Poles n Potluck

Kathy and I went pole dancing a couple days ago. This is the Yuma version of all the geocaches along the E.T. Highway north of Las Vegas. I don't know how many are in the desert near here...but we did 78 and are going out again today to finish this group. It will add about 40 more to our numbers.

 

 The caches are about every 10th of a mile apart on the power poles or very close to them...easy to find...and are strictly for making the number of "finds" higher. Well, bragging rights too...lol. There are a line of them...perhaps a couple lines...that go all the way to the Mexican border.

Yesterday we had our first winter potluck in the neighborhood. It was in honor of our Harry, who passed away a few weeks ago. He didn't make it down this season, and we sure miss him.

Not many neighborhoods are like ours here in Yuma. Can many of you get 25 to 30 of your neighbors together for a little potluck? I can't at home...It was wonderful and we're still feeling full...pulled pork...Norwegian cabbage salad...corn casserole...salmon/cream cheese rolls...chocolate cake with seven minute icing...and much more. Everyone always makes a favorite yummy dish.

This is mine...a Coca Cola cake. It is DELICIOUS! This is all that is left, a couple pieces and crumbs.

But Norman and I won't soon forget it. The dang thing overflowed the pans in the oven...the overflow burnt on the bottom of the oven...smelled up the RV...and it still smells this morning. Everything that could be washed has been. I've sprayed Lysol...burnt candles...ran the fan...so far...stinky RV. But the cake recipe is a keeper, and I'll make it again.

The weather is beautiful right now. Perfect temperature for enjoying the outside...even sitting in the sunshine enjoying a Coke and book.

We're heading for home in a couple days to enjoy the holidays with the kids. Should I put a guilt trip on them? Nah, that would be mean...Yeah, why not...LOL..that's what moms are supposed to do. Right? Sure hope we see them more than Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But I'm not looking forward to putting on those warm clothes, or the rain and snow we'll be going through to get home.

11-11-11

After our morning walk of 3+ miles, we donned our geocaching event tees and hats and then headed into town. At exactly 11am a horn sounded and a bunch of cachers waved American and Canadian flags surrounding the fountain in Old Town Yuma.

The four of us led the crowd in singing "America the Beautiful" and "My Country Tis of Thee". It was a fun event honoring our service men and women from down through the centuries, who have given all of us the freedoms we enjoy.

Of course, no geocaching event is complete without eating. So at promptly 11:11am on 11-11-11 we all piled into Lute's Casino and enjoyed a Lute's Special for lunch...a hamburger with a split hotdog on top.

We discovered after moving on down the road, everyone had to use a restroom. So we stopped at Brownie's Cafe...did the "Hug the Bear" geocaching challenge...and ate big pieces of pie for dessert.

Not one of the four of us had dinner that night. It was a snacking evening.

Oh almost forgot...I met Don (3rd Times the Charm) from Pine Hollow. Seems he was a member of the same union as a cousin's husband and is a neighbor of theirs...small world. We belong to the same geocaching club here in Yuma.

My Pumpkin and "a couple of rough spots"

I didn't get around to sharing my 'happy face' pumpkin, so here he is. It's a "He" because he has no hair. Only four trick or treat kids, but they had great costumes. And I had to run out into the street to give them candy, well, most of us did. They were headed down the street to a friend's house, whose parents were taking them to town. The big fun for the kids in the Yuma area was at the territorial prison...

We did a big quad ride through the Muggins Mountains Wilderness area north and east of here. I picked the brain of a fellow geocacher, who told me a "nice ride, but it had a couple of rough spots".

Great views here and there as we did a lot of 'ridge running'. We live the other side of those far mountains, and trailered over to the beginning of this trail.

A lot of the trail followed the power lines...up and up...then down and down. Those power lines hummmmm, oh boy do they hum. And they pack a bit of a wallop, as we all found out. The first to discover the electrical sizzle was Marge', when she grabbed the front roll bar climbing into the red Razor. So if you're ever under some power lines, go ahead...grab hold of some metal. It will almost stand your hair on end...lol

That's the spot! It marks the dividing line between more experienced rider and less experienced.

