Yuma Wetlands

The next day, going to the Yuma Wetlands was a real treat. Brock and I met Al and Helga, birding friends of his, there at the park. We walked around and saw a lot of birds and have pictures to prove it. The problem is that I can't remember the names like I'm supposed to. The Riverside RV Park is adjacent to this place and I'm sure has lots of birders in residence. This is a picture of my companions for the day: Brock, Helga, and Al.

Al was the leader and other than birds this old car was a pretty interesting sight.

I have two pictures of this yellow bird on these red flowers. I guess I need to get more technical and be able to name the bird and the flowers. Oh well, in the meantime, just enjoy the pretty pictures.

This is a humming bird on her nest.

Again, I don't know what this bird is called, but he was very cooperative.

We see a lot of great blue herons at the lake where I live, but this is a green heron. I think the battery in the Nikon died and I didn't have the extra on  me, so that's why I couldn't get closer.

Egrets love to pose and this guy was no exception.

The ironwood tree reminds me of our mesquite, and they do have mesquite here also. They are blooming right  now, and had to get a picture.

Last Trip to Alagadones

Last Wednesday, my friend June and I went to Mexico to pick up her new glasses. I did some shopping and got some metal art for the patio and some new earrings. We had a great lunch at El Paraiso, and enjoyed the band and atmosphere. I found some more goodies that I thought I might buy, but couldn't afford that day.

After that, it was time to head back to the good old USA, but it takes a looong time for them to let you in: an hour and a half standing in line in the sun. I felt faint and just ran to the head of the  line and asked to be next. I guess my pale face must have scared everyone, so they let me right through. After I walked to the parking lot, I was feeling a little better, but June still brought her car around and picked me up. Wow! I've decided I can get some of the goodies that I was thinking about buying there from my amigo in Hatch. Here's a picture of the rickshaw you can hire for $5. In the heat I think it's worth it.

Continuing Castle Dome

My busy self had to leave to go have burgers and wine at the VFW, so I'm continuing where I left off. The following pictures are of the facilities in the bunk house. Ah, the good old days!

I particularly liked the clothing of that era, and here's a picture of a shoe that was on the bench in a cobbler's shop.

Across the road from the reconstructed site was the actual site. At the very entrance, someone with a great sense of humor constructed these grave sites.

After this, we stopped for a late lunch at Martinez Lake where I neglected to take pictures of the duck and mallards. Great trip!

Castle Dome Mine

Brock and I finally made it to the historic ghost town/tourist trap of Castle Dome Mine a couple Saturdays ago. It was really quite interesting; mine memorabilia from different places in the area and a reconstruction of the actual town. I have over 100 pictures, but I'm just sharing the most interesting.

Hotel

Antique Golf Cart

Barber Shop





Busy Bee

I got another "blogless" complaint. This time from my daughter Tammy. I've been birding with my friend Brock down by the casino near the Colorado River. Here's what I saw.

Then my hiking group had its end-of-the-season picnic at Baker's Tanks  not too far from Wellton. We had had rain about 10 days before, so the tanks were quite full. This is a recreation area on the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range, and you had to have pass to be there. A few of us didn't including me. The ranger came along, but Diane and Ralph got him interested in talking about all he knew about the area, so I didn't end up in jail.

The picture below is of my friend Joyce next to the roots of a palo verde tree. The tree is at the top of the wash.

This is my friend Norma in her Marilyn Monroe pose. This is Jim pretending to put his arm around his wife Bev. They spent last year at Lakeside RV Park in Elephant Butte and know the area well. They are also my new neighbors for the next week since I moved to a new spot in the park.

This is a purple flower-weed that everyone was going crazy over because it was so small. I pull them out of my gravel all the time.

This is the picnic area and fellow hikers enjoying the day.

Singles Hike

I was late getting to kareoke Friday evening and missed Dale's singing. He claims he didn't do well, and no one argued with him. Barb, Frances, and Carrie were also there. There weren't many people, because there was a dance over at Tier Drop RV Park just up the road.

Saturday June, Carrie and Curtis went on the Dome Mine trip. The rest of us elected  not to go due to icky weather. They reported back that they had a good tour and good guide. Some of us are planning on doing it in the few weeks we have remaining.

Yesterday, we were supposed to hike to some petroglyphs on the backside of "A" mountain out by Roll. I never saw any markings, but it was fun testing our endurance. Here are some pictures.

This is a rock still holding rain from the  nice steady one we had Saturday night.

This is Norma, Quinten, and Carrie negotiating the sometimes treacherous path.

This is Brock. He's a bird watcher. Notice the binoculars. He actually saw a bird that he hadn't seen before, so he ended up glad he came along.

This is the cross on the other side of the mountain. There's a path up to it, but none of us felt the urge.

This is an abandoned cemetery that was along side the road at the foot of the mountain. There were five marked graves.

Here's the gang: Barb, Carrie,  Norma, Quinten, and Curtis. Brock is across the road looking for more birds.

I noticed that I got another follower for my blog: my son-in-law Robert. That's great! It's important for my kids to see how much fun I'm having.

Valentine's Day

A few of us singles did show up to share a drink and talk about some of our future plans. Time is slipping away from us and we've been discussing an "end of the season" party. What are we going to eat? We know there will be sufficient drinking. Here are pictures of our fun-loving valentine participants. This is Norma and Quinten..

This is June and Fran.

This is Brock and Curtis.

Brock was nice enough to give us all boxes of chocolate. I'm probably missing a few people, but I'll be sure to include them at another time. Last night we went to the Burger Fry at the VFW, and ate, drank, and shared some lies all for a reasonable price. We'll see what happens at kareoke Friday evening.