Jan 28 2008

Well, today Bob and I went to work at the check in station. The day started out nice, calm and sunny. By mid morning the wind had come up and blew all day. One guy stopped in to try to find some people (he was on his bicycle). He said the wind was blowing so hard that it just stopped him in place and held him up. He couldn't go anywhere. Now that is WINDY!
We only had 13 to check in, very slow day. We watched RV's leave all day long. They are leaving as soon as the Big Tent RV show is over. Now we don't have neighbors back to back.
After work, I had Bob take me up to the Super 8 motel. He wants me to get a higher paying job than the volunteer job I'm working at. I picked up an application and will take it to them on Wed. when I have off.
I came home and made Shepherds pie for dinner. Sure was good and today we will have leftovers for lunch.
It's starting to get nice and sunny out and supposed to be calm today. Hope the weather forecaster is right.
Might write more tonight after work.

Jan 26, 2008

I haven't been posting too much lately. We've been working at the check in station and while doing that, nothing exciting happens in our lives.

One day last week we checked in 149 people, all for a short time (14 day) permit. Larry and Phyllis were kind enough to help us.

Bob got some new tires on his truck. We went to Blythe and got them at Valley Tire. It only took about an hour to get them all on. While Bob was getting that taken care of I walked over to Starbucks coffee shop and got a couple of lattes. My sister, Donna, gave us a gift certificate for Starbucks for Christmas and I'm still loving it.

Here's the new tires on the truck.

Also some pics of palm trees.

I started taking another beading class. I'm making a 3 D hummingbird out of seed beads. It is difficult to do, too. There is one vendor that is selling them for $250.00 each. It will take several classes to finish this project.

Bob and I went to Beaudry's RV yesterday and had the free lunch that they were having. They are only going to have it 2 times this year instead of 4. It was good, we had BBQ chicken sandwiches, macaroni salad, baked beans and cookies.

Bob then came home and took a nap and I went to the water site and got water and filled up the trailer.

Bob got some more trade beads yesterday at the pow wow. Some he got were made in the 1700's.

This morning about 6:30am I headed to town to do laundry. I like going at that time and miss the crowds. Now, I just have to let it dry on the clothes line outside. And today, the wind isn't blowing so it will take longer.

We had some terrible news the other day. Jim Canody, who had been down here for several years and last year worked at the check in station with me, Phyllis and Larry, had gone back to Alaska in Nov. to be with his family. He was diagnosed with cancer and last Monday passed away. I am going to miss him greatly. He was a wonderful friend. Jim will always be remembered as a truly caring person.

The big tent

Just a few pics tonight of my walk to the Big Tent opening.




The little yellow car looked like it would be fun to drive.
How about an inflatable hot tub? It stores in a bag and can be taken anywhere you travel!
Some of the trailers and motor homes on my way to the Big Tent.
Last picture is a motor home with a fold down big screen TV on the outside of the RV. How cool is that?

I brought home some reading material for Bob to look at tonight. And picked up a few free items. The one I liked the best was a free aerosol can of pancake batter. It's called Organic Batter Blaster. It comes in an 18 oz aerosol can. How can you top that? Just hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Bob and I are going back on Monday since the check in station is closed. Maybe he will find some new things too.
I did get a jar opener at one vendor and come to find out they were promoting nude recreation. The guy asked me if I wanted to learn more about skinny dipping. I politely declined.
I won't go back to that place!
I'll get some more pictures on Monday and post again.

Jan 18. 2008

Here's a picture of the Famous BLM Ranger Clyde. He is working on putting a carbon monoxide device in the check in station.

2nd pic is of a Quartzsite Police car sitting outside the courthouse. Didn't know they came in these wild colors!!

This week has been very busy and I haven't been keeping up on my posts.

We worked at the check in station on Mon and Tues. This week the number of check ins ranged from 30 to 150 per day. Bob and I worked again today and checked in 120. Thom and Judy and Phyllis and Larry worked with us. We worked well together. Pic of Larry and Phyllis!!!

