http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=4316350785635987648 Cave Dwellings: July 2011
Cave Dwellings

Buckhorn Creek, Lake O' The Pines, Jefferson, TX

Saturday, July 30, 2011

A Wealth of Yukon Gold….

   This last Spring we planted a garden as usual..8 tomato plants, some carrots, lettuce, spinach, green peppers, jalapeno peppers and ….Yukon Gold potatoes…For some reason, either the excessive rain early in the season or the excessive heat just lately, most of our garden was a bust…The pepper plants looked like they had been grown in Barbie and Ken’s garden.  The lettuce was virtually non-existent and we had about 20 carrots,not even enough to make Bugs Bunny 2 meals….

100_0441

You see before you one of the 3 green peppers that actually survived…barely…So much for using some on our shish kabobs tomorrow!..PATHETIC.

 

 

Our tomato plants are only about 3 feet tall, but they do have some green tomatoes on them, so we are in hopes for some good fresh tomatoes soon.  I usually put up some salsa and spaghetti sauce in the freezer, but this year looks like a sauceless year….

 

HOWEVER…. Our Yukon Gold potatoes are thriving….THANK YOU TO THE POTATO GODS, WHO OBVIOUSLY STEPPED IN TO SAVE US FROM A GARDEN FAMIN…(OK, I tended to exaggerate a little bit just then)

100_0452

TRA DA!!! …AND THERE ARE TONS OF THEM JUST LIKE THIS ONE..YEA!!!!

Today was a nice sunny day  here. I went outside and took my camera for a few shots in our yard.  I did some weeding too, but was much more involved in the photo taking…(We still  have issues with our camera…as I have said, McGuyver is still researching..Annoyed100_0435100_0438100_0443100_0445

I know that there are some of you out there that yawn over the flora and fauna photos.…Not everyone was a botany/biology major, and if you just nodded off I totally “get it”….Some of us are nature freaks, some people watchers,and some just want us to ditch the photos and get on with the story….Sorry about that, though…I do love a great photo!!

100_0447100_0449

The little shack on the right was suppose to belong to a nice young Wren couple, but they apparently didn’t care for the looks of this place, (a bar??) and refused to sign a lease….I’m thinking some low class Sparrows might find it intriguing, but the funny thing is….they can’ t get their large arses in the door hole!!  Maybe we could paint it next Spring , lower the payments and lease it as a “fixer upper”……

Well, that’s about it for my burst of creativity for today…Not much going on around the Cave Dwellings…Tonight is “date night”, and my date of almost 42 years is springing for a “Happy Hour” at the local Moose Lodge, followed by one of the gourmet pizzas at our local Pizza Hut…Make ours a “carry-out”, please…I like to eat my pizza in my jammies…

“All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.

Casey Stengel

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

“It was down in Louisiana….just about a mile from Texarkana ”…

First of all, an update on my recovery from foot surgery…Putting it bluntly, my right foot hurts worse now than it did before the surgery…This is not the outcome I had hoped for.  Trying to be patient, I began to do some light walking in the mornings..and THAT did not go well…Both times I tried it, I had to cut my trip short and gimp back home like Chester of “Gunsmoke”..(OK, I KNOW I lost some of the youngsters right there.)…Also, my GOOD foot is giving me fits.  Probably due to me putting more strain on it while favoring my right foot…Right next to my little toe  on my GOOD foot, it looks like my foot blew up….and that now hurts too…I am starting more PT tomorrow…I’ll be seeing my therapist, Mike , that I saw before..(that would be physical therapist….I  could use a mental one too, at this point). I’ll just be Mike can hardly wait to get his hands on this old lady’s knarly feet againSurprised smile

 

OK , enough about my paws….You may have noticed that I am again cheating and using some older photos for my blog…To add to my traumas, our Kodak digital camera has decided to act up.  It could be because it is 5 years old and has been constantly in use, but for some reason it quit “toggling” , which allowed  me to check my photos….Just sayin’, if your toggle doesn’t work, you may as well just throw in the towel…McGuyver has been online researching new cameras, which means we MAY have a new camera by Christmas…Den’s theory is this..You can never spend too much time in the planning stages….Alllllll righty then.

