I have the most annoying neighbors!!!

By far - my most annoying neighbors.  They are noisy, they keep looking in my windows - they even bang on my windows. They woke me up at 5:30 this morning.  They are pooping on The Palms.  I think they want us to leave - I may have to move.

I've think I've heard their babies but I'm not sure and I haven't actually seen them yet; here are the Peeping Tom culprits.

They are a nesting pair of Mountain Bluebirds and were flying by the window looking in all day long.  I had a feeling they didn't want us in the neighborhood.  They were banging into the window and making such a fuss in The Palms' side mirrors (I'll post those photos tomorrow), I started feeling really bad and decided to move.

Katie kept a close eye on them.  At first she barked, but when I explained to her that they were here first and probably had babies close by, I was happy that she listened carefully,  minded me and left them alone.  And, yeah, I did do a little yelling.  LOL.  She still watched them very closely, though.

They were making such a fuss fighting with themselves in the driver side mirror, I had to cover it with a towel. This morning when I made my coffee, I went outside and checked the mirror and front of The Palms for bird poop.  I noticed my generator was right under the nest, and the noise and fumes wouldn't be good for the Mom and Dad or the Babies.  So, when the coffee was done, I moved to the other side of the shelter.  Since I have this site, no one should be parked on the other side next to the nest, and they will have more privacy for their little family.

I have tons more photos of the Mountain Bluebirds, and will post some of them in a future post.

Can you see the bluebird right below the driver's side mirror?

By the way, we are at Storrie Lake State Park in New Mexico.  We decided to turn left instead of right at the fork to Santa Rosa Lake or Sumner Lake.  When we arrived at Santa Rosa Lake, I didn't drive to the electric sites, which I'm told are nice, but after driving around the dry camping areas, it was a little too primitive for me, so we drove back to the little town of Santa Rosa and stopped along the street to make lunch and re-group.  I took out the laptop and checked MapQuest.  I was surprised to see that Storrie Lake was only a little further north than Sumner Lake was south, and if I didn't like Sumner, then I'd have that hour drive south and another hour's drive north to get to right where were were at that point.  I was getting tired of driving, so I headed north to Storrie Lake, and am glad I did.  This lake is also very low, but since a holiday weekend is coming up, I wanted to snag a camping site just in case they get crowded over the weekend.

The drive up here was so interesting, I took tons of photos along the way which I'll post another day.

We have a nice site here overlooking the lake.  The temps are very comfortable, and the wind, although we do have some, isn't as bad or continuous as it was at Elephant Butte.  It is pretty windy today, though. Maybe I'm bringing it with me.  :(


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

Onward and upward

Upward to the north, that is. 

Katie and I are both getting very tired of the heat and wind at Elephant Butte.  Honestly, I was really looking forward to being here, I've heard so much about this area.  I thought it would be the high point of our State Park travels going from New Mexico's southern parks to the northern parks.  But try as I might, and I can be pretty darn optimistic, I haven't really found it to be that great. I thought about moving to another campground area, or down on the beach right next to the water, but the heat and wind will be anywhere we move. 

The mornings have been really nice, then all too soon it's too hot to even take a decent walk, then in the afternoon the winds come up and blow us down the street.  My eyes have been so dry.  Katie doesn't even want to go potty outside.  Yesterday I thought she was sick, but I think she's just tired of the heat, too, and nervous with all the wind.  Maybe if the weather was more cooperative it would be better, but after trying for eight days, I give up.

Tomorrow morning we're heading out.

I've been reduced to taking photos of dead snakes in the road - there isn't much around here to snap photos of.   Do you think this might be why:

I guess it could be that I'm not looking in the right direction. :)   Someone sent me the above photo in an e-mail, and I've been saving it for a place that doesn't have much to offer up photo-wise.  I thought it was so funny. 

Anyway, obviously I'm not finding much to take pictures of at this park.  Following are the few photos I've taken since my last post.  A couple from Canada was traveling with this Tadpole.  I asked if I could get a photo, and they were more than happy to oblige:

He said there is a queen size bed inside.  Reminded me of the homemade trailer the man at Riverside Campground made.

And... the aforementioned snake in the road.   He was dead, but with his mouth open, at first I thought he was alive.

And that's it.  There just isn't anything else to blog about or take pictures of. 

We're heading toward Sumner Lake and then Santa Rosa Lake.  If we like them, we'll stay 14 days at each park, if not, we'll keep heading north. 

Tomorrow - onward and upward.  From me and Katie, good night, everyone.  :)

Update from Elephant Butte

We've just pretty much been taking it easy the last few days, enjoying our campsite overlooking the lake.  The temps have been climbing and it should peak today at 91 degrees.  I'm looking forward to mid 80s starting tomorrow. 

