Getting ansy to move on...

WELCOME to our newest follower, Deb C.  Deb, you don't show any info or blog, but we are happy to welcome you aboard, and glad you're following along with us on our travels! :)

In addition to Bluewater Lake, there is also a Bluewater Creek on the Eastern side of the park.  I'm sure there are trails down to the creek, but Katie and I admired it from above.

 Bluewater Creek

Well, everyone is gone, and we are again alone in this campground.  My initial worries about having a big family surrounding us - and lots of other campers, too - was unfounded.  They were a really nice group.  Lots of kids and dogs and four generations.  Grandma and Grandpa are 83 and 90 years old, their kids were there, as well as grandkids and greats, too.  The dogs were mostly off leash, the kids were riding their bikes up and down the street, there was constant going back and forth from one campsite to another, and with all that, they were wonderful neighbors.  No yelling, loud music, late nights, a very nice surprise.  In fact, it seems very quiet today and I kind of miss all the people.

I don't need to be a busy-body - Katie takes care of that job for me.  She usually doesn't sit up there unless we're traveling or she wants to be traveling.  If you click on the photo, the close-up will show you all the people in front of one of the rigs.  She sat there for a long time watching them.

We're still suffering from the high altitude, but it's getting better.  The last two days we took long walks around the park, checking out the different campgrounds.  It feels good to be able to walk more, but we're sure happy to get back to The Palms afterward.

Katie is a definite critter finder.  Yesterday she saw this large beetle and stopped and refused to walk any more.  I went back to see what she found (usually it's food) and she was watching this beetle.  We followed it across the street and into the dirt.

I got a couple of good shots of the large birds  in flight this morning.  I think you guys are right, this one is a Turkey Vulture. 

Turkey Vulture

 

I'm not sure if this is the same bird as the one above. It sure looks different from below.
 Note: Per Judy, both photos are Turkey Vultures.  They really have different coloring on the top and bottom. Thanks, Judy!

There are one or two other black birds the same size who soar above us all the time, and swoop down when they see something good.  This is one - he's not a Turkey vulture.  I tried to find him in my bird books, but although he might be a Raven or some kind of Crow, they don't show the light tip on his beak, so I don't know what he is. Per Judy, it IS a Raven! 

Raven

 

I've been watching this cactus - it finally bloomed yesterday.  It's the only one of it's kind I've found on our walks.  Most of the cactus here are the small kind with yellow flowers, like the one below.

More flowers around the park - I know these are kind of boring, but I want to remember them:

Having so many colorful flowers makes our walks more interesting, and also all the birds soaring in the wind, especially on really windy days.

And finally, these are photos taken when we had lots of clouds on Saturday.  The clouds really keep it cooler when the temps are up in the 80's.

 Late afternoon 

Sunset, Saturday evening.

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

It's raining!

It was clouding over late this morning, and it started looking like rain, but rain wasn't in the forecast the last time I looked.  Then, after our afternoon walk, the rain started coming down.  It's stopped now, but the sky is grey so I'm hoping for more.  I'm sure the tent campers aren't hoping for rain, though.

A LOT of campers came into this campground this morning.  This is the most crowded it's been since I've been here.  Lots of tents and RVs, and then a few minutes ago, a huge Cruiser 5th wheel pulled into the campsite below me, entirely blocking my view of the lake out the driver's side window.  It looks like there are a bunch of families meeting up here, because they all seem to know each other.  Lots of walking back and forth, music playing, kids riding their bikes up and down the street, etc.   Since this is Father's Day weekend, they are probably having a family get-together.  I've been lucky until now that it's been so quiet!

The Ranger has driven his truck through this area a few times today, I haven't seen him do that before, so he's definitely keeping his eye on things.  I hope they don't get too rowdy. 

One thing I've noticed about people camping with kids is that they might be kind of noisy during the day, but they quiet down early, which is really nice. 

For the last week I've been thinking I might want to move to the Primitive Camping area. We'd be right next to the lake and near where the horses and donkeys hang around.  If I start to feel I want more space, I might do that this weekend.  We'll see - but with Father's Day, it might be crowded there too, this weekend. 

Other than the rain and the crowd, nothing new to report. I downloaded a free monthly "rental" book from Amazon Prime yesterday and almost finished it last night.  Justice Rules by Thomas White.  It was really good, some unexpected twists and turns, kind of gross in places if you don't mind that, and I finally quit when my eyes were too sore to keep reading.  I read 92% of it (the Kindle Fire doesn't have page numbers, just percentages) and couldn't read anymore.  When I post this, I'm going to finish that book and start another.

Well, after I fix an early dinner.  I skipped lunch, it's 4:30, and I'm starved. I'm thinking a fried egg sandwich and a fruit salad.  :)

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

Roadrunner Mug and a New Toy!

