Thanksgiving is coming up!

The weather turned cool and cloudy for a few days and now we're back to warm and some wind.  This is the perfect kind of weather, I don't need the heater, and I don't need the A/C. 

You can tell from these photos, there's not much going on - just hanging out, listening to audio books, taking walks, playing computer games, watching TV and Hulu, etc.  I watched the first four episodes of Emily Owens, MD on Hulu Plus last night.  It was pretty good.

Quartzsite sunrise - I don't see many of these! :)

I've had a bunch of people come and go in the nearby campsites.  The last couple to leave, Yvonne and Rich, left this morning on their way to Imperial Dam.  I really enjoyed talking to them.  They have a Dazer II, a little electronic gizmo that emits a high pitched electronic noise when you push the button. It's to stop dogs from barking, and I thought I'd try it out. I ordered one yesterday and it should be here tomorrow.  I don't want it just for Katie's barking, but also for other people's dogs and hopefully it will keep coyotes away, too.  It stops barking and makes the dogs move away from the sound. I'll let you know how it works.

Pallid-winged Grasshopper eating the apple I put out.

The other night I took Katie out for  her last potty break.  It was around 7 pm, I think, and completely dark.  I had on my head lamp for a flashlight and since it was dark, I had Katie close to me.  As she was sniffing around, I turned my head and the light picked up two eyes, glowing eerily about 30 feet from us, right at the edge of our campsite.  I quickly checked where Katie was and looked back; it was still there watching us. It had to be a coyote.  This is about what it looked like - just two bright eyes, much brighter than this:

Really Creepy!

It was very quiet and still and I was surprised Katie didn't pick up any scent or noise.  The first two coyote sightings I had were because of Katie.  She was just laying on the dinette seat and jumped up and started barking both times, so she either smelled them, or heard them.  Otherwise they would have walked right past our site without me being aware of them.

I quickly brought Katie right to my feet and we quickly walked back to The Palms, which was close by.  I was ready to swoop her up in a second if needed.  I have to say, that was pretty scary.

So...  that's the last night time potty break for Katie.  We go for a good walk right before dusk, and thank goodness she has a good bladder, because she waits until around 9 or 10 in the morning before she goes out again.  Her choice, not mine.  I'm always up and busy by the time she's ready to roll out of bed and go outside. 

On Thanksgiving I am going to the Bluewater Casino in Parker with three other women for an afternoon Thanksgiving buffet.  I checked out their website and it looks very good, and it's a very reasonable price, too.  Should be a delicious dinner, and it will be nice to catch up with some of the other women at the Dingbat campsite.

I hope you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Beautiful Quartzsite Sunset

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

This site has good critters!

Looking out  my dinette window this afternoon, I noticed a movement in the Ocotilla in the rock garden.  I thought it was a woodpecker and got out the camera.  Sure enough, it's a Female Gila Woodpecker, and this is the first time I've gotten a photo of one.  She jumped on the hummingbird feeder and hung on while she had quite a few drinks of the nectar.  Then she flew back to the Ocotilla and pecked on it, then back to the feeder.  She's a beautiful bird.

I have such a gorgeous view. :)

Isn't she beautiful?

And look who else entered the scene while I was watching the woodpecker:

It looks like his cheeks are full of seed.

I'm going to be able to enjoy squirrel antics again this year.  :)

This site has better critters that the first one. I thought when I moved I might not get the good hummers and other birds that were over there, but this is even better.   With winter coming, I'm sure more birds will be flying in for the season, too.  I haven't seen any quail yet...

From Me and Katie, have a good Monday night, everyone!  :)

Moved to the Rock Art Site, another coyote sighting

This morning Katie and I moved a few sites down the wash to the one with all the rock art.  It's a pretty level site with long views out each window and so far I like it.  I loved the other site, but just couldn't get level enough without having to use leveling blocks and I wanted to be able to move in and out easily if I want to go to town or get more water, etc.  That ramp in the middle of the site was just in the wrong place, and with thousands of acres of desert surrounding us, it didn't make sense to dig it all out.  It didn't look like that would help with the leveling problem much, anyway.  So... here we are:

Every site has it's own good points.

This coyote is smaller than the first coyote I saw, but he has some beautiful colors in his coat.

Our second coyote sighting.

 
Here are the best of the bird photos I took the last few days:

Three Mourning Doves on three rocks.

Mourning Dove on a rock.

House Finch eating seed.

 And these are the hummers:

Not much else happening around here.  The weather has cooled down and we've had a lot of wind the last couple of days, so Katie and I are hibernating in The Palms more than usual.  Our new site doesn't have a tree close enough to get good hummer shots, so that might be all for a while.  It sure was fun watching them.  I have the feeder hung in the cactus in the rock art garden, so we'll see if they come around here and if they will be close enough to get some good photos. 

