My last - I hope - RV Mod

I'm not a Black Friday shopper.  I guess I might shop on-line today if I needed anything, but I don't.  Do you fight the crowds to get the good pricing on Black Friday?

THANKSGIVING DINNER

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful meal with the people you love. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday at Bluewater Casino in Parker, AZ.  I had dinner with three of the Dingbats, Hazel, Debbie and Carol.  The turkey was fresh roasted and very tasty, and everything was wonderful.  Their gravy was really good, which enhanced the already delicious turkey, stuffing and potatoes.  Even their coffee was better than the good restaurant coffee.  They do a great job in their kitchen! 

Notice the  cream pie?  That's the only thing I didn't like, but I didn't realize it was sugarless when I took it.  There was a table with real pie slices and real whipped cream to top them off, so I went back and got a slice of pecan pie with fresh whipped cream spooned over it. 

My friends couldn't believe I'd never tasted pecan pie before, especially Hazel who is from the South, but this was my first time trying it.  It was sooooo good.  It may have been my first pecan pie, but it won't be my last, for sure.  A wonderful way to finish off a delicious dinner.

COYOTE  SIGHTING

I was standing at my kitchen sink when I looked out the window and saw this guy slinking along, stopping, slowing turning his head back and forth as he scoped out each campsite on the other side of the bushes, and then continuing on.  It was sunset and the sun turned him a beautiful color - at first I thought he was a large fox, he was so red.

I've cropped these photos to give you a closer look at the coyote, but you can see the wheels on the vehicle at the top of the photos.  He was very close to the campsites he was checking out.  He was looking for dinner, and I was glad that - at least this time - he kept walking.  As much as I don't want coyotes near me and Katie, I really do like seeing them in the distance and watching them as they walk along in their desert.

RV MOD - INSECT SCREEN COVERS

This is something I've been planning to do for a long time, and finally got it partially completed.  I ordered Camco Flying Insect Screens on amazon.com to cover the vents to the refrigerator, water heater and furnace on the outside of The Palms.

They were more expensive than I thought they would be - $18.89 for the refrigerator screens, $18.49 for the water heater vent screen, and $14.11 for the furnace. Because I have Amazon Prime, the shipping was free and there was no tax charged, so the total for the three vent covers was $51.49 and they were delivered in two days.

This is the furnace screen.  The furnace and hot water screens come with two little attachers and a small tool that you use to attach the screen to the vent.  It keeps out little critters so they don't enter your appliance and build nests.  I guess if that happens, it can be an expensive service bill.

This one went on very easily - you have to read the directions, figure out where you are going to do the attaching, and then use the tool to get the little hooks in the right places.  The reviews on these things mentioned how hard it is to get the little hooks attached, but I didn't find it to be a problem.

 This is the "before" shot of the furnace vent:

 And here's the "after" shot:

There are three screens for the refrigerator that fit in the openings of the vents and they provide six small ties to attach the screens.  This one was super easy to get done.

See the screens on each vent opening?

This is the little white tie that attached the screen - they provide two per screen.

The screens are supposed to stay put - not fly off on the freeway.  The reviews I read all said they stay very well.  No one had problems with them coming loose.

Then I tried to put on the hot water heater screen, and it was the wrong size.  I specifically ordered the one for my Suburban six gallon heater to be sure it would fit. Reviews of this screen complained that it didn't fit, so I wanted to make sure it would fit mine.  I didn't realize until I got it that it has to be square, not rectangular. This rectangular shape fits fine if I put it on lengthwise, but then it covers the toggle switch that is used to take the cover off, and I don't want to have to remove the screen to take off the cover.

I'm going to have to return it.

Taped up and ready to return. You can see it says "Suburban 6," but it doesn't fit MY Suburban 6.

The Gambler, one of the businesses in town that has a lot of RV things, does have these screens, so when I'm in town today I'll check to see if he has the right size.  I should have bought them all from him a few weeks ago, but when I saw the prices, I thought he was too expensive.  Turns out, he was right on and I ended up paying the same thing from amazon.com and waiting for them to be delivered.  And now I have to return the one I have.  :(

I was going to get an automatic awning while I'm here at Quartzsite, but decided against it.  I've heard good and bad about them, but then I thought, I've never used my awning - I won't miss having it work automatically if I never use it, so why spend the $1,500 that it will probably cost?  If I DID get one, I'm sure I'd use it, but there is always shade outside cast by The Palms when it's sunny out, so if I want to sit outside, I can always find a shady spot, or put my chair under a tree.  I have window coverings to cool the inside.  I enjoy the view of the full expanse of the sky and all the light I get inside my rig which an awning will affect, so I think I'm good on that score.

I can't think of any other upgrades or additions I need - isn't that a good thing?  I think I'm done with my RV mods. :)

MY NEW LOGO

Did you notice the logo on my photos today?  Dewell Designs is a company I was going to use on the road to do on-line resumes and/or use for a word processing business on the web.  I haven't started it yet, maybe I never will, but I decided on Tuesday to make a logo for the business name and put it on my photos.

The idea behind the palm tree and sunshine graphics are twofold.  The palm tree is because I'm most recently from San Diego where there are lots of palm trees, and of course because of  The Palms, the name of my motor home; the sunshine over the "i" in Designs is because I'm living in a Forest River Sunseeker, and also because I follow the sun.

Here are the different versions I made.  Sometimes on a light or dark photo one looks better than the others.  I was going to make transparent logos, but these were more noticeable, so I decided to go with a background and third one looked better with a border. 

Pretty cool, huh?   (I just love this stuff.)

From Me and Katie, have a great Black Friday - if you're shopping today, I hope you find all the deals you're looking for!  :)

Thanksgiving is coming up!

