Beautiful kitchen window view

How would you like this view out your kitchen window?

Another reason to spend the winter at Quartzsite. : )

And again, the following shows how much time I have on my hands.  ; )

Yesterday I was watching Katie laying on the couch. Usually when I pull out the camera she stops what she's doing, but this time she continued on with her little nap.  She had done this once before, and I wanted to get the photos.

Sleepy Katie - ready for a short nap with her paws in the quilt.

She puts her feet inside the folded quilt - nice and warm.

This time she got the blanket in her mouth and opened up the fold.

Aha!  Now this looks cozy. 

...and so she slept for a little while.  zzzz zzzz

Nice and rested.

A pretty big stretch for a pretty short nap. :)

This is what's been going on with my humming bird feeder:

First the feeder had ants - I washed it out and returned it to it's branch along with some flypaper strips.   They've been working well to keep the ants from walking down the wire hanger, but I still haven't seen a hummingbird in this site.

We had our second visit from the Gila Woodpecker.  It was fun to watch it preening, pecking the Ocotillo branches and getting nectar out of the feeder.

Thinking about flying to the feeder.

In flight, trying to land. See it's yellow underside?

Finally made it.

Then the Gila Woodpecker hung on the Ocotillo branch and stretched and stretched.

That was a few days ago, and I haven't seen another woodpecker in days.  I moved the feeder this morning to the other side of the Ocotillo and now we have bees.  Katie and I took a long walk and when we got back, it was filled with dead bees.  I had to fill the big holes - you can see the rock on the right that the bees are still trying to feed around, but at least they can't get in and get trapped.  I was hoping the bees wouldn't deter the hummingbirds, I haven't seen any feed here at this site yet.  So, we've had ants, bees and woodpeckers so far. 

Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and snapped this quick shot.  He is on the other side where the feeder was, hopefully he'll come back.

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

Tiny coffee maker mod, and landscape shots

There's not much going on here right now, so my blog posts might be AWOL until there's something to post about.  Nothing wrong with that, I kind of like the peace and quiet where I am right now.

I've moved my rig around and put it on the other side of the rock art garden.  This way I can throw out seed and get a better view of the critters who come to eat it.  I like this direction, but I'm not quite level, so I might be doing a little more moving this way or that.

This direction also gives me views of the gorgeous glow on the mountains in the east at sunset.  I find I enjoy these more than the western view.

These are shots of the moon coming up early one evening.

I think that's a bad post title - I don't have a tiny coffee maker, it's a tiny mod to my coffee maker.

Anyway, here's the little mod I made to my Keurig.  It's a single cup coffee maker that sits on my kitchen counter, and every day the electric cord just bugged me.  When I'd make my coffee in the morning, I'd fold up the cord and smash it between the Keurig and the wall, and it would always sneak out.  I don't like cords hanging around if I can help it.  So the other day I thought, why not put some Velcro on it?  I have a box of different Velcro sizes and shapes, so I took the little square ones and put one on the back of the Keurig and one on the cord.

When the coffee is made, I just fold up the cord, attach the plug to the back of the coffee maker, and it stays there, all neat and tidy.

This could be done with any cords that are hanging around driving you nuts. (I'd guess most of you have your own stash of Velcro, too.)  Every morning I bless the makers of Velcro!  :)

I guess this is normal, but now that I have all the big stuff done to The Palms, I'm taking care of the little things that have been bugging me.  Wheel covers, insect screens, etc.  Most aren't blog worthy, but I love this little Velcro/cord solution.

Here's another thing I found.  If you have a Keurig coffee maker, I just found a new brand of coffee "cups" to use in them, and they are less expensive than the other brands. They do leave a little residue in the bottom of your cup, but I think the coffee is just as good. They have the same kind of top, but the "cup" part is a round filter. I also like the container, this bag can be folded up as you use the coffee, so you don't have an almost empty box with a few cups left taking up space.

12 cups/$6.99 = 58 cents each

18 cups/$11.99 = 66 cents each

Both the Club Coffee and many other brands of Keurig coffee cups are available at Walmart.

If you are a huge coffee drinker and have one of these coffee makers, you can order a box of 160 coffee cups from Costco on-line for $85, then your per cup cost is 53 cents.  I used to get a big box at Costco pre- full-timing, but obviously space is now an issue and I pay a bit more per cup. I usually only drink one cup of coffee every day, so it's worth it to me to have a really good one.

WELCOME to our latest follower, Tina!  She does not have any information about herself or a blog, so maybe she's just thinking about RVing for now.  Tina, if you do have an RV blog, let me know and I'll give you a shout out.  I appreciate you following along with me and Katie, Welcome Aboard! :)

Early sunset and the rock garden:

Last night's sunset was a pretty one.  I find it amazing how the colors and shapes change as the sun is going down, it's usually far prettier after the sun has set and continues to change until dark.

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

My last - I hope - RV Mod

I'm not a Black Friday shopper.  I guess I might shop on-line today if I needed anything, but I don't.  Do you fight the crowds to get the good pricing on Black Friday?

THANKSGIVING DINNER

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful meal with the people you love. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday at Bluewater Casino in Parker, AZ.  I had dinner with three of the Dingbats, Hazel, Debbie and Carol.  The turkey was fresh roasted and very tasty, and everything was wonderful.  Their gravy was really good, which enhanced the already delicious turkey, stuffing and potatoes.  Even their coffee was better than the good restaurant coffee.  They do a great job in their kitchen! 

