Two years on the road :)

During our frustrating weekend, we overlooked the fact that on Saturday, June 1, Katie and I started our third year on the road.  We've sure seen a lot of new places, people and things, and learned a LOT about RVing, The Palms and all it's systems in the last two years.  I've never once been sorry I made the decision to leave the condo and start traveling full time in a motor home.  I still love being a full time RVer and still love The Palms as much as the day I first drove it home.  Although I still feel like such a newbie sometimes, I'm glad we have two years under our belts.  We're looking forward to our third year with lots of anticipation and excitement!

One of the first things I saw when we drove down to the beach on Saturday was this Great Blue Heron on the hill.

I'm always trying to get good close-up photos of herons, but I'm not happy yet with what I've taken, so I'll keep trying.  This one isn't too bad.

We had thunder and lightening and a brief, heavy rain last night before dark.  It was nice for a change, and hopefully will dampen the ground and trees in this fire season.

So...  I mentioned bad neighbors in my last post.  I never got to know them, and didn't talk to them (except yelling at them), but this is what they did.  (People who don't dry camp all the time might not see the big deal, but I was totally aggravated!)

I parked in the primitive parking area by the lake on my first evening here.  All the other campers were lined up around the lake.  I was the only RV out in the dry lake bed area, a large area that used to be under water.  I went to bed, exhausted, around 9:30 and a little before 10, I woke up and saw headlights through my curtains and heard a truck approaching.  I started worrying that I was in the middle of a large area in the dark, and hoped they could see us.  They stopped their vehicle, and I looked out the window.  There was another truck there; he must have driven up while I was asleep.  The people got out of the trucks and proceeded, for about 45 minutes to set up CAMP.  Right NEXT to me. The second truck was towing a boat, and the people were jumping up and down from the boat and the truck bed, all brandishing flashlights that were shining all over the place, including in my windows.  It was pitch black outside.  The gates should have closed at dusk, so they were already here during the daylight. Why in the world would they come over where I was parked so late, after it was dark?

This was taken AFTER they took the truck/boat away in the morning. Those were between me and the tent.

The truck with the motor running in the morning was practically right under my window - 15-20 feet away?

Anyway, they finally got things organized - they were slow as molasses, though.  Things quieted down and I went back to sleep.  Then a little after 7 in the morning, I hear the truck again.  I listened to the truck engine running for what seemed to be about 20 minutes.  They were at the boat, getting it organized for going out on the lake to fish all day.  Jumping up, jumping down, discussing things, etc.   Finally I opened my window from my upper bunk and yelled, "Would you SHUT OFF YOUR TRUCK?!?!!!?  I'm trying to SLEEP up here!"  They looked up at me and one man walked over and turned off the engine.  They didn't leave for another 20 or 30 minutes.  Were they planning to run that truck under my window at 7 in the morning for an hour? I wouldn't want to admit to you that I cursed them - NO FISH FOR YOU TODAY.  I don't know if my curse worked or not, but I'm not admitting anything . :)

I noticed an empty area next to the lake where someone had left and I climbed down, got dressed and drove over there.  Katie and I spent the day by the water watching all the weekenders enjoying themselves, fishing, boating, kayaking, jumping in the water just playing.  Then one by one, they packed up and left. There were lots of groups and extended families with a lot of gear for the weekend. 

After all the people in my area left, the Ravens and Turkey Buzzards arrived to clean up all the dead fish that were left on the shore.  It was very interesting to watch the interaction between the two types of birds.  It started with Ravens, then one Turkey Buzzard arrived.  Before I knew it, there were a dozen or so of them, and they were obviously in charge.  The Ravens kept appearing, hopping around, and flying off to other areas. 

These are some of the pictures I took of the Chihuahuan Ravens and Turkey Buzzards:

Turkey Buzzard and catfish

Chihuahuan Raven.  Once the Buzzards arrived, these guys had to find fish in another area.

Raven in flight.

US Supreme Court Justices.  The way they walk around, that's what they remind me of when they are in a group.  My apologies to the Court.  :)

Cooling off in the breeze.

