Fulltiming Road Runners

We’ve been here a month and today we had our first campfire.  Of course, half the time was too hot for campfires and another quarter of the time was too windy, but it’s finally been right for campfires, so it happened tonight.  Was really nice to sit out there watching the flames flare and flicker.

We’re both wishing we had some friends close by to share the fires in the evenings and make us feel a little less vulnerable out here.  With more people you know in your area, you feel like a neighborhood with people who watch out for each other.  We don’t feel personally threatened, but feel our belongings could be in jeopardy when we are away.

We got our garage set up again today.  I moaned and groaned, but it really wasn’t as bad as I made it appear to be.  I just have achy joints ‘n back so it wasn’t a lot of fun.

I’ve only got tail and wing feathers to do on my 2nd All American Hummer.  If I work on it tomorrow, it will be finished tomorrow.  Then I have to take all my notes and translate them into pattern instructions to make the bird.  I figure it will take me 1 - 2 hours to type out the instructions and draw the pics.

Happy Halloween to ya’ll!  It’s a quiet night here in the desert… mostly because we’re all ol’ fogeys and  there aren’t any kids here to trick or treat.  I’m loving the full moon tonight!  Very fitting.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

The winds settled down a bit last night so we brought the dish up, did our email and banking late yesterday evening and today we have time to blog and do searches, etc.

We are certainly ready for the wind to stop!  The wind got up to over 40 mph yesterday and above 35 mph on Tuesday.  Today they were only around 20 or 25 mph, but that’s enough to be very annoying!  Tomorrow the wind is supposed to die down to between 5 and 10 mph.  The temps have been cold! (for us)  Just 9 days ago we were surviving 100F plus temps and yesterday and today the highs have been below 69F.  It’s 7:05 p.m. and the temp outside is 58F, inside is 70F (I used the oven tonight for dinner).  The low for the night is supposed to be 41F.  For us, for here, that’s cold!  It probably won’t get that cold in the trailer, but I’m going to set the thermostat on our heater to 45F to protect our parrots.

I’ve got a son in Utah who’s probably saying “Oh Ma!  You poor thing!  It’s freakin’ snowin’ here!”  I’m glad I’m not there.  We got used to the hotter temps very quickly here and below 75F feels chilly to us now.

With the high winds the last couple of days, we’ve been inside a lot (Thom has been like a caged animal).  I spent a lot of time on my “All American Hummer” and finished it.  I’ve started another, making a few minor changes and am writing down the pattern so my friends can share it.  Whataya think?

I’m thinking the high winds are keeping campers from traveling on the roads right now.  We worked today and only signed up 5 season permits and 1 two-week permit.  Three of the long terms came in just 5 minutes before closing time.  You can imagine how exciting the rest of the day was for us.  Too windy and too cold to sit outside to watch the world go by.  Poor Thom was literally pacing inside the contact station.  I was lucky, I had my 2nd All American Hummer to bead.

I’m trying to think of other stuff I’ve not shared, and can’t come up with anything. So, how about a couple more photos.  These were taken in the last 4 days.  This first one is a White Crowned Sparrow swallowing the drink of water it just took.

This is the first time I’ve seen seed pods still in the Palo Verde tree… and the tree is right outside my back window.  I find it interesting that the seed pods in the Palo Verde, Ironwood, and Mesquite are very much the same.  Must be the desert environment.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to gather thoughts and come up with an interesting post next time.  For now…

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted.  Sorry.  I’m not really going to say much tonight, other than I know I’ve been remiss and will post more stuff later, but right now, I’ve no time to do more than say hi, all is well and the next couple of days promise to be a challenge.

We’re supposed to get winds from 21 - 35 mph steadily tomorrow with gusts up to 44.  Wed. we’ll get pretty much the same with up to 50mph gusts.  We already have the awnings put up and intend to at least take the sides down on the garage.  We’re not sure about taking the top off.  It’s a pain to put back up, but if we have to, we will dismantle the whole thing.  I’d hate to lose parts of the garage.

We will also bring the internet satellite dish down for the duration when the winds start picking up.  Soooo, it will be at least 2 days before I post again and I don’t have much to say tonight.

I hope Ron and Terry hold off on arriving here.  I’m sure they’ll get wind in Laughlin as well, but traveling in it is the royal pits!  I know they are diligent in keeping track of the weather so I’m hoping they do their normal “stay smart ‘n safe”.

