RV Maintenance - over and under The Palms

First, I have to show you this little Rufous Hummingbird that has taken over my feeder.  I have a hummer feeder hanging in the Pinyon Pine tree right outside my window and he has gotten very territorial.  There are two other hummers that try to feed from time to time, but little Rufous isn't going to hear of it.

I thought I had seen and taken pictures of a Rufous before, but this is definitely a new hummingbird for me.  His coloring is so pretty, and he also has an iridescence around his neck.  I saw it when the sun was shining just right, but didn't get a photo of it.

This Rufous Hummingbird isn't in my Birds of Arizona Field Guide, so I added him and a little box that I checked off.  (Of course, I'm not in Arizona, but usually any birds I see here in New Mexico are also in the Arizona Field Guide.) 

And this little one below is a female Rufous, I think.  

Along with my friend, Hazel, I've spent the last couple of days checking The Palms and doing some relatively easy repairs, but super important for The Palms and also for my peace of mind.

I was convinced I had a nest of mice in the A/C unit on the roof.  I climbed up there in a mild wind the other morning, and I could hear scurrying around under the A/C cover.  I called Hazel and she came over to help.  I had no idea what we would find when we removed the cover, so I had everything I could think of available on the roof:  Sticky paper, flypaper, ice pick, ant/roach spray, my Grabber, etc.  I was afraid there would be a moving mess of mice and babies running all over the place and I wanted to get as many as I could.

So...   we were ready and unscrewed the four screws holding the cover on.  Removed the cover, ready to pounce, and  - - -  nothing was there.  It was clean.  Turns out there was an 8 x 10 piece of thin fiberboard that was glued to the side and it had bent in half and the half that was no longer attached by glue was quietly flapping back on forth on the unit and the cover, making a scratching sound.  I swear, it sounded exactly like a nest of mice.  Whew.  What a relief that was.

While we were up there, though, Hazel checked out my roof for me and noticed the putty around the refrigerator vent was cracking and needed to be taken care of right away. She said she was surprised I hadn't had leaks in the kitchen.  Thankfully, there have been no leaks at all in The Palms.

Yesterday we got back up on the roof and removed the vent cover.  Then we took denatured alcohol and scrubbed off as much of the dirt/dust on the putty as we could get off.

We used a big spoon to hold a little alcohol at a time and dipped our paper towels in it, then rubbed and rubbed until the putty was pretty clean.  You can see the difference - that little spot by the spoon was the last to be cleaned.  Then we cleaned the sides of the vent and the area around the putty about two or three inches out for the EternaBond tape to adhere to.

Then we measured, cut and applied EternaBond all around the area, covering the sides of the vent and all the putty, out an additional two inches.  It looks like it will last forever.  I sure hope so.

Here's the A/C cover with no nests underneath, and the fridge vent on the right, all cleaned and sealed up around it.

Late in the evening after we drove/walked the Greyhounds around the park, Hazel and I got under The Palms looking for any holes the mice could use to get into the motor home.  We found some, I don't know if they would have given mice access to the inside of The Palms, but surely there is at least one hole that is allowing entrance. Katie and I had another mouse in the cab while we were in Gallup.  That's the fourth one we've trapped (and we've had two others that left the rig, and we drove away without them, totaling six mice in all) and the reason I thought there must be a nest somewhere.  Since we didn't find a nest, there has to be a hole they are using to get in.

Hazel did most of the under rig checking with a flashlight, she's done this with her own rig and knows what to look for, but I got underneath The Palms, too.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I'm a little claustrophobic, not too bad, but enough that I'm careful not to be stuck in small spaces.  The bottom of the rig was far enough off the ground, and light was coming in from all four sides, so it wasn't too bad.  We stuffed steel wool into the holes, and got the driver's side, the rear and half the passenger side done.  I have a little more to do, then I'm going to check the engine compartment.

After that, I'll check out the inside of The Palms for any holes that can be seen from behind the drawers, cupboards, etc. Then Hazel is going to double check for me, to make sure I didn't miss anything.

