Flameout (without the flames). Total power outage. Sitting around Monday evening, big clunk, all the lights go out. Looked out the window to see how much of the park was dark and we were the only part. Went outside and flipped the 50 amp breaker; no difference. Still dark. Crawled inside the slide drawer cabinet underneath the coach to reset the inverter; that helped. Lights came back on. Checked the electrical status display. The shore power is on, but no amps are flowing. Doesn’t look like it’s a problem at the outside source, but just to check, I tagged down from our 50 amp plug to a 30 amp plug and connected it to the 30 amp socket at our electrical box. No difference. New problem. When I opened the outside cabinet where the electrical cord connects, there was that dreaded burnt electrical smell. Checked the power a different way. Started the generator. Watched the electrical status. No change. No connection to the power source whether it is shore power or generator. We have battery power, but no way to recharge the batteries when they run out, so we’re being very careful with the electrons we have left. We had a dark night Monday night. Tuesday, the mobile repair guy found the fried connector in the electrical cord cabinet. Ordered the part. Replaced the bank of house batteries. We knew that was coming; the batteries are two and a half years old. One was leaking. New batteries but still no way to recharge them, so another dark night. Wednesday. The part will be delivered tomorrow. Repair guy hooked up a battery charger for us today so we can use the juice tonight. Tomorrow. We’ll see. Life on the road.
Backyard bird count
This was fun. Thanks to Rock for the heads-up. Monday evening’s count; the
last day of the backyard bird count for the year:
Number of Species: 34
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Gadwall – 20
American Wigeon – 50
Blue-winged Teal – 50
Northern Shoveler – 40
Ring-necked Duck – 3
Pied-billed Grebe – 2
Brown Pelican – 15
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Great Blue Heron – 1
Great Egret – 2
Snowy Egret – 1
Tricolored Heron – 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron – 5
Turkey Vulture – 1
Osprey – 1
Northern Harrier – 1
American Kestrel – 1
American Coot – 200
Killdeer – 1
Willet – 1
Lesser Yellowlegs – 1
Ruddy Turnstone – 8
Sanderling – 150
Laughing Gull – 1,000
Ring-billed Gull – 10
Herring Gull – 2
Royal Tern – 3
Eurasian Collared-Dove – 2
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 2
Northern Mockingbird – 2
European Starling – 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 3
Great-tailed Grackle – 15
The kleenex box
In case anyone was wondering, in order of age:33 is brother bill (currently in his Lazy Daze motorhome in the California desert)35 tom (my current next door neighbor in the Phaeton)37 david (currently in North Carolina, fresh from the Bay Area in California)31 steve (currently right here)
Backyard bird count
This is the first part of our day. Redhead – 50
Ring-necked Duck – 1
Lesser Scaup – 1
Common Loon – 4
Pied-billed Grebe – 3
American White Pelican – 15
Brown Pelican – 2
Neotropic Cormorant – 70
Double-crested Cormorant – 2
Great Blue Heron – 1
Great Egret – 2
Snowy Egret – 1
White Ibis – 7
Black Vulture – 1
Turkey Vulture – 6
Osprey – 1
Northern Harrier – 2
American Kestrel – 1
American Coot – 50
American Oystercatcher – 2
Willet – 1
Laughing Gull – 40
Bonaparte’s Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 2
Forster’s Tern – 6
Rock Pigeon – 15
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Savannah Sparrow – 6
Backyard bird count
And for the second half of the day, we were at and in the vicinity of the
wildlife refuge. Tom and Kathy helped us spot all the woodpeckers. We saw
the whooping cranes, but just barely. They were so far away we couldn’t
really tell what they were, but the ranger confirmed the sighting for us.
Habitat(s):
suburban
freshwater
salt water
Number of Species: 30
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Blue-winged Teal – 3
Redhead – 200
Ring-necked Duck – 3
Pied-billed Grebe – 4
Great Egret – 2
Snowy Egret – 1
Black Vulture – 2
Turkey Vulture – 18
Osprey – 1
Ferruginous Hawk – 1
Crested Caracara – 1
Common Moorhen – 1
American Coot – 200
Whooping Crane – 3
Mourning Dove – 1
Barred Owl – 1
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1 Confirmed
Golden-fronted Woodpecker – 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 2
Vermilion Flycatcher – 1
American Crow – 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 2
Northern Cardinal – 3
Red-winged Blackbird – 25
Eastern Meadowlark – 4
Brewer’s Blackbird – 30