We'll be back, and drat - another mouse!

POST 2 OF 2 FOR TODAY

I thought I'd post a couple of photos of where we are parked here at Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico - I might try out a new site when we come back.  We can only stay 14 days, then we have to leave for a week, and then we're coming back.

Our beautiful campsite overlooking Bluewater Lake.

This photo shows the lake in front of us, and the dry lake bed to our right. Much lower than usual, but still lots of water for boats.

We're not going anywhere, I just won't have a computer for a week for so, and won't be able to publish a post during that time.

Long story:  I wasn't completely happy with the Samsung camera I bought on June 1 at Wal-Mart and noticed on the right panel of my blog, where I put a "This is my Future Camera" ad, that the camera I want is on sale.  It was $299, and I wasn't quite ready to pay that, but now it's $199, and I'm willing to fork over that much for a camera that I hope I'll love.   So this morning I got the Samsung camera back to factory condition and Hazel and I drove to Wal-Mart and I returned it.

I was standing there waiting while the Customer Service employee rang up the return, and I mentioned that I also purchased a laptop from Wal-Mart and it was driving me crazy.  After I got it, although I had it set to automatically perform updates, I still needed to download and install them myself.  There were around 50 updates for Windows 8 and a bunch of updates for HP installed items, maybe a dozen.  I've been having a heck of a time getting all the updates downloaded and installed.  About half of them failed and I had to try again, and this computer is SSSLLOOOWW!  I still don't have them all installed and I don't think any of the HP updates worked.

The speakers aren't super good, although I can live with that.  But the games I play on the computer are jerky, and even with the updates I've installed so far, that hasn't improved.

Investigating what's actually ON this computer, I discovered it was built July of 2012.  That's before Windows 8 was even out, so no wonder it needed so many updates.  I was thinking I might want to return it.  When I mentioned all this to the Customer Service woman, she said, make sure if you return it that you have your receipt, and return it within 15 days of purchase.  Wow - 15 days isn't very long - and I've already had the computer 12 days.  So, now, as soon as I post this, I'm going to return the computer back to factory condition, put everything back in the box, and Hazel and I are going to the Wal-Mart in Gallup tomorrow and I'm going to return it.

I won't get my other laptop back from being repaired for a week or so, and probably won't be posting until I get that one back.  I didn't want anyone to worry - nothing is wrong, I just won't have a computer to publish my next post for a little bit.

I sure seem to have a lot of electronics woes lately, don't I?  Even so, like they say about golf, the worse day full-timing still beats any other lifestyle. 

Funny.. as I'm typing this, ANOTHER "HP SUPPORT ASSISTANT" message popped up, "A critical message about your computer is available." It keeps doing that, and when I choose "View now," I have a loooong wait, remember this computer is ssssslllllloooowww, and then I finally get a screen that lists all the HP updates I need to download and install.  Unfortunately after taking the time to try to do that, they don't get installed.  Just confirms that I need to return this computer before my 15 days are up.

I was hoping that once all the updates were done, the computer would speed up and not be so jerky, but since my 15 days are almost up, I don't have time to even try to complete that task.  If they had given me 90 days like some stores do, I might have whipped it into shape by then and kept it.   

But the good news is that I ordered a new Canon Power Shot 500 IS and it should be here by Friday, I hope. I should have some good photos to post once I get my computer back.  

And...  yes, another mouse.  Katie woke me up at 5 am this morning.  I looked down from my bunk, and all I could see was her little butt and wagging tail.  The rest of her was in the cab.  I got up and turned on the light, got my flashlight and looked all over and under and around everything up there.  Nothing.  Then I thought, maybe something is in the engine compartment, so I went outside, lifted the lid, and shone the light all over.  Nothing.

I went back in and told Katie to go to sleep, but she was insistent.  So I started moving things from the cab to the couch, and ...  nothing.  Katie's tail was wagging even faster, so I went back outside and opened the passenger door, and who should be looking up at me - a little mouse.  Katie is so spot-on with these critters.  I tried twice to smash it, but there wasn't a flat surface and it went back under the seat and probably into the cabin somewhere.

