Nana makes a scene...and I'm clean!

We went back to the park today (The Colorado River Heritage Park and Trails). We parked in the same RV spot we were in the other day, turned out to be a good spot. We walked the trail a little short of half way down, there was a crew of construction workers (surprised!? haha) tearing out a bunch of brush from the side of the trail the river was on. I guess they want to make it more easy on the eyes. We walked past them and then stood and watched some birds hanging out on a power line.

The thing that made us stop and stare for as long as we did was these weren't regular birds you would see on a power line, they looked like Ducks! We watched as one by one, these birds, Ducks, whatever, would come in for a landing, wobble a little and sit there to chill. It was so weird, we didn't know Ducks could sit on a line like that...how do they grab the line if they have webbed feet?

This guy, who was walking on the path, stopped and told us if we come early in the morning there's like 50 of them. I asked if he knew what they were and he said some kind of crane. Hmmm, okay!? We turned and walked back toward the van. As we were getting situated for morning rituals and work, we saw that same guy walking toward the van, then he would stop and walk back the other way, then toward the van...almost like he was going to come talk to us and then changed his mind. He did this a good 6-7 times and then J' saw him talking to a couple that was walking past him, he pointed something out to them, they stopped took a picture of something and both went separate ways. J' said, "Go over there and see what they were taking pictures of..." Okay. I walked over there and since I didn't see the whole thing go down, I was looking at the van, up in the air, in the mountains. Finally J' came over and said, "He was pointing at the ground." As soon as he said that, we both looked down and Boom! That was definitely something to take a picture of!

[caption id="attachment_2640" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Fast lil guy![/caption]

This little guy was so fast that I stopped trying to take pictures and took a video instead...

(133) Mr. Tarantula by Ayevangabond

After our run-in with the fast lil' spider, J' got started on his work day and I felt quite dirty so I gathered up my stuff and headed for the ladies room. I take all of my stuff in my big bag (I call a purse) along with a gallon jug of water and I'm just a walk away from being clean again. I have really gotten over the whole "showering in public" thing. Sure there are those twinges of, "Oh my gosh, what if people think I'm homeless, what if people stare, or hear me in the stall?" Ya know what...I would rather get a couple stares from complete strangers then feel gross and dirty and feel like I stink...even though I don't...I don't, ask J'!! That's one thing I'm happy about, I do not have that stanky B.O. a lot of people have, thank goodness! So to make it easier than sitting here typing it all out, I did a short video (after my "shower") especially for those ladies that don't know where to start in the whole- I can't take a solar shower and don't have a shower in my rig- thing.  So here is that video...

(137) Showering in Public Places by Ayevangabond

The washing process only takes about 20 minutes, depending on what I have to do but I don't think that's too bad and BAM...I'm clean again! I feel so much better, awww... Time to get some things done! I worked on my blog a little bit, spicing it up a bit, changing the colors and adding some buttons...a little tweak is good here and there. Savannah and I went for a little jaunt in the field of grass. I tried to let her run off a leash, which I rarely do in public settings because she never listens to me, and of course she made me regret it about 10 whole seconds later! She bee-lined it to this construction worker (that was coming from the bathroom, walking in the field, back to his truck) barking with her hackles up, just going to town, circling him and bossing him around. Aye aye aye...how embarrassing! He just stood still and laughed at her while I hooked her back up to her leash...I tried! I don't know how to break her of that plus,  she would have never done that if Daddy were around. So, on the leash she stays with me...lil stinker!

It's starting to get dark now and we're still at the park, so we're going to start wrapping it up. We'll probably just head back down to the casino lots to catch our zzzz's for the night. Just a couple more days until Thanksgiving... is anyone doing anything fun!? Hopefully you'll get to spend time with family, friends or just people that make you happy!

