Thanksgiving Saturday

Blew off another one!

I managed to get a photo of one of the new (to us) birds stopping by our birdie spa this morning at coffee time.

this beautiful California Thrasher hung around the "spa" and seed feeder for a long time, before the sound of cantering horses frightened him off.   He stayed hidden, but eventually succumbed to the lure of fresh water and food.  What a morning show we have!

I think I mentioned a bit ago, how we must have cooties because no one pulled into either spot next to us.  They just drove past and went somewhere else.  Well......we've finally lost our privacy completely.  Last night a huge 5th wheel shoehorned itself on our driver's side and this afternoon, an old motorhome chose the spot on our passenger side.  At least these sites are fairly large (ours being the best because it is pie shaped and outlined with oleander bushes).    Poor Lewis, however, began to feel really hemmed in.

you can see a reflection of the incoming motorhome in Beluga and poor Lewis pressing himself  as far away as possible

he's worried about our new neighbor

Lewis is fairly selective about who he is scared of and who is a "friend" instantly.  Nina, Paul and Polly stopped by tonight and they brought Nina's lovely sister Pia.  She is from England and has flown in for a week's visit.  Lewis took an immediate like to her and welcomed the newcomer into our compound.  He would have fixed her a drink if I didn't get to it first.   We parted with promises of a good hike, golf and perhaps a mexican dinner with margarita's later this week.

After many machinations, we finally completed a Facetime call to Melanie Kraft.  She and Joe have moved to Boston and Cindy/Norm were there for Thanksgiving in the new condo.  It was great seeing and talking with them, Facetime worked out beautifully at last so we got the full tour.

A Clint Eastwood movie awaits, action to counteract the snooze of last night's "Iron Lady".  

Black Friday

We did our best to support the Black Friday cause today.  Dave bought 2  12x65 metric bolts to have at the  ready in case he twisted off the factory bolts when he replaced the last two shocks.  He didn't, so they'll go back tomorrow. He has freakishly strong arms, so having extra parts is always a good idea.  I bought a cube tap at the same hardware store so I could plug in my lamp, the computer and my lit palm tree.  Big spenders!

We got a few movies to watch this weekend and we were back home before lunch  (turkey, cranberry sauce, bacon, lettuce and onions on sourdough bread) .  The excitement went downhill from there.

He imitated a car mechanic and I spent my time picking out and buying Nutcracker Ballet tickets for San Diego, ordered a few things on-line (black friday, ya know) and otherwise frittered away another grand day.

This campground has filled up considerably and we're glad we were here early to pick out this great site.  Last night a huge 5th wheel pulled in next to us (back and forth, back and forth in the dark they went), so we're not quite as private as we were before.  Pull down the dark shades on that side, and POOF, they're gone!

Nothing worth photographing today.  Pretty soon we'll get on the road again and there will be interesting pictures for you to see.

it gets dark so early now, this is our cocktail view

  

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm back!!!  Thanks to all who sent me suggestions, I appreciate the time you took to try and help.  In the end I bought a bit more storage room (who knew I needed storage room) and the pictures seem to be loading just fine.   Here are a couple from a few days ago...

Lake Cahulla

ho hum, another sunset

Turkey breast in crockpot - check, pumpkin pie out of the oven - check, Thanksgiving phone call with Jesse - check, new shocks installed on the jeep - check, parade watched - check, dog show watched - check,
Yep, this must be Thanksgiving!   Now I'm going to go outside and do a bit of reading in the sun while I wait for dinner to finish cooking, it smells divine in here.

my unconventional Thanksgiving centerpiece

my grease monkey hard at work

my sweet boy, watching....

I hope everyone had the best day possible, I know we did.

Wednesday - Thanksgiving Eve

No pictures again, didn't take a single one today.  It was just an ordinary day, shopped a bit for dinner tomorrow, bought a new type of dog food,  ate lunch at Panera and downloaded a bunch of books on our Kindle's.

We shared a bottle of nice red wine with Nina and Paul and then we came inside for spaghetti and meatballs (just Dave and I - Nina and Paul are gluten/lactose intolerant, so dinner tomorrow could be a interesting).

