Solar install is scheduled! :)

I  originally planned to have a solar installation done last August in Oregon, but the company that was highly recommended, AM Solar, was booked pretty far out, and he suggested I live in The Palms for a while before I make the expensive decision to have solar installed.

Now that I've been full-timing for almost six months, I know I definitely want solar. I think I'll be much more comfortable full-timing and boondocking with solar in addition to my generator.  I want to eventually be able to boondock almost exclusively, and I'm finding I REALLY want my TV and computer on pretty much all day. 

So... I have an appointment for next Wednesday here in Glendale, Arizona with Ron at D & R Family R.V.  I've read about this company in blogs of full-timers who are pretty extreme boondockers, and have also had recommendations from Followers.   It's expensive, but I think I'll quickly recoup the cost by having the ability to boondock comfortably a lot more often I do now.

Ron is going to install a catalytic heater for me, too.  I don't have a lot of room for a hard install. I don't want to have it sticking out on a wall, which would narrow the walk ways.  There might be a place or two it will work on a wall, but I think he's going to tether it, and then when I don't need it I can stow it away.  The way Ron described it, the hookup sounds like what Tioga George has in his rig.  We'll decide when I get there next week and he sees the inside of The Palms.

Once these two things are completed, I'll be able to live off the grid in warm weather or cold weather, which has been my plan from the beginning.  I'm glad, though, that I waited to see exactly how I use my rig, and whether or not I really need the solar and heater.

I think those are the last two things on my to-do list.  Oh yeah, the Oxygenics shower head.  But that's a small mod and one I can do myself.

One of the things I love about having my kitchen in the back of The Palms is that anytime I'm in the kitchen I look out the window, and that's where I often see the animals and birds, etc. As long as my kitchen window is clean, I can get some good photos through the glass without disturbing the little critters. That was one of the first things I did when we set up here, my kitchen window was dusty and dirty, and spotted from the rain. The sun was shining on it, and I could hardly see out.  I don't always keep the windows super clean, but I was glad I did this time.  That's how I noticed the birds and ground squirrel at the leaky faucet.

This afternoon I was at the sink and looked out and here's what I saw.  The burros were on the opposite side of where my rig is than the first ones.  They just wander all over the place, there are lots of fingers of water off the lake, so they can feed and water almost anywhere in the campground. I grabbed my camera and went outside and took a ton of photos, these were among the best, the first ones are close-ups as close as I could get the zoom lens:

I was talking to a man and his son, they are down closer to the lake, and they heard the burros braying, so they went over to see them.  He said there were a few, then more came, more braying, and more came until there were 12 or 13 of them.  He said they were really noisy.  I didn't hear them, but my TV was on and I was further away.  Then they started moving along the side of the mountain until they stopped to eat, and that's where I saw them out the window.

Then I zoomed out:

So I'm looking and snapping, and there's movement at the bottom of my camera lens.  I thought there was another burro on the top of the hill on the other side of the lake, and I snapped, and enlarged the screen and here's what I saw:

I zoomed in again to see if it was a baby burro (burrito?):

And saw the coyote.  Once he climbed onto that large rock and his silhouette could be seen, it was obviously not a burro.

Howdy, pardner.

How neat is that?  I heard the coyotes calling last night, and I'm careful to keep Katie close on her leash, but I didn't think I'd ever see one.

Now I want the burros to come up the road and parade past my campsite so I can see them really close.

Speaking of critters, I'm certain my tag-along mouse is gone. I haven't seen or heard him in a long time, and I have no evidence of droppings.  He must have escaped in Las Vegas the same way he entered The Palms.  Maybe he just wanted a ride to Vegas.  Good bye, good luck, good riddance!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday, everyone!!  :)