Slow Motion Roadrunner Photo Movie

I glanced out my front window and saw a beautiful Roadrunner standing in the middle of my site's driveway.   I jumped up and grabbed my camera - I've never seen a Roadrunner in this campground - dumped my coffee cup on the dinette table and everything on it, opened the window and screen and waited for him to come into view.

He was very cooperative.  I don't know what he was looking at, but he kept moving, stopping, looking behind him, moving, stopping, looking back, etc.  He kept doing that all the way through my site, across the road and into the bushes until he was out of site.

So, this is the slow movie in photos of him traveling through.

Look at those white tips on his tail feathers:

This is the only time he turned all the way around:

And he was gone across the bush-filled desert.  I've seen Roadrunners crossing the road on my way to and from town in this area, but none that stopped long enough for a photo.  This is the first one I've seen in the campground, and it was a real treat for me.  I wonder what was behind him that he kept stopping and waiting for.  He sure wasn't in a hurry.

I get a kick out of the feathers on the top of their heads.  Up, down, up down.

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

PS - Laptop, mouse, mouse pad, etc., all got wiped down and are working fine.  Good thing I was almost done with my coffee!
PSS - I may need a new mouse.  Rats!  :(

Great shady site!

After being out in the hot sun for a while, it was so nice to pull into a shady site at Riverside Campground, part of Caballo Lake State Park.  There are lots of big trees here, and lots of lawn.  Still warm, in fact Caballo Lake State Park is usually a few degrees hotter than Elephant Butte State Park, but with the shade from the trees and clouds in the sky, it feels much cooler.

Here's our site - that tree kept the passenger side of The Palms in the shade for hours every day - NICE!

These guys - the squirrels - are all over the place here.  Katie got a kick out of chasing them up trees when she got the chance.  They sure are cute.

My fear is that they will get into the engine compartment, which happened before.  I didn't have any issues with them this time, thank goodness.  Although I did have little footprints on the engine dust, so I know some critters did get in.  I have blinking solar lights on the ground under the engine, and I think that is keeping most of the critters away.

We walked down to the dry camping sites along the Rio Grande where we've camped before.  It's too hot to dry camp now, although there were a couple of people camping there.  Sure is beautiful - the river is really up, and we saw a Great Blue Heron.  I've gotten a lot of good bird shots in this river in the past, but nothing this year.  I didn't see many birds in the river and the Heron flew away as soon as he heard us coming.  There were some pretty "sun flowers" here and there along the road: 

I ran into Roxi while at Riverside - she left that day, but we had a nice chat in the morning.  She told me about a baby snake in the Ladies Restroom, so we went over so I could see it and get a photo.  It was curled up in a tight coil right inside the door jamb.  I did get photos, but decided I've posted enough snakes for a while.  It's interesting to see them and get a picture (as long as it's safe), but I'm tired of looking at them on my blog.  Sorry snake lovers - if there is such a thing, LOL.

I haven't put up a humming bird feeder for a while, but they kept coming around and pecking at my permit decals on the window, so I filled one and hung it.  I've never had some many hummers before!  Next time I'll post some of the photos I got, but here's one I liked:


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

Heading out tomorrow....

It's been so hot here at Elephant Butte, NM that Katie and I have been staying inside 24/7 with the A/C on except for potty walks.  This is the longest I've had an electric site since I started full-timing over four years ago.

First thing in the morning, which for us us between 9 and 10 am, we go outside and I let Katie walk by herself until she's done.  For our afternoon "outs," the ground is way to hot for Katie's feet, so I put her in the stroller and walk her over to the shower house where there are trees and she can do her thing in the shade.  I sometimes walk 1/2 the loop which is a third of a mile (I've gotten acclimated to the heat) and Katie jumps from the stroller right into The Palms when we get home.  In the evening, usually around 7 pm, the rocks and pavement are again cool enough for her to walk a little by herself, then I put her back into the stroller and we take a walk around the park. 

She's having problems with the Seroma on her right ankle swelling up a lot, so I'm restricting her walking.  Poor thing, she wants to walk more, but the one time I let her, it took three days for the hard lump to finally get smaller and softer.  Sometimes she gets back into The Palms and wants to play:

Yesterday afternoon and this morning I had to clean and sanitize our fresh water tank.  It was starting to smell and taste bad even with the blue hose filter and the whole house filter.  I think the extreme heat here encourages bacteria to flourish, but honestly, it was time to take care of this task, anyway.  When the water tank was empty the first time I also changed the whole house filter. So those two jobs are done for a while. The only issue was that between filling the fresh water tank three times and dumping the black/grey tanks after filling them with the fresh water twice, I was outside in the hot sun waaaaay to long.  When I was done I couldn't wait to get to the showers.