WELCOME to our new Follower, Carolyn!  Carolyn is a member of the Women Go Solo Yahoo Forum, as am I, and although I'm a lurker, Carolyn often comments, so I've been following her for a while, even before I started following her blog.  (How's that for a run-on sentence.)  She says "I am trying to figure out what to do with me in these final years of my life."  Jeez, Carolyn, you're in your 60's!  Hopefully these aren't  your final years - I'm in my late 60s too, and I plan on at least 30 more!  Carolyn's blog posts are very conversational and have lots of great photos. She has a rig named Homer and has visited 43 states so far.  Carolyn, thanks for following along with me and Katie!

My prize for First Place in the "Mello Mike's 1st Annual Roadrunner Photo Contest" arrived today!  It's bigger than I thought it would be - not only will it be great for drinks, but I can also use it for hot soups or stew; it's big enough around to use as an insulated food mug.  It's really pretty, and I can't wait to use it.

I sent Mike a thank you e-mail, and mentioned that after looking at these photos on the mug, I realized one of the things I like the  most about Roadrunners.  They always look so surprised, or maybe very interested in something.  They seem to have a real expression on their face.

I also got a new Kindle Fire yesterday!  Very exciting!  I've gone back and forth about getting a tablet, I really WANT one, but don't necessarily NEED one, so I just couldn't justify the cost. The one I want, with the keyboard attachment, would have been around $800 or more.  So I started looking at the Kindle Fire.  I have the first generation Kindle.  It's good for reading and I use it all the time, but I wanted something that would connect to the Internet without setting up my laptop.  I wanted it to get e-mail, access blogs, etc., and the Kindle Fire looked like a good deal at $199.

I had some points on my AMEX card to spend, and my daughter and her family gave me an Amazon gift card for Mother's Day (thanks Kristy and Matt!) and I used both toward the purchase price, so I got a very nice new electronic toy pretty inexpensively.

It came around 11 am yesterday, and I spent all day trying to figure it out, get all my books downloaded, get some documents into the "cloud" so I can download them to the Fire.  I want my maps and spreadsheets about parks available when I'm on the road, as well as other information.

I had to call Verizon to set up my phone as a Hot Spot so that I could wirelessly do what I need to do with the Fire.  I want to download as much as I can to the unit so I won't have to use the hotspot much. If I can download some movies and TV shows, etc., then I won't need to use the wireless feature when I watch them.  I'm hoping I can download movies from Netflix.

With the purchase of the Kindle, I got a free month to use Amazon Prime to watch movies and TV shows, but I need the Internet for that, so I'll use my laptop for that feature.  (Of course, anyone can get a free month - they give you 30 days free hoping you'll continue.)

I have a lot to learn about what it will do, and how things work.  I was ready for a new toy that I can have some fun with, and enjoy figuring out.

I also got myself a couple of battery operated fans today when we were shopping.  They'll be nice to have, for sure. I've been wishing I had some that didn't need to be plugged in. Sometimes it's not hot enough for the A/C with the generator running, but a nice little fan would be just right.  

Here are my three new toys - gotta love new toys!

 Roadrunner Mug, Kindle Fire, and Fan

Did I show you our new (3rd) campsite?  It's a good one.

 There's lots of shade by the table in the morning, 

but no shade on The Palms' solar panels.

Between working with the new Kindle all day yesterday, and going to Walmart today, putting away almost $300 worth of food and supplies, gassing up The Palms, then dumping tanks and filling up the water tank, I was really tired when we got back to the campsite around 3:00.  I don't plan to do anything much for the rest of the day, or tomorrow either.

Now we're good to go with everything we need, and more, until we leave here next week to travel to another New Mexico State Park.

Here are a couple of pretty sunsets from Monday evening. They were taken from our campsite; the first is a long shot and the second one is a close-up of the same place where the sun went down.

That's it for today. From Katie and me, have a  great Wednesday, everyone!  :)

I won a photo contest!

When Mello Mike wrote in his blog that he was having "Mello Mike's 1st Annual Roadrunner Photo Contest," I opened my Pictures folder to my Blog Photos, and searched for "roadrunner."  I love seeing those guys running around my campsite, and always try for a photo when I see one, so I had a bunch to choose from.  There was no doubt that I was going to enter the contest.

I'm not a contest person, but a Roadrunner Photo Contest?  That was a no-brainer for me - that day I sent along two of my favorite photos to enter the contest.

Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail letting me know my photo had won First Place!  I've never won a contest before.  Isn't it nice to know that even in your 60's, something special and new can happen if you just make the effort?


Check out Mike's blog announcing the First and Second Place Winners to see the two winning photos.  Thanks, Mike!

You'd better keep your cameras handy - I'm sure there will be a "Mello Mike's 2nd Annual Roadrunner Photo Contest," and maybe next year you'll be a winner!

 Yesterday's Sunset

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

6/18/12 - I thought I might as well post a copy of the photo:

We have Wild Horses!

Katie and I moved to a couple of different sites the last few days because of the beautiful tree that was right over the rig.  I loved that site, but we were only getting great solar for half the day, and once the sun started to move across the sky, the tree blocked the sun. We were still doing okay solar-wise, but I decided I wanted as much bang for my solar buck as I could get.

