EVERYBODY (WELL ALMOST) LOVES A PARADE

Every year around this time our park has what’s known as Spring Fling which is an excuse for normally sane people to get way outside of normal.  We tend to avoid most of the activities but since we were here this year, took in the parade as it went past our motor home.   It was huge and very colourful.   After the parade we went to friends Ken and Marie’s for a great potluck style lunch.  Their friends (and now ours) Ernie and Atha also from Grand Junction, CO joined us.  Later, we played Spinner, another domino game which I managed to come last in both games. 

Aileen and I went for a drive in the car out into a bit of the area I ATV in.  The Fish and Game or someone has graded several roads out in the desert making them more easily accessed by car.  We went up to where there is an overlook of some petroglyphs.  We’d taken a picnic lunch which we had down in a wash out of the wind.  We’ve had quite a bit of cold wind this winter.  We are back having mornings right on the freezing mark but they are promising some warmer weather soon.

I’ve been out a couple times geocaching, once in the car for a short while and yesterday with the ATV where I managed to get about four hours in and found 34.  I really enjoy caching either on the
ATV or my bike.

On Sunday, our Campbell River friends, Gay and Doug, spent the day with us.  We did a tour of the Greek Monastery just south of Florence then wandered over to Casa Grande for a late lunch.  When we got home, Aileen had a little rest while I took Doug and Gay up to our park’s cactus garden which has name tags with all the plants.  Aileen had supper partly ready in the crockpot and just had to cook rice and carrots.  Before we knew it we were sitting down to another meal.  After an enjoyable visit, the guys left about 7:30 for their drive back to Mesa where they have rented a condo.  Gay and I had a good time sharing photo talk.

Jacquie and Jim left Friday morning for Yuma for a few days then on to Quartzsite for a few more days.  From there, they will head straight home to BC.  Cousin Terry who had a liver transplant in the fall is doing very well and is in rehab getting her strength back.  She could be going home by the end of March.  She was very sick for a long time. 

Some of our local hookers

Some Caliente flashers

Giving a closer view

Followed by ......

This year's theme was Mardi Gras so a good excuse to go a bit crazy

Lots of thought and effort went into many of these golf carts

Two of our clowns, Lovey Dovey and Rats

The greenest I have seen the desert

We saw the sheep again in Box Canyon this afternoon.  I think there were a dozen and first time I have seen them jump

WE GET A TASTE OF WINTER

It was 9.6C (just under 50F) yesterday morning at 8 am and by 10:30 it was down to 3.2C and we had snow flakes mixed in the rain.  When I went out in the car later, the snow was way down the hills.  Only six of us went riding the ATVs today and we went up where there was still a bit of snow on the ground.   We had a great ride, the weather was chilly to start but turned quite pleasant later.  We saw at least nine bighorn sheep in Box Canyon which is always a thrill.

We had arranged for Campbell River friends Doug and Gay to visit yesterday but on seeing the forecast a couple days ago, we rescheduled for Sunday.  Yesterday morning was pretty nasty with heavy showers and strong wind gusts. 

Friends from Palisade, near Grand Junction , CO, Atha and Ernie wanted to play cards last night so we invited them over for Sets.  The three of them weren’t too happy with me as I won all three games.  I had been way behind in the last one and stole it in the last hand when Aileen went out and caught Ernie with a mitt full.  He seemed to have an insurmountable lead on me but I had enough down when she went out and caught him with lots of points.   On Tuesday night Aileen and I played and I won the first game by a little over 300 points.  In the second, Aileen beat me by over 1,000!!!  

I went for a few books at the library Monday morning.  Randy, Moris’ friend had come looking for me so Aileen sent him up to find me at the library.  Randy wanted to go out in the desert a bit with his Jeep so after lunch he and Pete Moris came by and away we went.  We went out past the diversion dam then came back and went up 7 mile road to Cottonwood Rd.  From there we went to the petroglyphs.  After wandering around there for a while, we headed out to highway 79 then home.   While I was doing that, Aileen was at the Celiac Support meeting learning all sorts of new things.   When I got home, I edited more pictures.  I seem to spend a lot of time editing pictures then sending them into cyberspace!   Carol from next door had an article from the Cheboygan, Michigan paper about her Mom’s 100th birthday.  Aileen managed to download a copy then tidied it up some so it was more readable.  When it was done to their satisfaction, I printed off 18 copies.

