TONIGHT’S PICS ARE A SMATTERING OF PHOTOS FROM BORREGO SPRINGS WHICH NEVER MADE IT INTO MY OTHER POSTS
I had never seen our 2 big Saguaros out front sway in the wind as much as they did today. Our wind sock was straight out as an even colder Saturday wind came whipping in from the North scattering our lawn chairs. Wind gusts rattled windows & howled in the eaves. Bird bath water froze & some of the tiny birds trying to reach the feeder I’m sure were probably blown all the way down into Mexico. I always travel with a winter jacket, gloves, & warm hat in the Motorhome & this mornng I was soon wearing all three. Kelly took Pheebs for a short walk & the wind almost blew the fur right off the dog. Sure glad we were in or sticks & bricks today instead of our Motorhome somewhere. But hey, we had clear sunny skies all day:))
A LOOK AROUND AT SOME OF OUR BOON-DOCKING NEIGHBERS LAST WEEK
Needed a few groceries & knew it would be toasty warm in the Jeep so we headed off to Wickenburg with the wind blowing us all the way. Weather’s always a bit different there & we almost had to switch into shorts & tank tops. Kind of a longer grocery shopping ordeal than what I care for but did manage to tough it out. A Turkey even found it’s way into our shopping cart so it was turkey with all the fixins for supper tonight. And it will be turkey with all the fixens for the next 10 days probably too but’s that’s Okay cuase we never seem to tire of turkey this & turkey that.
AND HERE YOU THOUGHT BORREGO SPRINGS WAS ALL ABOUT DESERT & SAND
I filled up the bird feeder first thing Friday morning & within minutes the feeder was swarming with happy little birds. About 10 minutes later I happened to look out & there was not a bird in sight. Plenty of seeds in the feeder but just no birds. I right away knew something was wrong & suspected a Hawk had swooped in. Peering out a different kitchen window I thought I saw something move in a nearby Mesquite tree & the movement just didn’t look quite right to me. Grabbed one of my cameras which had a 300mm lens on it & took a photo through my bathroom window.
LOOK CLOSELY THERE’S MORE THERE THAN JUST A MESQUITE TREE
For the second photo I slowly opened the back door. The click of the camera turned it’s head towards me & without further adieu it quickly took off.
I walked over to where it had been sitting only about 4 feet off the ground & there were no feathers around or blood on the tree branch so I don’t think it had caught a bird. In the photo of it taking off I don’t see anything in it’s talons so I’m guessing it was just sitting there watching the feeder & waiting for the unsuspecting birds to return. I don’t know what kind of a Hawk it was, maybe a Red Tail or maybe a Goshawk.
FIRST PHOTO SHOWS WHAT I FIRST SAW IN THE TREE, SECOND PHOTO SHOWS HIS HEAD TURNED TOWARDS ME & THE LAST PHOTOS SHOWS THE HAWK TAKING FLIGHT
A short drive through one of Borrego Springs neighborhoods a few days ago reminded me of my favorite South-west style of architecture. If I had a choice of which kind of a house I would like to have someday it would be like any one of these single floor low profile South-west adobe ranch type houses. Love the styles, the landscaping, the tiled roofs, the colors, arches, beams & posts.
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT AS WE CRUISED A FEW STREETS
Someone asked how we like the Jeep Liberty for off roading down here & my short answer to that is, ‘Great”. Lots of pros & only 1 con so I’ll give you the con first which by the way has nothing to do with the Liberty & everything to do with me. I have been very hesitant to get it all scratched up with deseert pin striping. Unlike the Wranger this Jeep has a nice shiny almost gold flecked paint finish to it where the Jeep was a duller brown & scratching it wasn’t a big concern. Because of Libby’s nice surface I have purposely avoided some roads & areas so as not to scratch her. Aside from that I am loving the 07 Jeep Liberty. Smoother & quieter ride, more interior space, better sound system, convenient 4 doors istead of 2, much easier for me to get in & out of & I do love the automatic transmission & power windows as well. I can go most places the Wrangler could but I have to watch for high rocks because Libby does not have a skid plate underneath. With the Wrangler’s 6 speed standard transmission angling down a steep rocky hill in 4 wheel drive using first gear I could take my foot off the brake & just let the Jeep walk itself down. Not so much in the Liberty as I really do think the automatic transmission could use one more lower gear to do the same thing. But all & all we both like the Liberty & have not regretted buying it. Great all round car with a little bit of everything. And it handles itself well on the tough & tumble South-west Jeep roads.
