It's a 'Crack-up' job!

HEE-HEE...GOTCHA! Boo n Ethel's patio got extended today with the addition of 500 Mexican brick. Boo, not being satisfied, decided without asking any of us to add another 800. LOL It will look nice and keep the dust down. This was a pretty tough job especially with the addition of 2 or 3 supervisors. But the guys had it finished in about three hours.

Meanwhile, Ethel and I dug out the last of the cactus type plants she didn't want. Then divided the large clumps of aloe vera, and put them down the length of the driveway. She's already planning what she's going to do next along there...Oh, and I took a couple of the larger plants over to Donzella's place. I'll have her rental portion looking like a jungle one of these days...hee-hee...

This is a 'virtual' cache we picked up on our walk along the Colorado River. The sign tells about the 'Ocean to Ocean' highway that was constructed around 1915. We're pushing 200 caches now. It won't take long before we are over that mark.

Last year a couple of us suckered Cheryl with jokes. We had her hook, line and sinker...lol. Last night she got even with Fred. All year she's picked up pieces to dress him as a magician. You see last year he showed her how to change an orange into a peach...very magical!

Me-hi-ko

Off to Mexico with friends...lunch...Margarita Grande...BIG Pacifico...pink daiquiri...plus free tequila shots at the pharmacies/liquor stores.

Shop while you eat

Came home broke...liquor...candied cactus and sweet potato...gifts for the grandkids...meds for friends and relatives...oh, and tequila filled chocolates...YUM!

Cabin Sweet Cabin

Spent part of yesterday potting flowers for the patio and put out the lawn chairs. Feeling more like home.

Oh, and Norman and I moved about 500 Mexican brick behind Boo's house. He's going to add a big brick patio in back. Well, Fred & Norman will do the work, Boo will supervise. Something we all do for the older folks down here...the heavy work.

Another desert ride...

The Eugene folks, we join in Quartzsite, are filtering down to parks in Yuma now. And so the rides continue. A couple days ago we went north of Yuma into the desert hills. Not the most picturesque ride...along the ridges of the rock covered hills...at the highest peaks we could make out the green "salad" fields which surround Yuma along the canals and the Colorado river. Other than that, we looked at rocks, rocks and more rocks...It was a fun ride for the guys going up and down all those narrow ridgebacks. Carol and I? Well, let's just say, "We were along for the ride"...lol

My man said...alright, pose...so I did...Norman took another picture, because I wasn't posed correctly for this one. I like it...so you get to see it.

We come upon equipment like this quite a bit. Those people, who are stealing metal from fences, grandstands and wires, should be sentenced to clean up the metal in the desert. But then there wouldn't be anything for us to play on. Maybe that's not such a good idea.

I don't think I mentioned, we were trying to ride west to the Colorado River. We ended up east along Highway 95. We don't know which wash or trail we took a wrong turn on...doesn't really matter...we had fun!

An Oregon "Duck" story

In my last blog I mentioned going through the culvert under the freeway? This little story concerns the one which was filled with water during the storm...

Some of these culverts are tall and wide enough to ride a quad easily though. But this particular culvert is barely 4 inches wider than the quad, and the guys lay their bodies down across the gas tanks to ride through. Last year Carol and I walked bent over through with flashlights. It's quite long and has a corner inside, which makes it very dark...snake...snake...go away snake!

This year I wasn't going to walk through alone, so Norman and I bent way down on the quad. I had to put my upper body beside Norman's...

The water had washed some of the sand away from the entrance, so rocks had been piled to ride up. We bent way over...gave the quad the gas...went up the rocks...big BOING!...and rolled back down the rocks. Norman in his infinite wisdom, thought he should check to be sure the new quad was going to go through safely, did NOT DUCK far enough...lolol...

Difficult to get a good picture...but this is the top of his helmet. The deep white gouges are now colored in with a black marker... Hurt? Yep...but not too bad. He had a bit of a headache and maybe a little whiplash, but nothing a little aspirin didn't help...

