Roadrunners!!! :)

Amazing - last year when I was here at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, NM, I saw some beautiful birds and posted about it.  Parked in a parking lot!

Well, here I am again for four nights (they've set a limit of four nights per motor home) waiting for an appointment at Camping World.  I was sitting here this morning reading blogs and movement out the front window caught my eye.   I looked up and there were TWO ROADRUNNERS!  My favorite bird, but one I seldom get to see.  IN A PARKING LOT???  Amazing.  So here are the best of the photos I took, some of them are fuzzy, but I liked the running and different body positions.  I sure wish they were all clear as a bell:

They were walking and running all over the parking lot and center areas with the bushes, trees and rocks in between the parking spaces.  Right in front of The Palms.

Racing across the street:

This is the only shot of the two Roadrunners together - then they ran off in different directions.

When Roadrunners are running their tail is down, then when they stop, they raise their tail in the air.  This time, he raised his rail up high, then started wagging it from side to side.  I've never seen that before:

Here's the "tail in the air" from the rear, with this little head looking to the right in front of his tail.  I thought the feather detail was pretty - I've not seen the underside of their tail feathers close up before.  Do you think he's mooning me?

Fast running:

Some small birds landed up ahead in his path, and he crept into these grasses and hid until they were gone:

Then they ran across the last parking area and jumped up on the planted area between the parking lot and the golf course.

Bye little guy - I hope you come back!

They sure put on a show for me - nothing like a Roadrunner sighting to make my day!

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

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated

I'M STILL KICKING!

My title today is taken from the text of a cable sent by Mark Twain from London to the press in the United States after his obituary had been mistakenly published. Well I had a similar experience today, no obit, but my death was reported.

I had an appointment with the Social Security Administration this morning.  

After receiving half of my ex-husband's benefit for four years and letting my benefit grow, I'm finally going to reach the great age of 70 - in January - when my benefit stops growing and I can collect it.  It won't ever be more, so January is the time to switch.  I had scheduled this appointment a month ago out of curiously - what was I going to get at age 70?

Then I received the news that my ex-husband had died on August 14.  Since we were married for more than 10 years, I was technically considered his widow, eligible for widow's benefits.  Certainly more than what I was receiving now.  My list of questions to ask this morning changed.  

When I arrived at the office, I was taken back into the office, not in front of one of the windows where you sit and talk through the glass with the SS employee.  I sat down across from Frank, who was very friendly and talkative.  He wanted to know my name, birth date, address, why I was in New Mexico if I had a California address, etc. etc.  I practically told him my life story.  Certainly appropriate questions since I was there to get some personal financial information.  He stood up and said he'd be back, and after a while he came back with some reports.  

He said he believed I was who I said I was, but information had been submitted to the SSA that I was deceased.  My account had been closed and I had no more monthly deposits scheduled.  

I am so glad I made that appointment!  Frank said he would have time before the usual deposit on the third Wednesday to "resurrect" me and see that my account was again open and functioning with my deposit this month increased to my "widow's benefit."  

It turns out MY benefit, because I let it grow until age 70, will be greater than Jim's was when he took it at age 62, so I'll have to make another appointment  in December to switch Jim's over to mine.  Then that's it forever, or until I reach 105 and die, whichever comes first.  :)

Interesting, huh?   

And FYI - this I didn't know - if a person takes 1/2 of a spouse's Social Security at full retirement age like I did, they get 1/2 of the spouse's full benefit.  But a widow's benefit is exactly what the deceased was earning at the time of death.  In my case, since Jim took his benefit at age 62, that's what I get - not his FULL benefit - a difference of about $600 a month.  So, for those of you who haven't started collecting SS yet, it could be important when you DO start.  It might affect your spouse down the road if they are the lower earner.   Every month you don't collect your Social Security after age 62 adds to the monthly benefit.  All the way to age 70.  If any questions, since I'm not an expert nor an employee of SSA, call them.  They are really friendly and don't mind taking the time to answer any questions.  1-800-772-1213

WE'VE LEFT STORRIE LAKE STATE PARK

From the end of May until the 1st of September I've been at Storrie Lake except for a brief stay at Bluewater Lake State Park and one night at Heron Lake State Park.  It's definitely been "The Summer at Storrie Lake."  Katie and I had such a good time with all our friends, Jeanne, Nancy, Annie and Roxi - and also meeting up with new friends, Renee and Patti.  And of course, John.   Farmer John with all his chicks.  It's been really fun getting to know you all and/or getting to know you better.  A Wonderful Summer, for sure!

