Exploring the Desert

So nice to have a guy who enjoys the exploring as much as I do.  We had a couple of days off together, so each day we'd get on the computers and figure out what part of the state we were going to conquer.
On this particular day, we went north thru Kingman toward Meadview. We live in the 5th largest county in the U.S., so the two hour drive to Meadview covered a lot of territory.  We were still in the same county!!

In Meadview, there was a mine called the King Tut.  It was a HUGE placer mine, it was situated in the mountains that border Lake Mead.  We read about it in one of my history books, and hoped to find it up there. We got close, but then learned the old mine is on private property and the signage wasn't exactly welcoming.  So we climbed to the top of a nearby hill and took a photo of Lake Mead:

We then looked to the north, and could see the "terminus" of the Grand Canyon.  It's where the Canyon ends and Lake Mead begins:

We drove past Gary's lots in town, he has about 2 acres on a dirt road.  The whole block is empty, a reminder of the boom and bust that Meadview experienced a few years ago.  Real estate developers had their eye on that area because they were convinced it would be the next "Havasu," but then the economy fell apart.  New construction stopped to a grinding halt.  It's a beautiful area, a bit isolated, but nothing happening right now.  The convenience store closed!! Can't even buy an aspirin in that town.

So we drove around, taking in the sights:

Found a large white onyx deposit:

Walked around checking out remote ranches and washes:

Found ourselves in old Chloride, and discovered the "Chloride Murals," outside of town in the nearby mountains:

Visited an old copper mine near the murals.  

We were surprised by a huge white owl who was perched down in the mineshaft.  I was poised to take a photo but didn't want to flash him in his enormous black eyes!  He was not happy to see us.

By the time we returned home it was late at night.  Our loop around Mohave County had taken us all day, and the dogs were not happy with us.  After all, we went out the door with our cooler and lunch packed, promising them we'd be right back.

Desert Exploring

It's over 110 degrees these days, but we knew we needed to get out and get some exploring done.  My dear beloved Gary was informed by his boss that he's being put on 24-hour call, and he's getting fewer days off, so we decided to use a couple of days to spend time having fun.  Who knows when we'll be able to do it again.
We started by going up Route 66, where we knew there would be old gold mines to check out.

Of course we immediately found a rattlesnake. He didn't even warn us of his presence.  He just sat and stared at us.

But our persistence paid off, the more we drove around and looked, the more mines we were able to locate.  The Route 66 area became a gold mine boom in the mid 1800's, and the holes in the mountains are certainly evidence of that.  We found many areas with ruins:

The stone walls were foundations of little homes in the "Gold Road" district.  It was neat to see all of them lined up, especially after looking at photographs in the history books showing what they looked like over 100 years ago.  I couldn't imagine the hardships of those who came out to look for gold.  It's a difficult area; isolated, extreme heat, and back then there were no proper roads!

Some of the mines were closed off, unfortunately.

Down the road we visited a mountainside that has an underground spring seeping out.  A small dam was built with rocks at some time to encourage pooling of the spring water.  It's about 3 feet deep.

When I peered into the water I just about choked: a jokester had placed a couple of goldfish in there!

We happily encountered some Big Horn Sheep:

And of course there were plenty of wild burros:

On our way back thru to head home we stopped to look around the old mining town of Oatman.  The tame burros live there, they hang around begging for food.  Gary was getting something out of the cooler in the back of our car and a begging burro immediately wandered over:

Funny little guy.

We went south from there, and discovered many more mines off to the side of the road.  We climbed up to take a look, and we were stunned by the 70 degree breeze blowing out of the first one.  After investigating, we found that this particular mine shaft went way back into the rock, and then had an enormous hole that reached up to the top of the mountain.  The air was cooled as it made its way thru the rock.

The next mine was about 300 yards away, so we walked over.  Gary went in first with both our flashlights to check for snakes.  As I stood outside waiting, I suddenly heard him yelling.  Apparently he'd nearly stepped on a rattler who was hiding among some rocks.

Can you see him? Nope, not really! The way he was hiding was very sneaky.  He didn't move, either.  We watched from a safe distance, wondering if he was even alive.  Finally his tongue flickered and we got our answer.  Upon our arrival home I looked up this particular kind of rattler, and they are known for just staying still when they're approached.  They will only rattle or strike when they're really being messed with.  We left him alone since he was being quite polite with us.

Poor Gary.  He came so close to stepping on that deadly snake.

Beautiful Days

How about that? An ordinary day turned into an extraordinary sunset here in Arizona.

 This is what I'm driving now. It's a German Smart Car, made at Mercedes Benz. Yeah, they're available in the U.S. now but the ones they make here are not Mercedes products. I wanted the real deal. It only took me 6 years or so to locate one for sale. The owner bought it in Germany, had it modified and upgraded at Brabus (who does tuning and specialty work for Mercedes) and then when he immigrated to the U.S. he had it shipped over here. He had to sell it, and I was in the market for a car. His loss, completely. I was so excited to see this car for sale I was really not able to contain myself. So, it's turbo-charged. It has custom body panels. It only has 25,000 miles on it. If I behave while driving, I get 40-45 miles per gallon. It will easily do 75 or 80 mph on the Interstate, it doesn't feel unstable or anything like that. Because of the turbo it really moves when you want it to. I love it almost as much as I loved my former car, the Vette:

 

 But, alas, this is what happened when Gary used the Vette to go see a friend in Phoenix one day:

 

 Turns out, Chevy products do not function well in this position. Gary's fine, but the Vette was totaled. After searching for a replacement car for several months, I managed to talk him into a Smart. Don't know how, I only sent him one link---and it was to the Craigslist ad for my new car pictured above. Well, bless his heart, he has certainly warmed up to my little go cart. While test driving it, he had his nose crinkled and a sour look on his face. Now, he drives it every chance he gets and he is quick to tell friends and strangers how awesome our little tiny car is. I've got to agree. I love my little Smart.

