A picture kind of day....

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

A very pleasant night last night, followed by a nice morning. The sun popped over the horizon while I was chatting with my sister Jan back home in Ontario. We spent an hour or so just catching up and chatting about her Christmas plans. 

It's starting to get bright over to the east.

You can see it's getting brighter....

Almost like liquid gold in the sky...

The sun makes its first rays known.

A quick clean up and a chat with Riley before I headed out the door for a walk. Today's walk was different than my normal idea of a walk. After starting out I decided I would turn on the date and time on the camera to show you folks how deceiving distances are in the desert. 

This is to the east of the Igloo and about where I started walking toward the mountains. The time is shortly after 9 AM.

I still haven't decided to turn on the date, time on the camera yet but my path is pretty much a straight line from the above picture.

I turned on the time but it was an hour later than the actual time here and I didn't realize it. However it is still a good reference to watch. 

 

As you can see, it's about 10 minutes between shots.

They are still very far away, this one was only about 5 minutes interval, for those that have been here, I have now reached the power lines and the road running under them.

They look close but they truly aren't.

I turned around at the brown post and headed home, I would have at least another 1/2 hour to just about REACH any trails going into the mountains. Not to actually get into the mountains. 

It is a long way from our home to the area I would love to hike and I have to cover a lot of ground before I even get there. Of course getting there is only half the feat, I also have to get home and I can't call Riley to come pick me up, she doesn't drive so she couldn't even come a little way up the road from the Igloo. Just for a little perspective I walked a total of 3.62 miles, which means that 1.8 miles I turned around and I was still a good distance from the bottom edges. Deceptive, isn't it? 

If witnessed at night, I'll bet it would give you a thrill. 

I chatted with my buddy Ron today. Him and his lovely wife Sharon are the friends we had hoped would be making the winter trek with us but due to health issues they couldn't make it. Always enjoy chatting with Ron, he's a character!! 

Who told you the desert was sandy? Or flat?

I put a little more of our 'yard' stuff out today. BBQ, mat, chairs and even managed to air the awning as it always seems to have water laying in those folds. I think we'll be letting the awning air out often here in the desert. I also managed to sit outside in the sun and read for a few hours today, some of that time of course was cooking lunch. An easy one today, sausage on a bun and a salad. Some pretty good stuff. 

I think, but I'm not sure that those far distant mountains may be in Mexico. 

 The rest of the afternoon was spent just reading and relaxing. An extraordinaire sunset tonight, and so more photos on this photo kind of day. 

These photos are as they came off the camera, nothing was enhanced or modified in any way. Some amazing skies George, the kind you always get while cooking on the Weber. You and Suzie would enjoy tonight's sky. 

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the photos today. 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Deb

Windy but sunny.....

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

 

Rain last night and the winds died down but this morning the winds picked back up, not as high but still enough to make sitting outside uncomfortable. No rain, blue skies and lots of sunshine today, temps reached just short of 60F/15.5C but the wind made it seem cooler. 

 

Yesterday's blowing dust. If you look you can see the faint outline of the mountains.

 

I chatted with my friend Linda this morning, catching up on the goings on in her neck of Ontario. Cold, wind and not so nice weather seems to be the order of the day. 

 

 

The sun showing off this morning.

 

I went for a walk when I finished my phone call, walking just around the 3 mile mark but not all on the flat. For folks that have been to the desert you know nothing is flat, washes, gullies, arroyos and well, just not flat. So my 3 miles was more of what I'm hoping to get back to doing, up and down, and longer distances. We shall see how it goes. 

 

They are much farther away than they appear.

 

Winds this afternoon made getting outside to read or enjoy the weather, or even to just leave the door open a bit too cold to enjoy. It was too cold in the shade out of the wind and no where to get out of the wind in the sun. One of THOSE days. 

 

 

Evidence of our rain yesterday and last night.

