Katie the bird dog

Saturday, March 17, 2013

We are in Glendale, AZ and Katie found a duck's nest full of eggs.  The female duck, who was sitting on the eggs, jumped off the nest and quickly flew away, over to the water where the other ducks were swimming around.

Duck eggs inside a grassy plant, there are 10 or 11; about the size of hen's eggs.

Here is where we are parked today, at the edge of a large mall parking lot.  There's a type of water canal with fountains down the middle and ducks swimming.  It's a great place to hang for the day.  I have the windows open and there's a little breeze.  I can hear the birds singing and the fountains splashing.  The parking lot is on one side, then a main road, and Cabela's is across the street.  That's where we are going to spend the night.

One of these females is the mom.

There are palm trees and other desert plantings along each side of the water.  Lots of birds, too. This black bird was singing to me in the sunshine:

Ohhhh, solo mio...

...sta nfronte a te!  Look at that face, isn't he cute?

He had a beautiful singing voice.

This was Katie on our way here.  She continues to love her dog car seat, and often climbs into it over the back of the passenger seat during the day to rest and look out the windows.

Hi, Mom, I love you.

Since she has the car seat, she sleeps more when we're on the road.

We are staying at  Cabela's overnight and in the morning will visit my solar guy, Ron.  My solar regulator stopped showing it's digital readout on Thursday and it has a 5-year warranty, so we'll see if Ron can fix or replace it.  I'm planning to be there at 8 am, and after it's fixed, head on to New Mexico.

From me and Katie, have a good day, everyone!  :)

hot, Hot, HOT! 101 degrees in the shade

According to the weather forecast, we're going to have four days of 90+ degree weather. Right now, it's 101 in the shade according to my outside thermometer:

Yesterday was also very hot, and I finally took out the Frogg Toggs for me and Katie.  It's amazing how much they help.  In fact, hold on, I'm going to get them out of the fridge right now.....

Whew! Yesterday I put more water on them, rolled them up in a baggie and put them in the fridge.  I just put mine on and WOW is it cold!  Katie backed away from me, so I didn't put hers on yet.

This is us yesterday, chillin' with our Toggs:

I put mine around my neck and down into my tank top, and it really cooled me off.  This was the temp inside The Palms when I remembered our Frogg Toggs and dug them out:

I remember when I dried them out and put them away last year. When it's cool out, it's hard to imagine using them.  All I wanted then was another sweatshirt.  Now that sounds awful. :)

I spent the last week delving into information about RV insurance.  I contacted five agencies and companies, submitted information to get quotes, pouring over the various ways of saying the same thing regarding coverage, etc.  I've been with Progressive for the last two years, but each year the premium has gone up and this year it went up $330.80 more than last year!  This is with no claims and a perfect driving record.  That prompted me to start getting quotes.

I went to the Escapees Discussion Forum to get information about what the various commenters said about their insurance providers and how they responded to their customers.  I had a nice list which even included the links to some of the best RV Insurance Agencies and RV Insurance Companies.  Thank you Escapees!

That's another thing I'm changing.  I was very unhappy with my insurance agency, both last year and this year, and I didn't want to get a new insurance provider through them.

Yesterday, after receiving five quotes, I decided to go with Good Sam, GMAC.

They don't provide road service on their full-timer policies, so I also took out the Good Sam Roadside Assistance.

Even though I wasn't a new customer, because I quit them when I realized I had road service with Progressive, when I called them yesterday they offered me the new customer price and gave me an option for as many years as I wanted at that introductory price.  I opted for three years so I don't have to worry about it for a while, and I'm able to keep the low rate.

My motor home registration is also due on April 1, so I went on-line and took care of that, too.  I needed to have the truck smogged, and did that when I was in San Diego.  They send the passing results on-line to the DMV, and it was there to be added to my registration when I completed that on-line, so I'm done with that for another year.

Early yesterday evening, Katie and I took our last walk and I got a few shots.  The first is of a flock of birds flying overhead.

I'm not sure what these are , but they were pretty flying overhead.