I dug up some photos of another of our yearly stopping off spots for our winter trip, Wright Patman Lake, Clear Springs campground at Texarkana, TX…

100_1026100_1033

This place is located in the Northeastern corner of Texas, and is known as the Arklatex, combing Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana….You can easily drive into all three states in about 1 hour or less. The above photos were taken at the upper campground area, overlooking the lake..These sights are “first come first serve”…

 

Left is a photo of when we stayed in the lower campground one Spring…Notice how close the lake is to us This is not where is usually is…It gradually crept closer due to flooding and they finally moved everyone out as it flooded.

 

 

 

 

Above photos were taken after we had to move up away from the low lake…A day after we moved, the lake ate up our campsite we had moved out of….

 

The Wisteria is beautiful there in the Springtime…We usually stop on the way down for a few days, and again on the way back in the Spring…The sites are very big and the upper sites are pretty easy to come by in the fall, but you better make some reservations if you stop in the month of March…All of the local Texan/Louisianans/Arkansans(is that a word?) show up over Spring break and the place is PACKED with families, fishing boats, smokers, kids, animals,bikes, toys, radios….and the smell of outdoor cooking at all hours of the day…We have spent a few Easters there…Don’t get me wrong, we don’t mind the local campers.   It is, after all, their local campground…and almost ALL of the natives are fisherman…

 

 

That there in this photo are some mighty fine baby back ribs smoking over the open fire, where we were high and dry from the lake…

After about an hour or so in the foil, we take the ribs out and put them back on the grates to brown them up and lather them up with BBQ sauce…..I gotta say, the Cave Dwellers eat pretty darn good at their campsite…

We really love this place…AND…if you are 62 or older and have the “golden age” card, camping is 1/2 price, which amounts to $9.00 a night…We can’t stay home and pay the heat bill for that price!!  I actually believe that we could close up our home here for one year and live in the Hiker on the road CHEAPER than living here…even with paying our bills on the ‘ol stix and brix…I really do!

Well, the weather here has turned tropical again, with the humidity hanging in the air like a wet curtain you have to walk through…As I sit here in our kitchen, there is a good South breeze coming in the windows…and it is almost cocktail hour…Thanks for tuning in and AGAIN reliving one of the “Cave’s Favs” for camping…Beware!!!!If my camera doesn’t get fixed soon, I may revisit a few more memories…Fingers crossed

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Memories of the “Dark Head”..Arizona

  McGuyver and I spent January and February of 2010 in Southwestern Arizona, near a lovely little town called Ajo .  Thanks to Al and Kelly of the Bayfield Bunch, we had a great stay at a lovely spot called Hickiwan Trails RV Park, about 12 miles South of Ajo.  Thanks again, you two, for pointing us toward what still remains one of our very favorite all time camping spots.

In this area of Arizona, you are basically in between the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range and the  Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Range.   We took the opportunity to explore part of the Cabeza one day..I need to say here that exploring this place cannot be done in only one day, nor one week, nor one month…It is an area that is one third again larger than Rhode Island, with zero population, and the 3rd largest NWR in the lower 48, sharing 56 continuous miles of it’s border with Mexico.

A little history lesson here, so bear with me cause teaching is NOT one of my strong points, as you will discover…The words cabeza prieta mean “dark head” in Spanish.  This refers to the lava topped granite peak in the Western corner of the refuge.    A road called the El Camino del Diablo , (Devil’s Highway) ,crosses the refuge, going from Caborca, Mexico to California. The road was named Devil’s Hwy due to the fact that so many travelers lost their lives traveling this road on their way to search for gold in California.

It is the same road that Jesuit Padre Eusebio Fransisco Kino pioneered in 1699-1701.  Rich Copper deposits that were eventually discovered paved the way for the Copper mines of Ajo to open in 1916.Left is a photo of the “over burden” that remains from the now closed New Cornelia Open Pit Copper mine…note the colors..This mine was closed when we were there, but there were rumors that it might re-open, due to the price of Copper.

