A very windy, sleepy, dusty desert day……

 

Our Location:

BLM Ogilby Rd, Winterhaven, California 

The dust is obscuring pretty much everything here even though we have no wind advisories. We cannot see the Dunes, the Ogilby Hills or the Cargo Muchacho mountains which normally surrounds us with their magically ever changing views. The air closer to the ground  is a different hue of grey/brown that changes gradually as one raises the eye upwards to the beautiful blue sky that seems to rest atop of the wall of grey/brown. The air smells of dust, and tastes of dust if one is outside at all. In fact just looking out the window makes me think I can almost taste it anyway. The wind is relentless, seeking to make every little moveable thing on a rig squeak, whistle, groan or flap. It finds crevices that the eye can’t see, it pushes dust through the slightest hint of any opening, it blows dust past our windows much like Old Man Winter batters the snow back home in Ontario. Much like back home the bushes and trees here are leafless right now but they too add to the music, creaking and rubbing against each other and the ground. The sun high above us is a constant and we are thankful for its cheerful presence. Winter in the desert is as varied as winter in Ontario, it is never boring!

Riley and I had breakfast at Cracker Barrel 

Lots of picking going on near Yuma.

So a quick catchup, no pictures to prove what I say but you will have to take my word for it. When last I posted, friends Kim and Ken had left, they have since returned, following the arrival first of friends Deb and Tom, and new to us friends, Joan and Dave, from our home province of Ontario. Joan and Dave have just left for a week but promise to return. Deb, Tom, Riley and I have ventured to Los Algodones and once just Deb, Tom and I made the trip to Los Algodones, Riley opted out due to recovering from the dreaded Crud Cold! She is much better. No, I didn’t leave her here all by herself while I was away, Joan and Dave were parked across the yard on the off chance she needed something, which she didn’t.

This would be Ken and Kim returning to the yard.

Sunset Jan 25.

Calls to dad nightly keeps me informed of all the goings on up there. Snow, wind, snow, wind, 5 minutes of what they think might be sunshine, but as yet no confirmation on that, followed by snow and wind. I think you must be getting the idea by now, it’s definitely winter in Northern Ontario. Chats with my sister, both her and her other half have the Crud Cold as well. It seems to be everywhere.  Brother Rick and SIL Barb are doing well, and keeping busy.

Can you see the 3 aircraft?

The Ocotillos have a smidge of green.

A few things of note:

Belated birthday wishes to Robert, celebrated on the 7th. I have no doubt you had a great day.

Birthday wishes to Hudson, as today is the actual day, but the party was this past Saturday! I know everyone had a grand time skating, sledding, roasting things over the pit bonfire and the afternoon festivities were followed by a huge spaghetti dinner! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Condolences to Lori, Tim, Steve and Paul on the passing of their sister Audrey just two days ago. Audrey and I were pretty close for a some years but sadly we drifted apart as the years passed. Her smile and laughter were infectious, a huge heart and wicked sense of humour will forever be my memories of her. Taken too soon at 62 years of age. RIP Cuz!

A festive courtyard in Los Algodones.

Two casserole dishes I purchased.

I have chatted with SIL Janet here in California, and due to her health it appears we may not get to visit this winter. We had trouble contacting her due to the theft of her phone while on the way to a doctors appointment. We have managed to connect via round about methods. It is amazing how crippled our communication gets when we no longer actually know the phone numbers of those important people we need to contact. 

A fountain in the courtyard near the dentist office.

Looking the opposite way as the fountain.

So I suppose that is enough catching up for today. I must apologize to all of you but I am truly struggling to read, write and comment on blogs. I just can’t seem to get back into that groove. In fact I take very few photos anymore. I just don’t seem to have any interest. I anticipate very few posts from me in the future.

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We are still here……

 

Our Location:

BLM Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California 

Happy New Year, better late than never! It’s pretty quiet here, our friends Kim and Ken have left for a while, and so there is not much happening.

Dust in the air Jan 6, 2025

The winds have been relentless but today seems to have ushered in a number of days forecasted with almost no wind. If you were looking our way about 5 am this morning you may have noticed me doing a happy dance! Today’s walk was not dust filled, a huge bonus!

Riley and I have been just hanging out, a few errands, a little shopping, and just living. After our busy summer we are enjoying the down time.

Jan 7, 2025

Thanks to Ken for fixing our back jacks, we do appreciate it so very much. Now I can probably figure it out if it happens again. We are seriously thinking of replacing the electric ones with manual ones this summer. We shall see how things go!