Sorry for this non-post.  Suffice it to say we are safe and well and still lovin’ it!  I’ve even started a new project… it’s almost done.  I’m beading the All American Hummer.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

But a couple of good photos.

Today was a nice cool day, only 84F for a high.  The winds got up to about 20 mph, but were mostly around 10 - 15.  That’s livable.  We didn’t leave the site today (for the first time in ages).  Thom did laundry and I did a walk to the Datura flowers (early enough to catch them open this time) and did internet things (banking, bill pay, etc), and did the dishes.  All in all, it was a pretty relaxed day.  Bob even dropped by for an enjoyable visit.

I got some good shots of the flowers this morning.  It was an enjoyable walk and I was thrilled to find the Datura flowers open.  They sure don’t stay open long.  See my last post for information on this plant… just scroll down a bit.

This is a shot of the flower all closed up.  I like the character.

and this is a shot of the full flower.

I mentioned our “Watering Hole” a time or two.  This is a shot of it with House Finches using it.  It’s just a pan in the ground with water in it.  The rock is there for the birds to sit on, they seem to feel more comfortable with rocks in the pan.

An finally, a shot of the lone Male Gambel’s Quail who’s been visiting twice a day.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

Yesterday was another hot day.  It didn’t get to 100, but it didn’t cool off during the night before either.  Neither of us slept very well, so we were both a bit grumpy yesterday.  I had finally had enough of dealing with the heat and was working very hard at making it thru another day.  I was tired of my hair being constantly wet from sweat… seriously, it was wet from Sunday morning through Monday evening.  I took a cool shower Monday night and sat in front of the fan to dry my hair… it worked and it cooled off last night so my hair stayed dry.

Today was really cool.  The temp only got up to 80F outside and 79F inside… the 79F happened inside when I got the oven going to cook dinner.   Part of the reason for the cooler temps is the wind was from the north and it was WINDY!  The wind speed got up to around 23 - 25 mph.  I know… we’ve had winds much higher here in the past, but I’m not up to winds above 10 mph yet…. especially after a 3 days of high heat.

I went for a walk today to see if I could catch the Sacred Datura in bloom.  It was 11 a.m. and already closed up for the day.  I’ll try again tomorrow morning after I’ve had my cuppa coffee.  When I was a child in California, we called the Sacred Datura flower, or one very much the same, the Jimson Weed and were told the farmers called it Loco Weed because if their cattle ate it they’d go a bit loco.  It’s a halucinogenic and can kill humans.  The Native Americans used it in ceremonies and were lucky when they got the proportions right.  They called it sacred because it played a part in their sacred ceremonies.   I’ll share the shots I got today as well as those with open flowers I get tomorrow, later.  Right now I’ve got a few shots I mentioned the last time I posted.

This is a not very good pic of the Round Tail Ground Squirrel, but all I have so far.  I didn’t know when I took the shot, but there is a Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel at the left front in the shot.

This is a shot of the male House Finch, his coloring isn’t as vibrant as it will be in a couple of weeks.  He’s just changing from the non-breeding gold colors to the breeding red colors.

This is a shot of the Cactus Wren at the top of the Saguaro Cactus he was building a nest in.

I took this shot to try to show our “neighborhood”.  The pickup is parked where we think Marv and Deb will want to locate (it’s pretty level and close enough to the wash to watch the critters), so we are parking the P/U and even the car there to discourage people from coming in and setting up there.  The perspective in this shot is kinda off.  The Saguaro and tree in the middle of the shot are really several yards from the garage, so there’s quite a bit of open space in there.  Also, the trailer you can barely see across the wash behind the truck is gone.

That’s all for now.  I’m going to go sit on the couch and decide if I want to do the dishes tonight or save them for tomorrow morning.  Wanna take bets?

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

It’s still hot.  At 7 a.m. today it was 72F inside and 80F outside.  By noon it was 91F inside and 98F outside.  Ultimately it got up to 98F inside and 102F outside.  It is now (8:23 p.m.) 91 inside and 84F outside.  Next RV I buy is going to have great big windows on BOTH sides.

Tomorrow the high is only supposed to be around 94F, so it’ll be cooler.  It will also be windier.  Steady winds of 6 - 14 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.  The 20 mph blowing in the right direction means we have to put the awning up, which means the sun will beat on the side of the trailer and it will still be warmer than we like.  We’re supposed to have winds on Tuesday as well, up to 25 mph.  Again we have to have the awning up, but the temps will be down in the mid 80’s so it should be pretty livable.