 

Shawna, Where Do You Stand On....

Politics is absolutely positively a dangerous hobby and it's conducted in shark infested waters. I love it, though. It's a challenge to remain involved and NOT get your head chopped off, so I suppose that's my motivation. A challenge. But I do believe if the wrong people are out there blabbering their crazy talk about important things, then we normal folks need to get out and counter that. Conspiracy theories. I'm so tired of them. I've said more than a couple of times, "I wish the whole Area 51 thing would become prominent with these conspiracy theorists once again so they'll leave our politics alone. This is how they work: if it's on the internet, then it must be true. Never would they get in their car, go talk in person to someone who knows the truth. Never would they do something as logical as that. They send out inflammatory emails. They post garbage on social networks. They never get the real story, just the one that feeds their scandal starved brain. Next week the Lake Havasu Republican Women are hosting the Arizona State Schools Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal. The conspiracy theorists are telling people that Huppenthal received a bribe from CHINA of all places, and this bribe was a part of his whole plan to enact a Federal learning curriculum that will inevitably indoctrinate our children. Proof? No proof. But it was on the internet, so it's true. Mr. Huppenthal will be talking about the curriculum in question, and presenting the facts at our meeting. One interesting note; the curriculum is already a done deal, and has already been implemented into our public schools. The only "Common Core" portion being used by our schools is the math and reading standards. All the other subjects were rejected. Any questionable materials being utilized in Lake Havasu was actually chosen by our local school board. Our local school board was questioned about their choices and they of course blamed it on "Common Core." Meanwhile, we have these so called activists running around giving speeches about how our perfectly dedicated and upstanding school superintendent is enforcing a tenet of the Obama administration because China gave him a bribe. Get real! Join the rest of us in the REAL WORLD!!!!

Oldness Sucketh.

Rarely do you get such a blunt answer when asking a health care professional questions about your various body pains. I was getting worked on by a massage therapist and I wanted to know why I have such persistent back pain. He answered, "Getting old sucks." This, after a friend told me earlier in the day that her brother thought I was in my twenties. He was in disbelief when he was told I was nearly 40. I hate calling off plans because I'm hurting too much. I hate not being able to jog in the mornings. I LOVE TO JOG!! There's so many things I need to get done, and it seems like I'm in the mood to do those chores when my body hurts the worst. Dang it. Well, otherwise, life is good. My family's doing okay, the bills are mostly getting paid, dogs are fine, and I'm halfway thru my training at Cosmetology school. Yep, went back to school. Learning to cut hair, do nails, and have fun. I was prompted to go back to school when I found my work schedule with the events was getting leaner and leaner, with the paychecks getting smaller and smaller. I tried interviewing for jobs but a harsh reality of being involved in local politics dictates that people cannot hire someone who might have political enemies. At least they were honest. So here I am, an underemployed, old, aspiring hairstylist. Who has a handful of political enemies. Should be fun times coming up!

Festivus

If you're not a Seinfeld fan, you're not familiar with the fake holiday known as Festivus. It was the creation of one of the surly Seinfeld characters who refused to go along with the commercialized over-hyped Christmas traditions of expensive gifts and maxed out credit cards. "Festivus for the rest of us!" he'd proclaim. Instead of a Christmas tree, he would erect a Festivus pole in the house. The family activities included a show of "feats of strength" where they'd kind of beat up on each other.
But Festivus dinner was the best because the saying of Grace was replaced with the "Airing of Grievances." The best.

So, Gary's used to having expensive holidays, Christmas in particular. He's used to big extravagant presents. He was worried about this year, with his surgery in September we haven't been able to sock away money to buy very much for presents.
He was kinda speechless when I explained that I'm more of a Festivus kind of person. I don't like Christmas gifts, and I get no pleasure from spending a lot of money on things that I know will end up in the garbage. I prefer to have one thoughtful gift that will always be remembered. Think about it; what did you get for Christmas last year? Can't remember?
I got one present, a Kindle, and it was soooo appreciated. I spent a lot of money buying up E books on Amazon and my reading kept me pre-occupied. I've always loved to read but last year at this time I was quite miserable and lonely. The Kindle was with me everywhere.
Gary kept bugging me, "What do you want for Christmas?" And I kept giving the same answer, "I'm really not a gift person. I don't want THINGS."
I felt bad for him, because I wasn't trying to be evasive or difficult. I just didn't want him spending a lot of money on stuff.
On Christmas morning, I got this:

A new fancy Kindle. Good call, Gary.

And since Gary wants a hundred things for Christmas, I gave him this:

There's enough cash there for something really nice. I shopped around for some things that I knew he'd like, but it was all things that a person wouldn't be able to return if it wasn't just right. He's been into the gold mining lately and with that hobby comes requirements for different equipment and gadgets. There's quite a large group of people in this area who are into the mining as well, and they periodically sell off their used equipment. I considered buying up some used mining equipment, but figured a gift of cash would be safer.
He promptly spent it at Sam's Club.

Mental note: don't give Gary cash. He'll use it on a year's supply of paper towels and protein bars.