What a mess! :(

I apologize to any followers who have received a spam e-mail from me.  It seems my AOL e-mail has been hacked again and I'm getting those fake messages, too, on my other e-mail accounts that are seldom used.  I now have a Master Password to get into AOL and then I input a new password to get to my messages.  Such a pain to have to go through all this again.

If you get an e-mail from me, don't click on any links.  I don't think they are viruses, at least not these from what I've been told, but they are still not from me.


I also apparently accidentally downloaded Sweetpacks and all it's various tentacles while downloading something from CNET.com.  I've always trusted them, but from now on, I'll go directly to the programs' websites.  There are too many "free" little programs that end up being downloaded if you aren't REALLY careful to DECLINE each and every one of them.  I'm not sure if Sweetpacks is from one of those, or from BING, which seems to be connected somehow. If it was a CNET download, I missed checking a DECLINE. I've uninstalled Bing and Sweetpacks, but Sweetpacks seems to still be there.  The research I've done shows that it's very hard to get rid of, and possibly a "factory install" decision should be made.  Anyone else have this problem in the past?

Then I installed Live Writer to give it a try, thank you, Rick, for the link!, and somehow the "temporary post used for theme detection" became the name of the post about the cows in the campground.  I did research on how to remove that, too, but it was just too much, and so it will have to stay that way for now.  

It seems like anything I do turns out biting me in my proverbial butt.  I'm tired of saying OUCH!

I'm thinking about reversing everything back to the factory install, but I've put a lot of time into re-loading programs and files back onto this laptop.  Also, it's been suggested by a couple of people that I delete my AOL e-mail account, but it's attached to everything I do.  That would be a major job.  Anyway, in the past I was able to get through this kind of craziness, and I'm hoping to do so again.

On to a brighter subject:

Can you imagine leaving this in your campsite when you leave?

A couple of weeks ago when I had a site near the lake, there was a huge rain during the night.  I think this belonged to some tent campers.  In the morning when Katie and I took our first walk of the day, we walked around the circle of sites across from us, and here was this bar-b-que in an empty campsite.  It is a gas bar-b-que, and still had four pieces of cooked chicken laying on the grill.  It would appear it was working the day before, because the meat was cooked.

I can't imagine what this was all about.  Anyway, it's in the lost and found I guess.  Weird, huh?

The day before, someone left a nice bike leaning up against a tree in the campsite next to the bar-b-que people.  They had two trucks and two RVs in the site, and I counted 10 bicycles at one point, so I'm not surprised one was left behind.  I reported both the grill and the bike to the office, and maybe the owners will call. 

Here are a couple of new photos of our current campsite.  Weekends we have some neighbors, but during the week, we're often the only ones down here at this end.  I love it. Lots of bunnies and squirrels in this area playing and running around. I got some photos of a runny fighting a squirrel for the rights to sit in my campsite - the runny won.  I'll post those another day.  As I was watching, it reminded me of the fight I captured between a squirrel and a quail at Quartzsite.  Remember that one?

Such a beautiful location!

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

Well, they're not horses, but...

When Hazel and I and the dogs were taking our early evening ride around the campground on Saturday, look what we saw:

A bull!  And yes, that's some bull.  He has horns, too, and blue eyes.  Isn't he beautiful?

When he saw us driving closer, he hid behind this tree. 

This must be the cow of the family.  They were grazing and it looks like she has her mouth full! 

Going along with the "family" theme, this must be the young male.

These two grazed together, and the bull was always a little distance from them.

Notice the notched ears.  I wonder if that is a brand of some kind.

They were munching on the good greens in the Canyonside Campground area, heading toward the tent and pop-up tent campers nearby.

There was a little boy coming back from the showers; he was in his pajamas and carrying a towel.  He was probably around 8 or 9 years old. I noticed he was walking alongside our car, on the driver's side (the cows were on the passenger side), and he kept walking along with us.  At first I thought he was admiring Fleur and Power, Hazel's Greyhounds, but Hazels said, No, he was using us as a shield.  Every time we moved, he moved, when Hazel stopped the car for photos, etc., he stopped, too.  Finally he was near his campsite and ran to it.  He was so cute, and a pretty smart cookie.  He sure wasn't going to be trampled by wild cattle!

