Here Kitty, Kitty, KITTY!!

Have I got some kitties for YOU!!  Patty, Dan and I headed off to the Living Desert in Palm Dessert yesterday for the best day of shooting I've had in a long time.  Shooting pictures that is!!

Don't you just LOVE the digital camera age?  I really try hard not to take thousands of images I'll never use, but it was hard to stay on track.  I think there were upwards of 200 of these beautiful Cheetahs.  They have three young females that live in an amazing habitat, wide enough for them to stretch their legs as they run from one side to the other for some tasty meat.  

Not that they run their normal 70 mph, but a jog of around 25, giving you some idea of how they use their bodies to get the nutrition they need.

Magnificent .... graceful .... elegant .... just amazing creatures.

I also tried really hard to keep the number of images I show you to a minimum.  Not that I'm such a great photographer, but they are spectacular animals to photograph.  It's hard to pick the good ones.

They kept a pretty sharp eye on things as 11:15 rolled around.  This huge park has "talks" about different animals so you can gather a little more information and maybe join in the conservation.

I'm not even going to say anything more .... I just like looking at the pictures!!

Errrrrrtttttt!!  She came to a screeching stop when the gal giving the talk threw some meat chunks into the grass for the girls to snack on.  These three weigh between 92 and 106 pounds, every bit of it muscle.  I wish I could say the same!!

After a little exercise and a snack, they head back to rest up for the day.  Boy am I glad we got there in time to see these beauties move around.  

There's so much more to see at the Living Desert.  I'll show you pictures over the next couple of days.  Be sure and check it out if you are in the area.  $17.95 buys a senior ticket for everything except the butterfly building (another couple bucks) and the camel rides, because I KNOW you want to ride the camels.  Wear your tennis shoes .... there's LOTS of walking involved.  They do have a tram that you can ride all day if you wish for $6.00.  We walked.  They also have the largest garden railroad setup I've ever seen.  It must cover at least 2 acres with the longest trestle in the U.S., maybe the world.  

The word of the day was SOFT.  I bet those kitties are REAL soft!!

Continental Breakfast ... Just Like A Hotel!!

I guess I have to admit I'm not Superwoman, although I gave it a shot over the last couple of days, even while feeling puny.  Little did I know there would be a two and a half hour wait in the parking lot, followed by the sweet sounds of a noisy generator and too quickly, Monday morning, which meant breakfast for the troops.

There really wasn't all that much to do.  Bagels, croissants, fruit, breads, cinnamon rolls, mimosas and fruit juice ... a Continental Breakfast to repay their patience.  I finished cutting up the fruit and sliced all the bagels in half while Miss Patty cut up the special breads I brought.  Me being tired and having a sharp knife in my hand probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I made it through without even a knick.

When it came time to putting the cinnamon rolls in the oven, I panicked.  I love that Nick and Terry Russell are in Florida.  Every time I'm frantic over something, they are always UP and AWAKE!!  Luckily this time they were not too busy to answer my call for help in reheating those rolls.  I got great advice from Miss Terry and the rolls were a hit!!

In between, I had to unhook my electrical connection, pull in the slides and raise the rig for the oil change and maintenance.  I plugged back in ... unplugged ... started the engine ... unlocked the bay ... all while fixing breakfast.  Luckily it turned out fine!!  Did I remember to take pictures?  NO ... of course not.  I'm a criminal ... I stole this picture Barbara Westerfield posted on Facebook.

Still trying to keep up with the photography list, yesterday's word was sunrise.  Easy enough ... you just saw this image two days ago.

Today was BOOT.  Another easy one for me since I have so many.  It would have been nice to see some really old torn up cowboy boot, but those are all at home.  So here's my second favorite pair of boots on my favorite rug.  I found this rug while in a Nursery and Garden Center in Oregon.  It's guaranteed to suck up all the water on your feet (and your dogs feet) before you enter the house.  It actually lives up to it's name which was something like Absorb.  Don't quote me here, you know my memory isn't what it used to be.  It is extremely easy to wash and made from recycled materials.  Can't get better than that.

With everything put away, we gathered up our Welcome bags and pins before heading out for lunch.  I know .... didn't we just eat?  Dan Chance had visited Firehouse Subs in the little mountain town of Show Low (you'll be familiar with that name if you have read any of Nick Russell's books) and said it was awesome.  I found one 13 miles away.  What else do we have to do, right?  Turns out it was about 18 miles away because there was freeway construction.  