We had a nice sunset yesterday.

And above that sunset was this beautiful crescent moon.

So... As I'm typing this, I'm watching John Bon Jovi on "Katie"; now I don't know if the heat is caused by him, or by the sun outside.   You know what I mean, ladies?  He   Is    So    Cute!

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

The Roadrunner was here!

Yesterday at 6:00 the Roadrunner finally came through our site. I just barely saw him out my dinette window and grabbed the camera and ran to the kitchen, focused and - can you believe it? - he stopped.  What a beautiful bird!  If you click on the photo you'll get a good close up with all his colors - I love that his eye is so clear and the red markings, too.  Here he is:

I finally have a good, clear shot to send to Mello Mike for his 2013 Roadrunner Photo Contest.  The contest runs until the end of May, so if you have (or get) a good shot of a Roadrunner, send it on over to him and get in the contest.  You can send up to three pictures.  I never thought I'd win last year, and WhoooHooooo, I did!  Maybe this year is your turn.  Click on his name above to visit Mike's post with the information, and e-mail him your favorite Roadrunner shots.  (His e-mail address in in his "Profile.")  Good Luck!

And then there was a funny bunny scene going on under my chair. I put the seed container under there to keep it out of the sun, and a couple of the birds have come by to check it out.

Today the bunny came by and tried to figure out what was going on with these seeds he couldn't get, and I just had to photograph his dilemma.  He was very entertaining. :)

How do you get this top off?

It's on there too tight.

Okay, let me think about this.

He walked around the container a couple of times, climbing up, sniffing the lid, you could almost hear his mind working.

Can I get it open from this side?

Then he sat down and scratched his head, and gave up.

Well, I just can't figure it out.

And away he went into the bushes.

I'm taking my cotton tail and going home.

WELCOME to our newest follower, Becky! She and her husband bought a trailer and are planning a trip to Alaska this summer.  Her blog is not an RV blog - yet - but it looks like she is pretty crafty. I went back a way in her posts, and she even made scrapbook digital kits.  They look really nice; I used to lurk all over those sites, looking for just the right thing.  Becky, we are happy to have you along on our travels, Welcome Aboard!  

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

Another day in my desert paradise

Lots of wind lately - Katie and I are rocking and rolling.  The temps are really nice, though. Warm during the day and cool at night and in the morning.

We continue to be visited by our various bird friends.  There are two little doves that come around from time to time.  I see them more than adult doves, but I'd guess the adults are somewhere nearby.

 Two young Mourning Doves

Today there is also a single baby quail in camp, and he looks smaller, about the size of the White-Crowned Sparrow.  Maybe a new solo chick? 

Poor thing, he just keeps walking around looking for seeds, going from one part of the site to another, all by himself.  I wonder if he is going to survive; when the other birds get excited and fly into the trees for cover, he just continues to walk around.

I haven't seen him fly or even walk very fast.  :(

Adult Mourning Dove - keeping an eye out for the little ones?

The Gambel's Quail are usually on the ground searching for food, or scooting quickly to a bush for cover.  I was surprised to look up and see this guy out in the open on a branch.  He was like the Hawk, constantly looking right, middle, left, middle, etc.  Of course, he was probably searching for danger, not his next meal.  He is such a beautiful bird, I never get tired of watching them in the yard.

This next photo is of one of the quail who was taking a dust bath, kicking up the dirt until she had a nice little hole to lay down in.  She sat there looking around for a while, then got up and scurried away.

A couple of new Hummingbird photos:

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird in flight - perfect form!

This is my new fire pit:

I've since gotten it straighter and in the middle of the rocks.  I like the way it looks in my campsite.

Lots of people here have fire pits (I guess it's not really a pit) made from the inside of washing machines.  The inside part has holes in the metal which gives great air flow and keeps the fire going.  Bea and Peter have one of those.  When I was at their campfire the other night, they had a great fire going.  I'm assuming mine will work (without the holes) since there is air coming up from underneath.  I'll let you know how it works.