We'll catch on the flip side yo'

(let me know if these videos work, please...thanks)

PEACE

Two very different visitors

Very surprised to wake up today and not be the least bit sore. I guess I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. I definitely need to get my butt in gear on some fitness but walking 9 miles and no sore muscles, I'll take it any day of the week! My babaa' surprised me with something new for my belly for breakfast this morning... a really big Peach. Although it was no Takahashi Fruit Stand Peach, it was still better than that boring oatmeal we have every morning. Thanks babe!

[caption id="attachment_1901" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Peachy Keen[/caption]

I started breaking out too, out of nowhere...not too happy about that, probably just these hormones...oh well. It was such a nice day that we let Nana' out on her tether for the day and of course after hunting for a little bit, she finds the only soft thing in the desert. She's such a funny little spirit!

[caption id="attachment_1902" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What a softy[/caption]

It didn't take her long to find something very interesting though! She kept growling, squeaking, and making noises...I just thought she was trying to get those poor ground squirrels, that like to taunt her. I checked on her a few times looking out into the desert and seeing nothing. The last time I went out to check on what was getting her so excited, I actually got down on her level to see what the hubbub was all about. That's when I yelled to J'..."You have got to come see this, this is freakin' awesome!!" I was ecstatic, you would have thought my head was going to pop off. We were finally getting to witness a Desert Tortoise! He was rad, man!

[caption id="attachment_1903" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Peter the Peace Turtle[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1904" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our lil' buddy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1905" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Face-off[/caption]

I wanted to let Savannah off of her leash, but I thought she might hurt the little fella' so on her tether she stayed, crying and whining..."but Mom!" I took only about a hundred pics of the lil dude, he was just so cool. I only stopped because I thought I might be stressing him out, so away I went and watched from afar as he walked only about 3 feet to stop and eat some vegetation. I finally came in from the heat and looked back out about 20 minutes later and Mr. Peter the Peace Turtle was gone. He was so cool!

The sun was starting to set on our very "cool" but hot day as I heard a truck approaching. I looked out of the window and saw a Ranger truck turning into our site. This would be the infamous Ranger we've been hearing about, that's been on vacation...alright here we go!

 He got out of his truck and walked up to the van, we had our curtains (on the outside) drawn because of how the sun hits us at this time of the day...so I think he was a little leery of us at first. I put Savannah in her crate and we got out to talk to him. He asked us some questions which we answered pretty truthfully and he ran our I.D.'s. We thought we might get the third degree from him, from everything we had heard, but it turns out he wasn't out for blood! We talked to him about our torsion bar snapping and it seemed like he was more ready to get home than anything. He turned out to be a pretty nice guy actually. He even posed for a picture!

[caption id="attachment_1908" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J' & Ranger Nalen[/caption]

Now that the "visit" is out of the way and he knows our situation, we really don't feel rushed to get out of here so it takes a little bit of pressure off of our situation. That's always a nice feeling. Hopefully the torsion bar will be in, in the next day or two and we will be back on the road like it never happened.

Stay tuned for the next adventure, for wherever we go there shall be a handful of them!

PEACE

 

 

 

All the livelong day

J' still had some grinding to do to get the rest of the torsion bar parts off and he just went to town on it until it was done...took him a good part of the morning. Now everything is completely off and ready for the new part, whenever it comes in.

[caption id="attachment_1687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Big Bitch[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1689" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Right side= where it broke[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1686" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The man of the hour[/caption]

 I still wasn't feeling well today but I was feeling the joy of not having to be anywhere else to deal with it. So that was a plus on the day! I made us some burgers for lunch to get rid of the last of the meat before our ice was completely gone. I then made sure to dump my entire plate flat upside down onto the rocks...making Savannah a very happy dog! I was lucky enough to be able to save the burger somewhat so at least I got some food out of it. Like my friend Jim would say, "Those chips would just go straight to your hips anyway!" haha

[caption id="attachment_1690" align="aligncenter" width="300"] You're welcome Nana![/caption]