The sandwich was worth it!!  Unlike Subway, this sandwich has MEAT and lots of it!!  If you like fire, there's just about every kind available at the counter.  Look on the back of the bottle for the "Hot" number.

They were ALL a little too hot for MY blood!!  I mean really, why would you put something on your sandwich that had the name Insanity!!

Back at the temporary ranch, Miss Patty and I headed off to where else ..... the quilt store.  There's a beauty in Palm Desert!!  $100 later, we left.  As much as I was going to be conservative, my self control went right out the window!!

We arrived home just in time for Happy Hour, which lasted about 45 minutes for us.  Dan has had a hankering for the Fisherman's Market Grill since we arrived.  I have to include myself in that.  I LOVE their tacos and Patty said the salmon was awesome.  Dan finished the fish and chips in record time. 

We now have our golf cart for running around the fairgrounds.  We were a little late in picking it up, which cost me about 20 hugs to all the men standing around ... even their neighbors got in on the action. With transportation, I'm all set to begin the ice cream odyssey.  Today is my last day to play.   From here on out it's going to nose to the grindstone, with a lot of help from all my RV friends.

Golden Spike Rally Day Zero

I was up early yesterday, but had a relaxing morning until time to gather with the Golden Spike Group at Walmart, West of town.  Just as I walked out the rig to take a picture of the empty parking lot with the amazing clouds, I spotted this guy.  Quite often, they take off Northeast of the fairgrounds and land in the empty lots.  That's going to be a challenge for them with the rally going on here.  They are expecting about 1200 rigs.  The big white tent will be full of vendors by Wednesday.

Look at all the flags on this baby!!  Looks like some from every country.  He's a tad smaller than the ones I'm used to in Albuquerque and you could barely hear his burners.  He landed maybe 200 yards from my rig.

This picture is from Friday ... the word was BLUE.  Like a black on black image, this is blue on blue.  I can already see I'm going to get behind on my list!!

Back to Walmart, we were all lined up and ready to go.  Most of my readers are RV people, so you know how it is to gather up RV's.  It's like herding CATS!!  With everyone finally on the same radio channel so we can stay together with no wrong turns, we left about 55 minutes early.  That got us in to the fairgrounds staging area earlier than expected.  

While staying at the fairgrounds BEFORE the rally starts, we are required to pay $25 per rig, per day.  On the third day (we are 3 days early) only 7 of us have to pay.  The rest get to stay free because of the volunteering we do with the ice cream.  Make sense?  If so, could you please explain that to the nice lady at the gate who just didn't get it?  Not even a little bit.  Good grief.  Fifteen minutes later, after explaining it every which way we possibly could, she figured our tab and let us go.

Then it became a waiting game.  There were 52 rigs from the "Beavers" (another group) waiting to be parked.  We were right after them.  I got so many different takes from the parking crew, I figured we would end up in the dirt between the huge generators that provide electricity and the even bigger garbage cans.

Talk about stressed!!!  That headache came on pretty quickly, which caused overheating of my cooling system!!  In the end (2-1/2 hours later) all was well as they parked us right at the front end of the parking lot, ON ASPHALT, but next to the HUGE generator.  There will be no sleeping in this rig, but that's okay.  I'm thrilled we all ended up on pavement.  This is exactly how I felt when I finally crashed last night.  I'm pretty sure I got two hours sleep.  The rest of the night I ran from all the bears chasing me.  I was up at 3:30.  UGH!!!

This morning I'm fixing a continental breakfast for all 38 of us, including mimosas.  This group deserves it for all their patience with me freaking out and all the hard work to come.  Sounds good, right?  Unfortunately for me, Jim Fulkerson, the wonderful guy who maintains my rig and changes the oil for me, called last night to say he is coming this morning at 8:30, just as I'm fixing breakfast.  This should be fun!!

Rise & Shine ... It's Moving Day!!!

Oh come on ..... it's only 5:00 am!!!  I don't WANT to get up.   Once I move, it's an all out King of the Mountain fest with the puppies.  Okay ..... okay ..... I'm UP!!

My plan for the day was to gather the remaining groceries for an impromptu breakfast on Monday.  Before I even got out the door, I saw the pink light flooding in through my windows.  I grabbed my camera and ran!!  I'm pretty sure this is the most spectacular sunrise I've ever seen in my life.  It went 360 degrees around and was magnificent!!

