Walkabouts, Herons vs Geese, Preparing for Rain, Reading Room

I slept well last night to make up for the previous night. When I woke up at 6:30 on Sunday, Mar. 25^th I felt really well rested. Last night while Bill and I were sitting watching tv I remember that at 8:25 there was to be a sighting of the ISS (International Space Station). Second night in a row but at least it was clear this time so we went out and caught it skimming across from the SWW to the NE. We still enjoy seeing it.

with a sky like this, 'you never know whatchyare gonna get'

I was in bed by 10:30 and I know I dropped off immediately as I didn’t hear Bill come up at 11:30. Because it was dropping down again overnight Bill left the electric fireplace on. When I came down, I heard Bill up going into the bathroom but I had already planned on bundling up and getting out for my walk. I needed a hoody and windbreaker today and was out the door at 7:10. I think it was only 37F. What a change!

It's getting exciting

Pop!

Ha! the way this turned out reminded me of making these bunny shadows as a child

Today, we know there is light rain expected this morning and then heavier later and overnight. Bill wants to put things away before they get wet. The rains and possible storms are planning on visiting for a few days. I won’t be sitting out anymore if that is the case so the chairs and B.W. Weber can be packed away as well. We can easily prepare inside meals for 3 nights.

Looking across the pond to the west

I walked the perimeter of the park and as is occasionally the case, I was rewarded for my diligence. As I rounded the pond, I could hear some outrageous honking. The geese were putting up quite the fuss! So, thinking there could be some heron/geese action, I crept ‘sneakily’ out into the field. Sure enough, there were two geese warning off the heron.

I enjoyed watching them this morning

As I approached, I could see not 1, not 2 but 7 herons both gray/blue and white standing ‘innocently’ by. I watched three of them gather in a conflab and one idly catching fish from the shallow stream. I just love seeing stuff like that and once again, chided myself for leaving the zoom lens back at camp. Oh well, it was a real treat to watch.

Bill packing things away

Back home, we had our drinks and grapefruit together. I was given some wise advice for when eating grapefruit every other day is to supplement it with some fat. The fat helps prevent the fruit from turning directly into sugar in our body. So, I had a few almonds with mine today. I want to also try and eliminate my after-dinner munching. 

We can be bad at that and I need to curb those urges for longer than a week at a time. You can tell, once more, that I’m getting concerned about my weight gain. Only I can fix it! 

The sky for a big part of the day

I took Clemson for a walk around the short block and as we returned I met Bill heading up to the office. He wanted to move Black Beauty off the grass but wanted permission from staff to park on the cement pads on another site. The office was closed but he got an affirmative from one of the maintenance guys. We just like to make sure its okay before doing something not only to save the grass but to avoid the chance of getting stuck in the soggy ground.

On one of my walks, 4 choppers went over the lake
I was only quick enough to catch 3 of them

Bill had a shower today and when he was finished I made us an omelette. He likes his on the toasted bun and I had mine on the plate. Suzie popped in to bring my soup jar back and George had filled it with his chicken soup. Thanks George! We chatted weather again and old television shows. I had to go back into my blog to read a comment Suzie mentioned and check out the suggested link.

These koi are beautiful

 After we got the dishes done up, Bill sorted some of his pictures online and then backed them up on to his external hard drive. I googled stuff and went into my RVillage profile. I thought I had already done this but apparently other than joining, there was nothing else completed. As soon as I put in what our rig is, many members popped up with the Common Rig. Hmm, interesting.

Colours that I've never seen in a koi

I can only fiddle around on line for so long and then I have to move. I’m sure most of us are like that. So, wanting to go for a walk, I tried to read what Clemson wanted in his ‘look’. The two of us went around the park again, not as far as if I were alone though. I noticed a motorhome pull in towing a car and with the office closed, I kept an eye to see if they knew the code to get in.

I could sense frustration as they wandered around the rig and the office so I walked out to say hello. She didn’t quite know what to do and told me that they had a reservation and had been on the road for 5 days to come here. I could imagine how upsetting that would be when she said they got an answering machine on the number she just called.

Mr. and Mrs. Marten, are you home?

I hoped that I wasn't crossing any lines but I gave her the code to get in. I said that the staff likes to assign sites so they may have to move but at least they could get in the gate. They pulled into one of the closest spots for the time being and I went to find the ‘weekend’ staff who got them signed in and situated on the proper pull-through. All is well and they didn’t ‘fire’ me or kick us out. Ha ha

I put Clemson inside and because the day seemed better than we’d assumed, I took myself off for another walk. When I came back I opened up one of our bagged folding chairs for a while to sit outside with my tea and book. That lasted all of about 15 minutes before the sun disappeared and I came inside. Bill was having a snack but so far, my breakfast and tea seemed to have me contented with just a piece of cheddar cheese. I will be ready for supper.

