Saturday, December 24/2011

Birds at the feeder

Our campsite - taken from up on the hill

The campsite, including Keith and Charlotte's fifth wheel trailer

Quad and Cactus (at base of Vulture Peak)

Miles and miles of saguaro - one can never get tired of the view

water tank

At Trueman's mine.   Marie sitting on the sluice 

Trueman and Cowboy

The old house  in the desert - slowly deteriorating with a lot of help from the local kids
who use it for a party spot

Christmas Eve supper with Keith and Charlotte

Fire and Lights

Christmas Eve Day - Wow, time certainly flies when you are having fun. It is chilly this morning with the temperature only at 37F (+3C).  It will warm up into the +16C range today so all in all, I really can't complain.  Tomorrow is even supposed to be warmer!!
I must head into town today to pick up the turkey (I had the boys in the Safeway meat dept put one away for me) then when I get back home, I plan on putting it into a brine which will increase the moistness of the meat.  Something it will need while cooking inside the "trash can".  Then,  must make a list of "things to do" before all the company arrives which includes remembering to take the dog bones out of the freezer and putting them into a Christmas bag for Cowboy (Trueman's dog).
Sounds like a busy day ahead of me but first I must sit here enjoying my coffee and watch the birds for a while.  Hogan is curled up in front of the heater, John is still in bed and there is peace in the valley!!  Life is Good!!
I headed into town, pickup up the rest of the groceries then headed back to the bus.  Once I got here, I put the turkey into the brine mixture (I made it before heading into town) then added the giblets to the gravy fixings I had started and got ready to go on a bit of a quad ride.
The sun is shining and it is actually "hot" today so why spend it at camp?  Unfortunately, Hogan has to stay home as there simply is no place for him to ride so he was not too impressed.  Keith and Charlotte headed out for a hike and we were to both meet back here for supper.
We took a short tour towards the back side of Vulture Peak, down several trails and eventually found out way to Trueman's mine.  He was busy at the sluice box.  He has found only "flakes" of gold today!!  We chatted with him and cowboy for a while then took the short jaunt over to the "old house" and were quite shocked at the amount of destruction that had occurred over the summer.  There is no longer a roof over the outside deck and much of the wooden structure has been used for fire wood.  It really is quite sad to see such a wonderfully constructed structure be abused in such a manner.
The sun was about to go behind the hills and at this time of year, that means it will turn chilly so we headed back to the bus to start a campfire and start supper.
We invited Keith and Charlotte over for Christmas Eve supper and then sat around the fire for a bit before we all started yawning and headed to bed.  Santa is coming tonight!!
Both our boys spent Christmas Eve with their Auntie Jan and her family and said that the food was delicious and they had fun!!