We drove by this every time we went the 12 miles from our campground into the town of Ajo.

 

 

Ok, enough history….Dennis and I wanted to see some of the NWR, so we got our permit (which is free and good for one year), and decided to head out to a place called Charlie Bell Pass.  Let me just say that you enter this road on the North edge of Ajo from a residential area…After about 4 miles, the road turns to gravel as you approach the entrance to the Cabeza, and it is a 12 mile drive to get to the trail head, then another 1 1/2 mile rugged walk to the bottom of the pass.  The 12 mile drive took us 2 hours, slowing to about 5- 10 mph,.  You have to call the NWR office when you enter the Cabeza so they know when you do enter..Did I mention that there is NO CELL PHONE SERVICE  if you run into trouble??..YIKES!

Here are some photos of the road  “wash” we maneuvered through on our way…The GMC developed a serious case of Arizona “pinstripping/road rash” on this adventure.

The cactus in the right photo above made me laugh..Looks like he has his hands on his hips like “What? More Gringos?”

…..We never saw a soul, unless you count the very rude Cactus I described above…We were truly on our own in the middle of nowhere.  You are allowed to dry camp there, but that idea really doesn’t appeal to us…and with the current illegal drug problem, you won’t find McGuyver and I camping there anytime soon.  We were told that a 2 wheel drive vehicle could make this drive..I SERIOUSLY DOUBT IT!!

  We got to the trailhead ( I was beginning to wonder if we ever would)…and after surveying the beauty of the pass, we headed down the trail to the bottom..We had heard that there were some Native American petroglyphs at the bottom and I was chomping at the bit to see them.

I stayed close behind my trusted scout, McTonto….Can you believe he actually turned around and said to me, “Don’t fall and break a leg..there is no way to call for help”…NO KIDDING!!  I can always count on Dennis to make me feel more relaxed about our many experiences…NOT!

After some fancy footwork, we reached the bottom, which is where the windmill was located…There isn’t much information on exactly who Charlie Bell was, except to say he was a rancher and the path down was at one time a cattle trail,  hence the windmill and well for the cattle’s water…The cattle and rancher are long since gone…more ghosts for me to imagine as we enter unknown territory.

By now, we both spotted the petroglyphs we had heard so much about…and I was doing my “channeling history” dance all around Dennis…(No, you will never see that  dance performed in public).

100_4647100_4642100_4641

 

Obviously, I was so excited that I cut off McGuyver’s head in his photo…Just touching this rock was enough to make me giddy…and, as I said..we were the only peeps within miles…Kinda scary,  but as it should be…silent and magical.  If  only those rocks could talk…No one seems quite sure which tribe of Native Americans created these, but possibly the Hohokams, when they camped here near the watering hole hundreds of years ago.

Dennis decided we had better hike back up to the truck , but he almost had to pull me away from this piece of ancient history…I think what made me decide to finally head back up the trail was when Dennis said, ”Wouldn’t it be awful if we got to the top and our GMC was gone?”…WHAAAAAAT?????? Suddenly I was virtually running back up the trail, muttering silent prayers to the Desert Gods for our truck to puuuuullease still be there!…and it was!…Whew!..I could have throttled McTonto for giving me yet one more thing to worry about…Some men just don’t know when to  keep certain upsetting ideas to themselves!!

100_4653

 

 

IT WAS A GOOD THING MCGUYVER HAD LONG ENOUGH ARMS TO TAKE OUR PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PASS…A COUPLE OF COOL BOTTLES OF WATER AND WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK ALONG THE “ROAD” BACK.

 

 

 

 

100_4659

We were lucky enough to spot some rarely seen Desert Pronghorn Antelope on our way back down the long and bumpy road  path back 1 1/2 hours (12 miles) to civilization…

We will NEVER forget that wonderful and memorable trip into the Cabeza Prieta NWR, and I highly recommend this trip…but only attempt it in a 4 wheel drive unless you want to leave your driveshaft in the desert and camp under the stars in your car till the Rangers come get ya.

