Windswept in the desert…
Not much new to report … I’ll be here for awhile and will settle into a routine. Having an address has allowed me to order some RV supplies and DVDs online and I’ve been stuck at my site yesterday and today awaiting packages. They’re supposed to just leave at my site as noted on shipping address, but it doesn’t seem as straightforward as that.
Yesterday I was attacked by a dust devil. I’ve seen them throughout this desert and the section of Interstate 10 to the north is marked with large warning signs alerting motorists to the extreme winds and potential of zero visibility. Another sign they should have considered is “Very well may be sandblasted”. I was up on a stepladder cleaning the seals on my two slide-outs in preparation for applying a protectant when I suddenly was knocked on me arse. Jesse’s little-used playstand, which sits along the side of the Wheelhouse came crashing over. The large map book I had been looking at with my morning coffee was obliterated into single pages tumbling across the dusty hard-packed ground toward the office trailer. Rusty and her main “hand” Bob came out and helped me collected my widespread mess, which included collecting my hat from 100 yards away from where it shaded my baldness only moments before. The winds persist, but that dust devil was gone as quickly as it engulfed me. I was relieved that my awning had not been extended. There is no shade and the Wheelhouse sits parched beneath the blazing sun, but I can’t give it the shade of the awning for fear that it be ripped off the RV and plunged into the duck pond.
I continue to work on my new website using Squarespace. I’ve designed so many from scratch, writing XHTML and CSS and refining in Dreamweaver, but today it is so easy to make a clean site with click-and-drag template services. When the site is live my blog will move there. Then whether you use mjacobi.com or exoticfauna.com you will land at the same one-stop website with galleries, blog and info and links to my Instagram and other sites.
Wednesday I visited a home near Portal Cafe at the gateway to the Chiricahua Mountains in Portal, Arizona some twenty minutes from here. The owner has a little parking area with a gate that opens to a trail that takes you through her (or his) property along the house for aways to a clearing that contains a number of bird feeders. There is a picnic table and several chairs. When I arrived one birder was leaving and told me as he got into his truck that the morning’s special sighting was a Blue Grosbeak. The sign welcomed birders and instructed you to watch for snakes. Aren’t I always? The path winds through cover past a feed shed until you get to the bird viewing area where a donation jar is mounted. I had zero dollars in my wallet at the time, but I’ll contribute to the feed tab when I revisit. A lone woman sat in one of the chairs with binoculars and camera at the ready. The gentleman who was leaving was the only other car so I wondered how she got there. I wondered if it was her home. I sat with my cameras and watched the Black-chinned and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxia, beautiful Tanagers and other birds. Gambel’s Quail were abundant and a female with chicks darted in and out of the clearing. Both White-winged and Collared Doves were particularly prevalent. The late morning light wasn’t great and I wished I had binoculars instead of cameras. None of my images are worth posting. That’s ok though … I increasingly tire of worrying about images to share instead of just enjoying the moment. Think I’ll trade one camera for binoculars.
– All the best, M
Not much new to report … I’ll be here for awhile and will settle into a routine. Having an address has allowed me to order some RV supplies and DVDs online and I’ve been stuck at my site yesterday and today awaiting packages. They’re supposed to just leave at my site as noted on shipping address, but it doesn’t seem as straightforward as that.
Yesterday I was attacked by a dust devil. I’ve seen them throughout this desert and the section of Interstate 10 to the north is marked with large warning signs alerting motorists to the extreme winds and potential of zero visibility. Another sign they should have considered is “Very well may be sandblasted”. I was up on a stepladder cleaning the seals on my two slide-outs in preparation for applying a protectant when I suddenly was knocked on me arse. Jesse’s little-used playstand, which sits along the side of the Wheelhouse came crashing over. The large map book I had been looking at with my morning coffee was obliterated into single pages tumbling across the dusty hard-packed ground toward the office trailer. Rusty and her main “hand” Bob came out and helped me collected my widespread mess, which included collecting my hat from 100 yards away from where it shaded my baldness only moments before. The winds persist, but that dust devil was gone as quickly as it engulfed me. I was relieved that my awning had not been extended. There is no shade and the Wheelhouse sits parched beneath the blazing sun, but I can’t give it the shade of the awning for fear that it be ripped off the RV and plunged into the duck pond.
I continue to work on my new website using Squarespace. I’ve designed so many from scratch, writing XHTML and CSS and refining in Dreamweaver, but today it is so easy to make a clean site with click-and-drag template services. When the site is live my blog will move there. Then whether you use mjacobi.com or exoticfauna.com you will land at the same one-stop website with galleries, blog and info and links to my Instagram and other sites.
Wednesday I visited a home near Portal Cafe at the gateway to the Chiricahua Mountains in Portal, Arizona some twenty minutes from here. The owner has a little parking area with a gate that opens to a trail that takes you through her (or his) property along the house for aways to a clearing that contains a number of bird feeders. There is a picnic table and several chairs. When I arrived one birder was leaving and told me as he got into his truck that the morning’s special sighting was a Blue Grosbeak. The sign welcomed birders and instructed you to watch for snakes. Aren’t I always? The path winds through cover past a feed shed until you get to the bird viewing area where a donation jar is mounted. I had zero dollars in my wallet at the time, but I’ll contribute to the feed tab when I revisit. A lone woman sat in one of the chairs with binoculars and camera at the ready. The gentleman who was leaving was the only other car so I wondered how she got there. I wondered if it was her home. I sat with my cameras and watched the Black-chinned and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxia, beautiful Tanagers and other birds. Gambel’s Quail were abundant and a female with chicks darted in and out of the clearing. Both White-winged and Collared Doves were particularly prevalent. The late morning light wasn’t great and I wished I had binoculars instead of cameras. None of my images are worth posting. That’s ok though … I increasingly tire of worrying about images to share instead of just enjoying the moment. Think I’ll trade one camera for binoculars.
– All the best, M
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