I got out some D-Con and put it under the seat where Katie couldn't reach it, got a mousetrap that was already baited and would kill and keep the mouse inside if caught, and also threw a Fresh Cab bag under the seat hoping the smell would drive it away.   I have a whole BAG full of mouse stuff.

I won't know if any of that worked until tonight when it decides to roam around if it's still here.  Katie will wake me for sure if she hears anything.  UPDATE, Katie is back in the cab and it's 9:15, but now she's growling toward the DRIVER's seat.  I put everything under the passenger seat.  Here we go again.

Tomorrow Hazel is coming over to help me find and plug any holes under the rig with some steel wool I bought a few months ago.  Obviously, since this is the fourth time I've had a mouse, I have entry holes under the rig.  I think I might win the award for the most infestations of mice in two years' time.   Yes, I'm so proud.  But not willing to try for five!  I'm going to put my shoes on and get out the mouse "stuff" bag right now.

From Me and Katie, see you in a week or so - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE, INCLUDING MINE!  :)

And that's no Bull!

POST 1 OF 2 FOR TODAY

Or is it?  I'm so uninformed about identifying gender when it comes to large animals.  I figured this guy:

...was a bull, and although I didn't see anything suspicious to identify him as such, he is so massively built - look at his huge shoulders and chest.

Kind of like last year when the herd of horses was here.  I couldn't tell which was the mare and which was the stallion unless one of them was nursing the colt. Then it was a pretty good guess at that point. Or the one photo I took of a few of the horses. I didn't realize until days after I posted the photo that it was kind of OBVIOUS one of them was a stallion.  A little horse porn?  I can't find that post, but you get the idea. 

Also kind of like my nudist at Quartzsite.  Not until I had his photo up on my laptop screen did I realize he had turned to face me, and I got quite a surprise.  Sorry... couldn't post that one, I caught it in time.  That post BY FAR has the most views and is probably the most disappointing when the Google Search for the word Nudist lands on that post.  :)

Anyway, the other morning I'm sitting at the dinette playing with my laptop when my photo scout, Katie, started barking.  I looked out the window, down to the dry lake bed below us, and there sauntered a huge black bull with a white face. 

Just slowly walking along. I thought he was heading toward the lake for a drink, but he got to the road and turned right, following it along the edge.

Then I saw a truck coming along the road.  It was funny, the bull could have kept going straight, but as soon as the truck approached, he turned to cross the road right in front of the truck.  Slowly.

The driver, of course, stopped.  I guess if the bull had no females to boss around, he was going to make sure this truck understood who was boss.

Then he just kept walking and turned toward the hills in the west.  He walked along like he owned the place.  A little further along, he stopped and began grazing.  Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see a black dog running toward him. 

He crossed right behind the bull, stopped, and then ran a bit further and hung out a while sniffing the ground. 

Then I hear this frantic yelling, obviously the owner of this unleashed dog, who is messing around with a huge bull, noticed it wasn't nearby and spied it up on the hill.  That would sure make me yell at Katie to come back.  (Katie is always on her leash, though.)  The dog again ran toward the bull, then kept going, back down to the lake where his owners were.

After having his fill of the plants he was grazing on, the bull walked on to the upper road and continued along toward the vault toilets.

Oh...  THAT's where he's going.  To the Potty. :)

Right next to the toilets are three large boulders and a sign saying no access.  It used to be a road heading around the lake to the other side, where I've seen cows and horses grazing.  He went out of my line of sight, but I'm sure he took the road beyond the boulders and went to the other side of the lake.  Again, I'm assuming this is a bull.  If it's not, well, sorry about that. :)

I don't get TV antenna reception here, but sometimes there's a good show right out my window.  And my photo scout is always alert and on the lookout for anything that moves.

Katie and I have walked up to the Visitor's Center a couple of times when Hazel was manning the office.   This park has a real office, kind of made me miss working.  I loved working in an office, all the different tasks and projects.   So, if you call the Visitor's Center at Bluewater Lake State Park and talk to a woman with a sweet, southern voice, it's Hazel. 

Hot, hot, hot the last three days, and tomorrow as well. Then it's supposed to cool back down into the 80s.  I'm looking forward to that!!

