Favorite bird photos from the first 200K page views

This is the second of three posts in which I'm including my favorite photos from Me and My Dog's first 200,000 blog post page views. The first was "animals," which I have to admit is my all-time favorite post.  I just love some of the animal photos I've snapped.

In this post I'm including my favorite "bird" photos, in no particular order.  Before I finished this post, I thought the birds weren't as fun as the animals, but when I was done, after reliving these experiences, I realized these birds are beautiful, and I was really excited when I caught them on "film." I have enjoyed remembering them and where I was when I snapped their photos.

 First the hummers:

 Remember this rakish looking guy?  He's the "masked hummer,"  my favorite hummingbird so far.  This was taken at Quail Hill, one of the campgrounds in the Imperial Dam LTVA in California.

 This hummer was also at Quail Hill.  I liked the way the red on his head and wings matched the feeder. (When I first saw the photo, I thought the red was a reflection from the feeder.)

This hummer was at La Posa LTVA in Quartzsite, AZ.  I liked the way his wings were up and outstretched in this photo

Next, my favorites - the water birds at Santee Lakes RV Park in Santee, CA. I took hundreds of photos of these birds, and Santee Lakes definitely had the most beautiful birds I've seen since I've been full-timing.

This Great Blue Heron was beautiful.  He swooped down and landed right in front of my parked car.

And then he took off over the lake.

Great Egret - these are just beautiful birds.  I think the feathers on these birds are unusual, they just waft in the breeze as they walk along.

This is the same bird, taking off and flying over the lake. I felt very fortunate to have seen this beautiful bird, especially in flight.

This is my all-time favorite bird so far.  A Snowy Egret. He reminds me of an ET with skinny black legs and big bright yellow feet.  I loved watching the Snowy Egrets.

 This Wood Duck at Santee Lakes is one of the most interesting I've seen as far as his coloring and how the colors are displayed over his body.

Remember the dripping water faucet at Lake Pleasant Regional Park in AZ?  It was so far from The Palms, I couldn't reach it with my hose and still be hooked up to the electric post.  But that gave the birds and squirrels free reign over the dripping water. I spent lots of time looking out my kitchen window watching their antics. If you look closely, you'll see another bird with it's beak at the dripping faucet.

I saw this Cedar Waxwing at Villanueva State Park in NM.  I loved his tail feathers.

It's fun to see "bird trees," and this flock of Yellow Headed Blackbirds flew overhead and landed in this tree right in front of us at Storrie Lake State Park, NM.

 I also love "birds on a wire" shots, and this is the best one I've been able to get - it was at Quail Hill.

 I took this shot from the parking lot of Casino Arizona, where were were dry camping, waiting for our solar installation appointment.  I call him my Tuxedo Bird.

Blackheaded Grossbeak at McPhee Campground in Delores, CO.  Big, thick beaks and beautiful colors.

This is a female Gampel's Quail - they were all over Quartzsite and fun to watch.  I had seed out for them, so they came around often along with the squirrels and bunnies.

And this guy, of course, is a Roadrunner.  This photo was the winner of  Mello Mike's First Annual Roadrunner Photo Contest.  These birds are really fun to watch, they run along, stop, raise their tails, look around, and then run on along the sand.

This is a Great Blue Heron flying low over Bluewater lake.

Magpie - Isn't it beautiful?  This bird was snapped at Rockcreek RV Park a Twin Falls County Park in ID.

These two double crested cormorants were often perched on this wire when I drove into and out of Quail Hill,  Imperial Dam LTVA, CA for shopping trips.  I finally got a good photo of them. (Thank you Judy and Hazel for the correct name for these birds.)

 I caught this beautiful Blackbird in flight at McPhee Campground in CO.

Turkey Vulture (or Buzzard) catching the breezes at Bluewater Lake State Park, NM. These are not pretty birds, but they are beautiful in flight.

And last, but certainly not least - remember this bird?  We were at Utah Lake State Park in Provo, UT.  Katie and I were taking a walk along the edge of the lake and saw this bird in distress. There was no one around to help, and I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I couldn't walk away and leave him. I went into the water as close to him as I could get, and could hear him breathing. I finally pulled him in closer using the fishing line, got two rocks and sawed the line as close to him as I could get without freaking him out. It finally broke off and he flew away. I later talked to the Ranger at the Visitor's Center, and he said the bird would probably make it. The hooks tend to dissolve in their bodies.  That was pretty exciting and I sure felt good when he flew away.