As pretty as it is looking out at the lake all day, there isn't much to take pictures of, so my camera has been off most of the time.  I've gotten a few photos to share:

Pretty cactus flower with a bee inside collecting pollen.

This bush just starting blooming with little flowers that look like small orchids.  Very pretty.

I haven't taken a photo of a Gambel's Quail for a while, and couldn't resist snapping this guy perching so nicely.

Katie trying to fit on her folded quilt for a little nap.

This next photo is a comical one of Katie.  At night I tuck this large scarf under my mattress and it hangs down blocking off the truck cab and windshield, giving us some privacy; it's an easy curtain-type thing that I've recently been doing.  (It's very colorful, but the biggest scarf I have. It sure does give us some COLOR.)  The other night Katie was in her car seat when I put the curtain up.  A little later I could see her nose poking at the curtain trying to figure out how she was going to get back into the living area.  She finally figured it out, her head came through and she hopped up on the dinette seat back.  She sat like this looking at me for the longest time. I think she was trying to tell me something.  She looked so funny, all I could do was laugh and grab the camera. Maybe she was waiting for an apology?  She didn't get one, just laughing and camera flashes.  :)

Ya gotta love a dog that can make you laugh. :)

This is a Western Mockingbird.  I've posted one before from another park, but I like his simple colors.

We had a visitor wander over to our campsite yesterday.  Lloyd arrived Thursday morning at Elephant Butte for a one-night stay, and we arranged to meet up.  We endured the heat inside, then the wind outside while we had a nice visit.  Katie loves him - she became a bit of a pest, which is unusual for her.  Lloyd got back on the road this morning heading north, just in time to miss today's 90+ temps.  Thanks for the visit, Lloyd, it was good to see you again.  We didn't take photos, so you're just going to have to believe me that he had on one of his very nice 30+ Hawaiian shirts!  :)

WELCOME to our newest Follower, John!   Or should I say, Shoeless Joe?  Under either name - Katie and I welcome you as an official Follower.  I've been following your blog for a long time, and always enjoy it, so it's nice to have you aboard and following along with us!  :) 

And that's about it for today.  From me and Katie, have a great Friday, everyone!  :)

Elephant Butte State Park

We arrived here at Elephant Butte late morning yesterday. First we had to get gas, propane, do laundry - five loads - put it all away, shop at Walmart, put everything away, and drive here.  At that point I was exhausted - and I still needed to put the comforter in it's duvet and make the bed with the clean sheets.  That task never bothered me with a regular bed, but up in the overhead on a hot day, it was a daunting task.  I don't know why I like to do everything on the same day - usually a travel day - but it always completely wears me out.

We came through the Park Office/Entry Gate and drove a little way to the dry camping developed spots, but they were up high over the lake and I wanted to be closer to the water.  So, using the camping area map the Ranger gave me, we drove back out and turned right - heading toward North and South Monticello Points.  I didn't know the area and kept thinking I had passed them.  I finally just took a road toward the lake to one of the posted coves.  I talked to a man there who told me exactly how to get where I wanted to go.

I ended up at South Monticello Point, but it appeared to be electric only sites.  From the end of the sites, though, I could look down and see tons of water birds next to the dry boat launch, and I wanted to get there.  After a couple of wrong turns, I finally made it.  I hadn't even had my coffee at that point and I was starved, so we parked next to the boat ramp and I made a turkey and cheese sandwich with Ruffles on the side and drank tons of water.  When I was done, I didn't feel like walking out closer to the birds, so just snapped what I could of the birds that were closest.  They looked like Great Blue Herons, Pelicans, Coots, Ducks, and some birds that looked like really big white ducks.

Unless these are juvenile Great Blue Herons in front, the white birds must be huge. Some kind of duck or goose? (Ross Goose - white phase juvenile and Little Blue Herons, thank you, Hazel!)

There were many Great Blue Herons - this was the closest.

Are these Pelicans?  (White Pelicans, per Hazel)

And this little lizard (Zebratail lizard per Hazel) was on the rocks by The Palms

There was a birder with a tri-pod and camera down by the water taking photos, and as he was driving to another area I walked down to ask him if he knew of a good place to dry camp that had water nearby.  He suggested Paseo Del Rio Campground, which was the other way, a little past the main Park Office/Visitor Center.  So we took off and ended up in a little campground along the Rio Grande, which was very picturesque.

The Rio Grand along the Paseo Del Rio Campground

Our Campsite

This was a beautiful place to camp, but unfortunately there was very slight cell and Internet, nowhere near enough for me to enjoy my stay.  So, Katie and I had a nice quiet night and left first thing this morning.

