Making plans for March...Finally got some reservations!!

  I feel the need to report that our Juevos Rancheros I made this morning were restaurant quality...thanks to the Indian Fry Bread. I chose to leave off the beans..Neither one of us were ready for beans at 9AM...

...I could not begin to finish it all. I will use the Fry Bread again...Maybe for a huge taco....You could do a number of things with it...At our county fair in our town they serve something very similar to this , but it is called Elephant Ears and they put cinnamon and sugar on it...I like this stuff better.
  It was a beautiful full moon last night. I woke up and it seemed like someone had a spotlight on outside, but it was just the moon. It lit up the sky and the entire park. It would be really hard to "stargaze" with a moon this bright.
  After breakfast, we decided we should make some plans for traveling through Texas in March...It is always a big challenge because of Spring Break weeks...and they seem to fall at various times throughout March, depending on where you are. The local Texans love their camping, and they really fill up the parks early. We found that most of the parks we usually stay at were already booked solid.
 After some researching, we found only 1 spot left at Canyon Lake, Potter's Creek. The date wasn't exactly what we wanted, but if we were going to stay 2 weeks, we had to take a later date. We booked that last spot for arrival March 14th. That means we have 2 weeks to burn  getting there. We may even rebook for one more week here. You just cannot believe how hard it is to get across Texas in March, especially at the Army Corps and State Parks!! We quickly booked our last 2 weeks at one of our favorite places to spend Easter, Wright Patman Lake, Clear Springs, in Texarkana, TX. You can book site specific at that campground, and we booked our favorite site for arrival March 28th for 2 weeks. That should give us about 2 nights and 3 days to get home. Whew!! I feel better having reservations for our "waltz across Texas" in March.
 We sat out in the sun this afternoon and there was not one cloud in the sky. The temp hit 71 degrees. I noticed the guy across the way put his "bird" back up on his pole. I like this bird....He shows me what direction the wind is from and he doesn't poop on my head when I walk under him...

..Actually he is like a wind sock, flying from a string attached to a pole...I think he adds class to the campground.
  The twin Alpha Motorhomes pulled out together this morning about 10AM. They were headed to Rocky Point Mexico, which is about 1 1/2 hours from here. They were really nice folks and good neighbors...but we WERE glad to get our view back through our big window...

...Those hanging things are crystal prisms..I have a thing for prisms....I have them in every window of my home..and this is like my home, so I brought some with me to hang up....It all started with the one and only chandelier I own....totally put together by my great neighbor, Deb.  Deb has got , oh...probably 40 chandeliers in her home...Some are complete and hanging up..and some are in pieces in boxes. She gifted this to me and I shall take it with me if we ever move...This chandelier does NOT go with the house...It is a deal breaker...

All real Swarovski crystals....It is, if I do say so, fabulous!
Well, this is a pretty short blog. We didn't do anything to get into trouble today....yet. I am in pretty bad need of a shower, after basking in the sun. We are hoping to head toward Casa Grande this week to the WalMart there....The weather shows some rain maybe for the middle of the week. All this rain could force an early desert bloom...I would LOVE that!!!
Dinner tonight,(like you care,) is back ribs, potato salad, cottage cheese and Mexican corn ..No, this isn't some great Mexican dish I cook up...I just open the Green Giant can and put butter and salt and pepper on it...More tomorrow!

A DOUBLE BONUS...SUNSET FABULOUS..SUNRISE TOO!

 Last evening we had another fabulous sunset. I was, as usual, relaxing in my "uniform".  Cocktail hour had just begun. I looked out our rear window and realized it may be too late to catch the premium colors, so I put down my drink..(yes, I put it down), grabbed the camera and ran outside. I moved quickly through a few campsites, trying to keep a low profile. For those who have seen my striped socks, you know a low profile in this outfit is almost impossible . I got to the far West road of the park and snapped a couple shots, but I had a feeling it was going to get even better in the next 10 minutes...and I was already violating every dress code known to man...I knew that just hanging out here in my "jammies" was out of the question. About that time ,Dennis came up to me and saved the day. He took my camera away from me ,(he was, at least ,dressed), jumped on his bike and road out to the casino parking lot to get some shots...That seems to be the best place to get a clear and open view of sunsets...He certainly did better than I , in fact, I deleted mine from our camera and used only his....