When that's done, I should have a motor home that will not be accessible to mice.  I had a nightmare about mice running over me in my sleep the other night and woke up trying to scream, that's when I knew I HAD to do more than just set traps.  Wow, that was an awful dream!

I sure appreciate Hazel offering to help when I need it. She's been RVing all her life and has so much experience and knowledge.  It's so nice of her to spend her time and muscle to help.  How many females do you know who would offer to climb up on your roof, and then the same day, crawl under your RV?  Thanks, Hazel!  :)

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

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Katie wouldn't let me near her right rear foot, wouldn't walk on it, and kept holding it up in the air.

Lots of licking.

This picture just kills me.  :(

A day or so later, she was walking as if nothing had happened and I have no idea what was wrong.

From me and Katie (who is just fine now), have a great Wednesday, everyone!  :)

Bozo in the campground. :(

Here's my latest kerfuffle:

This morning, first thing, I pack things up, put my chair outside next to the picnic table to leave in the site to show it's occupied - along with the humming bird feeder and my welcome mat - and we drive out of the site.  We get to the main road and turn right in the direction of the dump site.  I'm driving along slowly, looking around, enjoying the morning and glance over in the direction of my site, across the field.  I see a young man with a big paunch and huge cowboy hat walking from his site, below mine, to my site.  I stop The Palms open my windows and watch him. 

He stops in my site, looks around, and picks up my chair, scrunches it up into it's telescopic shape and HOOOOOOOOONK.  I honk the horn - long and loud.  Nothing.  I press again on my horn, long and loud, and he glances over at me.  I yelled out the window, "THAT'S MY CHAIR."  He waves at me.  I yell, "THATS MY CHAIR.  P U T  I T  D O W N!"  He then walks across the field toward me and says, "I thought you forgot it, I was bringing it over to you."  Yeah, right.  He never even glanced in my direction.  I said, "I'm dumping my tanks, and will be back. That's why I left things in my site!"  He says, "Okay, Ma'am, I'll put it back."   Shortly thereafter, he and his friends packed up and left.  As I was driving back from the fresh water spigot to my campsite, I saw them leaving with their truck and small covered trailer - in which I'm sure my chair would have been if I hadn't seen him.

I did apologize to the nearby campers for blaring my horn, and explained what happened.  They were very understanding and said they would have done the same thing.  :)

This is the same man who, yesterday when Hazel and I were driving her Greyhounds along for their walk, sees the dogs being walked on their leashes while the car is driven, and yells at Hazel from off the road, "That's F#%KING BRILLIANT!   That's F*!KING BRILLIANT."  Nice thing to be YELLING in a family campground at two women in a car.  Right?  His IQ has to be lower than the scheduled temperature today - 86. 

Yesterday one of them was doing handstands in their campsite - not well - I was expecting a trip to the ER for him, and last night one of them was playing with the fire in their fire ring.  I was expecting Fire Engines from that little game.  But all was well, and they are gone.  That's the nice thing about RVing.  If they don't leave, I can.  And of every 100 campsites occupied, probably one has a group that acts like Bozos.  

By the way, when I got back to my site, I made this:

I printed some out on card stock, and will put them in sheet protectors to attach to my chair and also one on the table next time.  I've never had an issue before if I just left one chair in my site, but maybe it's better to be safe than sorry.  I could come back with no chair and someone else occupying my site. 

Feel free to do a cut and past if you want to use that sign, too. 

Oh yeah, one more thing about Mr. Bozo.

As we were driving by The Palms yesterday evening, Hazel says, "Look what's up ahead."  And here comes the cow that I had seen before with the young male and the blue-eyed bull.   She was walking slowly, looking around, approaching the street.

I jumped out with my camera to get her photo, and yelled to the campers nearby, "Look who's coming toward your camp."  I wanted them to see her, and also not be startled when she walked through their campsite.  I snapped some shots, and Mr. Bozo starts yelling and running after her.  She saw him coming and starting running toward the main road. She outran him and kept going.  Would you run, yelling, after a free ranging cow?  And this wasn't a small animal! I felt sorry for the cow, but I'm sure this isn't the first time she was chased away. 

