Project work

January 29 (Monday)

I went to one last class of woodburning today. I got some excellent tips form the instructor on burning gourds and leather, both of which I will try at some point. I also got some tip on my project piece that I finished up today. So here is the first one. Mostly done as a learning piece as it has a lot of lines and various shades of burning. It'll be a few weeks before I get a chance to work on another project piece. Good thing I took notes!

We also did some shopping today. One stop was Del Sol, the Mexican food market. Certainly some unique food items there. We didn't buy any of the meat selections, but I was tempted on a few. I'm sure they're all good with enough ketchup!

Chicken necks and gizards

Beef tripe (stomach) and feet.

Beef lips and cheeks

Beef minguts (intestine) and tongue.

Pigs feet and tails

Pork skin and stomach

Cactus leaves

Now these looked appetizing. Bushels of fresh peppers.

I finished a project a couple of days ago that I have needed for quite a while. I built a windscreen for the Weber barbeque. George gave me the dimensions of his. I stopped at Home Depot and got some 12 x 24 aluminum at a good deal as the sheets were damaged a bit. I hinged them together and I'll eventually get a base added so the barbeque sits on the base to hold the sides of the windscreen from blowing away.

This was the warmest day we've experienced since we arrived in Yuma. 32C (about 90F) and only 5% humidity. The sun is quite intense so it's uncomfortable if you are in the sun, but surprisingly with the wind and sitting in the shade it is just warm.

The sunset today started out good but quickly faded.

Nearly a full moon.

…..and That Was Our View From Here!

Bloggerfest and chores

January 27 & 28 (Saturday and Sunday)

Saturday was Bloggerfest at LaPosa South near Quartzite. It's a great chance to catch up with Bloggers we have met and of course meet new Bloggers. We left Yuma about 11M and drove north up Hwy 95. We must have met 50 or more rigs all heading south. The big RV show in Quartzite was ending and I suspect many of the folks we met were moving on to their next destination and I'm sure many were heading to Imperial Dam area and the BLM lands.

We arrived in LaPosa about noon. I checked in with the Visitor Center to see about camping here next week and ask a few questions about water and dump stations, etc. Then drove around a bit to scout out some possible sites. We came across this sign. They seem like nice friendly folk…..but I think we'll find a different location to park!

The sign says 'Clothing optional area'.

We headed over to the ramada where Bloggerfest was to be held. It was just 1PM and everyone showed up about the same time. Paula from In The Shadows was the hostess. Rick (Its About Time) booked the ramada and set up tables, George (Our AwesomeTravels) arranged the signage. Thanks all for setting up the meeting!

It was so nice to meet the folks and hear their stories. It's interesting that although we all come from different backgrounds we are all tied together with a common love of outdoors, adventure, and travel to new places…..and old favorites. You feel an instant connection with folks you just met. Instant friendship. I hope we get to cross paths with all these fine folks soon and often. Also, you don't have to be a blogger to enjoy the lifestyle we have chosen. One lovely couple from East Texas attended that don't write a blog but their story was interesting and they enjoy the lifestyle just as the other attendees. 

Even though I carried my camera most of the afternoon……you have to actually take the pictures to enable the camera to record it! Dummy! Anyway, others were much better at taking pictures and those in my sidebar blog list will have some great ones.

Mostly backs :-( but from left it's Doug, George, Red, Cheryl

From left Paula, Gaelyn, Rick, Kathy and the second group on the right is Tom, Shirley, Deb (her back) and Ken

Paula getting us going

Gaelyn, Doug, Rick and Kathy

George taking the group photo

Photo is courtesy of George (thanks!)
Front from left: Gaelyn, Paula, Pat, Bill, Yuma, Shirley, Suzie, George
Back from left: Rick, Kathy, Steve, Jane, Deb, Tom, Doug, Ken, Stacie, Bob, Cheryl, me, Kay, Red

Bill's drone taking our picture....

.......of us! (Photo courtesy of Bill)

For some great pictures and links, check out Tom and Deb's blog (Celebrating the Dance) 

Sunday was chore day. We re-arranged some furniture in preparation for our move on Thursday. Floors needed vacuuming, woodwork dusted, bathroom cleaned, deep cycle batteries needed a re-charge, and the fridge needed defrosting. It had been about four months since we defrosted the fridge. You should really never have to do this on an absorption type fridge but we sometimes but hot food in the fridge and that creates moisture that settles on the cooling fins, freezes and over time builds up and needs to be removed to re-establish proper cooling.

