Category Archives: RV Living

The Happenings & Random Pictures

Posted on Saturday April 5th, 2014 by | 1 comment

It has been overcast with some wind today, but felt pretty nice….even if we didn’t take advantage of it….lol Planning on doing so tomorrow, need to break in my new hiking boots. =)

Coast Guard Cutter with the mountain background from earlier last week

Coast Guard Cutter with the mountain background from earlier last week

I did get some small things done off of my to do list today, so that was something. We got a walking jacket for the cats. We wanted got it for Drew first because he is the skinniest of the two so we knew it would fit him. Then we would try it on Sakura, so we know what size to order hers (it’ll be purple). He seemed to do ok outside, nervous, but excited….keep purring and looking towards hubby to make sure that he was still there. Now her, she didn’t care for it all….but when she was a kitten she got out for about 22hrs and was never happy with the outside or people since. Use to growl at them out the window at our house.

She isn't liking it very well at all. =("

She isn’t liking it very well at all. =(“

Drew in his walking jacket eating the grass.

Drew in his walking jacket eating the grass.

I spent Friday trying to contact a consignment store and the third party delivery service so we can empty our storage of our beloved bedroom set, dinning room set, living room table set. We really don’t want to give up our beloved king storage bed set, but why pay for it in storage if we aren’t going to use it for the next 10yrs? That is more then it is worth. =(

Beautiful Morning

Beautiful Morning

In process of phone calls, I looked down and saw that I was missing one of my accent diamonds on my wedding band part of my wedding/engagement ring set (I have them welded together). So not cool! =( I just had the prongs checked just over 2yrs ago, but this is not uncommon. Lucky I have my jewelry insured, so if there is any costs it is covered. And I have a jeweler that we totally trust. They are very reasonable and take very good care of us. We’ve gotten nearly all of my jewelry from them and they do my appraisals. The negative is that I had to ship my ring out to them since they are in Indiana. But it is worth it. They should get it Monday and hopefully, I’ll have it back by the end of next week. The other thing that drives me nuts is that I would have no ring on my finger, well, I solved that. Hubby gave me the blue topaz ring I wanted for our 10th, so I put that where my wedding/engagement ring goes. That is a HUGE help…..other wise I would lose it, not having something there.

Picked up a TV for the bedroom last week, now need to get another apple tv and figure out how we are going to set it up. Our rv is a 2002, so it was made with square box tvs in mind. But no matter what, it is one step closer where we can use our bed for cuddling late at night in front of the tv. We don’t like to spend that much time in bed, it actually hurts our bodies, but we miss the cuddling on our movie nights. So I’m looking forward to us getting it set up, once we figure it out. Friday night over the last few years have become our movie night after we watch Real Time with Bill Mahr.

Out birding a few weeks ago

Out birding a few weeks ago

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Posted in cat's... both live and dead..., Everyday Stuff, Pics, RV Living, what the hell kind of pictures are these?

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Busy, Busy

Posted on Sunday March 30th, 2014 by | 1 comment

Damn, time is flying by even quicker then ever.

Before we left AZ, I needed something to make it easier for planning our trip and my to dos……I need something that I can see one week at a time and also month at a time. Found this assignment planner at an office store that has been a huge help since.

I love it! With the month view, I could put in where we were going to be on what date and the how much each place would cost for our budgeting. With the week view, it gave me enough room on the days to list what I needed to get done.

I have no idea why I didn’t think about one of these kind of planners before…..Purdue had one called the Mortar Board that I loved using when I was there.

Every weekend, I start laying out what I need to get done. I have a list for work, our personal stuff and our things around here. I have been totally utilizing this more then ever. Especially since I’ve been able to get focused finally.

With using my planner, I’ve been trying to get some of our spring cleaning done, little at a time. Totally attacked the bathroom the other day, love going in there and seeing how clean it is, I’ve attacked some of our windows, and got the rig vacuumed (got our dyson back…yes!). Still need to finish cleaning the vacuum, because it looks like it was use on wet stuff. But we got a good part of it cleaned. Been trying to reorganize stuff…it is a constant battle when you live in a box, we are always trying to improve it.