So you know how, back in Shaver Lake, we were having all of those problems with Yellow Jackets? (Well, if you're not caught up... we were having major problems with them...c'mon catch up!) We were so happy to not have one single Yellow Jacket around us out here. We did have a couple of flies here and there but nothing to bother you too much. All of a sudden in the past few days, these flies have been just as bad if not worse than the Yellow Jackets. See the Y.J's only came out when you were cooking, then they would leave. The flies....they are around all day long. Sure, they don't bite you but they sure do bug the hell out of ya! At this point in the afternoon, it got to be too much to take. After doing some research on easy ways to get rid of them, J' took a walk to the store to get some peroxide. Savannah & I hung out, I pulled the bed down...just not feeling well at all. She watched out the window for her daddy the entire time he was gone and I went back and forth watching for him as well as The Beverly Hillbillies...such a funny show! J' told me I'm a lot like Granny...she's funny as hell so I'll take that as a compliment, haha!

[caption id="attachment_1692" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I love our bed![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1691" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Such a stalker[/caption]

 J' was gone for a couple of hours. It actually started getting dark and he wasn't back yet, so I walked outside to see if I could see him...haha no luck! I can't even see him when it's bright outside, the desert just swallows you up! I went back in to get the flashlight and waved the light around hoping he would see his beacon of light! A couple of minutes went by, I turned it off...took a couple of pictures of the very cool moon and then tried again.

I waved the light back and forth, up and down and waited again. This time I heard my babaa' whistle at me, he sounded close but still pretty far away, I couldn't see him at all! I stood there with the light until he came into camp...all is better now. I can relax, Savannah can relax, he can sit down and relax and tomorrow (please forgive us) we're gonna get those flies!

Mwah-ha-ha

PEACE

Desert Fauna is Dope

"How does your hair feel today?"

"Amazing!"

I'll probably cut some pieces off that are too long and reshape it a bit, but I love it! I love the color. Simple yet Sassy! heehee 

When we went to the store last night, we saw they had Pumpkin Spice creamer. I personally have never tried anything pumpkin in any coffee's or anything, although I LOVE pumpkin pie. I was quite stoked and it turns out...it's delicious.

[caption id="attachment_1532" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Some Spice for my Sugar[/caption]

We had also planned on our homemade Cobb salads, so we were stocked with so many yummy ingredients: Lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, boiled eggs (but we 'forgot' the eggs when we made them), some shredded cheese and J' made homemade breaded chicken...it was delish! It was something refreshing that reminds us of different times...funny how food can do that!

[caption id="attachment_1534" align="aligncenter" width="225"] In the making[/caption]

 It was stupendous! The way J' did the chicken was out of sight...really good!

[caption id="attachment_1535" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Ah![/caption]

After gorging ourselves on salad, we sat and sat and sat. We did stuff but we sat. I had to get up and walk around. Savannah and I headed off down the main road, my foot is starting to feel better and not cramping so much. I thought what a great night for a walk. I started off with Savannah but eventually J' joined us.

As we walked we were talking about all of the things we had seen today and they were much too fast to get pictures...except for one little guy. J' & I both saw a Jack Rabbit today, but while we were alone. Savannah scared, the one I saw, out of her hole and man, was she fast! I didn't know what was going on, looked almost like a small deer! It was super cool!

This is NOT my picture but this is what a Jack Rabbit looks like:

J' also told me on the same walk he was on this morning, that he had seen his first desert lizard, he described it...sounded awesome! He then found a picture of it and showed it to me...okay, I'm jealous! This is what he saw, A Horned Desert Lizard...get a look at this fella!!

(Also NOT my picture)

[caption id="attachment_1538" align="aligncenter" width="212"] Horny lil' fella![/caption]

 We started talking about how cool it would be to see a Desert Tortoise and that's when J' pointed this lil' guy out to me:

(Totally MY picture)

[caption id="attachment_1540" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Tara-ntula[/caption]

When J' went to put his foot next to him, he spit little hairs into his shoe...that's how they protect themselves & warn predators. These Brown Tarantula's can only kill things smaller than them for food. I think it's always good to see things like this where you are camping...but hopefully on walks (where you're not camping). If you don't see it yourself you never fully understand what's out there.

