Saturday, December 31/2011

I am up before the sun again today. It is warm again today (no need for the heater) and the birds are already squabbling at the feeder.  The coyotes are not too far away as they have decided to vocalize this morning as well.
Charlotte and I decided last night that we would go hike the Hassayamppa River Preserve today so that should be fun.  It is going to be girls only and hopefully we get to see some different kinds of birds.  Charlotte has never been there before and I know that she will enjoy it.
John and I have invited Keith and Charlotte for New Years Eve supper and to watch the Canada vs USA hockey game tonight.  John will bbq salmon so it should be awesome!!
There was a change of plans today as Charlotte found out that the zero gravity chairs she has wanted for a while are on sale today so her and Keith are going into Phoenix to pick a couple up.  She is totally jealous of our two chairs and I keep having to lock ours away in the trailer for fear that she sneaks over here under the cloak of darkness and steals them!!  Now I won't have to worry!!
John decided we needed to go on a short jeep ride out into the desert today so we loaded up and took off.  He wanted to find the trail that goes from here and takes you into Wickenburg.  We found it and were back at camp two hours later.  Keith and Charlotte had just arrived home from their shopping trip and were both sitting in their new chairs - NICE!!
Being that it was a bit too early to start supper, John and I took Trueman's and Cowboy's Christmas presents to them.  We jumped back into the jeep and headed for his mine. Another roadrunner ran across our path on the way out to the mine and when I mentioned it to Trueman he said he has seen it out here a lot.   When we arrived he was just about to eat but had a new years beer with us first.  He had been busy running some dirt and showed us the bits of gold he had panned and it was most interesting to see.  He told me he had about $200.00 dollars worth in the pan.  He had the pan sitting on the tailgate of the truck and was just about to move it when Hogan jumped up, knocked the pan and the gold went flying!!  OMG!!!  Little bits of gold covered the tail gate of the truck and Trueman and I spent the next few minutes sweeping the tailgate and trying to recover his day's labor.  We managed to get it all back into the pan and I apologized several times for the dog.  It is a good thing that Trueman is a kind, gentle soul as he said he was only a split second behind the dog in his attempt to get the pan out of the way and did not appear all that upset or mad.  Bless his prospering heart!! He said he thought both dogs were going to jump up!! We stayed and chatted with him for about an hour, then headed back to camp to start our supper.
Keith and Charlotte wandered over and John started a campfire.  We sat around it waiting for the potatoes to cook and once the salmon was on, Keith started the asparagus.  Supper was awesome and with strawberry shortcake for dessert, the meal was over and it was time to wait for the arrival of the New Year.

Heading out 

Following the trail in the wash

Hogan checking out the green grass!

Old Willys we met on the trail

I think we got us a convoy!

Heading down into Wickenburg

Pink house, Pink 4x4!

Gold in Trueman's pan

We watched the arrival from Time Square in New York City which was really two hours before midnight here in the Sonoran Desert but that was alright.  We sat around the fire for a while longer then Keith and Charlotte headed home and I headed into bed.  I think John was the only one that actually was awake for the midnight hour here in Arizona!!  Happy New Year!!