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

The Garbage Squisher

I was wondering what they were going to do with all the garbage.  It's Sunday morning, and most of the weekenders camped and boating around the lake are still here.  The two dumpsters used by these campers are FULL, and have things sticking out already.  I could just see the people leaving, tossing their garbage bags under the lids on their way out - then the wind comes up and the lids fly open.  They do fly open every day.

Can't you just see the garbage flying all over the place - what a mess that would be!  But, no... to the rescue come three seasonal workers and a Bobcat:

The right container is already squished down.

The Bobcat REARS UP on it's hing legs, I mean rear wheels, packing down the second container.

WaaLaa! Lots of room for departing campers to fill.

My grand kids would have loved watching this.  Especially when the Bobcat reared up on it's back wheels and PUSHED down that trash.  Pretty good stuff for kids and Grammys to watch.

Meanwhile, Katie was working hard, too.



We are parked in the perfect direction for Katie to take advantage of the morning sun coming through the window.  This is the view out the couch window.  We see the lake through the front windshield, and out my dinette window I can see the hills and dry lake bed.  I was happy about the lake bed view, thinking I'd see the herd of horses grazing out there, but so far, no horses.  I've see a few hoof prints in the dust and more than a few horse "piles," but no horses yet.

The other day I was craving Nachos and had all the ingredients - see Andy, that's why my fridge is so FULL - and they were delicious.

Homemade Nachos - looks good enough to eat, and I did!

I like home made so much better than the ones I get at restaurants.  This time I got the corn chips that are in a little cup.  Added re-fried beans, shredded cheese, microwaved it a bit to warm things up, then added homemade guacamole, sour cream and chopped tomatoes.  Ummmm, they were so good.  I think I'll have them again for lunch today. :)

Katie likes chasing the lizards here, I got a good shot of one that she didn't see first:

Looks a little like a petroglyph if you squint your eyes, doesn't it?

The weekend, as usual, has been crowded, tons of rigs and tents lined up around the lake shore.  There were really a lot of boats this weekend.  The early birds are already gone, and right now, at noon, more people are starting to pack up and leave.  Soon there will only be a few left, the ones who will stay all week at the edge of the lake.

So far the weekenders seem to be well behaved and quiet.  Except last night, something was going on at the boat launch.  Katie heard them and barked and woke me up. It was in the middle of the night, and sounded like someone was trying to pull their boat on the concrete.  I looked out the window and could see flashlights and headlights at the launch.  Scrapping and flashlights and headlights and talking went on for quite a while.  The launch is far enough away that I can see it, but not hear it, so I don't know what was going on - I could hardly hear the voices, but figured someone's boat missed the trailer and was being dragged along the concrete.  That's what it sounded like.  Hopefully no damage was done, but I kind of doubt that.

As far as we are concerned, all is well at Bluewater Lake, and Katie and I are getting very lazy.

WELCOME to our newest follower, grammynmaggie!  I'm a Grammy, too!  (Or as Lauren would say, Grams - so cute!)  I don't think grammynmaggie has a blog, but I'm very happy you're following along with us, and Katie is wagging her tail over having maggie along, too.  Welcome aboard to you both!  :)
 NOTE:  I'm so sorry, grammynmaggie - I totally spaced out on your blog. You DID tell me in your comment that you have a blog - and here's the address for everyone: 

GEOCACHING & TRAVEL'IN WITH GRAMMY AND THE PAPILLON PRINCESS

Thanks, Judy for that information in your comment.  I went to Grammy's blog and checked it out and she has had her motor home for quite a while. I enjoyed reading back through 2013 and into 2012 - be sure to give her a visit!

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

Two years on the road :)

During our frustrating weekend, we overlooked the fact that on Saturday, June 1, Katie and I started our third year on the road.  We've sure seen a lot of new places, people and things, and learned a LOT about RVing, The Palms and all it's systems in the last two years.  I've never once been sorry I made the decision to leave the condo and start traveling full time in a motor home.  I still love being a full time RVer and still love The Palms as much as the day I first drove it home.  Although I still feel like such a newbie sometimes, I'm glad we have two years under our belts.  We're looking forward to our third year with lots of anticipation and excitement!

