Riverside Campground and two ducks and three mice!

Katie and I moved down the road to Riverside Campground, which has nice dry camping sites.  There isn't a lot going on - lots of squirrels around, playing, chasing each other, etc. and they are fun to watch. 

Here are two of them, running around the campsite.

This is the view of the river out my dinette window. 

Katie and I walked down to the river and checked up and down river to see if there were any water birds there.  I don't know if we're too early, but there don't seem to be any exciting birds here yet.  We are a month earlier than last year, so maybe some will be flying through soon.

Katie actually walked down to the water and waded in.  I was surprised.  She did this a few times. 


There are some beautiful trees here.  Lots of Cottonwoods which - true to their names - are shedding tons of white cotton-like tufts that blow around all day long in the wind.  In some places it looks like it snowed.  Also lots of trees like the one below.  They are beautiful with their pink flowers.

The campsites all have trees - see the table in the photo below?  Really nice for tent camping. 

And finally, this water bird below, I'm assuming a kind of duck?  I've searched everywhere for a brown head, black beak, buff chest and grey back and wings.  Nothing.  Do any of you birders out there know what he is?  He sure is pretty.

Judi, of Travels with Emma, guessed that he's a Northern Pintail without the long tail feathers and I think she's right. I found the photos below on-line (gallery.usgs.gov and bird-friends.com).  If our guy above was stretched out and we could see his long neck, he would have the white of his chest continuing up the back of his neck to his head.  And, as Judi said, mine is missing his long tail feathers.  See the pictures below that look like the duck here at Riverside Campground.  Thanks, Judi, I never would have figured it out.  :)

And guess what?  There's another famous bird in the campground!   It's an American Roxi Duck:

I thought I noticed Roxi when Katie and I were walking, but I wasn't sure.  She was camped about 4 or 5 sites down, so I sent her an e-mail and said "I think we're neighbors, do you want to sit and talk, or take a walk?"    She e-mailed back, "No way!  How far do I have to walk to visit?"  She came right over that afternoon, and then we had morning coffee together until the mice arrived.

Katie has a new best friend - lick, lick.  Check out her wagging tail.

We loved meeting Roxi and spending time with her.  She is so sweet and pretty and has the gentlest voice.  Come visit us, Roxi!

We got to meet Annie, too.  She came by to check out Riverside Campground to see if she wanted to come here as her next place and Roxi was showing her the different places to dry camp.  There is also Percha Flats Campground right below the dam, and I've never seen anyone there.  Annie, since you like lots of space, you might like that campground.  It's on the road in to Riverside, but you turn left right after the Ranger's "yard."  You'll see the sign - check out that one, too.

THE MICE

Sunday morning around 2 am Katie and I woke up to a noise I recognized.  Something was caught in a trap under my driver's seat in the truck.  Damn, and we were doing so well.  So I got up, pulled on shorts and a jacket, got a flashlight and my "grabber" tool and went outside.  I unlocked the driver's door and there he was.  A mouse looking up at me caught in a trap.  (The only good thing about this is that it wasn't a squirrel.  That's what I thought was making all the noise.)  Thank goodness I have that grabber.  I grabbed hold of the trap and bashed the trap against a pole, killing the mouse.  He flew onto the ground and didn't move.  Then I baited the trap and went back to bed.

In the morning, I opened the driver's door again, deciding we were going to move back to the parking lot overlooking the lake.  Once I get mice in a campsite, it doesn't seem to stop, so I just move.  When I opened the door, there was another fat little mouse.  I disposed of him, re-baited the trap and shut the door.

I went inside and put some things in my garbage bag under the sink and noticed the Wal-Mart bag holding the garbage had been chewed - a mouse has been in the cabin, too.  I tore everything apart, drawers, cupboards, under the couch, everywhere.  There was evidence of mice everywhere, not a lot and no nests, but still, here and there little bits of evidence, and they ate some of my potatoes in a bag under the kitchen sink.  I can't believe Katie and I hadn't heard a thing.  It all had to have happened Saturday night, because that was a new garbage bag, so I'm hoping I got them all and there aren't any more left inside The Palms.  I disinfected everything, packed up and was ready to leave.

We stopped at Roxi's campsite on our way out to tell her we were heading back to the main campground and drove off.  I'm tired of posting photos of dead mice, so here are some photos of mice that look much happier than the ones I found in The Palms.

Much, much better.  Aren't they cute?

After we got settled in our new spot overlooking the lake, I started thinking about the trap under the passenger seat.  I have my small table and chair and other things on the floor in front of the seat, so I couldn't see what was going on under there.  I moved everything out, and sure enough, another fat little mouse in a trap.  I totally cleaned that area and re-baited that trap and stowed some of the things back in front of the seat, and put others inside the cabin to store inside.  I want to be able to  check under there easily.

We haven't had a mouse for a while, and I thought we were okay, but obviously they've found a hole.  I'll have to go over the rig again and try to find the hole they're using to get in.  Bummer.  :( 

On a lighter note:

WELCOME to our three newest Followers:

Welcome, Gail K!  Her blog, Vagabonding with Gail is so interesting, I spent a lot of time going back into the past posts and really enjoyed them.  Especially the cruise posts.  I love cruising, but it's been a while.  She is in the process of selling her house and downsizing from a 2,000 sf house to a 21 foot RV.  Oh, how I remember those days - Gail, I feel your pain.  But before you know it, you'll be done and on the road.  I'm looking forward to your future posts!

Michael Werk and lesdoll are also new followers, but they show no information to share with you.  Let me know if either of you have blogs I can share with our readers.

