Cookin' Corn Bread

The wind died down enough that I dug out the Dutch Oven and would try my luck at some corn bread.  The mix called for 400 degrees cooking temperature.  To achieve that requires 25 charcoal briquettes - 7 under the oven and 18 on top of the lid.  This photo was taken after the cooking was finished so pretty much all you see is ash on the lid. 

  

I didn't have the oven sitting level and the batter piled up on one side.  Also you can notice how half isn't brown on top.  That is because the breeze was coming from that direction.  In spite of this though the corn bread cooked fine.  I was poking it with a knife making sure it was cooked through.

Oh my goodness!  This corn bread was unlike any I have ever eaten before.  You don't even want to add butter, jam or anything to it.  It is so good just like it is  I highly recommend this brand of corn bread mix.  All you add is water, milk and an egg.  It was all I could do to keep from eating the whole pan full all at once.  I'm picking up two more boxes next time at the store.

And with that Beans and I wish all of your a great 2018.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Bedtime

Our first night together Beans slept I do not know where.  On the second night she was in bed with me and its been like that ever since.  She has always slept down by my feet, but just recently in the last couple of weeks it has progressed to on top of my feet or legs.  You would think that not as comfortable.  It surely isn't for me.  One evening she started out lying on my chest.  She is a BIG cat and breathing was an effort.  Fortunately that didn't last long and she moved on down onto my feet.  Last night when she got up for whatever reasons cats get up in the middle of the night I thought I would out-smart her.  I moved my feet over to the edge of the bed thinking once she got comfortable on them,  I could slip my feet out and have the middle all to myself.  

Ha!  She curled up and went back to sleep right in the middle of the bed probably thinking 

that was nice of him to move his feet for me. 

Rest in Peace

Just on the other side of the wash we are camped at is this grave site.  I am unable to make out all the writing on the weathered wood memorial that is being held together by zip-ties.  It reads "Rest in Peace" at the top with some type of poem or verse scratched in below followed by what may be a name and date.  Obviously it has been here a long time and no doubt it is the grave of someone's beloved pet who passed away while they were staying here.

This very well could have been Sinbad.  Plans were already made last year to come down to this area for the winter and I thought Sinbad and I would have one last road trip together but as you know he passed away in early October of 2016 before we left home.  That turned out to be a blessing as I would have been torn apart having to bury him in the desert somewhere.  Imagine those poor people starting their car one morning and having to drive away leaving their pet behind.  I venture to guess they never returned as the marker would be replaced with a better one wouldn't you think?

Time Out

This is the little kitchen timer I use.  It lasts around 6 months or so before the battery starts to peter out and the numbers in the display don't display all that well.  But it will still keep track of time and if I hold it just right I can see the numbers.  Eventually it gets to the point that the battery should be replaced.  Now the strange thing is, and why the post here on the blog, I can buy a new timer for half the price of a new battery.  If anyone can explain that I'd be interested.

In case you ever wondered what the inside of one of these gadgets looks like.

I popped out the little magnet on the back and saved it.  Might come in handy someday.

On This Christmas Day

Regular viewers of the blog will recall how Beans and I left home on the very day the wildfires broke out near Santa Rosa, unbeknown to us at the time.  Our home was saved as was the entire neighborhood. Others were not so fortunate.  A friend who lives in my neighborhood toured the Coffey Park area across town where over 3000 homes were lost.  She sent me this photo.  It says a lot.

Merry Christmas

Beans and I hope you have a nice Christmas day wherever you may be.

Beans and the Siberian Huskie

(photo off the Internet)

The other day this hippy girl came by with her dog and Beans wanted to meet the dog.  But the dog was all too "aggressive" pulling on its leash with all the girl could do in holding it back.  Beans didn't back down an inch.  "Oh, so that's how you want to be?  Come on, show me what you got!"  

Beans took her sideways arched back stance, fur up on her back and tail all fluffed out.  The girl was genuinely afraid for her dog.  "Well, that went real well" I said and we both went our ways.

I was so proud of Beans.

Where is Everybody?

This time last year there were a lot more people camping here for the winter. Many times more than what I have seen since arriving here in the Quartzite area of Arizona a month ago.  

Last week I needed to move, just for the sake of moving, so drove a hundred miles south to Yuma, Arizona.  I went to the same place as last year where I hiked around near the border of Mexico finding all the articles cast off by those crossing the border.  This time I only found this pair of shoes.  It's mate is in the distance in the upper right corner.

And a sweatshirt.  

Not my size.

Yuma was even deader than Quartzite so after a few days we went back up north.

Pretty sad when there is nothing to take a picture of but helicopters flying overhead.

Wind

The wind has pretty much been constant for a week now.  Sometimes it shook the RV pretty good.  Exciting!  So happy not to be in a tent.  By the weekend it had settled down to a steady breeze.  Nothing that bothersome and with the temperatures always in the 70's there is no wind chill.

One of the nice things about where we are is that all the ground is "paved" with these little stones embedded in the ground.  This means no exposed dirt which mean no dust blowing all around.  

So all in all everything is good with no complaints. 

Today is a trip into town 7 miles away across the border, which is the Colorado River, into California for some supplies - Beans food and Johnny food.  Then back into Arizona and our home site. 

All is well.

We've been at out winter roost for over a week now and absolutely nothing blog worthy has happened, been discovered or even seen in all that time.  Oh I could write stories, like about my nearest neighbor but he may see the blog name on the back of the Little House on the Highway and then what would I have to say about that?  There aren't that many people here yet which tells me they can tolerate cold temperatures better than I and haven't migrated south.  That is what brought me here a month earlier than last year, the cold. 

We'll not be able to move on out from southern Arizona until March at the earliest.

This was the full moon rising the day before the so-called "Super Moon" taken with the my phone.  

