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The air was a little chilly and the skies
overcast with the promise of sun when we stepped out for a walk. So do I
brave the chill and hope I can walk fast enough to get warm or do I just wear
the fleece and take the chance of getting overheated? These are honest questions to ask yourself
because once the sun pops out from behind the clouds it can get hot and you’ll
be carrying whatever outerwear you wore to ward off the chill...even in the
morning before the sun hits full heat. Just
sayin’....
--------------------
Kim took the whacked out trailer jack off,
came over to show me what needing fixing and said, “Now’s the time for your
sledge hammer idea.” (That was my repair
suggestion back in Quartzsite...smack it with a sledge.) Earlier when talking about it with Ryan, he had offered Kim the use
of his workshop for whatever repairs he might need to do so Kim headed up in
search of a sledge hammer. Took a couple
of whacks at the part that was bent and voila! the trailer jack is now back in
the original position and fully functional. It's a thing of beauty! But it means is that when the trailer is hitched to the
truck we have to be extra aware when opening the tailgate. No matter because “the jack won’t catch on
the road anymore”, he said with a smile. 😊 Now he’s under the trailer
trying to determine what’s causing the sudden water leak. At this point my suggestion would be duct tape
instead of a sledge hammer. 😏
--------------------
I decided to go up to the wi-fi hut to bird
watch. Every year the saguaros up by the
clubhouse are used as nesting sites by birds.
There are multiple holes, mostly near the tops of the cactuses, but I’ve
only seen one hole have any bird action.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get pictures of the wrens fly in carrying
nesting material. After a few minutes of
just watching, camera ready, I saw a familiar sight: the wrens fly to the top of
a nearby saguaro, look around and then fly into their nesting hole. I’ve seen
them do that many times in the years we’ve been coming here. BUT...I also saw a pair of another type of
bird fly into a hole in a different cactus.
Two active bird holes this year.
Bonus!! I searched Arizona birds online and looked for
something similar to the picture I took...I believe it’s a European Starling
but I’ll have Kim double check when he comes in. **Kim agreed that it was a
European Starling.**
It was difficult to know which hole to watch
because birds were going in and out of both...so much for me to see. I happened to have my camera on high speed
consecutive shoot and pointed at the wren area when a wren landed on the nearby
saguaro in preparation to fly into the hole...but before that could happen a
starling landed on top of the saguaro also.
There’s not enough room up there for both birds and it happened so fast that
it looked like the starling just pushed the wren off the cactus. However it occurred the wren was able to
recover and fly to the edge of the hole. The starling then cocked his head to
the side like he was confused about the whole thing. I wasn’t quick enough on the shutter to get
the starling landing but I managed to capture the rest of it.
I
would love to get a peek inside one of the holes to see the size of the nest
area and to see if one outside hole serves as an entrance to multiple nests. That might come under that heading of
harassing the wildlife.
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This park doesn’t allow generators because of
the noise factor. Kim has his telescope
set up in the back corner of the park a good distance from any of the trailers
and Ryan is allowing Kim to use our generator out there to power his telescope
equipment. Last year Kim used his truck;
the generator makes more sense. If
anyone wonders “why does he get to use a generator and I don’t” Ryan intends to
tell them that that’s a courtesy extended to those who wish to stargaze. I think Ryan and Kim are buddies.
--------------------
Made a run to town for gas for the generator
and to fuel up the truck. Swung by the
store to check on the piggy cookies...not in yet but there was a pastry called
Milk Candy or Jamoncillo, which looked like a big sugar cookie. Who doesn’t like sugar cookies? Took one of the ‘sugar cookies’ out of
package and was dismayed to see that it may have a filling. Oh, great! Tentatively took a bite...yes, it did have a
filling but it was not unpleasant and it definitely was not a sugar cookie. Flavor was familiar but couldn’t quite put a
name to it...sort of like caramel but not and while it looked sort of like pumpkin,
it wasn’t. Kim told me to check the
ingredients; there wasn’t any flavor listed but Banking Soda was in the ingredient list. Methinks that’s a misprint unless it’s the
elusive flavor ingredient. 😉
I searched Jamoncillo and only found
recipes; I then searched for milk
candy and found this: Dulce de
leche is basically a caramelized sweetened milk.
It's a Spanish phrase and it literally means “candy made of milk”.
Ok, forget the technical terms, dulce de leche is a liquid
gold. It's so lusciously creamy and sweet with toffee like
flavor. Toffee...that’s the
mystery flavor. Think Werther’s candy surrounded
by pastry. And the term ‘dulce de leche’
is familiar so I must have researched this in the past.
--------------------
Water leak update #1: My basic tool kit would include duct
tape, WD-40, and a hammer. Kim’s kit
usually has what he needs to make repairs, including Shoe Goo. He is a huge believer in Shoe Goo. After checking around under the trailer, he
thinks the leak is coming from a 45o elbow that’s glued in. The repair could involve figuring out and
buying the necessary type of PVC, cutting pipes, installing the new elbow, etc.
OR he could just Shoe-Goo the shit out of it and see if that works. (His words, not mine.) It’s just a drain
line, there’s no pressure, so he’s very optimistic about the Shoe Goo fix. Now it’s off to buy some more Shoe Goo
because he thinks the partial tube he has won’t be enough.
--------------------
We
decided to take the bikes to Casa Grande for the Shoe Goo which as it turns out
he couldn’t get...he bought JB Water Weld instead. Took the ‘back way’ in and were undecided
which way to take home. Kim didn’t want
to retrace our route in because we’d be heading right into the sun...I didn’t
want to take I-10 back...Kim wanted to get back so he could get the repair done
before dark...I wanted to take a slightly longer ride. So we compromised...he jumped on the highway and
I rode on to find the back way into Eloy.
He was done with
smearing the pipe and cleaning up as I rode in. Now it has to dry and we’ll see if it worked.
--------------------
The telescope has been set up since yesterday afternoon but last night
was cloudy. Kim is out there right now
trying to do a polar alignment and if everything is in working order will try to
image something. Last I heard he was
undecided what to do first. Well, right
now, finding Polaris, the North Star, is what he has to do first. It was being a little elusive when I was out
there 20 minutes ago. And the generator
wasn’t a noise issue at all...Kim had it back in the corner and the position of
the truck acted as a noise barrier also.
**Polaris has been found! Kim
reports that all is good out in telescope land...even took a couple of test
images.**
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On my way back from Casa Grande I decided to check out the westbound
frontage road as I didn’t know what modifications had been made with the
reconfiguration of I-10. Well, it merges
with the exit ramp for Exit 211 for Picacho.
So now the frontage roads running between exit 211 (Picacho) and exit 219
(Picacho Peak State Park) have no access to each other since the underpasses
are gone. It might be more inconvenient
but it’s certainly safer.
--------------------
Water
leak update #2: No update tonight...Kim is going to wait until
daylight to check whether his fix worked.
--------------------
Bike miles today: 50
Total miles: 492
 |
| Tuesday's bike route |
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