Squirrel 2 - Quail 0, and First bonfire of the season

I have a hummingbird feeder on one window, and a bird seed feeder on the other large window.  I'm getting Verdins and hummers at one, but no birds have come yet to the seed feeder.   I bought a huge bag of seed and wanted the birds to get some, so yesterday I decided to toss some of the seed on the ground for the quail.  I was in the kitchen and looked out the window and there were 15 quail pecking at the dirt.  I put the seed in a few places, so they were moving from place to place, and then back again.  I just love the way the look.  Does this look like a very sophisticated hat, or what?

So the quail were having a great time pecking at the seed.

Then our squirrel arrived on the scene.  In the photo below, he's getting ready to spring up at them, and the quail both quickly jumped out of his way before any contact was made.

Then they settled down and seemed to be eating the seed side by side, and everything was okay.

Then suddenly the female came too close, and the squirrel went into attack mode.  It looked like he went flying up and hit her.  The bird flapped and jumped - you can't even see her in the photo below, except some feathers. I don't know if she's covered in the dust, or under the spread feathers.  The male bird fluffed up and spread his tail feathers.

It was over in a second, no one was hurt, and then they ate side by side again.

This little squirrel is so entertaining.  He always seems to be into something, or doing something funny. When I see him, I get the camera ready, because something's going to happen.

Last night I was just lowering my blinds, when I looked out and saw the bonfire.  I couldn't miss the first fire of the season, so I bundled up, put Katie's coat on, and we walked over to join the group.

It was a perfect fire. 

Sitting around the fire, it was nice and warm.

Katie by firelight.  

She didn't know what the heck was going on.

As soon as we got back to The Palms, Katie was ready for bed.  It was early, but she was ready.

Good night, Katie. 

Last night's moon.

Yesterday was a good day in Quartzsite!

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

A little squirrel story for my grandkids

Don't worry if I don't blog for a few days.  Lately it seems like there's so much new happening and I want to get it down or I'll forget.  But I know the time is coming that Quartzsite will not be quite as exciting or new to me, after a few weeks that's bound to happen, and when it does, I won't blog so much. Also, when I go to town and I'm gone all day, I'm usually too tired to blog.  So...  if you don't see a post for a few days, don't worry.  Katie and I are still here doing fine.  But thank you for your concerns, they are appreciated.  :)

The other thing I wanted to say is that I don't mean to sugar coat Quartzsite.  It's new and exciting and very different, and the fun hasn't even started yet.  But it can also be cold, windy, really dirty because fine sand blows into everything. Quartzsite, from my perspective so far, is a great place to live very inexpensively, make friends, and shop for anything and everything you could ever want or  need.  Already it has a carnival atmosphere.  Bring some WARM clothes, warm hats, good gloves and lots of dust rags, and you'll be fine.

I bought two pair of knit gloves today for $2.00, they fit perfectly and are really warm. I also bought a little collapsible rake for $6.  There are definitely some bargains to be had here.

And now for the squirrel story - it's for my grand kids, but you're welcome to read it:

is that a bin of food over there?

I think I'm going to check it out.

Here I go!

Let's see...  What's in here?

OMG!  It's my favorite seeds!

Yum, this is good.

Hee, hee hee.  She didn't catch me!

I'm off to find more food, bye!

This little guy is a Harris's antelope squirrel.  (Thank you, Doug and Shiela!)

Tomorrow I'll post photos of our first campfire of the season, and a squirrel fighting the quail.

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

This and that from The Palms in Quartzsite

The weather hasn't been the greatest the last few days.  It's been overcast and windy for the most part, although today dawned bright and blue, which is nice for the solar panels.  It's been in the mid-forties in The Palms in the morning around 8 when I wake up, and the first thing I do is get the generator and heaters going.  When it's warming up, I turn them off and turn on the catalytic heater until we're warm.

