get back over and have a closer look at them, but I can tell you right now, my days of floating thorough the air have been over for a long, long time!
The fairgrounds are really busy right now, with the annual Gourd Festival happening, and we already have several RVs that have come in for our rally. Yesterday morning George Bruzenak and his wife Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak arrived. Jaimie is the author of the very best book ever written about working on the road, Support Your RV Lifestyle, and will be doing several seminars at the rally. She and her pal Alice Zyetz will also be operating the RV Author’s Co-op bookstore during the rally, where you will find some of the best RVing books available. check out Jaimie’s website at www.rvlifestyleexperts.com
Many RVers have discovered the benefits of belonging to the Moose and Elks. Our membership in the Moose has opened doors to many free and low cost overnight parking opportunities. Besides performing a ton of great work for their communities and the nation as a whole, membership also provides RVers with many overnight parking opportunities. A quick reminder to anyone coming to our Gypsy Gathering rally that Don Hankins will be sponsoring a signup for the Arizona City Moose lodge. If you have been wanting to join the Moose, be sure to contact Don at the rally.
Someone asked if we would be having a seminar on the switch to the new HD television programming. We don’t have that in the lineup, as of now. It looks like the switch from analog to digital (HD) television will be postponed for a few months. Originally the government had ordered all over the air analog signals shut down on February 17 to make room in the airwaves for more public safety communications and consumer wireless networks.
My daughter and son-in-law have a large HD television, but I guess I just don’t get it. What’s all the hype about? We have an HD TV too, but everyday old standard service, and even though everybody raves about how great the picture is, I really can’t see that much difference. Some people have said you need at least a 32 inch television to get the real benefits of HD programming, but we’re more than happy with what we get on our 22 inch television. For us, bigger isn’t always better. I think HD is something we have to have, because the folks pushing it have convinced us that we have to have it.
Thought For The Day – The best sermons are lived, not preached.
misternixter 
Did Terry make you an Ostrich egg omelet?
Hd and Digital are 2 different things. The gov’t is not switching to Hi
Def but only the way the signal is broadcast which would be digital instead of analog. Digital is supposed to give a better
picture and sound but it won’t give you hd unless you have an hd tv. As far as size of the tv they say you cannot tell the difference between 1080 or 720 lines of resolution in a tv smaller than 32 inches but they would still be hi def. Analog resolution is 480. You are probably really confused now.
Anyway, I really enjoy your blog.
Jesse
HD television is High Definition television and you need the 1060 (or whatever it is) version to actually see a difference from standard TV; the 720 version doesn’t provide a noticably better picture. What you are really talking about for the originally scheduled February 17 date is DTV (digital TV). I have the converter box in the RV but am not located where I can get a decent enough signal to use it. Some people rave at the improved picture and say they get channels they didn’t get before. Others are far enough away from the transmitters that they get fewer channels due to digital being all or nothing while analog gives you the degraded picture but at least you have something.
If you are still filling seminar slots, I would love to see session on Troubleshooting Rig Entertainment Systems. I realize there’s no one solution, but many folks ARE trading out their analog TVs, getting “home theatre” surroud audio systems, or adding Sirrus. Maybe there could be a HELP table where folks can sign-up for 1-on-1 solutions. Just an idea….
Sorry to disagree. We installed a 32″ 720p LCD TV in our bedroom, and it is the best thing since sliced bread. Switching back and forth between analog and digital (not necessarily HD) signals shows a pronounced, and sometimes a drastic difference in picture quality, especially in fringe areas where the analog signal is fuzzy.
We are sorry not to be at your rally, and hope it goes well for you. We are on our way to visit the mouse with granddaughters in Orlando. Maybe next year, when we plan to be in the southwest.
I can’t figure out why big government needs to stick it’s nose into my TV watching…this ain’t Russia yet…or is it?
Nick, If you cannot see the difference between a 1080 High Definition picture and regular TV you might want to visit an eye doctor.
My wife could not understand what all the fuss was about HD. I became concerned when she told me that the picture looked the same. She has cataracts. To her a HD and regular definition picture look the same.
I have a 46 inch Sony LCD at home with both standard and HDTV. The difference in picture quality to me is so slight, I usually watch it in regular format just cause it’s not clipped top and bottom. In my fifth wheel I’ve got a 25 inch Magnavox and the picture is just fine to me – albeit a bit smaller than I’m used to. I think the whole HDTV thing is, to some degree, a lot of hype.