Little critters in the campground

Poor Katie!  I wrapped her ankle the other day with some tearable tape I had left from when I had the trigger thumb.  I remembered it as being really easy to use, so...

Unfortunately, Katie is such a BABY, after having the tape on all day I wanted to remove it in the evening.  Katie made such a fuss!  Screeching every time I tried to gently pull the tape.  I guess it wasn't as user friendly as I remembered.  

She never tries to get stuff off and the tape wasn't tight, so I decided to leave in on overnight, hoping it would loosen up and fall off.  Didn't happen. 

The next day she was in her car seat and her ankle was in a great position for me to try a little tug, very gently, and she screeched so loud I thought my left eardrum burst in that cab space.  Whew!  That was my last try, for sure.  She is so sensitive, and I didn't know if it really hurt or if she was just being a baby.  I mean, I hardly touched the tape when she went ballistic.
 
So I put some olive oil on her ankle over the tape and put a sock on her to keep the oil from getting all over everything.  And put the tape over the sock to keep it in place.

Mom, I am NOT happy about this dumb sock!

It wasn't until the next day I was able to get most of the tape off, and the rest, a little piece right on her ankle, stayed on for days. 

I'm back to wrapping it with that sticky cloth tape - it sticks to itself and not to her fur.  I'm glad that episode is over!   Moral of this story:  don't put tape on your dog.  Sounds kind of like "don't put gum in your hair."  I guess I should have known?   :(

Other than horses and cows, which were wonderful to see, there wasn't much critter action at Bluewater Lake while we were there - at least that I saw.   There were lots of birds and the birdsong was wonderful, but I didn't get good photos of new or interesting birds except these guys below - Rock Wrens.  I think they are juveniles.  There were a bunch of them, and they came out from under a large flat rock while Katie and I were walking nearby.  This was a new bird for me.

This looks like an adult - lots more color in it's feathers.  Probably keeping an eye on it's babies:



I only saw a hummingbird at the feeder a few times - this guy:

But he didn't hang around for long when he came by.  The above are the only decent shots I got of him.

And I did get one shot of a colorful butterfly:


The last photos from Bluewater Lake State Park are of Katie and a squirrel.  This little guy was sitting happily in the crook of the tree right outside our window and Katie was barking like crazy.  Didn't phase him a bit.  Katie doesn't have a very exciting life, so when she sees a squirrel or lizard that gets her heart rate going, it's a good thing.

This one is through the screen, but you can still see the squirrel:

Wednesday my generator wouldn't start, wouldn't even try to turn over.  I checked everything I could think of, but no luck.  So Thursday morning I called the Onan shop in Albuquerque and made an appointment for Tuesday morning, first thing.  Tomorrow.  We left Bluewater Lake on Saturday to take care of errands on the way, and tonight we'll stay in their parking lot so we'll be there first thing in the morning.   I decided to have the annual service done a little early while we're there.  I hope they'll get it serviced and running tomorrow so we can move on.  Wish us luck!  :)

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

Big critters in the campground :)

The last two days we've have some fun animal watching in our campground.

Yesterday early evening nine cows slowly walked in front of The Palms, about a campsite up from us, and strolled through the campground and out of sight.  I love seeing cows.

Then this morning, I was walking Katie and across the field came a family of four horses, the stallion, mare, yearling and little colt.

This seems to be a good scratching tree - I remember the filly from a previous year doing the same thing.  The crook of the tree must be in a perfect place.

They are such a pretty family.

See the horse in the field behind Katie?  This is her new thing:  when she wants out of the stroller to walk, she stands up and waits for me to lift her out.



Then this afternoon I glanced out the front windshield, and the cows were walking across the street again.  So of course I grabbed my camera and went outside to get some better shots. 

One of my favorite things about Bluewater Lake State Park, other than it's size and beauty, is the possibility of seeing horses wandering around in the campgrounds.  Cows aren't as plentiful, but so far this year I've seen more in two days than I have in the last two years.