Later in our drive, we saw them heading toward the road that leads out of the park.  Going home for the night, I guess. The cow and young bull were already on the road, and the bull was back a bit behind the fenced area with the thick wires between the posts.  Hazel stopped the car to watch him, wondering how he was going to get over the fence.  When he got up to the fencing, he looked at it, then walked back around the fence to the open area next to the road.  Even though it was a low wire, I guess he didn't want to step over it.

I've never seen cattle in the campground, only that one bull going across the dry lake bed down by the lake shortly after we got here.  I've seen evidence of their presence, cow piles here and there, but not up close and personal like this.

I try not to ever forget my camera - you just never know what you're going to come across.

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

"Me and My Dog ...and My RV" dewelldesigns@blogspot.com

Gorgeous Great Blue Herons

I finally got my great shots of Great Blue Herons!  Isn't he beautiful? Just look at that beard.

Almost every day in the early evening Hazel picks me and Katie up and we go for a ride around the campground to give her Greyhounds a good walk.

Hazel and Fleur and Power - exercising the Greyhounds.

We drive through the campgrounds and also along the road by the lake which is at the bottom of the hill where we think a couple of Great Blue Herons are nesting.  Usually when we are driving by, the male is out guarding the area, looking very regal.  I've taken so many photos of him - here are a few of the best I've taken over the last few days.

See how he holds his left foot up, "fingers" stretched out?

His beard isn't puffed out in this photo. 

He usually doesn't move, just stands there.  But I caught him in a big yawn.

This is the terrain on the lower part of the hill.  We think there is a nest in one of the trees behind him.

One day both the male and female were there.  I love seeing Great Blue Herons, from the first one I saw at Santee Lakes June of 2011 during my first month in The Palms to today.  Whenever I see one it makes my day and a good photo is the frosting on the cake.

Male on the left and female on the right.  He looks very puffed up and protective. We've only seen her once.

I think it's interesting that I mentioned the other day I love getting pictures of Great Blue Herons, but hadn't yet gotten a good clear close-up.  Then - waaa laaa - here they are.  I don't know how I'd get a better shot than these.  I love looking at them.  The birds and the photos. 

These are the kinds of pictures I would have used for the front of note cards that I used to enjoy making and giving as gifts when I had a good office set-up at home.

It's a beautiful Sunday at Bluewater Lake State Park here in New Mexico - I hope you are enjoying a beautiful day, too.

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

We're back and up to speed...

And when I say "up to speed," I don't mean fast.  I'm talking about Retirement Speed. :)  We've added a computer and my new Canon camera and two dozen horses and subtracted one cute mouse - and yes, I threw away the D-Con.  Lucky for you all, I lost the photo of the dead mouse.

My computer didn't arrive as scheduled, but it's back now, and I almost have it completely loaded again.  Luckily I have lots of back-ups of my documents, photos, music, and scrap booking graphics.  I own the programs I use, so I just had to re-install them.  It takes time, but I haven't lost anything.  It's sure nice to be back to normal again.  I can soooo tell the difference between the other less expensive HP laptop and this computer, which is an HP ENVY dv6 with an intel CORE i7 processor and a back lit keyboard, which I do use often in the evening.  This is just a better machine and it performs so much smoother and faster - it has better color, better sound, a better keyboard, better features, it's just better all around.  I love this computer; I didn't realize how great it was until it was MIA for a couple of weeks! 

We are in a different campsite this time, one of my favorites on the other side of the campground, and we're settled in again for a while.

The horses that were here a week ago only came that one day so far, and I got some photos with my old camera, but it doesn't have the good zoom lens.  I counted 24 horses, and these are the best of those shots.

Mare with her new foal.

Many of the horses were laying down resting, and there were always horses guarding them.

More horses and their guards.  These were really sleeping, and were laying there for a while. I love the way they are protected by the horses watching them, but also facing different directions looking outward.

 

Mare watching over her colt.  There was another shot which I lost, unfortunately, of a new foal laying down, sound asleep with the mare standing over it, providing shade.  Horses have good instincts, don't they?

These are the horses across the lake, and some cows and bulls, too.

I had a memory card in my new Canon and got some really good closeups, but when I tried to load them into my computer, it said I needed to "format" the card, which meant I had no photos on the card.  I don't know what happened because it looked like I was saving photos, but they were all lost.

Since that first day the horses were here, I've only seen them over on the other side of the lake, a bit too far for close up photos.  Hopefully the horses will be back on this side of the lake soon and I'll get some shots of the new foals before they get too big.  There were 3 or 4 new ones, and a few colts, too.

