Coyote Chorus, Sunrise, Fog, Clouds, More Sculptures, Friends, Oh My!

Sunday, Feb. 19^th got me up when I saw pink in my bedroom window. It was a cool 58F in here at 6 am so Bill pulled our Blue Flame heater out to take the chill out. The outside temperature was sitting at 46F but that didn’t stop me from getting out and taking pictures of the sun rising in the east.

Good Morning Sunshine!

Another sun dog

  

Bill went out with Clemson and to turn his portable solar panel and called me out. The coyotes were singing the chorus of the choir song like I’ve never heard. I think a couple of the sopranos were a bit off key but it was beautiful to listen to. I had to snap a picture of Bill telling Clemmy the story of the coyotes and why he has to stay close to us at night. Not wanting to be eaten, he listened with both big floppy ears.

Before long more remarkable pictures presented themselves as the fog or clouds moved in low and thick to hide the Santa Rosa mountains. Still beautiful, I’ve never seen such clouds before, or at least never paid attention. Out here, with an expanse of open desert you have no choice but to admire your surroundings. And we do.

If it wasn't so pretty, it would almost be spooky the way this fog rolled in

Inside we read blog posts and had our coffee until the sun forcefully took control of the morning. Time to get washed and get out to enjoy it now that it is 55F already. Back home we are hearing stories of a gorgeous Saturday with temperatures reaching 15C & 18C. (64F) That is unheard of but awesome for them to get such a delightful promise of spring.

Before long, the mountains disappeared in the fog/cloud

This morning we were saying goodbye to our close neighbours. Boy, are we glad to see them go! Ha ha ha, that comment was for Lorne’s benefit only. What a great laugh we’ve had over that and will for many years to come. Actually, it was unfortunate that the weather wasn’t in our favour while they were here. We could have loved to have Happy Hour with them.

Pat and Clemson, Bill and Harold

  So! With that in mind, Lorne and Bill plotted yesterday, while playing with their toys, that we would have a morning Happy Hour before they left. I notified Tom and Deb so they could join us to meet the Greens and their friends as well.

Around 8:00 we saw Lorne up on his roof laying his panels down and then he and Sue, Harold and Pat, Tom and Deb joined us with their chairs. Clemson even had company when Charlie and Lexie came along. 

Kaitlyn and Gracie

We got a chance to meet little Gracie and her mom, Kaitlyn, as well. What a cutie-pie she is, playing shy when I’ll just bet she isn’t at home.

Lorne and I could come up with many stories behind this discarded burnt fry pan

We talked a lot and laughed just as much and didn’t forget to get the blog pictures. 

Harold, Lorne, Kaitlyn & Gracie, Sue, Deb, Tom, Patsy, Pat

Lorne and Sue were headed towards Anaheim, Ca to take Grace to Disney and Harold and Pat were headed towards Quartzsite to get solar panels put on. That is exciting for both of them!

And Clemson made a new friend today in Pat

Back there in the middle of the photo, you can see Lorne and Sue leaving the area

Lorne and Sue ready to move on

Note the black shadows of the clouds on these mountains, amazing!

Bill and I had a quick bite to eat and by 11:30 we were driving into Borrego Springs. 

We turned off onto Di Georgio Road to check out the remaining metal sculptures.

 I think we’ve seen them all now.

Picking grapes

Detail in the tools they are using

 It never hurts to have a little adventure in your day so when pulling out of one of the sites, Bill decided to get stuck in the sand.

Okay, I’m not laughing here but with no less than 3 jeeps in the same area, they immediately jumped into action. It was awesome! 

One guy took charge and got the strapping needed, giving directions to the other jeep owner, while Bill removed his mud flap bar. It took mere minutes to execute the whole removal and one of the jeep owners took pleasure in documenting the procedure on his phone.

We left our mark in the sand

The sculpture we stopped to see

Well, Andy Thompson, Bill refrained from calling you this time! We were lucky to have others around so no time was wasted waiting for someone to rescue us. I think the most comical thing was that we got stuck at the display of the metal jeep! With handshakes and thank yous all around, we carried on to look at the next display.

Panning for gold

the 350' long serpent, illusion has it going under the road

Once we’d seen them all, we drove back into the post office so I could mail a card for someone special back home. The Chamber of Commerce was closed so we will not be able to dump our garbage today. We went to the Market across from the mall and I was able to pick up bread, milk and some soft dog food for Clemson. We missed the mark on that one and would have run out before we hit Yuma. I’m sure he won’t mind a change in his meal for a few nights.

We got back around 1 and dropped in to meet Elaine and Clarke from The Newell Adventure. They aren’t parked too far from us. They are from Ontario, California. We had a brief chat and they advised where to look for the stone snake so tomorrow morning we’ll hike up that mountain until we find it. Rumour has it, it will be worth the hike!

Coming back home Bill had a sandwich and I made up a salad with beef, cheese, pepper, onion and cottage cheese. Just enough to hit the spot and tide us over until dinner. The sky was not free of clouds until around 4:30 so I didn’t get outside to read my book. Oh well, it was a great day all the same.

Tom and Deb are pulling out tomorrow too so they are having an early bonfire tonight. Even though it isn’t something we enjoy when it is cold, we will partake and spend a couple of hours of the last evening here with our new friends. Elaine and Clarke are invited as well so we can get to know them too.

And my hummingbirds are back

Bill caught this little guy

Bill bbq’d up a couple of mild Italian sausage and we had them in a bun around 5. Peeking out the window at the sunset caused me to grab my camera once more to get a snapshot of it. Today didn’t get as warm as I’d expected, only about 68F but we have high hopes for tomorrow.

Deb, Tom, Elaine, Clarke and part of Bill (sorry dear!)

Beautiful eastern sky

At 5:30 we headed next door with our chairs and a drink to warm our tummies. Everyone arrived at the same time and Tom had a nice fire in the making. The wind increased after we were all settled on the north side and it was hitting us from behind. This meant the heat from the fire didn’t do much for my toes or for my back but the company was great.

By 7 pm we’d all had enough fun so said our goodbyes. We have plans to meet with Elaine and Clarke in the morning to go find the snake. That will be a neat hike and we’ll be up on time to say goodbye to Tom and Deb as they move on to another location.

Gorgeous eastern sky as the sun set in the west

It has been a good day here in the desert of Borrego Springs. My challenging question for our friends, Tom and Deb, was whether they knew the Spanish meaning for Borrego. Good thing there was no prize because they were stumped. If YOU don’t know, it means Big Horn Sheep.

I hope you have enjoyed your day as well. Thank you for following along today and as always, feel free to comment.