American Coot, hooked with a fishing hook and line. Hopefully he survived.

And that's it for now - as it turned out, I had lots more favorite bird photos than I realized.  I guess I DO like my bird photos as much as the animal photos.

The third and final blog post with my favorite photos during the first 200,000 page views will be "other" shots:  campsites, landscapes, sunsets, etc.  Those will be fun to search through. 

Thank you for remembering with me - I hope you enjoyed this walk down my avian memory lane.

WELCOME to two new followers:
Vantramps, who have a '97 Roadtrek.  Their latest blog talks about their new chickens - I loved having egg laying hens, and really enjoyed that post.  Also the post about the mares and new foals.  Great photos, too.  Welcome, Vantramps, we are happy to have you following along with us!

Welcome also to Cactusneedle, who has a blog about her Creations.  Lots of quilting going on!  I've put together some quilts in the past and it's a lot of work, but I'll enjoy checking out her blog to see what's new.  Her interests include needlework, sewing, quilting, reading, cowboy reenacting, and genealogy  Welcome aboard, Cactusneedle!

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

200,000 TOTAL PAGEVIEWS

Last night we hit 200,000 page views. 

Little did I know August 8, 2010 when I posted my first blog post that two years later I'd have 200 thousand page views.  I was excited to have the first one - wow, someone read my blog!  I have my blog set so that my views don't count, so this is a true number, and I thank you all for your interest in me and Katie and The Palms, and our adventures.

As you know from reading my posts, some days have been really fun and interesting, and some have been normal and dull.  Sometimes I prefer the normal and dull, because that's what life is most of the time for most of us. Except the wild burrows, free range horses, and the occasional critter or bird that I get to see.  And the gorgeous sunsets.  Actually I guess most days have something that's interesting, exciting, or fun. Maybe that's why I love full-timing so much.

Traveling down the highway living in a fiberglass box with six wheels has been quite an education and experience so far.  I can't believe I've been on the road almost a year and a half already. It's gone really fast and I haven't once thought about ending my full timing adventure to return to a stable, sticks-and-bricks home.  This surprises me, because I had no idea when I started how I would do - would I really enjoy this lifestyle, or would it be a huge mistake?  But you know what?  I'm really enjoying full-timing.

To all you wannabes and planners out there, the worst part of a cold pool of water is standing on the diving board, fearing the cold.  Jump in!  The water's fine!  And if it really IS too cold for you, you can always climb back out. And you just might surprise yourself and absolutely love being a gypsy.  :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from some of my favorite places; I wouldn't have missed these for anything!  Can you believe how lucky I am to have experienced these in person?

Today I'm posting some of my favorite "animal" photos. It was hard to choose, but these stood out.  In the next two posts I'll include my favorite "bird" and "other" photos.  It sure was fun going through all my pictures to pick out my favorites!

Remember these?

This is my favorite.  

I was so excited when the wild burros approached The Palms.

"OMG! My favorite seeds!"  Remember this little guy? He was so funny.

This was such a fortuitous shot - when I saw this coyote watching the wild burros across the lake, I quickly grabbed my camera and was happy the way the shot came out. I love the way the coyote stands out against the blue water.

This determined little guy tried various positions to get to this seed in the hanging bird feeder.

This is one of many photos I took at Bluewater Lake State Park of mares with their new foals. I was told the herd of 25+ free ranging horses belong to a local Navajo Rancher.

I love this photo of Hazel with her two greyhounds, Val and Fleur, at Quartzsite.

Hazel lost Val to cancer this summer, but still walks Fleur alongside her recumbent bike or her car. 

Always fun to watch, and people love it when she goes by.

Katie playing with other dogs at Quartzsite, AZ. 

Bennie is Denise's dog, and the black dog is Duffy, Don's dog.

I had just arrived at Bluewater Lake and drove down to park by the lake when this herd of horses roared past to get a drink - you can see the lake on the left. I couldn't believe I was so lucky to see these gorgeous animals running by in a herd. Just beautiful!

At Quail Hill, Imperial Dam LTVA, the wild burros visited our campsite and provided a lot of entertainment.  I snapped some great photos of them, click on the link to see them again. I loved being there and only the heat and the end of the LTVA season drove us on to another location.

Katie chasing Elliott, Debbie's dog, at McPhee Campground in Delores, CO. They had a blast, I loved seeing Katie run like that.

These two adult wild burros tried out the hummingbird feeder - I just loved the look they had on their faces when they saw me through the window.  "Oh-oh! We're busted!"

