Goodbye Quartzsite, and miscellaneous photos

We've left Quartzsite.  Thank you all for your concern about us in this heat.  Yesterday late morning I decided we'd better move - it was right after I posted yesterday's blog.  What finally made up my mind was that I was going to take Katie to the local vet, who only takes walk-ins.  She's about due for her shots, and needs a Rabies shot so I can renew her license.  I wanted to ask the vet about her nose, and the way it dries out and turns brown in little spots in this heat, and if there is something I can put on it to protect her nose.  Unfortunately the vet is only open from Monday through Thursday, four hours a day.  After thinking about the temps over the weekend I decided to get to a cooler location and drive north a ways.

By the way, I DO have A/C and I did run it a few times during the day, but unless it was running continuously it didn't do much good.  It cooled the air temps down to the point that I almost needed my sweatshirt, then went right back up when I turned it off.  The breezes coming through the windows did a better job overall.

There are still many RVs there in the different BLM lots, not a LOT, there were maybe a dozen or so where I was, with others coming for a day or two then moving on.  Most people didn't have their generators running much during the day.   I assume the other BLM areas were the same.

So we drove north, and when we got to Wickenburg it seemed cooler here and I knew there were a couple of good places, one BLM in particular,  to park.  I hoped we could stay longer, we have a fantastic site!!, but it's still a bit too hot for us, so we're going to drive north a little more until we find cooler weather.

Here are the extra photos that I liked, but didn't get into the previous blogs in Quail Hill and Hi Jolly.


This is the beautiful water in the canal near Imperial Dam.  When you are camping in the desert, it sure is nice to have something like this nearby.

 Katie liked it, too.

When we were in Yuma to get our escrow docs notarized, I stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch.  It's the first time I've eaten at that restaurant, although I've read a lot of raves by bloggers.  I ordered a fish dish with tarter sauce and cornbread muffins and three sides, coleslaw, baked apples and sweet potato casserole:

I didn't bring my camera into the restaurant, but it took TWO to-go packages to bring back what I didn't eat, and it was enough for two more full lunches.  REALLY A LOT OF FOOD, AND GOOD!!!  And my lunch was less than $10.  :)

Katie was very interested in the burros when they came by.  I said to her, "Do you hear burros?," and this was her response.  So cute!

Shortly after we got to Quail Hill, there was a fire over the ridge - it worried me a little, but the smoke was gone in the morning.

I always sit in the dinette bench seat facing front, but the way The Palms was positioned,  I wanted to see the water across the road, and had to change sides to get that view.  Katie was NOT happy with the change.  Her bed is always in the corner of the other seat, where these storage books are in the photo below, and I was sitting next to them.  I put her bed on the other bench seat and she wouldn't get in it.  She was kind of at loose ends, didn't seem to know where she wanted to be be, and finally found the edge of the seat back and slept with her nose in the corner, behind me.  Poor baby, don't you feel sorry for her?

I have to admit I wasn't as comfortable in my new seat, either, and when I moved to Quartzsite, I went back to my usual seat.  Here's Katie, happily back in her usual spot, too.  :)

These are some of the quail here in Hi Jolly BLM.  They were under my window eating the seed, but two of the males were pretty protective of the same spot and had a little tussle:

This is a quail in the tree next to our site.  They were flying into the tree and eating the tiny yellow flowers.  These are the same flowers the burros were eating at Quail Hill.  This guy did a little flight thing to get this flower and I caught him just right with it in his beak.

I liked this photo of the squirrel.  It was late afternoon and he was searching for food when we went outside and Katie made a short (leashed) dash in his direction.  He ran like lightning across the wash and screeched really loud for along time.  He was MAD!  I sat in my chair and read for a while, then he slowly, carefully came back over the wash and climbed a dead tree stump and looked around to see if he was safe. 

I put out some seed in a plastic bowl I found by the wash.  The squirrels were having a seed fest, but the quail seem to like the seed thrown on the ground better.

