Riverside Campground and two ducks and three mice!

Katie and I moved down the road to Riverside Campground, which has nice dry camping sites.  There isn't a lot going on - lots of squirrels around, playing, chasing each other, etc. and they are fun to watch. 

Here are two of them, running around the campsite.

This is the view of the river out my dinette window. 

Katie and I walked down to the river and checked up and down river to see if there were any water birds there.  I don't know if we're too early, but there don't seem to be any exciting birds here yet.  We are a month earlier than last year, so maybe some will be flying through soon.

Katie actually walked down to the water and waded in.  I was surprised.  She did this a few times. 


There are some beautiful trees here.  Lots of Cottonwoods which - true to their names - are shedding tons of white cotton-like tufts that blow around all day long in the wind.  In some places it looks like it snowed.  Also lots of trees like the one below.  They are beautiful with their pink flowers.

The campsites all have trees - see the table in the photo below?  Really nice for tent camping. 

And finally, this water bird below, I'm assuming a kind of duck?  I've searched everywhere for a brown head, black beak, buff chest and grey back and wings.  Nothing.  Do any of you birders out there know what he is?  He sure is pretty.

Judi, of Travels with Emma, guessed that he's a Northern Pintail without the long tail feathers and I think she's right. I found the photos below on-line (gallery.usgs.gov and bird-friends.com).  If our guy above was stretched out and we could see his long neck, he would have the white of his chest continuing up the back of his neck to his head.  And, as Judi said, mine is missing his long tail feathers.  See the pictures below that look like the duck here at Riverside Campground.  Thanks, Judi, I never would have figured it out.  :)

And guess what?  There's another famous bird in the campground!   It's an American Roxi Duck:

I thought I noticed Roxi when Katie and I were walking, but I wasn't sure.  She was camped about 4 or 5 sites down, so I sent her an e-mail and said "I think we're neighbors, do you want to sit and talk, or take a walk?"    She e-mailed back, "No way!  How far do I have to walk to visit?"  She came right over that afternoon, and then we had morning coffee together until the mice arrived.

Katie has a new best friend - lick, lick.  Check out her wagging tail.

We loved meeting Roxi and spending time with her.  She is so sweet and pretty and has the gentlest voice.  Come visit us, Roxi!

We got to meet Annie, too.  She came by to check out Riverside Campground to see if she wanted to come here as her next place and Roxi was showing her the different places to dry camp.  There is also Percha Flats Campground right below the dam, and I've never seen anyone there.  Annie, since you like lots of space, you might like that campground.  It's on the road in to Riverside, but you turn left right after the Ranger's "yard."  You'll see the sign - check out that one, too.

THE MICE

Sunday morning around 2 am Katie and I woke up to a noise I recognized.  Something was caught in a trap under my driver's seat in the truck.  Damn, and we were doing so well.  So I got up, pulled on shorts and a jacket, got a flashlight and my "grabber" tool and went outside.  I unlocked the driver's door and there he was.  A mouse looking up at me caught in a trap.  (The only good thing about this is that it wasn't a squirrel.  That's what I thought was making all the noise.)  Thank goodness I have that grabber.  I grabbed hold of the trap and bashed the trap against a pole, killing the mouse.  He flew onto the ground and didn't move.  Then I baited the trap and went back to bed.

In the morning, I opened the driver's door again, deciding we were going to move back to the parking lot overlooking the lake.  Once I get mice in a campsite, it doesn't seem to stop, so I just move.  When I opened the door, there was another fat little mouse.  I disposed of him, re-baited the trap and shut the door.

I went inside and put some things in my garbage bag under the sink and noticed the Wal-Mart bag holding the garbage had been chewed - a mouse has been in the cabin, too.  I tore everything apart, drawers, cupboards, under the couch, everywhere.  There was evidence of mice everywhere, not a lot and no nests, but still, here and there little bits of evidence, and they ate some of my potatoes in a bag under the kitchen sink.  I can't believe Katie and I hadn't heard a thing.  It all had to have happened Saturday night, because that was a new garbage bag, so I'm hoping I got them all and there aren't any more left inside The Palms.  I disinfected everything, packed up and was ready to leave.

We stopped at Roxi's campsite on our way out to tell her we were heading back to the main campground and drove off.  I'm tired of posting photos of dead mice, so here are some photos of mice that look much happier than the ones I found in The Palms.

Much, much better.  Aren't they cute?

After we got settled in our new spot overlooking the lake, I started thinking about the trap under the passenger seat.  I have my small table and chair and other things on the floor in front of the seat, so I couldn't see what was going on under there.  I moved everything out, and sure enough, another fat little mouse in a trap.  I totally cleaned that area and re-baited that trap and stowed some of the things back in front of the seat, and put others inside the cabin to store inside.  I want to be able to  check under there easily.

We haven't had a mouse for a while, and I thought we were okay, but obviously they've found a hole.  I'll have to go over the rig again and try to find the hole they're using to get in.  Bummer.  :( 

On a lighter note:

WELCOME to our three newest Followers:

Welcome, Gail K!  Her blog, Vagabonding with Gail is so interesting, I spent a lot of time going back into the past posts and really enjoyed them.  Especially the cruise posts.  I love cruising, but it's been a while.  She is in the process of selling her house and downsizing from a 2,000 sf house to a 21 foot RV.  Oh, how I remember those days - Gail, I feel your pain.  But before you know it, you'll be done and on the road.  I'm looking forward to your future posts!

Michael Werk and lesdoll are also new followers, but they show no information to share with you.  Let me know if either of you have blogs I can share with our readers.

Thanks to you all for following along with me and Katie - Welcome aboard!  :)

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