The Razor came through with all four wheels off the ground...for a moment. And the guys are checking over the blue quad, which ended up four wheels on the side. Thank goodness all was well, not even any bruises. Oh, kids, that's not ours.

Then all were faced with a long steep hill of big rocks (small boulders in some cases). This is where we parted company. Three ATVs turned back, and Norman and I moved on to finish the loop trail.

We were really looking forward to the big wash, which would take us out of the mountains and onto the road back to our pickup. But this is a small sampling of what we found...MORE ROCKS! That's a pretty fair-sized ironwood tree on the right. It's great to see these bigger guys. We've been in areas, where they are gone. All cut down to burn for power for mines and little towns in the past.

It was a super ride even though we got very tired of traversing rocks. The trail has been pretty beat up from the few rain storms this year. But people are slowly repairing it, as they go over. And we arrived back at our starting point just as the others in our group were driving off...

Dusted off and hair combed, we met for beer n sandwiches AND tall tales of our day!

A last minute thought: the geocacher who told us a "couple of rough spots"? He added later, "I'll never do it again." LOL

More folks arriving & ...

When we pulled onto Foothills Boulevard two weeks ago, we joked, "there was no one home". Off in the distance we saw maybe 2 or 3 cars. This morning as I came over the little rise there were maybe 50 cars and RVs...I've been busy making a big dinner today. Boo n Ethel arrive this afternoon. It will be our treat for them, because they always make dinner for the new arrivals in the neighborhood.

The weather is still pretty darn hot, pushing 100 everyday. But today it's a bit cloudy and supposed to only get to 95, although the clouds are making it a tad muggy. The weather certainly hasn't slowed any of us down. A couple days ago 3 of the men used a jackhammer for a couple hours and tore out a fountain. And at the same time a couple of us cleaned up the cement chunks and threw them in a pickup...This was the second trip to the dump for the guys. The first was Monday, when we filled a pickup with all the yard debris, Norman and I had stacked from a couple of the yards.

Harry, who bought Velma's house down here, passed away in Oregon a couple days ago. Has a bunch of us pretty upset. But over-shadowing the grief is the anger at his family. I guess they had to learn their behavior somewhere, and it was probably from Harry. But he was alone, when he died. They put him in a hospice unit, took his meds away and flew down here to empty his house....sad. On the other hand, they are being pretty fair to Harriet (his long time girlfriend). She will get first opportunity to buy the house.

I've been helping this neighbor and that one...visiting here and there...and began sewing a quilt. It's called an Irish Chain. Here's an example of one:

Now mine isn't going to look much at all like this...LOL. But so far, I've cut and sewn 72/2 inch strips into six tubes. Now they need to be cut again, and then I'll arrange the squares from that cut into patterns. Here's a pic of the fabrics I'm working with...

Not much else to write about. We've finished more books. I'm anxious to get my library card down here and hook my Kindle into their system. That will happen soon...We're also more than ready to get the quad out into the desert and play, but not much shade out there. So we're waiting for the temp to cool a bit more...Still not able to start the RV, because the computer (brain) hasn't gotten back to us. Eh gads, that is another big bill. We may be eating nothing but beans soon...LOL

A TYPICAL day lately...

Each morning we've been trying to walk increasing the distance by a block or two nearly every day. It's been pretty dang warm, so some mornings we don't go far.

When we get back, it's time for morning happy hour with tea or Coke visiting with whomever of the neighbors are outside. Old neighbors are arriving every couple days.

Norman has been getting satellite dishes re-adjusted...fixing air conditioners...and repairing sprinkler systems, which are mostly clogged from the summer windstorms. Those neighbors, who have nice landscaping, leave some part of their systems on during the hot months to protect their plants.

