Fulltiming Road Runners

Just a short note to let you know we got Mom home safe ‘n sound.  We had a wonderful (albeit short) visit with my brother Ed, my Sis in Law April, and my niece, Kjana (ke yan a).  My nephew Dalin even stopped in for a minute.  We took Willow with us and she had a nice time playing with their dog, Maggie.

The drive over was lovely.  The roadside had many flowers in bloom, from Brittlebush, to Sand Verbena and Evening Primrose.  I have a couple of pics, but not a lot.  Will try to throw together a decent blog tomorrow with all the pics I’ve been promising.

It’s a 6 - 6-1/2 hour round trip so we’re all tired tonight.

I just read on the NOAA report that tomorrow and Monday are supposed to have record or near record high temperatures.  That would be mid to high 80’s.   NICE!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

Things have been crazy here.  The last time I posted was Tuesday night and I can’t remember a lot of what we did on Wednesday.  Since Thom and I worked on Mon ‘n Tues, we stayed in town on Wed so we could catch up on things at home.  I got indoor house”stuffs” done in the morning and got set up to create a cabochon from slab to cab so Mom could see the whole process.  I didn’t get a chance to wire wrap it yet though. No pics at this time of the cab.  I’ll shoot some before I wrap it.

Thursday we went to Yuma, Algodones & Bard.  Yuma to take in battery cores for the batteries we just bought for the motor home, Algodones for meds, tequila, liqueur chocolates ‘n stuff, ‘n Bard for dates.  Mom and I split 11 pounds of dates.  We both love the recipe we have for date bars.

Today Thom ‘n Russ worked at the contact station and Mom & I did “stuff” in the morning…. I had a project to do for Mom and she did my dishes (YAY!!).  Mom and I went for a drive to do a bit of wild flower hunting.  Things NOT blooming quite yet:  Ocotillo, cholla.  I did get shots of cholla buds though.

It was a fun drive with just Mom and me.  I’m so going to miss her the next 8 or so months.  I’ve got a few wild flower shots from today to share with you and later I’ll share some I took earlier this week.

Mom feels she needs to go home a day early, so we will be driving her home tomorrow.  All 3 of us are going… takes all of us to deliver her home safely I guess. …. Not really, Russ is going this time because he really wants to see Ed, our brother, and Ed wants to see Russ also.   I could stay home, but I don’t want to miss out on the great buys at Ploughboy’s Produce stand.  Plus I always get a warm feeling when I can see my brother, his wife, April and their kids… whichever of them might be home.

We’ve had a wonderful week of warmth, it’s been heavenly!  Not too warm, not too cool.  Mom has been thrilled with the weather.

Okay… here’s a few of the flowers we shot today.

This is a Chicory flower peeking out from behind the leaves of a Fairy Duster bush.  (pic of fairy duster later)

This next pic is of the flowers of the Creosote plant.  This plant is the majority of what you’ll see across the desert here in La Paz county.  The sparkly/shiney you see on the leaves is a resin (creosote) the plant puts out to protect itself against those critters that would like to eat the leaves (sans resin).  This pic shows the flower from bud to dying flower all on the same branch.

These flowers are growing alongside the roads all over and make a very lovely field of gold.  They are called Desert Gold.  I believe they may be a type of sunflower.

I do have more pics, but it’s near 10 p.m. and we have to get up fairly early to take Mom home tomorrow.  I’m really hoping to have time in the next month to keep ya’ll up with the folding up and heading north process for the FT Roadrunners!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

I don’t have pics prepared for sharing or thoughts organized in my head, but I wanted to make a quick stop in here to let ya’ll know we are still alive ‘n kickin’.

We brought Mom here Saturday afternoon, Sunday was a day of of relaxing with a short walk with Mom & Deb.  I got a couple of flower pics in the last few days I can share next time I post.

Tomorrow we are going with Marv ‘n Deb to La Posa South where someone has built an outline of a map of the US with rock, hopefully I can get pics.  Then Russ & Thom are going to scout out storage sheds.  We want to store our portable dump ‘n fresh water tanks here, as well as other things we won’t need until next season in QZ.

I hope to be able to spend some time tomorrow cutting a cab from a slab and work on one of my rough shape cabs.  Mom wants to see the process, so I’ll try to do what I can.

Russ & Thom have to work on Friday so we have to work in the things Mom wants to do during tomorrow, Thursday & Saturday…. we like to do things all together, but if need be, Mom & I can take a drive into the desert on Friday.  One day we want to go down to the date farms in Bard Valley… on that trip we’ll go into Algodones, Mexico as well to pick up those things that cost an arm ‘n a leg here.

