Great Horned Owl at Pancho Villa State Park, NM

Katie and I arrived at Pancho Villa State Park in southern New Mexico early Thursday afternoon.  Most of the sites here have electricity and water, and only six have water only. That's what I wanted, but I didn't like either of the two sites that were empty and available.  So I drove around a little, and found out that they have a lot of overflow parking here that can be used as boondocking sites.  I talked to a fellow camper who told me this, and so I just picked out a place I liked and settled there.  Yesterday I confirmed with one of the Rangers that I was parked in an overflow site and was okay to stay there.  I always thought overflow sites were only used when a park was full, but am happy to say that's not the case, at least here.

Thursday after we got here I took Katie out for a walk and looked up and there was a Great Horned Owl roosting in the tree overhead.  I couldn't believe it; I've never seen an owl in the wild before.  I took a bunch of photos and these were the best:

Great Horned Owl

 I walked around the tree and used my zoom lens to get the best close-up I could.

I thought this final one was funny - I think it was giving me the "stink eye."  Like - "Let me sleep!"

 Isn't it beautiful?

Thursday evening we walked around the park again and discovered the owl's nest. As I was looking at it and trying to get a good shot, a few other campers came over with their cameras to see what I had found.  Below is the best shot I could get, but I wasn't sure what it was.  One of the men said it was the tail feathers of the owl.  I wasn't sure about that because the coloring was wrong and I don't think owls have long tail feathers like this - but this is the photo, what do you think?

Yesterday we were walking around again in that part of the park and went to check out the owl's nest, and we were lucky to find an owl sitting on the nest.  I think I even got a shot of an owlet. You may have to click on these photos to see what I'm talking about.

So, first of all - look at this picture.  It looks to me like there is a bird laying in front of the owl, and I think it is this bird's tail feathers that are showing in the photo above.  I think this is food for the owl family.  

The next picture - see the broken egg shell?  Right above it appears to be a perfect owl face, a little owlet.

Owlet sitting over a broken egg shell.

See under the arrow, I've circled it.

Look at that little face. :)

Such a stern look - okay, okay, we're leaving.

I've found a few other nests, one is particularly interesting - I'll post it next time.  There are lots of birds here and I'm told the Roadrunners are very friendly, so maybe I'll get a great shot of one.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

The weather has been warm and breezy, but a huge wind storm is expected, so I'm hunkering down. It will be coming from the west, and then the north/northwest, and I think I'm in a perfect spot.  The Palms is facing west so we won't be broadsided by the wind, and I have a hill close by to the north which should eliminate some of the wind.

This campground is quite close to the Mexican border, and throughout the day I see Border Patrol vehicles driving through the park.  Right next to Pancho Villa State Park is the small town of Columbus, and I plan to take Katie there on a walk.  Maybe later today depending on the wind, which is pretty strong right now.  The library has free wireless and I need better wireless than I can get through my phone to download some programs that have been lining up.

I'm having a heck of a time getting Blogger to Save, Preview or Publish - is anyone else having this issue?   I keep getting an error message - over and over and over.  :(

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Cheryl Ann!   I can see your photo and name under the "Members" section of  Me and My Dog, but can't pull up anything about you.  I don't know if it's my Internet connection (which appears to be good) or if it's a Blogger issue.  I'll check back later and see if you have a blog or other information I can add.  Thanks for following along with me and Katie, Cheryl Ann!  We are happy to have you on board!  :)

Happy Saturday, everyone, from Me and Katie!  :)

Goodbye City of Rocks -- we'll miss you, Ravens

We're all packed up and ready to go to another New Mexico State Park tomorrow morning.  I filled the water tanks this afternoon and will dump the black and grey tanks at our new park - there isn't a dump site here at City of Rocks.

I cleaned the truck and the solar panels and skylights on the roof this afternoon, as well as all the windows and the sides and back of The Palms as far up as I could reach.  Between the rain and the wind and the sand and the dust, wow, I forgot The Palms is white.  So she's looking much better, for sure.  And bugless.  :)

When Katie and I drove over to the water faucet, I noticed a couple of ravens sitting on the huge rock by the big nest with all the twigs, and on our way back, there was a Raven sitting on the nest.  I was hoping to see her and get a picture before we left.  Is this the coolest photo, or what???  Look at the size of that nest.

