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.