And finally, when I switched back to the "new" blogger, I got this message at the top of my screen.  I switched before and liked the new format, but this message worried me and I switched back.  I guess I'm stuck with the new format now, but I have this message each time I go into my "Design" area.  The suggestion that I switch to Chrome doesn't work, as I get the same message in Chrome. 

You'll probably have to click on the message to read it.  Are any of you getting this message?  I don't see that I'm missing any parts of Blogger, and so far am having no problems.  It seems to work the same as the old format.

That's it for today.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  :)

Scorching Quartzsite

You know that old saying, "If you have something to do, give it to a busy person?"  It's so true.  When I have days with nothing to do, I REALLY want to do nothing, including not posting.  I'm sorry if some of you were worried, but Katie and I are fine, just Hot, Hot, Hot, and we're just being lazy and enjoying our days in the desert.

We left Quail Hill on the 15th, the final day our season LTVA permit was good, and I wanted to spend some time at a camping area I've read about, but I just couldn't find it.  Drove down dirt/rock roads here and there along canals and saw some interesting things.  This boat was in a dry wash on one of the dirt roads - bummer for the owner.  It looked like a good boat:

I kept going, and ended up at a dead end - with this truck parked right at the end of the road.  I looked at it, and my chest and shoulders got very tight - instant stress reaction.  It looked like a nice truck, but was covered with mud and dried rain drippings (the dirt doesn't show in this photo).  It looked like it had been there for a while, had a camo backpack thrown on the hood, both the passenger side doors were open, and there was a bunch of stuff in the truck bed.  Fishing gear, etc.  No one was around and I don't think anyone would leave the doors open like that and walk off very far.

I thought either a weirdo was in the area, or someone had done something to the driver and left the area.  It wasn't a wide road, but I got The Palms turned around, watching the area carefully for movement as I got it turned, and as I drove away I saw jeans and boots in the bed of the truck with bare foam cushions under and over the person.  He didn't move as I was driving off, I don't know if he was dead or alive, but I wasn't checking.

I drove into that area at ten mph because of the condition of the road, but I drove out at 20 and was glad to hit the main road!  I decided to drive up to Quartzsite and spend some time at the 14-day BLM land areas.

These are the final photos of birds from the Quail Hill campground area:

Beautiful bird with lots of bright yellow on it's chest and body.

I love shots of birds on a wire.

There were three of these big birds who perched on this wire,

then flew in the winds that came up in the afternoon.

They were beautiful soaring in the winds.

I kept trying for a close-up, clear photo. This is the best one I have.

They swooped down right overhead - just beautiful.

The last few days at Quail Hill were REALLY windy.   The hummingbirds that came by the feeder were buffeted all over, sometimes they couldn't make it to the feeder and flew away. One of the birds was looking like he was sick, his feathers were all weird looking, I couldn't tell if he was sick, or if it was just the wind.

Late Sunday morning I drove into the Quartzsite Hi Jolly BLM area, and parked.  I took Katie outside for a walk and the woman parked nearest to us came over to warn me about the 10-foot snake they have seen twice right next to her rig.  I was hoping to see it and get a photo, but I've kept my eyes open for six days and no picture yet.

I saw a woman walking toward us, and it was Debbie - one of the Dingbats.  She was the last Dingbat to leave the LTVA area and is here until the end of the week.  She came late to Quartzsite this year and I left for my surgery shortly after she got here.  We haven't had a chance to get to know each other very well, but we've been sitting out in the shade every afternoon talking and trying to stay cool.  She's been great company and it's been nice getting to know her.  She plans to leave Sunday, heading north.

 Our Hi Jolly Campground site - they are all starting to look alike, aren't they ?  :)

It has been blazing hot here.  In the 90's, which means high 90's in The Palms.  The forecast is for 101 Saturday and 105 on Sunday and 101 Monday, which is  the hottest weather I've ever been in.  The rest of the month and beginning of May should be a few days in the 80s and the rest in the 90s until I plan to leave.

