Woke to a sunny day. I knew the mornings could be cool but I put shorts on anyway. Big mistake! Walked on the frontage road this morning. Heading out was fine but coming back was brutal because of the wind. My bare legs were not happy with me. I couldn’t walk fast enough to warm them against the coolness the wind.
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On
the drive from New Mexico we realized both of the truck’s high beams were burnt
out. Kim spent part of the afternoon
tackling the job of replacing the bulbs.
Not difficult just time consuming.
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We
put up a hummingbird feeder yesterday and this morning some hummers were
already coming to it. Time to have some
fun.
While Kim was messin’ with the truck I decided to see how far I could stretch technology. My camera has a wi-fi setting that enables my phone to become a remote control for taking pictures. Put my camera on a tripod for stability and focused it on the feeder; then I connected it to my phone which allowed me to see whatever my camera was seeing.
Then I got cold sitting in the shade of the
camper so I went inside to change into jeans, taking my phone with me. I put it on the bed and was still able to
monitor what was going on outside while changing my clothes. Pretty slick.
Back outside I could see the picture on my phone wiggle occasionally
which meant that the camera was being affected by the wind. I moved the camera table to the back of the
camper; then I moved my chair around to the other side of the camper where I was in full sun. I was out of view of both the camera and
feeder but still watching the action on my phone. Or at least I was trying to watch it; I may
have snoozed a time or two while sitting in the warmth of the sun. 😴
I
amused myself for about an hour and a half just seeing what was possible. The hummers came in several times...got
excellent quality pictures and video. Interestingly,
before I headed inside the hummer would start to dart my way, then would pull
up short and fly back to the tree, like it was confused. I believe that something about me was making
it think I was a source of nectar. I was
wearing a black fleece but had purple earbuds and my purple Kindle was on my
lap. Maybe their eyesight isn’t the
greatest....
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I don’t have such a busy life out here that I can’t find time to walk my 10,000 daily steps. It’s more a case of whether I want to or not. This morning’s walk didn’t do it and then I spent a good chunk of the afternoon sitting in a chair. A short walk before supper did the trick...12,000+ steps.
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We
made a decision early on today to stay off the bikes because of the wind. Wind plus mid-50 temperature were the only
factors. Neither of us was anxious to
get cold for the sake of saying we took a ride.
So we took a drive instead. Went
up to Coolidge to do some shopping and then out to see the hawk nest on Toltec
Road. The nest currently looks
unoccupied but because of the cold wind today we didn’t spend much time outside
gawking at it. I’ll go back a couple
more times to check on it. The hawks
will usually fly out to distract us as we approach if they’re sitting on
it.
When
I asked Kim if he was getting out or staying in the truck, he answered, “And
miss finding the monkey mask? Of course,
I’m getting out.”
In 2016, our first year in Picacho, we took a bike ride out on Toltec Road just to explore the area. We saw what looked like a nest up on an electrical pole and in the course of walking closer to it, we came across a one-eyed creepy monkey mask. It’s become a ritual to see the nest and the monkey mask. It will be a sad day when we go out there and the monkey gone. But as of today it’s still there; its fur is lookin’ a little grayer. Aging just like the rest of us.
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Oh,
goodness, the dust devils were out playing in the field today! The fields have
been worked up so the wind had plenty of loose dirt to play with. All shapes and sizes today...sometimes 3 or 4
in a row. Moving across a field then
suddenly dissipating into nothing, leaving behind only a faint shadow.
Kim got me a sound bar with Bluetooth capability for Christmas. I use it with my phone for music and with my computer for tap dancing. It’s about 2 feet long and slender; one day at home I was carrying it on my shoulder basically mocking the youth of the 80’s who carried their boomboxes in the same manner. Jokingly called it a BoomBar, saying it was an updated version of the boombox. The name stuck.
Brought the BoomBar with us and nightly we’ve been listening to music...mostly Chris Stapleton who we both like. By this time I can lip-sync most of his songs. 😎
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Kim has
gotten his astrophotography gear so fine-tuned that he doesn’t need to monitor
it. He can just set it up and walk back
to the warmth of the camper which is what he did tonight. Occasionally he’ll walk out to check that all
is still going as it should but comes back in quickly. As the nights get warmer he’ll stay out there
more but for now sitting outside when there’s a freeze warning for the
Eloy/Picacho Peak area isn’t exactly an exciting proposition. Daytime temps are predicted to be in the 70’s
and 80’s but when the sun goes down so does the warmth.
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