Well, they're not horses, but...

When Hazel and I and the dogs were taking our early evening ride around the campground on Saturday, look what we saw:

A bull!  And yes, that's some bull.  He has horns, too, and blue eyes.  Isn't he beautiful?

When he saw us driving closer, he hid behind this tree. 

This must be the cow of the family.  They were grazing and it looks like she has her mouth full! 

Going along with the "family" theme, this must be the young male.

These two grazed together, and the bull was always a little distance from them.

Notice the notched ears.  I wonder if that is a brand of some kind.

They were munching on the good greens in the Canyonside Campground area, heading toward the tent and pop-up tent campers nearby.

There was a little boy coming back from the showers; he was in his pajamas and carrying a towel.  He was probably around 8 or 9 years old. I noticed he was walking alongside our car, on the driver's side (the cows were on the passenger side), and he kept walking along with us.  At first I thought he was admiring Fleur and Power, Hazel's Greyhounds, but Hazels said, No, he was using us as a shield.  Every time we moved, he moved, when Hazel stopped the car for photos, etc., he stopped, too.  Finally he was near his campsite and ran to it.  He was so cute, and a pretty smart cookie.  He sure wasn't going to be trampled by wild cattle!

Later in our drive, we saw them heading toward the road that leads out of the park.  Going home for the night, I guess. The cow and young bull were already on the road, and the bull was back a bit behind the fenced area with the thick wires between the posts.  Hazel stopped the car to watch him, wondering how he was going to get over the fence.  When he got up to the fencing, he looked at it, then walked back around the fence to the open area next to the road.  Even though it was a low wire, I guess he didn't want to step over it.

I've never seen cattle in the campground, only that one bull going across the dry lake bed down by the lake shortly after we got here.  I've seen evidence of their presence, cow piles here and there, but not up close and personal like this.

I try not to ever forget my camera - you just never know what you're going to come across.

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

"Me and My Dog ...and My RV" dewelldesigns@blogspot.com

Gorgeous Great Blue Herons

I finally got my great shots of Great Blue Herons!  Isn't he beautiful? Just look at that beard.

Almost every day in the early evening Hazel picks me and Katie up and we go for a ride around the campground to give her Greyhounds a good walk.

Hazel and Fleur and Power - exercising the Greyhounds.

We drive through the campgrounds and also along the road by the lake which is at the bottom of the hill where we think a couple of Great Blue Herons are nesting.  Usually when we are driving by, the male is out guarding the area, looking very regal.  I've taken so many photos of him - here are a few of the best I've taken over the last few days.

See how he holds his left foot up, "fingers" stretched out?

His beard isn't puffed out in this photo. 

He usually doesn't move, just stands there.  But I caught him in a big yawn.

This is the terrain on the lower part of the hill.  We think there is a nest in one of the trees behind him.

One day both the male and female were there.  I love seeing Great Blue Herons, from the first one I saw at Santee Lakes June of 2011 during my first month in The Palms to today.  Whenever I see one it makes my day and a good photo is the frosting on the cake.

Male on the left and female on the right.  He looks very puffed up and protective. We've only seen her once.

I think it's interesting that I mentioned the other day I love getting pictures of Great Blue Herons, but hadn't yet gotten a good clear close-up.  Then - waaa laaa - here they are.  I don't know how I'd get a better shot than these.  I love looking at them.  The birds and the photos. 

These are the kinds of pictures I would have used for the front of note cards that I used to enjoy making and giving as gifts when I had a good office set-up at home.

It's a beautiful Sunday at Bluewater Lake State Park here in New Mexico - I hope you are enjoying a beautiful day, too.

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

We're back and up to speed...

And when I say "up to speed," I don't mean fast.  I'm talking about Retirement Speed. :)  We've added a computer and my new Canon camera and two dozen horses and subtracted one cute mouse - and yes, I threw away the D-Con.  Lucky for you all, I lost the photo of the dead mouse.

My computer didn't arrive as scheduled, but it's back now, and I almost have it completely loaded again.  Luckily I have lots of back-ups of my documents, photos, music, and scrap booking graphics.  I own the programs I use, so I just had to re-install them.  It takes time, but I haven't lost anything.  It's sure nice to be back to normal again.  I can soooo tell the difference between the other less expensive HP laptop and this computer, which is an HP ENVY dv6 with an intel CORE i7 processor and a back lit keyboard, which I do use often in the evening.  This is just a better machine and it performs so much smoother and faster - it has better color, better sound, a better keyboard, better features, it's just better all around.  I love this computer; I didn't realize how great it was until it was MIA for a couple of weeks! 

We are in a different campsite this time, one of my favorites on the other side of the campground, and we're settled in again for a while.

The horses that were here a week ago only came that one day so far, and I got some photos with my old camera, but it doesn't have the good zoom lens.  I counted 24 horses, and these are the best of those shots.

Mare with her new foal.

Many of the horses were laying down resting, and there were always horses guarding them.

More horses and their guards.  These were really sleeping, and were laying there for a while. I love the way they are protected by the horses watching them, but also facing different directions looking outward.

 

Mare watching over her colt.  There was another shot which I lost, unfortunately, of a new foal laying down, sound asleep with the mare standing over it, providing shade.  Horses have good instincts, don't they?

These are the horses across the lake, and some cows and bulls, too.

I had a memory card in my new Canon and got some really good closeups, but when I tried to load them into my computer, it said I needed to "format" the card, which meant I had no photos on the card.  I don't know what happened because it looked like I was saving photos, but they were all lost.

Since that first day the horses were here, I've only seen them over on the other side of the lake, a bit too far for close up photos.  Hopefully the horses will be back on this side of the lake soon and I'll get some shots of the new foals before they get too big.  There were 3 or 4 new ones, and a few colts, too.

It's a weekend again, and the RVs and tents are surrounding the lake.  Hazel is volunteering in the Visitor's Center/Office and said this is a really busy weekend.  There are tons of boats out on the lake with people fishing and being towed in rubber rafts and riding little water craft thingies - Skidoo's or whatever they are.  Lot of families, lots of groups, lots of fun.

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