The other day Katie and I were carefully walking through the brush around our site, and I saw it buried way inside some dried branches under a tree.  Probably one of the past residents of this site used it, and stowed it there for the next time they are here.  I know some of the full-timers do that.  Anyway, I drug it out and put it over a bunch of rocks I made a fire ring with.  There aren't any holes in the washer tub, but there would be air coming from below with it on top of the rocks.

I haven't had a fire yet while I've been on the road, or bar-b-qued, but I do have a little bar-b-que and another metal rack on legs.  I have some papers I want to burn that have personal information on them, so one of these mornings when it's calm, I'll throw them into this thing and light them, and put the rack over the top so no burning pieces will fly out.

I wonder how the rust would affect the air if it was used for a real wood fire?  Or if I cooked something on the wire with a wood fire?  I think I'd take the tub off and put the bar-b-que rack on top of the rocks with coals underneath if I wanted to cook.

Here's our bunny again - there are at least two that come though, the one below and another one that has a notch cut out of his left ear.  Is there anything sweeter than a little fat bunny?

UPDATE on my tendinitis:   My left wrist and thumb are almost 100 percent, but my right thumb is giving me problems.  I looked up on-line to see what it could be, and I think it's called Trigger Thumb.  Unfortunately I can't shoot bullets from it.

I searched on many different sites, and this seems to be what it is.  One of the posters said her doctor told her to tape her husband's thumb at night, because that's when it seems to get worse.  I was waking up with it really clicking, not locking up, just a click that was worse in the morning, then gets somewhat better during the day and then worsens again late afternoon and evening.  I don't have any medical tape, but I wrapped my thumb with electric tape and within a few hours, the clicking was much better.  That was a couple of days ago, and now when I wake up, there is no clicking.

I wonder what my kids would say, nothing like having your mom wrapped up in electrical tape.  But, what works, works!

I took the tape off this morning, and my thumb started clicking again, so it's back on.  Now on my shopping list I have surgical tape and a thumb brace if I can find one.  Using this tape hasn't diminished in any way using my thumb.  It just seems to keep that one joint stable.

WELCOME to our newest follower, Cheap Chick!  She is a Canadian who is not an RVer, but I was very interested in her posts about how she handles her grocery budget.  Good food for thought, if you'll pardon the pun. :)   I don't follow many non-RV blogs, but Cheap Chick is now on my blog roll, and I'm looking forward to future posts.  Welcome aboard, Cheap Chick!  Thanks for following along with me and Katie. :)

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

An excellent day for campsite birds

I woke up to rain on the roof this morning.  I love being in The Palms when it's raining.  Flocks of Black-Throated Sparrows filled the site for a while, then flew off to more seedy pastures. It will be cooler today.

Wednesday Katie and I went into Holtville to do some laundry.  I totally stripped the bed, mattress covers and all, and turned and flipped my little memory foam mattress that is in the bunk we sleep in.

After hearing terrible things all the time from full timers about laundromats, I finally encountered a bad one.  I put my clothes into two of the working washers.  About half were broken, unplugged, had dirty water sitting in the bottom, gross! (which I realized after my laundry had already started) and then put my mattress pad in another larger one.   All the washers in the front row except this one larger one were not working.  I was using the back row, along with two other customers, for my clothes.  Everything was fine until the wash was done, ready to dry. The clothes were fine, but the mattress pad, bright white when it went in, was now covered with dirty patches.  It was disgusting.  I took it out, put in another washer, added a bunch of Clorox, which thankfully I had in The Palms, and washed it again.  It came out almost white again, but hopefully the Clorox did it's job.  Yuk.

This is the only laundromat in Holtville, but I talked to a local who was also using the machines, and he said most of the town goes into El Centro, 11 miles away, or Brawley, 20 miles from Holtville.  Next time I'm in town to dump and get water/propane, I think I'll continue on to El Centro to the Walmart to do my shopping and any laundry I need to do.  So, use the Holtville laundromat, there's only one, at your own risk.