On the down side, when there is a gorgeous sunrise or sunset, it's because of the clouds.  Clouds usually mean rain.  Ten minutes later, it all disappeared as I heard little drops hitting the roof.  Luckily it didn't last long.  Just some remnants of the storm that hit Southern California and the surrounding mountains.

Time to head off to the Walmart parking lot where everyone will meet up for the trek back to the fairgrounds.   As you can imagine, it's always a long drawn out task to get this many rigs parked.  We even decided to come in one day earlier, but unfortunately, that didn't enhance our chances of good parking.  

I know we are volunteers, but seriously, this rally is the same year after year.  We've all been coming here for ages.  Face it ... it's boring!  And for a free volunteer dinner (usually overcooked pasta) and maybe an extra ice cream bar, we get NOTHING for all our hard work.  So why do we do it?  I don't know, but THIS year I'm going to ask.  I'm not sure giving out free ice cream, cleaning the entire fairgrounds after most everyone leaves and paying $295 a rig is truly worth it.  Grump grump!!

While in the Chance rig, the first thing Dan said was "what are we having with the pancakes" ... as in BACON!!  How about sausage?  So on the way back, I stopped in the grocery store (a big mistake ... it was Saturday and the lines were long) and picked up sausage.  Yup .. the kind that has to be cooked.  Dan knows not what he asks of me, but I'm going to give it a shot!!

We made arrangements to meet for dinner at 5:00.  At 4:00 I got a phone message from Patty ... WHERE ARE YOU??  Well, I'm sitting with the puppies watching television.  Instantly I knew ..... they are from Arizona, where the time is one hour off.   I jumped in the Jeep and headed off to Souplantation where we had a great dinner.  The other couple invited to dinner arrived at 5:00, just as we were finishing up.  As we flip back and forth between Arizona and California, I'm sure this won't be the first time our TIME is off!!

So .... my horrible smelling rig is somewhat better.  I dumped a box of baking soda on the floor, turned on two fans and opened two windows.  SURELY it will get better.  When I returned from Walmart, the floor appeared to be dryer, so I vacuumed up the soda and felt for dampness.  Only one tiny spot.  I turned the heat on and closed the door.

By the time I went to bed, the smell was better ... at least I was able to sleep ... but it's still not acceptable.  As the other rigs are parked today, I'll slip into line as we head to our destination for the week.  I bought another box of soda and I'll throw in a few pieces of charcoal for good measure.  Other than that, I don't know what to do.  Hopefully it gets better over time.

YIKES!!!!

That about says it all concerning yesterday's trip to Southern California.  I really try not to moan and groan, but this trip was a GROANER!!  My plan was to stay in my favorite orange orchard Friday night, followed up by a four hour drive to my destination, the Walmart parking lot where the Golden Spike Group meets up.

First thing in the morning, I checked the weather to find it had drastically changed.  The only no-rain day was Friday, meaning if I didn't want to get caught in a mammoth snow storm over Tehachapi, or massive flooding in the valley, I needed to get going NOW!!  When I found this little guy, I thought he would bring me good luck.  I gently placed him on the horse trailer tire.  Apparently he didn't like it.

As I threw stuff in the motorhome, I smelled something funny, but couldn't figure out what it was.  I quickly discovered the seal on the toilet had let all the water drain out.  YIKES!!  I spent 15 minutes messing with it until I finally got it fixed.  Still, there was a funny smell.

The dogs were none too happy to get thrown in on the bed, already covered with the last of the necessities from the house.  No time to put anything away, let's get going.

With forecasts of 9-12 inches of rain (YIKES) and major flooding in the valley, especially around Tehachapi, I figured I better hot foot it over the mountains.  There will be no fresh oranges for breakfast this trip.  I called and cancelled the reservation.  Since I never heard back, I imagine my credit card got charged anyway.

About half way to Bakersfield, I hit a rest stop to let the puppies out.  Cooper was his usual crazy self, thinking he was going to be left.  After calming him down, I headed out the exit.  Uh Oh!!!  What happened to my cameras?  I can't see behind me!  YIKES!!  I'm already on the on-ramp!!  Guess I'll have to do the old fashioned drive-with-my-mirrors-only routine.  