Now you know our Oregon DUCK story.

Stormy Weather...

Doesn't this look like a nice sunny day? It was...yesterday. We went riding throughout the desert north of I-10 checking out mines...riding trails...over rocks and through washes. Great fun...This is what one of the washes we rode through yesterday looks like tonight. We came under the freeway and through this yesterday to get back to our coaches. Many of the streets are closed for flooding...some vendor tents & trailers are torn apart...We got back from dinner and found our tables...satellite dishes...and chairs lying all over. Our dish may need replacing. We'll check it out tomorrow in the light. It will be a rock n roll night again tonight...the storm began last night. Remember the little wash beside our RV just off the wee hill we're sitting on? I mentioned it in my last blog. Well, this is what it looked like about 1:30p today...

For Our Grand-kids

We are camped in the desert of Arizona near Quartzsite. There are over 100 thousand RVs here. At night it looks like a city of lights. This picture is the five RVs in our group. We are camped on a little hill of rocks. This is the wash at the bottom of the little hill. most of the trees and bushes grow here in the sand. If it rains real hard in the mountains nearby, the wash will have streams of water in it.

There are cacti of many sizes in this area. The one near my hand is a cholla (jumping cactus). You can see how long the thorns are. That's what the man's shoe has stuck to the toe. He had to use pliers to pull them out. If one gets stuck in our quad's tire, we would get a flat.

The tall cactus I'm standing by is a suquaro (su-whar-o). They sometimes have many more arms than this one. Do you see the hole just above my hand? It is usually made by a little bird for a nest.

The pictures of the leaves are three different trees in our area. They all have tiny leaves because there is so little rain here. And that is why the trees are very small and so few of them.

Hannah, I hope this explains some of the questions you had.

A "Mother and Child re-unnn-ion"

CAN YOU SEE THEM?

Quad ride through the desert

Yesterday we took off with some friends, who have a winter place here in Quartzsite and do a lot of riding. We met lots and lots of people along the trails and roads today, probably because it is a weekend.

This first picture is our small group and a larger group at a watering hole made by wildlife people to help the desert critters. Our bike broke down here, but it turned out to be only the battery connections coming loose....WHEW... Our second stop is the old Cinnabar Mine, which was in use for just a few years around the very early 1900's. Supposedly it was to mine mercury, but it fizzled out pretty quickly. A bonus was...we picked up two more geocaches at the watering hole and the mine.

We poked around a couple old cabins built entirely of local rocks with no cement of any kind. I think these folks had a lot of patience...time on their hands. It would have been hot work in the summertime.

This is Norman doing a little hill climbing on the dunes. The old guys had to show off for the youngsters at the top in their fancy riding gear and motorcycles...LOL

There he goes!! We have a pretty powerful quad. It would have made the top with both of us on it, but I didn't want to take the chance. One time getting buried in a sandhill with a quad rolling over me was enough...ouch!

70 miles!

A Really Nice Day

Beautiful sunrise a little shopping

then knapping (making arrowheads)...chatting...sewing...reading

A NICE DAY

Catching Up today...

We've been doing a lot of geocaching since we arrived. Our new neighbors like to cache, so it's been fun doing a few with them. We found this one in the desert. It's the best one we've ever found. Don't know how the guy set this up, but when we turned on the faucet, water came out...lol...So he must have buried a big pail with water and a battery-powered pump?...Don't know...

Yesterday we got 9 in just one set-up. It was called "Circle the Wagons". We walked almost 2 miles getting it. Seems we forgot an important clue, therefore we had to backtrack the first 2 we found...dagnabit!

We're all set-up at Quartzsite. It's so beautiful...warm...and quiet. We're the first to arrive of our group; everyone else will arrive tomorrow. The plan was to drive to our spot and have lunch before doing anything else. But...NOOOO...we jumped out, opened the bays and got all set-up, including spreading chairs, cones and the pickup out to block our area.