Made my day!

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

Wordless Wednesday - Bath Time

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

Bluewater Lake State Park - and two new bird sightings

Katie and I took the slow road to Bluewater Lake State Park.  We planned to spend a couple of nights in Santa Fe, but the weather reports showed tornadoes on the way, which was very unusual.  We took off down the freeway to Albuquerque.  First we stopped at Sandia Casino, stayed there two nights, and then moved on.  I actually had planned three places to stay on the way, but then I remembered this weekend is Father's Day, and the people in the Bluewater Lake area seem to do a lot of family events at the lake so I thought I'd better have only one stopover night.  We pulled into the Grant's Wal-Mart, picked up a couple of things and headed to Bluewater in the morning.   I wanted to nab a good campsite well before the weekend.

Surprisingly, since we arrived on Wednesday morning, none of my five favorite campsites was available.  I ended up trying out a new site, which was level and had good solar, right up the road from the lake, and I also got FOX on the TV.  Not too bad. If I wasn't able to find a good site, I would have parked down by the lake for a day or two until something opened up.

Later that day Hazel drove down to visit and told me one of my favorites was now empty, so I packed up and drove to that site and snagged it.  And now we're here for the duration.  I'll tell you, after parking in a casino lot and a Wal-Mart lot, it sure is nice to have it dark outside when I go to bed.  We do have a full moon (tonight is supposed to the the full moon), but that's nothing compared to all those parking lot lights.  

The weather so far as been changeable, which is normal for this area - at least when I've been here.  Some sun, some clouds, some breezes, some WINDS, a little rain.  Everything, which is how I like it.

Katie and I have only been here since yesterday morning, and we've been walking a lot, enjoying the campgrounds along the way.  We haven't seen any horses yet, but they are here.  I have seen two new birds, though - as long as I've correctly identified them. I think this first one is a Western Bluebird:








I think this next one is a juvenile Mountain Bluebird because he's so cute and fluffy looking.  Also because Hazel and John identified it in the comments.  :)  The other photos of little Mountain Bluebirds I've gotten are all from the front, with their fluffy little spotted chests. Well, I guess this is how they look from the back, so cute:

Katie wanted me to show you this lizard.  :)  It's small, but quite round around the middle.  Maybe it's expecting baby lizards soon?  We have a nice large, flat rock right outside the passenger window that Katie looks out when she's up there hanging out in her car seat.  She's seen this lizard twice now, and I finally had to bring her outside, she gets so excited.  Of course, once I open the door, the lizard disappears, but Katie likes to examine the rock.  When she sees the lizard is gone, she's fine and we take a little walk.  :)

Here's our site, this first shot is taken from the street.  One of the things I like about this one is that it's level and has a nice tree to hang my humming bird feeders from.  Last year I got some good hummer shots.  So far I've seen two come by, but they only stayed a second:

It's a drive through site, with a table and fire ring.  All the developed sites have tables and fire rings:

There is a nice field on the other side of the table:

We're across the street from the canyon that has a creek running through it.  It always seems to have water in it, and is always so  green.  I have to walk to the edge and look down - so this isn't  our view, just an accessible view across the street.  Every year I take a photo of this canyon.

I got a really pretty butterfly photo here last year, and I'm trying for another one.  There are a lot of butterflies around, but they really flit from place to place and don't sit still.  I did get this white one, not too bad:

This last shot is a copy-cat kind of photo from two of the bloggers I follow.  I guess you'd call it a "bud" from a Pinyon Pine tree across from our campsite.  Some of them had red on the ends, and I'd never noticed that before.  Very pretty.  Well, I wanted a close-up and I haven't really been able to get good close-ups with this camera. 

John at RV JohnRVing around the US  does a spectacular job of his close-up photos (he has a bee a few posts back that is amazing), and Shelia at Wolf Song Blog did a post where she shot some male pine cones and lamb's ears after a rain.  It was after that post that I noticed the "buds" above.  She also has some really good bug and critter shots.  They both really nail close-ups, and I want to get better at it.