I've been covering the windows with windshield sun covers and lowering the window covers every afternoon, but it was still a pretty constant 98 degrees inside yesterday afternoon, until the sun went down, then I opened everything up again.  You pretty much have to leave some windows uncovered and open so the breezes can come through, which cools things a little.  Today I'm covering the windows early - I set my alarm to remind me.  I get busy and forget, and all of a sudden I look at the thermometer and it's 94 degrees.  At that point, it's too late.  Hopefully I'll do better today.  I'm learning....

I could leave and drive east or north, but I have a follow-up blood test in a month and need to drive back to California for that, so I'd like to stay in the area until then, if I can stand it.  Then I might head over to New Mexico - that's my new plan - where they have an annual State Park pass non-residents can purchase for $225.  It's good for a year from the date of purchase, and allows camping at sites with electric and/or sewage hookups for $4 each, water is free when available, and primitive no-hookup sites are free.  If I get to New Mexico and buy buy my pass in May, I'll be able to go back next year when Arizona gets too hot, and finish up the pass before driving north again.  Gas prices are definitely going to determine where I go and how long I stay, but that's fine with me.  I have no problem driving less and staying longer as long as I'm enjoying the area.

The sunsets have been especially beautiful this week.

I haven't been to New Mexico yet, and might spend the whole summer there where they have many State Parks and the weather is cooler.  Then when I'm ready, I can come back to Arizona and purchase the LTVA permit again for the winter.  I really enjoyed staying in the desert and can see doing that from year to year as long as I'm full-timing.   $180 for seven months which includes dump site and water is such a good bargain.

I have some photos that didn't fit anywhere in the last few weeks, and I'm going to post them tomorrow just to get them out of my "Blog Photo File."  So tomorrow's post will be a mishmash of unrelated photos then I can start again with new stuff.  :)

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

PS - My condo isn't closing today. :(  We have too many non-owner occupied units, so the borrower's lender wouldn't complete his loan.  My Realtor has a couple of lenders who, hopefully, will take his loan, so we're hoping that will work out.  I'm guessing there are a lot of condos with this problem right now. So  many are being bought up at reduced prices to use as rentals, and that upsets the balance that you want in this kind of housing.  My buyer is also purchasing as an investment unit; the longer this goes on, the more rentals we will have.  When I purchased seven years ago, we were almost all owner-occupied, things have really changed.  UPDATE  Good news - my Realtor just called and my HOA had the numbers wrong, and the rentals to occupied owner units is within guidelines, so my buyer's loan is going through.  It will put us back a few days, and we should close next Wednesday or Thursday. (I have the WORST HOA in the world of condos - the very worst.) 

Surrounded by Burros :)

Welcome to our new Followers:

BarbZee doesn't have a blog listed, but she is following a lot of RV blogs, so she is either an RVer, or might be thinking about it???  Welcome, BarbZee!

Miss Lazee - according to her profile, she and her husband (The Princess and The Cowboy) have been spending summers in Ontario with family & friends and winters in the southwestern states.  The Cowboy has been dealing with serious health issues; they will be returning home soon, depending on how things go.  I've enjoyed reading your posts and have more to catch up on!  My best wishes to you both.

Dr. Kold_Kadavr_faltliner, M.D., who has many blogs, but they don't seem to have an RV theme. Welcome, Dr.!

Welcome aboard to you all, Katie and I are very happy you're following along with us. :)

WINDY, WINDY, WINDY!  This is the kind of weather where I lay in bed at night, hoping I set the emergency brake so I don't end up being blown over the cliff!  Literally!  Yesterday morning I repositioned The Palms so we are now facing the wind with our hood.  Tuesday night it was super windy, too, but we were being broadsided, and last night was better.  It was really blowing again this morning, and there's a weather alert for tomorrow's winds.