As we were coming south, it donned on us, our lot will be full of weeds. What a pleasant surprise to arrive to a clean...weeded lot. So we have been 'paying it forward' by cleaning up a couple neighbors yards. In this picture you can see the piles of weeds, aguava prunings and we even trimmed the dead fronds from the two palms flanking the gate. A trip to the dump is in order in the next couple days.

Then today I finished four tote bags made from feed sacks which held horse food. I'll probably put them in the block-long garage sale we're planning for January. After the first one, they went together pretty quickly. I got the directions online.

We've also each finished at least one book. We're hoping for a bit cooler weather by the end of the week, then we'll be off into the desert on the quad or geocaching. It's just much too hot without any shade right now to do those things.

This, that and t'other...

I wonder if any of us mentioned this Geocoin? We, Tina n Family and Norman and I, earned it this past summer. We had to tour Roseburg and answer various questions, then we had to find several designated caches. It was fun, and we learned something about our fair town. I just registered it on the geocaching.com site, so I'm thinking of starting it traveling with hopes of a world tour.

This is our first cache in Yuma this season. We picked it up just a block and a half away from us one evening during an after dinner stroll.

Speaking of strolling...We saw this cactus bloom along our morning walk. I'm not sure of the type of cactus, but I'm thinking this is a baby saquaro...those big ones with the arms.

In the kindness of her heart, our darlin' oldest daughter thought I needed another project. So here are some of the plastic feed bags she collected for me to make into tote bags. Well, Tricia, they are all washed (but still smell like feed) and cut out.

Octoberfest lunch in one of the parks...polka one-man band playing...kegs of beer...bratwursts...sauerkraut...German potato salad...fun time!

Happy Halloweeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnn!

BOO!

Outta the cool, into the HOT!

Our drive south was comparatively uneventful, which is a good thing. We turned off I-5 at Shasta and thoroughly enjoyed going through Shasta & Lassen forests. It's been many, many years, but the forests haven't changed, although the small towns certainly have.

These mugs were sitting on a curb near us at the Susanville Walmart. I'm pretty sure they were left by a snowbird cleaning out their RV as they drove south. What do you think?

It was always warm and sunny during the day...but the nights, brrrrrr. In Susanville and Tonopah the temperature dropped to the very low 30s. We were up during the night turning on the furnace and grabbing afgans to throw over us.

Since we were later getting out of the driveway, than we planned, we headed straight on through Reno over to Hwy 95 and south. Now, this is not a pretty drive...long straight stretches of road with a curve or hill here and there...and not a thing to look at except sagebrush, bare hills and more desert.

BUT by taking this route Norman got to drive (see) the new bridge over the Colorado River, which everyone has to take instead of driving over Hoover Dam, since 9-11.

approaching Lake Mead

...coming to the bridge!

WOO-HOOOOOOO! Spectacular bridge (ha-ha)...and, you guessed it, can't see the dam...LOL...

We stopped at a viewpoint, which was kind of pretty, for lunch, to stretch our legs and shop. Nah, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look and visit. Several blankets of trinkets and pretty pots were laid out under the sign saying "No selling here". Well, that's not the actual words, but close.

Did you notice we haven't gotten out of our warm sweatpants yet? But by evening we were in a lovely county park along the Colorado River in shorts, "happy hour" drink in hand and strolling through visiting with folks.

I could mention...well, I will mention...there was a bar with loud music and boats and jet skis tied up to its docks right next to the park. The air smelled like hamburgers n French fries the closer we got. My man really wanted to go over, but I declined...Actually, he just wanted to get closer to the barely covered bikini hard bodies...LOLOL. Aren't I just a mean one?

We're finally set-up in our lot in Yuma. It's really hot right now...close to and over 100 through the weekend. I'll chat more on here later....