Happy to say ‘Open Live Writer’ published my last 3 posts posts with no problems whatsoever. A big thank you to the OLW people for ironing out the bugs. The original Microsoft Live Writer was always a totally excellent program & as long as the new OLW continues in the same original LW vein I will happily stay with it. I'm hoping they will add a 'spell check' program shortly as well. I've been asked several times how I put my posts together & here's what I generally do. Most times I will write my post using an email format or Microsoft Word then copy & paste that into my Live Writer program. I use the email format in Bayfield a lot because when home I can access my draft copy from either my laptop or desktop computer & this works great for me. I do use both computers to compose my post most days. Once pasted into Live Writer I then add my photos between paragraphs. With Live Writer's format photos are added instantly & the post then comes together very quickly. Again, thanks to the new Open Live Writer folks for keeping this totally excellent program alive & well:))
BUSY ENCOUNTER AT A DESERT CREEK CROSSING
Well this pretty much catches up all my photos so guess Pheebs & I will have to get ourselves on the road again shortly to see if we can scout us out some new ones. Us guys are needing a morning cruise in the Jeep anyway. We are due for some nice quiet desert scenery methinks. Oh & I just remembered a question somebody had about the Clark Dry Lake Bed east of Borrego Springs on highway S22. They wondered if Rockhouse Road leading to the Dry Lake Bed was called Rockhouse Trail & my answer to that is we’ve never heard it referred to as a trail & there is actually a green roadsign at the highway that says ‘Rockhouse Road.’ It’s paved for a couple hundred yards then turns into a hardpacked gravely sand covered road. Anyone looking for the ‘Oven’ site we were at can find it just after the pavement ends if they keep looking down to the right a couple hundred feet from Rockhouse Road. Look for a mound of dirt down there & the oven is to the left of that. Just remembered another question someone had about the topography & a Google Earth view of that area which I will try & remember to answer tomorrow night……………………
WE HAVE A TABLE BETWEEN OUR 2 RECLINDERS & LATELEY PHEEBS HAS TAKEN TO JUMPING UP ON MY LAP THEN WALKING ACROSS THE TABLE TO SIT ON KELLY’S LAP…..IN THESE PHOTOS SHE DIDN’T SIT ON EITHER LAP & DECIDED TO JUST SIT ON THE TABLE ITSELF
Oh how soon my mind forgets sometimes. We were actually at Borrego Springs a year ago right now & Christmas morning Kelly & I hiked up Ghost Mountain. I had totally forgotten that. CHRISTMAS MORNING ON GHOST MOUNTAIN 2014 Had I not started a blog years ago so much of our travels would now be forgotten forever. I can’t really think of a better record keeping device than a blog & a daily blog at that if one really want’s to keep track of oneself. And the icing on the cake of course is the photos. There they are everytime I click on any one of my nearly 3000 posts. Words & photos & how nice that is anytime for whatever reason I pick out almost any day in the past number of years & click on it. Presto, there we are in words & photos. For example if I randomly go back 5 years & click on December 30th I see we were ranch sitting in McNeal Arizona & it just so happens I took some rather unique photos that morning & I encourage readers to click this link & see what a trickling garden hose created one very cold Arizona night……WATER & ICE. And 8 years ago today we were again boondocking in Borrego Springs & took ourselves for our first drive to a mountain top little town called Julian California. A SCENIC DRIVE TO JULIAN. So there ya go, if your thinking about starting a blog then go ahead & start one. The sooner the better. It will return so many lost memories to you some day in the near or distant future when your wishing you could really remember those days oh so long ago when you had oh so many adventures. Memories will fade & become lost but maybe, just maybe, blogs will live on forever & ever in words & photos……..in words & photos.