                                                       

The sky is a great canvas for Mother Nature's paintbrush....
 This could only be trumped by a fabulous sunrise...and we had one this morning. Den peeked out his window (he has the East view) and commented it was pretty great...but...he didn't move.  Sooooooo, I hopped out of bed, grabbed the camera and slipped on my slippers...a photographer's life is not easy. I tried to be quiet opening our camper door...and Icertainly didn't shut it. You who own a camper know how loud they close at 7AM,especially when you are right next door. I did manage to creep out onto the East road (crunch, crunch, crunching through the gravel..who did I think I was kidding?).At any rate I got a few shots just in time...These spectacular color displays change within seconds! See what you think.

I just cannot get enough of these displays of brilliant oranges, reds and purples..

I had picked up the Ajo Copper News when we got groceries Thursday, and I finally got around to reading it this morning with my coffee. The bad weather of last week was front page. Apparently Ajo had the distinction of recording the highest wind gusts in the area...95 mph. This would account for me almost wetting myself many times during the storm. Also, 16 hikers were rescued in the mountains North of Tucson, and many motorists had to be plucked from "raging" washes. About 25 miles South of us, at Organ Pipe National Monument, they lost a significant number of Saguaros that blew down in the wind gusts after the rain softened the ground around their root systems.  And.......Border Patrol was busy that day...In four separate incidents, agents rescued and treated 7 illegal aliens suffering from hypothermia. Was this a BAD storm?...Darn straight!!!! I cannot believe we actually rode it out in our RV.
 We took our walk around the RV park this morning...We will continue our quest for the Stone Man another day. (We now have a "secret source")...We had been waiting for some items Den ordered online...exciting things like sewer hose fittings, a book from Amazon...Anyway, we checked at the office and they had not one, but 2 pkgs. for us... and 2 envelopes. We carried them back to the RV and we had our expected  sewer hose contecters, a crossword puzzle dictionary (yes, we cheat), our mail from home and a surprise...an envelope from our granddaughter, Taylor. This is what we found in Taylor's envelope...

...I think it's a good likeness of us both...except that Dennis rarely wears his shorts. I dont know why. By the looks of this picture, his legs are much better than mine. (Note the camera around my neck..the girl knows her grandma, yes she does.)

I did notice on our walk that the Indian ladies were cooking up at the hut again today, and I had the taste for some fresh Indian bread. I love watching them cook over the open mesquite wood...They had Indian Tacos, Fry bread with sugar and honey...But I just wanted 2 pieces of fry bread..plain...

...into the oil....

and out....one done.....

....she wasn't happy with the "overdoneness" of this one, so she cooked me another..I didn't think it looked all that bad, but she was not satisfied..Ya just gotta love a conscientious cook!! I have plans for these two. I wrapped them in foil and put them in the refrig. Tomorrow morning I will turn them into Juevos Rancheros....by layering them with pinto beans, pork sausage, cheese, and onions, in that order...Top that with fried eggs and salsa...and it's like a heart attack waiting to happen...I am challenging our Simvistatin again..
Later this afternoon we skyped our grandkids in Sugar Grove, IL. I wanted to tell Taylor thanks for her drawing...Here is the Heiser crew on skype...

...Campbell and Taylor up front, and Peyton in the back....Thank God for Skype!!!!We Miss You Guys!!

 OK, it is time to check in on our marinating steaks...Den is grilling tonight. The weather is perfect and I think it is a full moon or close to it. That's all for now from the Cave People...and again, thanks for playing....

DOES A STONE "CROSS" COUNT?? PROBABLY NOT....

We woke up to beautiful skies after a cool night. After the required cup of java, we decided to take a hike into the Sonoran Desert in quest of the Stone Man...We have seen pictures of it on The Bayfield Bunch blog, and heard tell of it from others..Let's see if we can find it...
  We hadn't even made our first mile when we came across this gentleman...If he was looking for the Cross Country Skiing Event at Vancouver, I think he made a left turn off I-10 instead of a right...

...He also neglected to put on his skis..maybe that's what is in his pack...
This is another of the Cholla Cactus out here and it looks like the burros have been eating on it and dropping some of the needles they eat on the ground underneath it...

We continued on through a couple of draws and we happen to hear a helicopter. That means the Border Patrol is close. We looked up and I am sure he was just checking us out to make sure we were harmless Gringos. I have a feeling they would like to throttle all of us Gringos who wander through the Sonoran, causing many a Border Patrol Copter to make a detour , making sure we are legals...The bincoculars, camera, gray hair and white sneakers are a dead give away.

..Hi there Mr. Border Patrol...It's just us down here, you may carry on.
  We were winding our way through some very stony areas, becoming encouraged that we may stumble (literally) over the Stone Man. I happen to look just off to my right and saw large stones forming some figure....