We turned back around a little before we both wanted to, but my leg started to cramp up. Every day there's something new out here to look at, watch or learn about. I hope you're getting a special learning experience as well!

PEACE

 

 

Smiles, Snakes & Sunsets

It's been a moody week of madness around here...haha not really...well maybe the moody part! The weather is definitely changing like I said in the last post. I find myself getting in the van, for the night, a bit earlier each day and also finding myself wearing socks and shoes earlier as well.  We are welcoming the change...only when we aren't taking showers, brrrzies and freezies!! You would think that with the cooler weather these damn yellow jackets would get the hint and skedaddle but nooooooo...they're still here. We were reading on the almighty internet about natural remedies for these lil buggers and read on how they really don't like the smell and acids of cukes (cucumbers). We asked Jenn if she would grab one for us while she was in town, to try it out. We were very impressed the very first time, we cut up a few slices and put them around the kitchen table...poof, they were gone.

I was able to make pasghetti that night with no buzzing, no dodging, no swatting. It was so very very pleasant. Of course overnight the cukes wilted and were eaten by other bugs so that next morning to make breakfast, I cut up some more slices.

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A Nanatini![/caption]

They came around but not as much as usual, so I figured, we may be onto something here. Then I think they may have followed us down to Jenn & Johnny's for dinner that night...talk about Meat Bees!

You can't see them in the pic, but they were everywhere. Meat Bees or not that dinner was some good eatin'! We had gone into Prather earlier that day to pick up a few perishables and just get out for a small amount of time, we got Johnny some wood and nails to make their bench seats and a shovel for us. The guy in the hardware store was easedropping on our shovel convo. and he said, "Now that is the most in-depth comparison shovel conversation I've ever heard." haha We're very passionate about the things we buy. Johnny was able to build a bench for one of the sides, I think it's going to work really well in Wendy.

[caption id="attachment_1024" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The only pic I have of it.[/caption]

Oh and when we went down to Prather, we gave in and finally bought a coffee maker. Yes, just another thing we wish we would have brought but ya live and ya learn! And oh how glorious it was to have fresh ground-from-beans-coffee. It's only been about 3 months for J' but it's been about 10 months for me. We bought just a small pot, because it was cheap and it's just the right size to get us by, but not go overboard on the a.m. drug! (My stomach will thank you)

[caption id="attachment_1025" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hello Old Friend[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1026" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The best part of waking up...[/caption]

During our morning cup-o-joe, we somehow came to a decision that it was time to get some organization going, so we both grabbed a spot and went to town. I did the kitchen and J' did his office. I don't function so well when our space is filled with chaos and disorganization, but it's fixed and all pretty again.

[caption id="attachment_1027" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Captain Coffee![/caption]

Also when we were at the hardware store I asked for some brown paper bags...another natural remedy for the Y.J.'s~ if you ball up a paper bag, the yellow jackets think it's another nest so they won't approach it...I don't know how that works since yellow jackets have their nests in the ground, but it's worth a shot!

[caption id="attachment_1028" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Brown bag, cukes...let's cook![/caption]

I really think they could give a damn about the bag...but it looks cute, so it stays! I think we attract critters, bugs ...all things of nature. The other night J' was going to grab some water out of one of the 'water coolers' outside. (We had to put them outside and take the lids off due to our water getting funktified last time and turning green. We put some bleach in the water this time and maybe just a bit too much because now all of our water tastes like a swimming pool....minus the pee.) As he was about to pour out some water he said, "Whoa, is that poisonous?" Oh dear lord, here we go again! I walked over to the 'water cooler' and there was a teeny snake on the ground beaming with brilliant colors of black, white and red. We put Savannah in the van and started looking 'him' up, we found out (thankfully) that it was just a sweet little Sierra Mountain King Snake. They are not venomous but get confused with the Arizona Coral Snake which is highly venomous and dangerous....they also eat rattlesnakes! J' is trying to tell me the whole, Red into Yellow will kill a fellow, Red into Black a friend to Jack. I just say, "If you see a snake, get outta my wake!"