I also found a dot of tree sap on one of my chairs, and I didn't want sap all over my rooftop.  I went up to the roof Tuesday with some towels and a water squirt bottle and checked the roof for sap.  There were some drops and I cleaned them off, then I cleaned the solar panels, too, while I was up there.  Then we moved to the campsite right above us, it didn't have any trees right overhead, and I had a beautiful view of the tree - in front of my window instead of overhead.  This second site wasn't as pretty, though, and I didn't like the layout.  It was rougher, with lots of little weed-like plants all over the ground.  But a good site for solar and a good view.

We left the second site in the morning yesterday and went to the water and dump stations and took care of that, then I drove around the campgrounds a little to see if I could find a pretty site with good solar possibilities.  I also wanted to check out the Primitive Camping area, which is the free area right on the lake.  There's also a nice campground right above that area, but I liked the campground area I'm in better.

While I was there checking it out, I saw a herd of wild horses near the lake edge.  They were hanging around, eating the grass, drinking the water, and just looking beautiful.  There were two foals in the herd by the water, and another one that looked like a new born foal was a little way off with two adult horses. These are the first wild horses I've seen.  After a year on the road, I'm still having "firsts."

 Here is a long shot of the horses, most of them are in the picture.

 Close-up of some of the mares and stallions and two foals.
It looks like a yearling right in the middle.

 Mare and foal.

Look at this little white foal - doesn't it look like a newborn?

After watching the horses for a while, we drove back to the Ranger's Office area, where the showers are. I decided to check them out, and if I liked what I saw, I'd use their water instead of my newly filled fresh water tank.  (BTW, no more water leaks.  That leak a while ago must have been from the loose black cap on the top of the water tank.)

The showers were old but clean, there are two, one regular and one handicapped.  Since there was no one around and the park was pretty empty, I felt okay using the handicapped one.  It had a lot more room and the shower was larger with a bench to put my stuff on.  I also liked the adjustable shower head.

There is a push button for the water, which lasted about 20 seconds.  The shower was great, and it was so easy to shave my legs with that nice bench!  Much easier than in my little shower.

Then we drove back to our campground and it was completely empty.  I drove slow and checked each site for ease of access, view, and the trees that would affect the solar panels.  Katie and I walk down this road every day, but I was really checking the sites this time.  There is a drive-through site right down from where we were camped that was perfect.  We went back to the second site and loaded up the chairs, solar lights, etc., and went to the new site.  I couldn't believe how long we got input into the solar panels last night.  At 7:00 pm, we were still getting a little input, so I'm really happy with this site, and plan to stay here.

 This is the Primitive Camping area over the Free Fishing weekend.

Right now there are only a few campers there.

If I want to move again, you know, hitch-itch happens after a week or two, I'll go down to the Primitive Camping area for the last few days to see if we can watch the wild horses again.  The Ranger said they also have wild burros here.

The other day Katie and I took a couple of "hikes."  I thought.  There's a trail head at the end of our road right near our site where lots of people park, and walk down with their fishing gear.  Or just walk. I decided to see what was there.  We walked a little way along a narrow trail with a nice drop off on one side.  We ended up at the dam.  It was a nice little walk, but definitely not a hike.

Then we walked to the road above us where I've seen people driving, and I wanted to see what was up there.  There was a curve in the road, and soon as we went around the curve, we saw a turn-around.  Nothing there at all.  So both of our hikes turned out to be a bust.

Probably just as well, since Katie and I are still a bit out of breath.  Some days are better than others, but this altitude is definitely affecting us.  I'm not sick, I feel fine.  It's only when we're walking that I notice a difference in my stamina.  I know there are some nice hikes in the park, but I guess they aren't up here at our end.

 Bluewater Lake Dam

According to the website describing the dam, it's "an arched dam 90 ft high and 500 ft long that impounds 38,500 acre-ft of water. The last time water spilled over the dam was in 1941. The dam is convex in the upstream direction for increased strength, and it is at the mouth of Bluewater Creek in a steep-walled canyon. An overlook at the end of the road through the park facilities offers an excellent view of the dam and canyon. A primitive hiking trail leads down into the canyon below the dam."  I don't know if that's the trail we were on.  It seemed to stop, but there was a sharp turn that we didn't take.  There were big rocks in the way that we could have climbed over, but with the drop off, I was afraid to try.  I couldn't see where it went, but it may be continued on into the canyon.

The man in the photo below was camped down the road from us for a few nights.  We talked a little bit when Katie and I walked past his site; I should have engaged him more.  I'll bet he was interesting.  He had a truck and this sleeping hammock.   He was gone this morning, but my neighbor said he talked to him, and he said, yes, he did sleep in it.  He said all he needs is two trees strong enough to hang it on, and he's set.  I guess it's easier than putting up a tent. I wonder how comfortable it is.  And he had no privacy at all, but I guess he's okay with that.

 Katie and the sunset.

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