I'm taking you into an arroyo today....

 

Our Location: 

North of MM 4, Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California

 

A very quiet night last night, and a colder than usual start to the morning with our outside temps being at 35F/1.6C. It wasn't long though until the sun popped over the mountains and the temps started rising. 

 

I love the colours of the barrel cactus.

 

As you can see they are very sharp, and this one has some spent blooms.

Not quite transparent.

 

Today we have no plans but some for tomorrow. So I don't want to over due anything today and instead of a hike, I thought I'd take you through the arroyo behind us. The photos show various things I found there, including the different bed bottom from gravel, to sand, to rocks. All of the changes were within a very short distance,  about 500 feet, give or take a bit. 

 

 

Lots of dead wood, various kinds but whitish in colour and littering the ground.

A few hardy cactus grow right in the arroyo, they must have good roots to hang on during the rains.

This plant has big spiked balls on it and looks to grow rapidly.

Some sort of prickly pear I think, but no pricklies.

Various kinds of trash in the arroyos as well, washed from higher up or farther back.

An old metal pail buried in the sand, note how fine that sand is but with bigger gravel and rocks as well.

Very sandy here, gritty and very rolly under foot. Wide too, you can see most of the growth on the banks.

Pattern in the wind blown sand or the small ripples of water left these marks, or both.

You can see closer to the cut edge the gravel and rocks have been ground into a finer sand than out farther.

A definite point of losing speed as the bigger rocks are out more to the middle and far edge.

The White Lion sits atop that bank.

The Igloo and Dogsled a bit down the way also sits above the bank.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your walk in the arroyo. 

 

Until next time....

 

Take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

 

A sit outside kind of day....

 

Our Location: 

MM 91-90 SB AZ 95, near Quartzsite, AZ

 

A very cold morning this morning, the outside temp read 34F/1.1C. Can you say Brrrrrrrr? It was very Brrrrrrr. However it warmed up relatively quickly and reached a high of about 64F/18C by 4:30 pm. The wind made it a bit coolish but not too bad. 

Red Ocotillo (Oco-tee-o) leaves but I think they will turn green soon.

I just love the stem/trunk of the Ocotillo.

The very smooth, very green bark of a Palo Verde tree.

 

A walk this morning, another short one this afternoon and the rest of the day was spent outside sitting in the sun, doing a few house keeping chores, chatting with Doug, and just enjoying the day. 

 

Undercut bank of the arroyo (a-roy-o), back home we call them a ditch.

Large amounts of water go thru in a short length of time.

Very sandy on the bottom.

Dad called just before noon to ask if I'd noticed the Buffalo weather. Yes those poor folks receiving FEET of snow and the water of the lake is still very warm, they will be getting a lot more snow before the lake freezes over. Dad's neighbourhood also has some snow and a few flurries are falling from the sky!!

 

Way off in the distance thru the arroyo is this Sagurao.

It has interesting battle scars.

It looks like it's healed over a very big gash.

Things are quiet here and we like quiet, it's restful. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

A very tangled mess edges all along the arroyos.

That hint of green in the sage bush means it will be leafing out soon.

My sister asked about these early, I don't know what they are.

 

Until next time....

 

I have no idea what they are but they appear to just spring up.

Of course they are sticky, picky and pointy.

 

Take care, be safe, 

 

These always look half eaten.

The spines look transparent in the sunlight.

 

Deb

 

 

Heavy frost over night...

Our Location: Big Buck Resort

 

(205 Sparks Road, Hornsby, TN) 

 

A very cold over night with temperatures reaching down to 27F/-2.7C. The day warmed up with sunshine and blue skies to a high of 45F/7.2C. A beautiful fall day for a wedding. I noted preparations were complete by shortly after noon. 

 

Heavy frost on the leaves this morning.

Ice on the water holes too.

 

It was a quiet day here and I will leave you with a few pictures of this mornings walk around the park. 

