Patience is a Virtue

I know, I know......you've all been waiting patiently for another blog. Well, here it is.

We're still enjoying the warm weather with a few windy days thrown in. It's been in the 90's most days and it feels wonderful.

Doug is still searching for the mother lode in the desert and to aid his efforts, he decided he needed a drywasher. For those not well acquainted with prospector lingo, this is a machine that sifts the heavier material (gold and black sand) from the lighter material (dirt, sand and small rocks). Well, these machines aren't cheap so Doug decided to manufacture his own.


Starting with a scavenger hunt at the local thrift shop and Habitat for Humanity Restore as well as garage sales and treasures found along side the road, Doug collected ironing boards, fabric, buckets, sheet metal from an old shed, chain, angle iron and various necessary items such as a fan blade and sewer hose. The blower was already in our possession.

Over the course of a week, Doug cut and bent and magically transformed these bits and pieces into a working drywasher.


And here is the final product.


The dirt goes through a rack (top of the ironing board) on the top bucket where the larger rocks roll off. The classified dirt then rolls onto the bottom half of the drywasher (a square bucket cut in half) and passes over the sheet metal riffles to land in the round bucket. The blower and fan push air through the fabric under the riffles while the whole contraption vibrates. Because gold is waaaay heavier than dirt and rocks, the motion and air allows the gold and black sand (which often contains gold) to get caught in the riffles.

After about 20 minutes, we clean out the riffles and Doug can pan the material to separate out all of the gold. It works!!!! We've been out in the desert twice and have found small amounts of gold with less effort.

We have also found snakes and scorpions. There were 3 snakes on Monday of which two were dead on the road. And this lovely fellow greeted us on Tuesday. (also dead) We're being very careful now about where we walk and where we stick our hands. I flipped a medium size rock to discover and ugly, little scorpion waiting to sting me. Doug sent him to scorpion heaven immediately.

Today, Doug is making a few minor modifications to the drywasher and we'll try again in a few days. It looks like there may be some bad weather coming in.

So that's our exciting news. For 50 bucks Doug has built a machine that costs around $500 new. It may not be as fancy but if it finds gold.....who cares?

Still Here

Time to catch up! Still here, still playing.......

Our friends, Bill and Wanda headed for New Mexico a few days ago and we moved to a park that is on the edge of Wickenburg. It's an older park with quite a few permanent residents and is a little run-down. But, in the back of the park, away from the street is a section with several nicer rvs and a couple open sites. We chose one that has a little shed and room for Doug to set up his gold mining equipment. It's not beautiful, but it has some nice people and is a little easier on the budget. I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the desert was beginning to bloom. Yesterday on our trip to the wash I took some pictures to share a little of the color.


My favorites are the ocotillo. These skinny, dark green stalks are budding out with red buds at the tips.

The colors haven't totally exploded but are prettier every day.

There are purples, oranges, yellows, whites and occasionally these.


They were tucked into the side of a steep canyon wall, waiting for us to notice them.

Beautiful.......no? Tiny flashes of color to brighten our day.

SnakeTime

Sorry we've been gone so long! Same old, same old.


When we were out in the desert a few days ago, we ran across this fine rattlesnake. Almost literally! He was sunning himself right in the middle of the road. Big one too. Probably close to four feet long with lots of rattles.

We were all standing about four feet away from him when Bill kicked some dust at him and he just crawled off the road into the grass and finally into the bushes. The poor old guy wasn't the least bit interested in us. But he sure blends in well with the terrain.

Yesterday, we were back out at our digging spot where I had the rare and wonderful experience of digging up some snake eggs. They were buried about eight inches under the surface of the wash in the moist, cool dirt. There were probably about a dozen little rubbery, white eggs about the size of tictacs. We (Doug) brought them home to try to identify them but no luck.

On our way home we discovered the Octave Cemetery. This dates back to around 1863 with about 100 graves inside the fenced area and at least that many outside.


We wandered around for a few minutes and were saddened by the dilapidated, overgrown state of the cemetery. There were a few crosses still standing, but most have either fallen apart or have disappeared.

After that stop, we stopped again to look at some petroglyphs. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of the drawings themselves. We were exhausted from our long day digging and the climb was more than we wanted to tackle.

So ends another busy week doing not a lot. There's a nasty storm heading our way tomorrow, so we'll be inside I'm sure.

Mish Mash

Today is a mishmash of blog stuff. First, on our last trip to the desert, we spotted this handsome creature.



He's one of the biggest lizards that we have seen with gorgeous blue legs and a black collar. He even sat still while Doug snapped some pictures.

Next in the mishmash is a picture of my latest bead creation. It's a patriotic, waving flag bracelet made with little tiny beads.

And finally in the mishmash is our neighbor. The wind was blowing crazily so he decided to fly his kite.


Here it is in the sky. But the wind got the better of him and it finally took a nose dive. Literally.