As his wings came down, his tail feathers came in, too.

Turkey Buzzard in flight.  These birds really interest me.

As you can see, the photos aren't as good with the Samsung as with my Nikon.  It might just be that I have the settings all wrong, so I'll have to work on that. It's definitely more fun to shoot photos that come out clear and crisp and colorful.

 A big Welcome to our new Followers:

paxami, who is a "sometime gardener, golfer and photographer, big time reader and animal lover, and a fledgling cellist."   I don't see that you have a blog, but you have a lot of  fun interests, paxami, and hopefully following me and Katie will be fun for you, too!  Thanks for following along with us.

pamela - who doesn't show a blog or any other information, but we're sure happy you are following us on our travels, pamela!

...and fnally, Barbara!  Once when I was introduced to someone, they said, "I've never met a Barbara I didn't like."  I've also found that to be true, so when I went over to Barbara's blog, even though she is not an RVer, I knew I'd love it.  I'll bet you will, too!  She is in Houston, TX, and her profile says, in part, "I read a lot.... novels, internet, soup cans. This blog has evolved into a rambling collection of my thoughts and reflections on life, and quotes or links to other articles and blogs I enjoy."  I'm looking forward to your posts, Barbara - thanks for following Me and My Dog  ...and My RV!
 
Welcome aboard to you all!  :)

It's cloudy and windy and wonderful here.  From Katie and me, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  :)

Well, I wasn't planning on driving for two days!

I can finally post again - and especially wanted to let everyone know that Katie and I are fine and we are not  near any New Mexico fires.  However, it's been a frustrating, tiring, maddening, expensive few days, for sure.

Briefly, we left Storrie Lake because of the fires in the area and headed north. The day before we left I called Coyote Creek and Eagle Nest Lake State Parks to see if they had Verizon and Internet connections.  Both assured me yes, Coyote Creek has free wi-fi and Eagle Nest has good Verizon.

We saw an alpaca ranch along the way; there were lots of alpacas in the fields and a sign saying they were for sale.  When I saw them I pulled over into their driveway to get a good look and some photos.  I've never seen an alpaca before - I'm assuming these guys have long fur like a llama and had just received a hair cut for their fur? Cute looking animals, and very curious. I wouldn't have known what they were if there hadn't been a sign.

We arrived at Coyote Creek, got set up, and NO Internet.  (I had 4  bars for phone connection, but unless I have a Verizon tower I don't get an Internet connection.  The towers in the "roaming" areaa only provide phone connections, per the Verizon employee when I called them last year. No charge, though, to roam.)

Very nice campsite across the  street from the creek.

Coyote Creek view from the bridge

I packed up and asked a volunteer on the way out about the "free wi-fi" I was assured they had, and he commented that the signal only reaches to the electric sites, a tiny, sardine-packed row of sites, and the rest room area right next to it.  No signal to the dry camping areas.  Thanks!  (If Internet connections aren't important to you, though, the dry camping areas along the creek were really nice. I would have happily stayed there for 14 days if I could have gotten a good connection to get on-line.)

Along the road on our travels, we encountered this bull right on the side of the road, outside the fence.  I've seen this before - I guess they can roam, but they stay down where the grasses are.

We drove north to Eagle Nest Lake, arrived around 3:30 and got set up, and same thing, no Internet.  !@%$#!

Also, after I got my computer out to just play some games and listen to a book on tape, I discovered that my computer had crashed, so I had no computer, anyway.  But I could have used my phone or Kindle Fire to get on-line and do what I wanted to do.  In any case, it is what it is, and I was stuck there for the night.  I called Costco Concierge service - a wonderful service provided by Costco that I used once before.  They took all my information about the laptop I bought at Costco less than 4 months ago, helped me run some tests on the computer, which showed the hard drive had failed, then connected us to HP where we had a three-way conversation about the warranty service and returning the laptop to them. I had to wait until I had a physical address for them to send mailing labels and a return box and needed to confirm with Bluewater Lake that they would still accept a package for me.