I started pushing buttons on the display.  I never turn it off or adjust anything, so I've no idea what those funny markings mean.  Finally it snapped on ... thank goodness!!!  Apparently when Cooper was jumping around, he touched the OFF button.  

Now about to head over the mountains, I saw some of the damage from the night before.  Pretty hard to see here, because my camera battery was snugly nestled in the charger on the wall instead of in the camera where it belonged.  It's much harder to take pictures with my phone.  Anyway, see that light patch in the hills?  That's where the mountain fell off into the stream below (now a raging river) that overflowed downstream and wiped out the farmland on both sides of the highway.  YIKES!!

That's when I saw the DENSE FOG sign.  Fog?  It's beautiful and sunny!!  Turns out I was wrong as this huge bank of fog or clouds rolled over the highway.  YIKES again!!!  Luckily I made it through.  What ELSE is going to happen?  I still have four hours of driving!!

The rest of the trip went swimmingly ... not really.  At the last minute, I couldn't decide between staying at Walmart for TWO days or Spotlight 29 Casino.  Suddenly it dawned on me ... I'm a Captain!!  I can stay at the fairgrounds!!  I called ahead, pretty short notice, but they said COME ON IN!!

I know you're not supposed to use your phones when driving any more.  Someone needs to tell the truckers!!  I came very close to getting run over at about this spot on the freeway.  I saw the truck coming up behind me, so I moved over to the right lane so he could pass on the left.  As I looked in shock and horror, he wasn't moving over and was coming up on me FAST!!  I floorboarded it!!  DOUBLE YIKES!!  HEY DUDE I'm screaming to no one and everyone!!  

Just before I crashed into the guy in front of me, and just before the trucker crashed into ME, he hit the brakes and swerved all over the road.  Apparently he had his cruise control on and wasn't paying any attention to traffic ... maybe on the phone or maybe asleep!!  That was enough to wake me up!!

I got to the fairgrounds safely and got parked with no problems.  That's when I finally decided to sniff out that smell.  The bad news is I apparently have a leak by the passenger bedroom slide.  Down on my hands and knees on the floor, I discovered the carpet to be wet.  YIKES!!  Not only that, but it's been there long enough to have a horrible mold smell.  It was so bad I couldn't sleep last night at all.  NOW what do I do??

I think I'm still under my extended warranty, I'll check that out today.  In the meantime, I've got two fans running in the bedroom, and this morning after my neighbor is up and about, I'll turn on the back heat to full blast.  The even worse news is that I will now smell like mold for the rest of this trip, since my clothes sucked up every molecule they could.  

To add insult to injury, I discovered this morning I was in such a hurry to leave that I didn't put paper under Jonathan's cage.  You know what that means!  YIKES!!  Nervous birds become poop-a-lots and I have a big mess to clean!!  

So all in all, this really could have been a better trip.  All I can say is I'm alive and almost well and the temperatures this week are to be in the 70's.  YIKES!!  Did I bring any shorts???

And I'm OFF!!

A real short blog today.  There is a small window of opportunity with no rain and hopefully no ice, as I head over the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.  It's going to be a long drive followed by a Casino stay, but I really want to miss the rain, snow, wind and flooding hitting the mountains Saturday.

Hopefully the next time you hear from me I'll be in warm Southern California.

It's Magic!!!

Remember that old song by Pilot called MAGIC?  Geez ... now I'll be humming that all day.   I apologize in advance.

The Magic Kingdom was it's normal self, except everyone brought their Christmas money with them.  We didn't have near as many people, but we sold more than enough to bump up the payouts.  Unfortunately, in the two weeks we were on vacation, two players passed away.  No one cared ... they just wanted to get the game started.

On our side of the table, only the Castle Lawyer and I showed up.  That sucks for her, since I won't be back for awhile, so I put a bug in the ears of the men.  Hopefully they will remember to help her out.  With everyone's pockets full of money, they were all in a good mood, making the long line easier to control.

With the worst of the night over, I had a hamburger to celebrate along with hugs from everyone. Before they would let me out the door, I had to promise to return.  I was home by 8:00, exhausted.  I guess I wasn't as well as I thought.

It's my last day to pack and get the house set to leave.  I'll be off for Southern California, and hopefully warmer weather, tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I have to pass over the Sierras on Saturday.  I'm praying for higher temperatures, which will mean NO snow!!