We came back to the main campground, went through the Park Office/Visitor Center entrance again, and drove down the road to see which dry camping sites were still available.  I picked one out, got settled, made coffee and cereal with fresh strawberries and looked out the window to see a Roadrunner actually crossing the road.  It felt like a sign - this is where we are supposed to be.

It was very hot yesterday, really hot - up to 96 degrees in The Palms, but today, since we are up higher and above the lake, we are getting the benefit of the breezes and low winds blowing through our open windows.  Also, good wi-fi and cell reception and TV antenna reception here. Elephant Butte State Park is supposed to have free wi-fi, but it is not very strong where I am, and I ended up using my own.  It's not speeding fast here, but more than adequate. 

This is the view out my dinette window - Elephant Butte Lake with the Marina on the right.

When we were driving over here from Paseo Del Rio Campground, we passed a large pond full of birds roosting.  There was a place to pull off the road, so I parked and walked over with my camera.  These are some of the birds I saw there - I think lots of Cormorants and maybe a Green Heron.

 Double Crested Cormorant per Hazel

It's days like this when I want a new camera with a better zoom lens.  My 16x zoom is really good, much better than my older camera, but now that I'm into getting good clear closeups of birds, sometimes it just isn't good enough. If you know what these birds are, help me out?  ( Hazel sent me an e-mail with the names of the birds - I didn't know there was a Little Blue Heron - but there he was in my guide.  Thanks for all the information, Hazel! :)  )

Today I did a lot of moving things around from one cupboard to another. Now that the weather is getting so hot, it was time.  While doing that I found things I haven't ever used, but don't want to get rid of, so I put them in the back of cupboards which freed up space in some other cupboards.  While moving the vacuum to a more available space, I vacuumed, too.  I'm feeling pretty organized and rested again.  I never did make coffee yesterday and had a bad headache last night.  Too late to have a cup of coffee for a fix, so a couple of Ibuprofen helped a bit.  First thing this morning - coffee!

At this point, I'm planning to spend the whole 14 days here.  The weather will be 80's and low 90s until then  - on the four days after we leave, the forecast is 97, 99, 101 and 100 degrees, so I'm heading north at a good time.

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

It's our last night at Percha Dam

I'd like to stay here for the duration, but I'm running out of milk, bread and propane, so tomorrow morning we'll move on. 

Katie has turned out to be the best bird dog, not because she finds and retrieves the birds, but because she will sit, very quietly without moving, when I signal her to sit/stay.  When I start walking slowly and quietly, whispering to her (trying to sneak up on the birds at the river), she slows down and walks slowly right behind me until I signal her to sit/stay. Then I lay her leash handle on the ground.  With her leash and tags quiet, I can slowly sneak up to the bank and scan right and left to see if anything looks interesting.  If anyone saw me, they would think I was a batty old woman, for sure. 

This is Katie after I carried her back the other day because of the hot sand.  (I still can't figure out why it was so hot. I felt it, though, and it was burning hot. Yesterday and today we walked the same path around the same time, and I kept feeling the sand to be sure it wasn't too hot, and it was fine.  Anyway, she was happy to be carried home and then given a treat.  Big smile and ears both up.  :)

This is the area of the Rio Grande we've been walking above:



We walked down to the river yesterday and walked along as far as we could go, until we couldn't get around the trees without going into the water.  These huge tree roots were exposed and kind of artistic looking, I thought.

Following are more new birds snapped in the last couple of days. I saw the Green Heron again today and watched him for quite a while, but the photos weren't as good as the others I've posted. They were clearer, but the color wasn't as good - probably different light. 

First is the only new bird along the water, a Common Yellowthroat.  I had three photos of him jumping - there were two of them, and they moved around and jumped on and off the rocks constantly.

Common Yellowthroat

The rest were taken in my campsite or from the windows of The Palms.

Black-tailed Gnat-catcher - non-breeding male

Chipping Sparrow - Another Angry Bird

Two Chipping Sparrows - there were lots of these little guys on the ground, they'd sweep in and sweep out in a flock.

Grey-headed Dark-eyed Junco

Grey-headed Dark-eyed Junco

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - female I think - I don't see red on her head.

American Goldfinch - you can't miss him in the trees.

American Goldfinch

Vermilion Flycatchers - female with juveniles

Vermilion Flycatcher - female

Vermilion Flycatcher - Male

This is one of my Field Guides - anything look familiar?

Here's dainty Katie, in her bed - notice both ears are up again, a rare sight:

We've enjoyed our short stay at Percha Dam State Park.  If you happen to stop here and want to see the water in the river, take the path right past the playground. There's a fence there that you can go through.  Keep walking and the river will be below you on your left.  It's a nice level path all the way to the end where there are fields.  Not a long walk at all.

Our next post will be from Elephant Butte.  From me and Katie, have a nice Sunday night, everyone!  :)