In the heat of the day today we got in the car and drove to Parker to Basha’s to take advantage of $0.57/lb on whole chicken and $0.99/lb on pork country ribs… not to mention the 40 minutes in an air conditioned car!

All in all, I’m actually doing better than I thought I would  in the 90+ temperatures.  As long as the breeze was blowing outside where I was sitting, or the fan blowing inside, I’m okay, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a lady, I’m just a woman.  Lady’s perspire, everyone else sweats.  My hair hasn’t been dry today since 9:00 a.m.  The breeze blowing on my wet hair cools me off (there is an advantage to sweating).  Both Thom and I are tired from the heat and are moving slow and as little as possible, but we are both doing okay.

I finally got a photo of the Round Tailed Ground Squirrel, and also got a few shots of a Cactus Wren building a nest in a saguaro cactus.  I’ll share those along with a couple of others next time I post.

Ya’ll stay COOL, healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

…or at least trying to.  Here it is Oct. 17, and we’re hearing about snowstorms on the news.  This morning at 7 a.m. it was 70F inside the trailer and 67F outside.  Ultimately, our high today was 103F outside and 97F inside.  It’s now 93F inside and 84F outside.  How do we cope?  Just barely.

Actually, we knew it was going to be hot today so we did everything outdoors early in the day.  Knowing it was going to be hot, hot, hot, we ran the generator this morning for about an hour to top off the batteries because we knew the inverter would have to be on most of the day to keep the freezer at temperature.  Taking advantage of the warmth in the trailer, we defrosted the freezer, cleaned it out and moved it onto the utility cart and out into the “garage/shed”.  The solar panels did a good job of keeping the batteries charge up to keep up with the use of the freezer.  We managed to stay at 13.something all day with the freezer running (until around 3:30, then it started dropping a bit).  We got the generator going again around 5:30… mostly so we could do the internet and watch the news… but also to keep the batteries charged up so the freezer can run on the inverter until 3:30 or 4 a.m. when one of us gets up to turn it off until we get up for the day.

We have an electric table fan that only pulls about 2 amps, so it’s a life saver when we are inside.  Even 97 degrees can be tolerable if you have a breeze, especially if you sweat like me… the breeze on the wet at my neck really cools me off.

Another thing helping us cope is the breeze outside.  We find a spot of shade, park our chairs and enjoy the breeze.  The late morning to evening is spent moving very little and quite slowly.  A good thing about the heat is I don’t have anything I HAVE to do during the heat so I sit with my camera and shoot and shoot and shoot.  You poor friends… you’ll be inundated with photos of our critters and surroundings.  Speaking of which, I’ve a few from yesterday I’d like to share.  The ones from today, which I hope are as good as I’d like, will be uploaded and sorted later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I shot birds, birds and more birds, HAGS (squirrels), Round Tail Squirrels, and a Road Runner today.

Tomorrow is supposed to be at least 100F again, so we will either spend the day in the car (A/C) going to Parker to grocery shop (A/C in the stores), or we will just veg again here.

Another one of my beloved Anna’s Hummingbirds, the colorful male.

This one is the White Crowned Sparrow.  He never goes up to the bird feeder for the seed, but gathers it all from the ground.

This is a curious Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel.  She just had to know what was inside that tub.  Look how long that body stretches!

My turnips are doing very well.

Last shot for the night.  The Male Gila Woodpecker at my favorite hummingbird feeder.   I love this feeder because it gives an unobstructed view of the birds at the feeder… no jar.

The other day I had 3 Gila Woodpeckers at the seed feeder.  What a party!  They fought for every peanut.

I’m heading for the freezer in the garage to get my chocolate/p-nut butter ice cream.  I’m even going to share with Thom.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

Have I mentioned we’re having unseasonable weather here?  It’s 7:04 p.m. and 90 degrees inside the trailer.  It’s only 81 outside now, but had been 95F.  I really wish we had better air flow thru the house.  The temp today was supposed to get up to 94, the next 2 days is supposed to get to 98, then drop to 94 again, then to the 80’s.  Ron and Terry, you might want to hang out up there in Laughlin a bit longer.

We are both loving our location our here.  I know I keep saying it, but I’m thrilled with the critters we’re getting here.  Today we put out a “watering hole”… a pan we put in the ground to put water in for the critters.  We’ve already had one of the squirrels come take a sip.