 Gorgeous Buck resting in a field at Zion National Park

At Quartzsite there were rabbits and squirrels willing to share the seed I put out. I loved watching them maneuver around each other. There were no problems with the rabbits and squirrels eating together.

However, there were a couple of altercations between the squirrels and the quail.  This squirrel was fierce! There are two quail in this photo, but one is fluttering so fast, the camera couldn't see all of him.  No one was hurt in the filming of this photo. :)

I was watching this stallion and his three mares and a foal in the field in front of The Palms. All of a sudden, he laid down and rolled around in the dust. The three mares followed. It was quite a sight.

The deer at Mesa Verde National Park, CO were always strolling through the sites munching on the tender leaves.

These two young horses at Bluewater Lake had a great time play fighting. I took a series of photos showing their playtime.

...and finally, little Katie under the covers - this seems to be a recurring theme. :)

Thanks again from me and Katie; have a great day, everyone!  :)

New Microhearth Grill Pan Review

Kim wrote in her blog about a small microwave grilling dish she got - in fact she and her husband liked it so much she got one for her condo and one for her new 2010 Roadtrek - The Good Deal Bus.  It looked like a nice microwave grill, so I decided to order one, too.

Microhearth Grill Pan with a nice lid that stands up, out of the way.

My first effort was the other night when Ron came over for dinner after working on The Palms most of the afternoon.  He was actually my first dinner guest in The Palms.  I had small salmon fillets in the freezer, and some rice and fresh broccoli and cauliflower, so that was the menu.  Of course I had to try out my grill that arrived from amazon.com that day to grill the salmon.

Honestly, I didn't think my salmon was that good.  Ron said his was good and he ate it all, but his piece was a little thicker than mine.  I think my salmon was overcooked - it was very dry. I should have gotten a photo of the fish, but I didn't think of it at the time.  Even though I did put olive oil on the fish and we preheated the grill, the grill marks weren't very dark.  Maybe melted butter would have been better - so that ended up being a learning experience.  I cleaned the pan and put it away, planning to try it again soon. 

Yesterday I decided to make a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich on Russian Rye bread.  Slathered with mayonnaise and mustard.  One of my favorite sandwiches.

I didn't pre-heat the pan, but I did brush melted butter all over both outside slices of the bread.  When I did the first flip after 2 minutes, this is what the sandwich looked like:

At that point the pan was already hot, so the second side got better grill marks.  I grilled it for 90 seconds, and it was perfect.

This sandwich tasted exactly like the ones I grill in my little frying pan, and the cleanup was almost non-existent.  I wiped the grill pan with a wet paper towel and then dried it with a dry paper towel, and clean-up was done.

This pan is small, as you can see from the second photo - just the right size for me and for my small microwave oven - and it's also very light weight. I'm looking forward to trying out more things.  After my first attempt with the salmon, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but after the grilled sandwich, I've changed my mind.

Kim said it makes the best toast she's ever had, and they have cooked other things with it, too, that were very good.  She and her husband really like it, and I think I declare it a keeper, too. :)

Here's Katie waking up in the morning.  Can you see her little nose in there?  She's in her bed, covered with her blanket, poking her head up to see what I'm doing at the table.  Then she laid back down and went to sleep again.  And I think I have a good life!

WELCOME to our new follower, Anita!  Anita has four blogs, but none that are bout RVing, so maybe she's an RV wannabe?  Her blogs are about knitting, her favorite photos, etc.  Thanks for following along with me and Katie, Anita.  We're happy to have you on board!

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

The Palms' Unexpected Annual Service

I am going to apologize in advance for this very wordy post.  I want to remember exactly what was done this week so I'll have the information handy for the future. All these things happened over a period of three days.

When we arrived here at Bluewater Lake, I was lucky to meet up with a Certified Master RV Technician here in the park, and through a series of events, he ended up checking out my entire rig for me and making some repairs.  He taught me a lot, and since I was past due for the annual service on my appliances in The Palms, he helped me out with that.

Ron was parked across from me in the first campsite I chose last Thursday.  Then I decided to move my rig to a new site, and when I was talking to Ron, I dropped my welcome mat in his site, and didn't realize it.  Later, after I was in the  new site and setting up, he walked down the road with my rug.

ELECTRIC PLUG

I was plugging in, and he noticed that my electric plug was not in the best shape, not dangerous yet, but I knew it was going to have to be replaced soon.  That's when I learned he was a retired RV tech and he had a replacement plug that he offered to put on my 30 amp cord.  It was really nice of him to offer to do the repair, and his hourly rate was much less than I would have paid at a shop or dealership.

