Sunday, February 5/2012

The girls preparing the Super Bowl feast 

Superbowl Sunday!!  The sun is shining and it looks like it is going to be another great day.  I was up early as there were a few things I wanted to do before Keith and Charlotte arrived for the game.
Once I finished my coffee and did the Facebook/Blog thing, I got busy peeling apples for the pie.  With that done, I started the generator and popped it into the oven.  I then quickly made a No-Bake cream cheese tart complete with slices of fresh fruit on top and I must say, it looked pretty damn good - even if I do say so myself!!  I then got some of the stuff ready for the pizza - chopped onions, peppers, olives, etc so that I wasn't doing that tedious stuff while company was here.
I then had to sit and read my book for a while because the day is just not the same unless I get at least an hour or two of reading in!!
John eventually got up and by this time, I needed a nap so did that too!!
It was into the shower following my nap and I quickly finished off all sorts of little jobs before Keith and Charlotte arrived and the game started.
For the next 4 hours, we enjoyed the game, and ate ourselves to the point of being overfull!!  Of course Keith loved the Japanese Chicken Wings and all the pizzas tasted great.  Dessert was good too and I tasted my first Red Velvet Cupcake.  Deliciously moist and now I can see why my niece Erin is always talking about red velvet cake.
With the end of the game, Keith and Charlotte headed home and John and I watched the premiere of The Voice then, we too headed to bed where we watched a bit more TV before actually falling asleep.
All in All, it was another great day!!

Saturday, February 4/2012

Different rock color

K Bear getting the gate

Sunset heading home

Looking down on Wickenburg from Wickenburg MT

Sunset from the mountain

At the ponds

Heading down Blue Tank Wash

The coyotes were yapping again this morning before I got out of bed and once again, they did not sound too far away.  I see on Facebook, that Kimmy's Mom, Gloria is also enjoying the melodious tunes of the coyotes as well.  Fortunately for me, I am hearing them around six or seven in the morning while Gloria is hearing them around four in the morning!!  Sometimes one fails to appreciate the finer things of Nature at four in the morning!!

The sun is shining this morning and it looks like it will be a good day for a ride.  We are to meet Ray and Kay at 12:30 so that should be fun.  Maybe we will take a scoot through Box Canyon.
We arrived at the designated meeting point to find Ray and Kay already there and we were early!! I wandered around under the trestle for a bit and spotted a flattened coin on the ground.  Someone obviously had put it on the tracks for the train to run over and flatten it.  It was a one dollar gold coin minted in 2011 and was the last in a series of four "president" coins.  This coin had the face of James Garfield on it.  So with my flattened coin in my pocket, off we went towards today's adventure.
We stopped at "The Ponds" along side the Hassayampa which are often filled with water and attract many different birds but today, they are dry so no birds.  The "ponds" were created when the Department of Transport was fixing the highway.  They took dirt from this area leaving huge depressions in the ground.  Once they fill with water, they become "the ponds".
We then headed down Blue Tank Wash and travelled over and through a wide variety on terrain.  It was quite pretty.  Ray mentioned that you could see wild goats along the trails at times so I was hoping to catch a glimpse of them but as it turned out, this was not to be.  We stopped several times for refreshments and eventually made it to Constellation Road which brought us back into Wickenburg.  We made a quick stop at Ray's brother's place but he was not home so ended up accessing the Hassayampa River again and heading towards home.
We drove to Ray and Kay's home as they feed the Javalina and were telling us that there is one with three babies so I was hoping to be able to see them and snap some pics.  This too was not to be as they did not show up either so I was double skunked - first by the goats and now the javelina!!  Ray and Kay have a wonderful home and it is full of all sorts of little "treasures" they have collected over the years.
With a final stop at Mitch's home (he lives in the same area) John and I made the trip back to the Hassayampa, down to the train trestle and back across the desert to the bus.  It was an absolutely wonderful night ride as it was very clear and bright out.
Keith and Charlotte, who drove into Surprise this morning were not home yet and that made us wonder why however, not 10 minutes later, we heard their diesel truck coming down the road.  John and I had climbed the hill for one final beer when they were coming down the road so John was sending signals to them with the headlights of the quad.  This freaked Charlotte out as to just who the hell was up the hill!!
Eventually, they hauled all their groceries into the trailer then wandered down and we sat around the "campfire in a can" while the potato cooked for our supper.
Steak and baked potato for supper after a wonderful ride - Life is Good!!

Friday, February 3/2012

Our view of the sunset from inside the trailer

Well, the sun is shining like crazy today and it looks like it will be another nice day.  I have to run back into town today as the birdseed is almost gone and so is the beer!!  If we are going quadding tomorrow, I will have to replenish the supply as Superbowl is Sunday and it will definitely not be cool to run out of beer during Superbowl.
When I got back to the bus, the birds had finished off the seed in their feeder and were sitting in the tree looking rather expectantly at me!!  I quickly got them straightened around with more seed and cleared the dead bees out of their water so now everything is back on track!!
John asked if I had stopped at the UPS store to pick up his parcels and since I did not know that they were even there, said "no".  What, now I have to be a mind reader!! [She don't listen]!
John headed into town (good thing I put gas in the jeep) to get his parcels and was back in time for happy hour and bird watching!!  The little chipmunk was busy stuffing his face with seeds today so he provided the evening's entertainment.
Once the sun went down, we moved into the trailer and sat around the "campfire in a can".  We had a few more refreshments while we waited for the potato to cook then headed into the bus while the salmon was on the grill.  Supper was once again rather delicious.  It was then off to bed to get our beauty rest so that we could be ready for tomorrow's ride.