[caption id="attachment_1029" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Just a bitty little thing[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1030" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cool lil' dude[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1031" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Handsome Fella'[/caption]

From there it's been pretty lame 'round here. I haven't been feeling well due to surfing the crimson wave but it'll get better, just truly unmotivated to do anything but EAT! Nom nom nom. I did get up enough energy to fix our comforter finally... thank goodness that's done. And a big thank you to Jenn for letting me borrow her machine and some awesome fabric! It's really not a hard project but to lay out a massive comforter somewhere where it's not going to get dirty is just hilarious around here, but it's done and I'm happy.

I worked on the comforter most of the morning due to my own malfunctions! After getting done and putting everything away J' and I just talked about everything like we always do. While we were sitting around I saw two of my Blue Jays, they were playing and flying around, having the best time. I just love their colors, they are so magnificent. Here is a close-up of one of them in a nearby tree, kind of blurry but I think it's his butt!

[caption id="attachment_1035" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Butt shot[/caption]

To make the night even better I took Savannah for her nightly potty walk and when I came out from under the tarp I was amazed...the sky, the ground, the trees, the van, Savannah....everything was the coolest shade of pink! The colors were everywhere last night. I just love stuff like that! So here are some cool pics of what I was able to see last night, none of these have been messed with, straight from camera to blog!

What's that saying? "Red Sky at night, Sailors Delight...well whether it goes or not, I'm using it here. How spectacular is that? I know it's probably just pollution but it's still cool, especially up here in the peacefulness of Tai Shan. There are (few) times when I would love to be back in "normal" life but at times like this, those thoughts are a million miles away. I hope you have a great weekend and are doing the things you love and if not I hope you're happy sitting here just reading my blog...hopefully you have something yummy to eat!

[caption id="attachment_1039" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What a lush[/caption]

PEACE

ϟϟ Rattlesnake...it's what's fer dinnerr! ϟϟ

Yesterday was such a nice and different day...very relaxing and refreshing. While we were fartin' around at the lake, we talked about enjoying that rattlesnake pretty soon. Jenn has it in their 'F'-word (Freezer), and we wanted to have it together. We figured we would just have everyone from 'camp' come and try a bit in the next day or so. Everything fell into place to do it tonight, SoulRaven didn't make it but we were sure to save him some. The ladies, Miss Cherry & Jenn, came over with the snake and some yummy veggies.

[caption id="attachment_910" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Making stuff up[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_909" align="aligncenter" width="300"] "Laying it down"[/caption]

We laid the snake meat on aluminum foil and wrapped the veggies in other foil packets, only seasoning them with a small amount of garlic and Bragg's Sea Kelp seasoning.

[caption id="attachment_924" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ♫ This is how we do ♪[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_913" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Looks nekkid[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_920" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Looks interesting, eh!?[/caption]

The meat looks like bony fish meat... piece it together, you got yourself a snake (kinda creepy to look at it like that). haha

I was glad Miss Cherry made it over, she's always so much fun...she even creeped on me! haha

[caption id="attachment_912" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Peeping Cherry![/caption]

We all got a few pieces of the snake along with fresh veggies and Garlic knots that Jenn made...um, yum (even though they weren't cooked all the way...messin' with you Jenn!) Everything was great. They say rattlesnake tastes like chicken, frog legs, quail. I just think it tasted like bony, stringy rattlesnake, ha!

[caption id="attachment_919" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Fearless Foursome![/caption]

It was a fun night to try something different and I think it's always good to try new things, especially with the journey we went on with these snakes, phew.

[caption id="attachment_921" align="aligncenter" width="300"] That's a wrap![/caption]

 PEACE