On our walk the other day Jeanne and I decided Riley should try out Katie's Stroller.  He LOVED it.  So cute.  :)

Katie and I both made new friends a few days before we left the lake, Patti and her three little pups.  They are just darling, and she walks them all together.  Katie got along really well with them, they were just her size. 

Patti's saying - they won't look at you.  All four dogs looking up at Patti - I thought this was cute:

Okay, here we go...  everyone look at the camera:

They were very interested in each other and there was a lot of nose to nose greeting and (the other end) sniffing going on.  Katie doesn't usually meet up with dogs whose butts are low enough for her to sniff.  Patti's dogs were very friendly.  Aren't they adorable?

I thought this was a great looking grasshopper - he was on Katie's stroller when I was packing up.

That's it for now - we're in Santa Fe doing some errands for a couple of days.  It's HOT.  I went to Sam's Club and got a bag of four large Artichokes.  I boiled one of them and it's cooled off a bit and is sitting right in front of me, ready to go - so I'm done blogging for now.  LOL  YUMMMMM!

From me and Katie, have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Update on the baby bird

I really didn't expect the little bird to make it, he was just so small and not moving unless I picked him up.  I checked on him in the nest after a couple of hours, and he seemed in distress - not breathing very well.  When I went back later, he had died.  But at least he had a loving hand holding him near the end - assuming that gave him warmth and comfort and didn't scare him to death.  Anyway, I tried.

Katie and I are in town for three days, and look what I found in our shelter as I was loading the chairs into The Palms for our short drive.  His head is on the left, and the little horn is on his tail.  In the first photo he's stretched out, moving along the wall:

Here he is by my fingers - he's more scrunched up here, between stretches as he moves forward.  He's a big guy - these worms used to give me the creeps, but now that I know the beautiful White Lined Sphinx, or Hummingbird Moth comes from them, they don't seem as ugly:

Here's what they turn into - these photos and more were posted  HERE.

I was so amazed and excited when I first saw these Sphinx Moths.

I couldn't resist two more photos of the goats in the yard behind the campsites:

Every time I see the male, I think of my maternal grandfather.  LOL   I don't know why, maybe the forehead?

And finally two shots of little Katie, and I'm out of photos.  I'd better get out a little more - and remember to bring my CAMERA!

But Mommmmm, I don't want to get up yet!

Every so often, Katie gets frisky and runs into the kitchen and starts messing around with the little rug in there.  Then she stops to see if I'm paying attention - little brat:

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone!  (PBS has a good (I hope) Masterpiece Theater tonight - the first of three episodes.  I'm going to watch...)

Poor baby bird...

When I was outside this morning I noticed something by the truck tire and went over to see what it was.

Isn't he a cutie pie?  He is really small and must have fallen out of the nest.  Look at how pretty his feathers are from his back:

I picked him up and placed him in the crook of a tree:

And he fell out; luckily I caught him.  It was starting to sprinkle, so I brought him into the shelter and semi-wrapped him in a towel to keep the breezes off him and make sure he was dry if the rain really started.  

He wasn't moving except when I picked him up, and then he moved a little and opened his eyes.   When I noticed John was across the road I asked him what he would do, if anything, to save the bird.  I can't feed him or give him water, and while I didn't want him out in a storm, I also didn't want to hide him from his mom.

John said maybe if the bird was in a tree his mom would find him and start feeding him.  Since I had some good trees in the site, I built a nest in one of them that had a good flat area in the crook where the branches began.

I put some yarn on the bottom then cut some grasses for the floor...

... and put the bird in the middle:

Then I put some rocks in the openings so he wouldn't fall out and filled in with more grass.

That's a nice looking nest - for a first try, anyway.  I hope he's comfortable.

Poor little thing.  I haven't seen any adult birds flying around, and when I checked on him after a couple of hours, he didn't seem any more lively.   I hope he makes it, but I'm not too hopeful.

Here are a few more birds from the campsite

 

These little ones were "fighting" over nibbles on the ground:

A little hummer sitting on the truck mirror:

 A Lesser Goldfinch:

And some lovey Eurasian Doves on a post:

Grooming:

So sweet.

Today is our last day here in the park, and tomorrow we'll be joining Nancy and Jeanne in town (Las Vegas, NM).  I need to do laundry while I'm in town, but other than that it will just be hanging out for three days, then back to Storrie Lake for another week.

Here's our site this time around - I really like this one, but most of the sites are good here at Storrie Lake. 

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