One of the first things I saw when we drove down to the beach on Saturday was this Great Blue Heron on the hill.

I'm always trying to get good close-up photos of herons, but I'm not happy yet with what I've taken, so I'll keep trying.  This one isn't too bad.

We had thunder and lightening and a brief, heavy rain last night before dark.  It was nice for a change, and hopefully will dampen the ground and trees in this fire season.

So...  I mentioned bad neighbors in my last post.  I never got to know them, and didn't talk to them (except yelling at them), but this is what they did.  (People who don't dry camp all the time might not see the big deal, but I was totally aggravated!)

I parked in the primitive parking area by the lake on my first evening here.  All the other campers were lined up around the lake.  I was the only RV out in the dry lake bed area, a large area that used to be under water.  I went to bed, exhausted, around 9:30 and a little before 10, I woke up and saw headlights through my curtains and heard a truck approaching.  I started worrying that I was in the middle of a large area in the dark, and hoped they could see us.  They stopped their vehicle, and I looked out the window.  There was another truck there; he must have driven up while I was asleep.  The people got out of the trucks and proceeded, for about 45 minutes to set up CAMP.  Right NEXT to me. The second truck was towing a boat, and the people were jumping up and down from the boat and the truck bed, all brandishing flashlights that were shining all over the place, including in my windows.  It was pitch black outside.  The gates should have closed at dusk, so they were already here during the daylight. Why in the world would they come over where I was parked so late, after it was dark?

This was taken AFTER they took the truck/boat away in the morning. Those were between me and the tent.

The truck with the motor running in the morning was practically right under my window - 15-20 feet away?

Anyway, they finally got things organized - they were slow as molasses, though.  Things quieted down and I went back to sleep.  Then a little after 7 in the morning, I hear the truck again.  I listened to the truck engine running for what seemed to be about 20 minutes.  They were at the boat, getting it organized for going out on the lake to fish all day.  Jumping up, jumping down, discussing things, etc.   Finally I opened my window from my upper bunk and yelled, "Would you SHUT OFF YOUR TRUCK?!?!!!?  I'm trying to SLEEP up here!"  They looked up at me and one man walked over and turned off the engine.  They didn't leave for another 20 or 30 minutes.  Were they planning to run that truck under my window at 7 in the morning for an hour? I wouldn't want to admit to you that I cursed them - NO FISH FOR YOU TODAY.  I don't know if my curse worked or not, but I'm not admitting anything . :)

I noticed an empty area next to the lake where someone had left and I climbed down, got dressed and drove over there.  Katie and I spent the day by the water watching all the weekenders enjoying themselves, fishing, boating, kayaking, jumping in the water just playing.  Then one by one, they packed up and left. There were lots of groups and extended families with a lot of gear for the weekend. 

After all the people in my area left, the Ravens and Turkey Buzzards arrived to clean up all the dead fish that were left on the shore.  It was very interesting to watch the interaction between the two types of birds.  It started with Ravens, then one Turkey Buzzard arrived.  Before I knew it, there were a dozen or so of them, and they were obviously in charge.  The Ravens kept appearing, hopping around, and flying off to other areas. 

These are some of the pictures I took of the Chihuahuan Ravens and Turkey Buzzards:

Turkey Buzzard and catfish

Chihuahuan Raven.  Once the Buzzards arrived, these guys had to find fish in another area.

Raven in flight.

US Supreme Court Justices.  The way they walk around, that's what they remind me of when they are in a group.  My apologies to the Court.  :)

Cooling off in the breeze.

As his wings came down, his tail feathers came in, too.

Turkey Buzzard in flight.  These birds really interest me.

As you can see, the photos aren't as good with the Samsung as with my Nikon.  It might just be that I have the settings all wrong, so I'll have to work on that. It's definitely more fun to shoot photos that come out clear and crisp and colorful.

 A big Welcome to our new Followers:

paxami, who is a "sometime gardener, golfer and photographer, big time reader and animal lover, and a fledgling cellist."   I don't see that you have a blog, but you have a lot of  fun interests, paxami, and hopefully following me and Katie will be fun for you, too!  Thanks for following along with us.

pamela - who doesn't show a blog or any other information, but we're sure happy you are following us on our travels, pamela!

