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?  

Katie vs. the Bird

Poor Katie - we are asphalt camping at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, NM, and there are lots of birds up here in the parking lot trees.  The first day we walked around Katie got bombarded by protective birds.

Katie was just minding her own business, sniffing at all the new smells, and suddenly, GEEZ, the Western Kingbird almost hit her.

He kept it up - he was very agitated, of course, because we were right under the nest.

Katie finally had enough and jumped at the bird - see his tail feathers at the top of the photo:

This is the Western Kingbird who was causing all the havoc:

Watching us like a hawk (well, like a Kingbird I guess)!

And look what I found in the nest:

At least three little babies and a straw wrapper.  Here's the baby on the right side:

The poor father bird flew to the top of the tree and spread out his tail feathers:

Lots of birds guarding their nests this time of year.  :)

The first night we were here at Sandia Casino, there was something going on down at the casino.  All of a sudden I heard sirens, and I thought they were going by us on the Interstate.  Later, when I looked down the hill at the casino, this is what I saw - they had all arrived through the roadway behind me I think, and they must have turned off their sirens.  No way I would have missed all these vehicles coming in behind me with their sirens blasting:

There were fire trucks - red and white and yellow ones, a ladder truck, ambulances, fire rescue trucks, paramedic trucks, police cars, I'll bet there were a dozen or more emergency vehicles.

There was also a Channel 4 News Truck, and the Channel 13 News helicopter flying overhead.

The flashing lights were on for hours.  Whatever it was, I never found out, but it must have been serious.  I was glad we were up the hill away from it all.

On our way here driving through Santa Fe (where a tornado was expected, so we were getting out of town fast), I saw three motorcycle riders in the lane to my right, and one was packing.  I've never seen this before: 

See the gun on the red bike rider's left hip?  I'm sure not messing with that group!  Don't people who carry weapons on their body usually put them under their shirt or jacket? 

We had some pretty sunsets here at Sandia:

WELCOME to new follower RVJohn Boo, who does not show a photo, but the link to his blog is here:  RV John | RVing around the US.   Thanks for joining us as a Follower, John, I enjoy your blog and especially your beautiful close-up bird and flower shots.  Welcome Aboard to you!

That's it for this place.  Movin' on down the road in the morning.  If you are ever in Albuquerque, you can do blacktop parking at Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and Sandia Casino.  Nice!

Snake (warning) - but it's a beauty

If you hate snakes, just squint and scroll down to the photo of Jeanne and Riley - that'll be much better.

On our last morning walk at Storrie Lake, we took our usual round trip to the wrecked bridge and back, and as we got to that area, I noticed a large snake under one of the trees.  I haven't seen a snake since Santee Lakes three years ago.  That was a smaller snake, and not nearly as pretty or fancy as this one.  This one didn't have rattlers, but we still didn't get too close.

Snakes aren't my thing, but I can still appreciate their beauty.  Just like every other creature, they are big and small, pretty and plain, friendly and not so friendly.  It's kind of amazing how that happens.

He was quite a bit thicker in the middle; I don't know if that's just the way he's built, or if he just had a nice meal.

I had to take one more photo of Jeanne and Riley after our walk.  Jeanne and I were standing there talking, and Riley went over to the stroller, laid down in the shade and rested.    

He's such a beautiful dog.  AND he has much better manners than Katie!

There are ranch-type houses right behind the electric campsite circle, and across from my site there were horses.  I'm looking forward to seeing the horses at Bluewater Lake, and I understand they have babies.  Can't wait to see the little ones.

I've gotta show you a Sunday breakfast I made while at Storrie Lake:  Fruit salad, toast and jam, a Cheese Omelet made from two large brown eggs. (Wal-Mart has these HUGE brown eggs, and I've been getting them lately.)  On the omelet I put fresh guacamole, sour cream and catsup.  OMG! So good.  It was way too much, but I did the best I could.  LOL

 The omelet would have been better with the guac, sour cream and catsup on the side, but there wasn't room.  I buy the smaller paper dinner plates so I'll eat less, but it doesn't always work out.  :)

 Here are some of the birds I snapped while at Storrie Lake:

This guy just flew up, literally two feet from my face, and grabbed hold of the Wilson Antenna I've attached to the side of the rig outside my window.  Scared me!  He was there for a little bit, very curious about the antenna and ME.  These were taken right through the screen.

And other bird photos:

This is a lesser goldfinch - Jeanne and John and I were watching it, it seemed to have something in it's mouth, and John said there was probably a nest in the tree.

Later I looked out my door to the tree in my campsite, and found the nest, with babies in it:

At least I think that's a baby bird - maybe it's the mom.

Female Bullock's Oriole:

Male Bullock's Oriole:

Here they are together on a post:

Long-billed Curlew at the edge of Storrie Lake:

Western Kingbird:

And the final bird photo, an American Robin.  When I've seen these before, they were rounder and seemed to spend most of their time on the ground looking for food.  Very robust birds.  This bird is smaller and flew from post to post, staying ahead of us on our walk, and flew around a lot.  I didn't think it was a robin, and didn't see a red breast, but Jeanne did see a flash of red.  You can see a little red in this photo.  Now I think it's just a skinny robin, acting weird?  Maybe protecting a nest?

Here's Katie with her fingertips on her chin - "Hummm, what's she doing NOW?"  

I was getting The Palms ready for "take off" the next morning.

Here's one of our sunsets over Storrie Lake:

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Diane!  Diane lives in San Diego, my old stomping grounds.  Lucky you, Diane...   She is a Landscaping Consultant, and has a website (The Yard Fairy - California Friendly Landscaping Help and Advice)  as well as a blog (Angel with Dirty Fingernails - Low Water Landscaping Blog).    Thanks for following along with us, Diane, we're happy to have you aboard!  :)

Next post I have a mechanical systems question for all you people who know about those things. I've done what I could to try to find the problem, and before I spend $$$ at Camping World, I thought I'd see if you have any ideas.  :)

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