 

We enjoyed pizza for lunch. A thin crust store bought pizza that we added our own extras to top it off, Italian sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. We like lots of things on our pizza and at some point I'm sure Riley will be adding pineapple to portion. I'll just add more cheese to mine. 

 

 

Imagine cacti in the desert!!

 

Today's photos were taken with my big camera which I toted along with me. I noticed numerous things again this year that I photographed last year, it feels comfortable seeing these things. Makes it easier to figure out where I am while strolling along not really paying attention to where I'm going, more interested in things that might offer me a nice photo. 

 

 

Not as uninviting as the last cactus photo.

 

Not a busy, exciting day but a nice out here in the desert even if it was a bit too cool for my liking. In a day or two things will start warming back up and hopefully we'll get some nice 'sit out in the sun' reading weather. 

 

You can find everything camo, even in the desert.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. As always thinking of George and Suzie many times during our day. 

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

 

Happy Thanksgiving ....

Our Location: Near American Girl Mine Road, BLM, CA

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, American or Canadian or any others that may be reading this. It's been a quiet day here at the Igloo. A physically restful type of day. 

This welcome to Yuma sign was NOT taken with my phone a few days ago.

 

Our morning started with sunny skies and little wind, a temp of about 50F/10C to start the day. Rain and winds were in the forecast for later but this morning it looked wonderful. 

No it not a jack knifed tractor trailer. They disconnected and the trailer is being used as a living space. It has a vent and at least a couple of solar panels up there. No sign of stairs or a smaller door, no windows either but the tractor leaves while the trailer stays.

A few housekeeping chores and I spent a great deal of time posting, answering posts, commenting and doing some emails this morning. In fact the morning was pretty much filled with those things. We did however prep lunch as well. 

I have no idea what this is but it's located not far from us at an empty site with only a fire ring to keep it company.

Riley and I even ventured out for a walk this afternoon putting in a good half hour. A few rain drops tried to hasten our pace but with only 3 drops we didn't hurry along much. 

 

The thorns of the Ocotillo, The Devils Walking Stick.

It was after our lunch of Hickory Chicken Breast, stuffing and green beans with mushrooms that the day clouded over, the dust started showing in the air, the wind picked up and of course the sun in a valiant effort to make itself known peaked through at various times but it was a battle being fought off and on all the rest of the day. 

A dead Ocotillo, simply ripped out of the ground but a few smaller ones near by to carry on the living process.

Around 4:30 pm the wind was slackening off and the dust was starting to settle but within the hour the dust started showing off again and the sky was pretty much a mass of clouds.  According to the weather folks the winds should start easing up in the next hour and the rain may start in a couple of hours but nothing of any major amount here where our little Igloo sits.  So hopefully our weather system will pass in a few more hours and we can expect a more settled day tomorrow. 

This is the left over evidence of an almost bloom on an Ocotillo.

The feathery appearance of a bloom.

 

Today's photos were all taken with my phone on our walk (except the first one). I managed with some effort to put in a bit over 2 miles. All on the flat of course, no climbing. Maybe in a couple of days I'll try a bit longer and a bit more varied route and see how things go. 

The stump of this Palo Verde tree is very big even if the tree doesn't have a singular trunk.

As I write this post it is shortly after 5:30 pm Mountain time and the wind is at it's most gusty, the dust is now hanging in the air once again and there doesn't appear to be any hope of seeing a sunset so I will not delay this posting to hope for good sunset photos. If we see one I'll post the photos tomorrow. The first splatters of rain are now falling.

I am certain I posted a photo of this last year as well. Left at one of the many sites here.

 

We hope you all had a wonderful, safe and enjoyable day, where ever you may be. To our family and friends, you have crossed our minds many times today, even if we are not together we wish all of you the warmth, love and support of good family and friends not just on this day of Thanksgiving, but each and every day all year long. George and Suzie being in our thoughts often on this day, just as they are every day. 

We see this out the window from farther away and it always looks like a rabbit.

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

But on closer inspection, it's not!