Labor Day Trip to Mt. Hood

Our daughter, Tina, and grandkids, Derian, Hannah, Jo, Cole, and I made it to the family camp-out this year, and it was just a beautiful weekend! The days were super warm and sunny with no smoke from the nearby forest fires.

This is our camp site along White River with the morning sunshine looking towards Mt. Hood! The water got very high this winter/spring and washed away quite a lot of the camp sites along with, where we usually park. But our site was still perfect, although we had to drive in from another direction over stumps and rocks. We even managed to get the "Daisy Duke" (a niece's camper) into our area.

The kids wasted no time getting into the water and exploring. The river at this spot is just a short ways out of the glacier...brrrrr, cold. And the kids were in and out off and on all day the first full day. They never stayed in their wet clothes though, because they shivered too much...lol.

 

The freedom the kids have camping here is just great! They run and run and run through the woods and along the river exploring...gathering moss and pinecones for the fire starters...just enjoying not having adults  watching them every minute.

Mornings were nice by the fire with our cocoa or tea.

Good Morning Tina...My sister, Nancy, Derian (up early two of the mornings) and me.

The NIGHTS were FREEZING cold for all of us

...and each night we changed what was under, over and on us. This is me sleeping the last night; the only night I was warm...From the ground up: Wool blanket, padding, sleeping bag (with me inside), another sleeping bag with another wool blanket on top.  Oh ,and I was in sweats, wool socks and a snow hat.

 

Shooting

We drove up to an old mine (rock quarry), where we could shoot safely and taught the kids how to shoot.

This is Hannah, Jo & Cole shooting Derian's 22 rifle as it fits their hands and arms really well.  Thank you D.

I enjoyed shooting this little rifle, also. Because of the wonderful scope I popped a shotgun shell off a stick in just 3 shots!

The 3 shot shooting competition.

Cole: 1 hit, Tina: 3 hits, Derian: 2 hits.

Tina may have hit the card three times, but Derian had two of her shots closest to the center!  She is quite the sharpshooter.

Todd came up for this day and brought some exploding targets!

Here Derian shot one of them and it was quite the BOOM! We all applauded and cheered the size of the explosion!  NEAT!

Drove up to pay respects to my Mom n Dad, whose ashes are spread near the camp we used growing up.

Our family photo of all the campers this year.

Too many to name, and it's not even close to the whole family.

Had a GREAT time like always and will see you next year.

Happy End of 2011 Summer Groupies!

Last Day @ the Rally

Good Sam greeted us at the first show on Wednesday night and waved good-bye tonight.

Today we kicked back...geocached...tasted samples of dishes prepared by various State Chapters...voted on the one we thought was best...tried to win a Wii...didn't...out to dinner with a new RV friend...

The beginning of tonight's entertainment began with the presentation of the State flags by Good Sam State Directors attending this rally.

Sang...danced...and cheered the Highstreet Band out of Boise, ID

Heading home tomorrow...so I'm posting a couple pics of the beautiful mountains we've enjoyed all this week...

"Happy Trails" and beautiful evening sky over our RV.

Best Show...and rain again

Our RV neighbors under the black umbrella

Our generation...stands and removes their hats...for our Flag...and the flags of each of the Armed Services including the Coast Guard...and observed a 'moment of silence' for the POWs and MIAs

Herman's Hermits with Peter Noonan

(Well, I got a fun video, but can't get it to upload. If I figure it out, it will get posted.)

Remember..."Henry the VIII"..."The second verse is the same as the first"...Great show!

"It's hard to kiss the lips at night....

chewed your ass out all day"...Vince Gill

It rained...NO, IT POURED...and we got soaked...but we eventually claimed the priority seats given to us for being Good Sam members for over ten years...

And it was a wonderful show even though, we didn't know one song Vince sang...lol

Today I collected all the free buttons, we could find. And I found another '2012' just in time to get a free t-shirt.

The mama osprey near our parking spot. She's mainly feeding her 3 babies rodents, but yesterday she brought a large fish.