The big talk here in the BLM long term camping areas right now is the likelihood of rattlesnakes.  We were told this morning that a guy killed a snake in the free camping area called Road Runner.  He saw it, grabbed a large rock and crushed it’s head.  I hate when I hear stories like this.  The snakes were here first and are only doing what snakes do… sit in the sun, get warm and when the air starts cooling down go hunting.  They are as afraid of us as we are of them.  If you’re smart, you walk hard and stay out of the washes in the early evening!

For being a short note saying I’ll post stuff soon… this is nearly an epic.  Sorry.  Just call me Chatty Kathy.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

Yesterday I got a couple of things done in the trailer, then I went out & set up the lapidary tool and got two cabochons smoothed & polished, ready for wire wrapping.

It was lovely outside yesterday (and today).  At 4:00 p.m. I was very comfortable sitting outside in the sun reading, wearing only shorts & tee-shirt.  Today I didn’t do a lot of outside time because I did dishes, straightened up a bit and then wrapped one of my 2 finished cabs.  This is a shot of the cab (in the middle), along with the wire (bottom left) ready to get to work, & some of the tools I use in the process.

The creamy yellow part of the cab has fracture lines and is very fragile.  I’m amaze I managed to get this shape in one piece… unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep it from shattering on the smallest end.  I finished wrapping it, and hid the fractured part with the rosette embellishments.  I’ll be able to wear it myself or give it to someone, but it’s not really sellable unless someone wants to buy it at a bargain price.  Here’s a pic.

I’ve got 2 or 3 more pieces from the same slab, so it’ll be interesting to see if I can finish them without shattering the creamy parts.  I love the look of it.

I called Mom yesterday evening and asked her if she was packed & ready for us to pick her up today.  She durned near paniced!  She thought we’d said Saturday & we thought we’d decided on Friday.  I told her not to worry, she could have Friday to get ready and we’d pick her up tomorrow.   It sure is nice being retired and having our time so flexible!  Don’t know if Russ is going with us, or staying home to do final touches.  Mom is staying with him in his motorhome this time.  Our brother (Russ ‘n mine), Ed,  had surgery on Wednesday and Russ would like to go say hi ‘n speedy recovery.  He’s still weighing the pros/cons on going or staying.

I’ve got a couple of shots of the flowers Russ & I saw on Monday while we were “outback”.  This first one is a Phacelia.  They are quite pretty.

This one is a desert poppy.  It’s a miniature.  It is only about 4″ tall.  The sun was behind clouds so the poppy wasn’t open, but I loved the way the flower seems to be floating in air.

Enuff for now.  It’ll be a few days before I post again.  We drive over to get Mom tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll be busy taking walks ‘n sitting and chatting with her for a day or 3.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

I could make myself crazy trying to post more often.  I found myself feeling guilty today while I was working on my cabochons because I felt I should be blogging.  That’s totally not right for me.  I’m blogging because it’s fun and I like having the history to go back to and read to see how it really was, not embellished to be what I wanted it to be.  I don’t want to feel like I HAVE to blog at any particular time.

Monday evening we got 1/10 of an inch of rain.  It was cloudy, breezy and cool that day.  Russ & I got bored so we decided to go for a ride “out back” to look for wood for his walking sticks and flowers for my photos.  We found both.  I just haven’t downloaded the pics of the flowers yet, so you’ll have to wait for another time to see them.  We are getting more flowers as the weather warms up and the days get longer.  We go get Mom on Friday (in 2 days) and the weather is going to be in the 70’s by then and I’m feeling pretty safe in guaranteeing a good flower bloom for the week she’s going to be here.  I’m so looking forward to having time with Mom again.  When we go get her we intend to stop at our favorite produce stand in Wildomar to pick up fresh garlic, and any other produce we can find at a good price.

The other day I decided to mark out a bunch of cabochons and spend a day sawing and grinding them.  Today I did just that.  I started with the rock slabs (pic follows). You can see the shapes penciled on some of the rocks:

I then set up my lapidary tool to do the sawing of the slabs.  This is the slabs after being sawed.  From here I needed to take them to the grinder and grind down the angles and get the rough shape of the cabs.  the one at the top has already been ground down.

This is the shot of the cabs in rough shape.  From here I need to take the cabs and form the tops to be curved, smooth and polished.  I’ll share pics when I’ve got the cabs ready for wire wrapping.

I’m having a ball doing this and wish I could share the fun with all my friends.

