Tuesday, April 2…Rockin’ Down The Highway (The Doobie Brothers)

    It’s moving day…launch day…heading back to the Mitten day. Whatever it’s called, it means we’re on the road.  Pulled out about noon, after stopping at the office and talking to Ryan for a bit.  Got our reservations set up for Lot 59 for next year.  We’ve been told for a week now that there are four kids anxiously awaiting our return to Charlevoix….no doubt their parents feel the same. 😊 The countdown has officially started.  

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   Sent a birthday video last night to Charlie because I wanted it to be there first thing this morning for her to see.  She’s a big 5 years old today and these things matter…but maybe not as much as finally getting out of her car seat and into a booster seat.

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   The ground started sporting a yellow carpet about 50 miles from the New Mexico border. Lots of green showing up in the desert also. According to the radar, the eastern side of Arizona got worse rain than Picacho did, so that may be what’s behind the color.

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There were 3,822 pictures/videos on the cell camera card. The camera took a photo before every video and since I’m not interested in photos, I was trying to do a batch delete…hit the ‘ctrl’ button as I clicked on a photo. Did that multiple times and then hit ‘delete’ and all those photos were gone. But if we hit a bump at just right time, the computer decided to a ‘batch copy’ instead. Definitely a step backward when that happened.  Then, by accident, I realized I could sort by ‘Type’ and voila! the pictures were separated from the videos, and I did a gigantic batch delete.  Down to 1,908 videos in no time!

   What we discovered in the past is that not all the videos/pictures taken showed up on the phone app but all were on the card. So, I kind of feel that all the videos should be looked at, in case a bobcat or gila monster comes strolling under the fence. After I deleted the 155 videos from the point where the cow licked and then turned the camera to the face the rising sun, I was down to 1,753 videos.  Multiple that by 15 seconds and that shortened my viewing time to a little over 4 ½ hours.  Very doable from the passenger seat on a 2,000-mile drive.

   I developed a routine: if nothing appears in the first 3 seconds, delete the video.  Movement is what trips the shutter and if I saw weeds moving but no animal, the video was history.  That little trick cut down my viewing time ever farther.  Under 1,500 to go, and I did find more javelina, roadrunner and pack rat videos that we didn’t see on our phones.

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   I took two empty hummingbird feeders off the tree this morning, washed them and tucked ‘em in a box for the ride home. One still had nectar in it so I left it for a bit longer; but it finally had to come down to be packed away.  The hummers were coming to the tree looking for them, visiting the exact places the feeders had been hanging. So, I decided to leave a feeder full of nectar on the neighbor’s picnic table, hoping the hummers would find it there when we left and that the kids would have fun feeding them.  Wrote a note to the kids, sealed it in a Ziploc bag and anchored it with rocks. I have no idea how long they’ll be gone so I was guarding against wind and rain.

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   Today was a colorful day. It was sunny, there was an orange carpet covering the desert floor near the eastern state line of Arizona, and a gray curtain of  rain streamed down over the distant mountains.  The sunset was amazing, reflecting a red glow up onto the fluffy white clouds in a blue sky. It was warm this morning; I’m still wearing shorts but it felt a bit cool on my legs when we got out for supper. I may have to reassess my fashion choices going forward.   

   We booked a room in Carrizozo, NM, which was probably an ambitious goal considering it’s a little over 400 miles from Picacho and there’s a time change crossing into New Mexico. And there was no doubt we’d be arriving after dark. I prefer traveling in the daylight hours but must admit that driving through Las Cruces after dark was a breeze.  

   We made it to Carrizozo before 11 p.m.  It’s past Mom’s bedtime but maybe she’ll sleep in a little tomorrow. 😎