We were camped right above the lake and it would have been very nice if I could have gotten a signal for the Internet.  (All the sites at Eagle Nest Lake are dry-camping.  NO hook-ups at all.)  There are Prairie Dogs all over the place up there.  I saw some crossing the roads on the way to Eagle Nest Lake, and once we were camped, I could see a bunch of them near our site.  They, too are very curious. Every time a new camper arrived, some would pop up out of their holes and watch the new arrivals.  They provided a little comic relief for me during the 90 minute phone call to Costco Concierge/HP Warranty Department.

In the morning we left, drove through Taos where I went to Wal-Mart and bought their cheapest HP computer and a cheap camera with a good zoom lens.  My good Nikon is so bad now, I can hardly use it.  (I thought this was interesting - I'm having problems typing on the new laptop keyboard. There isn't a number pad on the right side, and since I'm a touch typist, my fingers are going to the wrong places.  I'm slowly getting better at the letters, but I have to visually place my hands at the correct starting point. The delete and backspace keys are in a completely different place.  I have to re-train my brain-to-finger "memory muscles.")

Next we went through Santa Fe where they are apparently also having fire issues and we ended up in Albuquerque where I went to the only Costco in the state of New Mexico.  I wanted to double check that they didn't have a better deal on computers and cameras, but theirs were much more expensive, so I'll keep my Wal-Mart computer and camera.  I've been dying for fresh asparagus and artichokes and bought a big pack of both, then went to their tire department and had my tires checked.  The pressure was good in all six tires, which I was very happy about considering all the driving we've done and temperatures we've been in.

Next stop was PetSmart for Katie's nail trimming and huge bag of treats.  Then on to La Mesa RV where I got a new door latch.  The high winds here in New Mexico caused my door to slam really hard a couple of times and broke the connecting arm from the outside wall to the hook on the door.  Free fresh pop-corn and a bottled water later, we were back on the road.

We made three stops for gas during all the driving from Storrie Lake to Eagle Nest Lake on Friday and then the next day to our final destination.  On Saturday we left at 7:20 am and didn't arrive until 5:30 pm.  It was a long 10 hour day, half was driving and half was shopping at various stores in various places.  All was good, though, and we got everything done we needed to do.  The last hour was hard because I was tiring at that point, but happy that we would soon be settled again.

And we finally arrived at Bluewater Lake State Park!  I have to highlight that in gold, because I was sooooo happy to arrive in a great park with lots of good sites, water in the lake (although it's still very low), beautiful trees, and good Internet signals through my Verizon phone.  This is still my favorite park, even after visiting so many others this year.  I was planning to slowly head this way, but because some of the other parks we visited were lacking one thing or another and we moved on quickly, we are here early.   I wish some of the other nice parks had good signals, but maybe next year. I know they are all planning to have free wi-fi, and hopefully it will extend to the dry camping areas, too.

I got a few pictures along the way and missed a few, too.  One of the best scenes I didn't get was driving along a country road with wire fencing soon after we left Eagle Nest Lake.  All along the fence were hawks sitting there, lined up in a row watching for critters.  There must have been 12 of them.  It would have been a great shot!  I also passed a small coyote trotting along the road in the opposite direction.  Right on the roadside.  I was surprised to see him.

This morning I again called Costco's Concierge Service and he called HP and I got set up for them to send me the labels and shipping box to send back my computer.  Then when it's repaired or replaced (OMG I hope they can save the documents, photos, music, etc.) they will send it back by Fed Ex to Bluewater Lake.

I was a little frustrated by all the fire news, because I wasn't getting any TV, my computer wasn't working, and I was only getting Sirius radio, not local stations, so I didn't know where the fires were or how bad it was.  Apparently it was a good thing we left Storrie Lake, but I haven't checked yet to see how the fires are doing now.