I did a bit of Christmas shopping on line and bought a few decorations from Marshall's.  So stupid - I have so many decorations, lights, ornaments at home and didn't bring them but you can't have Christmas without a little cheer, so we'll just take our new purchases to Goodwill after New Years and someone else can enjoy them next year.

I haven't exactly figured out about Picasa Web Albums and what they have to do with me, but evidently I've used my "quota" (I didn't know I had one)  and no pictures will load on the blog until I upgrade....I need to think on this a bit and see if I understand what I'm doing before I do it (and give my credit card #), so be patient.   Any guidance will be gratefully accepted......And you all think I'm computer savy.

At any rate, Happy Thanksgiving to you all.    We love you and are  thankful to have so many good friends in our lives.

Tuesday - Here and there

We explored here and there, took a few new roads looking at homes and country clubs and resorts in a number of different areas.    We're falling in love with this desert the longer we stay.  Could we live here?  If so, where - Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Indio, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage?   We had lunch at a Del Web Country Club property where a fellow camper has just purchased a house.

lunch at Del Web

(Once again, I'm having problems publishing pictures.  Something about my free storage account being full....Hmmm I don't know what the computer is telling me, so no pictures today, sorry.)

Country Club living isn't for us.  It is beautiful, but way too many people around.  Ah well, its fun to look.

I'm going to end this blog for tonight and see if I can figure out what is happening to my pictures..

Monday

Guide Dogs of the Desert, Gillispie campus is just down Dillon Road from us so we set off to check it out today after lunch.  Found it!   Looks interesting, their white vans have pictures of labs, goldens and Poodles on the sides.  Hours are from 8:30 to 4:30 and although we were there at 3:00 no one seemed to be around and the lights were off inside.....We'll try again another time, after a quick phone call to find out the best time for a visit.  We actually started out a bit earlier, but the park's maintenance came by to take care of a problem we've been having with our 50 amp plug.  I won't go into details, but the electric service was problematic sometimes and it wasn't as it should be so we needed to stay close while they were working.  All fixed now.

The guide dog school is near the wind farm "forest" so we decided to explore that area since we had time.

Interstate 10 travels through the wind farm "forest"
its  a surreal landscape

Our blogger friends, Nina and Polly came tonight for a glass of wine and a romp.  They brought someone else with them.....Paul!  It was great to meet and talk with Nina's husband and get to know him a bit.  He has been in Florida on a family emergency for almost 3 weeks.   I'm sure he's real happy to get back to this calm and happy life.  We sat outside til well after dark and enjoyed good conversation.  The two younger dogs played happily and Sasha worked the crowd for cookies - until the coyotes started yodeling in the desert.  Polly was very unnerved by the sound and she and Lewis paced about nervously for quite awhile after it quieted down.

After our guests walked home, we went inside and ate our dinners. did dishes, and settled down for the night.

Some of you asked questions about the picture I posted of Monte, the Lowchen.  Tom sent me a picture of little Remy, Monte's grandmother, to show what they look like with a "pet" clip.  Remy came to live with the Bell's after she was retired from her brood duties and she's been a beloved member of their family ever since.

Remy 

beginnings of today's sunset

Sunday - BCA

Windy, sunny and warm, so what else is new?  Quail visited again today and a number of finch and sparrows enjoyed the birdie spa we set up under the tree.   (Don't tell them its only a tote top filled with water, ok?)

this little purple finch just finished splashing about in our new "spa"

I went to the grocery and video store, Dave sat and watched/listened to the last NASCAR race of the year (boo hoo).    We were going to drive over to the Guide Dogs of the Desert facility and watch a graduation, but the day got away from us and it was too late by the time we finished lunch.  Another day.

I had a great phone call with Robin while I was out.  She's enjoying a Thanksgiving visit from one of her sons and filled me in on the details of her new (to her) dog.  She's taken on her current dog's  (Remy) grandson.   He needs a new home and he seems to be fitting in the Bell home quite well.   He's, ahem, a bit chubby, but they are working on that and will start obedience classes this week.

His name is Monte (alternately called Count of Monte Crisco and the Full Monte) and is a Lowchen.  In the picture above he is clipped in the traditional Lion cut that Lowchen's are shown in.

Dave and I both talked with Jesse today and I "talked" with Cindy P, finding out that her new baby will be arriving in the beginning of December (Glory - a miniature wire-haired dachshund from Florida).   Fun times...