Elephant Butte State Park

Here we are at Elephant Butte State Park, overlooking the lake:

This isn't a designated campsite, but is among other sites.  Last year I was camped nearby and during one of our walks we took a little road off to the right and saw people camping right here on the side of the road.  I asked them if it was okay to camp there, and they said, yes, they took this spot every year if it was open.  When we arrived here, I didn't see a site I liked in the area for dry camping, but this spot was empty, so we parked.  The Ranger has driven right past us twice - and waved - so I guess it's okay.  :)

This is our third day here, and so far I really like it.  We have a perfect wide view of Elephant Butte Lake and all it's islands, the beach below us with people camping out, the boats going by.  It actually has a much better view of the lake than the other designated dry camping sites with shelters and fire pits. It's very quiet, and rather than being right on the road, we're off enough that no cars drive by except people taking this little circle drive, probably wondering what's on the circle.

I've only gotten one photo of a bird so far - a Western Kingbird:

These little purple flowered plants are popping up all over - most are small and very pretty. I think they are the flowers that are used as filler by florists.  They dry out and I always used them in small vases because they don't seem to "die."

Here's Katie before our walk yesterday afternoon.  I keep the hood open when we walk, but she wouldn't look at me so I closed it and of course she looked my way to see what's going on!

The stroller is working really well for us.  We start out walking and after a while I put Katie inside for the rest of our walk.  Her ankle puffiness is finally going down since it puffed up while she was off leash and running back and forth alongside Annie's motor home at Riverside.  Boy did she love that!  Her little face was pure happiness while she was running.

Yesterday I watched a boat being rescued.  It was pulled in by an official New Mexico boat - Game and Fish?  Police?  I'm not sure which agency does this, but the boat has the New Mexico seal on the side.

Thank goodness for these people - can you imagine being stranded in the middle of a lake?   Well,  guess if the fish were biting it would be okay.  At least for a while.  It was super windy yesterday, so it must have been a relief for the boaters to get back to shore safe and sound.

Here are some photos of the lake during the golden hour, right before sunset; first The Palms in the lowering sunlight:

Isn't this a beautiful place to camp?  Sure beats living in the suburbs!

I wanted to clear something up that I think some readers mentioned in comments.  When I posted about my 11-year-old grand daughter, Kennedy's, new business, some people thought SHE was the originator of the business.  This is a social selling company - a multi-layered concept using home parties and websites and Facebook pages.  Kind of like my generation did with Tupperware (without the social media).  The originator of Origami Owl Custom Jewelry is a 14-year old girl named Bella.  You can read about it here:  Origami Owl.  Kennedy is working within Bella's business, and has her own business named Touched by Charms, selling this jewelry by having home parties and using social media networking to build her business.

Kennedy has only had one party so far, her Launch Party, and she did really well. She and her mom, Trish, plan one in Sacramento and one in Vacaville in the next week.  The jewelry isn't expensive and it's really nice - so nice that it really sells.  Kennedy donates some of her income to charity, but here is what she bought with the rest:

That is a seriously cool bike - and is that a happy face, or what!!!  Kennedy, you look great on your new bike. I'm proud of you for all the work you're putting into Touched by Charms - like Bella, I wouldn't be surprised if you have the money for a car on your 16th birthday!  (Does this kid have fashion sense?  Look how her shirt and shorts match her bike.)

Since we're talking about grandchildren, I wanted to give a shout out for my nearly 9-year-old grandson, Drew.   He's missing his two front teeth, but not his generous spirit!

When asked what he wanted for his birthday this month, he said there wasn't anything he wanted, but people could donate to a charity instead of getting him gifts.  My daughter, Kristy, said he's seen the ads for a charity that really affected him, and that's the one he chose.  So, instead of sending him money or bringing him gifts, his family and friends are donating to Sleep Train Foster Kids.   That's the link for Drew's Birthday Donation Page if you want to see how he's doing.  He's hoping for $250 for the foster kids.

How selfless Drew is for helping kids who have less then he does, and he's not at all a spoiled little boy.  Kudos to Kristy and Matt for raising such a thoughtful, generous son.

I don't know where my grand kids got their philanthropic genes, certainly not from me, but I'm so proud of them.  These two are the oldest kids in each family, and they are sure setting a fine example for their siblings.  :)

WELCOME to two new followers to Me and My Dog ...and My RV:

Welcome to Steve Soto!  Steve is the Engineering Team Manager for RVillage, which I posted about HERE.  He interacts extensively with cross-functional groups such as Engineering, Project Management, Product Management, Quality Assurance, 3rd party software vendors, and Professional Services.  It sounds like you're a pretty busy guy, Steve, especially in a social medial company that's growing so F-A-S-T.  You must be doing a great job! Thanks for following along with me and Katie; we sure appreciate it!

Welcome to fulltime rvers!  This new follower doesn't show any information at all, so I can't give you anything more than their name.  If you have a blog, or start one, let me know and I'll post the link for our readers to check out.  Thanks for following me and Katie, we're very happy to have you along.

Welcome Aboard to you both!  :)

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

Visiting with fellow bloggers and photos of Katie and Jakie

 I thought Katie looked so cute, folding her paws.  I've never seen her do this before:

I met Amanda and Tim while were were both at Rock Hound State Park, and on Sunday they pulled into the area near where Katie and I were camped overlooking Caballo Lake.  They have a very cool spot all by themselves across the little inlet. 

After they got settled, they rode their bikes around the area and stopped for a while to visit with me and Katie.  Thanks for stopping by, you guys!  I sure enjoyed our visit.   How's the mouse situation?  (They picked up some furry visitors at Leasburg Dam, it must be a bad year for the critters.  Stock up on traps, folks!) 