Have a great Sunday evening, everyone!  :)

Coyote Sighting and Rock Art

Yesterday afternoon I looked up from my computer and glanced out the front windshield, and there was a beautiful coyote strolling right in front of us on the road.  It moved most of the way down the road and then turned left, going through the bushes toward an RV.

Beautiful Coyote

Heading off through the bushes

He looks very healthy, doesn't he?  Since we've gotten here, I don't let Katie off her leash or out of my sight.  Unless we are out in the open, I keep her leash pretty short. Sometimes during the night Katie will wake me up barking, and I can hear all the coyote calls, very loud and close.

The site next to us has some beautiful rock art - these are the ones that made it through the summer.  Someone did quite a bit of work on the rocks in the site.

Heart

Native American symbol?

Heart within circles

Flower

Eagle

This looks like Japanese rock stacking - maybe an Inukshuk?

Heart?

Isn't life interesting?

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

Happy Election Day *** VOTE ***

Well, we finally made it - IT'S ELECTION DAY!  I am a permanent mail-in voter, so I voted weeks ago.  I've been very interested in this election, more so than any other in my adult life.  As I write this we don't have any returns yet.  I'm waiting with crossed fingers and bated breath.  I'm assuming half of our Americans will be happy and half will be upset after we learn the results.  It's a close race.   I hope everyone votes.  :)

We are settled in our campsite.  As usual I've moved all over the site trying to find the best place to put The Palms.  I've been dismantling the rock lined ramp that's in the middle of the campsite. I have no idea what the original intent of this ramp was, but it's in the way - for me.  I've gotten all the rocks out and put them around the site, then I started on the dirt.  I have a small shovel, and Hazel loaned me her pick, so I 've been loosening the dirt, then shoveling it into plastic bags and dumping it into the lower parts of the site.

This photo is after I had already moved a lot of the side rocks and bigger rocks.  They were too big to lift, so I rolled them to other areas.

As great as this site is, it's really uneven - it slopes a great deal toward the wash.  Unless I'm parked right next to the saguaro cactus, the right side of The Palms is way lower than the left, so I decided to drive up onto the ramp.  With the rocks out of the way and the edges picked and shoveled away, I could drive up onto it from any direction.  I tried that, and was still uneven.  If I want to be in the middle of the site, I'm going to be very un-level.

I put all 20 of my leveling blocks onto the ramp, put a large base down and built it up.  A neighbor named Jake saw me working and came over to help.  He guided me onto the top leveling block, and I was even.  But I have to say, that right front tire was so far up on that ramp and the blocks, I didn't like it.  So yesterday I went into town and when I got back I parked in my original spot, close to the cactus and trees.

It is very cozy, and although I have more sun coming into my over-the-couch window, I have great shade cast into the area where chairs are set up - my living room. I'm also closer to the bird feeders and can easily hear the hummers when they fly up to get some nectar.

The living room.

I'm going to continue to dismantle the ramp and spread the dirt around to make the site a little more level and better looking.  It's quite a job.

This is the front of the "living area" where I put my Welcome sign and American flag.

It was super hot yesterday.  Katie and I took a nap from 2:30 to 3:30 yesterday afternoon.  When I woke up it was 97 degrees in The Palms.  I turned on the A/C and we took a walk.  When we got back it was much cooler.  :)

Here are some hummingbird photos from yesterday and today.  I'm going to get a lot of hummer shots this season!

Anna's Hummingbird

I'm not sure what this one is - female Broad Tailed Hummingbird?

Male Black-Chinned Hummingbird.

Female Costa's Hummingbird.

As always, if I have any of these wrong, please leave me a comment - this was the best I could do with my Birds of Arizona book.  Some IDs are kind of iffy.

Saturday's Sunset.  All the sunsets look like this, only the clouds make them different.

WELCOME to our two new Followers!

BJ, who lives with her husband in Oregon, and has a blog -  Joe and Betty's Adventures.   They have a 32 ft 1996 Rexhall Aerbus, which is winterized and in storage for now.  They are currently caring for Joe's 98 year old mom, and are traveling with us - through our blogs for now.  Welcome Joe and Betty!

Welcome also to "Moderate," who is a successful businessman, originally from Minnesota.  He was a Marine and served in Vietnam.  I don't see an RV blog for Moderate, but he does have some politically motivated blogs.  Click on his photo under our "Member" section for those blog links.

Welcome aboard to you all - Katie and I are happy to have you along on our adventures!

That's it for today.  From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday - and don't forget to VOTE!  :)