Happy 4th of July!

 

We are getting ready to leave – today I’m taking care of tanks and doing the laundry.  Tomorrow morning we are leaving, heading north toward Delores, CO where there are many camping spots. We're going to leave early, do a little shopping in the closest town, then head to a couple of places that I’ve found through blogs and Forest Service websites that look good.

I have various wrap-up photos that I want to post – lots of different subjects.  Since I haven't posted much, they are piling up. 

I’ve taken a lot of bird photos, these are the best, and I think I’ve got the correct names:

 Black-headed Grosbeak

 Isn't he beautiful?

These Whitebreasted Nuthatches, there were a lot of them, caught my attention because they were running up and down the trees in front of The Palms, singing away, pecking at the bark of the trees.  They were very busy.  In reading about them, I learned they were pecking at the bugs and larva in the crevices of the bark.  They were fun to watch, and very pretty little birds.

 

This first little Thrush was minding his own business when the second one came along and started dive-bombing him, then they were flying at each other. 

It looks like he has something in his beak?

My little Katie, as I’ve said before, doesn’t usually have a lot of expression on her face, but this is her “just back from a walk and now I get a treat” face:

 Just look at that big smile!

The way she is laying here makes me think of a deer – and she is at least part Deer Chihuahua:

 This is an interesting plant – I thought it was pretty. 

Squirrel that came through our campsite:

Butterfly (moth?) on flowers.  There are a lot of black butterflies and white butterflies here. 

And finally, I’ve been making my own croutons; I can’t believe how good they are.  Whenever I make a salad, I eat the croutons before I’m done making the salad.  Then I thought, instead of cutting the bread into little squares, why not cut each slice into quarters?  So the other day that’s what I did.  They are such great snacking crackers, and twice now I’ve made them into a dinner.  I put each square on the plate, slathered it with mayo, and added sliced tomatoes and ripe avocados.   OMG, they were sooooo good.  This is a photo, I didn’t make it pretty or cut the tomatoes and avocados evenly, it was already made when I thought about taking a picture.  I got the crouton recipe from the Internet, tried a few and settled on this one – so easy and super delicious!

 Crouton toast treats with watermelon balls - so good. Notice the bite, I couldn't wait.

From me and Katie, Happy 4th of July everyone!  :)