Things are still windy out here in the desert! We’ve had some 50 mph+ winds which have made it really hard to play golf. What am I talking about – it’s really hard just to stay on your feet! McKenzie found that it was easiest to just ride on the carpet that we use to smooth over the sand greens after we've hit that little yellow, pink or orange ball into the cup. 
Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas! We went to my aunt’s in San Diego and spent about a week with her. Had a great time shopping and McKenzie enjoyed playing with her dog, Peanuts. Although it took them five days to determine that they weren’t enemies, the last two, they spent running throughout the house chasing each other. We went back for Christmas and gave them a chance to play again. 
We’ve had quite a time with our solar out here. Seems a couple of our batteries died and we ended up having to order four new ones. George had always said that we didn’t have enough solar panels on the top of the fifthwheel, so we ordered a new one which should hopefully give us enough power to do the things we want. If not, we are going to have to start dragging them behind us because we have no more roof room for the panels. We’ve added Dish Network and an electric coffee pot since we were out here five years ago and they both draw quite a bit of amps. Gave up the coffee pot and saved the amps for something else. We had to install a new circuit board on the furnace and replace a part on the toilet. Oh yes, the refrigerator door panel dried, cracked, warped and fell out. So--- we had to find a carpenter who could build us a new one! Okay, the fifthwheel is almost 13 years old!!! And it’s a lot cheaper to replace all these parts than it is to buy a new fifthwheel!!!!! Besides, if we continue having to replace all these parts, we’ll soon know how to build our own fifthwheel! Once everything was fixed, we began enjoying our visit.
Our friends, Cal and Nancy arrived and we’ve been spending time with them, playing games, going into town, and having a beer and dinner at DaBoyz in Yuma. (They have wonderful pizzas and Italian food.)
Close to Christmas, we all went to one of the churches in the foothills and listened to the dancing lights Christmas tree chorus. It was quite interesting. They set up chairs in the parking lot and we took lots of blankets and some hot chocolate and sat out under the stars in the 49 degree weather and listened to the choir sing Christmas songs. The stage was a giant Christmas tree with 22,000 colored lights on it. The 70 people in the choir stood on a rows of the Christmas tree and the lights were generated by a computerized program to blink off an on in various segments. It was kind of neat and doesn’t take much to amuse us on a Saturday night.
It’s kind of a custom out here for everyone to make, bake, or buy some little something as a Christmas gift for everyone who’s camped out here. Sometimes, it is hand made bags, potholders, cranberry loaves, honey, cookies, candies, etc. I decided to bake cookies again this year. Once ready, I learned that my new, super-duper Cuisinart electronic hand mixer does not work on the inverter! What a job having to cream the butter, flour and sugar by hand. I have a whole new respect for those pioneer women! I am building up some nice muscles in my “stirring” arm though! However, once I was finished, George figured out how to make the mixer work, so looks like I'll be able to save my arms and shoulders after all.
McKenzie is finally learning to walk on the rocks and in the wind. She doesn’t like it, but she’s learning to do it! We took her to the Arizona market and she bought herself a new visor so now she doesn’t have the excuse that the sun is in her eyes. Now if we could just figure out how to keep her sunglasses on!
We found out when we arrived here that the Yuma Proving Ground had erected a new cell phone tower. Yippee!!! Better Coverage! Then we found out we had “no coverage”. The tower was a Verizon and we have AT&T! Okay another trip into town to talk to the cell phone people. We finally decided if we wanted to be able to be in touch by phone, that we’d have to buy a Verizon phone. So we bought one and now should be fully covered anywhere we go. George has a Verizon and I have an AT&T. Thank you Yuma Proving Grounds!!!
The desert sunsets have been really beautiful lately.
