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Quartzsite

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:25 pm

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Quartzsite is name after the mineral quartz. A lot of times where you find quartz you also find gold. There are a lot of rocks and minerals found near quartzsite so rockhounds like the area. In the winter, thousands of people come to the area looking for a warm spot to winter.. I'm not sure why they choose Quartzsite. Warm is about the only thing going for it. There were permanent signs along the highway that said, "Blowing dust area." It means that the day we were there wasn't the only dusty day.
Do you know how animals and sometimes people mill around not knowing where to go or what to do? That is how Quartzsite appeared to me. Only the people were in motor homes and trucks pulling trailers. There are about 75 RV parks in Quartzsite. There are a lot of big gem and mineral shows and some big flea markets. Only everything seemed to be closed up because of the wind and dust. We inquired about motels or places to stay and were told the best places were across the state line in California. We couldn't find a place to eat so snacked on the cheese and crackers we had taken with us.
We did drive to Ehrenberg which is the small town on the state line. It didn't even have any stores. I wonder how people survive with having to drive 40 or 50 miles to shop for groceries. All the little towns seemed to have convenience marts but they were expensive so you couldn't live cheaply by shopping in them.
We decided that our course of action would be to get on the interstate highway and go back to Phoenix.
Interstate 10 goes across the country from California to Florida. It would take you four or five days to drive the whole way. It is used a lot by truckers. The right lane was bumper to bumper semi-trucks. But they were all driving the same speed and not cutting in and out. Cars were mostly using the left lane and traffic was going smoothly. We made good time and arrived back in Phoenix by 5 pm. We saw the exit that we could get off and visit a friend so we did that for a bit of time.
We found an International House of Pancakes and had our evening meal. Then, we found a motel and crashed for the night. In the morning (Thursday) we did some shopping. We found an organic bulk food store when we were looking for another shop. We bought several types of vegetables and some polenta meal and some fructose and dried fruits. We never did find the other shop. We considered stopping at my sister's house, but decided since we were going there on Saturday that we would just get on the Interstate 17 and head for home. It wasn't quite as windy on Thursday. We stopped at Anthem, which is a huge housing developement with shops. We went to WalMart and found a friend working there so stopped to visit with him for a bit. We did some grocery shopping and then headed on up the hill. We got home about two pm. Everyone was surprised to see us so early but we were ready to be home.
It seems it was windy at home too. Chairs and tables were knocked over. A piece of the gardenshed roof was on the ground. The trash dumpster was on it's side and a ladder that was on the gardenshed roof was on the ground. So, we spent a while picking things up and sorting them out. Brian fixed the roof in short order. Chance was happy to see us back. She's been sticking close since we got back. Our neighbor fed her and played in the yard with her. She likes the neighbor but she was happy to see Brian. She does follow him most of the time. She thinks she's human, you see.

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two day trek

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:43 am

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Well, we did our two day trek. It was a little windy and cool here when we left but we figured it would be okay once we got down the mountain to the flatland. It just got a little more windy. We made it to Wickenburg by noon so we stopped and had a little lunch and walked around a bit. then, we started west Rt. 60. That is a two lane state route. It's relatively straight and flat. After we left Wickenburg proper, there was no one behind me until we got to Aguila. We passed through Gladden. Nothing there except one RV park. Nothing else at all. The land was flat with scrubby bushes. You could see mountains in the distance on either side of the road. It kept getting more windy. As you approach Aguila there were big machines preparing the land for planting cotton. As they were plowing up the ground, the wind was blowing it away. The air was thick with dirt and dust. We had to slow down a lot as visibility was near zero. Some fields were planted and the rows were covered with row covers and in between were the little ditches for irrigation. We passed through Aguila and it was still dusty and you could only see along the edges of the road. There were a few other cars. It stayed windy and dusty the whole day. The dust and blowing dirt started to make my eyes burn. My wrists were aching from keeping the truck on the straight and narrow.
We came to Wenden. It's not much but a few buildings, but they do have a school for farm workers children and some children are bused from nearby areas.(within 40 miles). There is another road leading north from Wenden that goes to a state park and Alamo Lake. It has RV parks and fishing camps on it.
We stopped in Salome. It has about 2,000 people in the winter. We drove around the streets and came to a developement called Indian Hills. It was laid out in a square grid with fenced plots where people come in the winter and live in motorhomes and small trailers. They have an airpark too where small planes can land. There was a library at the airpark so we turned onto the street and there was a big sign that read, "Airplanes have the right of way." Well, the street was also the runway for the planes. We quickly turned into the parking lot and investigated the library. It is only open 25 hours per week. It was a nice small library with computers for patron use. The librarian said it is usually busy in the winter, but when the people take their motorhomes and trailers and go north for the summer it sort of quits. They do have migrant workers that harvest the cotton and vegetables that they grow. We wanted to stay there for a while longer but there was nothing else to do. So, we proceeded along to the Interstate to Quartzsite.
I must apologize for no pictures. We had our camera but it was so windy and dusty that we didn't stop to take pictures. More on Quartzsite tomorrow. Dooley

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Exploring?