I was all set with my regular camera to capture the big event the next evening but there was cloud cover that messed that opportunity up.

Beans enjoys sitting and lying out on her magic carpet everyday keeping an eye on what is going on.

Although the clouds ruined the super moon, they always provide striking sunsets.

Hopefully something blog-worthy will occur before another week passes by.

Snickers and Beans

On one of the few YouTube channels I follow a fellow traveler showed this cat she met who belonged to a couple traveling in their new RV.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw Snickers.  

This is a capture screenshot from the video.

Someday I hope to meet up with this couple.  They had another cat that was up in the window who looked a lot like Sinbad when he was young.  Both cats are around a year old.  

Yep, I think these are good people.

Beans has more color on the right side of her face 

but still there is that distinctive color separation down the bridge line of the nose.

I couldn't catch her in the same pose as Snickers and how could I possibly disturb this?

Posts to the blog will not be as frequent as in the past after this one.  

We are not moving around any, staying in the same area throughout the winter months.

Just know we are doing great and enjoying 70 to 80 degree sunny sky weather every day.

A Great Find

My hiking stick is pointing to just how the arrowhead was lying as I walked up this hillside.

I have a found a couple of  "probable" arrowheads in the past but this one left no doubt in my mind

This was the real thing.

My theory is the Indian shot and missed.  The arrow hit the rocks and broke off the tip of the head.  Now useless, he removed it from the arrow shaft and tossed the head to the ground.
No Thanksgiving turkey for him.

I thought about it that evening wondering if maybe I could find the broken tip.  I went back the next day and was able to find the spot where I found the arrowhead.  I looked around but no tip.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Two Sunsets

Junk Food for Beans

I buy high priced, quality, grain-free canned cat food for Beans.  She eats better than I do.  Our new home site which will be for most of the winter is over a hundred miles away from any major shopping areas.  This means I cannot buy the usual food for Beans.  I have to get what is available in grocery stores...crap cat food.  I got online and tried to find what was the least worst of the lot among brands like Whiskas, Nine Lives, Sheba, Fancy Feast, Friskies, etc  The more I read the worse they all became with none being any better than the others.  I gave up.  It's not like its going to kill her.  

It's just junk food.  I bought a selection of Friskies.  Now it was a matter of if she'll eat it or not. 

She gobbled it down and wanted more.

Well we all like our junk food don't we?

Hope, Arizona

Hope isn't even a town.  It stands at the fork in the road where highway 60 goes one way and highway 72 branches off another direction.  The name comes for the community's hope the town with take off with business interests.  Well that didn't happen. The one gas station and cafe that once was is closed. The only business operating was an RV park and a church.

That sign would read better Church of Little Hope.

As you reached the other end of what never was, there was this sign.

Adios Hope.

Miner's Living Ouarters

Around on the backside of the mountain from where the mine was 

is where the miners had built their living quarters.

All that is left standing is what was once the kitchen.

There were several of these slabs around the area of what once were buildings for various reasons.

I could find nothing to give me an idea as to a date when this mining activity took place.

Just hauling in all the lumber, cement and machinery alone would have been a major undertaking.

Well Google came through again.  I found it was the Desert Queen Mine from 1911 to 1942.  

Gold was the primary mineral.  Here is a link to the article I found.

Inside the Mineshaft

Wouldn't you know it, one of the few times I went out exploring 

and didn't have my flash light with me.

Yeah, it was dark in there.  

The you can't see your hand in front of your face kind of dark

And I didn't have my regular camera with me but the iPhone did quite well I thought.

This was as deep in I went and it wasn't until I saw the picture on the computer that it appears to be some timbers down.  A cave in or it was blocked off at one time.

This is down a shaft branching off to the side

.

I went in deeper to try and see what this was and what for.

I felt I had gone in far enough and headed back out.

Just follow the light John.

Abandoned Mine

Near Vicksburg, Arizona

Always a joy to discover these old mines.

Where the ore was rolled out, dumped through a grating and down a chute into a truck bed below.

There were several of these shafts around the entrance.

Tomorrow we go inside.

This is Your Life

Aguila. Arizona

On our way to our next home site I stopped in this little town for some lunch.  It hardly qualified as a town as there was just a gas station, maybe a small grocery store (I couldn't tell if it was operational or not) and a few boarded up businesses.  

Outside my window where we parked in a dirt area.

  He just sits there all day.  No vehicle.  

Everything he owns is right in front of him.

You just gotta know there is a interesting story there but I know better that to start up anything.

No doubt I'd regret it soon after the first few words were spoken.

Maybe there is another person there and they were away with the vehicle

I hope that was the case.

Tarantula Two

A few days later another tarantula walked by our home.

No more tarantula photos ladies.  That's it for now.

Taters and Beans

Whenever someone approaches the RV Beans runs off to a secure spot inside.  If we are outside, she usually wants in as fast as possible.  Then occasionally if outside, she'll just hunker down and is real still.  Well on this morning's walk none of the usual behavior occurred as this old guy and his dog came up the road.  Beans walked right up to them and to say I was shocked is an understatement especially considering this is the first dog she's ever encountered.

You can tell Taters isn't too happy about meeting Beans.

"Just make it go away, please"

Beans eventually gave up and walked away much to Taters' relief.  

Taters was a really neat dog, never barked but did give off a slight growl.

To look at the first photo Beans appears to be almost as big as Taters.  I've had cats all my life and I cannot begin to count them all.  But I really believe Beans is the biggest cat I have ever had.

You just gotta love the title to this post.

Tarnatula

I haven't seen one of these guys since way back in the 80's I'd venture to guess.

They are so cool to watch as they move much slower than you would think.

Their walk is robotic, like a mechanical device with weak batteries.

I believe this to be a male as it was small and females are larger.