Thursday, February 2/2012

It is Groundhog Day today and by all reports none of the four legged furry little creatures can agree on whether or not there is going to be another six weeks of winter.  Some saw their shadows and some did not so I guess the only thing one can do is to assume there will be 6 more weeks of winter or perhaps others prefer to hope for an early Spring.  We will not be getting any definitive answers from the groundhogs!!
Either way, it is Spring here in the Sonoran Desert and the groundhog would have definitely seen his shadow.
It is windy today but the sun is shining and so I shall not complain.  Mom and Georgie arrived in Phoenix yesterday and we didn't hear anything from them so we assume they had a good flight and arrived safe and sound.  I talked to Mom a few days before they left and both her and Georgie were anxious to leave.  The two of them will be busy while they are here and I am not even sure if they will have time for a visit with John and I!!
We headed into Wickenburg this evening for the weekly shuffleboard tournament, supper and some refreshments.  It was yet another good time and we left Bar 7 in time to stop at the Rancher to have one final refreshment with Dina.  We found out that Bill now has a new job and while I was there, he called wondering about a ride home.  I was volunteered to go pick him up so we were able to have a visit with Bill too. He is now working at the Motel 8 and says it is OK although he did like the outside work of the Shell Gas Station However, with all their financial struggles, it was time for him to look for something more stable.
We were home before midnight then John had to play one game of Yahtzee before I finally headed to bed.
We were invited out to quad again on Saturday with Ray and Kay so I now need to change my schedule and cook the Japanese Chicken Wings tomorrow for the game Sunday.  So much to do - So little time!!

Wednesday, February 1/2012

Wow, it is already the first of February!!  The weather is nice back home as I see on Facebook that some folks are sitting outside in their T-shirts.  Nice!!  Of course it is much nicer down here and I certainly do not miss the cold but by all reports, it has been a "good" winter except for the 10 days of extreme cold weather a few weeks ago.
It is cloudy today so am not sure if the batteries will get fully charged or not and as it turned out, they did not!!  the sun managed to pop through only a few times and that was only briefly.
I made the call to Star Choice and had the receiver up and reprogrammed in no time.  The fellow was most helpful and now I have the re-programming instruction written down so that if it happens again, I will be able to fix the problem without having to phone into the company.
Keith came over today looking for some sort of glue that would repair cracked plastic as there is a crack in the big water barrel so he was trying to fix it until a new one can be bought.  I gave him what I thought might work and only time will tell if it works or not.  Charlotte was already on the internet looking for a replacement and thinks one can be found in Quartzsite so it looks like they have a road trip ahead of them.
It is a good thing that Quartzsite is not too far away.
John and I spent the evening around the "campfire in a can" tonight until it was time for supper.  Liver and onions is what is on the menu.  Hogan kept the campsite free of all two and four legged creatures again tonight so he was pretty tired by the time we moved into the bus for supper.

Tuesday, January 31/2012

Well, it is the last day of January and the sun is shining and it looks like it will be another nice day today.  I really have to head into town later as we are out of milk and the beer supply is getting rather low as well!!
Back from town and I really have nothing on my agenda.  It will be a rather relaxing day I think!!
I actually spent most of the day in the sunshine reading my book.  The birds were very busy all around me and yesterday, I was able to move the hummingbird bird feeder successfully and so far, the hummingbirds are the only ones to have found it!!  Hopefully it takes a few days for the bees to hone in on it and the little birds can drink without their interference.
John was once again mucking around with the jeep and then went for a visit down to Keith and Charlotte's as neither one of us has seen them since Sunday.
Caesar salad and roast chicken for supper then I went and watched TV lying in bed.  Such a lazy ass!!
When John turned on the big TV tonight, there was no signal.  This happened last year too when Larry and Ariane were here because I remember Larry saying he had no signal and when we checked ours, it was the same.  When I phoned Star Choice last year, they told me that for some reason, the receiver de-programs itself and needs to be re-booted so I imagine that this is the same thing that needs to be done this year too.  I will deal with this issue in the morning!!

Monday, January 30/2012

Another nice day is upon us and although there is a bit of a breeze, it is quite warm out.  Trueman stopped by for a cup of coffee and a quick visit.  He is such an incredible story teller!!
John is busy mucking around with the dash in the jeep and I spent most of the day relaxing and reading.  I refilled the hummingbird feeder and moved it into the shade so hopefully the bees won't find it quite so easily as they have totally taken it over and now the hummingbird can't get near it.  I washed it all off and hung it in the shade and so far, so good, the hummingbird is feeding and there are no bees around it - yet!!
I refilled the bee catcher - had to sacrifice another beer as that seems to attract them something fierce.
We told Trueman when he was here that we would bring down the two batteries John is giving him a bit later today so once he was done with the jeep we packed the batteries into the jeep and headed to the mine.
Cowboy was there to greet us and once Hogan got out of the jeep they ran around like a couple of fools!!
We sat around chatting with Trueman for a while then he took John over to one of his many trucks he has stored out at the site and gave him two old jeep jerry cans.  They were old and will look awesome on the rack and John says they will not leak which would be so different from the ones we have now.  Sometimes new is not always better!!
Back at the bus, I made a pot of chilli for supper and we watched a bit of TV before it was time to head to bed.  Of course I have to read a bit before I fall asleep but all in all, it was another good day.