My picture of the day was MAGIC.  That's a pretty hard one.  I suppose eventually I would have come up with something fascinating, but my brain isn't quite back to normal.  So here's my MAGIC.  It's magical that this baby hatched and even more magical that it has survived Dad's feeding of nestovers (leftover pieces from his dinner dropped in the nest) larger than should be, not to mention the pieces of grass and feathers stuck to it.   Mom is much more fastidious.

The other MAGIC in my life is this little boy.  He's pretty dirty since it's been too cold for a bath, and he's definitely in need of a haircut for the warmer temperatures coming.  You can also see he's NOT a happy camper.  There are two things he hates ... baths and haircuts.

Like MAGIC ... he almost disappeared after I shaved two pounds of hair off.  I probably could take him to a groomer, but we've had nothing but trouble there.  He comes back with nicks and cuts ... so we made the groomers magically disappear and I do it myself.  Cooper really doesn't care if it's perfect or not ... which it definitely is NOT.

Like MAGIC, he's a pretty boy again.  I know ... pretty lame MAGIC pictures, but it's all I've got!!

So far I've aired up the Jeep tires, driving it around the block just to be sure the wheels still turn, filled the rig's water tank and checked the battery bank.  Today I'll check the rig tires and finish packing.  I have notes stuck everywhere to remind me of things like "don't forget the bird" and "clean out the fridge".  

The nerves hit last night, making for a restless sleep.  No sleep, actually!!  There's a possibility of snow over Tehachapi.  The other route involves hours and hours of LA freeway driving.   Keep your fingers crossed for me!  Let's hope that MAGICALLY all the bad weather will disappear on Saturday when I drive over the hill.

I'll be on the couch ..... after I finish packing!!

Company Is Here!!!

Every winter, usually during the biggest wind/rain storm, the Vultures, or turkey buzzards as we call them, return to the back of my property.  As I was walking in the back yard with the puppies, two caught my eye as they took quick interest and buzzed the rooftop.  Hey guys ... we're all still moving around down here!!

I rushed back inside to get my camera ... surely these guys would fit in that 365 project SOMEWHERE!  (Hint ... you will probably see them again).  I caught this guy just in time for his landing.

Their wing span is 6-7 feet, so they are pretty intimidating.  As I stood looking up, another swooped over my head, so I called the puppies inside.  There's no danger really ... they just eat carrion ... dead stuff ... like my cooking.  When I stepped back outside, there were literally hundreds floating around the sky.

I don't know where they came from or where they went, but the next morning there wasn't a bird in sight.  The trees in back, usually full of youngsters, were completely empty.  That's probably not a bad thing ... I won't have to deal with Jessie coming in smelling like roadkill from rolling in their droppings.   Maybe they didn't like my cooking!!

I added a little color to this image so you could see his beak and face a little better.  In spite of their looks, they are very majestic birds that soar on the breezes like performing a ballet.  

Today's picture was "hot drinks".  It would have worked out great two days ago when the temperature was 32 degrees and the steam was rising like vultures over something rotten, but this morning of course, it's 52 degrees.  There's not a wisp of steam, even though this poor hot chocolate got nuked for three minutes.  

It did bring back some nice memories though ... definitely worth the shot.  When Miss Patty and I were in Costa Rica in the pouring rain, soaked to the skin in 100 degree temperature, they served us the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life.  It was so good I ordered an entire box when I got home.  It cost $11.00 for the cocoa and $27.00 to get it shipped here, which took almost three months.  It didn't dawn on me until later I had asked that three pounds of white powder be shipped to the U.S.  It finally made it, but had been opened and resealed ten times!!

Ever since, no matter how many times I "unsubscribe", I still get emails from the company that sold the cocoa mix.  Maybe I'll order some more just for the fun of it.

I made it to the Magic Kingdom of Bingo last night, but didn't last long.  Guess I don't feel as good as I thought I did.  Today I have to sign some legal documents and hit the grocery store, followed by more list making and packing.  In between, I'll be back on the couch!!

What's Your Resolution?

Mine is to just get up off the darn couch and hit the road.  I am feeling marginally better each day, but the stuffy head coughing still continues.  I'm not really good at resolutions.  They last about three days.  Yes I want to eat better, be nicer to people, volunteer more, lose weight (like probably everyone) but I don't have the self control to eat better or to eat less, dropping two off the list right off the bat.

What I would LIKE to do is more photography.  I'm NOT calling this a resolution because I already know I'm going to fall off the wagon, but I AM going to carry these lists around in my phone so you nice folks can see pictures of more than just my puppies.

It's called a 365 Project, although I've already pared it down to 260.   You take their suggestion and find something to shoot that day.  You will probably still see the puppies because I'm cheating ... number 11 Cozy will be the babies.

I did not find the 365 Project until last night, so here is one for Monday .. Resolutions and Tuesday .... Healthy.  I resolve to take MORE images of interesting things.  Doesn't this leopard look HEALTHY??  This came from the Rose Parade, although you know I wasn't there.  I just wanted to point out how amazing it is. 

You can't imagine how hard it is to paint thick glue on all those spots, then press on the seeds, or crushed coffee or whatever they used, by hand and before the glue dries.  I imagine they covered the body with the tan color first, then did the spots.  A couple of years ago I did this to a map of the world.  You end up with glue all over your clothes and your mouth full of seeds and coffee, but you smell nice.  If you ever have the time, volunteer for this amazing feat of magic.  Take a really warm coat!!

I checked in on the baby a couple of times ... he's doing just fine.  It looks like the second egg will not hatch.  Actually, it was the first egg laid, which did not get incubated from the get go.  That's good for Charley here, as he will get all the attention and all the FOOD!!

It's back to packing for me in the cold, wet rain.  It's looking like I'll have rain the first few days of my trip.  Rain is good, snow is NOT.  

Here's another one of my "so you don't have to" trials.  Ever wonder if you could wash your motorhome in the rain and just let it air dry?  The answer is NO.  The day before I got sick, it was raining pretty good.  I put on my Alaska rubber boots and my hooded rubber jacket.  I decided against using soap since the forecast didn't look like lots of rinsing rain was headed my direction.

The best part came when all the bugs on the front just slid right off, having been wet for a day already.  All the dirt and grime that comes pouring over the edge from the roof was another story.  Of course it didn't help that after I was done, even MORE crud came from the roof.  All in all, it's better, but not by much.  

If I had climbed up on the roof and washed it too, things might have been better in the end, but I do have at least SOME smarts and stayed on the ground.  Hopefully while we are in Yuma this year, we will do another round of wash and wax.

The Magic Kingdom of Bingo begins again tonight.  That will make a great picture for Thursday .... Magic.  It will be fun when I MAGICALLY disappear after a couple of hours saying goodbye!!

So what's YOUR resolution for 2017??

Day One Of 365

It may be a brand new year, but I started it off the same way I have for the past few years.  Still coughing and snuffling.  Things are looking up however!  If Sam Elliott happens to come to town, I finally have a recipe that will WOW him ... and it WORKED!!!  Can you believe it????  One out of one ... I'm on a roll!!!

The sunrises have been pretty spectacular in between rain clouds, ice and chilly temperatures.  I'm hoping my PG&E bill doesn't cause a heart attack.  I've been keeping it a little warmer than the normal 64 degrees.

Feeling kind of lonely through Christmas and New Years, but not wanting company AT ALL, I decided to treat myself to a nice New Year's Day Dinner.  I put on my dark glass, cowboy hat and the biggest coat I have and drove to the little Mexican store in town for milk.  I was bound and determined to have a decent Mac 'N Cheese.  To be sure I didn't run OUT of milk, I made it the night before!!  See ..... I was thinking ahead ..... in spite of being sick!!

For some reason, chicken parmigiana had been on my mind, so I decided to whip up a batch.  It's time consuming enough to keep me busy for awhile, a distraction from being sick.  I pounded the chicken and got ready to bread.  Big sigh!!!!  I didn't have enough parmesan cheese to do all the chicken.   No problem, I left half of it plain.

I just LOVE my cast iron pans ... don't they cook that chicken perfectly?  There was a huge mess on the kitchen counter, a nice gooey mixture of flour, egg and cheese, but the cutlets look yummy!!

Here's where the ingenuity came in.  I had four big pieces, too large for the frying pan.  So I took one of my small deep cookie sheets to place the pieces on, then smothered it in Marinara sauce.  I tented it with foil and stuck it in the oven to cook for 40 minutes, hoping to make it nice and tender.  When the bell went off, I placed (way too much) mozzarella on each piece and broiled it until brown.  