On Wednesday a meet-up was planned with other bloggers, and after picking up my UPS delivery of Katie's stroller, we headed down to Riverside Campground again and met up with Roxie and Annie and I met Suzanne.

We had a non-stop talk fest and a ton of fun.  I totally enjoyed our time together, and decided to camp where Roxi and Annie were along the river for two nights.  We've had coffee in the morning and another afternoon gathering on Thursday with Annie (who went into Elephant Butte and got us all pizza!!), Roxi, Suzanne, and me.  Suzanne works full time during the day, and after work she walked down to meet with us - 3+ miles in the heat after a full day's work.  AND she walked back home, too.  Wow, atta girl, Suzanne!!

On Wednesday Annie helped me put Katie's stroller together, and I think I'm going to love it.  Katie is completely comfortable in it, and the second afternoon I brought it down when we all met up again and Katie stayed in the stroller the whole time.   I think all this socializing is wearing her out, and it looked like she was sleeping for a while.  I'm glad she's so contented and relaxed in it.  Katie is quite a trooper; she just seems to go along with whatever I decide for her.

Katie and the girls:

Annie's dog, Jake, is the cutest, quietest, calmest dog I've ever met.  Katie was not very nice to him, she growled when he came near me and he was afraid of her after that.  He stays very close to Annie - could he be any closer than this?  Leaning against her with his paw on her foot:

He'd come outside with us for a while, then want back into the motor home.  Here he is, waiting for someone to open the door for him.  :)

So cute!

Katie was looking like she wanted to play with Jake:

But Jake wanted IN!  Katie was off her leash and I yelled RunRunRun and she started running back and forth like crazy.

I put her leash back on and she proceeded to take a dust bath.

She had a blast!  Unfortunately her little back ankle now has a huge fluid filled sac on it, so I think all that running made her ankle worse.  I'm really glad we have the stroller, I think she's going to be taking a lot of walks with me in the stroller.

Jake taking a drink down by the riverside:

Katie is wondering what that wonderful smell is - Annie was getting Jake his dinner, half dry food, half canned.  I'm sure Katie could smell that canned food.

Below are some bird shots I've taken in the last few days - still not a lot of activity in the birding area.  I'm heading to Elephant Butte tomorrow and will probably be back in two weeks.  Hopefully there will be more of our feathered friends here by then.

Blue-winged Teals:

American Coots:

Great Blue Heron by the boat ramp/dock:

Gull flying over Caballo Lake:

Northern Shoveler:

Female Ruddy Duck:

And finally, Katie's favorite critter, a lizard in Annie's campsite:

Goodbye for now, Caballo Lake - we like it here and might be back soon.

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

RVillage - are you a member?

There's a new social media website just for RVers, and it's brand new - well, a month or so old.  It's called RVillage.  I joined a couple of weeks ago and find it easier to use than Facebook, which I don't use.  I have a Facebook page, but it's not open to the public, I just have it to "friend" my kids so I can follow what they are up to.

When I heard about RVillage, I checked it out and decided to join.  At this point they already have close to 5,000 members!  It's gaining members like wildfire.  One of the things I like about RVillage is that when you arrive at an RV park or campground you can "check in" on the site and post which campground or area you're in, and if other RVillage members have checked in at the same place, you'll know it.  That makes it easier to meet people.  There are tons of groups to join within RVillage, which gives members another way to meet RVers with similar interests.  I've joined two groups, Bloggers and Singles on the Road.  Not much of a joiner, I guess, but some of the people have joined many groups.

Check it out and see if this new RVing website might work for you - RVillage.

Below are photos from Riverside Campground. It was very quiet there, but over the weekend (before the mice drove us back to the main campground) there was a lot of activity - the Group Area was full - I think were scouts.  At least that's what someone said.  They and their leaders, though, were wearing kilts.  I never did go over to talk to them and find out who they were, I was being lazy, sitting inside most of the time because of the wind.  I snapped this photo of three boys coming up from the river and walking past The Palms to the Group Area. I thought it was so cute, I had to post it for you.  I love the three variations of the kilt outfits.

There was also some drum music, it sounded like Native Americans were performing, and later I saw a man in American Indian dress standing in a group.  They were all very well behaved and even though they were near me, I hardy heard them.  And I really got a kick of seeing them all in their kilts and Native dress.

The male House Finch is nothing new, but this guy was so brilliantly red up in the tree I took some photos.  At least I think he's a House Finch.  Sure is brighter than others I've seen - maybe the males have more red feathers during mating season?  See the white "cotton" on his chest from the cottonwood tree he's sitting in and on his claws?

There were a couple altercations outside The Palms.  I didn't see them, but I heard them.  The first one involved a squirrel, and when I looked outside, this squirrel was running up the tree branches to get away:

He climbed up pretty high.  Then later I heard another strange noise, and when I looked out I saw this bird, all fluffed up sitting on the ground in front of The Palms.

I think he's a Robin, but I'm not sure.  He sat there for a while, then scurried under a bush.  Do you know what kind of bird he is?

And lastly - as you can see from these photos there's not a lot of wildlife in the area right now - I tried for three days to get a shot of a white butterfly/moth and finally one landed long enough for me to get it's picture.  There were a lot of these guys flying around, but they never land for long.

That's it for now - and the end of the Riverside Campground photos.  Katie's stroller should be delivered tomorrow and we'll be able to walk around the campground more.  I'm looking forward to that.

From me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!