That guy was just disgusting.  Sure makes me appreciate all the rest of the campers.  :)

The funny thing is, there is a hoard of kids in the electrical sites below me where the Bozo and his friends were.  I mean a hoard.  They have been exceptionally well behaved.  I couldn't say bad word about them this whole weekend.  I sure appreciate well behaved kids and their parents.

Every day since we've been back we've had the most wonderful storms.  Following are photos of some of the grey skies and the rainbows that followed:



Dark day at Bluewater Lake

This was a double rainbow that went from one end of the lake to the other.  In the photo you can barely see the second rainbow on the left.

It's raining on the other side of the lake.  We'd get it soon, too.

 

This rainbow was so bright, I could see every color from purple at the bottom to purple on the top.

The temperatures have been really comfortable and we've had beautiful blue skies, then the cloud cover comes in and we start hearing the roar of the thunder and then the lightening shoots though the black clouds.  Then the sprinkles start, culminating in a full fledged heavy rain storm.  Then it all stops.  That happened two or three times yesterday. 

New Mexico has had a fire ban since I was in Elephant Butte State Park, but they lifted it the other day, and now people can have campfires again. That's really good news.  I haven't checked, but I'd guess the fires in the state are gone or well contained because of the heavy intermittent rain storms.   Here in New Mexico they call these seasonal storms Monsoons.  We didn't have them in California, and the rain in the middle of the summer is really nice. 

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

My fierce little protector

We are back at Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico.  When I drive through their gates, it feels like I'm home again.  I snagged a really good site - there are so many good sites here, but I haven't tried this one yet.  It's completely level and on the edge of the canyon with the beautiful creek far below.  I can't see it from the campsite, but next week I'm hiking down there with a guide.

I have some photos from my last stay that I didn't post, and I'm going to put them in today and then start fresh next time.


Riding through the campground.

We only had an hour drive from Gallup back to Bluewater, but I was so over staying where I was, I decided to travel part way back last night and overnight at the Pilot gas station in Jamestown, NM.

I thought it was kind of strange that I had no problem sleeping, whether in Wal-Mart right on the edge of their parking lot by a busy road, or last night with all the big rigs around and RVs close by on both sides.  I slept like a log the whole time I was in Gallup.

Airtop sleeping room - it comes with a ladder.

I woke up at 6 am this morning and jumped up, got ready and behind the wheel.  I didn't even let Katie out - of course it was pretty early for her.  We had about a 40 minute drive and came through the gates right after 7 am.

This little squirrel/chipmunk (?) came barreling along, jumped up on the wood retaining wall and stopped on a dime when he saw the big squirrel on the other side.  He turned around and scooted off in the other direction. :)

I'm not sure about this 14 days in the park, then six days out.  I decided this is a pretty silly way to live.  It's like living in a home you love and having to leave every two weeks to stay in a place that is borderline unsafe.  After six days, you get to return to the wonderful home.   But now that I'm back, it all looks a little different because I'm back and I love it here. 

I don't think I was ever in any danger while I was in Gallup, but I have to tell you, it gets pretty tiresome being constantly approached for money, or to buy something, etc.  I was doing laundry yesterday and a man came up to me as I was loading the dryer trying to sell me some CDs.  Good grief, a little privacy please.  My delicates were visible!  I was coming out of Family Dollar and was approached to buy jewelry, twice in that same strip mall on different days. It seemed that wherever I was, I was considered fair game, and you know what?  I got really tired of it.  I know people are having a hard time, but stay out of my space.

I debated about posting this, but decided to tell you about a couple of experiences Katie and I had in Gallup.  I wanted to wait until we were back at the lake, though.


Gnarled, twisted tree trunk on a juniper tree. 

On Tuesday afternoon Katie and I were in the parking lot when she had to go outside for a little potty break.  I put her leash on, locked up The Palms, and as we were walking away from the rig, I saw three men talking nearby.  As soon as they saw us, they approached.  Katie was on high alert. Two of them kept walking and one started our way.  They were all well dressed in jeans, boots and cowboy hats, but were part of the group that hangs around panhandling.

