We arrived Sunday from Albuquerque. We were shocked at how low the lake is as compared to when we were here in 2009. We've heard that it is almost 50% below average.
As we were able to get the same site that we were in when we last visited, here is a picture of the lake taken in April 2009 from our site:
and yesterday from the same site:
Shocking isn't it? The area all to the left is dry where there was once water. Forecasters predict another dry year for the southwest. If that is the case, who knows what the lake will look like next year.
We've done some geocaching and we were able to finally drop off our Madame Bajoules (a cute blue fish) that is a travel bug. The fish has an identifying number that allows the originator to track the travels of the item as it moves from cache to cache. Unfortunately, we had possession of Madame Bajoules for two years. We picked her up in Valley of the Gods in Utah October 28, 2009 and finally deposited her in Elephant Butte October 24, 2011. Must admit that there were times when we simply forgot we had her and when we did remember, the caches we found were simply to small for her size. I don't think we want the responsibility of any more travel bugs especially one of any size.
We did have some excitement the other evening. We have a bucket near our sink to contain our rinse water and such to help stretch out our grey tank as we have no hook-ups and will be here for five days. Upon our return home from playing cards at Rick and Y's, I happened to look in the bucket as I went to the sink and much to my shock and surprise, there was a mouse trying to get out of the bucket with about two inches of water. WHAT??!!! Needless to say, the bucket and him/her went right out the door. How the heck did a mouse get in? We believe that when the grey tank was replaced, the underbelly as not stretched as tight as it had been originally so there were a couple of possible access points. John took care of the biggest offender that evening and then was under the rig in the morning taking care of any other possible entry spots. We don't believe the mouse was in the rig for that long as there weren't that many mouse droppings in the basement. Everything in the basement was removed and checked (he got in to some sunflower seeds - must have been a happy critter) and the floor vacuumed. So how did he get inside? We think running up the sewer EZ Pivot, through an access point to the basement through the ductwork and then up through the vent. When we went to town, we got some mouse traps and set them up in the basement. So far, no more critters and we hope it stays that way.
Many thanks to Rick and Y, who so graciously lent us their Pep Wave signal repeater so that we could connect to their internet signal. Otherwise, there would be no post. Here is a picture of the parking of the two rigs:
Oops, just got word that Rick and Y now have a mouse visiting them in their rig. Luckily, we have two extra mouse traps to share with them. This is the first time for them as well to have any mice/mouse issues. We are in the desert but have been many times over the years with no mouse issues. The only difference is that we've both had our underbelly's removed recently for tank replacements. Coincidence? Update on mice issue: Dyer/Prather 2 - Mice 0 whoo hoo.
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