Today Marv & Russ installed a new solar panel on Marv’s 5th wheel, checked the roof and repaired any problems on Russ’s motorhome (Marv said it’s in great shape), and checked the roof on our 5th wheel.  Thom sawed a whole pile of pallets into firewood today.  It was a pretty busy day for all of us in our diverse efforts.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to spend time inside and get paperwork filing, etc done.  We need to make room in here for Mom to sleep.  I’d hate to see this very lithe, but 83 old lady climb the ladder to the roof to find sleeping room.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

I didn’t go the full 4 days before posting… does that earn me a gold star?

It’s been a fun couple of days.  Marv asked me a couple of days ago if I’d throw together a pendant necklace for his daughter… with my lapidary work & wire wrapping.  I went rock slab shopping yesterday morning & was able to get a lot of bargains at the Desert Gardens rock & gem show, even though most of the vendors have left already.  I had in mind a blue stone and was able to get one, (called sodalite) at a very reasonable price… along with enough other slabs to keep me busy for quite some time.

I spent yesterday afternoon cutting the slab into the rough shape,  then shaped it to the cabochon piece I wanted.  I only had a bit of smoothing and polishing left to do today.  I got the smoothing and polishing done today and was even able to get it wire wrapped and finished today.  I’m really pleased with the results!

After sitting around on my hind end all morning I felt the need to move around a bit.  I took a walk and just as I got back to our place I heard a new bird “song”.  I turned towards the sound (with camera in hand), and was able to get a shot of this American Goldfinch.  I’ve gotten shots of the Lesser Goldfinch before, but, even though I’ve heard the American Goldfinch frequents Quartzsite, I’ve not seen one here until now.  He’s certainly not in full Spring color like in the canyon, but sure is pretty to me.

Tomorrow is the Datona race and it appears we will be hosting the group here.  I guess I better get the piles out of the chair and off the tables so there’s room for people to sit and for snacks within reaching distance.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Ya think maybe I ought to set my schedule to remind me to blog every 4 days?  That seems to be what I’m doing.

Lets see…. Saturday it rained; Sunday I went for a walk and shot a few of the very early flowers; Monday we worked, the wind blew at a steady 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph, it rained in the afternoon along with the wind and we got a whole 0.04″ which makes the total 2.71″ since we set up the weather station; Tuesday we worked; and today we went to Algodones, Mexico & Yuma.

Until yesterday most of the flowers that are blooming or ready to bloom are those tiny things on plants about 2 inches tall, and are yellow.  I’ve a book on desert flower identification and the author writes that there are so many yellow flowers that cross pollinate they don’t even give many of them names… they just call them ADYF (an acronym for Another Damned Yellow Flower).  This is one of those ADYF’s.  It’s tiny, about 1/4″ on a plant only 1″ tall that looks much like dandelion leaves.

This one I can at least identify as one of the fiddlenecks.  It, too, is quite small.  The larger Fiddlenecks will be out in a couple of weeks.

Most of the regular readers of Fulltiming Road Runners know my passion for wildlife & nature, so I won’t apologize for all the photos of flowers & critters I share here.  I find it very exciting to be able to learn what thrives, where & why.

This next shot is of the sky on Sunday.  The clouds were so beautiful I couldn’t resist a shot or two.

Today was a good day.  We needed to go to Yuma to pick up some T105 6 volt batteries for the Motorhome so we made a day of it and went to Algodones as well… for things we just can’t live without, like a few meds, giant marshmallows,  Bailey’s filled Truffles, Kahlua filled Truffles, tequilla, & a bottle of vanilla for Mom.

The batteries in the motorhome were pretty much used up so we found the least expensive T105’s in Yuma.  We needed to go to Walmart as well, so after Algodones we went to the battery place, then Walmart, then lunch and we were home by 3:00 p.m. today.  How’s that for efficiency?

It’s chilly still.  There was ice on the windshields this morning.  The temp was 35F at 7:45 a.m.  It’s supposed to be chilly for the rest of this week, starting to warm up next week and be absolutely perfect weather for Mom’s visit for a week starting the 20th or 21st.

PS.  Thom is doing a whole bunch better.  Still not 100%, but at least can get up and about and survive busy days like today.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

It started raining late this morning and is still drizzling.  According to my weather station rain gauge we’ve received 0.85 inches of rain today.  Certainly not like the rain of Washington coast, but a lot for down here.  We’ve had a total of 2.65 inches of rain since the 2nd week of October.  If the desert floor reacts like it usually does after a rain, the dust should stay down for at least a week.  When the desert receives rain, the water will percolate back to the surface every day for around a week or so…. it depends on how warm and dry the air is after the rain.  This water coming back to the surface tends to keep the dust from flying.

