Cave Dwellings: A TOUCH OF HOME.....BEAR WITH ME!!

Last night we had a nice sunset after a cloudy day....

...not our best, but now I think I am taking them for granted!!
The wind came up in the night and rocked our world, or so it seemed. It was very gusty and we found our door mat out under our truck. Luckily, Den tucked our chairs under the camper last night at the last minute, just in case...A few items on our portable picnic table were askew, but that was it. It rained almost all night, finally tapering off this morning...Here is our view of the clouds over the mountain to the East...

...the sun came out about 9AM and the wind came out with it...After the rain last night, it seemed the air even smelled different this morning...more fresh and less dust. Den said he thought some of the brown desert foliage even looked like it picked up a little more green. I noticed my little Hummingbird friend was hovering again this morning and beating the Gila Woodpeckers to it..at least for now. I tried to get a photo, but man, those wings are something else!!

....Notice he was making nice with the bees and sharing his bounty of sugar water. I think he is a loner. I see no other Hummingbirds here, but they do all look the same. I guess what I mean is that I never see two at one time...whatever.
I don't know if I mentioned that we are glued to our TV on Monday nights to watch Border Wars on National Geographic Channel. It is on channel 276 for us, we have satellite. Whatever it is for you, I must tell you that every American should watch this. Because we normally live in the midwest, we never get much exposure to what is really going on at the border down here. The Border Patrol along the US/Mexican border has one of the most dangerous jobs in the country...more so now than a few years ago as the Mexican drug cartels are becoming more powerful. Last night they focused on the desert around Nogales, AZ. I didn't know that the US is now using unmanned Predator drones with cameras to spot action in the desert..They can stay in the air up to 10 hours..We also now have sensors buried at various spots in the desert to detect if there is movement at night...Now don't go thinking I am giving away some top secret info here...It was on TV, for gosh sakes!! Seriously, I highly recommend watching it...
Well, the wind has picked up to the point that the 'ol HitchHiker is doing a little rock and roll again. They are calling for heavy thunderstorms late this afternoon and this evening...even more later this week, with even bigger winds...just great. Not that I am complaining, mind you. We could be up to our "whatevers" in snow back in Illinois, paying big electric bills and even bigger heating bills!!

Speaking of back in Illinois, I have a few photos to share of our home in Sandwich , IL...Yes, that's what I said...Sandwich, IL..For those of you family and friends, bear with me while I give a small tour to all the homeplayers who don't have a clue who we are. Here is our house on Center St. This picture was taken last January by a good friend who sent it to us while we were basking in the sunshine of South Texas...

Our lot is 66' wide and 500' deep...great for bowling...ha ha....
Our town of Sandwich use to be pretty small...only one stoplight in town when we were married 40 years ago..Both of us graduated from Sandwich High School...Den's class of 1960 had 60 students and mine of 1966 had almost 100. (He is and always will be older than me!) Our town is known for it's DeKalb County Fair that had been a focal point in our history for over 100 years. We live about 1 block from the fairgrounds, which is home to many great old buildings and huge, beautiful Oak trees.( I'm hoping to give you a visual here...)
Here is a picture taken in our living room...We don't have a family room ..Our home is almost 100 years old..

...As you may notice, I have always had a huge respect and admiration for Native Americans, their history, their bravery...I have many pictures of them in our home...FYI, Dennis laid up that fireplace and wall by himself....
Now for a tour of our backyard..Here is our home from the back....

...Dennis built the deck....He also sided the entire house and built our garage, remodeled our kitchen, rewired and replumbed the house..AND totally gutted our 2nd story and rebuilt it....Did I mention that our kids call him McGuyver????
This is a close up of my favorite thing in our yard..my fountain...

..It isn't really cement, just looks that way..I say that because while we had it in pieces cleaning it one day, Dennis backed into the center tier with our truck. It was lying on the ground and he managed to break it...He glued it back together..! (I nearly had a heart attack..but it looks none the worse for wear, right??)

And finally, my bird bath..I'll bet you're just thrilled with this tour....

...I do love the birds, as you may have realized!...OK, enough of the tour. Hey, we didn't hardly move out of the camper today, so I figured this would make a fun blog...fun for me, that is, I'm not sure it was for all of you. I know my own kids are going, "Oh My God!!! I cannot believe mom put photos of our house on her blog! BORING!"..and my husband feels the same...As for myself...I have to say I do love our home, but this RVing stuff is very addicting, and we seem to stay gone longer every year!
So now it is almost 5PM, I've had my shower,set my table, got big burgers ready for supper and sorted my laundry (yes, tomorrow is the dreaded day). The wind is really hawking out there and there is a 70% chance of a thunderstorm here tonight. Maybe it's time to set our weather radio, just in case. According to the forecast the really heavy stuff, with possible damaging winds, is suppose to come in Thursday or Friday....I thought we were clear of any severe weather..sounds a lot like May in Illinois!! Dennis ran out and took a photo of our clouds for me..I am in my "uniform" and don't want to scare the new RVer's that just came in. They will find out about the crazy lady in the HitchHiker soon enough....And now for the cloud photo..let's see how Dennis did.....