Notice the  cream pie?  That's the only thing I didn't like, but I didn't realize it was sugarless when I took it.  There was a table with real pie slices and real whipped cream to top them off, so I went back and got a slice of pecan pie with fresh whipped cream spooned over it. 

My friends couldn't believe I'd never tasted pecan pie before, especially Hazel who is from the South, but this was my first time trying it.  It was sooooo good.  It may have been my first pecan pie, but it won't be my last, for sure.  A wonderful way to finish off a delicious dinner.

COYOTE  SIGHTING

I was standing at my kitchen sink when I looked out the window and saw this guy slinking along, stopping, slowing turning his head back and forth as he scoped out each campsite on the other side of the bushes, and then continuing on.  It was sunset and the sun turned him a beautiful color - at first I thought he was a large fox, he was so red.

I've cropped these photos to give you a closer look at the coyote, but you can see the wheels on the vehicle at the top of the photos.  He was very close to the campsites he was checking out.  He was looking for dinner, and I was glad that - at least this time - he kept walking.  As much as I don't want coyotes near me and Katie, I really do like seeing them in the distance and watching them as they walk along in their desert.

RV MOD - INSECT SCREEN COVERS

This is something I've been planning to do for a long time, and finally got it partially completed.  I ordered Camco Flying Insect Screens on amazon.com to cover the vents to the refrigerator, water heater and furnace on the outside of The Palms.

They were more expensive than I thought they would be - $18.89 for the refrigerator screens, $18.49 for the water heater vent screen, and $14.11 for the furnace. Because I have Amazon Prime, the shipping was free and there was no tax charged, so the total for the three vent covers was $51.49 and they were delivered in two days.

This is the furnace screen.  The furnace and hot water screens come with two little attachers and a small tool that you use to attach the screen to the vent.  It keeps out little critters so they don't enter your appliance and build nests.  I guess if that happens, it can be an expensive service bill.

This one went on very easily - you have to read the directions, figure out where you are going to do the attaching, and then use the tool to get the little hooks in the right places.  The reviews on these things mentioned how hard it is to get the little hooks attached, but I didn't find it to be a problem.

 This is the "before" shot of the furnace vent:

 And here's the "after" shot:

There are three screens for the refrigerator that fit in the openings of the vents and they provide six small ties to attach the screens.  This one was super easy to get done.

See the screens on each vent opening?

This is the little white tie that attached the screen - they provide two per screen.

The screens are supposed to stay put - not fly off on the freeway.  The reviews I read all said they stay very well.  No one had problems with them coming loose.

Then I tried to put on the hot water heater screen, and it was the wrong size.  I specifically ordered the one for my Suburban six gallon heater to be sure it would fit. Reviews of this screen complained that it didn't fit, so I wanted to make sure it would fit mine.  I didn't realize until I got it that it has to be square, not rectangular. This rectangular shape fits fine if I put it on lengthwise, but then it covers the toggle switch that is used to take the cover off, and I don't want to have to remove the screen to take off the cover.

I'm going to have to return it.

Taped up and ready to return. You can see it says "Suburban 6," but it doesn't fit MY Suburban 6.

The Gambler, one of the businesses in town that has a lot of RV things, does have these screens, so when I'm in town today I'll check to see if he has the right size.  I should have bought them all from him a few weeks ago, but when I saw the prices, I thought he was too expensive.  Turns out, he was right on and I ended up paying the same thing from amazon.com and waiting for them to be delivered.  And now I have to return the one I have.  :(

I was going to get an automatic awning while I'm here at Quartzsite, but decided against it.  I've heard good and bad about them, but then I thought, I've never used my awning - I won't miss having it work automatically if I never use it, so why spend the $1,500 that it will probably cost?  If I DID get one, I'm sure I'd use it, but there is always shade outside cast by The Palms when it's sunny out, so if I want to sit outside, I can always find a shady spot, or put my chair under a tree.  I have window coverings to cool the inside.  I enjoy the view of the full expanse of the sky and all the light I get inside my rig which an awning will affect, so I think I'm good on that score.

I can't think of any other upgrades or additions I need - isn't that a good thing?  I think I'm done with my RV mods. :)

MY NEW LOGO

Did you notice the logo on my photos today?  Dewell Designs is a company I was going to use on the road to do on-line resumes and/or use for a word processing business on the web.  I haven't started it yet, maybe I never will, but I decided on Tuesday to make a logo for the business name and put it on my photos.

The idea behind the palm tree and sunshine graphics are twofold.  The palm tree is because I'm most recently from San Diego where there are lots of palm trees, and of course because of  The Palms, the name of my motor home; the sunshine over the "i" in Designs is because I'm living in a Forest River Sunseeker, and also because I follow the sun.

Here are the different versions I made.  Sometimes on a light or dark photo one looks better than the others.  I was going to make transparent logos, but these were more noticeable, so I decided to go with a background and third one looked better with a border. 

Pretty cool, huh?   (I just love this stuff.)

From Me and Katie, have a great Black Friday - if you're shopping today, I hope you find all the deals you're looking for!  :)

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!  :)