Because we live the full time rv life, unless a place has wifi….which is very unusual and not dependable….we have to use MiFi hotspots. Those are bandwidth limited, which is why I don’t put even one cam on anymore.

We have one 20GB one that works on Verizon and one that is 10GB that is on ATT. Wellll…we totally blew through our 20GB this month =( I think it was doing our taxes online with turbo tax. The only good thing is that the ATT reset the next day after the 20GB closed down. The problem with ATT is that if you go over the 10GB, it is $15 a GB and that can get very expensive, very fast.

We had been planning on getting another 20GB Verizon one anyway and with everything timing itself, we ended up getting it. They were suppose to prorate the remaining month, but since we ordered it so late in the month and they weren’t sure when we would get it, they didn’t charge us. Which is sweet. We got 20GB to use until the 1st for free….grin Very helpful.

And now we are giving ATT a break. I normally use that for work stuff only. But for now, with 20GB free, I just using that one and going from there.

That 20GB timed itself very well. Saw that Mac was offering a free operating system update…..unlike windows, I don’t feel the pressure to update because it works so well…..so forgot that it has been offered for awhile. The update was a 5GB download, so I took it. I kind of like it once I got around some bugs.

The first bug was that it wasn’t recognizing my second monitor. Now I use this for my book keeping and support, doesn’t need to be fancy or very high def. So I have a simple AOC E1649FWU 16″ USB-Powered Portable LED Monitor….just a plug and play. After googling, I hit up apple chat support and they were extremely helpful and gave me the link for the software updated I needed. I was very relieved to have that working.

There is no way I can work very well without it anymore, I have no idea how I did it before.

The next bug was my notes in my mail client disappeared…icks!!!

Hit up support, we were going to do a call today, but I finally found that they took the notes out of the mail client and they are their own separate app. With all my work notes on there, I was very, very happy to find them.

Due to that, I’ve found a new app called SimpleNote that is much easier to use, I can use on my Mac, iPad and iPhone without accidentally deleting one with a sync. Spent the day cleaning out my notes and copying them over, so now I have them in two spots….but I love getting things more organized.

The Maverick update helped get some of the bugs out of my mail client that I have when I try I use my work email that uses MS Exchange. There are little changes that I can’t pinpoint, but I do like. I seem to be running faster and smoother now.

That is how I’ve spent my weekend. =)

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A Month of Catching Up!

Posted on Friday July 5th, 2013 by | Comments Off on A Month of Catching Up!

I didn’t realize it has been almost a month since I last did a post. I know I’ve been working on the blog, but that has been all in the backend so I totally lost track of time. I’ve had to go find my last post just to get a sense of what is has happen since.

I should be doing work voice mails, but we just had a storm cloud move through…no rain, unfortunately…..and it has finally cooled down from 91.4 to 79 and the humidity has dropped nicely…in fact the breeze can give a chill. Most pleasant it has been mid day in a long while, so I’m sitting outside and enjoying it. ToRn is trying to get some good shots of hummingbirds and I’m typing this up….grin

I know ToRn has done some blogging about this, but it helps me to figure out the timeline and what I’m going to say…so bear with me and my repeats.

We went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson in June. That was really cool and we highly recommend it. It is a combination museum, zoo and botanical garden. 85% of it is outside, so make sure you take water, wear a hat and lots of sunscreen. Saw the fattest black bear we have ever seen….no black bear in the wild gets that big….lol Saw the cutest gray fox and very cool ocelot. ToRn posted pictures here: <a href=”http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/06/13/arizona-sonora-desert-museum/” target=”_blank”>http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/06/13/arizona-sonora-desert-museum/</a>

It was much bigger then we thought and spent more time there then planned. But we still got to the Saguaro National Park, the west unit, just much later and much hotter….lol…..triple digits according to the Jeep. We went and saw the petroglyphs and got ourselves new sun hats at the visitor center. Now we look like typical birders…..LOL….but the hats are much lighter and covers the back of your neck and we got them in our favorite colors, I got my purple and ToRn got his green.