We also topped off the pantry and fridge at Wal-Mart and I got an inside/outside thermometer so I could see how hot is it outside.  

Other than that, things have been very quiet here, and tomorrow we are moving on.  I'm looking forward to being in a new campground and campsite, but will probably be back in Elephant Butte when our 14 days are up at the next campground.  This weekend is Elephant Days (August 21-23) with arts and crafts, food, a pet parade, balloon regatta, balloon glow, car-truck-motorcycle show, hula hoop contest and live music and dancing.  It sounds like there is something for everyone.  I don't know how crowded it gets here, but I'll miss it.  They are launching balloons over the lake - that would be cool to see. 

Elephant Butte Balloon Regatta

Here are more photos from the last few weeks - after being on the road for more than four years, and re-visiting a lot of the same places, I don't have many new photos to post.  But I still love the jack rabbits and lizards, which is about all I see here.  :)

This guy runs in front of The Palms twice a day, at least I think it's the same rabbit.  I love the loping gait of the jack rabbits. 

These are such pretty lizards.  We see them during our late afternoon walks.  This one was pushing up and down like push-ups:

Look how large and strong his back legs are:

I got a good shot of one that shows all his colors, even a little turquoise on his belly:

Pretty butterfly:

We've seen a couple of these millipedes.  This one was crossing the road and was on the middle yellow line:

I think they are kind of creepy, but from what I've read, even though they can be pests to homeowners, they are harmless to humans:

We've had some pretty and unusual looking cloud formations:

Pretty sunset sky:

And that's about it - maybe something interesting will happen sooner rather than later and I'll post if it does.  If not, I'll at least check in.  Just know, all is well in and around The Palms.  And I'm looking forward to Social Security Wednesday this week, yaaaaaay!  :)

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

A quiz for you: Was that SCARY or LUCKY? I think BOTH!

This was a first for us.  It was super hot Friday, so for our "longer" walk we waited until it was almost dark to get out the stroller and walk around the campground.  We were walking along the paved road and passed something on the inside edge of the pavement.  I stopped and backed up, saying to myself, "It looks like a large, fat lizard.  Darn, I didn't bring my camera!"  I wondered if it had been run over because it wasn't moving.  It was dark enough that I couldn't see the critter clearly, just an outline, barely, and it looked to be just sitting there, about a foot long and fat in the middle.  I was thinking, a big lizard that just had a meal.

I got closer, maybe three feet away, and started to lean down to see if I could get a clearer view when I heard the RATTLES.   SH*T!!!   (Excuse my French, it's my go-to word when totally shocked.)  I backed up as fast as I could, EEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!, pulling the stroller with me, almost turning it over twice and twisting my wrist.  GGGGEEEEEEEEEEZZZZ! 

I've never seen a rattlesnake in person before, and I guess I still haven't, but now I've sure heard one.  I walked quickly away, doing some of those breaths where you breathe in deeply and blow it out through your lips.  I kept saying to Katie, "That was really scary."  Then "That was really lucky."

It must have been coiled, and that's why it looked so short and fat.  Even though I couldn't see it clearly, when it started rattling, I could see a vague outline of the tail raised.  I couldn't believe it didn't strike at me when I leaned over to get a closer look.  I still think about it and say, Boy was that scary! Boy was that lucky!

Needless to say, no more late evening walks for us.  Last evening it was still completely light wen we walked, still, it was around 7:30 or so because that's when it starts cooling down enough to walk.  But completely light, and I scanned the road.  To the left, to the right, straight ahead, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Boy, was that scary!  Boy was that lucky!  WHEW!  :)

Here are a few shots taken in the last weeks:

Bluewater Lake State Park, NM

The Palms under a huge rainbow - we had a LOT of rain when we were there.

It was a double rainbow:

Two Raven lovebirds sitting on a rock together:

There were still some beautiful cactus flowers blooming:

When I see Gambel's Quail, I think of Nuns; when I see Turkey Buzzards, I think of SCOTUS.  Here's the Chief Justice:

(No religious or political implications meant.)

And here are three of the other Justices:

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

Bunnies and lizards just remind me of bunnies and lizards:

I think this guy is called a Zebra-tailed Lizard.  What made him stand out is that when we were walking along and got too close to him, he scooted away with his tail in the air.  He didn't go far, just a few feet, and as we walked closer, he did it again and again.  This isn't a very clear shot, but was the best one I got of him.  I don't know what the loose neck skin is all about, or those weird toes.  And he sure looked different than other lizards when he flipped up his tail and ran.  I've never seen that before.  The underside of his tail is white with black stripes around it.

Beautiful Eastern sky the other night at sunset.  There are lots of evenings where the sunset isn't as pretty as the eastern sky, and this was one of them.