REMINDER:  BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER - you never know if or when it will fail.  I have my things pretty well backed up, and also have an on-line back up service, but in this case, I'll be backing up from the service to the other computer.  It would cost more more to have that service on both laptops, so I'll see what HP can save, if anything, from the failed drive and back up what's missing.  I was glad I had quite a few files backed up on thumb drives so I could easily transfer them to this new computer.  This will be a "SPARE" computer now and I might, in fact, use it to back up important things in case I have another failure.  Each laptop can back up the other.

And now, a question for all you RVers out there which I'm asking because I've had two expensive laptops fail in four months.  When you are traveling, where do you put your computer?  How is it stored to keep it safe?  I put mine in Katie's soft-sided bed which is on the soft dinette bench seat, and cover it with a quilt so it's padded top and bottom.  It should be completely protected from any little jolts on the road, and I was surprised to have a second computer fail me.

Time to go - I have an artichoke boiling, so I'm going to get it now and enjoy every single leaf while I'm catching up on your blogs.  BTW, remember my "most annoying neighbors," the nesting bluebirds?  Well, I have more annoying neighbors from my first night here.  And they are humans. I'll tell you about them in my next post. :(

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

Still here at windy Storrie Lake State Park

But I'm not complaining about the wind.  Seeing the high winds and hurricanes in other states, I'll take what I have.  My only problem is that I'm still a little jittery about noises from above, even though I'm convinced the mice are either gone or dead.  High winds tend to make things on the roof move around a bit, and at night I start hearing things.  Gayle and Jim said their old antenna used to make noise on the roof, and they replaced it with one of those dome antennas.  Completely quiet, they said.  I told them I never hear my antenna - well, NOW I DO! I guess I never noticed the noise it makes in the wind before having a nest near where the antenna comes through the roof.

I have another noise issue that has been ongoing since I started full-timing.  When the wind is blowing, what do you do about the little fabric strap/hook on your awning?  I guess it has to hang down loose so it can be hooked to pull the awning down, but when it's windy, mine slaps against the outside wall and makes a constant noise.  I can't seem to get it to go under the awning, tucked away and out of the wind, to quiet it.  Is there a tip I don't know about?

The first campsite I chose when we got here was at the top of the hill overlooking Storrie Lake.  I had a great view of the water, fishermen and Canada Geese that flew in each day.  This is the site:

And these are the Canada Geese swimming in the lake.  Katie and I walked down a few times to get a closer look at the water and the geese.  It was easy exercise.  This photo was taken from our site, so it's not as sharp as if we were at the water.

Then we moved to this site.  It's by itself, across from the Visitor's Center/Office and the restrooms/showers.  We have no neighbors and a clear view of the surrounding hills and the area that was once filled with water, but is now completely dry.

If you look closely to the right of the post on the right side of the photo, you'll see Andy Baird's rig sitting in the middle of the dry lake bed. One of these years there will be water again, and maybe my campsite will have a view of boats.

To the far left, in the picture below, you can see the Visitor's Center/Office behind us, and on the right you can see the restrooms/showers across the street behind the shelter.  Even though we are close to things here and very safe, they way we're parked it feels like we're in the middle of nowhere.  Just hills, fields, and birds flying overhead. 

Instead of seeing the geese in the lake, from this site I am enjoying watching them feeding and resting in the field near my campsite.

There are Mountain Bluebirds nesting in this area, too, of course, but these guys have a nesting box nailed to one of the trees behind us by the road.  When Katie and I walk by, the birds are always in the area, usually one in the nest and one in the tree watching us.  I saw one of the birds moving around inside the nest and snapped a picture - if you look closely at the second photo, you'll see it's eye on the right watching us from inside the nest. (I think it's an eye.)

Things are pretty quiet around here.  This morning I tried to tuck in the awning fabric strap from above on the roof, but it didn't work.  Then we went over and  dumped the grey water and filled up with fresh.  By the time we got back it was still before 10 a.m. and the winds were starting to come up pretty strong. I was glad I got those tasks out of the way early while the air was still pretty calm.

Katie and I are taking it easy and being very lazy this week.  I'm listening to Inferno by Dan Brown on my current library book on tape, and it's really good so far.  It's a much longer than usual book, 17 hours and 13 minutes, so it's going to take a number of days before I'm at the end.  When I'm listening to a good book, I appreciate the lazy days.