OUR SPOT AT HICKIWAN TRAILS RV PARK..JUST ABOUT AS MUCH CIVILATION AS WE WANTED…

NOT TOOOOOO MUCH, BUT JUST ENOUGH…LOVED IT!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

My Blogs????Purely for giggle and grins.

  I just got through reading  Laurie and Odel's blog and it really re-inforced my intentions of why I began a blog…

When Dennis created this blog for us, I had already kept many journals …some of our RV travels , and some of just LIFE.  I printed a couple for our 3 kids and gave them as gifts… Writing for me has become a great joy, ever since I was involved in our High School newspaper as an editor.  I LOVE poetry, both reading it and writing it.  I love reading books ( paper books for me, please), and often got so involved in a novel , (usually one of those “steamy” ones), that I neglected my schoolwork (NO, REALLY..ME?)…Then,  I took a class in Creative Writing in college, and I  suddenly found myself  hooked on putting my thoughts and humor into writing… Soooo…the blog idea appealed to me as an outlet for my love of satire, humor and sometimes questionable joking.  Trust me, I can get serious,  NO, REALLY!!…but not often…and I do enjoy blogging…The key word here is “enjoy”.  At first I tried to keep up a daily blog, but after a year,  it became too much like a homework assignment (you are so right, Laurie), and I found myself trying too hard to dredge up humorous travel tales….waaaay too hard. 

About a year ago, I decided to cut my blogging down to every other day.  I did that for a while, but still found it to be more like a “job” than a “joy”…and my heart wasn’t in it… I think that’s when I realized that I should just go with my spontaneous insanity , which can be very bazaar at times…  Sooooo….now I only plop my fanny on the computer chair to blog when I  have a quirky spin on something that happened, or I am feeling the creative need to give someone a laugh, a small smile or a giggle… However, I really do prefer it to be a snot nosed teary eyed , snorting, “ ugly face” laugh..those are MY personal favorites….and if and when this blogging stuff starts becoming a “ball and chain”..I’m making a jailbreak!!

100_0431

 

100_0428100_0430

Some of Mother Nature’s creations in our backyard in the hot South sun are thriving in this 99 degree heat…These Hibiscus have gotta be the most gutsy flowers I have EVER seen, not counting a cactus flower…Just look at that pert smile, all colorful and giddy with heat..All this while I am stripped down to as little clothing as possible without getting arrested, sitting on the front porch, with 3 fans blowing on me…

 

100_6684

 

 

 

I AM HOPING THIS EAGLE DANCER HANGING ON OUR WALL IS ALSO INCLUDING A RAINDANCE IN HIS CHOREOGRAPHY!!!!HEY, MAYBE I’LL TRY DRUMMING UP A  RAINDANCE OF MY OWN LATER..MAYBE AFTER A SIP OF RUM AND COKEMug…AND MAYBE WITH NO CAMERAS ANYWHERE NEAR.Just kidding

 

 

 

 

 

…Speaking of my very lame and often politically incorrect humor, I have been know to don a few costumes….

scan0014 

I dressed up on St.Patty’s Day when I worked at the travel agency in the 1980’s…Luckily, my boss was Den’s cousin and she had the same sick sense of humor I did..

Don’t laugh ,those are my real ears..Nyah-Nyah

  

scan0017scan0018

I ALSO DRESSED UP FOR HALLOWEEN…LOTS!!..(ME AS A CLOWN…AND…“THE GRIM REAPER”)….I have a few more  costume photos I need to dig up just for old times sake….

BUT HEY!!….ALL OF THIS NUTSY NEED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO MYSELF, I CAME BY IT QUITE HONESTLY…..

scan0016

THIS WOULD BE MY DAD….AND YES, THAT BEER IS A MEISTER BRAU..HOW MANY REMEMBER THOSE?? I THOUGHT NOT.

SO, HERE’S TO YOU , DAD…AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS APPLE FELL REALLY CLOSE TO THE TREE!!!

THANKS TO YOU, DADDY…IT’S IN THE GENE  POOL!