It's a weekend again, and the RVs and tents are surrounding the lake.  Hazel is volunteering in the Visitor's Center/Office and said this is a really busy weekend.  There are tons of boats out on the lake with people fishing and being towed in rubber rafts and riding little water craft thingies - Skidoo's or whatever they are.  Lot of families, lots of groups, lots of fun.

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

Computer will be back tomorrow!

According to the FedEx tracking, my repaired computer with a new or refurbished hard drive will be delivered tomorrow. I've been going through a bit of computer withdrawal but still doing okay. Having my Kindle Fire has been a big help. I've watched a few movies - kept up with e-mail - played a few games (I downloaded a really good domino game that was free) - and kept up with all your blog posts. I have lots of news, photos of HORSES (YEAAAAA!), a photo of a dead mouse (YEAAAAA) -it was very cute :(, etc. As soon as I get the computer I'll be leaving Bluewater Lake because my two weeks are up. I plan to do some parking lot camping while getting the computer up to speed and will be returning to Bluewater Lake in a week or so. No photos today. I'm not quite sure how I'd import them. From me and Katie - have a great Monday everyone! (It sure is different typing with only my index finger on this little screen.)

We'll be back, and drat - another mouse!

POST 2 OF 2 FOR TODAY

I thought I'd post a couple of photos of where we are parked here at Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico - I might try out a new site when we come back.  We can only stay 14 days, then we have to leave for a week, and then we're coming back.

Our beautiful campsite overlooking Bluewater Lake.

This photo shows the lake in front of us, and the dry lake bed to our right. Much lower than usual, but still lots of water for boats.

We're not going anywhere, I just won't have a computer for a week for so, and won't be able to publish a post during that time.

Long story:  I wasn't completely happy with the Samsung camera I bought on June 1 at Wal-Mart and noticed on the right panel of my blog, where I put a "This is my Future Camera" ad, that the camera I want is on sale.  It was $299, and I wasn't quite ready to pay that, but now it's $199, and I'm willing to fork over that much for a camera that I hope I'll love.   So this morning I got the Samsung camera back to factory condition and Hazel and I drove to Wal-Mart and I returned it.

I was standing there waiting while the Customer Service employee rang up the return, and I mentioned that I also purchased a laptop from Wal-Mart and it was driving me crazy.  After I got it, although I had it set to automatically perform updates, I still needed to download and install them myself.  There were around 50 updates for Windows 8 and a bunch of updates for HP installed items, maybe a dozen.  I've been having a heck of a time getting all the updates downloaded and installed.  About half of them failed and I had to try again, and this computer is SSSLLOOOWW!  I still don't have them all installed and I don't think any of the HP updates worked.

The speakers aren't super good, although I can live with that.  But the games I play on the computer are jerky, and even with the updates I've installed so far, that hasn't improved.

Investigating what's actually ON this computer, I discovered it was built July of 2012.  That's before Windows 8 was even out, so no wonder it needed so many updates.  I was thinking I might want to return it.  When I mentioned all this to the Customer Service woman, she said, make sure if you return it that you have your receipt, and return it within 15 days of purchase.  Wow - 15 days isn't very long - and I've already had the computer 12 days.  So, now, as soon as I post this, I'm going to return the computer back to factory condition, put everything back in the box, and Hazel and I are going to the Wal-Mart in Gallup tomorrow and I'm going to return it.

I won't get my other laptop back from being repaired for a week or so, and probably won't be posting until I get that one back.  I didn't want anyone to worry - nothing is wrong, I just won't have a computer to publish my next post for a little bit.

I sure seem to have a lot of electronics woes lately, don't I?  Even so, like they say about golf, the worse day full-timing still beats any other lifestyle. 

Funny.. as I'm typing this, ANOTHER "HP SUPPORT ASSISTANT" message popped up, "A critical message about your computer is available." It keeps doing that, and when I choose "View now," I have a loooong wait, remember this computer is ssssslllllloooowww, and then I finally get a screen that lists all the HP updates I need to download and install.  Unfortunately after taking the time to try to do that, they don't get installed.  Just confirms that I need to return this computer before my 15 days are up.

I was hoping that once all the updates were done, the computer would speed up and not be so jerky, but since my 15 days are almost up, I don't have time to even try to complete that task.  If they had given me 90 days like some stores do, I might have whipped it into shape by then and kept it.   