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Jo - her blog, Jo's World, can be found here.   Jo and her dog and cat are from Minnesota, and she has been blogging since 2008.  WAY before I started!  Jo, thanks for signing on as a Follower - Katie and I are happy to have you aboard!  :)

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

"coffee with a canine," mice in the attic, and the seam repair

I was asked to participate in a Q & A by Marshal Zeringue at coffee with a canine, and decided it might be fun.   He asked questions and I supplied the answers and photos, and our Q & A posted today.

I don't usually take or post photos of myself, but his site is set up to start the Q & A with a photo of the dog and owner, so this is the one I sent.  I had taken it last week, so it was fortunate I had a current shot.  The post has a little information about Katie and me that I haven't shared here - please check it out at Barbara Dewell & Katie!  Thanks Marshal for including me and Katie on your site!  :)

Our latest ISSUE is mice in the attic.  Remember when I posted that the Mountain Bluebirds have been waking me up at 5:30 a.m. every morning by running around on the roof?  Well... turns out it wasn't the birds running around outside.

"You blaming ME for all that racket?"

Beautiful male Mountain Bluebird

As beautiful as he is, his family is not the problem.

Yesterday morning I was again awakened around 5:30 a.m. by the sound of feet running around over the ceiling and PEEPING SOUNDS.  It was obvious a nest was there, and the babies had been born.  I didn't know if it was the birds nesting there, since they were around so much, or if we had mice.  I did some on-line research and emailed Andy Baird and Hazel.

I went outside at around 6 a.m. and walked away from the rig a bit and watched.  No birds at all.  I saw a couple of neighboring RVers taking a walk and they stopped and we talked for a while, and I continued to keep watch on the roof.  No birds at all in the area of the rig, but I did see the bluebirds flying in another area away from The Palms.

When I went back inside, the running around was still going on intermittently, and there were still "peeps" coming from the ceiling near where the antenna is located.  That's when I knew it had to be a nest of mice up there between my ceiling and roof.  I've had mice before, and found a nest once, but never overhead and never babies.  NOT A GOOD THING, for sure!

I checked my e-mail and Hazel had sent a message back that it was unlikely the birds were up there, since they already had an established nest.  Andy had also e-mailed back, offering his help and a tip that I might want to get some Fresh Cab.  He had a couple of packets I could use, or if I wanted to go into town, he sent me the location of a store that carried it.  He uses it in his storage compartments, and it would fit in my ceiling space.

This is what it looks like - it's all natural, and it's the odor that keeps the rodents away.  The smell is a cedar/mint combo that is not at all offensive to people.   There are 4 packets to a box and it cost me $17.99 here in town at Big R.  I looked it up on-line, and it's available at Amazon.com for $14.99 if you are interested in checking it out.  I've included a link to the right under "The Blogs I Follow" that you can click to get to the page with the $14.99 price.  I have a bag of traps and sticky pads and poisons, but I'd rather repel them than kill the little critters.

I decided to move to another site, and hopefully, as happened at Rockhound State Park, I would leave the mice behind.  I first went into town and got some Fresh Cab and when I got back to the park, I chose a campsite in another area.  I took off the little round A/C vent on the ceiling nearest to the peeping noises, which were now quiet, and put the Fresh Cab over the ceiling panel, and screwed the vent back on.

I haven't heard any noises at all since then, and this morning was able to sleep in until 8 a.m., as usual.  Either I left the Mom mouse at the old campsite and the newborn mice died from heat and no water above the ceiling, or the odor of the Fresh Cab drove the whole family out of The Palms.  Either way, I think the problem is solved.  I put another packet of Fresh Cab behind the drawer under the stove, which has been a popular place for mice in the past, so hopefully I won't be having any other infestations.  This is the fourth time in two years I've had mice inside The Palms, much more than I've read other people having.

Last, but certainly not least, The Seam Repair.