Lots of ice from the cooling fins and freezer.

Nice clean fins, ready to cool.

No frost in the freezer now.

and That was Our View From Here!

This n that week

January 21 to January 26 (Sunday to Friday)

Note to self: When you find something you want to buy, buy it! If you wait the item will either be gone, price went up, or the vendor is no longer there. We wanted to buy some metal flowers as gifts. We found some at Arizona Marketplace a few weeks ago but thought we should keep looking and maybe we'd find something nicer and/or cheaper. Since then we have been looking and found none we liked better and of course the original vendor had none left. We had her check and they had some 'back at the warehouse' and would bring them next week. Well after three attempts we finally got the flowers, never did get a deal, and chased around for three weeks and three other markets where this vendor kept promising they would have what we wanted.

With the upcoming Quartzite RV show we had sort of a long shopping list. We dutifully checked the markets and RV supply dealers in Yuma and recorded all their prices. When we did visit Quartzite the prices weren't any better and no new 'wonder' products to be found. We did end up bringing home a bunch of items off our list but didn't save any money and spent a lot of time running around checking items an looking for deals. What a waste of time. Hope I learned my lesson!

So this week were at three of the markets in Yuma. They are very entertaining to watch the people, both vendors and shoppers. Food vendors are good, and the musical entertainment is a bonus. We have really enjoyed these markets the last couple of months. 

I have been looking at a new hobby. Not sure I would be a good wood carver. The knives and chisels are sharp. Not sure I would survive. There is another aspect of woodworking that I saw in action at the woodworking show a few weeks ago. Woodburning is an art form that is used by the carvers, the gourd artists, and as a standalone art form. Things have come a long way since the woodburning kits we had as kids. The Recreation Dept of Yuma has classes for woodworkers and I stopped in on Monday to see about a woodburning lesson. I went Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I may go back on Monday to finish up a project. It's quite a relaxing hobby. Not too sure how running a woodburning kit would work when boondocking, but they only output 45 watts at 2 volts so I doubt it draws much power. I might purchase a kit. We'll see. (Note to self: re-read the first paragraph of this post!!)

Tuesday we decided to give the Quartzite RV Show a look. We figured the crowds would be down a bit. We left Yuma at 7AM and were parked by the big tent at 8:15. We managed to get a parking spot real close to one of the tent entrances, ready to go when the gates opened at 9AM. The tent is 69,000 square feet of people and products. Outside are dozens, maybe hundreds of RV's for sale, and beyond the main show area is another dozen or so acres of vendor after vendor. Overwhelming for a newbie? Oh yeah! Did we buy anything? Oh yeah! Lots of stuff we didn't know we needed, plus a couple of things we did know we needed. I made four trips to the truck with our booty. Good deals? Probably not! It was interesting for sure and we'd go back another year, but once a year is enough for us. We are heading up to stay at LaPosa South on Feb 1 and it will be interesting to see Quartzite post-show. There is lots to see and do in the area and we are looking forward to spending two weeks in the area.

The balloons outside the big tent.

This is a single cylinder John Deere power unit driving an ice cream maker. Very interesting.

By far the busiest corner of the show. The bar!

The famous 'Beer Belly's Adult Day Care'. By the looks of some of the patrons I sure hope they had a ride home.

Acres of vendors

Thursday was Jazz night at the Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight was the Yuma Jazz Society Quintet and guest singer Jennifer Wayman. They were very good. I haven't enjoyed jazz music as much as the last three Thursdays. We will miss these 'date nights', and the price was right…..free!  As we did last week we found a good spot, set up our lawn chairs, then walked over to Wild Wings for a beer and burger. A very fun night.

Jazz night at the Yuma Palms. What a great venue.

The gal singing, Jennifer Wayman is VERY good. The Jazz quintet is top notch.

So that's about it. We've been busy with shopping, working on the trailer a bit, and other chores like laundry. After two months parked we are getting ready to make a move next week. 

