Pretty November Blooms

 The red blooms are fairy dusters.  Up close they look like old fashioned dusters.  When we volunteered at the wildlife refuge there was a fairy duster bush by the front entrance.  The desert tortoise had his home up by the entrance as well.  He loved being fed the fairy duster blooms.  They were like candy to him.  The biologist warned us all not to feed him too many or it would make him sick.  The only time the turtle moved with any speed was when you tempted him with a fairy duster.

The orange and yellow flowers are the shape of trumpets.  The hummingbirds can reach in them and get the nectar.  Bees also fly down into them.  Our friends have their RV on a rental lot like ours only theirs has these beautiful flowering bushes.   We have an ocotillo bush that might get green leaves on it and red flowers on the top once while we are here.  We also have small palm trees but they don't flower.   The bushes are pretty in bloom but they also provide cover for mice and rats and other critters so we would just as soon not have any on our lot.  We just enjoy everyone else's.

Boondocking in the desert

not sure my little video works

 Many people like to take their RV's out in the desert and camp.  There are designated places where this is allowed and it is popular.  You can park in these areas with a permit from BLM for the winter months.  The last time I heard the permit cost $180 so you are camping for about a dollar a day.  You get access to water to fill your tank.  There is a dump station you can use to dump your black water and there is a place to bring your garbage.  It's a pretty good deal if you like to test your ability to live off the grid.

The RVer's that stay out here have a variety of power sources.  They have a generator which requires gas to run although there is a new one out that runs on propane.  You will see rigs with lots of solar panels mounted on them or portable solar panels set up on the ground.  These attach to on board batteries that run almost everything.  We are also starting to see more small three bladed wind generators that folks are using for a little power.  I'm not sure how quiet is out there in the mornings and evenings when people are running their generators.  I would want to be off by myself away from noise but you have to camp in designated areas and when it gets really busy down here there are RVs everywhere.  Right now it is kind of sparse.  I'm not sure if people are waiting to come down after the holidays or if covid has them staying home.   

 

Gold and where we find it

 Our little bit of gold from all of our digging when we were in Quartzsite.  It's pretty and every little grain adds up but oh its a lot of work digging.  We now have about five hundred dollars worth that we have dug ourselves or paid for by buying bags and pails of dirt with gold salted in it.  That is not really a lot for the number of years we have been at it but it is something to do and one of the few hobbies that can actually pay you back -- maybe--

We are now back in Yuma and are going out on the California side of the Colorado River to dig.  It is pretty and very quiet out there except for the occasional braying of a wild donkey.  The mountains in the background are either the Cargo Muchacho or Chocolate mountains.  Both are prettty and challenge most peoples idea of a desert.  I always thought desert meant dried up and flat looking ground but it is full of hills, mountains, washes and lots of greenery if you take the time to look.    

Neighborhood Birds

 I have been feeding the hummingbirds but haven't got any pictures of them.  They are just too fast.  I did get the Gila Woodpecker sitting in the Ocotillo bush.  It amazes me that birds can perch in the prickly bush.  There are even bird nests in there.  The yellow rumped warbler was hanging around too.  Both of these birds were trying to get to the sweet  juice in the hummingbird feeder.  The Gila woodpecker hangs upside down on the bird feeder and tries to stick his long bill into the feeder.  It doesn't work but some of the juice does come out with all of the teeter tottering the bird feeder does from the bird hanging on for dear life.  The warbler was doing the same thing.  

Some other little warblers and finches showed up and were also trying to get something from the feeder.  I put out a pan of sweet water hoping to get the birds to go there instead of trying for the hummingbird feeder.  Some of the birds have used it but then they still try to get at the feeder so I give up.  Of course the hummingbirds are quite put out by these big birds trying to get at their food.  They actually will try to scare off the big birds.  It's pretty funny to see the tiny hummingbirds chasing the bigger birds around the Ocotillo bush.   

Back in Yuma

 We are settled back into our spot in the foothills of Yuma.  We don't stay in an RV park instead we rent a lot.  Renting half of a lot is very popular here and can be less expensive than a park.  If you like to use the pool, play cards, shuffleboard, pickleball, etc. than you are better off in a park.   Our lot has a storage shed with a washer in it and room to store some of our stuff.  Normally, there is another RV next to us where the truck is parked but our Canadian neighbors aren't able to come yet.  

The park our friends stay in usually is at least half full with Canadians but it is looking pretty empty so far.   A few people we know aren't coming down opting stay up north in their house instead of down here in their RV.  They have already had a few blasts of winter up north.  I'm sure they are missing the heat that we are enjoying.  The temps here are in the nineties but that changes this weekend when it will drop to the low seventies.