GROANER’S CORNER:(( A little boy went up to his father and asked: "Dad, where did all of my intelligence come from?" The father replied.
"Well son, you must have got it from your mother, 'cause I still have mine."
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"Mr. Smith, I have reviewed this case very carefully," the divorce Court Judge said,
"And I've decided to give your wife $775 a week,"
"That's very fair, your honor," the husband said.
"And every now and then I'll try to send her a few bucks myself."
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A doctor examined a man, took the wife aside, and said, "I don't like the looks of your husband at all." "Me neither doc," said the wife.
"But he’s a great cook and really good with the kids".
Its also interesting how once you loose your spouse, you aren't interested in keeping track of the endless boredom with out her. And then you loose your need for a blog... Just doesn't matter what you did yesterday...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos, as usual. We were there about 3 weeks ahead of you. Funny, how we drove the same areas and looked at many of the same homes. Borrego IS special.
ReplyDeleteBTW, a couple of things...Rockhouse Rd. turns into Rockhouse Trail as it skirts the actual dry lake further north. Also, your photos of the three Airstreams boonies together, with the white Ford pick-up, that was Aluminarium and friends. The are the Campendium creators. Not sure if you knew that was them or visited with them.
Pheebs is cracking me up on the table. She knows she can get double petted there! Too funny, Al! :)
ReplyDeleteLove that area in Borrego Springs the town and the desert is so unique.
ReplyDeleteSame as you love the Blog just for looking back and enjoying things we did in the past along with the pictures.
That Pheebs sure is a character.
Can I borrow you backhoe for the sand in our rig?
WOW ... this could be your best post ever. TONS of fantastic photos and al lot of good verbiage. You are right about blogging. I love the format as a record keeper. Many times I can go back on my blog, like you, and read and see photos that I had completely forgotten. As far as 'desert paint stripes', I agree with you .. it would be hard to scratch up that good looking Jeep Liberty. I am glad it has worked out so well for you, Kelly and 'the' Pheebs.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved the Southwestern style of houses and also the area. There is just something about it that is hard for me to describe. I've always loved my short trips to that area, even sitting out on I-25 in the heat of May with a broken down VW Bus .. waiting for a tow on a Sunday.
As far as Pheebs on the table....lol....what a surprise!!! That might be some Stella would try but I never thought the Pheebs would do something like that....funny stuff.
Great photos!!
Loved the photos..and those fancy shmancy homes!! My fav is that naughty Hawk..I do love those heavy taloned birds of prey..all kinds. As for OLW..It took me a while to publish this time, but finally it did. I will continue to use it because I prefer it to Blogger anytime!!
ReplyDeleteMy best guess is that it is an adult female sharp-shinned hawk. Hard to tell for sure because I can't get a true idea of its size. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response on the name of the road. I looked on Google maps and it calls it Rockhouse Trail which is why I asked. Think I'm looking at the right spot, turns into Rockhouse Truck trail further up and looks like an old airstrip. This is off S22 east of Borrego Springs. Looks like I can find mutiple references to the same road with name variations.
ReplyDeleteI think I will be stopping in Borrego Springs in early Spring. Thanks for all the information you share and with great photos.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics of the beautiful southwestern homes. Definitely my favorite style as well. Your hawk is amazing :-) Libby sure is pretty and it doesn't look like you're missing out on too many trails!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. Really made me miss AB. Still hope to take Bill there this winter sometime. Hope there's no snow there like here in UT. The dog's water bowl froze.
ReplyDelete