Peaceful Valley Campground-The Power of Wind

We were scheduled to do a campground host job this summer at Peaceful Valley Campground, outside of Longmont Colorado, beginning May 25. But we have been delayed because of downed trees. You see, in November, this whole area was hit with very high winds, and did the winds do the number on the trees in Peaceful Valley Campground. We have heard estimates of the velocity of the wind anywhere between 100 and 200, micro burst, winds.

Now  you want to see some downed trees, take a look. As you go through these pictures, you will see quite few trees standing.  The very large majority of these trees have to be cut down as they are damaged to the point that they can fall down at any time. What a tragedy to see so many beautiful trees destroyed. But that is nature at work.

Updates on Ultimate Africa

Sorry for the delay in posting on the Ultimate Africa blog, but it has taken a huge amount of time getting all of the pictures organized. But it has been worth it, I think.

The new posting on Africa are starting to flow. There will be many more. Take a look

Back

Made it back from Africa tired after 31 hours of waiting for planes and flying in planes. But all is well.

For more on the trip take a look at our Africa blog at:

http://mickannafrica.wordpress.com/

If you would like to follow the Africa blog go to the blog and click on

Follow Blog via Email

This appears on the lower right hand side of the first page of the blog.

Later

 

 

 

RSS Feed fro Ultimate Africa Blog

Forgot to put this in the last posting. Here is the link for the RSS feed you can use to receive notification of new posting in the Ultimate Africa blog. Good luck

Were Going to Africa

Yea you read right. Saturday  we fly out from Tucson to head out for Africa. So not much is going to happen here but do check or new blog especially set up for the trip. Take a look at:

http://mickannafrica.wordpress.com/

See ya all later

 

 

 

Humming Bird Tagging

Yesterday we went to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area to watch the humming bird tagging. This is really cool. The first thing they have to do is catch the humming bird. What they do is rig a cage over the  feeder. When a bird goes into the feeder by remote contra they drop a cage which captures the bird, then they put the bird into a smaller cage for banding. Neat. Take a look.

The birds stay in this cage until the banding is completed.

When the bird is ready for banding, they reach in, grab the bird, and take all kinds of measurements, and band the bird. The following pictures will give you some kind of an idea as to what this is all about.

Of course the weigh the bird.

The bands are keep in this small box.

This is the actual band. Rather small.

After the bird is banded, they stuff the beak into a feeder for a little feeding.

Have you ever wanted to hear the heart beat of hummer? This would of been your chance.

When they are all done, the bird fly away with a belly full of food. What is interesting is that they have caught the same birds time and time again. One bird has been caught for ten years running. However there is one bird that is not too bright. He was caught twice in the same day. Or maybe he was just hungry.

Not only are there are a bunch of hummers but there are over 350 species of birds that fly in and out during the year. Here is a picture of some of these guys chowing down.

Now can you name them?

Easter Egg Time

I must say that time to time I do miss the good things in life. One of these is Easter Egg Dyeing. Of course it is much more fun dyeing  Easter Eggs as an adult because you have a lot more fun than dyeing eggs as a kid. You get to drink and eat more. Take a look.

Getting ready

And everyone is busy plotting and planning to win the big price.

Well some us are not really into this dyeing stuff

And the beat goes on.

As I said, the beat goes on

Walla, eggs

Once a Marine always a Marine.

And the judging begins.

Ah first place.

And second place. The prize, seaweed. Joy joy

Third place.

You may have noticed that my egg wasn’t in the running. This proves the judge was bribed. Oh well. Tine to eat.

But it is difficult to keep the local trash out.

Ah yes, and kids do you know where your parents are?

Finally An Update

Well, as you can see, it has been quite a while since the last post. Sorry for the delay in updating, but I do have a good excuse. While we were in Quartzsite, an old hernia which I have had all my adult life, acted up. So we had to cut short our visit there and headed to Tucson to see the Doc. 

Result on February 15 the good Doc sliced and diced and fixed the problem. And so I have received a clean bill of health and the only thing I can’t do, is wash the dishes. However, that did not cut any slack with my loving wife, Annie, so I continue to be at risk. Anyway that is my story and I am sticking to it.

The whole thing really caused a change in plans as now we have to drive back up to Lake Havasu for final warranty work on Moby, then back to Benson. Then April 19th, I think but close enough, we will board an airplane and begin our trip to Africa. 

So keep tuned.

 

 

Day 2 Boomerville

Well, Boomerville is growing. We now have over 30 rigs in and expect more. The population is expanding nicely. So things are moving along. One of the first event of the day is the morning walk which begins at 9:00 AM. So the adventurous head out. Four miles ain’t bad.

Here is a good shot of the Quartzsite Valley. Beautiful.

You would never imagine it, but Boomerville has its own airlines. Flights are rather “loose” and carrying capacity is rather light, but flights anyway.

Now if you have an airport you need a hanger. Fortunately, this hanger is portable.

Also on of the best things about Boomerville is meeting new and makeing  friends.

Here is command central. If you want to know what is going on you check out the white board.

You what to know what is happening today, take a look. This is sort of like the White House.

Well, that is it. Stay tuned.

Boomerville Comes Alive

Ah, January, a great month. This is were Boomerville, located five miles east of Quartzsite, AZ  comes alive to celebrate the huge RV Show, so they call it, in Quartzsite. More on Quartzsite later.

Yes hundreds of Boomers will flock here just like the butterflies flock to Central America for their gathering. Of course they get together for different reasons.

Well anyway, town meetings are necessary in order for Boomerville to function properly. That is the first order of business.

Here are two leading citizens.

More important decisions being made.

Boomerville is quite small now. When we got here there were only eight rigs. But it will grow quickly. We expect around 100 rigs here giver or take a few.

So stay tuned. Boomerville will only last for a couple of weeks. And then as is with the butterflies, we will all fly away to all parts of the this wonderful country of ours.