I love this nest, what great construction with all those twigs and grasses.

This is where the nest is, and the male raven was sitting on the rock to the right.
 

I've never been much interested in Ravens, except that they look so cool soaring on the drafts when it's windy.  Blue Water Lake State Park has a lot of them, and they are always flying overhead.  This is the first time I've seen nests and been able to observe them a little.

Here's my little lonely Raven tonight - again. I think this is the third night she's been alone, unless her mate comes after dark.

All fluffed up against the wind and cold.  :(

The chairs are in (after being examined closely-no spiders!), and pretty much everything is put away for traveling.  This will be a short trip, a little over an hour, I think, but I'll stop in Deming and do a little Walmart shopping on my way.

Beautiful desert plains surrounding City of Rocks

I've definitely got hitch-itch and can't wait to be on our way.  Our next post will be from a new location.

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

PS - When I woke up at 6 am this morning, it was just barely getting light and I could see one fat Raven on the rock.  But when I turned on my light, they separated and there were two, close together in the cold.  The male must have been coming after dark to the rock.  A little later I heard them talking; it's not a whistle bird-like noise, more like a soft garbled sound, and then whew-whew-whew-whew, and they had flown off at 6:20.  :) 

Meeting more fellow RVers

Today I was visited by three female RVers who came up to The Palms and looked around, and I realized (watching them through my window) that they were wanting to say something to me.  So I opened my window and screen and met three of the nicest people!  They have a friend, Kyra, who reads Me and My Dog and texted DJ that if they were going to be at City of Rocks, they should look me up.  And they did.  Thanks, Kyra!

Gina, Donna and DJ

Oops, wrong photo, sorry ladies!  I've been playing with my new graphics program and got carried away. :)  Here they are:

Gina, Diane and DJ

Diane and her husband Dave have a blog, which I enjoyed reading after they left, but Gina and DJ don't blog -yet.  Thank you all for coming by to visit with me and Katie.  I had such a good time talking with you - I hope we meet up again in the future.

Some other photos taken since I've been here at City of Rocks:

City of Rocks Lizard

Sign to the Desert Botanical Garden

I like the way they let you know how long it is to the nearest bench, restroom and water.  I was also interested in what was written about the number four - my favorite number all my life. I've always categorized things into fours. It's the symbol that's on the New Mexico license plates. If you click on the photo you should be able to read about it.

Hike and Bike Trail Marker

When we first got here, I found this large dead spider on my chair folded up in front of Katie's car seat. I put it on the edge of her blanket to show it's size.  She wasn't too happy about having it there.

Later, I took out the chair and opened it in camp, and this is what was inside the chair:

Wolf Spider

Is that a creepy spider, or what?  It's large and looks like it has a black pincher mouth.   I did a lot of spider research, but couldn't find out what kind it was.   I think I must have brought them from the Hot Springs LTVA in California, one died and one lived.  But not for long...  At least I hope there were only two.  :(    NOTE:  Thank you Cyndi for letting me know this is a Wolf Spider!

Look at the pretty center of this big rock. The other half is on the ground.

This is a Raven's nest in one of the hollows in a large rock.

The hole on the left is the nest.  This one has really been built up with twigs.

In my first site I put out a bowl of water for the critters, and here is a raven coming in for a landing.  He is flying toward the left side of the photo and has one foot on the ground as he lands.

Ta-Da - I should put a ballet skirt on him. :)

And here is is again, flying away after having a drink. I love to get photos of birds in flight, but I don't get many good clear ones.

So graceful.

And finally, here's a Black-Throated Sparrow, the first I've seen.  He flew in, hopped around, and flew off, and that was that.  I was lucky to get this one photo and I haven't seen one since.

Black-Throated Sparrow

Katie and I are leaving City of Rocks by the end of the week, heading south to Rock Hound State Park and Poncho Villa State Park. We've never been to those campgrounds and want to see them.  I have a loose itinerary written up to try to see as many of New Mexico's State Parks this summer so that next year our travels will be more focused on the parks we like best.  I'd like to stay two weeks at each park, that's the limit set by New Mexico for 2013, but I'm expecting the heat to drive us north sooner than I'd like, so will probably have shorter visits at some of the parks.