I fiddled with my camera and got the correct setting, one I hadn't noticed before, and snapped the photo above. I liked the way it turned out.  Now, if I can ever find that setting again, I'm going to take more macro photos.  LOL

Well, things are really peaceful here, so not much going on.  I'll try to get some photos on our walks, hopefully some shots of horses, to post next time.

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

Any ideas?

A couple of weeks ago, the Systems Monitor on my Forest River Convenience Center went out.  See it in the upper left corner of the photo below?

  
The Convenience Center has all the controls I check to see what's what with The Palms.  On/Off switches for Generator Start,  Generator Hours logged, Water Heater, Arctic Pac (heats the tanks in freezing weather), Living Room and Kitchen lights.  The two bottom switches have plugs in them, I don't have a Slide, and have no idea about the Driver Side Rear Light.

I use all of these things frequently, except the Arctic Pac switch. I've only used that twice in three years when the temps were going below freezing.  I probably didn't need it then, one night of 30 degree temps isn't going to freeze tanks overnight that have a bunch of liquid in them.
 

Anyway, I also use the Systems Monitor corner a lot to check on the grey, black and fresh water tank levels, the battery full level and propane tank level.  As you can see below, pressing on the propane button gives me an E - Empty.  All five give E's when pressed, and they are not empty.

 

I called Forest River Customer Service, and he said to check the fuses, which I had already done - they are all good.  Then he said the wires behind the wall plate might have become loose or burned, and I could check that.

Jeanne and I checked the wires behind the plate and there were no burned wires, and nothing appeared to be loose.  Thanks for helping me out with this, Jeanne.  I hate to be alone when I'm checking anything electrical. 

His next suggestion was to take The Palms to Camping World in Albuquerque (I was going to be driving through that area) since that's one of the repair places Forest River uses for warranty work.  This isn't under warranty, but this Camping World has the diagnostic equipment and the parts (and know-how I hope) to take care of warranty issues.

I called Camping World, and they charge $129 an hour, with a minimum of one hour.  I have no idea how long it would take them to run the diagnostics and then find and fix this problem.

One thing, though.  I can eyeball my fresh water tank under the couch, and the grey/black water tanks are emptied every other time I fill the fresh water thank.  As you can see by the labels on the face plate, my fresh water tank is only 25 gallons, and the grey and black are 27 gallons each.  I need to fill up twice to every dump.  So that takes care of the tanks.  The propane tank outside in it's compartment has a dial on it, so that's obvious, I can check how full it is.  And the battery readout - I have a better readout on my solar faceplate which gives me Amps in, Volts, and Battery percentage full.

So, the Systems Monitor truly IS a convenience, and I've done well without it for three weeks now.  It would be nice to have it working again, though; it's easier to push a button than lift the couch, or go outside to check the propane, or keep track of the water fills to track the grey/black tanks.

Any ideas?  The Forest River guy said something about connections in the battery area, but I didn't get exactly what he was saying.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

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

PS - I double checked, and all the wires are connected, none are burned.  I checked the Forest River Forum and found a request similar to mine, and someone posted a link to the Wiring Chart and Troubleshooting Guide.  This is what the Troubleshooting Guide says,

PROBLEM:
DISPLAY INDICATES “E” ALL THE TIME.

TEST:
(1) VERIFY TANK IS NOT EMPTY.
(2) VERIFY WIRE FROM 90 OHM SENDING UNIT TO ORANGE WIRE ON BACK OF PANEL IS NOT SHORTED TO GROUND
(3) CHECK SENDING UNIT FOR DAMAGE OR STICKING.

DIAGNOSIS:
(1) ADD GAS TO TANK AND RETEST.
(2) RUN CONTINUITY TEST ON WIRE, END TO END AND TO SYSTEM GROUND (SHORT TEST).
(3) REPLACE SENDING UNIT IF FOUND DEFECTIVE.

What do you think - sounds easy, right?