Did I mention it’s hot?  We haven’t run the A/C yet.  We have the generator going to keep the batteries charged good to run the freezer most of the night, and we are running a table fan to cool us off.  It’s working.  Usually around 3:30 a.m. one of us gets up to go potty and we will turn off the inverter, thus the freezer.  When we get up around 7 or 7:30 we check the battery status and normally will turn the inverter/freezer back o.  At that time the freezer will still be at about -4C, meaning it’s still below freezing.  So far it’s working well, but I sure wish the weather would cool down some so I can sleep better and not worry about the freezer.

We’ve been making the place more like home.  We have the weather station set up, and the Road Runner  weather vane set up out by the weather station.  I’ll try to get some shots of our “home” to share.  I wish my wide angle lens worked, I really would love to show Marv ‘n Deb where we are and where we think they’ll like to set up.

Speaking of Marv ‘n Deb… sure wish they’d get here!  We really miss them and are anxious to see them again.  I think they are planning on leaving Utah early November and will be taking their time getting here.  The sooner the better, but I’m guessing they won’t be here until sometime early December.

Here we are living out in the boondocks and would you believe we get Schwan’s delivery out here?!!  This is the first year for them out here and I hope they do great  business.  We may not use them a lot, but we sure appreciate the convenience of them being here.

Okay, enuff rambling.  I’ve a few more pics to share.

With the rain storm the first week in Sept. the plants are confused,  here is an Apricot Mallow starting to open.

…and here is a White Stemmed Paper Flower

Normally we only see Praying Mantis here in the sand and gravel color, but this year (again, maybe because of the rain and the green plants everywhere) the ones we’re seeing now are green.

I took a gazillion pics while I was outside this afternoon trying to stay cool in the breeze.  Lots of shots of the Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel, White Crowned Sparrows, and several of the Gila Woodpeckers.  Probably several other experimental shots.  I’ll share what, to me, is sharable.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

Things don’t always go our way.  As a matter of fact, I’d venture to say the fates often are against us (parasailing garage).  Yesterday things started going our way.  Thom went to the dump and water station and met a guy wanting to know more about our dump and fresh water tanks.  Thom told him we have the old set for sale and the guy was very interested.  He came by this morning to look at the old setup and after Thom told him he would help him get set up so it works right, he paid $150 for the tanks.  From beginning to end, everything worked out right.  That is soooo novel for us!

Did I mention our campsite area is all rock?  I’m sure you can tell from many of the photos I post.  After we put up the garage Thom raked the larger rock out of the garage area, went to the wash and filled buckets with smaller gravel, brought it back to the garage in our utility cart

and spread it for the floor of the garage.

THEN… he took the larger rock he raked away, put it in the buckets and carted the buckets of larger rock to the dippy parts of the road crossing the wash and dumped it to fill in the dips.  Whataman!  I don’t get whiplash anymore going thru the wash.

Some of the critters we’ve had visit our yard.  This first one fascinates me.  He’s a Cactus Wren.  There’s a pair here and they are building a nest in a tall saguaro cactus out front.  I always think of wrens as being small birds.  These guys are 7 - 8 inches long… that’s like robin size.  I watched one of them under our car, jump from the ground to the under carriage of the car… hunting bugs I guess.

The Gila Woodpeckers are really fun to watch.  They’ll fly in and hang upside down on the seed and nectar feeders, grabbing peanuts ‘n sunflower seeds ‘n drinking sugar water.  They take the peanuts and seeds to the stack of pallets or the palo verde tree to bury in a crack.  The Gila Woodpeckers drill holes in the Saguaro cactus for their nests, so they are very comfortable amongst thorns.  Here’s a male sitting atop  the Saguaro cactus on the backside of our trailer.  Isn’t he purty!

Can’t go without sharing one of the hummingbirds we’re getting here.  Mostly we are getting the male Anna’s Hummingbird.  The head and throat are all red in the right sunlight.  Here, the sun is only on the edge of the throat and head.

One last critter for now.  This is the female Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel (HAGS) we have so many of here.  We also have the Round Tail Ground Squirrel here, but they are either much shyer or less abundant.

Enuff for now.  Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

This is a shot of the place we chose to park our trailer for the winter… so far, I’m loving it.

This is the shot with the parasailing garage set up in front of the RV.

The sunset we had on Friday the 9th.  I think this is all for now, I’ll try to post the shots of the critters tomorrow.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.