A couple of birthdays to note:

Happy Birthday Jason! (Jan 2)A wonderful young man, great father, husband, son brother and nephew. Enjoy your adventure!

Happy birthday cousin Sheila. (Jan 7) Your smile is infectious, your laughter catching. I have no doubt you had a fabulous day!

Happy Birthday Amber (Jan 9). Your artistic talents always amaze me, you are certainly your mother’s daughter ! I hope the day was a good one.

Happy Birthday Janet! (Jan 14). We miss you and look forward to seeing you soon! 

Happy Birthday Ian! (Jan 16). You are often in my thoughts, I miss your wit, charms and laughter!

Happy Birthday Matt. (Jan 17). My former SIL, I hope all is well with you.

Happy Birthday Craig. (Jan 20). Hey Cousin, I hope you have a fantastic day!

Happy Birthday Courtney! (Jan 22) My oldest daughter. A bright, bubbly, energetic lady that leaves me breathless, smiling and trying to keep up. I love you so much! I hope you have a fabulous day!

Happy Birthday Riley! (Jan 28) I love so much and can’t imagine these adventures without you!

Happy Birthday Bob and Ruth. (Jan 29) Siblings, oldest and youngest. It is sad that we drift apart but you are often in my memories.

Happy Birthday Sally. (Jan 29). My grandfather’s half sister. I hope you have a wonderful day!

On a more somber note, our condolences to the Anstice Family in the passing of Justeen. She was a fantastic lady, we will miss her.(Jan 12) 

Condolences to the Sagle Family in the passing of their mother Elnora. A sweet kind lady, she will be missed.

Jan 16, 2025 sunset.

Today’s pics are just some I have been collecting of sunsets here in our little part of the world. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Until next time…

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

We are still here….

 

Our location:

BLM Ogilby Rd, Winterhaven, California 

We are still tucked away in Southern California enjoying the winter adventure. The days are mostly balmy with some chilly winds tossed in occasionally to remind us it is now winter time. We are of course sympathetic to those that can’t be here and will just suffer through for everyone with no complaining. Yes we are that generous!

Some times the night sky is on fire. 
Dec 22

We are no longer solo as most or at least some of you know, our friends Ken and Kim have been here since Nov 18,  they too are suffering the reminder of winter right along with us, they are not complaining either. Happy hours are more on the quiet side but fun, informative and some times even educational. We are truly enjoying their company. 

Kim and Ken have taken a spot in the front yard.

I told you it was breezy, sand in the chairs.

We, meaning the four of us, Kim, Ken, Riley and I met up with Bill, Patsy, Duncan and Patty on Nov 19 at the entrance gate to Los Algodones, Mexico for a fun filled day. It was our first time meeting Duncan and Patty, who also are from Ontario, Canada, and in fact are from Northern Ontario just as Riley and I are. We had a fabulous time, enjoyed some laughs, some good food and drinks, managed a few hugs and handshakes from some folks that remembered us, we even managed to spend some money, after all ,”Its almost free.”. It was so surprising when we turned the corner to start for the line at US customs, 2:00 pm and no one was in line! We all enjoyed that a great deal.

L-R
Riley, Deb, Duncan, Patty, Patsy, Bill, Ken, Kim

We shared Christmas Dinner in our rig with the two K’s, they supplied half, we supplied half, we were all full by the end! You will have to take my word for it as we don’t have a single pic! Thanks Kim and Ken, it was delicious and the company fantastic!

Christmas Eve

We FaceTimed with my grandsons on Christmas Eve for a bit, but chatted with everyone back home and here in California on Christmas Morning. SIL Janet and hubby Dennis are once again in Indian Wells, California.

Not spectacular but nice.

Nightly chats with Dad, has us wondering if they will get any more snow, it has rained now for a couple of days, their snow is mostly gone, but there are serious patches of ice in some places. 

Happy belated birthday wishes to Isabel, my great niece. She celebrated on Christmas Eve. I believe Miss Issy is 11. Also happy birthday to cousin Barry, a Christmas Day baby. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all. We hope you all have a fantastic day. 

Deb and Riley 

Another sunset…

 

Our Location:

BLM Ogilby Rd, Winterhaven, California 

Another beautiful sunset here on Dec 14, better late than never! I’m sure you folks tire of the photos but I enjoy them. These photos were taken with my iPad. There is truly no way to capture the same fiery colours with technology that you see with the human eye. However it is beautiful and definitely worth sharing.