On Wed. I went to the concert of the New Christy Minstrels. They were popular back in the 60's and 70's and are still going strong. I was able to get all their autographs after the show and shake their hands.\ Here is a picture of the mayor and Dianne Abbott on stage with them. I talked with Dianne and she said it was hard to negotiate a contract with them. They wanted to sell tickets at $17.50 each but she fought it and said it was a retirement community and they couldn't pay the higher price. After negotiations, she got them to bring it down to $10.00 per ticket. I talked to Randy Sparks ( head of the New Christy Minstrels) and he said he hopes to come back next year for 2 days instead of one. They were a great group and put on a wonderful performance. But they were still older than me!!! ha ha

Wed. during the afternoon, I attended the Rock club meeting. It was important that I go, I had to cast a vote for Terry to be voted in as a trustee. HE WON! He has the term for 3 years. Congrats Terry===You will do a great job~!!!!

Yesterday (Thurs) I was able to show Judy and her friend Misty how to make wire wrap trees. They were great students and did a wonderful job. The town is becoming so busy. This will last only about 2-3 weeks and then everyone will disappear until next year at this time.

I am watching an MP3 player on ebay. I have some CD's that I want to put on one. Ron said he would be able to help me with it if I win the auction. My sister, Donna, has helped me to pick out one. Since I thought Sony Walkman was still just a radio with a cassette player,,,this is a big adventure for me...Just hope I can operate it when I get the tunes downloaded. My sis told me to get with the times and not stay back in the 70's...Guess I'd better take the advice.

Here's a picture of a roadrunner I captured while working today. I need to get together with Judy and find out how to make this bird bigger. I couldn't figure it out tonight.

Jan 13, 2008

On Saturday Bob and I went to the Bad Boys Cafe at Rice Ranch for biscuits and gravy. This will be a short post because it is all related to pets.

These pets are inside the outside cafe.

Wilbor and Hambone, the pigs..

There were a few of the dogs and puppies that people were walking with thru the vendors. The one guy was walking his dog in the stroller. We see everything down here. Some people even have the baby carriers strapped to the front of themselves.

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Jan 11, 2008

While Bob is outside tending the fire, I will post tonight.

I went to the post office today and there was no line. I walked in the door and immediately the girl behind the counter said,"I can help you here." That is the first time that has happened. With more and more people coming into town, I thought I would be there a long time.

Bob changed the oil in the generator and put some Sta-Bil in it. We then went and got some things in town and I walked home from there. He went out prospecting. I took a couple pictures that I will now share with you.

Picture 1 is of some carved bears a guy does with his chainsaw. He does good work.

Picture 2 is the overview of the vendors at Tyson Wells area. You can see the big tent in the background that will be busy starting the 19th of Jan.

Picture 3---What happened to this guy? He looks a little grey around the gills. Thankfully he is just a prop.

Picture 4--I found this little go cart on my way home today. Some guy walked up to me when I was taking the picture and said it is electric. Wouldn't that be fun to take out in the desert?

Jan 10, 2008

I spent the morning making Iris Folded cards. Bob headed to town, dropped the truck off for an oil change and then went to Wax carving class. He has been working on a ring and hopefully will be finished with it by the time we leave here. He still has to do some more on it before it will be ready to cast in silver.

He came home and then picked me up to go to lunch. La Casa del Rosa is where we ended up. We have had good food and service in the past, but today...different scene. They were extremely busy and we had ordered hot beef sandwiches. The meal came and the beef was so tough we couldn't chew it. Bob talked to the cashier about it and she just said "We're to busy to do anything about it." She didn't charge him for the meal.

We then headed over to Sweet Darleen's for lunch. The special was Hot beef but we passed on that. We ordered Reuben sandwiches and they were very tasty!

I don't think we will go back to La Casa...

Bob then went home and made out bills. I took the truck and cruised the vendor tents. I was looking for a portable CD player but didn't find one yet. Got some great pictures tho.

These pictures ---If you need SILVER ware, here's your table. I couldn't believe the amount of flatware. Next, If you need a good pair of used cowboy boots, here's your vendor on main street. 3rd pic,,,lots of foxes, coyotes, and any kind of wild hide you would ever want. Last picture--Now how would I get a John Deere tractor home? Anything is available here...Name it and you can find it...