I've already found something to buy at the Main Event. They're selling solar lights like the Christmas lights. They twinkle in different colors and patterns. Gotta have them...put them on our awning...

This Quartzsite...the BIG RV tent is set-up surrounded by vendors selling all kinds of "stuff" for RVs...Tyson Wells is on the same side of the freeway, and the Main Event on the north side are nothing but vendors selling all manner of new and used stuff and food. Then there's the big buildings selling beads...rocks...and jewelry.

Enough for tonight...We just got back from having $1 hot fudge sundaes at Mickey D's...Meeting our neighbors on the other side of the wash, who are from Utah...Now we're going to kick back with the generator running and watch a little boob tube...

Good Morning Sunshine...

Oh, excuse me...that's "Star-shine" and we have millions over our heads...

Finally found a new hat to wear with the ladies to lunch!

My birthday arrived...It began with people pounding on our door at 7:30 in the morning. They thought we be caught in our jammies...lol...NOT! Good friends arrived with a bag of doughnuts and a votive candle to place in the hole of a big ol' chocolate glazed one....YUM! Lots of phone calls and messages on Facebook and great cards...and, YES, I have embarrassed my children by dancing in the mall...hee-hee

Yesterday we went to our first geocaching event. We joined over a hundred people at a local restaurant for breakfast. Met some of the locals, who have placed caches in the are. It was good fun, and next month we'll be going to a tri-tip dinner event...double yum!

Our new friends in the "Hood"...Festival Food...your choice and the choices are soooo good...

Then we joined friends at the "Gunslingers' Shoot-out" at the Yuma Terretorial Prison. People from all over the Southwest were judged on their authentic clothing right down to what was in their pockets. And groups from all over put on short skits including shoot-outs from various periods in our cowboy history. All these people and groups were vying for big trophies. Great Fun!

What a BEE-U-T-FUL day!

We've been walking most mornings, but we have also had to set our alarm to get up on Yuma time...lol. This morning two garage sales just down at the corner. The first of the season for us...yippee! We're batting 100% on spending other people's money. Found a small fridge and freezer on our walk the other morning, which someone was looking for. This morning a stroller at one sale and pistols and rifles across the street. Sold the items to our three friends...I like this spending OP's money; it can grow on me...
This afternoon I just couldn't resist...warm sunny spot...good book...Coke...slight breeze...Oh, did I mention? The Vampire Lestat has a rival now. Ol' Edward is sounding pretty yummy. At first I thought he was much too young to be fantasizing about, but, NO, he's over a hundred years old...Maybe my new 'McDreamy'???

We've hired Romeo to wash, deoxidize and wax the RV on Sunday. So Norman decided to fix all the little paint chips...notice the blue tape?...lol...gonna take him a while...hope he has enough matching paint...

Snowbirding 2010

December 28…Happy Birthday dahlin’ daughter, we’re leaving home…

Packing is a real b#*&! You know what I mean? Whether it’s clothes or food, we never know what or how much to bring.

The new quad is bigger than the pickup bed, but my man figured out how to get it and the bicycles in…Then we’re hooked up and hit the road.

December 29…From the Rolling Hills Casino to Bakersfield…accident on the road…

Darn freebie licorice from Bi-Mart all over everywhere…still finding them…LOL

December 30…From Bakersfield to Yuma…a chunk of metal flew off a truck passing us…went under the RV…found our dump line from the tanks got sheared off. Norman has something to do right off the bat, which in our neighborhood usually involves all the neighbor men.

January 1…First party of the year…Bloody Mary’s early in the morning at Peggy n Bill’s place. You would think it was a Rose Bowl Party for all the shirts that arrived…well, there were two that showed up in Beaver attire. Hee-hee, they got quite a ribbing…

We yelled…hollered…blew our Duck calls…to no avail…ultimately we sighed………