Though the wind has been very strong , we have still had some beautiful sunny days and the nights are spectacular with the stars filling the sky like diamonds. Wish you each could be here to enjoy this with us. Jack, the resident donkey, has been making his rounds every day around happy hour time to see if anyone has any leftover bread, apples or carrots. He and McKenzie have a "hate" relationship going on so we try to keep her safely away from him. He did attend one of our campfires but he stayed on the outer perimeter and McKenzie stayed on my lap but watched his every move out of the corner of her eye! What a protector!!!!
Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas! We went to my aunt’s in San Diego and spent about a week with her. Had a great time shopping and McKenzie enjoyed playing with her dog, Peanuts. Although it took them five days to determine that they weren’t enemies, the last two, they spent running throughout the house chasing each other. We went back for Christmas and gave them a chance to play again. We’ve had quite a time with our solar out here. Seems a couple of our batteries died and we ended up having to order four new ones. George had always said that we didn’t have enough solar panels on the top of the fifthwheel, so we ordered a new one which should hopefully give us enough power to do the things we want. If not, we are going to have to start dragging them behind us because we have no more roof room for the panels. We’ve added Dish Network and an electric coffee pot since we were out here five years ago and they both draw quite a bit of amps. Gave up the coffee pot and saved the amps for something else. We had to install a new circuit board on the furnace and replace a part on the toilet. Oh yes, the refrigerator door panel dried, cracked, warped and fell out. So--- we had to find a carpenter who could build us a new one! Okay, the fifthwheel is almost 13 years old!!! And it’s a lot cheaper to replace all these parts than it is to buy a new fifthwheel!!!!! Besides, if we continue having to replace all these parts, we’ll soon know how to build our own fifthwheel! Once everything was fixed, we began enjoying our visit.
Our friends, Cal and Nancy arrived and we’ve been spending time with them, playing games, going into town, and having a beer and dinner at DaBoyz in Yuma. (They have wonderful pizzas and Italian food.)
Close to Christmas, we all went to one of the churches in the foothills and listened to the dancing lights Christmas tree chorus. It was quite interesting. They set up chairs in the parking lot and we took lots of blankets and some hot chocolate and sat out under the stars in the 49 degree weather and listened to the choir sing Christmas songs. The stage was a giant Christmas tree with 22,000 colored lights on it. The 70 people in the choir stood on a rows of the Christmas tree and the lights were generated by a computerized program to blink off an on in various segments. It was kind of neat and doesn’t take much to amuse us on a Saturday night.It’s kind of a custom out here for everyone to make, bake, or buy some little something as a Christmas gift for everyone who’s camped out here. Sometimes, it is hand made bags, potholders, cranberry loaves, honey, cookies, candies, etc. I decided to bake cookies again this year. Once ready, I learned that my new, super-duper Cuisinart electronic hand mixer does not work on the inverter! What a job having to cream the butter, flour and sugar by hand. I have a whole new respect for those pioneer women! I am building up some nice muscles in my “stirring” arm though! However, once I was finished, George figured out how to make the mixer work, so looks like I'll be able to save my arms and shoulders after all.
McKenzie is finally learning to walk on the rocks and in the wind. She doesn’t like it, but she’s learning to do it! We took her to the Arizona market and she bought herself a new visor so now she doesn’t have the excuse that the sun is in her eyes. Now if we could just figure out how to keep her sunglasses on!
We found out when we arrived here that the Yuma Proving Ground had erected a new cell phone tower. Yippee!!! Better Coverage! Then we found out we had “no coverage”. The tower was a Verizon and we have AT&T! Okay another trip into town to talk to the cell phone people. We finally decided if we wanted to be able to be in touch by phone, that we’d have to buy a Verizon phone. So we bought one and now should be fully covered anywhere we go. George has a Verizon and I have an AT&T. Thank you Yuma Proving Grounds!!!
The desert sunsets have been really beautiful lately.