I bought a new GPS the other day and after some great tech support from brother in law, John, I have it working and it is a real step up from my old system.   This unit allows paperless geocaching which will save me lots of time and agony.  I was spending hours copying and pasting data into a word doc then manually inputting the co-ordinates and title into the GPS which took many more hours.  This new system allows you to download a large number of caches directly into the GPS.   Now I just need to find time to get out to use it.  I think I will have to scale back my ATV riding to just one day a week with the group.

Aileen and I with Gay and Doug on the right

Looking up to the Thumb from just outside the park yesterday

The poppies are blooming when the sun shines, I think they sucked themselves back into the ground yesterday

This is the dam that diverts the Gila River into an irrigation canal

I climbed up here for a geocache and admired the views

A closer view of the Thumb today 

This gate should be awarded some type of prize.  I think if a cow nudged it that would be the end of it.

Some of the sheep we saw today

TOO BUSY, NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY

This has been a long spell since my last post.  Every time I planned to work on my blog, something else seemed to take over my time.  When we first arrived back, I had lots of laundry to catch up.  Then I did another five loads this Tuesday.   I have done some geocaching and then there’s the research and computer work to keep up with that.  I’ve been on a few ATV rides and of course I took pictures.  Well that takes lots of time to download and edit then there is the time it takes to email pictures to the ATV group.

I put a new tube in my bike tire so I am able to ride around the area again.   We’ve been out playing cards a few times then there are the games the two of us play, which Aileen has won mostly.  I’ve hardly won a game in about four weeks.  I’ve had difficulty fitting in much reading which I enjoy.

Friends from Campbell River who we met as friends of Cousin Bill are in Mesa for a month so we spent much of last Wednesday up there visiting.  We went to PF Chang’s for a tasty lunch then Gay knew of some good shopping so we let her lead us.  I managed to get a couple pair of shoes and Aileen got one.  All this desert walking is tough on my footwear.  I picked up a couple pairs of jeans in another store.  Doug and Gay are planning to come visit us for the day this coming Wednesday.

On February 7, our ATV club had a major clean the desert blitz.  The Arizona Fish and Game sent out a couple people with a huge trailer and two pickups.  We filled everything.  We had 34 ATVs with 51 people involved.  Most of the trash is generated by recreational shooters.  They seem to be the biggest slobs of all.   All manner of electronics are carted out to the desert then shot to pieces and left lay.

Aileen had Mitzy to the vet a couple times recently.  The first was a problem with her hips.  They couldn’t find anything major wrong.  Aileen had been giving her my joint complete which seems to have helped so the vet said to continue with the program.  The second time was to have her teeth cleaned and a hip x-ray while she was under the sedative.  Well, they had to pull a back molar this time.  Bad genetics, it would appear.

Jim and I changed oil in our ATVs one morning then another morning I spent some time watching Jim replace a CV cover (boot) on his front axle.  I don’t know if I would attempt that or not.  One of the problems owning an older ATV is the need for more repairs.  However, after watching what people are experiencing with their newer machines, the old one is still much appreciated.   

This was most of our desert cleanup crew

We were given these shirts by the fish and game department

Fully loaded

A little recognition for our club

One of my favourite views

A good rack

These fox came through our lunch spot on Tuesday

One of the guys grabbed my camera for this shot of me

Some of the beautiful scenery along the Martinez Mine Rd

Martinez Mine Rd

Box Canyon, Jim J in front

A couple shots showing the greening of the desert.  I think this is the greenest I have seen

I'm hoping for a good flower bloom before we leave to head north

THE HOLIDAY IS OVER

While we’d love to stay here the rest of the winter, it is time to head back to Florence for a while.  We have really enjoyed being able to dry camp/boondock for so long this year.  I think we will do more of it in the years to come as we finally seem to have the solar, internet and heating situation in hand.  We originally planned to spend two weeks out here then back to Florence around New Years.  We’ve been out in the Quartzsite/Bouse area now since December 18.  It was great having my ATV for most of the time.  It was fun geocaching with the ATV.  I need to come up with some way of bringing it along on a regular basis.

The biggest downside to our time here was my getting ill a couple weeks ago.  I’m still struggling with a bit of a cough and chest congestion.  I keep hoping the hotter weather will make it all go away.  It is improving, at least.  We had a gorgeous day today following a cloudy day yesterday after rain during the early morning.   There had been a zero percent chance of precipitation but Aileen and I noticed a ring around the sun and later a sundog on Saturday.   It goes to show that watching the sky can be more accurate than the internet forecast.

We were up to Parker last Friday then went again today. 

Our view to the north.  Those building in the distance are Bouse and are seven to eight miles away.

Our spot on the hill.

The ultralight and moon the other night.

Morning shot of the camp.

The Saturday sundog.

This guy made a couple close passes at supper tonight.