Nightly chats with dad, a few with sister Jan, SIL Barb, my other daughters Courtney and Bradey, and friend Linda. The overall news, Manitoulin is getting hammered with snow, heavy and wet, light and airy, thick flakes, tiny flakes, straight fall and blowing and drifting. It is also in the midst of rain, heavy downpours, lightly falling and misty. Did I mention the fog factor? The snow now is like a layered cake, ice, ice crystals, more snow, etc.  The lean to roof that covers a tractor and dad’s travel trailer has sagged, about 2 feet of ice and snow had to be taken off. It would not simply slide off as usual, it was actually frozen to the metal and require a great deal of labour to get it off. All is well, nothing was damaged but the roof will need some reinforcement in the spring. My daughters both live in southern Ontario, one in Toronto and one in Brantford. Both are doing well and neither have much snow.

The days here are much the same, so far we have only had a couple of windy days. A day of clouds, but mostly sunshine with cooler temperatures. We are now closing our door around dark and most of the windows as well, it gets too cool inside if we don’t. We have ventured into Yuma a few times, groceries, fuel, drinking water, Amazon pkgs, miscellaneous things and lunch. Yesterday I restrung one of our blinds, it was easy but I could have did three more in the time it took me to do the first. We cleaned up the inside of the Dogsled, something we haven’t done since we arrived in the desert. We have also been trying some new recipes to add to Riley’s cookbook. Traditional recipes with a long list of ingredients and many steps to follow result in wasted time, ingredients and the desire to cook. Google truly is our friend for things like this!

The moon is a little whimsical as the sunset steals the sky.

We hooked  up, emptied/filled the necessary tanks, and upon arriving back on Ogilby Rd drove past our previous spot for one a bit farther down the pad. I’m certain Deb D will remember when Jim and Barb  came to visit overnight, the next day they headed off only to have to turn around and come back to get out. We are now parked down that pad, we like it better here. Yes we have to go the wrong direction to get back to the road out but it’s much like leaving home in the fall, north to go south, so we are kind of feeling more at home here! It is a big spot, room for friends, or just more room for us to spread our stuff around!

This is just a note for myself and Sammy ( my mechanic) there is no need to offer advice: the check engine light has been off since Dec14th, the idiot tire light is inconsistent with temperature and humidity but always goes out. The tires are at the proper PSI. There is no difference in performance or fuel consumption, just as Perry said regarding engine light. It is a curious thing, we drove to rest area to take our trash, shut it off and when I started it again the light was off and so far has stayed off.

A little catch up on the tractor operation, the new steering installed works great after bleeding the lines to get all the air out. A new paint job on the hood and  (new to this tractor) grill, it looks like a million dollars! It steers better than before, which will make it easier to use in the bush during wood cutting, tree hauling and the many other chores it handles.  No pics, sorry!

The moon is playing peek-a-boo.

We once again offer our condolences toAl Bossence in the passing of his beloved Kelly. We never met them but feel as if we have known them for years as I have read Al’s blog for so long. Kelly wore many hats in their family and will be sadly missed but never forgotten. We also once again offer our condolences to Contessa and Colin Jewall in the passing of her aunt and his brother recently. We have never met them either but I have followed along on their adventures as well.

So that’s it, we are all caught up now, thanks for stopping by, I do hope you enjoyed the visit. Just in case I don’t get a chance to post, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year. Eat, drink and be merry but stay safe.

Until next time……

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Art or Junk?

 

Our Location:

BLM Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California 

Lots of photos today.

The sage is brown this year.

The arroyos are very dusty.

I love the sky.

The road along the power lines.

Things are quiet here, and we like it that way. I have gotten back to walking on a more regular basis, reaching my goal of 6000 steps more days than not. I’m happy with that.

I wonder if someone uses this to rest an arm
on while sighting in on the bucket.

He had to come down the power line road.

The Imperial Sand Dunes way over there.

We are over there in that group of rigs.

In the next couple of days we will hook up and dump the tanks but we will move to a different spot when we come back. We find this spot too open for us and will move a bit farther down to a spot that we have visited a couple of times while walking. I think we will like it better.

Someone moved these rocks to make a compass. It is accurate too.

Someone moved these rocks too but over the years people have added things.

Lots of snow and then rain on Manitoulin Island over the past number of days. Lots of slush to move, and it’s too early for the snow banks to be this high. It will require either the big blower or a clean up using the bucket of Jason’s big Cat. They can push it with the quads but it gets skinnier and skinner with each heavy snowfall. So glad we are missing that weather.

On my walks I have often come across many things. You decide, art or junk.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb