We tried a new trick

 

 

50 miles from us, in any direction, we have to pass through one more border checkpoint.  We think they recognize us from license plate readers.  Sometimes they have us stop and talk to them.  Sometimes they just wave us through.  This time, as we were pulling up and the drug sniffing dog was walking around the car, Jesse started growling and was going to bark, so as we pulled up to the border agent in our van and he can’t see in through all the dark windows along the side, Judy was turned in her seat with her finger to her lips, shushing the dog.  It made perfect sense to us, but to the border agent it could have been Judy admonishing all the people on the floor of the van not to make a sound while we got through the checkpoint.  He didn’t have to get his head all the way into the window to see that there wasn’t really anyone else there and it was all about the fluffy white puppy on the couch.  It ended with a good laugh, and I don’t think we were even that close to getting arrested this time.  Hey, maybe we should try that trick every time from now on…

 

So, tonight we’re in Kerrville.  It’s too hot and humid to sleep in the van, so we’re in a camping cabin.

 

July Colorado Trip

 

 

 

 

An air conditioned camping cabin.  It’s not like camping in the van, but it’s more like camping than staying in a hotel room.

 

A couple houses down from us, it doesn’t look the same

 

 

 

Years ago, an older couple aged out of the park.  The next generation kids came down to clear out all their stuff and sell the trailer, but as they were here getting rid of stuff, they realized what a nice place this would be for them when it was time for them to retire, so they didn’t sell it.  For years now they’ve only been able to come here once a year and maintain the house well enough that it didn’t have to get towed away.  But now, as retirement approaches, they are having the old house pulled out, and after the pad is upgraded, a new house will be pulled in and installed this fall.

 

Park rules.  Anytime a house gets old enough that it starts to look shabby, it has to get retired when it changes hands, and a new one put in.  I don’t know if every park does that, but I like it.  It keeps the neighborhood looking sharp.

 

Sora

 

 

There is a little marsh bird called a Sora.  It likes to call out, and the call is conspicuous, but the bird itself, not so much.  Still, I caught one out in the open.

 

When he spotted me, he fluttered off to the other side of the pond.

 

I got a long-lens shot of him before he disappeared back into the reeds.

 

 

The Van Manifesto

 

 

Carry everything we need to stay in the van and be comfortable, but don’t carry anything that other people are willing to provide for us. 

 

That means don’t carry a freshwater tank, a holding tank, A toilet, a black water tank, a generator, a kitchen sink, a stove, food, a wash basin, a pantry, a shower; all those things will be provided for us at state parks, or even KOA campgrounds.  No need to carry it all from place to place.  We have a living room and a couch in one configuration, and a comfortable bed in the other.  With our small power source, we can make coffee in the morning, whether we have shore power or not, and camping chairs to enjoy the morning sun.  Campgrounds provide a picnic table, and often a sun shelter.  We have a little fridge so we can carry a couple prepared sandwiches in there in case we need them.  Otherwise, we can stop for meals along the way with a bonus of sampling local cuisine.  We buy fresh drinking water a jug at a time.  Gas stations and roadside rests have all the restroom facilities we need.  State parks provide sinks and showers.

 

It's a simple life.

 

Physics humor

 

 

A flyer for the Aspen Center for Physics summer talks included this image:

 

 

Charming.

 

I guess

 

 

I guess now everybody can tell where the bodies are buried.

 

A fresh crop of mushrooms just popped up after the rain.

 

Never seen them right here before.

 

They look pretty cool.

 

 

I tried looking up what they are with image searches but didn’t get any useful results.

 

Nice variety of shapes though.

 

Two rows deep, five across.

 

 

 

That’s ten bins in the back.  Two more bins under the front of the couch.  Twelve bins, all out of sight out of mind.

 

A good start.

 

Follow-up

 

 

Name that moth on the screen door.

 

The best I could do was maybe a Double-striped Pug.  Here is a photo of one from the web.

 

Not so.

 

For-all-things-bugs-and-birds-Jon tells me it’s a New Mexico Carpet Moth.  Here is a picture of that one from the internet.

 

Yeah.  That’s a closer match to ours.

 

Except ours is a little prettier…

 

Packing up

 

 

We’re leaving on a trip in a week.  We’ll spend the month of July in Colorado.  Time to get the gear out of storage and make sure everything is in order.

 

Bins, sleeping bag, some foldable camping chairs and tables.  All the bins will fit in the trunk space at the rear of the van under the bed.  We’re being meticulous.  We want to be as organized as we can be. 

 

Coincidence?

 

 

I have a 1945 day streak of doing Duolingo each day to learn Spanish.

 

I was born in the 1945^th year of the calendar.  Coincidence?

 

Or causation?  Inquiring minds want to know….

 

This is it

 

 

Short-shadow Day.

 

The longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.  The shortest shadows.  Everybody go outside and measure your shadow at noon.  The one with the shortest shadow wins.  We didn’t have a competition this year.  It’s a given.  I always win.

 

 

I don’t know

 

 

 

Maybe a Double-striped Pug?

 

On the screen door this morning.

 

In the morning light

 

 

 

On the primordial coastal plain.

 

An eastern meadowlark perched atop a Spanish Dagger yucca greets the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rush Hour at the birdfeeder

 

 

It can get crowded.

 

Sometimes you have to compete for a spot.

 

Sometimes you just have to find a place to stand and wait for a spot to open up.

 

Inca Dove

 

 

Ruffled little thing.

 

Larger than a sparrow, but not much.  Smaller than a robin.

 

Blowing in the wind.

 

A tailwind to be precise.

 

Summertime Morning Ritual

 

 

The outside temperature strives to catch up to the outside humidity.

 

And ultimately succeeds.

 

Ran across this old photo

 

 

Demonstrating our grandchild babysitting prowess.

 

Friday the 13th

Our lucky day.

 

On that day, Friday the thirteenth, June 13^th, 1969, we welcomed our first baby.

 

Happy Birthday to our baby girl Becky!

 

 

Suddenly stormy

 

 

This didn’t want to go out last night.  It suffered a weather-related delay.

 

 

A normal day.  Hot.  Not paying any attention to the weather.  I grilled dinner outside and noticed the storm clouds brewing.  Then it hit.  Our view of the park out in front of our house looked like this for an hour.

 

That’s our porch railing at the bottom of the photo.  The tail end of the neighbor’s car and some grass above it.  Nothing beyond maybe 50 feet.

 

It blew hard.  It felt like a hurricane.  Then it got bright again while it was still raining.

 

A little bit of flooding.

 

Then the sky got pretty.

 

The park has no electricity, no water, and no internet.  A couple of nearby houses had some wind damage.

 

 

Nothing serious going on at our house.  We’ve got stuff running on batteries and the Verizon Jetpack for internet.

 

A Great-tailed Grackle

 

 

 

Having a day of it.

 

 

 

He might have been channeling Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.