 

Can you see the frost on the windshield?

 

I don't think we'll be worrying about mosquito's now.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a wonderful day.

 

Heavy frost on this car left at the office overnight.

Very heavy frost on the straw by the roadside.

 

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

 

Deb

 

 

A restful but cool day here at Quincy.....

Our Location: Oakdale Campground, Quincy, Ohio

A very cold night, 21F/-6C with puddles freezing over and a very crisp morning. Lucky we are below a hill and aren't getting the slight breeze that is blowing. We are quite protected. The day promises to warm up in to the low 40's F/ 4 - 6C today and stay that way for the next couple of days. So we're okay with that, a bit of rain and perhaps some snow mixed in tomorrow but that's okay too. It won't stay and before long it will be spring here too. 

This cute little cabin is across the driveway from us...

We ran both the heater and the furnace for a while late last night and again this morning and managed the night without any heat at all. Not too bad in the Igloo either. I woke this morning around 7 am and noticed the lightness outside and sure enough the sun has come out and very few if any clouds in the sky. 

 

Some seasonal spots......

We did our morning things, reading, commenting, hot drinks, etc. We've decided to rest today as yesterday's drive was a bit longer and wetter than we like. We do however have a few things we want to do before we leave. 

Interesting cabin here...

We headed out for a walk around the park to kind of get an idea of what there is to see, where the dump station is located as we will be using that before we leave and just have an overall idea of what the park is like. My first impression was more correct than I realized. It's a very nice park, well located, and I'm sure in the summer is quite charming and busy. The area above the hill is very well kept with grass cut and things all picked up and put away properly. A few 'cluttered' spots as you head down the hill and then a few more the closer you get to the river. There are a few that are quite derelict and really should be cleaned up or removed. There are some very nice spots as well, well maintained, planted, and in good repair. You can see pride of ownership in them which is what is needed in places like this. 

 

More seasonal spots. Can see us in the bottom right?  We're parked on that fella's driveway.

The park is basically built on a hill, hillside and river bottom. The Miami River flows east to west at this point. The current appears quite strong and evidence of recent flooding is easily seen. The flooding spread over the banks quite a few feet and moved some unanchored  decks around to new locations, along with picking up some debris, both man made and natural which it deposited in a few spots.

 

The outdated but clean bathhouse...rust from the water marks the showers...

Loads of fresh gravel, as well as fresh grading is evident here. Some sights will need some more before they are usable due to the recent flooding. I can honestly say that except for one other site, the office is the most derelict looking building on the grounds. It's junky inside and out, which of course adds to a run down look. The patio area is too full of 'stuff' and too much stuff in the windows, storage and otherwise. Curtains on the storage area would improve the look drastically, as well as some good old fashion cleaning on the windows as well. 

Frozen water this morning but the Miami River behind is flowing easily...

That's us with that frozen puddle on the other side between us and the river.

Across the river are some very quaint, well kept little cabins. Fresh gravel and maintenance is  very evident there as well. I'm sure they have been family owned for many years and I'll bet the summer finds them bustling and well planted. 

Looking east along the Miami River.

Looking west which is the direction the river is flowing in fact, and quite rapidly too.

Numerous rigs are stored here in their seasonal site as well as a few that are parked closely for just storage. Numerous boats of varying sizes, shapes and purposes are also stored here on the grounds. We are approx 15 miles from I-75 on the east side. According to Google there is a small town called Bellefontaine near by with pretty much what we need or at least a Walmart for groceries. 

This deck doesn't belong here, see the hook ups under it?

The office building.

For the rest of the day we read books, napped and just enjoyed the warmth INSIDE the Igloo as it's just a bit too cool to open the door and enjoy the sunshine. Soon though we'll be doing that. 

At the top of the hill not far from the bath house is the storage shed.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to drop a comment. I appreciate them all. 

In and out road. Looks pretty good from this vantage point.

 

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

Deb