Anyway, I was there longer than I should have been, then I picked up a few things at the local grocery, dumped the tanks and got water, and came home right before dark.  I was pooped.  And I still had to do all the bed stuff.  There's a cover that zips on the mattress, very hard to get back on, then I put a large, thick mattress pad on that to give us more height and softness, then the sheet.  It's impossible to do that on the bed, so I always have to pull out my couch for a larger surface and do it on the couch.  God, what a pain!  Then heft the mattress back up on the overhead and position it.  Then put the duvet cover on the down comforter, again on the pulled out couch.  Finally the bed was done. :)  But I was exhausted.  Just changing the bottom sheet and washing the duvet isn't a big deal; thankfully I don't wash all the bed linens very often.

Yesterday was a day of total rest and enjoying the view out the windows.  It was overcast all day, looked like rain, but it never came.  Still warm and breezy.

This jackrabbit comes through the campsite from time to time, usually Katie sees him before I do and she barks like crazy.  The rabbit runs into the bushes.  Today I saw him first and got some pics.  He was loping down a little trail right under the branch upon which was sitting a Cooper's Hawk.  I was watching the hawk and here comes the rabbit.  Later I wondered why the hawk didn't try to get him.  Maybe the rabbit was too big?

I think he is so cute.  He doesn't stop,  just hops along through the site.

The fat little bunnies stop in our site, looking for seeds and they stay around a while.  The jack rabbit just continues on through.

Below is the hawk.  Isn't he beautiful?  And stern looking?  He sat on this branch for quite a while, just turning his head back and forth.  Then it suddenly he took off, must have found something for dinner.

Thank you, Judy, for your comment.  I love it when you guys give me corrections and/or new information on birds.  According to Judy, this is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, and one way of telling is because of his eyes.  They are yellow.  I totally missed that.

Cooper's Hawk

I got out my field guides to identify the birds.  One of the things it said is that Cooper's Hawks eat small birds, and I realized this is the first time there were NONE of the little birds around that are usually chirping up a storm.  They are either on the ground searching for food, or in the surrounding trees.  I can almost always hear them.  But I guess they saw the hawk before I did, and scrammed!

Earlier I saw this female Costa's Hummingbird sitting on another tree branch, right by the humming bird feeder.  

Costa's Hummingbird

Then a bit later I noticed this bird. When I looked him up, I thought he was one bird, but Judy suggested another.  These Birders with a capital B see things I miss. He does have a pink/salmon cast to his upper chest and under feathers that I missed, and I think Judy is correct that he is an Albert's Towhee.

When I'm flabergasted that my friend Hazel can tell which bird we're looking at just from the way it's flying, wing shape or span, or something like that, she says it's experience.  After a while you notice things, then more things, and after a while you automatically see things that a novice birder misses.
 

Dark-Eyed Junco (or probably Albert's Towhee, per Judy)

He is rather plain in comparison to the other birds around, and a little bigger.  I watched him for a bit, then he flew down to the ground where I had my little container of bird seed.  It used to have cashews in it, but I put some of the seed from my big bag into this container.  I can leave it out and throw a little seed around each morning.

Poor thing, he kept pecking at the container, walking around it, pecking again. He would jump back, cock his head, and jump back up to the container and try again. He couldn't understand what was going on.  He could see the seeds, but couldn't get to them.  He put on quite a show for me. :)

Later he, or one of his buddies, hopped around scratching and kicking up dust.  Look at the dust around his little feet!  I just read in my Field Guide about some birds taking dust baths.  It was in the Gambel's Quail section, and that is something the Quail do.  They make dirt depressions and kick the dust up over their bodies to get rid of small insects.  I saw the quail taking a dust bath on the other side of the site a few times, and after kicking up enough dust to make the depression in the dirt, they sat in it.  I wondered what they were doing.

Taking a dust bath?

Pretty eastern desert sky at sunset.  So soft looking.

All in all, a great day for bird watching and jack rabbit photos.  Still no Roadrunner, maybe today.

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