Dec 12

Tis the season! Our Christmas tree lights on our "pine?" tree.

We went to some of the vendors in Rice Ranch and up on the main road in town today. I got some shots of some of the things that were being sold. The horse is a picture for my sister, Jan!

It was windy and cold again today. This morning it was 36 degrees before the sun came up. Frost on the truck window too!!

Since it was so chilly this morning, Carley just had to put on her new coat that my sister, Donna & I made her this summer..

Don't forget to go outside about 2am in the morning and see the giant meteor shower. It is supposed to be a great one. I saw one meteor last night. Also in the East the last couple of night there seems to be a gold star shining. Go take a look!!!

Dec 11

Sure was windy and cool today. Bob went to town to do some Christmas shopping, came home and hadn't bought anything...Darn..


We then went back in and I got a few needed things at the Family Dollar store, paper towels, garbage bags, Christmas paper, garland...Essentials!


During the rest of the day, I knapped a couple of knives, got on the computer, read and now am cooking supper. Swiss steak tonight...


Here's a pic of my new hobby room inside, set up with the bead torch and accessories.















Also, we have 2 new flags! The others were so faded and worn out by being outside for a whole year. The state flag is Wyoming..

Dec 8

We joined a bunch of rock club members this morning at 9am to do the highway cleanup. The club has adopted 2 miles of Hwy 95 and we clean it up 2 times a year. Afterward we all join in for coffee and donuts. 24 people showed up and it took about 45 minutes.

Afterward we stopped at Joanne's and Virgil's to look at the spiral pan they use for finding gold out of dirt they bring back from the desert.

We talked about the tent they have set up by their trailer for doing this so after we left we headed up to K & B tools to see how much one would cost. After we talked to the guy helping us, we ended up getting the parts to put one together. We got home, started assembling it and wound up fighting instead. Bob had different ideas than mine and after a couple hours of this, he finally called Terry to come and save us. We had to make a run back to the place for 4 more poles because the guy forgot to tell us about them. Terry helped us put it all together and here is the result. Thanks Terry... Before and after!

I will do my bead making out in this little room. It will be out of the wind and I can do it anytime of the day now. Now I just need to get the glass ordered, which I will probably do tonight.

This is my Christmas present! Great gift, I think..

Bob wasn't able to go out and prospect because of the all day project. He will have to take all day tomorrow to have to himself.

Well, time to make dinner...We're having pork chops and summer squash I got at the produce market.

Dec 7

Windy day today. We had a few rain sprinkles but mostly just dark clouds. Bob went to get water and get the trailer filled up in case we couldn't get out when the washes were full... Ron warned me yesterday that we could wash away with the rains...
I was outside at 3pm today taking my dog out and I heard the strangest sound. The coyotes SW of us were howling in broad daylight. Are their clocks messed up? Then walking in the wash, I noticed sprouts of weeds ? starting to grow. They are getting moisture somewhere.
Bob came home from town tonight with a sack full of Christmas ornaments, candy canes and lights. Now I can really get into the Christmas and holiday mode.
Bob's son Karl is thinking of buying a drift boat to fish in this next summer. He sent him a bunch of pictures. It looks like a great boat and can't wait to see if he gets it.
Bob has gotten into buying old trade beads from when the traders and Indians basically started trading beads. He found a strand of Russian Blue Cobalts that were traded up and down the west coast and were used by the Hudson Bay co. to trade to Indians for fur pelts.
He has also collected some white heart beads and chevron beads used for the same purpose. Most of these beads are over 200 years old. It is amazing that they have survived this long.

Dec 6

Bob spent the morning at class doing lost wax carving. He created a ring with an elk tooth in it. It looks great and I hope he can cast it in silver.

While he was there, I spent the morning making glass beads outside at the picnic table. It was hard to do with the sun bright as it was and then a breeze came up and I had to stop. I need an enclosed place to make these beads. I did get quite a few done tho.

This afternoon we went to the rock club meeting. During the meeting Bob started feeling ill and spent the rest of the time in the truck. He then came home and headed to bed for about 1 1/2 hrs. After he got up he was feeling somewhat better.

I got a beautiful picture of the sunset once again. This place has such beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

I ran to the grocery store and who would I bump into but Ron and Terry? Then headed over to the post office and they were there too...

I got my Christmas cards mailed out and just have to mail some presents to the family.

We're going to watch Survivor tonight, only a few episodes left...

Dec 3

After fixing breakfast for Bob at 10:30am, I finally got him to go to town about noon. I had to go to the library to take a book back and I picked up a couple from a different author. I checked out Robert Parker - Jessie Stone series. He had a movie on TV the other night called Sea Change. Great movie and hopefully the books will be better. I have been reading some by Lee Child and Jonathan Kellerman. They are mystery novels which I just love.

I don't think I read as many as Ron does, but do read quite a few.

We stopped by this place today. Trudy's Poppin' Johnny Ice Cream, LLC. She makes all her own ice cream. It is made on site and she uses fresh fruit (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches) and also has a special going right now--Pumpkin Pie ice cream. I had some of it today and boy was it delicious. She said she puts the whole pie in there, crust and all. It was truly wonderful. We'll be sending all our friends there this season. So far she has made 80 gallon of ice cream and it's only the 3rd of December. She is located in Rice Ranch---east off of Hwy 95 on the right hand side. Just look for the John Deer Tractor turning the ice cream machines. You will go back again and again.

Bob went prospecting today to find a target he located a few days ago. The weather has kept him from going out. Wind a couple of days and then the heavy rain storm and then more wind. He got home early and brought a new nugget he found. It was 8.4 grains. He found it about 12' uphill from the other nugget he found and about 4" deep. Now he is going to hunt the area really hard and see what else he can pull out of the ground.

The new nugget is on the right of the dime..

Ron came over and worked on my computer for a while. I was having trouble backing up the files, but everything looked ok.

I got 2 items from Terry that he wire wrapped for me. He did a wonderful job on them. He is very talented and does excellent work.

Dec 1

Happy December!!!

Well, now it's time to get into the festive mode!!! For those who want too! The sunrise was pretty with all the clouds over the mountains.

We went to the craft show today at the QIA building. Some new vendors showed up and some of the old ones I was looking for weren't there.
Afterward we went over to a bead store in the Rice Ranch area. Bob has been interested in the old trade beads that were used hundreds of years ago. This shop has a lot of them, so he got a history lesson as well as buying some. The ones he bought were over 200 years old. He's going to string some for a couple of necklaces.


I got some smaller glass beads to incorporate into the beads I am making.


We stopped at a couple other vendors in town also. One place we stopped at was trying to pull his tent back together. With the rain and wind last night and today, he had some cave-ins and his stuff was all over the soaked ground. We decided to get back to that one after he got reconstructed.


There was quite a rain storm last night. Lots of standing water all over town and in the LTVC areas.









I finished my knife I made in knapping. I think it turned out good. Also a picture of some of the beads I made in class yesterday.