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:52 pm

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We have lived in Arizona for 17 years now. Time sure flies when you are having fun. Anyway, we haven't explored much of the state for one reason or another. We've just gone to the usual tourist places. Last week we bought a map of Arizona and decided we'd try to visit a place we haven't seen at least once a month. After all, we are supposed to be retired. We had to just make the time and we are only going to be gone for two days. We decided to go to Wickenberg. We've already been there many times but it's a starting point. We'll take route 60 southeast to Quartzsite. There are a lot of gem and mineral people there this time of the year. There are also a lot of flea markets set up around Quartzsite. There are several small towns along the way to explore, too. First is Aguila, Gladden, Wenden, Salome, Hope, Vicksburg, Brenda and then Quartzsite. We think we may go on to the Colorado River, There is Ehrenberg on the Arizona side and Blythe on the California side. Then, maybe up to Parker. That's on the Arizona side and on or near the Colorado River Indian Reservation. I'm not sure what Indians live on that reservation. I should look it up before we go. The ones near Prescott are Yavapai Apache. See, I've lived here quite a long time and haven't learned all about the state. The area along route 60 is McMullen Valley. It's between two mountain ranges and is farming country. They grow cotton, vegetables and melons. Their water allotment comes from the Colorado River. Six states share water from the river. There is a commission that regulates the water. California gets the largest share. Their population is large and they are always trying to buy shares from the other states. Water is a big problem for the desert states. They aren't all desert but enough to have huge dry areas and low rain areas. I will take our camera and see if I can get some pictures of plant life in the area. I can't say that we'll see much animal life. Many we'll see a few new kinds of bugs. It's not much above sea level so with the heat there will be scorpions (Ugh!) and snakes. If we stay on the main routes we shouldn't be bothered too much by them. I've been on the internet all week looking up various places and points of interest. I found a place to stay for the one night. It's at least reasonable. Most places wanted over $100.00 a night for lodging. I think those were the big chain motels. I found a local one. We'll have to drive by it early and see if it looks okay. Else, we'll have to go to one of the chain motels. You get more of the local feel of a place if you can stay at a local place. There were no pictures on the internet of the local places though. Dan has been down that road to Quartzsite when he was test driving for a car manufacturer. He says there isn't much to see. But, he was driving at night so what could he see. It's time to stop and go to the library. There's just too many things to do when you are retired. It seems like more than when you are working and raising a family. I thought there would be more time to do things. Daily living sure takes a lot of time. But, then, what else to we have to do.

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Allergies

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:22 am

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It was so nice on Monday that I cleaned the leaves and debris out from under the mulberry tree. I don't usually have much trouble with the dry leaves. The bulbs were coming up under the leaves and they definitely needed more sun. They were white and yellow instead of green. I gave everything a good watering. They are beginning to look better. I wonder if they will turn green now or just the new part will be green. The tulips are not up yet, just the daffodils and grape hyacinths and dutch iris's.
Yesterday, when I got up, my eyes were itchy and my nose was stuffed up. As soon as I got up my nose started dripping and then running. I must have used half a box of kleenex. I finally gave up and took an allergy pill. I try to use those as little as possible. I'm really not looking forward to spring pollen. Today, it's better so maybe I can go out and do some other things tomorrow.
The spinach hasn't come up yet. I decided to keep the poly stuff on it during the day, too. The soil is still damp so it should be okay. I didn't get my greenhouse yet. Brian says he has to finish closing the carport. It has one and one half walls now. My exercise equipment is there. At least now everyone who drives past doesn't stare at me.
Dan is here. More later

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Rain

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:49 pm

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I thought I knew why it rained. I watered everything really good yesterday. It's probably not the reason because it's quit already and the ground is dry. I still see clouds all around us though.

Yesterday, I thought it was going to rain. I had to go to the doctor which is one of my least favorite things. It's really a big time waster. Now, I have to go have the lab work done. I couldn't do that yesterday because the tests are fasting and I ate breakfast. It's a good thing because we were there for almost two hours. It was afternoon and we went at 10 am.