..this is what I would call a stone cross...and fairly recently constructed..But, it was still a find for us, and I had to get a photo. We went East of the ridge and came across the area of Rose Quartz and lots of Organ Pipe Cactus. We had been here once before...Here is a good sample of the neat rocks you can find out here...

 ....and this is one HUGE and BEAUTIFUL Organ Pipe!!

..If you think I was REALLY leaning on this thing...think again..But isn't it a cool one?? As we were walking along I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw this out of the corner of my eye...

..At first glance it looks like an alligator, right? I know we were in the desert, but boy, this thing made my skin crawl...I know it's just a downed and dead Saguaro,but these "Desert 'Gators look like they are creeping across the sand after me...
..I never tire of walking in the desert here. The views are always vast and awe inspiring..I really hate to think we have to eventually leave this land of adventures...

...and here I am up on the ridge, looking back toward our campground across the Sonoran Desert.

We came upon these two holes in the ground. Den said they look like they may have been made by Coyotes...or possibly they were some kind of small animal den. I wasn't too keen on just standing over them and discussing what could suddenly come leaping ....or slithering..out of them. I quickly took this picture and made my OWN tracks out of there...!!!

...I don't know where they went, how deep they went, nor do I care...
 Even though we never found the Stone Man, we were having a great time. The weather was cooperating nicely and the sun wasn't all that hot yet. We found an area of many Prickly Pear Cactus, just all of a sudden....

...Dennis was ambushed by them....We crossed the large "draw" where the water finds it's way out of the mountain and onto the desert floor...

...These areas are really great for finding neat rocks. The water washes all kinds of different ones off the mountains and down into the valley. I found some neat ones here. The quartz just sparkle in the sunshine.

I call this "Ambush Alley"....can't you just see one of the old Westerns being filmed right here?? Remember the TV show "Cochise"?..and the Indian agent, Tom Jeffers.?(I think that was his name)..And now I am really dating myself!
I try my hand at getting good close up shots...This is one of the Chollas up close and personal....

...upon close examination, the quills on these things are really white.

I was walking along and thought I saw what appeared to be a cobweb on the ground, still sparkling from this morning's rare dew. Like a dufus, I poked at it with my toe and , lo and behold, it WAS a cobweb until I stupidly demolished it . I was really mad at myself for not getting a picture of it. Believe it or not..as luck would have it, I ran across another one shortly after and got my photo...What are the chances of that?

...something rare here, I am sure....It isn't a great shot, but we are considering to eventually get a digital single lens reflex camera...I need some new equipment!
You may recall that I have taken some photos of the A-10 Warthogs that fly over us here. I found out online that there is a squadron stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. They are the 354th Fighter Squadron Pilots who just came back from Kandahar, Afghanistan this last month.  ...If you are a warbird lover like me, here is a great link to their blog..
http://warthognews.blogspot.com/

Well, Den and I are about to take a bicycle ride around the park...then it's shower time..Oh, and before I close...This is one of my favorite shirts..and I wore it today..

.....and at the bottom, it says,"Do What You Like, Like What You Do"....and WE DO...more tomorrow!!

BORDER WARS....ALL AROUND US...

  We had a pretty neat sunset last night, and since I was in my "uniform", Den offered to get on his bike and go out to the casino parking lot to get a good pIcture. It's just as well, cause I would have been quite a spectacle, bicycling around the casino parking lot in my pj's, balancing a Rum and Coke in one hand and a camera in the other... makes for quite a visual, eh?

...Den did good!!
  It began raining about 10PM last night and managed to drizzle all night long. It was pretty gray when we got up, but soon the clouds cleared enough for some great views....

I have a new Hummingbird at my feeder. I think he is a Ruby Throated , and he is not afraid of Gila Woodpeckers, or bees. We have had them when we were in Texas also....I will try to catch him in a better pose tomorrow. It helps when the sun shines on him to show up his beautiful red throat.

  The Air Force was doing some low level maneuvers around us early this morning, but I couldn't see them in the clouds..We could certainly hear them! When Dennis was online, he pulled up the Ajo weather forecast, and it looks good for the next 6-7 days, sunny and warm. While he was online he saw a headline for the Ajo news, saying that the Border Patrol had seized $1 million dollars worth of marijuana (98 bundles). It seems that some security officers, assigned to the Barry Goldwater Range, contacted Border Patrol agents at their checkpoint on Rt. 85. (This would be the same one we went through on our way to Buckeye.) They had spotted a suspicious car abandoned on the range. Border Patrol went out and they discovered the bundles of drugs. The driver must have known he was in trouble and abandoned the car, leaving the drugs behind.
   Border patrol has been busy lately.  There was another article saying that Border Patrol agents found $400,000 cash following a traffic stop in Ajo.  Ajo Police Officers pulled over a suspicious vehicle and then asked for help from Border Patrol agents, who took the auto to their checkpoint to search it. They were alerted by drug sniffing dogs , so an Xray was used to search inside the trunk. They then discovered what they call down here an "anomaly", and tore up the trunk finding the money....Like I said, a busy few days for Border Patrol...
  We went into Ajo to get some groceries at Olsen's IGA....

