It's a Bird's Life

I definitely love showing my new home to friends.  Bailey is one of my dearest friends, as is his keeper, Suzie.  It took Bailey a few minutes to get the courage to come up the stairs but once he did he was ready to move in.  Susie's thinking about it.

I finally got brave enough to climb up on the roof to see where I planned to put a new solar panel.

I had decided to take a trip to San Diego for a few weeks with a stop in Quartzsite to visit "Solar Bill's" place.

 

(The Quartzsite Jail)

Quartzsite is one of those strange desert towns that makes one wonder why the first person ever decided to move there.  It is smack in the middle of nowhere, 25 miles east of the California border.

(Gas Station)

The town has been there in the desert for well over a hundred years and the permanent population numbers 3600 hardy souls.  

There are very few permanent structures but lots of evidence of past residents and the tough life they endured.

The winter population soars astronomically as the 'Snowbirds' arrive in their RVs.  At least a million of them roll in and out of Quartzsite in the winter, as they escape from the snow and cold of the northern regions.  

Winters in Quartzsite are warm, really cheap, friendly and interesting.  Million dollar RVs are parked willy-nilly, throughout the desert, right next to rusty 40 year old VW vans occupied by aging hippies or failed entrepreneurs.  Anything goes--the 'Naked Bookseller' that I wrote about a few years back is still there, playing the piano, in the nude, in his bookstore.

(US Post Office)

I skipped the bookstore this time but sought out 'Solar Bill's', a place highly recommended for installing my solar panel.

(Solar Bill's)

It took only a day for the install, meanwhile I had lots of feathered friends to talk to while I waited.

The panel will keep my batteries charged--house and motor batteries and electronics batteries--plus it will provide enough electricity to run a few smaller things (small fan, hand blender, radio).   

I don't think it will run the TV and know it won't run the microwave or air conditioner but I do have the generator that will run everything else.  I just hate the noise of a generator.

The roof is large enough to add more panels plus more room inside for batteries, but that is too expensive for the use I would get from them.  

TV is over rated. I selectively watch some programs on my computer, get the news on the radio, and

plan to head north with the birds in the spring to avoid the heat.  

 I guess you would call me a 'Sun Bird'.