Anyway, we stopped and had lunch at a buffet place. You always overeat at those places. I did manage to stick to the salad bar but still.
So I came home and walked on the treadmill for a mile and then I went and got the hose and watered all the little trees and bushes and I went overboard and watered everything else because if it had been raining everything would have been watered. I see some of my bulbs are peeking through the ground. I watered all of them too. I hope they all come up. I planted 285 of them. Mixed things, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and dwarf iris's. The rose bushes have buds and little leaves so they got watered good. The lilac bush has little buds so it got watered.
I spent most of an hour watering things. I felt like watering a cat but I restrained myself. It was digging in one of the flower beds. There are so many feral cats in the neighborhood. I'd like to trap them, but every place makes you pay to take them and it's just not in my budget. The man across the street needs to do it. He's the one who feeds them all.
Today, I have to pedal the exercise bike and it's so windy. My exercise things are on the carport which isn't yet closed. Guess I'll have a hooded sweatshirt. Dan bought me a portable CD player for my birthday so I can listen to books while I pedal or walk. I have Wild Orchids by Jude Deveraux on it now. There are five CD's so it may take awhile. It doesn't say how many hours.
I never take that long to read a book so it's a good thing I am doing something useful while I listen.
We mailed a package to Grandma Collins this morning. She will be 90 on Feb. 3rd. We won't be able to be there but our oldest son will be there for the party. She lives in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

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Road over the Mingus Mountains

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:59 am

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This picture is on the road over the Mingus Mountains from Prescott to Jerome. The elevation here is about 7,000 ft. It is twelve miles and there are 159 corners. It's all up and then all down. The brakes smell hot from all the corners going downhill. I did it once and that was enough for me. Straight down along side sometimes.



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Garden work

Category: Yard work! | Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:18 am

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It was nice yesterday so I spent some time clearing out my garden area. Chance loved it as I don't usually let her in that area of the yard. I collected about two large black bags of debris. I couldn't put it in the compost though. It was full of rock and walnuts that aren't good to eat. Some of the thick stems I'll cut up and put with the mulch stuff, maybe. I will start digging now. I have to decide how I want to plant it so I can decide where my soaker hoses will go. With the water shortage there will be restrictions so I need the water to go where it will be needed and not all over the ground. I may need to buy some more soaker hose. We had some last year and I bought some at the flea market in the fall. I will need some for the herb garden too. I hope it will bend around the plants.
Tomorrow if it is still nice and no rain is predicted so I will work in the little front yard. It isn't very big. We graveled a portion of it last year. But the mulberry tree dropped the rest of its leaves so I want to get them out of the area where I planted the bulbs. Some of the bulbs are early bloomers and they need the sunlight more than they need the warmth? I hope that's right. Well, last year the tulips came up through the leaves. maybe I will just move some of them. There is never an end of things to do outside. I notice that the iris beds that I cleaned last fall have a few brown leaves so I can take them away. I need to do the compost pile. I don't have a bin. I have a wire bin.

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Busy Week

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:30 am

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This was a busy week. It started with my birthday. That was the quiet day. Next day, we went for lunch and did a bit of shopping. On Wednesday, we went to the library in the morning. I had some books to pick up. Our library is a part of the county system so if we want a book and it isn't at our library, we can put a hold on it and if another library has the book they send it to us at our library. We get books delivered Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We send out books ordered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When the courier brings books, he also takes books. There is a central holding area where books are taken, sorted and sent to the right place. They are returned the same way. It applies to all library materials, books, videos and DVD's.
I got sidetracked there with a little information. In the afternoon on Wednesday, I trimmed my apricot trees. These little sucker branches grow around the bottom and have to come off. I needed to get it done before it started to flower and grow new leaves. That happened in February last year.
On Thursday, I removed Christmas decorations from the house, inside. It took me several hours. I have 45 yrs worth of decorations. I don't know why I feel I have to use everyone of them. But, I can't seem to leave any in the boxes.
On Friday, I was going to take down the outside decorations, but we had other things to do in the morning and I worked at the library on Friday afternoon (1 to 5). It was very busy. We had people all the time. Some checking out material and some using the computers. We have six computers for library patrons and two staff computers and one computer on the checkout desk.
In March we are going to a new computer system so we will all be learning how to use it at the same time. Should be interesting.
Today, we got up early and went to the flea market. This time it was 34F instead of 14F. It got up to nearly 60F and was really nice. Then the wind started blowing and it was really cold. We packed to come home about 1 pm. The box wouldn't stay on the table while I was trying to put things into it. I had to keep chasing down my wrapping paper. I was glad to get it done and get inside.
It was only windy up in Prescott Valley. It's on a high plateau and the wind blows quite a lot of the time. When we got down to our level it wasn't windy at all. We are at 4,200 ft and Prescott Valley is about 5,000 ft. Prescott, itself, is 5,280 ft (the mile high city). It's the same altitude as Denver.
Brian built a fire and warmed the house when we got home. It's very nice here now.
I'm hoping tomorrow will be nice so I can get the lights, etc from the outside down and stored away. I'd like to say that's all that's left, but everyday I find something that I forgot. It will take a few weeks to find everything and get it put away.
The lilacs, honeysuckle and the apricot trees have buds on the branches. They won't come out right away, but they are working on it. The rose bushes have little red leaves coming. I haven't checked on the bulbs that I planted. Last year the tulips bloomed in March so I think they will be coming up soon. I need to take some leaves off of them, maybe. I think I will look and see if they are coming up first.
I still need to finish clearing the garden. If I leave the old stuff too long grass will grow under it. I want to look for spinach, etc to plant. Cool weather stuff. In Wisconsin, I planted peas and they grew right through a late snow. I hope that doesn't happen here. I expect we won't get snow or rain very soon and we need rain very badly.

