4 Quartzsite things: creepy, puzzling, delicious, and cute

First creepy:

I moved a rock and under it was this guy - he immediately walked to the nearest rock for shade, so I think he's a shade critter.  He looks like he might be from the scorpion family?  (If you don't mind critters like this, click on him twice to see him closer.)  UPDATE:  These insects are Solifuges - small spider-like arachnids also called sun spiders, camel spiders or wind scorpions.  Thank you to Becky and gumo for the identification.  :)

This is another one - smaller, he was under a smaller rock, and also scurried to a pile of little rocks to crawl under.

 They gave me the creeps, but - being Super Blogger, I had my camera ready to report on their activities.  :)

Second is something puzzling we came across.  Katie and I were walking the other morning, and near a bush we found this:

I was showing my neighbor and he put his foot there so we could document how large this is.  Right in the middle is a pile of sand - I think a big animal urinated here during the night and clawed the sand over the wet spot like a cat does.  It was pretty big, though, and I was puzzled about what kind of critter we have in this area with feet/claws that big - wandering around outside The Palms at night.

Two days later Katie sniffed it, and knocked the top of the sand off and it was still wet underneath.  Have you seen anything like this? Any idea what kind of animal was here?

Third is the delicious - you're going to have to trust me here.  Hazel and I went to Blythe on Saturday.  I had some business to take care of, and afterward we were starving and went to Denny's.  I grabbed my camera to bring in and take a picture of my full plate of delicious breakfast.  I haven't done that in a while - but I was so hungry, I forgot the camera until I was done. 

This is the best I could do for the breakfast photo:

Boy!  Was it good!  :)

And Fourth, the cute:

Katie has a new toy, an Elephant.  She was so excited the first time she saw it.  She immediately played with it, threw it up in the air, shook it, etc.  Then she just left it alone.  I keep Elephant sitting up in the corner of the couch in front of that pillow.  This morning Katie was sitting on her quilt making noises like she was excited or wanted something.  I looked over and she kept glancing over at the Elephant.   Finally she grabbed it and bit it to death.  Figuratively speaking.  She had so much fun with it.  Every so often Katie gets feisty, and it's really fun to watch her.  So cute!

Welcome to our newest Follower, Papoojack!   He has a blog that hasn't been updated in a while, but there are some pretty good jokes on the few posts that he's published.  Definitely worth a look!  Thanks for following along with us, Papoojack, Katie and I are happy to have you aboard!  :)

From me and Katie, have a great day, everybody!  :)

My favorite feathered visitor - always!

My first Roadrunners of the season!

I was hoping I'd see a Roadrunner this year - last year I don't think I had any good shots - and I've had four different Roadrunner sightings so far, once in another site and three times walking through my site on it's way to the wash.  I think I must be on a Roadrunner walking trail.  :)

These are all the decent photos I've gotten so far:

And my last Roadrunner shot for today:

I'll get more.... and I'm hoping to get better shots, too.

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

Wordless Wednesday - Creative Doodles

Some people have so much imagination.  These make me want to create some of my own.

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

2 new Birds and another new campsite

I snapped some photos of two new birds for my list.  First:  a Loggerhead Shrike.

And right after I saw the Loggerhead Shrike, I saw this little guy right outside my door.  I got the camera again and clicked these out the kitchen window.  He's a Crissal Thresher.

This is our third year at Quartzsite, but I've never been here for the big tent event.  I decided I want to see it this year.  The first year, 2012, I had to drive to San Diego for emergency surgery the beginning of January, and January of 2013 I was visiting my kids in San Diego and Vacaville.  This year - 2014's big tent - I'll be here.  So I decided to move up to La Posa West so that I could walk to the shopping areas if I wanted to. 

So, here's the campsite - does it look familiar?  What???  You don't remember my campsite from two years ago?  LOL - it even looks different to me and I had to check photos from 2012 to see what it looked like then.  Someone took out the really nice fire pit that was on the side and put in another one that's right in the middle of the site, so I positioned The Palms differently this time, and I still like it a lot.

 Here's a photo of Hazel with Power and Fleur when they came over for a visit:

Remember when my grand daughter, Lauren, had her 5th birthday party - the cupcake/ gymnastics party?  Well, one of the things they did at her party was make bracelets for themselves, and I asked Lauren if she would make me one.  I couldn't believe she remembered - and it arrived in the mail this week along with pictures she made for me and two cards she folded and wrote on and decorated.  Quite a nice surprise.   My grand son, Drew, who is 8, also sent me a letter, very carefully written on paper that he drew lines across so his writing would be straight.  The both did a wonderful job with their writing and I loved what they wrote.

Lots of colorful beads, some are hearts, some are stars, and the large pink one is a seal.  Isn't it beautiful?  And it's a perfect fit, too!  :)

I want to thank all my readers who have used my link through to Amazon.com to wander around, see what's available, check prices, etc., then make your purchases.  I finally figured out why I wasn't getting credit for my daughter's purchases.  I asked her in an e-mail:  "Did you find your item, then go back through my link to make your purchase?"  The answer was yes, and that is why I wasn't getting the credit.  We can't blame Amazon for not giving me or another blogger credit for a purchase that started out on Amazon's site.  Bloggers get a small percentage of sales that start out with our site's links.  I'm not suggesting or advising what you should do, but a little information is a good thing - especially if we are looking for something we saw or read about on a blogger's site.  But now I know and I wanted you to know, too.  :)

Finally, I wanted to show you a HUGE rig that came in the other day to La Posa South - I wonder how many feet total this one is:

We have some new followers to Welcome:

Laurie's blog is called I Love a Cloudy Day.  Laurie lives on the shores of the Great Lakes, loves to create and work with her hands, and loves nature.  Her painting is very important to her, and ever changing. Laurie's vision is failing and is greatly affected by the sunshine so she loves a cloudy day.  Hence the name of her blog.

DearMissMermaid has been blogging since 1994.  She is an author and was a correspondent in the Carribean, posting from sailboats and tiny islands for over 15 years.  She is now traveling in her motor home with her darling little Yorkie, Harley Dog.

S.E.R.E Camper - Gary says in his About Me statement,  "The S.E.R.E. Camper is designed for escaping the cities and surviving off the grid. It was not built for recreation or luxury camping. Essentially the S.E.R.E Camper is just a big bug out bag on steroids."  His is a new blog named These Are The Days Before The Darkness Came.  

Mary-Pat retired in August of 2011 and spent a year and a half in Guatemala, studying Spanish and doing volunteer work.   Now she's adventuring throughout the North American Continent in a 2001 Fleetwood Flair and Smart car toad with her Standard Poodle, Lacy, and rescue kitty, Eleanor.

Thank you ALL for becoming Followers - Katie and I are happy to have you along on our adventures!  :)

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

Wordless Wednesday - Close Call!

“Close call!” The Nile Crocodile made this a risky place for a Grey Heron to fish! 

Photo location: Masai Mara NP, Kenya. 

 (Photo and caption by Leslie Anderson/National Geographic Photo Contest)

 

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