Thanks to you all for following along with me and Katie - Welcome aboard!  :)

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

Caballo Lake State Park

Katie and I moved from Percha Dam to Caballo Lake State Park on Monday.  It's a large park with different campground areas.  I wanted to dry camp, of course, and there are some different options for that.  This time I again parked in the parking lot, right above Caballo Lake, so I could look out the window and see the water.

Here's the view out the window:

Beautiful!

I noticed some Turkey Buzzards flying overhead - I always try to get good clear photos of them in flight.  They have such ugly faces and heads, but are so beautiful in flight.  At one point I counted 12 of them.

Three of them landed on the shoreline below us, and I was watching them.

Then I noticed a Great Blue Heron right next to them, walking along the shore.  I always love seeing these graceful birds.

There were also flocks of American Coots floating along in the river:

There are different kinds of Gulls here, too, and this was one I saw flying past The Palms and then landing in the parking lot.  Not a good picture, but it's the best one.

We spent one night there, and then decided to move down to the river.  On Tuesday morning we drove over to Riverside Campground.  In the afternoon there were some cyclists here, sitting at one of the campsite tables.  Then I saw them ride past our site, and again and again.  I thought they were just getting some bicycling exercise.  When Katie and I went out for a walk, what did we see?

Lots of small tents covering a bunch of campsites right near us.  At first I thought it was a girl/boy scout troop or Indian Guides/Princess group.  Then I noticed all the bikes leaning against trees and adults sitting at tables having their dinner.

I stopped to talk to the group at one table and they said they are members of Adventure Cyclists.

They said they are riding from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL in 58 days - 3,069.5 miles!

 Photo by Dennis Coello

These cyclists looked very fit; I guess you'd have to be pretty healthy and strong to be able to cycle over the mountains they face during this trip as well as just peddling all day long.   Good luck to you all - have a good trip!

We headed over here from Percha Dam State Park because of the goathead stickers.  On Tuesday I ordered a dog stroller so I can walk with Katie in areas like Percha Dam.  I remember last year I had a problem with the sand trail along the Rio Grand being so hot it burned Katie's feet and I had to carry her back to The Palms.  Along with the fluid filled sac on her ankle that comes and goes with walks, I'm looking forward to the stroller arriving, which should be by the end of next week.  I want to be able to walk more than we're doing, and I don't enjoy walking alone, especially when there is no one else around, it just feels safer with Katie along.

I have a mystery duck photo I shot - I'll post it next time and hopefully the birders out there will identify it for me.  I also hope to get more photos of the ducks here.   

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

Wordless Wednesday - is this a Parrot?

Is this a parrot?

Nope!  Click here to see:  http://www.johannesstoetterart.com/

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

Moving on again - and Kennedy's Launch Party

On Friday the WINs moved to Leasburg Dam State Park and will be there a few more days.  Katie and I were camped with them for two days at Leasburg, and then decided to continue on by ourselves.  I have a loose itinerary, heading north to other State Parks I especially liked last year, so we are again on our way. 

I didn't take many photos at Leasburg, none worth posting unfortunately; I've gotten some good bird shots here at Percha.  We were here in late April last year, so we're a month earlier right now.  I don't know how the birding will be now, but the Robins are out and singing up a storm this morning.  We are parked along the Rio Grande, but we're above it, so I can't see it from our site, but it's super close.

Katie and I walked down the path going along the river and there is definitely more water than last year.  Thank you, Monsoons! 

There is a small amount of water coming into the river through the pipes below the dam.  Not a lot, but it's something.

I snapped a few bird shots that are below.

Eurasian Collared Dove:











White-winged Doves:

Yellow-rumped Warbler



One of the problems here are the goat heads - I think that's what they call these stickers.  Katie isn't too excited about walking very far because she keeps getting these stuck in her pads.  I've been taking my shoes off outside The Palms and carrying them in to pull out the stickers. 

Can you imagine stepping on these with your bare feet?  Poor Katie!

I'm ordering another little dog stroller like the one along the left sidebar, but I want the 3-wheel style which will be better for off-road walking.  Not only are there lots of stickers, but Katie's ankle keeps swelling, too, like it did last fall.  She'll start out walking just fine, then stop and won't go any further.  I check her ankle and it's swollen.  She always walks back fine; she seems to know the half-way mark.  So if I want to walk and not leave Katie home, a stroller will be the answer.  That purple running stroller I got at Quartzsite would have been great for Katie here because the path along the Rio Grande is sand, but it was just too big to carry around and I think the dog one will be easier to travel with.  This is what I ordered today:

I'll let you know how it works out when we've used it a few days.  It should arrive by the end of next week.

I wanted to show you a few pictures from my granddaughter, Kennedy's, Launch Party for her jewelry business, Touched by Charms.  It was last week and they had over 20 guests and did quite a bit in sales.  This is really cool jewelry, for kids, parents and even seniors like me, but even so - Kennedy and Trish were quite surprised at how successful the first party was.  They are flying to Sacramento and Vacaville to host two more parties in the next couple of weeks.

Below is a "candy bar" they had set up - nice, huh?  My kind of party!

And the next two photos show the display area where they set up a large and two small mannequins showing how the necklaces look, and trays of charms to put in the lockets.  They now have earrings, too.  This is only part of the display, and I think Trish and Kennedy did a great job.

Here's Kennedy before her party started - she looks a little nervous.  I would be, too!

Look at this cake!  Isn't it beautiful?

I ordered by e-mail  - a medium sized plain gold locket and five charms.  I don't need a chain, so I didn't get one.  My daughter is hosting a party, too, for Kennedy and I'm going to order the small gold locket with crystals around it, and a plate to put inside that says, "Love."   I can't wait to get my first locket!  When it arrives, I'll take some photos to show you.  :)

That's it for now - from me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  :)