So...  :)    The other day Andy came over after I had cleaned off all the silicone from the seam split I had fixed last year.

The area was clean, and he took out the screw holding the corner piece in place and replaced it with a wider, longer screw, adding Gorilla Glue to the sides of the screw so it would expand when in place.  Screwing in the longer screw brought the split together part way.

He then brought it as far as it would come using a clamp to pull both sides together.  With the glue he had placed on the screw and in that area, we hoped when the clamp was removed it would stay.

We let it set, and that evening he came back and removed the clamp, and it stayed in place.

Per Andy's instructions, I had cut down the EternaBond to the correct size, and when he came back, he again cleaned the area and placed the EternaBond over the entire corner area.  Waaaa Laaaa!

It worked, looks great, and should be a much better fix than the Silicone that only lasted a year.

Thanks, Andy!  Not only did you DO the fix for me, I learned how to properly repair an outside split and next time I'll be able to do a proper job myself.  :)

A couple of House Finches in the yard this morning:

I hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day.  I've watched a few shows that brought tears to my eyes this weekend, and want to remember all our fallen heroes for sacrificing their lives for our protection and safety here in The United States of America.

From Me and Katie, have a wonderful Memorial Day, everyone!  :)

Angry Birds, storms and visiting with a fellow full-timer

I experienced my first hail storm Thursday night.  What a racket on the roof.  We had rain, hail, thunder and lightening.  Pretty exciting.  I got out of bed and lowered the TV antenna and unplugged my TV and computer, just in case.  Katie was sleeping in her car seat, and I peeked at her through the scarf I had hung between the cab and the "house," and she was doing fine.  She stayed there throughout the storm and I finally fell asleep.  In the morning, as usual, she was in her regular bed on the couch, so she climbed over the seat during the night.  She really feels safe and comfortable in that car seat.  One of the best things I've bought since being on the road. 

So...  have you noticed everyone is starting their sentences with the word, "So..."  I listen to a lot of talk radio and TV, and when people are being interviewed, that's what they do now.

So...  The Mountain Bluebirds are still harassing me and Katie, but not as bad.  They are still hanging out on the mirrors, hood, roof, and TV antenna and doing bird acrobatics on and off during the day.  I thought about them during the storm and hoped they were dry and safe in their nest during the storm. Apparently they did fine, because they are still around.  Here are more of the photos I took the other day:

 

 

Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting Andy Baird.  He is also camped here at Storrie Lake and I sent him a quick e-mail and asked if he would like to come over for a visit.  He dropped over, and we had a wonderful conversation.  After about an hour it was lunch time, and he invited me back to his rig for a tour and lunch.  Of course, I said yes.  He has made so many modifications to his rig, it was nice to see them in person.  I especially like his office space.  Really nice.

I'm sure a lot of you know who Andy is and have read his blog - if not check it out here.  Andy Baird's Websites  He does all kinds of projects and documents them with instructions and photos and then posts them to pass along the information.  He also has a nice file of all the New Mexico State Parks with information and his impressions of each.  I use that all the time.  His was one of the first blogs I read and I did lots of bookmarking and copy/pasting so I wouldn't lose the info.  He does rig renovations, sews, cooks - he doesn't seem to be afraid to tackle any kind of job.

He came over today to help me do a re-repair of the outside seam split that I had fixed last year. The Silicone I used finally split apart and I needed to cover the split again.  My repair lasted a year - I did it in May of 2012.  Andy suggested using Eternabond to cover the split area.  I happened to have some on hand, so we (he) did that repair today.  He did a more extensive repair than I would have done; he has all the tools and knowledge, and I'll show you some photos in a future post.

Windy as heck here today, again, and also pretty warm.  It must just be the time of year for wind in New Mexico.  The park looks almost full.  I can smell bar-b-que and hear kids yelling and playing - somehow everyone found out about the Memorial Weekend, I guess.  :)

I've got some stuff to do, so that's it for today.  But first, here are a couple of sunsets from Storrie Lake the last few days.  These are what I see out the front windshield:

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