Sunrise yesterday

I've been having a problem with my generator not charging the batteries.  This has been going on for days.  I wrote an e-mail to Ron tonight, my solar guy, to see if he had any suggestions, because he is an RV expert, not just solar, but before I got an answer back I figured it out.  All the "guts" of my solar and my converter are behind my drawers, under the closet.  So I took out the drawers to make sure the converter was plugged in, and it was.  Then I took off the cover of the power center, and lo and behold!  I had a tripped breaker.  I fixed it, and now the generator is charging the batteries again.  Who knew?  I guess I should have, I know if I have too many things on at one time I can trip the switch at the electric outlet in an RV park, and I guess if I'm using the generator for power it's the same thing - too much trips the breaker.  Now I know.

The funny thing is, most of my "issues" are such simple fixes, I just don't know about them yet.  Once I know, then next time it will be a simple fix.  I keep saying to myself, "Rookie mistake,"  "Rookie error,"  when I do something dumb for the first time, or miss one of these simple fixes.  As a rookie I'm entitled. :)

Yesterday I left the campsite and drove in all directions, dump/water was south, propane was north, RV place to check out my generator (service dept is closed on weekends) was west, and grocery shopping, bookstore and laundromat were east.  Everything is minutes away from everything else here.  There is a map of the town that costs a dollar, it's sold everywhere, and it shows all the streets and the main places to shop. Well worth the price.  I highlighted the places I wanted to go, then I went next door and asked Hazel where's the best place for this or that, and she helped me pick out other spots I needed.


Side note:  When I was in the grocery store, I asked if there is a good bookstore in town.  Yes, everyone said.  Right down the street a couple of blocks.  They started talking about the owner of the bookstore, kind of a local legend - and the man who drew the original map of downtown Quartzsite that's sold everywhere. The man next to me said, "I was just there, and he's wearing clothes right now, so it's a good time for you to go."  Apparently, he is often naked.  Hummm...  There are photos of him in his nakedness in the bookstore, and he actually is wearing something - I don't know what it's called, but it's very small, and not a fig leaf.

Grocery shopping is pretty expensive, unless you can find what you want at the Dollar Store.  I can see a trip at least once a month to Blythe or Parker to stock up.

There are a few laundromats in town, the one on Main Street is very large and clean and has a couple of employees watching over things, keeping the machines clean, etc.  They also have showers for $6 for a maximum ten minute shower, and a cafe attached that is supposed to have pretty good food, but I was there between the lunch and dinner, so they were closed.

I left my site around 10 in the morning and by the time I got everything done and back to our spot, it was after 5, and I was tired!

It seems like most people in Quartzsite find an area they like, then a spot they like in that area, and come back year after year to the same spot if they can get it, or close by if it's already taken. The people in my area are a good group and have known each other for years, it seems.  They meet at around 3 or so every afternoon outside someones rig to have a little chat and touch bases.  If you want to go, you're welcome, if you don't - that's okay.  This afternoon around 4 I noticed three people sitting by one of the rigs across the way, and then another neighbor was walking over, so I took my chair and Katie, and we walked over, too.   It's the first time I've walked over and joined them, I guess I was feeling the need for some company.  There ended up being five of us, and it was a nice gathering, but chilly, so after a while we broke up and went back to our warm RVs.

They have a big fire pit kind of in the middle of the group, and if someone wants to light a fire, they are welcome to do so, and anyone interested can bring their chair and join in.  It was the general consensus today that a fire doesn't sound good yet.  Too cold, although tonight it's calm.  I hope the weather gets warmer than it has been, when I first got here I was wearing shorts, but not for a while.  It's pretty much layers now, and my hooded wool coat may become my favorite piece of clothing.

This is our large fire pit.  Behind it is a monument a member made for others who are not here anymore.  Their names are on it.

Our firewood - one of the men got these pallets for us, and cut them up with his chain saw, and we stacked them.

Here are some photos from the last few days:

Katie stole my pillow!

Hummer - grey with darker grey head

This little guy has some red on his breast

 This was taken as a close-up, through my screen. 

It looks like she is carrying eggs?

When these quail run, they stand up tall and run fast.  So funny.