HOT WATER HEATER/ANODE ROD

Once that was done he noticed the screen in the water heater cover wasn't flush, so he went over and opened the door to re-set the screen.  That's when he noticed my anode rod.  It was looking pretty old and discolored and he asked me when I last checked it.  "Never."  So back to his truck he went to get tools to unscrew the anode.  It takes a special size socket, a 1 1/16", and he unscrewed it and got it out.  (I'll be buying one of those sockets.) It was completely worn away, and when he pulled it out we could see my water heater tank was full of white material and large flakes.  He said the tank should be emptied and flushed out - this should be done every six months.  He met me over at a water faucet that we could use, and it took lots and lots of flushes to finally get clear water coming out of the tank.

 My totally used up anode rod. See the white material inside the end of the screw-in side?  That stuff was all over the inside of the tank, in powder form, small flakes and large flakes.  A real mess.

This is a new anode rod.

The graphic below was copied from the Suburban Hot Water Heater Service Manual.  It shows the original anode rod all the way to 75% used up.  You should replace it at 75%, mine was at 100%.

I don't know why I let this go.  I knew about the anode rods, and in fact mentioned them in a previous post.  For some reason, I thought I didn't have to check mine.  There are two kinds of RV water heaters, Atwood and Suburban.  I have a Suburban and this kind uses the anode rods that wear away instead of the inside of the tank wearing away.  I need to check mine at least every six months.  The Atwood water heaters don't use these, and although Atwood makes anode rods for their tanks, according to Ron, they shouldn't be used.  They are not needed and will eventually cause problems with the Atwood tanks.

This is confirmed by info posted on the RVing message boards; Tech Talk.  A question was asked about using an anode rod in an Atwood water heater:

"The principal behind the sacrificial anode is that it attracts the charged water particles which cause rust.  Those particles then corrode the anode instead of the walls and seams of the water heater, thereby extending the life of the water heater. Atwood tanks are aluminum and should not need an anode rod. Suburban's are not and do need the rod. Talk to Atwood. I recall the the new tanks are aluminum and do not need an anode. It also may void your warranty. Check with Atwood." 

After cleaning out the hot water tank, Ron noticed the pressure relief valve shown below was dripping a little, and he wanted to replace it with a new one.  As you can see in the photos, in spite of his different size wrenches, taps with a hammer, and using all the muscle power he had, which was impressive, this darn thing wouldn't budge.  He managed to twist the spout, but couldn't move the screw-in part.  He couldn't get a good grip with the wrench, so he got a metal saw and sawed off the spout.  Still - even with a better grip on the valve - it wouldn't unscrew.  He knocked it with his hammer while trying to unscrew it with all his might.  After a while, he said that was as far as he wanted to go.  He was afraid of ruining the hot water tank itself if he kept going.  I told him I can live with a bit of a leak until I needed to replace the tank.

 All the right tools and muscles couldn't budge this part - the metal spout was bent in the effort to turn it, but the relief valve wouldn't unscrew.

 This shows the first cut from the metal saw.

 Ron working on the spout.

 Cut off enough to get the wrench placed in a better position.

Somewhere during all this, Ron wanted to get to the tank and waterlines that were behind my under-the-sink kitchen cupboard to check them. I emptied the cupboard and he started to take out the removable wall separating the cupboard from the tank.  Unfortunately Forest River seems to have built the cupboard after putting in the wall, which was too tall, and the piece wouldn't fit through the opening to come out.  There is a narrow piece of  wood going horizontally that the removable wall should have been screw into, which left a little room above the piece, but instead the wall was covering the wood all the way to the top of the opening, and now it wouldn't fit through. 

Ron got his portable saw and had to saw off the top of the wall in order to get it out.  Later he cut off the extra pieces of plastic that were the molding around the wall piece, it all fit perfectly, and when he was done in that area he re-installed the wall by screwing it on the horizontal piece of wood, as it should have been done in the first place.  (He also found and cleaned up a little mouse nest that was behind the wall, next to my hot water heater.  Good place for a nest with the heater's warmth. It looked like the mouse left before finishing it's nest - thank goodness.  Might have been the one I impaled to the floor with my butcher knife.  Reminder:  Ron said it's a good idea to use gloves when cleaning up something like this, and a mask if there are a lot of mouse droppings - hantavirus isn't something we want to catch from these little critters or their urine or droppings.)