This was a meal worthy of Sam!!  I probably won't be able to duplicate it, but maybe I can come close.  It was just so NICE to have my first cooking experience of the year come out so well!!  It gives me hope!!

This was the view for the balance of the day.  Actually it's been the view for the last TEN days.  You can barely see Jessie buried on the left. 

I received a nice text message yesterday saying that if I keep using gigabytes on my phone, I "might" see a slowing in download speed, especially in high usage areas.  I sent a return message saying I was pretty sure I had an UNLIMITED data plan and I didn't LIVE in a high usage area ... were they purposefully going to limit the speed on my data?   I haven't heard back.  

At any rate, here's the latest baby picture.  Mom spent quite some time cleaning the food off his face.  Dad wasn't as careful as he should have been.  Isn't he just a cutie patootie??

Back to packing.  I always hate the last few days before takeoff.  It always seems like I'll never get it all done.  The rig is packed to the brim with all things "rally", including pancake mix and six bottles of syrup.  I was also able to get one of my dutch ovens in for some experimental biscuit cooking in the desert.  LOTS of places to bury things there!!

My own personal flock of eagles came back to roost yesterday ... more than I've seen in a long time.  I'll have pictures tomorrow.  Bet you can't wait for THAT!!!

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!  I hope 2017 holds lots of love and happiness for your family, along with a little adventure thrown in for good measure.  Amazingly, I survived the creeping crud.  It's not over till the fat lady sings, the coughing continues, so I've been singing all morning.    

New Years was rather uneventful here.  I took advantage of New York's earlier hour, celebrating with them for all of five minutes before I hit the sack.  I should have stayed on the couch.  Miss Jessie just couldn't get comfortable.  Up down, up down!!  Aaahhhggg.  At 10:45 she finally settled in.  At 11:00 the fireworks began, starting the process all over again.  Unusual for my area, I only heard two M-80's and a few quiet booms before we ALL finally fell asleep.  Lucky me, I got to sleep until 6:00.

Happy New Year to this beautiful baby eaglet too.  Oh my gosh ... what a bundle of fuzzy joy this has been to watch hatch and emerge into the world of wildlife.  Unfortunately, the cameraman yesterday had no clue what a good angle was.  Most of the time we were looking at the back end when the baby was up front.

Look at this face!!!!  If you want to see the images better, I think you can double click on them for enlargement.  Too bad we can't do that for the opposite effect on us.  At any rate, what a cutie patootie.  

In no time at all, he threw his head back and began the mouth-wide-open cheeping that says FEED ME!!

Mom and Dad were ready and waiting.  Remember that disgusting dead fish?  It's now on the edge of the nest at the ready.  Pretty slimy and something you'd never find on OUR dinner table, it just fell apart and slid right down his throat.  It was neat to watch the parents touch just underneath his beak, whereupon he opened his mouth and they scraped bits into it.  Pretty soon he got the message and was eating up a storm.

Mom was being very tender and careful not to drop food, feeding tiny pieces.  Dad fed huge chunks, getting food and slime all over the nest AND baby.  When Mom came back, she had to do quite the housekeeping job before settling down.

Apparently they thought he really wasn't eating enough, because every hour or so they woke him up and fed him more, even though he didn't really act hungry at all.  It was just amazing to watch.  If you get a chance, check it out.    Pritchetts Eagle Cam  

Although it looked like the second egg had pipped, there has been no activity at all.  If it doesn't hatch soon, there probably won't be a baby bother or sister.  

Here's another interesting tidbit.  Eagles normal temperature runs around 106, so if you see them panting in what feels like normal weather, they run a little hot  ...  kind of like me.  That way the cold weather doesn't bother them as much.  Speaking of cold weather, 50 degrees here with rain means snow at 6,000 feet.  Pretty normal winter weather were I live.  This morning, it's 38 degrees and raining.  I just might get snow!

This is MY version of a piece of beautiful dead fish.  A nice chocolate cream pie for dessert today.  I got smart this time and after a quick jaunt to the local tiny corner store for milk, I made another big bowl of mac n cheese last night.  I wasn't taking any chances on using up the milk again.  Today, even with a muddled head, I'm trying for chicken parmigiana.  I'm totally over the frozen dinners.  

I'll be on the couch .......... eating  P  I  E !!!