Found our first fresh kill on June 15th. It looked like it was a fawn. Since it was out in the open, we believe it was from a pack of coyotes, mountain lions would drag it back to the treeline and try to bury some of it to keep for later. We found it in the morning and I didn’t see any vultures the evening before when I did my walk that we think it was killed over night. The bones were still “juicy” but everything picked cleaned or on it’s way to clean. Now it looks like it has been there for several months it is so bleached and dried.

For awhile there we had 3 wild turkeys hanging around. If you ever had seen the movie Dark Crystal they reminded me of those 3 mystics, hunched all over…lol Last 2 weeks we’ve only been seeing 2 of them. Not sure if one of them became someone’s dinner.

Finally been seeing an occasional bobcat….and all without going out on a hike. ToRn saw one when I was out on a hike, just walking in front of the rig, about 30ft away. Of course, I had the camera as he looked for it before he remembered and grabbed the video camera. We got it posted : <a href=”http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/06/21/last-nights-bobcat/” target=”_blank”>http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/06/21/last-nights-bobcat/</a>

Then a few nights ago, we saw a bobcat bouncing in the grass in the middle of the drive away. The little bugger was hunting. =)

Yesterday, we had a visitor say that they saw a small black bear. About a year old, more chestnut colored, acting like it should and running from people. Then a staffer saw it running across the road after we were just out looking for it this morning…LOL So ToRn went back out later, didn’t find it, but got more critter pictures. =)

Hummingbirds have really picked back up. They are going nuts right now. We have broad-bill, violet crown and black chinned on a regular basis. The rufus showed up a few days ago. Larry at Patons told us that they have 2 magnificents hanging around there. Got the feeling we are going to be taking a trip down there…lol

Finally got the iBird Pro app for our iPhone and iPad. They also have a new one out just for iPad only, called Waite’s Birds…free to download with 50 different birds, the cost of getting them all is normally $49.99 but we got it on sale for $9.99! I LOVE sales. What is really cool about it, is over a month ago we had some of the people from iBird Pro, they all have some of their bird pictures in there and the guy that does support was showing me the new one while it was in beta. Showing all the cool things it does. So I’ve been looking for it, I really wanted to get it while it was on sale….so I’m tickled by that….grin

We went to the small parade Patagonia has for the 4th. Kind of reminds of our small one of Troutdale Summerfest. But with a few differences….like here in Patagonia, you are encouraged to bring your water guns and balloons…lol It is the only day of the year you get to throw water balloons at the town marshal and the parade participants return the favor….grin With the heat and climate here I can full understand that, it was hot. And they “hung” the Grand Marshall…lol

We’ve had one actually thunderstorm and a few rumbles here and there. Boy, our kitties do NOT like them. They totally go into hiding, we feel so bad for them. They didn’t grow up with thunderstorms in our part of Oregon. I’m so hoping they start doing much better with them by the time we leave Arizona.

Wow, this turned out much longer then I expected and I probably missed something. Nothing unusual there….grin

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Posted in Everyday Stuff, Hiking/Camping, RV Living, Travels

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Critters, Preserve & Satellite

Posted on Sunday June 9th, 2013 by | Comments Off on Critters, Preserve & Satellite

After a few exciting weeks of big critter spotting, it has slowed down, other then seeing a lot of deer (some are starting their antlers) and some javelinas.

Even though it is still cool at 6:30am, I haven’t seen any bobcats since the 2nd and I haven’t been seeing the coyotes at sunset like I was. It has gotten much warmer then it was, so that may be effecting it. We hit 99 the other day. Or it could be that time of year on the changing of animal activity or that we had more critters that were passing through due to the fire we had on the mountain a few miles away.

