After being out in the hot sun for a while, it was so nice to pull into a shady site at Riverside Campground, part of Caballo Lake State Park. There are lots of big trees here, and lots of lawn. Still warm, in fact Caballo Lake State Park is usually a few degrees hotter than Elephant Butte State Park, but with the shade from the trees and clouds in the sky, it feels much cooler.
Here's our site - that tree kept the passenger side of The Palms in the shade for hours every day - NICE!
These guys - the squirrels - are all over the place here. Katie got a kick out of chasing them up trees when she got the chance. They sure are cute.
My fear is that they will get into the engine compartment, which happened before. I didn't have any issues with them this time, thank goodness. Although I did have little footprints on the engine dust, so I know some critters did get in. I have blinking solar lights on the ground under the engine, and I think that is keeping most of the critters away.
We walked down to the dry camping sites along the Rio Grande where we've camped before. It's too hot to dry camp now, although there were a couple of people camping there. Sure is beautiful - the river is really up, and we saw a Great Blue Heron. I've gotten a lot of good bird shots in this river in the past, but nothing this year. I didn't see many birds in the river and the Heron flew away as soon as he heard us coming. There were some pretty "sun flowers" here and there along the road:
I ran into
Roxi while at Riverside - she left that day, but we had a nice chat in the morning. She told me about a baby snake in the Ladies Restroom, so we went over so I could see it and get a photo. It was curled up in a tight coil right inside the door jamb. I did get photos, but decided I've posted enough snakes for a while. It's interesting to see them and get a picture (as long as it's safe), but I'm tired of looking at them on my blog. Sorry snake lovers - if there is such a thing, LOL.
I haven't put up a humming bird feeder for a while, but they kept coming around and pecking at my permit decals on the window, so I filled one and hung it. I've never had some many hummers before! Next time I'll post some of the photos I got, but here's one I liked:
From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everyone! :)
Ooooh, your hummingbird photo is wonderful. It's not often you catch two at once. Nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks - I don't usually get more than one at a time. There were tons of hummers here. :)
DeleteGood idea about the blinking light. Are you concerned about driving off and leaving it behind?
ReplyDeleteNo - I never leave without doing a walk-around. I walk around the whole rig and check for electric cord, TV antenna, tire covers, solar lights, and I check underneath the motor home, too, in case I've stashed something underneath during a rain storm. I also have a short list up front that I check every time I leave that has those things plus check cupboards/drawers, drink-camera-phone up front, bird feeders, etc. Once I started driving away while still plugged in to the site's electric post, luckily I looked in my side mirror and saw it before it caused any damage. Now I never leave without doing the full walk-around. :)
DeleteI've had wires under the hood chewed on 2 different occasions. For that reason I can't stand squirrels or chipmunks because they caused me so much trouble and cost money to fix their damage. There are all sorts of remedies bandied about, but my favorite and probably the easiest is to put a fabric softener sheet in there.
ReplyDeleteFabric softener sheets and Irish Spring soap are supposed to work, but the only thing that has worked for me are snap traps and glue traps that I put right in the engine when camped. And the solar lights underneath the truck. If the solar lights don't work and they come into the engine, they get caught. Poor things, but I don't want damage - so far I've been lucky. :(
DeleteShade in this heat sure makes a difference! Love the hummingbird picture Barbara!
ReplyDeleteIt really does look like you grabbed a nice site. I love your picture of the hummingbird. They are certainly fast little birds.
ReplyDeleteYour right about the snap traps. Best to catch them before they do any damage. So far we have been lucky.
ReplyDeleteA snap trap is the only thing that's worked for me too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a nice site.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you bait the snap traps ? Can't wait to see more hummingbird pictures
ReplyDeleteJust a little dab of peanut butter - it seems to work really well. :)
DeleteWhat an excellent site and I do love your humming bird pic.
ReplyDeleteThat shady spot looks nice. Looking forward to cooler weather.
ReplyDelete