Heading out tomorrow....

It's been so hot here at Elephant Butte, NM that Katie and I have been staying inside 24/7 with the A/C on except for potty walks.  This is the longest I've had an electric site since I started full-timing over four years ago.

First thing in the morning, which for us us between 9 and 10 am, we go outside and I let Katie walk by herself until she's done.  For our afternoon "outs," the ground is way to hot for Katie's feet, so I put her in the stroller and walk her over to the shower house where there are trees and she can do her thing in the shade.  I sometimes walk 1/2 the loop which is a third of a mile (I've gotten acclimated to the heat) and Katie jumps from the stroller right into The Palms when we get home.  In the evening, usually around 7 pm, the rocks and pavement are again cool enough for her to walk a little by herself, then I put her back into the stroller and we take a walk around the park. 

She's having problems with the Seroma on her right ankle swelling up a lot, so I'm restricting her walking.  Poor thing, she wants to walk more, but the one time I let her, it took three days for the hard lump to finally get smaller and softer.  Sometimes she gets back into The Palms and wants to play:

Yesterday afternoon and this morning I had to clean and sanitize our fresh water tank.  It was starting to smell and taste bad even with the blue hose filter and the whole house filter.  I think the extreme heat here encourages bacteria to flourish, but honestly, it was time to take care of this task, anyway.  When the water tank was empty the first time I also changed the whole house filter. So those two jobs are done for a while. The only issue was that between filling the fresh water tank three times and dumping the black/grey tanks after filling them with the fresh water twice, I was outside in the hot sun waaaaay to long.  When I was done I couldn't wait to get to the showers.

We also topped off the pantry and fridge at Wal-Mart and I got an inside/outside thermometer so I could see how hot is it outside.  

Other than that, things have been very quiet here, and tomorrow we are moving on.  I'm looking forward to being in a new campground and campsite, but will probably be back in Elephant Butte when our 14 days are up at the next campground.  This weekend is Elephant Days (August 21-23) with arts and crafts, food, a pet parade, balloon regatta, balloon glow, car-truck-motorcycle show, hula hoop contest and live music and dancing.  It sounds like there is something for everyone.  I don't know how crowded it gets here, but I'll miss it.  They are launching balloons over the lake - that would be cool to see. 

Elephant Butte Balloon Regatta

Here are more photos from the last few weeks - after being on the road for more than four years, and re-visiting a lot of the same places, I don't have many new photos to post.  But I still love the jack rabbits and lizards, which is about all I see here.  :)

This guy runs in front of The Palms twice a day, at least I think it's the same rabbit.  I love the loping gait of the jack rabbits. 

These are such pretty lizards.  We see them during our late afternoon walks.  This one was pushing up and down like push-ups:

Look how large and strong his back legs are:

I got a good shot of one that shows all his colors, even a little turquoise on his belly:

Pretty butterfly:

We've seen a couple of these millipedes.  This one was crossing the road and was on the middle yellow line:

I think they are kind of creepy, but from what I've read, even though they can be pests to homeowners, they are harmless to humans:

We've had some pretty and unusual looking cloud formations:

Pretty sunset sky:

And that's about it - maybe something interesting will happen sooner rather than later and I'll post if it does.  If not, I'll at least check in.  Just know, all is well in and around The Palms.  And I'm looking forward to Social Security Wednesday this week, yaaaaaay!  :)

From me and Katie, have a great Monday evening, everyone! :)