I can tell what I saw when it was hopping….grin Which always happened when I didn’t have the camera, rolling eyes.

A few weeks ago we had an issue with a neighboring ranch herd of cattle coming on the preserve. After the Matt got them off of the property, we had an issue for a about a week of cow piles and tracks being left everywhere and a spotting of a big red bull by visitors. He was coming on by the way of the creek and was claiming it has his terriority. On one of my morning walks on the edge of the clearing I saw a huge red creature….which turned out to be the bull. He just took his sweet time munching and walking as if he owned the place….LOL I followed from a distance, texting updates of his location until he crossed the creek, laid down and just looked at me like “what?” They got him back to his own property and enforced the fencing in the creek. So far, fingers crossed, no more signs that he has returned.

We were still seeing the owl and one her hatchlings until about a week ago. The hatchling was no longer just a fuzz ball of a head and was getting some form. I even had one evening where mom and hatchling were both staring at me, looking like duplicates of the same owl, except the young one was a smaller version…that was cute.

I had a 2 coyotes walking parallel to me about 40ft away one evening, they just looked at me and saw that I was no threat and kept on. Then the next night and accidentally scared one out of the bush….I heard something and then next thing I know I saw it briefly like an action photo of coyote from nose to tail as he took off away from me.

This morning I ended up with a pack of javelina heading directly towards me on the trail. They have really bad eye sight and unless the you are noisy or the wind is going in the right direction, they won’t know you were there. They were about 20ft away and since I had no where to go, I started talking to them, which helped stop them in their tracks. The lead one stood there trying to smell me and wasn’t succeeding. We all stood there for about 10min, I was hoping that they would move with me talking to them. It wasn’t until I moved off the trail into the dry leaves, so I could make more noise, kept talking to them and started walking to them did they move. Well, can’t call it moving, they scattered with their heckles raised….lol They are very skittish and it doesn’t take much to get them to move, you just don’t want them charging you….they are FAST.

The COOLEST thing that I’ve seen that I’m upset that didn’t have either a still or a video camera. On June 2nd I was on a totally different part of the trail and in the the dried bush I saw a big jump, it was a bobcat pouncing! He was totally blending in if it wasn’t for his pounce. Had all the same expressions of our kitties when hunting, his tail was wagging like crazy. I was 30ft away and he didn’t have clue. The rest of the trail is a marshy and is surrounded by green grass about thigh high, when he was done, he hopped on the trail and started walking towards me! It wasn’t until he came around the bend, about 20ft from me that he saw me. He just froze, his ear twitched and he starred….lol Then quickly turned around and walked a fast pace away, until he disappeared. It was so cool!!

We are enjoying ourselves, but I do have to say that it makes us really miss Oregon. You get so tired of the rain at the end of spring and you want it to stop and when Oregon hit is dry season it is so stunning, we miss the snow capped mountains. We are so looking forward to monsoon season here because we miss the rain, not looking forward to the very high humidity with the heat, but the monsoons will make it the landscape pop.

We really like the people here at the Nature Conservancy Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. Everyone here is friendly and doesn’t have an issue with answering questions and we are learning a lot. Which is what we want…to learn. I really need to hang out more when Matt does talks with groups that come, those are loaded with info.

We are given a free range on expressing ideas and helping. We’ve been working on the retail part of the visitor center. We got some product transferred over, rearranged the pictures, reorganized product and slowly going through some of the older info and cleaning it out. Pretty happy how it is looking.

We finally got our satellite for directv last week. Got the NFL package so we can get our Colts & Saints….grin Not happy that we don’t have the main networks….we have to get a waiver and prove that we are mobile so we can the East/West coast stations of them. Was really looking forward to our ABC news. Then to do that, we have to submit the info by snail mail…..rolling eyes. According to priority mail they got it Saturday and we should know in 11-14 business days if we are getting them….which shouldn’t be an issue, it is the wait that is the real pain…lol

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Cats & Cattle

Posted on Saturday May 25th, 2013 by | Comments Off on Cats & Cattle

We are totally enjoying ourselves here at the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve.