But the good news is that I ordered a new Canon Power Shot 500 IS and it should be here by Friday, I hope. I should have some good photos to post once I get my computer back.  

And...  yes, another mouse.  Katie woke me up at 5 am this morning.  I looked down from my bunk, and all I could see was her little butt and wagging tail.  The rest of her was in the cab.  I got up and turned on the light, got my flashlight and looked all over and under and around everything up there.  Nothing.  Then I thought, maybe something is in the engine compartment, so I went outside, lifted the lid, and shone the light all over.  Nothing.

I went back in and told Katie to go to sleep, but she was insistent.  So I started moving things from the cab to the couch, and ...  nothing.  Katie's tail was wagging even faster, so I went back outside and opened the passenger door, and who should be looking up at me - a little mouse.  Katie is so spot-on with these critters.  I tried twice to smash it, but there wasn't a flat surface and it went back under the seat and probably into the cabin somewhere.

I got out some D-Con and put it under the seat where Katie couldn't reach it, got a mousetrap that was already baited and would kill and keep the mouse inside if caught, and also threw a Fresh Cab bag under the seat hoping the smell would drive it away.   I have a whole BAG full of mouse stuff.

I won't know if any of that worked until tonight when it decides to roam around if it's still here.  Katie will wake me for sure if she hears anything.  UPDATE, Katie is back in the cab and it's 9:15, but now she's growling toward the DRIVER's seat.  I put everything under the passenger seat.  Here we go again.

Tomorrow Hazel is coming over to help me find and plug any holes under the rig with some steel wool I bought a few months ago.  Obviously, since this is the fourth time I've had a mouse, I have entry holes under the rig.  I think I might win the award for the most infestations of mice in two years' time.   Yes, I'm so proud.  But not willing to try for five!  I'm going to put my shoes on and get out the mouse "stuff" bag right now.

From Me and Katie, see you in a week or so - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE, INCLUDING MINE!  :)

And that's no Bull!

POST 1 OF 2 FOR TODAY

Or is it?  I'm so uninformed about identifying gender when it comes to large animals.  I figured this guy:

...was a bull, and although I didn't see anything suspicious to identify him as such, he is so massively built - look at his huge shoulders and chest.

Kind of like last year when the herd of horses was here.  I couldn't tell which was the mare and which was the stallion unless one of them was nursing the colt. Then it was a pretty good guess at that point. Or the one photo I took of a few of the horses. I didn't realize until days after I posted the photo that it was kind of OBVIOUS one of them was a stallion.  A little horse porn?  I can't find that post, but you get the idea. 

Also kind of like my nudist at Quartzsite.  Not until I had his photo up on my laptop screen did I realize he had turned to face me, and I got quite a surprise.  Sorry... couldn't post that one, I caught it in time.  That post BY FAR has the most views and is probably the most disappointing when the Google Search for the word Nudist lands on that post.  :)

Anyway, the other morning I'm sitting at the dinette playing with my laptop when my photo scout, Katie, started barking.  I looked out the window, down to the dry lake bed below us, and there sauntered a huge black bull with a white face. 

Just slowly walking along. I thought he was heading toward the lake for a drink, but he got to the road and turned right, following it along the edge.

Then I saw a truck coming along the road.  It was funny, the bull could have kept going straight, but as soon as the truck approached, he turned to cross the road right in front of the truck.  Slowly.

The driver, of course, stopped.  I guess if the bull had no females to boss around, he was going to make sure this truck understood who was boss.

Then he just kept walking and turned toward the hills in the west.  He walked along like he owned the place.  A little further along, he stopped and began grazing.  Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see a black dog running toward him. 

He crossed right behind the bull, stopped, and then ran a bit further and hung out a while sniffing the ground. 

Then I hear this frantic yelling, obviously the owner of this unleashed dog, who is messing around with a huge bull, noticed it wasn't nearby and spied it up on the hill.  That would sure make me yell at Katie to come back.  (Katie is always on her leash, though.)  The dog again ran toward the bull, then kept going, back down to the lake where his owners were.

After having his fill of the plants he was grazing on, the bull walked on to the upper road and continued along toward the vault toilets.