Still, it was a fun way to spend part of an afternoon. See.......we don't play in the dirt all the time.

Checking In

Not a lot going on around here. Doug is still moving dirt through the equipment and I have started a new bead project. Still lots of visiting happening and today the park filled up. There's a wood-carvers convention at the activity center and every site is taken. They'll leave in a week and then there is a bead-week convention. So I expect the park will stay full for a couple weeks.

The desert is beginning to bloom with all of the rain we have had in the last few weeks. We're going back to dig dirt tomorrow and I will try to get some pictures of all of the pretties.

Thanks for hanging in here!

Another Desert Day

We spent the afternoon in the desert wash digging for gold. The place we like is about 20 miles from home and we drive a dirty, rutty, rocky road most of the way.

Once we get to our spot, we drive down a steep path in four wheel drive very slowly to the wash. This picture doesn't begin to show how crazy the path is, but you can get the idea.


We picked up a gold detector at a yard sale last weekend and had to try it out. Here, Bill is showing us how to use it. Unfortunately he didn't show us how to find gold nuggets! But Doug found a scorpion when he was flipping rocks. It was a little tiny one and was killed quickly.

We spent several hours and got a little sunburned for our efforts. Next time we'll wear our hats and long sleeve shirts.

After we are done digging in a spot, we place a marker with our name and the date. Theoretically, no one else is supposed to dig within a shovel length of our marker for two weeks. We are usually back within 3 or 4 days and we have never seen anyone else in this section of the wash.

Our days just seem to blend into one another here.

Smiles on Our Faces

The sun is shining and the sky is blue, blue, blue! What a lucky life we live. This morning I was pinching myself to remind me that this is what I dreamed about for years. Our time is our own, we are meeting new people, we move when and where we choose and it's easy to smile with such a sense of contentment.


Our place is still the center of entertainment. Yesterday Doug set a new record. He was outside 4 minutes before someone came to visit. He loves it! And sometimes he gets some work done too.
There are so many nice people here that are constantly helping and doing favors for each other.

I'm still beading, baking and digging dirt with Doug. What a great time we are having!

Happy Day!

Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu
Happy Birthday dear Mom Bev
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu!!!!

Hope your day is joyful. We're sending you tons of love and a little sunshine.

Practical Joker

When boredom sets in, the imagination goes crazy. After 3 days cooped up in the coach during the torrential rains, Doug needed an outlet for his sense of humor.

So when the rains abated for a few minutes, he darted behind the coaches and with great stealth crept across the street with a recent acquisition.


He and Frank found a well used life jacket alongside the road on their way to the store. Being men, they couldn't resist and picked it up with ulterior motives in mind.

Still hidden behind Bill's truck, Doug carefully attached the orange life jacket to Bill's sluice.

With all the rain, we were trying to keep the sluice afloat and from washing away in the next downpour.


Chuckling all the way home, we waited and watched to see if Bill would notice it.

Nope, it wasn't until this morning that he finally saw it. Meanwhile, we were rolling on the floor laughing at his expression. Somehow, he figured out instantly who had done it. He headed directly for our door with the life jacket around his neck, making swimming motions.

It's hard to deny it when we can't keep a straight face.

Hooray!!! Today the sun is shining! We're still bundled up in shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and hats but at least we can be outside.

So Many Raindrops

We've spent the last couple of days inside the coach, thanks to the nasty weather. Rain, lightning and even some hail pounded us for 24 hours straight. And to top it off, one corner of the slide decided to leak. The electric heater is directed at the wet carpet and the magazines are spread all over the couch to dry. Yuck, if we wanted this, we could have stayed in the great Northwest!

Hopefully things will start to improve now.

Desert Days

You'll never guess what we did today!

We went out into the desert and played in the dirt! Actually, we followed Bill and Wanda out into Miners Creek and helped setup and run their drywasher.

The day was perfect. 70 degrees and soooooo pleasant. We took turns shoveling dirt and running the drywasher for a couple of hours. Mostly, Wanda and I visited while we watched the guys get dirty.

The result was a very small amount of gold. Guess we'll try somewhere else tomorrow.


As we were leaving, we ran across this grave of a gold mine claim jumper. Pretty hilarious! Take a close look at his glove sticking out of the sand. Someone had a good sense of humor and a lot of time on their hands.

North Ranch Mining Operation

Here's what goes on in our site every day that the sun shines.


These are a few of the guys that gather to help Doug with his dirt. Today's visitors are Frank, Fred, another neighbor & Doug. Missing from the picture are Bill, the Canadian neighbors, Gene and innumerable passers-by that just have to know what is going on.

I keep the coffee brewing and the guys have their own cups. I'm afraid if I start baking and serving cookies with the coffee that Doug will never get any work done.

Still, they laugh and tell tall stories and solve the world's problems. What more could we ask for on a lovely Arizona day.

Bracelets

The weather cleared a bit so while I was beading, Doug was sifting more dirt. He is determined to find more gold.

