Generator finally works! Boondocking rainbow photo :)

WELCOME to our new Follower, Mello Mike!  First of all, Mike, thank you for your service to our Country, we appreciate your 24 years of service in the U.S. Navy. It's because of people like you that we are all safe and free and able to enjoy our travels in our RVs.  Mike is very involved in RV activities, restores Airstream travel trailers, and he has many other interests. Check out his blog which has links to his other two blogs.  He also has a lot of information about boondocking in the tabs at the top of his posts.  Thanks for joining Me and My Dog, Mike, we are very happy to have you along on our adventures!  :)

Some other new Followers just showed up at the end of the list, again. Welcome to scott brawner, gerry47_, Woofs n Paws, and Elaine and Rick Cochrane.  I'm sorry if you've been a follower for a while and I missed you - that just happens sometimes. These four followers don't show any photos or information, so I can't add anything else, but Katie and I appreciate you all following along with us - Welcome aboard!

It never seems like much is happening until I wait a few days to post and see all the photos I've saved to my "blog" folder.  Then I have to write a longer post around all the photos. Sorry about that - I just can't seem to write a short post.

I have to show you this photo first - it exemplifies what boondocking means to me.

The Palms and The Rainbow

Boondocking - this photo just about says it all - beautiful.

(I have to admit I did a really poor job of cutting and pasting out the rigs nearby - don't click on this photo unless you want to see the bad editing.  I don't usually do this, but I wanted to be alone in the desert.)

Next some Katie photos.  The first one is poor Katie, not getting enough attention from me (how in the world does that happen when we're together all day?), so she jumped up next to me, and laid her head down on my sweatshirt hood and fell asleep.  Talk about making me feel bad! :(

 Poor unloved Katie.

Katie likes to play ball with a small tennis ball, but she doesn't usually play with her toys.  Yesterday she was acting playful so I took out her squeaky toy, and she played with it for a while, tossing it in the air, chewing on it, etc.

 Katie and her squeaky toy.

This is a pose I see a lot - when I'm talking to her she cocks her head and looks right at me like she's trying to understand.

What?  Oh, okay, I get it.

My generator has been giving me problems, and finally I went in to have it repaired.  It was turning on right away and sounded fine, but it wasn't doing anything - no battery charging, no electrical outlet function.  I had an appointment with an RV place here in Quartzsite, but they didn't want to talk to me, just make an appointment, so I did.

Then yesterday I went in to make sure I had the breaker on the generator facing the right way. Honestly, it was hard to get anyone to just look at it and answer that one question.  Finally the guy behind the service counter went out and looked.  He knew I had an appointment this morning for "service," but no one asked me what I needed to have done.  He quoted me around $200, I'm not sure exactly what that covered, and when he saw the generator, he said, Oh Yea, this is going to cost you at least $300.  We'll have to take the generator out to work on it. I didn't like that, especially when they didn't know what was wrong with it.  He couldn't tell me what they would charge me to change the oil and filter in the generator, either, which I thought was strange.  All I wanted was a ballpark number.

My generator

So I cancelled that appointment and called another place that was recommended, and went in this morning to Bob's Generators.  He works out of this business, Quality RV which is right in town.

Qualilty RV, Quartzsite, AZ

Here's Bob, diagnosing the problem

Here's Bob, fixing the problem.

Bob's Generator
Bob Dummer
www.bobsgenerator.com
(888) 426-2743

Bob looked at it, diagnosed a bad automatic transfer switch, changed it out (without taking out the generator!), changed my oil and filter, and I was on my way, everything working just fine. Thank goodness! And thank you, Bob!

My new Switch

This is the same switch that Ron at the solar place installed for the solar transfer switch, and I know he uses good materials, so I was happy to see that Bob used the same one.

I shouldn't have needed a new filter, but I kept adding oil, and it was draining over into the filter, which was dripping. I was totally overfilling it.  Not good.  So he changed that out, too, and explained to me exactly when and how and how much oil to add.

I asked him about all the maintenance targets that are in my Owner's Manual, and he had good answers for all of the hours/dates listed.  He said changing the oil and spark plugs on schedule are the only ones I need to worry about. With  my generator, some of the scheduled maintenance issues in the manual aren't necessary or applicable, so I should be good for a while.  I highly recommend Bob - he knew right away what was needed, had the new part available, knew all about my generator and how it worked, understood how the transfer switch worked and changed it out with no problem.  He was very nice to work with.

He also said 95 percent of RV owners never read their maintenance schedules in the Owners Manual, so I was an unusual customer asking his opinion and double checking on when I should have maintenance done.  I'll bet all of you read your manuals, right?  My son used to say I was a "nightmare customer," because I read everything, ask questions, want to see how things are done, etc.

Yesterday and today I also went to a local LED light business, which I also highly recommend.