Before I post the few pics I have of the rain, ya’ll need an update on our health.
I’m feeling a whole lot better.  My “bug” never went further than my head, so I had fever, headaches, body aches and wooziness, but no tummy problems.  My energy is still down, but I feel pretty good now.  It’s a good thing because Thom is still not up ‘n at-em like we’d like.  He still feels sick to his tummy and still has the pain, but has been over 24 hours without vomiting, so that’s a plus.  Marv is apparently feeling better, and Russ sounds like he’s coming down with a cold or head flu.  He said it feels like a cold coming on.

Yesterday while I was still feeling punk ‘n Thom sick, Deb made a pot of fresh, homemade chicken soup for us.  It was like manna to us.  Deb, you ‘n Marv are absolutely wunnerful!

We’re planning on going and getting my Mom to come stay with us for a week.  We think it will be on Feb. 20th or 21st.  I’m hoping the flowers will be blooming by then.  While walking out in the wash this afternoon in the drizzle (to take pics), I noticed lots of new growth on flowering plants such as poppies, lupine, and others I can’t identify yet because they are quite small, but know they will have flowers soon.

The rain we had today is a guarantee we’ll have a lovely spring and I can’t wait to share it with Mom.

Here’s the pic of the puddles from the rain in our front yard.  We’ve had enuff more rain to make it look like that tree is on an island surrounded by water. 

Normally, Russ and I and Mom, when she’s here, go walking in this wash to look for rocks, reptiles, new plants, etc.   This is what it looks like after a day of rain.

Poor Russ is a warm blooded animal and didn’t enjoy today’s weather at all.  He’s looking forward to what the rain will bring, but really hates being cold.  He made the best of it though…. he sat in his motorhome, listening to the rain on the roof trying to stay awake & read.

Tomorrow it’s only a 30% chance of rain.  Whatever happens, I’ll be staying home doing what I can to make Thom get better (I’ve learned threats don’t work).  I plan on baking cookies… either snickerdoodles or a special oatmeal recipe.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy….. we plan on getting that way again REAL soon!

Toodles!

Thom came down with the stomach flu on Tuesday and is still down with it.  Russ has been a doll about helping us out with things Thom usually does.  It feels like I’m coming down with the flu today.  It hasn’t hit my stomach yet, but I’ve got a bit of a fever and am pretty light headed.

One of the really great things about having your own little community (Marv ‘n Deb, Russ & us) is when one of you isn’t up to par, the others are there to lend a hand.  Today our sweet Deb baked banana muffins & brought over a few.  They’re yummy!  Marv has offered several times to help whenever we need him.

Yesterday was a really quiet day for us.  I cut a slab off a rock with my new toy.  The slab turned out to be kind of lime colored with dark purple/brown mottling.  I think I’m going to free form it instead of cut into a oval or round shape.  But not today.  Today I’m thinking about going back to bed.

Temps got up to 86 yesterday and today it’s 81, but cloudy and now the wind is picking up.  It’s supposed to get stormy tomorrow and stay that way through Sunday.  I sure hope we get the rain they say is coming on Saturday.

Speaking of the wind, it’s getting strong enough I think I need to shut down my computer and stow the dish.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

The Big Tent shows are over and things are slowing down here in QZ.  Traffic is even getting better.  We’re still getting new campers in here, but they are those folks who are here to soak up the warmth of the desert away from their freezing homes.  We worked today and had a couple come in today from Iowa.  According to them, it’s been really bad there this winter.  I’m glad I’ve been here since Oct. 5th.

We’ve pretty much been doing our normal, everyday stuff.  Russ and I have been learning to use my new lapidary tool.  We can saw, shape, grind, smooth and polish with it.  We’re having a ball.  Russ has a great eye for rocks that will give lovely slabs & finished cabochons.  Mostly we’ve no idea what the rocks are except for jasper, quartz, & chrisacola, but as long as we get the beautiful cuts, we don’t care much.  We’ll eventually learn to identify them.  I’m trying to learn wire wrapping on my own.  I can’t seem to work in a class at the Gem & Mineral Club, so I’m gathering as much info as possible online and am using copper practice wire to teach myself.  The results aren’t nearly as good as they’d be if I took the classes, but I’m slowly learning.  When we have finished cabs & wrapped pieces, we’ll share pics.

There’s not a lot happening on the home front other than sharing ideas and helping hands in learning easier ways to do the boondocking thing.  Marv is wealth of help and info.  We really appreciate all the knowledge he has to share with us.

I still have a bunch of dishes to wash, so I’m going to quit now and try to come back with more to share soon.

Ya’ll stay healthy & happy!

Tah!