 

Deb

 

A quiet day yesterday.....

Our Location: American Girl Mine Road, BLM, California

A day late again, it's getting to be a habit. Oh well, better late than never I think. 

Yesterday we were up and about by 7:30 AM and both of us enjoying the warmth of the early morning. Not cold at all, in the mid 50's /12 C or close enough. The sun wasn't really shining but we could see it's evidence here and there. 

 

Outside our door. Someone went to a lot of work to make this spot so nice.

Riley offered to defrost the fridge and freezer while I made a garbage and drinking water run. We agreed to get these chores out of the way before the day was too far along. So off I went to the rest area to the west of us to drop some garbage and then back to the Chevron at Pilot Knob for some drinking water. A very long line at the dump station there with at least a half dozen rigs in the line. 

Reminds me of the pole in Mash. They are getting faded but they have mileage and arrows on them.

Back home I settled down to do a few little chores and just to rest a bit more from my long driving days. I'm slowly working this kink from hip and soon I hope to be going on my daily walks again. 

This Ocotillo is just out our window. Starting to green up nicely.

We enjoyed a lunch of Stuffed Green Bell Peppers and after cleaning up decided to sit down and watch a little tv. 

Someone told me light under the truck will help keep the Kangaroo Rats away from the wires.

Evening found me chatting with a lot of folks, Dad, Courtney, Bradey, SIL Janet, and Aunt Shirley. Always nice to catch up with everyone. 

This is the wash beside us and today's rain will come through here.

A very happy THANKSGIVING DAY to all of our US friends. May the bird be big, may your family be near and may the love and laughter surround you with good memories and the feeling of being cherished and love the whole year through, not just on this one day. 

 

A baby Ocotillo in the garden out our door.

 

We are expecting some rain today and some high winds and have stored things away in preparation for the afternoon weather festivities. Be safe to all that are in the path of any of these holiday storms. 

 

Riley using our magnet to check for any nails near the fire pit.

Our condolences to son in law Matt and his family on the passing of his grandfather yesterday.

 Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Until next time.. take care, be safe, 

Deb

 

Day late with this post...

Our Location: BLM, American Girl Mine Road, CA

 

I had good intentions of writing this post last night but as you can see my good intentions didn't make it to paper or in this case, computer. 

 

 

Our closest neighbour.

Or is he our closest neighbour?

 

How funny is it that I didn't sleep well our first night here. I think it was too quiet. Or it could have been the squeaky board under my mattress but that's for another day. We were both up around 7 AM and enjoyed sitting with a hot drink and just looking out the windows. Truly we enjoy the desert! 

 

 

You know I'll be hiking back there before long.

Looking to the EAST this morning.

 

We had a couple of plans for our day ahead and began by resetting the Igloo, just a tiny bit as I didn't notice until after we had unhooked that we had a slight dip on one side. Yes we have levels but either my eyes weren't focused or my mind wasn't working. We were too tired to fix it on Monday when we arrived and so it was first on the agenda in the morning. 

 

 

Looking back to the west.

 

Next we headed into Yuma to shop for the next week. We don't want to have to head into town for anything during the next number of days and we both agreed we wanted to avoid the Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday masses. We made only one stop and of course we had planned but didn't make the second. We'll get to Fry's after the holiday rush. 

 

 

I think tomorrow this wash might be running with some water.

 

Back home we spent the rest of the day just relaxing and resting, I put out a couple of lights and managed to snap NOT one photo. Today's photos were taken early this morning. 

 

 

Some barrel cacti in our front yard.

 

 

Tomorrow's forecast is calling for some winds, rains and cooler temps but nothing like the weather Empire Ranch will be getting. We are both happy to have made this decision and are looking forward to some hiking and walking in the days ahead. 

 

 

Some one left some sea shells here in our front yard.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all enjoyed your visit. Always thinking of George and Suzie!!

 

We may not see much of the sun today.

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

 

Don't you just love the views?

 

Deb