This falcon sat on the wire for the longest time
Of course, he flew off when he saw me

We both relaxed in our chairs and read our books. No dozes today! I kept awake but hopping up every so often and going for a walk. The rain didn’t come at 3 so I took one more trip around the park. I just got back in the door and we got about 50 drops before it stopped. If this is as bad as the rain gets, today and tonight, we’ll be happy ‘campers’. And wouldn’t that be unique!

For supper, I planned fish with a salad for me and chips (French fries) for Bill but when I started prepping, my sweetie decided since he’d snacked this afternoon that he would just need a salad as well. The fish is ‘new’ to us, well, we haven’t had it in a long time IF we’ve had it and even then, it was probably in a restaurant. We bought Pollock filet as a switch up from Tilapia so I hope we like it.

I used some Fish Crisp for the pollock and although it took
a bit longer to cook in the oven, it tasted great!
I'll also try deep frying or pan frying it another time

With it baking in my convection oven, I cut up salad ingredients. The rain made another brief appearance just as Clemson needed to go out, naturally, and quit again soon after. This has been a wonderful day of doing basically nothing. It was much better day outside than we’d expected, getting up to 60F instead of 55F. I hope you have had a good day.

and the somewhat threatening sky 

We are going to settle into more reading after supper and dishes and perhaps watch Madame Secretary as long as we have satellite at 8 o’clock. There were a few thunder dunders but again, it didn't last. Maybe through the night. Have a great evening!

Good night all!

Thank you for stopping by today! I love to hear from you and will respond to every post in time.

White and Blue Herons, Circling the Pond, Clemson’s Appointment, Last Day

On Wednesday, Feb. 7^th I was up at 7. Bill didn’t move, I knew he’d been up already at 6 but he was sound asleep again. Clemson didn’t move either by the time I got coffee and teas prepped so off I went for a walk. My goal was to tour the other side of the pond which meant going out of the park.

My little tripod at work
I didn't realize my shoes were reflective!

It was another gorgeous morning and instead of taking a walking stick, I took my funky little tripod. I only have so many hands you know! It was 54F so almost 10 degrees warmer than yesterday when I headed out. I only wore my windbreaker and I was quite comfortable. No wind, that makes a huge difference.

I wished for my good camera and zoom lens
Good morning, Madame Heron

this is a better picture

I stopped at the pond and set up my tripod and got a selfie standing on the dock. It has been a while since I used my little toy. As I was doing this, I noticed the tailless quackers but then I saw a beautiful white heron coming in for a landing. He posed for me so I was able to make sure I had a good picture. After leaving there, I found the road to the fishing dock that could be seen from the south side of the pond.

Strange gnarly cactus

Birds on a Wire
I think it is a community meeting

It is interesting to see where boondockers set up camp. Instead of coming into the park, or maybe waiting for their reservation date, this motor coach was parked along the roadside for the night. Looks like a nice spot with the exception of the traffic. 2 buses and 3 large trucks passed me within 15 minutes which could just be morning workers.

Boondockers and shadow person
They are close to the road but a nice pull off spot
for one night

I found the gravel lane that took me to the pond and there was one pick-up truck there indicating that I was not alone. As I walked to the edge I could see the owner of the truck down fishing off the dock. It wasn’t long and I saw a blue heron doing a swoop around. This is why I was here and I did my best to capture him with our little point and shoot.

I'm not done with the heron yet

Nor am I done with the sunrise
It is so pretty reflecting on the pond

told ya

The road was hard packed gravel so you could drive on it

From the north, looking across at Yuma Lakes RV Park

After wandering around a bit, I retraced my steps back to the road. I didn’t know how long I’d been gone, it seemed like quite a while so hurried my step. I like it when Bill and I have our first cuppa together. 

He said he wasn't catching anything
Probably because the herons were getting lucky

Mister Blue Heron

If you can see through the blur, I see the beginnings
of a beautiful relationship OR
she's saying "it's about time you got home!"

This picture is looking across the pond to the entrance to the park

He was out with Clemson at the front of the Suite and informed me that he had just got up so good timing on my part. We read a bit and talked about the day ahead.

dragging his leash, Clemson comes to greet me

We had an appointment for Clemson to get his bath and haircut at Pet’s Smart for 11:30 so we had our showers and had a poached egg on toast. That should fill us for a few hours. We drove to P.S. and left the little guy with Alivia, even though it was clear he didn’t want to stay. She had to pick him up as we were leaving. We decided to split up.

From this full grown palm tree, a baby grows at the base

Look quickly and you can see that this elephant is
trying to decide if he can go on the grass

I was having some browsing/shopping withdrawal symptoms so a good fix was for Bill to leave me at it. No point in him following me around, neither of us would enjoy that. So, I told him to go do what he wanted, Harbor Freight and O’Reilly’s and I would meander into Old Navy, Beall’s and Ross’s. Oh my, do I love Ross’s! They have nice clothes, nice sales and although long line-ups, friendly staff.

He appears happy here and ready for a new do

You don’t need to ask if I found anything because I did and I’m very happy now. When I was in Beall’s, the last stop, I was checking out wallets. Mine is in need of replacement but it is difficult to find one with all the features I want. It has to have a place for my DL, a zippered or snap coin pocket, a place for bank cards as well as a slot for paper bills. Full length paper bills, not folded ones.

Love everything about my new wallet
even the colour, it will be easy to see in my purse

Bill called while I was checking them out. Pet Smart called and Alivia said she was unable to clip Clemson today, he was panicked (?) and she wasn’t comfortable moving ahead. Oh no! He was leaving Harbor Freight and I stopped debating price on ‘the’ perfect wallet and checked out. I was closer so walked back to their store to retrieve the little guy. Of course, my heart was in my throat thinking what happened to him?

Clemson is still walking quite briskly
even on these slippery floors!

When she brought him out he was wrapped in a blanket, wet and shivering from just coming out of the bath. She explained that he freaked out at the blow dryer and started barking and barking. Hmm, Clemson? If you know our pooch, barking is not something you often hear from him, so this is weird. She was uncomfortable trimming him, afraid she would panic him even more. Fair enough.

"wait a minute, where are you guys going?"

She had managed to trim his nails and clean his ears before his bath and graciously apologized, told us to keep the towel and said it was no charge. Well, that was nice of her. We still have a fluffy dog in need of a hair cut although he is clean and he now has his very own pretty blue towel. It is unfortunate because we know he feels the 80+ temperatures more than us. We’ll just utilize our a/c more often during the day to help him cope and try again in Sierra Vista later in the month.

We drove home and at my request, we stopped at Luz’s Cactus Garden on our corner so I could see what she offered. No vegetables, mostly dried fruit, nuts, honey, dates and other packaged munchies. Pleasant pretty gal, she was friendly and welcomed me to browse. All I left with was 3 grapefruit for $1 but at least now I know. We grabbed a bite to eat and Bill and Clem went up for a snooze. At 2:30 it was time for me to get changed and walk up to the pool. This is our last day here and I would like another swim.

Another picture taken on my morning walk
I  thought seeing the white duck/goose was cool
and then I saw the heron

I walked up to the pool and took a dip right away. It was a dip that lasted 30 minutes and then I sat out to dry off and read my book. At 3:45 I texted Bill to see if he was going to join me and he was instead putting things away for our move tomorrow. No problem, so I got back in the water and floated around chatting with Barb and another lady who’s name I missed.

Hilarious parrot stories she was telling us, made me think of Nancy K. When the sun began hiding and the pool was partially in the shade, I got out and sat for another few minutes. It was 4:30 when I walked back to the Suite and found Bill and Clemmy outside, reading. Even though it got to 80+ today, there was a nice breeze and, in the shade, that breeze gave me a chill after the swim.

Many of us in the park are trying to figure this huge house out
It must be like townhouses, there are 6 garages

Early today, before we went to Yuma, I started a soup with a Ham hock, potatoes, chicken broth, onion, garlic, carrots and peas. The Suite was smelling awesome all afternoon. We hadn’t really decided what to have for supper but Bill (the one who doesn’t care that much for soup on a hot day) suggested we have the soup. That way he could put the Weber Q away too.

To spruce the soup up, I made some dumplings and dropped them in on top of the broth. Outside we got into a conversation with Judy and Bill next door and Verna, our Scottish friend. She has such a lovely accent and such verbal diarrhea that we just love listening to her. Bill took Clemson over to meet Sara, their 5 yr old Doberman. One of the calmest large dogs I've met. By the time the dumplings would be done, close to 7 we came inside and had supper. That was delicious!

         My soup/stew with dumplings
and leftovers! 

Here I am downloading pictures and finishing my post after dishes. Bill is reading, Fluffy Clemson is dozing in my chair. It has been a wonderful day here again today. I feel content. We’ve met a lot of people here in this park and although I can’t keep their travel routes after they leave here straight, I know they are enjoying their adventure as much as we are enjoying ours. I hope you have all had a great day too.

Still morning sun as I walked back into the park
Okay now I'm done.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to drop me a note. I read and respond to every one.