  ...They always have some good meat sales, and we got a nice looking London Broil for grilling. They make their own Italian sausage links, which they also sell to a restaurant in Yuma. We had purchased the hot ones a few weeks ago...and they were HOT!!! This week we decided to just get the regular Italian and give our stomachs a break. They also had avocados for 69cent each...yummy...I see guacamole in our future.
 We got back, and after I turned our purchase of spare ribs into back ribs, we did our walk. The air was fairly cool today, with a few glimpses of sunshine.
When we got back, I had just sat down to do our blog when we got "skyped" from our youngest daughter in Indianapolis. We got to see and talk to her and our newest grandson, Aiden. Aiden is 15 months old and beginning to really talk!!

...I really miss him and all our grandkids, but the webcam sure makes it easier. It helps him know who we are, and enables us to watch him grow while we are gone. These two are by far my favorite photos on our blog. I wasn't sure they would turn out , but they are surprisingly good!
 Well , it is time to think about dinner. I picked up some fried chicken at the IGA, and I have some left over spaghetti to go with it...This dinner is known as "family-style chicken" back in Illinois. All I need to do is warm up the chicken in the oven...an easy dinner!
  We are hoping to take our walk into the desert tomorrow to see if we can find the stone man. I will, of course, document everything on our blog!....Again, thanks for playing...

LAUNDRY PHOTO...I'LL FIND A PICTURE ANYWHERE I CAN!!!

..Up early this morning for laundry day. I peeked outside and it looked pretty cloudy. We trecked on down to the laundry about 7:15AM...We were front row Joe, with no one in the building but us.  Just to show you what a slow day we had today, I took a photo of the laundry..Dennis will think I have totally lost it..

...As you can see, it is very neat and clean...4 washers and 4 dryers. They also have a book and magazine exchange, which I use frequently. This laundry is one thing I will definitely miss when we leave. Speaking of leaving, we just signed up for 1 more month today..Everything here is a plus...great price, clean, full hook up, laundry (and they don't hold you up to do it), great views, walking trails, close to town, great grocery store with beer, wine and Rum, and, if you so desire....a Casino on property.. The locals here call the casino "pennyland". I haven't been inside, but I hear they have penny and quarter slots...If I get there I will take a photo. Dennis won't go with me and I don't want to go alone. I am pretty much a gambling "virgin". When we went to Las Vegas once, I had no idea how to play the slots...I had never done it. When we went to the racetrack in Hot Springs, Dennis sent me to the betting window with $2.00 and said,"Just tell them you want to put $2.00 on whatever  horse you want, to win, place or show." I did EXACTLY what he said..."Put $2.00 on horse Holy Grail to win, place or show". I will never forget the look on the face of the man behind the window...He disgustedly said, "Which one ,lady? Ya gotta pick one!...Win, Place, or Show!!!!!" Thanks, Den. Like I said, I am NOT a gambler!
Now that I have bored you with that story, let me continue on.
Even though the skies were not sunny and the sunrise was less than spectacular, I still found them very photogenic..This was the sky at 8AM....

...looked like we may get some rain today. Over the East mountains it also looked a little ominous, but still awesome..

There was some whispy dark clouds topped with a glimpse of blue sky...I can always find beauty in the never ending skies out here. 
 We took our walk and we walked out by the casino. Our neighbors with the Dobermans were just pulling out and heading toward Rocky Point, Mexico. We wished them well, and I am sure they will encounter no difficulty with their girls, Sofia and Roxanne, greeting all who knock on their door.

  The casino has a pretty big generator out behind the building. Den says it is probably for emergency only, like when the storm went through and lights here went out 5 times. If you just put money in the slots and the lights went off, it would not be good.
  I noticed the Tohono Oodham Police car was in the parking lot.(probably getting a donut). There is some Native American writing that I have no idea what it means on the front fender of the squad car...Here it is...

My son-in-law is a detective in Glenview IL, and I know some squad cars have "To Serve and Protect" on the side...maybe that is what this says...interesting....
I don't know what the diesel fuel is back home, but it is pretty expensive down here..