The weather turned cool and cloudy for a few days and now we're back to warm and some wind.  This is the perfect kind of weather, I don't need the heater, and I don't need the A/C. 

You can tell from these photos, there's not much going on - just hanging out, listening to audio books, taking walks, playing computer games, watching TV and Hulu, etc.  I watched the first four episodes of Emily Owens, MD on Hulu Plus last night.  It was pretty good.

Quartzsite sunrise - I don't see many of these! :)

I've had a bunch of people come and go in the nearby campsites.  The last couple to leave, Yvonne and Rich, left this morning on their way to Imperial Dam.  I really enjoyed talking to them.  They have a Dazer II, a little electronic gizmo that emits a high pitched electronic noise when you push the button. It's to stop dogs from barking, and I thought I'd try it out. I ordered one yesterday and it should be here tomorrow.  I don't want it just for Katie's barking, but also for other people's dogs and hopefully it will keep coyotes away, too.  It stops barking and makes the dogs move away from the sound. I'll let you know how it works.

Pallid-winged Grasshopper eating the apple I put out.

The other night I took Katie out for  her last potty break.  It was around 7 pm, I think, and completely dark.  I had on my head lamp for a flashlight and since it was dark, I had Katie close to me.  As she was sniffing around, I turned my head and the light picked up two eyes, glowing eerily about 30 feet from us, right at the edge of our campsite.  I quickly checked where Katie was and looked back; it was still there watching us. It had to be a coyote.  This is about what it looked like - just two bright eyes, much brighter than this:

Really Creepy!

It was very quiet and still and I was surprised Katie didn't pick up any scent or noise.  The first two coyote sightings I had were because of Katie.  She was just laying on the dinette seat and jumped up and started barking both times, so she either smelled them, or heard them.  Otherwise they would have walked right past our site without me being aware of them.

I quickly brought Katie right to my feet and we quickly walked back to The Palms, which was close by.  I was ready to swoop her up in a second if needed.  I have to say, that was pretty scary.

So...  that's the last night time potty break for Katie.  We go for a good walk right before dusk, and thank goodness she has a good bladder, because she waits until around 9 or 10 in the morning before she goes out again.  Her choice, not mine.  I'm always up and busy by the time she's ready to roll out of bed and go outside. 

On Thanksgiving I am going to the Bluewater Casino in Parker with three other women for an afternoon Thanksgiving buffet.  I checked out their website and it looks very good, and it's a very reasonable price, too.  Should be a delicious dinner, and it will be nice to catch up with some of the other women at the Dingbat campsite.

I hope you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Beautiful Quartzsite Sunset

From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  :)

This site has good critters!

Looking out  my dinette window this afternoon, I noticed a movement in the Ocotilla in the rock garden.  I thought it was a woodpecker and got out the camera.  Sure enough, it's a Female Gila Woodpecker, and this is the first time I've gotten a photo of one.  She jumped on the hummingbird feeder and hung on while she had quite a few drinks of the nectar.  Then she flew back to the Ocotilla and pecked on it, then back to the feeder.  She's a beautiful bird.

I have such a gorgeous view. :)

Isn't she beautiful?

And look who else entered the scene while I was watching the woodpecker:

It looks like his cheeks are full of seed.

I'm going to be able to enjoy squirrel antics again this year.  :)

This site has better critters that the first one. I thought when I moved I might not get the good hummers and other birds that were over there, but this is even better.   With winter coming, I'm sure more birds will be flying in for the season, too.  I haven't seen any quail yet...

From Me and Katie, have a good Monday night, everyone!  :)

Moved to the Rock Art Site, another coyote sighting

This morning Katie and I moved a few sites down the wash to the one with all the rock art.  It's a pretty level site with long views out each window and so far I like it.  I loved the other site, but just couldn't get level enough without having to use leveling blocks and I wanted to be able to move in and out easily if I want to go to town or get more water, etc.  That ramp in the middle of the site was just in the wrong place, and with thousands of acres of desert surrounding us, it didn't make sense to dig it all out.  It didn't look like that would help with the leveling problem much, anyway.  So... here we are:

Every site has it's own good points.

This coyote is smaller than the first coyote I saw, but he has some beautiful colors in his coat.

Our second coyote sighting.

 
Here are the best of the bird photos I took the last few days:

Three Mourning Doves on three rocks.

Mourning Dove on a rock.

House Finch eating seed.

 And these are the hummers:

Not much else happening around here.  The weather has cooled down and we've had a lot of wind the last couple of days, so Katie and I are hibernating in The Palms more than usual.  Our new site doesn't have a tree close enough to get good hummer shots, so that might be all for a while.  It sure was fun watching them.  I have the feeder hung in the cactus in the rock art garden, so we'll see if they come around here and if they will be close enough to get some good photos. 

Have a great Sunday evening, everyone!  :)

Coyote Sighting and Rock Art

Yesterday afternoon I looked up from my computer and glanced out the front windshield, and there was a beautiful coyote strolling right in front of us on the road.  It moved most of the way down the road and then turned left, going through the bushes toward an RV.

Beautiful Coyote

Heading off through the bushes

He looks very healthy, doesn't he?  Since we've gotten here, I don't let Katie off her leash or out of my sight.  Unless we are out in the open, I keep her leash pretty short. Sometimes during the night Katie will wake me up barking, and I can hear all the coyote calls, very loud and close.

The site next to us has some beautiful rock art - these are the ones that made it through the summer.  Someone did quite a bit of work on the rocks in the site.

Heart

Native American symbol?

Heart within circles

Flower

Eagle

This looks like Japanese rock stacking - maybe an Inukshuk?

Heart?

Isn't life interesting?

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