It was 18°F (-8°C) with a light dusting of snow outside when we got up this morning. I had my normal breakfast and turned on the Olympian Wave 3 Catalytic Heater to help warm up the RV. We turn the furnace thermostat down to 58°F (14°C) at night and then turn it up to 68°F (20°C) during the day. The furnace puts out a lot of heat directly to the outside, so it's a lot more efficient to use the Wave 3. However, the Wave 3 only has a continuous heat output (low and high) so it's not the best solution for a sole heat source. I finished a blog entry, then started to prepare the images that were selected from my last stock submission. We left at 10:37, 35°F (2°C), and ...

Walked around the campground. We went to the boat ramp, and there were nice rows of icicles on the boat dock.

We returned to the RV at 11:45, and I had lunch at 11:55. I looked into making my own "Y" splitter for a Quantum Turbo Battery so I can power two flashes from it. (The "Y" cables from Quantum or Paramount Cords are rather pricey.) I'm thinking about putting together a portable "studio" flash system with with four hot-shoe fashes for photographing hummingbirds and captive reptiles out in the open. A Quantum Turbo 2x2 Battery is already set up to power two devices, but used ones go for more than twice as much as the original Quantum Turbo which can directly power only one device.

I made a batch of J's Bean Salad (right) using the batch of J's Red Wine Vinaigrette I made on November 20, 2009. I always want to call it "Three Bean Salad," but it has four kinds of beans and "Four Bean Salad" doesn't have the same ring.

I went back to looking at flash stuff, in particular 5-conductor cable that would be suitable for making my own Quantum "Y" cable. We left around 3:45 in the Jeep.

We went to the Arrey Post Office at 3:52 and picked up our mail.

Then we went to Percha Dam State Park, which is just to the south of Caballo Lake State Park, to check out the campground for future reference. The campground is set among cottonwood trees, so there aren't any sweeping vistas like at Caballo Lake or Elephant Butte Lake. There were, however, a lot of birds in the area.

We checked out the Riverside Campground in Caballo Lake State Park which is just downstream of the Caballo Dam. There were some nice primitive camping sites along the Rio Grande and some acceptable electric sites further from the river.

We returned to the RV at 5:15 and I started the grill.

We had dinner around 6:00 of cheeseburgers, J's Bean Salad, and potato salad from Peppers grocery store in Deming. The burgers were better than usual. When I grill burgers, I sprinkle some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and Seasoned Salt on each side. This time, I was a little heavy on the Seasoned Salt, and I think there might have been some residual cayenne pepper from the pork chops because J said the burgers had a little kick to them.

I went through my mail, and didn't get anything very interesting. I looked into hot-shoe flashes, and I think I'll get a Sunpak 383 instead of a Vivitar 285HV like I had been thinking about. Both models are inexpensive flashes that are popular. I'll only need one new flash because I already have a Canon Speedlite 580EX II and 550EX, and I'll be able to borrow J's 580EX because we'll be sharing the flash setup. Her 420EX won't be too useful because it can only be operated in manual mode at full power.

My mother called and we talked for a while. I had some Aalborg Jubilæums Akvavit and continued looking at flash stuff, mainly mounting and triggering gear at Flash Zebra.