...and fnally, Barbara!  Once when I was introduced to someone, they said, "I've never met a Barbara I didn't like."  I've also found that to be true, so when I went over to Barbara's blog, even though she is not an RVer, I knew I'd love it.  I'll bet you will, too!  She is in Houston, TX, and her profile says, in part, "I read a lot.... novels, internet, soup cans. This blog has evolved into a rambling collection of my thoughts and reflections on life, and quotes or links to other articles and blogs I enjoy."  I'm looking forward to your posts, Barbara - thanks for following Me and My Dog  ...and My RV!
 
Welcome aboard to you all!  :)

It's cloudy and windy and wonderful here.  From Katie and me, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  :)

Well, I wasn't planning on driving for two days!

I can finally post again - and especially wanted to let everyone know that Katie and I are fine and we are not  near any New Mexico fires.  However, it's been a frustrating, tiring, maddening, expensive few days, for sure.

Briefly, we left Storrie Lake because of the fires in the area and headed north. The day before we left I called Coyote Creek and Eagle Nest Lake State Parks to see if they had Verizon and Internet connections.  Both assured me yes, Coyote Creek has free wi-fi and Eagle Nest has good Verizon.

We saw an alpaca ranch along the way; there were lots of alpacas in the fields and a sign saying they were for sale.  When I saw them I pulled over into their driveway to get a good look and some photos.  I've never seen an alpaca before - I'm assuming these guys have long fur like a llama and had just received a hair cut for their fur? Cute looking animals, and very curious. I wouldn't have known what they were if there hadn't been a sign.

We arrived at Coyote Creek, got set up, and NO Internet.  (I had 4  bars for phone connection, but unless I have a Verizon tower I don't get an Internet connection.  The towers in the "roaming" areaa only provide phone connections, per the Verizon employee when I called them last year. No charge, though, to roam.)

Very nice campsite across the  street from the creek.

Coyote Creek view from the bridge

I packed up and asked a volunteer on the way out about the "free wi-fi" I was assured they had, and he commented that the signal only reaches to the electric sites, a tiny, sardine-packed row of sites, and the rest room area right next to it.  No signal to the dry camping areas.  Thanks!  (If Internet connections aren't important to you, though, the dry camping areas along the creek were really nice. I would have happily stayed there for 14 days if I could have gotten a good connection to get on-line.)

Along the road on our travels, we encountered this bull right on the side of the road, outside the fence.  I've seen this before - I guess they can roam, but they stay down where the grasses are.

We drove north to Eagle Nest Lake, arrived around 3:30 and got set up, and same thing, no Internet.  !@%$#!

Also, after I got my computer out to just play some games and listen to a book on tape, I discovered that my computer had crashed, so I had no computer, anyway.  But I could have used my phone or Kindle Fire to get on-line and do what I wanted to do.  In any case, it is what it is, and I was stuck there for the night.  I called Costco Concierge service - a wonderful service provided by Costco that I used once before.  They took all my information about the laptop I bought at Costco less than 4 months ago, helped me run some tests on the computer, which showed the hard drive had failed, then connected us to HP where we had a three-way conversation about the warranty service and returning the laptop to them. I had to wait until I had a physical address for them to send mailing labels and a return box and needed to confirm with Bluewater Lake that they would still accept a package for me.

We were camped right above the lake and it would have been very nice if I could have gotten a signal for the Internet.  (All the sites at Eagle Nest Lake are dry-camping.  NO hook-ups at all.)  There are Prairie Dogs all over the place up there.  I saw some crossing the roads on the way to Eagle Nest Lake, and once we were camped, I could see a bunch of them near our site.  They, too are very curious. Every time a new camper arrived, some would pop up out of their holes and watch the new arrivals.  They provided a little comic relief for me during the 90 minute phone call to Costco Concierge/HP Warranty Department.

In the morning we left, drove through Taos where I went to Wal-Mart and bought their cheapest HP computer and a cheap camera with a good zoom lens.  My good Nikon is so bad now, I can hardly use it.  (I thought this was interesting - I'm having problems typing on the new laptop keyboard. There isn't a number pad on the right side, and since I'm a touch typist, my fingers are going to the wrong places.  I'm slowly getting better at the letters, but I have to visually place my hands at the correct starting point. The delete and backspace keys are in a completely different place.  I have to re-train my brain-to-finger "memory muscles.")