I promised some pictures of my projects. So here goes.....

The first, beginner's project is a simple spiral bracelet. It was a fun, quick job and I didn't even put a clasp on it. I think I'll take it apart and reuse the beads for something else. It's pretty, but I would never wear it.


Next, came the Tic-Tac-Toe bracelet. Again, I will probably never wear it because of the dark color I chose. But, I did finish it!

The project that I worked on yesterday is my favorite. I call it the dagger bracelet because of the type of beads used. It's a little complicated and very popular here. Unfortunately, I made it a little too small and I don't want to take it apart. Oh well, I had a ton of fun and there's a zillion more things to learn and make.

I am constantly amazed at the number of activities in this place. While we were beading, there was line dancing in the next room and that was immediately followed by a nature hike. I also discovered polymer clay projects being taught. And of course, my personal favorite is the library.

Beading Classes

The weather sure can't make up it's mind around these parts. After a couple days of rain and wind, we are now basking in the sunshine in shirtsleeves. But, the next storm is due tomorrow. I'm not complaining because we are still far luckier than most of the country.

Doug is still digging dirt (and finding flakes of gold) while I have been taking beading classes with our neighbor Wanda. It's a neat group of people here at North Ranch that are willing to share their expertise and they have lots of supplies at almost cost to complete our projects.

I'm out the door now to complete a bracelet that I started. Pics later........

Boring!

Sure is hard blogging when the days all run together. We've just been doing the normal stuff......laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and dirt.

Doug had an offer to help another guy with a huge dry washer that required three people to keep shoveling dirt into it. He and two of our neighbors spent a day in exchange for a bucket of the good part of the dirt.

They all came home stiff and sore from the work, but each worked their bucket and came out with a dozen flakes of gold. Definitely not worth the pain!

The weather has turned bad again with torrential downpours yesterday.....all day. So, when the desert dries a bit, we'll head back to our favorite spot and dig our own gold.

Nascar today!

Dinner with the Neighbors

It's been a quiet couple of days. Just enjoying the sunshine while waiting for the next storm to roll through.

One of our neighbors is flying back to Wisconsin tomorrow (brrrrrrr) so we decided to have a farewell get-together last night. Six of us gathered on our little patio and barbequed hamburgers with all the fixings. Thanks to Wanda, we also had potato salad and chocolate cake. I provided the wine.

The neighbors, Roger and Debbie, have decided to become full time rvers after spending three relaxing weeks here in their trailer. They had tons of questions and we were glad to answer any that we could. So, now they are heading home to sell their house and belongings, look for a larger rv, let their friends and family know and start a new journey.

It was a fun evening until the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped. By 7:30 we were all tucked into our own little homes trying to thaw out.

Just another day in paradise.

Surprise!

Yup, we spent the day in Surprise, AZ. Actually, it's a suburb of Phoenix. We had a ton of errands to take care of and that was the closest place that had everything we needed.

About 40 miles south of us, the town is one long strip mall with Hwy 60 running right through it. We found transmission fluid, haircuts, shoes and about a zillion other things. Of course, we didn't buy all zillion things but it's been weeks since we shopped in big, chain stores. It was fun seeing all the things that we didn't need.

That was our excitement for the day. Then, it was back home to play in the dirt. Doug's still finding flakes of gold.......just no more nuggets. But we'll keep looking

Many Happy's

Happy Valentines Day!! and Happy Chinese New Year!!

We're still digging dirt and finding gold flakes. It looks like we'll be here another week.

Checking Out a Mining Claim

Some friends of ours bought a mining claim, sight unseen, about 36 miles south of the park. After checking the maps, we all decided to take a ride out to see what might be there.

We drove out Vulture Mine Road for many miles until it turned to dirt. Then, we drove across some desert roads until we came to this big wash.

The cars were unloaded and we started hiking into the hills to try and find the corner marker for their claim. Here is most of the group. That's Debbie, Bill, Wanda (with her hand in front of her face) and Doug. The other member is in the background, Roger.

Here's Roger.

After finding the corner post and deducing the direction of the rest of the claim, we all headed into the hills to test some of the smaller washes for traces of gold.

Bill and Wanda found a good spot.

Doug and I climbed higher and found another good testing area.

After carrying small buckets of dirt back down to the cars, the guys panned the soil looking for traces of gold. I photographed their best side!


They weren't too appreciative of my sense of humor.

It was a warm, fun day in the desert that resulted in zero gold. Still, we had a good time visiting and got to see a new area. Who could ask for more?

Propane Problems?

We thought we were out of propane because we had no heat the other morning, so we unhooked the power and water and sewer. Then drove to the entrance of the park where the giant propane tank is located.

.
While Doug and the propane-filler-guy took care of business......


I took some pictures of the sign out front......


and the clubhouse.

Then we drove back to our site, resettled in, hooked everything back up, turned on the propane furnace and nothing. No heat. I guess Doug's next project is to check the furnace.