We love our Verizon JetPack, but at 15GB in the month the speed drops of significantly. Pictures download at a rate of about one every ten seconds at the beginning of a billing cycle, but after the 15GB limit is reached it takes about two minutes per picture (6MB files). This is supposed to be an unlimited data plan, which it is, but with such slow upload speeds it is a 'read-only' data plan once 15GB is reached in a billing cycle. I'm on a new cycle as of today, so the blog finally gets updated.

The sunsets this week were again wonderful. Here was Wednesday night......

Using sunset mode on my camera

using ISO 400, F8, normal mode

One thing I have learned about the sunsets here is not to give up on them. Just when you think they are done the sun illuminates the clouds in another colorful display. It seems to take a full hour for the sun to finish its decent.

Here is a couple from Thursday night at the Jazz concert from my cellphone....

....and that was Our View From Here!.......

We went to a War

January 20 (Saturday)

When we visited the Yuma Visitor Center a few weeks ago they recommended we come back for the Civil War Re-enactment weekend at the Colorado River State Historic Park. So Saturday, having never seen an event like this before we headed down to see what this was all about. It was cool and windy and that fact seemed to reduce the crowds, but certainly didn't seem to effect the enthusiasm of the participants.

The Union north and Confederate south were staged in their encampments at opposite ends of the field in the Historic Park. Visitors were welcome to visit the camps and the 'actors' would describe (sometimes in the first person) about the artifacts or the battles they were 'involved' in. Quite entertaining.

The Confederate camp on the hill

The Union camp

Tools of the trade at the ready

Union discussing strategy, or....

.....making lunch

Union soldier 'at ease'.

Union camp, cooking a huge rib roast on the fire.

Union Repeating Rifle  c.1860. The pre-gatling gun. Roughly 50 caliber.

The business end of the repeating rifle.

Artifacts of the battlefield. The gentleman below took the time to explain each piece to us.

The bugler. This guy really knew his stuff. he explained the bugler had nearly 200 different tunes to play. Each meaning something different. This was an effective communication tool on the battlefield as it could be heard a long distance. This guy played several tunes later in the battle including the best rendition of Taps I have heard on a bugle.

Why, it Ulysses S Grant himself!

Union soldiers practicing being casualties. Practice makes perfect!

The Confederate camp......

Camp on the hill

The big guns are ready.

Unfortunately they did not fire this gun, at least not when we were there.

You are not going to have a good day if this thing is pointed your way!

Scary!

Aiming mechanism

Twenty pounder ready for action.

Confederate soldier ready for battle.

The Confederate soldiers practicing their 'wounded' poses.

Discussing strategy

They had a Minstrel Show of talented musicians. They told us that during the Civil War both sides would have the same show come to perform for their troops. The travelling minstrels would perform for the North, then cross the battlefield and perform for the South. Bob Hope never pulled that off!

After the entertainment the two sides got down to the business at hand. The two sides lined up across from one another and commenced to shoot the hell out of each other. The cannon fire was fun. Both sides had twenty pounders firing at each other. The Confederates had some homemade cannons of about an inch and a half caliber. Very impressive. Lots of noise and smoke.

The Union (Yankees) getting ready

The Confederates (Rebels) getting ready

Must have had a button undone! Doing pushups.

Opening ceremonies. A few songs and a prayer.

Confederate Band

Commence fire!

A few fallen Rebels

A few fallen Yankees

The Rebels on the offensive

When the 'battle' was over the South chased the North back into retreat. The dead and wounded got back up and both sides went back to their camps while the crowd went to listen to an address by President Lincoln. A recreation of the Gettysburg Address.

The Rebs chasing the damn Yankees in retreat!

Time for the dead and wounded to rise again to fight another day.

The Confederate soldiers explaining life as a soldier to the crowd.

Soldier explaining the workings of his Springfield rifle 

Abe Lincoln himself addresses the crowd. He was a very good Lincoln.

These re-enactors are a passionate bunch and love to talk about the Civil War, the lives of the soldiers and the artifacts of the war. They travel all over the US to Civil War events. They come from all ages and backgrounds and walks of life.

The sunset from Friday night was a dandy. Saturday night not so much. So here is Friday.......and Our View From Here.....