Next we went through Santa Fe where they are apparently also having fire issues and we ended up in Albuquerque where I went to the only Costco in the state of New Mexico.  I wanted to double check that they didn't have a better deal on computers and cameras, but theirs were much more expensive, so I'll keep my Wal-Mart computer and camera.  I've been dying for fresh asparagus and artichokes and bought a big pack of both, then went to their tire department and had my tires checked.  The pressure was good in all six tires, which I was very happy about considering all the driving we've done and temperatures we've been in.

Next stop was PetSmart for Katie's nail trimming and huge bag of treats.  Then on to La Mesa RV where I got a new door latch.  The high winds here in New Mexico caused my door to slam really hard a couple of times and broke the connecting arm from the outside wall to the hook on the door.  Free fresh pop-corn and a bottled water later, we were back on the road.

We made three stops for gas during all the driving from Storrie Lake to Eagle Nest Lake on Friday and then the next day to our final destination.  On Saturday we left at 7:20 am and didn't arrive until 5:30 pm.  It was a long 10 hour day, half was driving and half was shopping at various stores in various places.  All was good, though, and we got everything done we needed to do.  The last hour was hard because I was tiring at that point, but happy that we would soon be settled again.

And we finally arrived at Bluewater Lake State Park!  I have to highlight that in gold, because I was sooooo happy to arrive in a great park with lots of good sites, water in the lake (although it's still very low), beautiful trees, and good Internet signals through my Verizon phone.  This is still my favorite park, even after visiting so many others this year.  I was planning to slowly head this way, but because some of the other parks we visited were lacking one thing or another and we moved on quickly, we are here early.   I wish some of the other nice parks had good signals, but maybe next year. I know they are all planning to have free wi-fi, and hopefully it will extend to the dry camping areas, too.

I got a few pictures along the way and missed a few, too.  One of the best scenes I didn't get was driving along a country road with wire fencing soon after we left Eagle Nest Lake.  All along the fence were hawks sitting there, lined up in a row watching for critters.  There must have been 12 of them.  It would have been a great shot!  I also passed a small coyote trotting along the road in the opposite direction.  Right on the roadside.  I was surprised to see him.

This morning I again called Costco's Concierge Service and he called HP and I got set up for them to send me the labels and shipping box to send back my computer.  Then when it's repaired or replaced (OMG I hope they can save the documents, photos, music, etc.) they will send it back by Fed Ex to Bluewater Lake.

I was a little frustrated by all the fire news, because I wasn't getting any TV, my computer wasn't working, and I was only getting Sirius radio, not local stations, so I didn't know where the fires were or how bad it was.  Apparently it was a good thing we left Storrie Lake, but I haven't checked yet to see how the fires are doing now.

REMINDER:  BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER - you never know if or when it will fail.  I have my things pretty well backed up, and also have an on-line back up service, but in this case, I'll be backing up from the service to the other computer.  It would cost more more to have that service on both laptops, so I'll see what HP can save, if anything, from the failed drive and back up what's missing.  I was glad I had quite a few files backed up on thumb drives so I could easily transfer them to this new computer.  This will be a "SPARE" computer now and I might, in fact, use it to back up important things in case I have another failure.  Each laptop can back up the other.

And now, a question for all you RVers out there which I'm asking because I've had two expensive laptops fail in four months.  When you are traveling, where do you put your computer?  How is it stored to keep it safe?  I put mine in Katie's soft-sided bed which is on the soft dinette bench seat, and cover it with a quilt so it's padded top and bottom.  It should be completely protected from any little jolts on the road, and I was surprised to have a second computer fail me.

Time to go - I have an artichoke boiling, so I'm going to get it now and enjoy every single leaf while I'm catching up on your blogs.  BTW, remember my "most annoying neighbors," the nesting bluebirds?  Well, I have more annoying neighbors from my first night here.  And they are humans. I'll tell you about them in my next post. :(

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