Stay tuned for more pictures in the next few weeks...

Jan 9, 2008

The morning started out with a beautiful pink sunrise. I usually don't like pink but in sunrises it is great.

As I was walking thru the vendor displays in Rice Ranch today, I came upon this beautiful motorcycle. The vendor was detailing motorcycles. He was talking to some bikers and telling them to bring their bikes over and he would detail them right there.

This vendor has barrels for sale. You might need one for dumping your grey and black water or hauling water. He has a couple different sizes and buckets also.

This next vendor was selling handmade wood products. Bet he won't sell too many to full timers as we don't have room to put these. The items were beautiful tho.

I made a couple of glass bead necklaces last night. They turned out great and I have already sent one off in the mail to my friend, Jane Baldwin, in Casper WY.

Better make more tonight. I love doing it and get great results.

Jan 8, 2008

We spent the last 2 days working at the BLM check in station. 9 checked in Monday and 13 today. We were glad we had some people to talk to. Ron came by and visited yesterday and today. Judy also stopped for a bit today.

On Sunday we also went to Tyson Wells and I got a few pictures when I went to pick up my Manzanita roots that I didn't post. This will be a short post tonight as we are both tired from working today.

The 1st picture is iron art that is cut with a torch. He does beautiful work and prices are reasonable. 2nd picture,,,bunches of animals. 3rd picture--Want to buy a giraffe??

This last picture was taken Sunday, the wind was blowing as you can see by the snow goose flying. But in the clouds there was a sun dog...It didn't come out in the picture but it was pretty cool to see.

Jan 6, 2008

We had to do the dreaded dumping of the trailer today and get some water. We also ran into town and washed clothes. I did bring them home today and we think we finally got the clothesline so it won't blow down. Boy is that ever frustrating to have the line blow down with wet clothes on it.

After that, a trip to take a picture of the big tent being set up.

I also got some manzanita roots for my wire tree bases. Here is a picture of a Manzanita tree.

The description says it is native of California, but the roots I got today were from Wisconsin.

At the end of the evening, the sunset was a golden ball descending over the horizon. It was beautiful!

I gave Bob a haircut in the wind tonight. It had been 3 months since he has had one. Sure cut off a lot of hair.

Jan 4

Bob and I spent a good part of the day walking around visiting vendors. It seems like in the past few days they just popped out of nowhere. Bob found some padre trading beads from a guy from Africa. The price was good and he will go and get more later. Here's Bob's new girlfriend he found while strolling around the vendors. Next picture is tables and tables of glassware. Makes me wonder how they pack and travel from show to show...

I filled my 1 gallon propane tank today. I was making beads last night and ran out of propane. Stopped me from making beads! I will get back to it tonight.

We're supposed to get some rain this weekend. Today was overcast but very warm...probably got up to 65 degrees.

Jan 2, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! !
The new year came in and it hadn't changed from last year...I was in bed reading and Bob was out watching TV and we didn't even celebrate the new year.
The day before on Dec. 31st, we went to Mexico with George Eppler, who is parked next to us. We got some Rx's, I got a new purse and bracelet that a guy made for me... He weaved my name into the bracelet in about 4 minutes. We had lunch down there, as you can see by the previous posts. Bob got sick on New years day and most of the night. Might have gotten some bad food. George and I didn't have any problems tho.
I sure wished Shannon, George's girlfriend, could have been down there with us, we would have had so much fun... Maybe next time...
Bob was down almost all day today...He finally got out of bed this afternoon and went out about 3pm... He walked around and looked at prospecting places. George and him are going out tomorrow to check on a spot that George found today.. He found a target and needs to finish checking it out.

I got some crushed glass from Thompson Enamels today and spent the evening making glass beads. I made some beads to make a necklace for my friend, Jane Baldwin, who lives in Casper WYO...I talked to her today , it had been a while since I had done that. I hope to be able to visit her when I get to WYO this summer. I met her back in 1979,,,gosh 29 years ago... Nice to have a friend that long...
George is going to get some solar panels put on his 5er tomorrow. During that time, Bob and him will probably be prospecting.