Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The cute, the smokey, the Christmassy and the beautiful

Our FIRST burro!  We saw this cute little guy on Monday - he was just standing there, looking down the road.  It seemed like he was waiting for his burro buddies, I remember last year they always travelled in families or groups.  He ignored us until I whistled, then he turned his head our way, but still didn't move.


Katie and I drove passed him on our way to the Christian Service Center.  We were going there to register so I can receive mail at the center.  We spoke to the ladies for a while, found out all about their services, then walked over to the post office to make sure our new phone hadn't arrived yet.  Unfortunately they will be closed from Wednesday through Sunday for the Christmas holiday and the phone wasn't there.  (This isn't a USPS, it's a "service" they perform for local folks.)


On our way back to the site, he was still standing there, so patiently looking down the road.  Hadn't moved a foot.  I'm still seeing lots of hoof prints going past The Palms - these guys, so far, are moving through this campground when it's dark.  As the days get longer, we'll see them more and more.  :)  Isn't he a beauty?






We drove to the little town of Winterhaven yesterday (Wednesday) to pick up my new phone, and on the way back this is what we saw (note the really rough road - about 1/3 of the way we drove between 5 and 15 mph.  I could feel all the screws in The Palms slowly working their way loose with all the rattling going on):



I wondered if the fire was near our campground and whether or not we'd be able to get back to our site.  It turns out, I think it's pretty close, but heard it's a controlled fire.  This is what we saw from our site when we got back around 5:30:


Later:


It looked like the fires were being spread along a line, and some were dying out, others were growing.  This is what I saw this morning:


This was just a bit ago:


Katie and I went out for a walk, and it was raining large ashes on us.  These long black ash pieces are all over the place:


 This is a dust devil of ashes that flew across the ground in front of us:


The last few nights we've had a parade of light drive through the campground.  Honking horns, yelling Merry Christmas, with Santa in the last one.  There were six vehicles, I think,  and they were really cute and Christmassy:




A different setting on the camera would have helped, but you get the idea.

This is my neighbor's site all lit up at night:


Second only to full moons, I love these little sliver moons - this was last night's:


Here is one of our sunsets since we've been here at Imperial Dam LTVA - I wonder what the sunset will look like tonight with all the smoke in the sky?  When I go outside I can taste the smoke, so we're staying in as much as possible.  But I remember some gorgeous sunsets in the past when we were near a fire.


Katie and I wish all of our readers a Very Merry Christmas.  Peace, Health and Happiness.


24 comments:

  1. I love that you share your 'new' kind of Christmas with us. Altered traditions, new ones and your scrapbooking card too! Merry Christmas!!

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  2. Merry Christmas, Barbara. Hope to see you sometime next month.

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  3. Happy Holidays and Best Wishes to you and your dog. We have no wild burros here in the Florida Keys, so we rely on you for burro images! From Both of Us!

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  4. Merry Christmas Barbara and Katie. May you have a wonderful day filled with love and joy. May 2015 be the very best yet!

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  5. Did you get some oats to give the burrows on Christmas? Have a very merry Christmas, you hear?

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  6. We've been down that very same road and it is not good.
    Hope you and Katie have a wonderful Christmas!

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  7. Merry Christmas to the two of you. Ever figure out what the fire was burning?

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    1. Turns out it wasn't a controlled burn. It was a regular fire that they had trouble putting out - it just kept spreading. I'm assuming it was fields of tall grasses, at least in part, that's what some of the long ashes looked like.

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  8. Merry Christmas to you and Katie from all the Dixons. I love your burro.

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  9. and a very merry Christmas to you and your dog...

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  10. Merry Christmas to you and Katie. Love the burro!

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  11. That fire would have had me a tad worried too. Merry Christmas to you!! Hope you've had a wonderful few days!
    Nina

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  12. Merry Christmas to you and Katie from me and my Katie-girl here in MI. We hope you had a very good Christmas!

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  13. Merry Christmas to you and Katie, Barbara! Hope to meet you some time on the road.

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  14. Barbara, Jean told me today there was a fire at Mittry Lake. Perhaps that was what you saw ??

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    1. Yes, I talked to a man who was looking for some free BLM camping areas, because he was asked to leave Mittry Lake due to the fire. He could go back the next morning, but had to be gone for two nights, and was kicked out of the LTVA area the night before. I felt bad that I didn't know of any free areas and suggested asking some of myneighbors who had been camping here for years.

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  15. Here's a link to a Blog where they had to evacuate because of the fire:

    http://missadventuretravels.blogspot.com/2014/12/had-to-evacuate-lake-mittry.html

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  16. I'm wondering if the fellow you talked to who was looking for a place after being evacuated out of the fire area was Doug Lanning. He's on our side bar under Miss Adventure Travels. He drives a Class C towing a Jeep. In his post a couple days ago he mentions about trying to find a free place to stay & talking to some people. All the best in the new year Barbara.

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  17. We also saw some amazing sunsets when we camped at Imperial Dam years ago and especially one after there was a fire in the reeds at Mittry Lake, which we saw when we drove up the mountain. It was amazing to see and have the ash like you have pictured all around our campsite!

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  18. A belated Merry Christmas and a timely wish for a great campsites, health, & much happiness for you in the New Year, Barbara, and for warmth, continued stroller strolls & lots of lizards for Katie. We leave for sunshine & warmth in less than a week! Your blog is the first one I came upon & began readng over a year ago & you opened up a new world for Jim & I--thank you so much! I hope our paths cross one day.

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    1. Thank you, Dawn - I hope we meet up some day, too! Happy New Year to you and Jim! :)

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