Sunset sky over Elephant Butte Lake:

I'm still quaking about the rattlesnake incident.  Wow, that was scarey!  And I just can't say that without saying, That was SO lucky!

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

PS:  Here's a great idea for you, and something I should have brought with me on the rattle snake walk the other night:  
This one is made by Coleman and comes in different colors.  The one I got is exactly like this except it has three lights, one in the middle edge of the brim, and two under the brim.  It's plenty of light to see at night, and so much easier than holding a flashlight.  So if you order from this link, you might get three lights instead of four, but I'm super happy with mine. 

They are well made with very sturdy material.  I should have had mine on the other night during our scarey rattle snake walk.  :) 

Blogging break...

I seem to be on a blogging break.  I went through the photos that were left from Storrie Lake, and honestly, none of them are that interesting.  I left Storrie and traveled to Bluewater Lake State Park, but so far there is nothing new to write about or photograph here.  I haven't even seen any horses!  Lots and lots of thunderstorms, though.  Raining like crazy almost every afternoon.  There is so little sun I needed an electric site.  And nothing to post about.   :(

BUT - even though there is nothing to say right now, I HAD to post this.  Because every time I pull up my blog to check out YOUR posts on my Blog Roll, I see the photos of the SNAKES.  I'm so tired of looking at those Bull Snakes - they aren't my favorite critters.

I noticed the photo below on-line this morning and thought it was so cool.  Talk about taking a photo at the exact right second!   So...   here it is, and it's going to be nice to look at as I'm scrolling through to read all your posts.

It's from imgur.com and was titled, Perfectly Aligned.  Isn't that the coolest photo?  I would have been happy to snap it even without the plane above it in the sky.  I think it's a Canada Goose, right?  What perfect form!  Note:  Per Judy and Tom in the comment section, it's a Sandhill Crane.  Thanks to you both!

Oh, wait, I DO have something to tell you about.  Poor Katie.  About a week ago Katie stepped on a red ant again.  Same foot as the red ant nest two years ago.  Just one ant this time, I think, but she went nuts.  It must have been inside her pads again, because I couldn't see it.  She was crying and lifting her right rear foot, which was shaking like mad.  We went inside The Palms and she ran to her car seat and started licking the foot like crazy.  She wouldn't let me touch it, or even look at it.  Apparently she is very allergic to their bites/stings.

When I tried to pet her she snapped at me.  She was determined I wasn't going to get close to her.  (I don't' think she would have bitten me, but she did snap, as a warning, and I left her alone.)

I immediately went on-line to see if there was anything I could do for her.  Then I called the Vet she's seen in Las Vegas, NM.  She just had her annual check-up there.  I wasn't happy with what he said, so I called the Vet in Grants, the nearest city to Bluewater Lake.  Ditto with him.  There didn't' seem to be much I could do.

I went back on-line and all the sites suggested making a paste of baking soda and water and applying it to the bitten area.  There were other things as well, but that one was on all the sites.  Of course, Katie wouldn't have let me NEAR her paw, and there was no way I was going to spread her toes and apply a paste, so I made a "solution" of baking soda and water in a plastic "squeeze" catsup bottle.  Then I went over to her and drizzled the liquid onto her foot, from over her head - out of reach so she couldn't snap at my hand.  I drizzled it a few times.

Within a minute, her foot stopped shaking and she finally laid it down on the blanket covering the car seat.  Not long after that, she jumped up over the passenger seat back to the dinette bench seat, down on the floor, and walked over to her water bowl.  She wasn't putting all her weight on that foot at first, but it didn't take long before she was walking normally. 

It was amazing!  That solution was a miracle.  She's been fine ever since.  Just in case you have a similar experience with your dog, BAKING SODA AND WATER!

And an update on the joint issue with that same leg. About a month ago I started her on VetIQ Hip&Joint Glucosamine.  I got it at Wal-Mart.  There are 45 "chicken Flavored Soft Chews" in the package.  A dog Katie's size gets 1/2 treat every other day, so they will last us 180 days.  I've noticed that she is walking longer and longer, and just this week she has a bounce in her step again.  We took a walk yesterday (with the stroller along, as usual) and Katie walked a mile without stopping to be lifted into the stroller.  That was a first!

I've been taking Glucosamine Chondroitin for years, and it's made a real difference in my joints.  I used to have knee and hip pain, but haven't had a twinge in YEARS.  I think it's really working for Katie, too.  They say it takes a month or so to start noticing improvement, and that's what I've found, with both Katie and myself.  It would be nice if we could go back to taking walks without the stroller along.  :)

Here's Katie in her new halter:

And that's it for now.  From me and Katie, take care everyone!  :)