This last photo isn't the best - but I love it anyway.  Last night the female Raven came first, as expected, then the male flew in, jumped around a bit, and flew off.  I just barely got the photo-as you can see.  Reminds me of Mary Poppins.  Then the female flew off, too, returning later to their rock.  I looked out later in the night and didn't see two ravens, so maybe the male didn't return, for the first time since I've been here. I felt kind of sorry for the female Raven.  Do you think they had a tiff?

I had to try it:

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

Happy Easter! And more campground photos.

Happy Easter, everyone!  I hope you all had a great day with the people you love.  And a delicious Easter dinner, too.

I woke up the other morning to the most beautiful setting moon.  

My connection to the Internet hasn't been good, so I haven't posted as much as I'd like.  I have a million photos of this place!  I have unlimited data through Verizon, but I REALLY used it last month, and I don't know if they've cut me back or if moving to this new site is not as good for the Verizon signal.  Anyway, I'll try to get this published. :)

I met another blogger the other day when Katie and I were walking - Glenda.  She and her husband have a Casita, and are traveling with two cats and a beautiful dog.  They were parked in the Capercornus site that I liked so much.

Glenda

We had a nice conversation, and Glenda pointed me in the direction of the grinding holes that I was looking for, and also told me about a little petroglyph - she said it's called the Spanish Cross.

Isn't their dog, Kira, beautiful?

It was nice meeting you, Glenda!  Safe travels.

Katie and I continued on and I took a photo of the Spanish Cross high up on one of the large rocks:

Then we found this sign, and started walking up the hill to look for the Grinding Stones.

I didn't see any more signs, so we just walked on and turned to the right and this is what we found:

They looked like grinding stones, but I'm not sure if they are the official ones.  :)

We walked all over above the campground, and ended up at the other end across from the electrical sites.  It was a long walk - for us - and very interesting, checking out all the different rock formations high above the campground.  It was also a very easy walk - I was surprised when I saw how high we were.  I'll tell you, kids would really love this place.

Our Ravens arrive a little after 7 pm every evening and just sit there, roosting together.  I woke up at 6:30 and peeked out the window and they were still there, but by 7 am they were gone.  Every evening they come back to sit on their rock, and in the morning they are gone.  It's pretty cool to have them there.

Ravens in the sunset sky.

This little guy has also been around lately, too - he doesn't stay long, just wanders through our site and continues on into the desert brush.  Still, I'm always happy to see him.

Welcome to our newest Follower, Sandi Ratke!  Sandi doesn't have a blog, but does plan to get into RVing.  She says she is "Still looking for the right RV for me.  I enjoy reading about the adventures of other RVers."  Sandi, I hope you find that perfect RV and have as much fun as I'm having!  Let me know if you start a blog, I'd love to see how you're doing.  Thank you for following along with me and Katie - Welcome Aboard!

One of our beautiful New Mexico sunsets.

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

Help, there's a giant rock on The Palms

Just kidding.  Today I moved sites - I love to move around, and although I liked my first site, it was too exposed to the wind.  So I moved to the other side of the park, where the large boulders and the small hill will shield me if we have another windy spell.

So, this is the new site.

I liked the two small boulders caught in the middle of these two large ones.  There's a tree in the middle.  The sites all have a table and a bar-b-que and a trash can, too.

This afternoon Hazel came by to collect her chair (which I borrowed to hold this site while I went back to get The Palms and drive it over) and we drove around the campground again.  We saw a female cottontail and a smaller, thin cottontail that we thought was probably her little bunny, then we saw a Jackrabbit further down the road:

There were many birds around - usually the morning and early evenings are are the best times to see the birds.  I walked into the site and put a doggie bag in the trash can and looked up and saw:

Can you see the two Ravens on the rock?

I took a bunch of photos, and they didn't seem to mind that I was there.  At first I thought it was one huge bird, but it was two, just close together.

It looked like they were snuggling. :)

I put Katie in The palms and walked around behind the boulders to get better shots in the setting sun.

Some closer shots:

I watched them until dark. As it got cooler, they fluffed up their feathers a few times and grew rounder.  The bird on the right flew away, then came back.  Then he flew away again and the other bird waited.

I love having them in my site so close.

That's it for now.  I'd guess they'll be gone in the morning, but will be back tomorrow evening.

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