....The price hasn't changed in the month we have been here. We did find it more expensive in Ajo, the cheapest we saw there was $3.16 a gallon, so $3.02 doesn't seem so bad. When we went up to the WalMart in Buckeye, we filled up for $2.76 a gallon..Now THAT was a bargain!! The problem was, you had to drive 90 miles to fill up...unless you were going that way.
  I decided to do a quick clean job on the camper, dust and vacuum..We do get a lot of dust. The sun peeked out briefly after lunch and then the clouds moved back in . Right now it looks like it could rain to the South. Tonight is cheeseburgers...grilled if it doesn't rain, fried if it rains. Believe it or not, there is a Chinese Restaurant in Ajo...go figure...We talked to another couple here in the park and they said they have really good food and they do have "carry outs". We may have to stop and pick up a menu when we go to town . 
  I want to walk back out into the desert soon to see if we can find the "stone man". I have seen pictures of it and it looks like a large stick figure on the desert floor,( made by I don't know who).  Apparently, it has been there quite a while..I must research the mysterious "stone man". One of the times we walked out through the desert I found an intriguing piece of cactus skeleton and brought it back with me...here it is...

It is really bleached out from the sun and is pretty fragile . I will have to be careful where I pack it away to travel. I want to put this on our fireplace mantel at home.
 Well, it hasn't been a very eventful day, but....the day isn't over yet. It seems anything can happen here. Tomorrow is grocery day and I need to make my list. I can go online and find the ad for Olsen's Marketplace, and that helps a lot!  Tonight is shower night, and if you are a regular visitor, you know how I LOVE my showers!!We will talk more tomorrow....

PLEASANT DAY IN THE DESERT..

   Another picture perfect day in the Sonoran Desert.....

...We woke up to clouds and quite a wind off the mountians to the East, but by the time we got up and got a cup of coffee, the winds had died down and there was a promise of sunshine in the Western horizon. We took our walk with light jackets on and I was ready to shed mine almost immediately.
  There are some quail down here around the park, but they are very shy and don't like to pose for any photos. This morning on our walk I heard them, and stopped long enough to catch them quick, before the did their disappearing act.

...not my greatest effort, for sure, but those darn little birds are fast...and I'm sure they have trusted many a rube who ended up putting them on a rotisserie. I'll bet they taste similar to Cornish Game Hens...maybe I shouldn't go there...
   We got some more new neighbors to the South. They are a nice younger couple who are traveling with 2 Doberman Pincers...and they are the most well-behaved dogs in the park...This particular Dobe caught my eye, because she is a red, which are very beautiful dobes...and she is BIG!!!..

..She looks very scary, but she is a big pussy cat..Her name is Roxanne, but her nickname is "Peanut". We have never had a dog who is smart enough to remember to answer to two separate names, sometimes not smart enough to answer to ONE, but apparently Roxanne has no problem with it..I  heard her master refer to her using both.

   They also had a smaller black and tan Dobe named Sofia, who was much smaller. I overheard them talking about going to Rocky Point (Mexico). I would have no problem going into Mexico if I had Sofia and Roxanne, a.k.a. Peanut, greeting everyone at my camper door...
  The sun was totally out by 11AM and we finished a cup of coffee outside. There are alot of military aircraft zipping around today. I got this photo of another A-10 Warthog . It was one of three, traveling together, and there is no way I can begin to get them all at once...

...We did mostly nothing today, but sit outside and read or do crosswords.. I know Den was burned out from yesterday, and I have absolutely no excuse for my slothlike behavior. I took a little walk to the edge of the desert and found this Barrel Cactus who asked if I would take his picture...I love these  pinkish spikey little devils...

..I tried a closer look, and it didn't turn out too bad...

...Doesn't this remind you of Medusa with the snake hair? Notice how pink these "tenticles" are....
This Saguaro has many holes for the Cactus Wrens to make nests in....

   The clouds began to move in about 2PM and they are calling for showers down here, tonight and maybe tomorrow  . Lo and behold it is laundry day again tomorrow!..didn't I just DO the laundry?? I cannot believe how fast time goes. We need to walk up and sign on for another month before Thursday, which leaves today or tomorrow. That will have us packing up the HitchHiker on the 28th of February and heading ???.....well, therein  lies the beauty of pulling your vacation home behind  you. We really aren't sure yet where we will land.
There may be a nice sunset tonight, due to the whispy cloud cover on the Western horizon. I may have to expose the new neighbors to my nightly "uniform" if I want a picture of it..I hope they are prepared....More tomorrow...