Today I had to drive to Yuma to get some signatures notarized.  But... They are ESCROW DOCUMENTS - YAAAAAY!  My condo has sold, and the buyer wants to close by next Friday.  It looks like this offer will go all the way to closing escrow so, although I'm still crossing my fingers, I'm really hopeful.  I needed to get the docs notarized and sent back to the escrow company overnight mail.  They have a week to complete the rest of the transaction.  I'll sure be glad to get this done!

I haven't seen much of my burros, just a couple of distant sightings the last few days, and some braying during the evenings after dark.

Then early this morning as the sun was coming up, I was awakened by a car revving it's motor over and over again - I think it was stuck in the sand by the road - and I looked out  my loft window right down into the face of a burro.  They were coming up the hill and toward The Palms.  It was nice to see them up close again.  They hung around for a while, rested, pooped  all over - to the right, front and left of The Palms (Katie had some new smells on our walks today!), and then sauntered on across the road and over the hill, and they were gone.

I'm leaving Sunday, the final final day for the Long Term Visitor Permit, and I'm so glad I got to see them again before we leave.

Here are some photos from this morning. The first one is so funny.  I loved the face on the closest burro - so funny, look at those eyes:

 First burro:  How do you get this stuff out???

Second burro:  Oh, oh, she caught us!

 This is a baby jack.

Another beautiful baby - I don't know what gender it is.

This is a different group of burros than the two families that came by last time.  There are seven in this group, and six in the other one.  Since I got to see the two families for so long last week, I got to know them better, and these guys are definitely a different group.

 Babies playing.

They walked around and nuzzled each other, looked for food in the fire pits, munched some of the bushes and then surrounded The Palms and just stood there for a while.  We now have burro poop all over the place!  The last times burros were here, none of them pooped.  Just being polite, I guess, and now they feel more at home?

This one was on the couch side by himself.

 

 

These three were in front.

 And these three were outside the dinette window.

 A little nuzzle.

 This group is such a pretty color.  I suppose they could be a family.

 They seem to be such scavengers - the burros always check out the fire pits.

More fire pit munching.

My son Tom sent me some Easter photos.  Here are a couple:

 Tom with Kennedy, Gavin, and Graydin

This is Graydin - Where, oh where, can that Easter Egg be?

I just clicked on the photo above for a good close-up, and noticed the green ribbon in his hair.  He's such a little cutie!  He'll be three this month.

When we went to town we shopped all day again. I have to stop doing that, it's exhausting!  My joints hurt from so much walking, etc.  I stopped at PetCo and got Katie's nails clipped and bought a big bag of food that will last her a while, we went to the Notary Public in an insurance office, then to two post offices (the one in Arizona couldn't get the documents to the title company tomorrow, so we drove to Winterhaven, CA and they promised next day delivery by noon.  

Then a gas station, then Walmart, a Dairy Queen for 3 small hot fudge sundaes for the freezer, a shoe store for Crocs (they didn't have the right color), then back to the gas station for propane (couldn't get them to wait on me the first time), SPCA for Katie's Rabies shot (wrong one, we needed to be at the Spay/Neuter Clinic across town, by that time they were closing and we couldn't make it across town in time).  I think that's all.  I'm going to lay down and read for a while.  Katie is already asleep - I don't know why she is so tired, but she always sleeps a lot after we've been out shopping!

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

Hummingbirds and other local critters

The last few days have been warm, but  not too hot yet, and we've had nice breezes, sometimes heavy winds.

I haven't seen any burros since the last post, so they are roaming elsewhere.  As much fun as it was to have them here, I've gotten a little worried when Katie and I walk.  I've heard from numerous people in the area about how the burros will go after and kill small dogs because they consider them a threat.  When we take our walks, I'm scanning the ground and bushes for snakes and the horizon for burros.  So far I haven't seen a single snake in Arizona, but because of Katie's "alert" bark, I did see this guy outside The Palms.