My neighbors - Val, Hazel and Fleur 

Sunset

Good night.

From Me and Katie, who is snugly in bed and fast asleep, have a good Sunday night, everyone!   :)

Katie's beautiful neighbors, and look at this moon from last night

I welcomed Jeff and Sheryl Bright  the other day, and didn't see their blog, but they definitely have one.  Thanks Sheryl for letting me know.  They are in Las Vegas, and staying a bit longer than planned because of Jeff's sprained ankle - ouch!

Hazel and I took our dogs for a short walk last evening.  Aren't they beautiful?  That's Fleur in the front, a female, and Val, short for Valentine, is a male, behind her.  They are both very well behaved.

Fleur is more energetic than Val, who is very laid back, but she is also a couple of years younger.  I think Hazel said they are 8 and 10 (or maybe 9 and 11).  They are rescue Greyhounds.  Such sweet, happy faces, their snouts go on forever.  I'd love to have a rescue Greyhound.  I've heard nothing but wonderful things about them.

Val and Fleur 

We were rocking and rolling last night!  There was a wind advisory for the area, in fact a lot of areas, so I folded up my chairs and laid them down by the door just in case. 

 Female Gambel's Quail

 Ground Squirrel

And away he goes - look at the beautiful colors on his coat.

Common Ground-Dove

 Ringed Turtle-Dove

Last night's pink sunset. 

 Last night's moon - click on it and you can clearly see it's craters.  

It's hard to believe I took this with my Nikon hand held digital camera.

As I said in my last post, I asked Judy which book she would suggest for me to help identify the birds I'm seeing.  She recommended  "The Siblely Guide to Birds."  My neighbor, Hazel, has the book and loaned it to me to try it out and see if I want to purchase it.  She also has the app on her smartphone with the same info the book has, so I could get the book or the app.  I used her book to identify the birds above.  I knew they were quail and doves, but not what kind. I think I am going to get the book.  If I got any wrong, let me know. 

Today is cold and windy.  I was up early to help stack some firewood, but because of the weather and other circumstances, it didn't come off as planned.  I kind of landed in the middle of a group that has come here for years, and they have a large, deep firepit.  More about that later.  For the rest of the day, Katie and I are going to stay inside and keep warm.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Thursday, everyone!  :)

Meeting neighbors, chasing coyotes

WELCOME to our new followers:

AsianGypseh, who is a new vandweller and a comic book artist, per his profile.  That's really interesting - I'd think, depending on the subject of your comic books, that you might gather some interesting things to write about living this lifestyle.  I enjoyed reading your blog so far, good luck with your travels, and thanks  for following along with me and Katie!

Jeff & Sheryl Bright, who aren't showing any information, so I can't plug your blog, but we're love your comments and we're happy to have you along on our adventures!  

DON - welcome to you, too - I don't see any info for you either, but if you have a blog, let me know so I can check it out.  Thanks for following Me and Katie, and signing on to follow our blog.

Welcome aboard to you all!  :)

...and by the way, I got an e-mail from Wandrin Lloyd wondering why I was welcoming him as a Follower.  I follow his blog, and I know he at least sometimes reads mine, because he leaves comments from time to time, and I thought he had decided to become a follower.  Well... my apologies to "Wanderin'," who is not Wandrin Lloyd, whose blog is "Wanderin."  I was a little confused, you can see why, but I apologize to both Wanderin and Wanderin', and want to WELCOME Wandern'.  I think I have that right... Whew.

When I woke up Tuesday morning, there was a Class A rig next to me, and a car, and she was getting situated.  She parked just in the right place, so hopefully there won't be another rig trying to park in between us.

You never know what your neighbors are going to be like, and here, where we're camping for so long, it's even more important that you don't get a bad neighbor.  Of course, you can always move, but I like where I am, and I hoped for the best.