Oh...  THAT's where he's going.  To the Potty. :)

Right next to the toilets are three large boulders and a sign saying no access.  It used to be a road heading around the lake to the other side, where I've seen cows and horses grazing.  He went out of my line of sight, but I'm sure he took the road beyond the boulders and went to the other side of the lake.  Again, I'm assuming this is a bull.  If it's not, well, sorry about that. :)

I don't get TV antenna reception here, but sometimes there's a good show right out my window.  And my photo scout is always alert and on the lookout for anything that moves.

Katie and I have walked up to the Visitor's Center a couple of times when Hazel was manning the office.   This park has a real office, kind of made me miss working.  I loved working in an office, all the different tasks and projects.   So, if you call the Visitor's Center at Bluewater Lake State Park and talk to a woman with a sweet, southern voice, it's Hazel. 

Hot, hot, hot the last three days, and tomorrow as well. Then it's supposed to cool back down into the 80s.  I'm looking forward to that!!

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

The Garbage Squisher

I was wondering what they were going to do with all the garbage.  It's Sunday morning, and most of the weekenders camped and boating around the lake are still here.  The two dumpsters used by these campers are FULL, and have things sticking out already.  I could just see the people leaving, tossing their garbage bags under the lids on their way out - then the wind comes up and the lids fly open.  They do fly open every day.

Can't you just see the garbage flying all over the place - what a mess that would be!  But, no... to the rescue come three seasonal workers and a Bobcat:

The right container is already squished down.

The Bobcat REARS UP on it's hing legs, I mean rear wheels, packing down the second container.

WaaLaa! Lots of room for departing campers to fill.

My grand kids would have loved watching this.  Especially when the Bobcat reared up on it's back wheels and PUSHED down that trash.  Pretty good stuff for kids and Grammys to watch.

Meanwhile, Katie was working hard, too.



We are parked in the perfect direction for Katie to take advantage of the morning sun coming through the window.  This is the view out the couch window.  We see the lake through the front windshield, and out my dinette window I can see the hills and dry lake bed.  I was happy about the lake bed view, thinking I'd see the herd of horses grazing out there, but so far, no horses.  I've see a few hoof prints in the dust and more than a few horse "piles," but no horses yet.

The other day I was craving Nachos and had all the ingredients - see Andy, that's why my fridge is so FULL - and they were delicious.

Homemade Nachos - looks good enough to eat, and I did!

I like home made so much better than the ones I get at restaurants.  This time I got the corn chips that are in a little cup.  Added re-fried beans, shredded cheese, microwaved it a bit to warm things up, then added homemade guacamole, sour cream and chopped tomatoes.  Ummmm, they were so good.  I think I'll have them again for lunch today. :)

Katie likes chasing the lizards here, I got a good shot of one that she didn't see first:

Looks a little like a petroglyph if you squint your eyes, doesn't it?

The weekend, as usual, has been crowded, tons of rigs and tents lined up around the lake shore.  There were really a lot of boats this weekend.  The early birds are already gone, and right now, at noon, more people are starting to pack up and leave.  Soon there will only be a few left, the ones who will stay all week at the edge of the lake.

So far the weekenders seem to be well behaved and quiet.  Except last night, something was going on at the boat launch.  Katie heard them and barked and woke me up. It was in the middle of the night, and sounded like someone was trying to pull their boat on the concrete.  I looked out the window and could see flashlights and headlights at the launch.  Scrapping and flashlights and headlights and talking went on for quite a while.  The launch is far enough away that I can see it, but not hear it, so I don't know what was going on - I could hardly hear the voices, but figured someone's boat missed the trailer and was being dragged along the concrete.  That's what it sounded like.  Hopefully no damage was done, but I kind of doubt that.

As far as we are concerned, all is well at Bluewater Lake, and Katie and I are getting very lazy.

WELCOME to our newest follower, grammynmaggie!  I'm a Grammy, too!  (Or as Lauren would say, Grams - so cute!)  I don't think grammynmaggie has a blog, but I'm very happy you're following along with us, and Katie is wagging her tail over having maggie along, too.  Welcome aboard to you both!  :)
 NOTE:  I'm so sorry, grammynmaggie - I totally spaced out on your blog. You DID tell me in your comment that you have a blog - and here's the address for everyone: 

GEOCACHING & TRAVEL'IN WITH GRAMMY AND THE PAPILLON PRINCESS

Thanks, Judy for that information in your comment.  I went to Grammy's blog and checked it out and she has had her motor home for quite a while. I enjoyed reading back through 2013 and into 2012 - be sure to give her a visit!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Sunday, everyone!  :)

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!  :)