Though the wind has been very strong , we have still had some beautiful sunny days and the nights are spectacular with the stars filling the sky like diamonds. Wish you each could be here to enjoy this with us. Jack, the resident donkey, has been making his rounds every day around happy hour time to see if anyone has any leftover bread, apples or carrots. He and McKenzie have a "hate" relationship going on so we try to keep her safely away from him. He did attend one of our campfires but he stayed on the outer perimeter and McKenzie stayed on my lap but watched his every move out of the corner of her eye! What a protector!!!!Most of the people who are coming here for the winter have now arrived and things are getting busier. Several of us decided to take the 4 wheel vehicles
and head over to the Castle Dome silver mine museum. We had a great time there and the gentlemen who owns the property, Allen Armstrong, has done a fantastic job of restoring many of the old buildings to look just as they were in the mid to late 1800's. Allen took all of us on a walking tour of the old silver mines and shafts and imparted some very wonderful knowledge to us about the old miners of that time. Colonel Jacob Snively, after serving as Secretary to President Sam Houston began the first mining venture here in 1862. In 1864, the Castle Dome City's population was 12. In the 1880's, it exceeded that of Yuma. It was a meca for those wanting to get rich quick and for desperados hiding from the law and seeking an easy opportunity. The lonely, the misfits, the dreamers, the fools and the notorious women all came to Castle Dome. There were shootouts, brawls, murders and untimely deaths. Fortunes were made and fortunes were lost! That time and life is gone but Allen and his wife did a superb job of restoring it. While walking thru the midst of this city he has created, we listened to the echoes of the past and marveled at how life could have been abundant at all in the harsh but beautiful landscape.
and head over to the Castle Dome silver mine museum. We had a great time there and the gentlemen who owns the property, Allen Armstrong, has done a fantastic job of restoring many of the old buildings to look just as they were in the mid to late 1800's. Allen took all of us on a walking tour of the old silver mines and shafts and imparted some very wonderful knowledge to us about the old miners of that time. Colonel Jacob Snively, after serving as Secretary to President Sam Houston began the first mining venture here in 1862. In 1864, the Castle Dome City's population was 12. In the 1880's, it exceeded that of Yuma. It was a meca for those wanting to get rich quick and for desperados hiding from the law and seeking an easy opportunity. The lonely, the misfits, the dreamers, the fools and the notorious women all came to Castle Dome. There were shootouts, brawls, murders and untimely deaths. Fortunes were made and fortunes were lost! That time and life is gone but Allen and his wife did a superb job of restoring it. While walking thru the midst of this city he has created, we listened to the echoes of the past and marveled at how life could have been abundant at all in the harsh but beautiful landscape.We have had one set of the Coyote Races here so far. There are six to eight people who are assigned a coyote (a golf club with a cardboard cutout of a coyote head on it). They line up and as three dice are thrown, the three coyotes with those numbers move forward one square. Whoever gets to the finish line first wins! Bets are made and winners of each race compete in the final race to see who is the "fastest coyote on the ridge".
We've also had one of our waffle bakes. Several of the guys have waffle irons that sit on pipes filled with charcoal. Each of them gets a hat and an apron and they are named after the seven dwarfs - I especially liked "Grumpy"! Everyone brings a topping or something that will complement the waffles and what a feast it becomes! This first waffle bake fed aroung 40-50 of us. A second one will take place later in February. Yes siree!!! We sure eat good out here!!
Cal, Nancy, George and I took a day trip into Quartzite. The big white tents are expanding every year and there are hundreds of vendors trying to separate you from your money! The RV show is the beginning of Quartzite's really busy time and there are usually close to half a million RVers there. We've noticed that there aren't as many people as usual out here this year. I'm sure the price of fuel has something to do with that. Anyway, we spent the day there and found that there wasn't much that we just couldn't live without. So, we left the hustle and bustle of Quartzite and headed back to our peaceful, beautiful ridge.
We have about six more weeks here and then we'll be heading toward Washington State. We have sure enjoyed the winter thus far and are looking forward to the next few weeks. Wish all of you could be here to experience this with us. Hope you are enjoying Coyote Ridge as much as we are!
P.S. Somebody had her 6th birthday this month. Can you guess who?
No comments:
Post a Comment