He was pretty good sized, definitely not a small lizard.  I'd guess he was 18 inches long, or more.

 He looks well fed, doesn't he?

And of course, being Quail Hill campground, we have quail. It may be because I'm not putting seed out, but I haven't seen a lot of them, and they seem thinner and less colorful than the quail at my site in Quartzsite. This one was outside The Palms standing on a large rock, calling out in their distinctive voice.

There are at least three different kinds of hummingbirds.  One is very pretty and rakish looking, kind of like an action figure.  He has fluorescent green feathers on his head and neck, with red feathers coming down under his eyes and cheeks, going back and out out at his neck like a Viking warrior.  Doesn't he look like a fighter?

This is also a very pretty bird - he has three distinct areas of color, like a little piece of art.  He's not shiny, but I think he's the prettiest of the three that have been coming by the feeder.

Then there's this little guy.  He isn't as pretty as the other two, but seems to be the dominant bird; if another bird comes by when he's around, he drives them off.  The other day they flew into my window during their scuffle.

He's not very colorful, pretty much brown wtih a lighter chest, 
and he has spotting on his throat.  

I'm not sure if the following photos are of a different, fourth, bird, or not.  He doesn't seem to have the same coloring as one of the others, but these flying photos are the only ones I have of him.

These hummers come by early in the morning, before I lift the window shade (I can see their shadows flying in to the feeder on the shade), and keep coming back until dark.

Thursday we went over to the Christian Center to register for mail delivery, then we went back up the road to the main LTVA to dump our tanks and take on fresh water, then we drove to Yuma and did some grocery shopping.  I looked at new TVs, but after much deliberation at Walmart and Best Buy, I decided to wait a month or so for the new models to be on the shelves.  I don't want to pay full price for a TV that's been out a year or more, especially when the new ones are just being received by the stores.

It was a really tiring day, we started out at 9:30 and didn't get back to camp until after 6:30, the sun was just going down behind the mountain.  It was good to be back!

I will be here at least a few more days - my daughter is mailing my motor home registration, which expires on the 8th.  I was going to have my mail delivered to the Army base down the road.  I went in on Thursday, it was the first time I've been on a military base.

This is at the left side of the entrance to the Administrative Gate.

The right side has an Army tank. 

You have to show them a photo id, vehicle registration and current insurance card to get in.  Since I have to show a current registration to get on the base, I'll be a couple of days past the renewal date when it arrives, so I couldn't use their post office.  I could have walked onto the base to the post office, but decided to use the Christian Center mail service across the street.  Their post office is open for one more week, very limited hours - one hour per day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, then they close for the season.  So, luckily I'm within the time the registration will arrive, and I'll be good to go.

I just paid my annual motor home insurance, too, so The Palms will be legal and insured for another year.  I can't believe it's been a year since I bought The Palms.  How excited I was last year at this time!!!  A lot of water under the bridge, and a lot of bridges traveled over, since then.

Here are some photos of our site and the area around us:

That's The Palms up on the hill.

 View east from the dinette is of West Pond and the canals down to the dam.

 West Pod?

 Two tiny islands that are often covered with little birds. 
Each day, in the early evening, hundreds of little birds swarm over this area.

 Another view from the dinette window.

Looking up the road is the burned forest area.

My impression from other RVers is that this camping area is very crowded during the season.  There isn't as much desert area as Quartzsite, so when I was there, I could have moved almost anywhere and found a good site to park The  Palms.

 During these last few weeks, there's tons of room around each RV.

Lots of good camp sites right now.

 Katie and I walked across the street to The Pond, 
but I couldn't see a path to the water.

Looking out to the pond was very pretty and quiet and peaceful.

 The Pond at sunset.

Last night I looked out the window and this is what I saw:

It was just beautiful, especially with the sprinkling of lights from the base below.

Those are the photos I've taken during the last week, since I've been here at Quail Hill - with all the burro photos I didn't have a chance to post these before.  

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