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Borrego Springs, CA

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Winds of change

When I took Emma on her first outs this morning, it was 58* and calm.  Within an hour, the winds began to pick up and blow around 30mph all day, and the temperature began to drop.  What a blustery day it has been.  I spent most of the day inside the rig. 

_MG_7249As the front came through, the skies became cloudless, but the winds continued.  As usual, Emma and I sat outside (although I was really bundled up) in the late afternoon to watch the daily flight of snow geese towards sunset.

_MG_7253Tonight’s flight line was directly over the rigs.  That’s a first for this fall.  The flights have been to the west and south on previous evenings.  The high winds may have had something to do with this, and also kept the mosquitoes at bay.  As I sit writing this in the dark, there are still flocks going overhead.  I love the haunting sounds of their calls as they soar past.

 

One of the things I did inside today was to check the volunteer.gov site to see what opportunities were available in various states this coming summer.  Since my original plans to stay at an RV resort in Illinois for the summer have dissolved, I thought I’d do a little cruising on the site.  One thing I have to absolutely do this summer is return to South Dakota to renew my driver’s license.  So, I clicked on South Dakota, and found a possible position with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Madison, SD.  I normally plan 6-12 months in advance, so I need to get busy lining something up. 

 

I’m juggling this with the idea of staying at a campground for the summer season near my daughter’s house in Indiana.  Since both she and her husband work fulltime, I’m not sure how much I would see them or the granddaughters if I sat there for four months or so.  I wonder how bored I’d get doing that.  I spent two months in a campground last summer without volunteering, but had Yellowstone and the scenic byways of Idaho to keep me busy.  Tonight, I just don’t know which way to go.  :)

 

Well, tomorrow is the bird survey, and I’m thinking it’s going to be rather chilly!  It could get below freezing tonight.  I did speak to Nathan, the maintenance guy, tonight and he will help me set up my extend-a-stay propane tank tomorrow.  Of course, when I said I couldn’t get the valve on the propane tank to move he asked if I was turning it the right direction!  Sheesh!  Yes, I told him, I know which way to turn it.  I need to turn off the valve to the rig tank in order to open the valve to the auxiliary tank.  I just can’t get it to close.  I don’t know why.  I haven’t had any problems with it each time I turned it off to move on down the road.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

13 comments:

  1. Spending time in SD sounds good to me. Of course being near the kids is nice too....although we usually don't get to spend much time with them because they have their own lives to lead. I'm sure you'll find the right decision in time.

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  2. Gee, little lady, are you sure you turned the valve in the correct direction? Don't you just love those types of attitudes? I'm thinking you might be a wee bit bored sitting for the summer; South Dakota sounds good to me!

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  3. The maintenance guy would probably have asked that same question if you were a man. The threads on some propane hookups are opposite to normal ones, so I'm sure he has probably run across the same problem before. Seemed like a pretty logical question to me. geesh....women!!

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  4. That's a neat picture in my mind of you all bundled up with your little Emma watching the snow geese. Love your header picture!

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  5. I can't decide about volunteering either, although I've come to the conclusion I would rather do two months rather than sign up for three. I was trying to find something in NY, but there isn't much.

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  6. We moved to Daytona Beach, FL today and all that they could talk about on the news is the big cold front coming thru. Expect 30 degree lower temps at night.

    We have a hard time staying tow months last winter. Normally, four months is two long anywhere. However, family does change all that. We are likely going to spend up to four plus months in the panhandle of FL this winter as our daughter there is having a baby and we want to help out.

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  7. Hi Judy,
    I loved your blog on your cruise from Spain!
    Isn't that a wonderful sound when hundreds of geese are all talking at once as they fly over?!
    We have hundreds of Canada Geese flying over different times of the day, I call them the "Honkers"! Even Raider stops on his walk to look up! (Lots of ponds and the Coyote River here to forage on for them!)
    Don't "donate" too much to those blood suckers! :)
    Kathy

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  8. Don't get too bothered by the maintenance guy's question; when troubleshooting something like that, the best idea is to start "simple" with the basics and expand the range of possible issues from there.

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  9. Love the bird pictures! I renewed my DL last year - did you know you can renew it 6 months in advance in SD?

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  10. Sometimes for whatever reason those valves on propane tanks can be pretty stubborn, even for a big guy like me, when I went to turn on my sisters BBQ I thought after several tries that it was already on, it wasn't, I picked it up and it felt heavy enough to be fill so I put a pair of water pump pliers on it and it finally opened up, just was stuck shut. Don't let the guys remark bother you unless he was condescending,he probably would have asked a man also as it is the first step in troubleshooting.I miss the geese flying over our place in Dardenne Praire you do't see any in Scranton. They must avoid the mountains. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

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  11. Thanks for sharing the snow geese pictures. I also like the sounds they make.

    Try to stay warm.

    Travel Safe

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