The water heater electric on/off switch was frozen and I couldn't turn it off.  He tried earlier and said it was frozen.  Even though the switch was frozen "ON," the electric part of the water heater didn't work, only the propane would heat the water. After all the water spout relief valve efforts, he pushed again on the on/off switch and it broke loose and we could hear the electricity heating element start up.  That's when he noticed the leak had stopped, too.  

Somehow with all the twisting, banging, unfreezing the switch, etc., everything is now working.  What a deal!  I couldn't believe I was that lucky, when I was expecting to end up ordering a new tank.  (Prayers definitely DO work!)

 
So...   that's the story of my annual hot water heater service.  Totally unexpected and unplanned, but it was done, thanks to Ron who gave me a great deal in comparison to other places I would have gone, and he has the training and expertise to do it right.  I trusted him completely and was really happy to have him working on The Palms.  I might add that he has the patience of a saint, and I only heard a couple of bad words through this whole ordeal. My own Dad wouldn't have had that much patience.  :)

I'm hoping I'll be able to slide by for a while with the current hot water heater, but it is six years old, so I may be living on borrowed time.  At least I now know what I need to do and how to do it to keep it going as long as possible.

REFRIGERATOR/HEATER

Ron also checked the outside area of the fridge and listened to the coach propane heater and said they both looked and sounded fine.  

CATALYTIC HEATER PROPANE LINE/SHUT-OFF VALVE

He noticed the new propane line installed in the fridge area that goes down to the outlet for my catalytic heater that I had installed last November.  It seems this installation was not done according to code.  The line installed is rubber instead of copper, and there is no shut-off valve, which is also a code violation.  The installation is right over my rear wheel well, and a blowout that might take out the wheel well could cause a real issue with that rubber line.  If there is a spark and the hose rips open, in seven minutes The Palms could be a pile of ashes on the highway.  So I'm going back to the installer on my way to Arizona when I leave here and have him correct it and bring that install to code.  Hopefully I won't have any problems with that. 

CONVERTER

And guess what - Ron checked my converter and said it is working fine - just the way it should be.  Can you believe that???  I thought I had a defective one again. The first one I bought in Utah was broken after it had been bouncing around on the closet's under flooring without being attached to the floor, but the current one that I received under warranty IS working.  So now I don't have to worry about it anymore.

AWNING

The next thing Ron did for me was to show me, and walk me though, taking down my awning, which I've never done.  This winter I'm having an automatic Carefree Awning installed when I'm at Quartzsite.  Ron said that's the best, confirming what my friend Hazel has been telling me, so I was glad to have that confirmation.  In the meantime, if I want to lower the awning, I know how.  Also, to save a little money I planned to re-use my awning fabric when I have the automatic one installed, and I was glad to see I have only a little mold on the awning.  It looks really good - brand new - and Ron said there's no reason he could see why I shouldn't be able to re-use it.

COACH DOOR LOCK AND TV ANTENNA

Next he took off my coach door locking mechanism and sprayed it and made sure it was closing properly.  I've been having a lot of problems with it shutting easily so now that works well.  It closes and locks easier than it ever has.  He then went up on the roof and oiled my TV antenna, which has been sticking when I put it up and down, and now it's like it's moving through butter, completely smooth - again, the best it's worked since I've had The Palms. 

It was kind of amazing what he had in his Ranger truck that he pulls behind his motor home. Every time he needed a part or tool, he'd come back with the right thing.  I finally had to laugh, and told him his truck was like those clown cars - it was amazing what kept coming out of it.

Ron left Tuesday morning - Ron, if you read this, THANK YOU!  It felt like you were working on my rig the whole time you were here at Bluewater. You did a fantastic job for me and taught me a lot.  And I'll definitely clean out my HWH every six months and will get the new U-shaped tire valve stem extenders and will check my PSI frequently.  I was ready to learn more about my motor home and you really helped me at the perfect time. 

New Horse Photos

The other night I woke up to Katie's low growls and barks and she wouldn't stop.  I looked outside and in the bright moonlight I could see six horses right near The Palms, grazing in the field.  There was a little one that was trying to nurse, and the mare kept jumping out of the way and it looked like they were having a little dispute.  Finally they walked away and the other horses followed them.  Very cool to wake in the middle of the night to see these beautiful animals in the moonlight. 

Hazel and I took a ride the other day and I got some photos of  horses by the lake, and I also snapped some in the campsite near me.  I love being back with the horses again, especially since there are so many new foals to watch:

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