RV Special Things
Len & Chris Bunts
(800) 524-8892
Cell:  (480) 220-3688
rvspecialthings.com 

His prices were lower than the on-line lights I ordered (and unfortunately couldn't cancel in time to stop the shipment). Nice man, knows his business, and now I have pretty much all LEDs in The Palms.  The 4 that I ordered on line will complete my "warm white" lighting, which is FAR nicer and brighter than the cooler, smaller LEDs I got at first. I was glad I only got four of those, I'll keep them as spares.

When we got back to our site, after having our door open while Bob was doing his work for a couple of hours, The Palms was so cold, Katie must have been feeling the chill.  As soon as I got everything set up, I turned on the catalytic heater, and this is the first time she sat in front of it to get warm.  She has her little sweater on, too.

Mom, this is wonderful!

And finally, some nature shots:

It rained yesterday (and today). I drove into Blythe yesterday to check K-Mart for a printer cable, and when I got back it was raining and I saw smoke coming from the fire pit. I walked over to see if the Dingbats had been enjoying a fire in the rain (which is how they got the name "Dingbats") and there were chairs overturned and no people.  The fire was still smoking.  

 Smoking fire - I think they ran when the rain started pouring down!  :)

Last night's moon was beautiful  when it first came up.
Those are the ends of branches along the bottom.

The moon as it was rising  higher, with a few small clouds.

And that's it for today.  It's always such a relief when everything is working well in The Palms, and now my generator is supplying all the power I need to my batteries and outlets, my printer is finally working again with the new USB cord, and The Palms is nice and bright with LED lights, the warm white ones that make everything feel warmer and brighter.  Life is good again!

It's pouring outside right now - from Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone!  :)

Happy Birthday, Gavin! ...Eclipse of the moon

WELCOME to our new Follower caterina serra!  There is no information shown, so I can't plug your blog, but if you have a blog, Caterina, please let me know so I can check it out.  Thank you for following along with me and Katie on our full-time adventures!

It looks like we have other new followers because the number is higher, but the follower grid isn't showing me the new people, it seems kind of out of order, too. If you're a new follower and I've missed you, please leave me a comment and let me know.  Thanks!

Yesterday was my grandson, Gavin's, 7th birthday.  The family went to dinner at Fish House Vera Cruz last night, my favorite restaurant, and today he is having a big party at their house.

 Gavin - playing Catcher in baseball game

I called him yesterday afternoon to wish him a Happy Birthday, and he said there will be 13 kids at his party, games, cake and ice cream, and of course, lots of presents.

Gavin at the Padres' baseball game

Have a wonderful time at your party, Gavin!  Seven is a big milestone - the age of reason.  You're definitely a big boy now and Grammy is very proud of you!

It's been quiet around here the last few days.  Hazel and I have gone into town, and into Parker to the Wal-Mart, Carol took me with her to the library and I checked out a couple of mysteries, and I've meet up with the Dingbats (that's what this group has been called for many years) for the social hour, and that's about it.

We had a total lunar eclipse last night, or I guess it was this morning.  I tried to get some photos of it, but it's so hard to hold the camera completely still, and I don't have a tripod.  I got a couple of pretty good photos, though.  I seem to be able to get very clear photos of the moon early in the evening, but not later as it rises.

Full moon last night as it was rising - I've never noticed the bright spots before.

I wonder if they are solar flares. Click on the photo and you'll see the bright spots.

Beginning of the lunar eclipse

I took 57 photos of the moon, and these two are the clearest I could get. I just couldn't get the camera completely still so almost all the pictures were blurry.  It was pretty cold outside (it was 43 degrees in The Palms, so outside it must have been in the 30s), so I went back in and turned on all my heaters and made a hot cup of coffee.  When I went back out, the moon was gone, it must have disappeared behind the mountains.  It was pretty cool to see the moon slowly changing from the beginning to the full eclipse.

Lunar eclipse almost complete.

The photo below is Carol and her Basset Hound, Dumbledore, who wants to get into Delores' rig.  Katie wanted to go in the other day, too.  I think Delores must have good stuff simmering on the stove, because the dogs sure smell something good.
 
Don't you love the look on Dumbledore's face?  You HAVE to click on the picture to really see it.  He's clearly begging his mom - Please, can't I go in??? Carol is explaining that, No, he can't go in.  We've got some great dogs here.

Dumbledore and Carol

Here's another tree the birds love -

I counted 24 birds, but there might be more.

These two are sunrises yesterday - the colors were beautiful:

Sunrise Friday

We have the most beautiful sunsets here!

The weather the last couple of days has been beautiful, very warm and calm.  No wind!  Still really cold at night, but the days have been great.  More and more rigs are coming in. Most of the spaces along the wash where I'm parked are taken, and more rigs are coming in every day. Still lots of room, though.

And that's about it.  Nice and quiet and relaxing - just like retirement should be!

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

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!   :)