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Daily Happenings

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:14 am

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I decided I needed a new catagory for day to day happenings. Today, exactly nothing happened. It was my birthday so I decided to do nothing that I did not want to do. I finished two books. I had started both of them so it wasn't a big task. I checked my email for messages and had three more birthday greetings.
I made lunch, left over ham from yesterday with cheddar cheese sandwiches. Nothing too earthshaking. For dinner Brian bought two T-bone steaks. I had half a one and he had half a one. We should have just bought one but now we will have omelets tomorrow. I made macaroni and cheese. Enough for about a dozen people. There are some things that you just can't make for two people. I come from a large family. There were seven children. So, when I cook we often have leftovers. Even with only three boys of my own, I still cook some things for lots of people. Vegetable soup is another thing that you can't make small. By the time all the vegetables are in it the pot is full. If you use a small pot, it it overflowing onto the burner. I'm glad some things freeze. Not macaroni and cheese though. I'll give some to my son tomorrow. I should have invited him for supper. But, he was here for Christmas and New Year's and he does have a life of his own.
Other than that and taking care of my dog I didn't do anything.
Tomorrow now, we are going to do something for my birthday. We haven't decided exactly what. I guess we'll just get into the truck and see what happens. I need to remove the Christmas decorations but I can't see the need to hurry. They aren't going anywhere. Brian says I can rearrange the living room after we remove the tree, but he will give constructive advice so it will go back the way it was. Okay, it's not something to fuss about. There was nothing wrong with the way it was before.
I should work at the library tomorrow, but I needed the day off. Everyone needs a day off sometimes. On Friday, I will go and redo the bulletin boards. I need to find some clip art of winter things that I can download to use for a wintertime bulletin board. Oh, I just remembered there is a great book at the library if it isn't checked out. Maybe I will go and check it out myself if it's still there. Then, I can decide what to put on the bulletin boards before I go on Friday. Well, I'm off to find a game to play. More tomorrow or soon

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Herb choices

Category: Herb Garden | Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:10 pm

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I couldn't decide if I should put this under choices or under herbs. I finally decided to use the herbs. I spent hours looking at the garden catalog. Since I have a gift certificate for a specific one I thought I would order herb seeds. That is why I want a greenhouse for my birthday. I finally made a list. It could change. I could order online, but I think I will mail order. In my mind I have a reason for it, but it may not make sense out of my mind. I guess that means I have to think about it some more. So, I will order some seeds and then go to the nursery closer to planting time and buy some plants. I have a huge rosemary bush that Brian says needs cut back so I may dry some. I am not sure why I should dry it when I can just go and cut the fresh but Brian says I should do it anyway. If I get a greenhouse, I may want to try to start a plant from cuttings. I have a book that shows step by step how to do it. I just have no place to do it right now. There is no room in this house for starting plants.
When I start plants now, I put the little pots on a table in a sunny spot. I cover it with clear plastic sheeting and at night I cover that with a tarp. It works, sort of. Not everything comes up and some things get too tall. So, I want a greenhouse that I can put a heater in at night and it will work better I think. Even the plastic kind. It's a heavy plastic called polypropylene.

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