Watching the birds

Yesterday on the way to town Berta and I saw a Roadrunner and it actually quit running long enough for several photos (taken by Berta).

There’s a dry wash behind all the scrub
I felt bad this morning as their water was frozen, and so was mine. Once my hose thawed out I poured warm water on top of their iced bowls.

Sparrows, juncos and a quail
White-crowned and Chipping sparrows come in flocks with a few Dark-eyed Juncos mixed in, eat for a bit then usually scurry away when a Scrub Jay arrives.

Scrub jay
I may have seen a Western Bluebird, would be my first here although I have seen Mountain Bluebirds, and hoping it comes back for a photo. Or maybe because I didn’t have my glasses on it was a jay.

Female cardinal
The red and orange of the Northern Cardinal occasionally slips in.

Towhee in the bush and unknown
A few Rufous-sided Towhees hang around the edges. I don’t know the bird on the water bowl and couldn’t figure it out. Open for suggestions.

Quail and sparrows
Gambel quail bobble in and out.

Morning Doves
These two lonesome doves warily wandered through.

How many sparrows do you see?
It’s so nice to be back in my little RV watching the birds right outside my window from where all these pictures were taken. These cold days make for a rush of activity around the feeders. But they also keep me inside hovering over the heater. It’s not easy to keep an RV warm when it gets down into the 30s F. And there’s snow in the forecast by Monday. This snowbird really needs to fly further south. Costa Rica anybody? ;-)

5 sparrows on the feeders and 3 in the trees above.

Part 12 Death Valley National Park - Day 3 Titus Canyon

Road to the west end of Titus Canyon in Grapevine Mts
After the wind buffeting at Ubehebe Crater (I love that name), we drove to the mouth of Titus Canyon for a hike into “one of the largest and most scenically diverse canyons in the park” according to the park’s newspaper guide.

Entering Titus Canyon
A single lane gravel road in the dry wash can be traveled by foot or, one-way east to west 26 miles (41.84 km) by high clearance vehicles. Not us.

Mosaic pattern on canyon walls
We drove to the canyon’s mouth from the west on a short section of two-way road. I say road, when really it’s just the packed rock of the alluvial fan spreading infinite rounded pieces of the mountains beyond carried by water.

Jeremy in canyon
Our hike would be opposing traffic through this narrow 1.5 mile (2.4 km) canyon, down to 20 feet (6 meters) wide. It continues past a spring where Bighorn Sheep are often sighted, petroglyphs, and a ghost town called “Leadville” that only survived one year. But we didn’t get that far.

Bird’s nest in erosion hole
Imagine the power of water moving rock, described as a cement slurry, that it took to carve this canyon during the last 3 millioin years.

Water carved rock and Jeremy in background
How I would love to be somewhere safe, watching a giant flood pour through and feel the towering cliffs tremble. (Ok, so maybe I got carried away with the tremble.)

Earth Art
But then what about going back in geologic time some 1.8 billion years to see the settled multi-colored volcanic deposits and watch a fast forward of the mountains uplift followed by the erosion and carving of the canyon that left earth art upon the walls.

Gneiss rock

We saw no vehicles and very few people after entering the canyon. I could barely imagine driving thru this narrow cut.

We probably walked about a mile in and turned around as it was getting late in the afternoon and we still wanted to stop at the sand dunes, another Death Valley post soon to come.

SWF - Yet another Yarnell sunset

This was taken last week. The skies have been pretty clear the last few nights so no cloud colors.

However I did try to take a shot of the full moon. Not so good, even with the tripod and set on "night scene", my camera just doesn’t zoom in enough.

To see more skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.

Remember Whensday - Do you own a skort?

Summer 1970
Oh yes the skort is back, shorts with a flap in the front for the uninitiated. Keep any item of clothing long enough and it Will come back into fashion. I didn’t keep my skort. Oh well.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #26. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

BTW, I’m moving out of the little house and back into the 5th-wheel all clean and shinny looking inside and it won’t roll from here until the end of April when I return to the canyon. However, as soon as all the stuff is moved, within the next couple of days, I can feel a road trip coming with the truck camper. Maybe southern Arizona where it’s just a little bit warmer.

MWT - Moving Day

Old water heater in 5th-wheel
I was supposed to move out at the end of the month, but I procrastinate.

Old water heater
For the last three weeks I’ve emptied the 5th-wheel completely, scrubbed everything down and repainted the ceiling. Wouldn’t think that would be so hard in only 27 feet. But...when it’s cold in the mornings I’m not motivated to get a very early start. The inside of the RV was colder than the outside. So I’d usually work from 11-3. I know that’s only a half a day’s work. But I had all month.
New water heater going in
Someone new is moving into the little house and he told me I could take an extra week into December. Oh good, more time. Plus I’m waiting for this same person to put the new water heater in my RV. Not that I couldn’t live without the hot water as I did that for months this summer.

Living room moving in
OK, Monday morning new renter arrives and is basically homeless so I say I’ll move as much as I can today so he has a place to sleep. And the new water heater got put in.

Bedroom moving in
I spent a full 8 hour day shuttling boxes in Berta’s convenient garden wagon and still haven’t got it all. But I’m not going to start early today because I’m cold.

To see more of the world, or to share some of your own, go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.