A little while later she came over, and we introduced ourselves.  Turns out she is a solo, too.  I invited her in, and we got to know each other a little.  Her name is Hazel, and she travels with two rescue Greyhounds, beautiful, sweet dogs, and two cats, but I didn't see them today.  She is going to be a fantastic neighbor, I think I really lucked out.  She's been here before and knows the town, where everything is, very knowledgeable about Quartzsite.  She offered to take me shopping to buy an outside rug when she went into town to the post office, and I took her up on it, so an hour or so later, off we went.  We ran a few errands, and I almost completed my shopping list that was on my phone app.   Super nice lady!  I'm going to enjoy having her as a neighbor.

After that I just puttered around, put the rug out and nailed it down, put up more solar lamps outside, re-checked yesterday's blog and hit "publish" and out of the corner of my eye, I saw another coyote.  He was moving behind Hazels rig; he had come up out of the wash, and was soon walking behind The Palms.  Of course I grabbed my camera!  (The photos through the screen didn't work - all screen, no coyote!)

I was keeping my eye on him, because when Katie and I came back from our walk, I noticed a little dog on a leash tied up outside a nearby rig, with no owner around that I could see.

Circling around to the neighbors on the other side

Their coloring sure blends in well.

All of a sudden, the coyote circled around, got down low and looked like he was stalking.  He started slowly running toward the rigs where the dog had been, and I grabbed Katie's leash with the whistle on it, and went running.  I blew on the whistle, and the coyote stopped and looked at me, and kept going, so I blew again and ran toward him, and he turned and went out toward the middle of the camping area.  He was in view for a long time.

When the coyote was across the street, Darlene, my other next door neighbor, came out of her rig with her little dog on a leash, so I warned her to be careful, and we watched the coyote until he was behind bushes and rigs and we couldn't see him any more.   She's been coming here for a while, and had lots of coyote stories to tell, and lost dogs, and dogs coming home hurt, bitten, etc.  There was one dog in the row I'm in, down at the end, she said, who was taken by a coyote when the owner was standing right there with her dog on it's leash.  Whoosh, the dog was gone.  Can you imagine?

I told her about seeing the dog tied up outside, and she knew who's dog it was.  The dog wasn't there then, so I don't know what the coyote was going after, maybe the birds.

This happened right after 4:30, it was still completely light out, so these coyotes are not at all afraid of us (except maybe they will avoid those of us blowing whistles).  I'm not going to let Katie out of my sight, and I got out the SPRAY SHIELD, Animal Deterrent Spray that I had gotten when we were rushed by those dogs a few months ago. I had put it away, but I'm going to keep it handy now, that's for sure.  I put the whistle on her leash handle to protect me if I felt scared about a human that was threatening, but it's nice to know it might also work with animals if you blow it loud enough.

I hope if any of my other neighbors saw me outside blowing a whistle, they didn't think I was trying to gather them all up for the Pledge of Allegiance, or something.

So I met another neighbor, Darlene.  She was really nice, too; everyone here has lots of stories about the people, places and happenings in Quartzsite.  I love hearing all about it.  This is the only time I'll be a complete newbie here at Q, so I'm soaking up the atmosphere. 

When Hazel and I were at the store, I got bird seed for the window feeder I bought last year. I've never used it on the road, but loved it on my slider in the condo.  This is such a good place for birds that I took it out and got some seed.  I also got a hummingbird feeder that has a suction cup for the window, and now we have bird feeders on the couch window and the dinette window.

Almost right away we had a Verdin land on the hummer feeder.

What the...?

Where's the food?

This can't be that hard to figure out...

 Oh, I get it.

I asked Judy which book she would suggest for me to help identify the birds I'm seeing.  She recommended  "The Siblely Guide to Birds."  My neighbor, Hazel, has the book and loaned it to me to try it out and see if I want to purchase it.  She also has the app on her smartphone with the same info the book has, so I could get the book or the app.  She told me this bird is a Verdin, and I looked it up, and sure enough, it is. 

 Sunrise on the Q this morning.

 Doves on a wire.

I thought once we got here, things would become kind of boring, but so far, not so much... It seemed like a pretty full day, and even Katie was tired early.  We seem to be living by the sun coming up and going down, and we are both in bed earlier than usual.

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