As the man came near, Katie ran toward him, stretching the leash to it's fullest length, and she went ballistic.  If I had let her go, I have no doubt she would have attacked the man.  I've never seen her like that before.  He continued walking toward me with his hand out, asking for money.  I held out my arm with my palm facing him in a "stop" position and said to him, "She won't let you get ANY closer, please STAY THERE."  He tried to talk to Katie and befriend her, but Katie was having none of it.  Barking, snarling and showing teeth, she was scary and held her ground.  He finally smiled and walked away.  I was so proud of Katie!  There was no way she was letting that man near me.  I didn't sense any danger, but she must have.

Here's our beautiful Great Blue Heron fishing in the lake. I don't usually see them wading in water this deep - his feathers look wet.

As soon as he was far enough away from us, she came right back to me.  She got lots of pets for her good job as a protector.

Later we went back to Wal-Mart where I did some shopping.  I wheeled my purchases back to The Palms, and parked the cart outside our door.  I opened the door and latched it so I could bring in the bags.  I saw a toothless, dirty man approaching the rig, again with his hand out.  He was smiling, but still, my door was open and THIS IS MY HOME, Gosh Darn It!  I finally lost it, and yelled at him.  "I don't have ANY money for you - LEAVE ME ALONE!  GO AWAY!"  Poor guy, he got more than he bargained for, that's for sure.  I guess all the anger that was building over the last five days because of these people making me feel not as safe as I wanted to feel -  it just spontaneously poured out.  I was kind of like Katie earlier in the day.  I was fine until then, but when he was approaching my open door, I blew.  I realize that I am fortunate to have such a nice life, and not everyone is as lucky.  But, !#%*, I had had enough.

Butterfly in our campsite.

Okay, deep breath...  Afterward, but quite a bit afterward, I felt bad. I just don't lose control like that, but I think the pressure was building for a few days, and that poor man got the brunt of it.

I'm not sure they are homeless, because they were never around at night.  They arrive in the parking lots when the store opens and leave around dinner time.  They all come in from the same direction, and leave the parking lot in the late afternoon to go in the direction they entered.  I'd love to follow them to see what kind of car they are going back to. One man sat down on the curb in front of The Palms one day and pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket.  He unrolled it and counted it, then put it back in his pocket.  Judging from the size of that money roll, he's probably got a larger monthly income than I do.

Here's our campsite bunny keeping a close eye on the intruding squirrel.  The rabbit won again - he didn't attack, but the squirrel ran off.

So, that's my story, and a bit of a rant, I guess, about the "homeless" beggars.  I know that phrase is not very PC, but I'm really tired of having to PCize everything. I decided a while ago to use real words, the honest words, and not be PC.

I think I should definitely thank Wal-Mart and Home Depot for letting me stay in their parking lots for that long with not a word from them.  They never bugged me at all. The security, camera and lights at Wal-Mart are great.  The free, very fast wi-fi at Home Depot was a real gift, because that's what I did all day and I really appreciated it.  Nights were good and I felt fine sleeping at Wal-Mart, it was only the days when the beggars swarmed that were iffy, and we stayed in The Palms most of the time.

If I decide to do this again, I'll stop one night at the Pilot gas station, then the Indian Casino, two nights at Wal-Mart, then head back, Indian Casino, Pilot and then Bluelake.  And stay away from other parking lots and strip malls where the homeless gather. Or I'll head in the other direction and stay at the Wal-Mart in Grants.  I know that city better, and know of different places I can park during the day like the library, or post office, or maybe even the police department.  It's much smaller, and you don't see people hanging around like in Gallup, which is a much bigger place.

I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset from my last visit here.

As I write this, it's storming - rain, lightening and thunder all over the place.  I love it!

From me and Katie, happy as clams at Bluewater Lake, have a great Thursday, everyone!  :)

Wordless Wednesday... Fat Katie

Did Katie gain 20 pounds?  LOL

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

PS - see comments.