I’ve been going on morning walks about 6:30am, because I really, really want to see a bobcat. I finally got my wish on the 16th. I saw an animal jumping away over the trail in front of me. It didn’t have a long hairy tail and sure didn’t move like a coyote, it moved like a cat! I was so psyched!! But after a few days I felt like I dreamt it because it moved so fast and I just got a glance at it, not a good long look. So I’ve been determined that I was going to see another one, so taking my early morning and sunset walks when critters are the most active.

On the 22nd I got to see two bobcats on my morning walk. I was looking across a clearing and I saw two “short” animals, at first I was thinking of javelina, but then they ran towards each other to greet and circle each other. They didn’t move like either javelina or coyote….it was a cat movement. I got to see two bobcats!!! Of course, I had no camera or binoculars…..lol After they greeted each other one started walking in one direction along the tree line and the other in the opposite way, more in my direction. The one in my direction stopped a few times, looked as if he was sunning himself and looked as if he was rolling around like our kitties do…..LOL

Well…with no camera or binoculars I’ve been more determined to see them again. Not sure if I’ll carry a camera, because it would need to be one the SLRs and on my morning walks, I’m really trying to move fast to get my heart rate up. But I can carry the small binoculars of the preserve (we’ll be getting our own soon). Now with my luck I won’t see them again since I was prepared, but I was lucky today! I saw a critter sitting in the clearing, not too far where I saw them last time. It was kind of hard, even with the binoculars, to see it because the grass is so high. I could see that the nose was short, so not a coyote and the ears weren’t that big, so not a deer. It was a cat!

Now the question was what kind of cat. I texted ToRn and he stated it he was on his way. I was on one side of the clearing and ToRn ended up on the other. With the camera, ToRn was able to get a few pictures and clean them up enough to get some good looks at him….and it was a bobcat….grin

ToRn headed back to the trail to try and outflank him so he could get a better shot and as he is heading down a trail he looks up and about literally runs into a mountain lion! The lion just looked at him like “I’m not afraid of you” They just looked at each other, ToRn texted me a pic and then took more pictures until the lion decides to walk off.

I’m so jealous! The ironies of this is that I just laminated and posted an article in the visitor center’s office about the last sighting from Dec, the preserves motion camera got a blurred rear-end and tail of one a couple of weeks ago and yesterday a couple saw the lion just walking along the trail yesterday.

The really funny part is later this morning ToRn was doing dishes and Drew decided to jump on his back. He was not wearing his normal hoodie and ended up with a lot of cat scratches. Who knew that he was safer outside with the wild cats? LOL

We really had an exciting beginning of the day today and we are very please by that. To see the pictures that ToRn got you have to check out his post : http://wherethehellarewe.com/2013/05/25/day-of-the-cats/

A few days ago, ToRn looked out the bedroom window and says “We have cows out there” with surprise. We had a small herd of 7 cattle including a big bull just out there eating the grass. They left their ranch through the creek. The preserve manager Matt has a couple of cattle dogs and he came over to herd them out. ToRn and I have never seen dogs work herding in person. That was really cool.

Ever since then we’ve been finding fresh cow pies…rolling eyes. Matt thinks we have a bull that has claimed this as his territory and is pushing his way through the now enforce “T” fence on the creek to make his rounds. We have over 300 wooded acres in this part of the preserve and so far we haven’t found him yet to drive him out. But I keep finding fresh tracks and scat in the morning.

Now I just learned today that in AZ you are responsible for fencing them OUT…the owners are not responsible for fencing them IN! That makes no sense and lets just say I totally DISAGREE with that…ggeezz.

I have a few more critters to talk about, but this post is long enough…..grin

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