1-4 April, 2011 Kayaks and wind ...

We're getting settled into our new spot.  There's a lot more traffic through than our old campsite.  There are a couple of small peninsulas beyond our campsite with a rotating guest list so we have people coming past several times every day.  It isn't a problem, just different.  It is nice being so close to the water and being sheltered from the wind when it's out of the north.

Susan made some chocolate milk using dry milk and Nestle's Quick mix.  It was almost as good as it would have been with fresh milk.

This was taken the first.   Today on the way into town almost every blossom was open.  The photo doesn't capture the full color and effect of the flowers.

Sunrise on the second of April (taken from the doorway).

Susan doing some outside reading with her improvised sun-shade.

We've had several days of high winds.  On the second they were out of the south-east so we had a little fun on the lake.  Some of the swells were around two-feet high which is a lot of fun in a kayak.  I put the spray skrt on mine so I wouldn't get as much water inside then headed for the "breakers."  (Outside our little inlet where the waves were higher.)  It was good practice and a lot of fun.  We spent aboutt wo hours out on the water.

This was taken on the third.  The wind has changed and iscoming out of the north now. 

I changed the rear tire on my bicycle.  I found one at the hardware store in Overton.  They've come up in price since I bought my last one.

I don't know if this damage (on the old bike tire) was caused during transpost on the trailer or by rocks when I was riding the bike.  At any rate it needed replaced.

One of our neighbors taking a break in the sun.

The cat taking a break on the camper.  (Draped over my gun case.)

Susan doing laundry on Monday.  (I wash the dishes.)  It's nice having the lake nearby for water.

The cat doing it's morning stretching exercises.

30-31 March, 2011 - Back to Lake Mead

We spent about a week out in the desert then headed back to the Lake Mead/Overton area. We stopped overnight in the Wal Mart parking lot before heading out again.

It was difficult to get used to the noise, lights and movement again.  While out in the desert we averaged one vehicle coming by about every two days.

Susan took this picture when we walked over to the Dollar store to buy tea.  It's interesting to see both palm trees and snow on the mountains.

One store sold guns and guitars ... and guitar guns????  These are real electric guitars.  We sent a photo to a friend in MT to see if he wanted us to pick one up for him!

Susan caught Odie going through her "tricks." (Usually to get food!)

I think I'm beginning to see a family resemblance here.

Our new camping spot is almost in the lake.  This is the best place yet for camping and kayaking.

There is no shade so we decided to make our own.  The only tarp we had free measures 6 X 8 feet.  We picked up a large one in town this morning.

The cat isn't satisfied until he's inspected everything inside and out.

The sun was bright and hot so Susan used the solar cooker to make spanish rice for supper.

There was a sentinal on the ridgetop watching.  I think he was taking inventory of potential threats.  Probably looked at the dog and decided there wasn't much to fear.

This is the first place we've been that we didn't have cell phone service at the camper. Susan goes tot he top of the hill to send/receive texts.

Ah ... there she is!  I just needed to add some magnification.

Our camper is in the right, center of the photo.

Susan gathering firewood and cooling off her feet.

Another neighbor.  The little guy's actual size is about half the size you see here.  He was smaller than a dime.

We kept waiting for the cat to fallin but no such luck.  Then we waited for the dog to come push the cat in.  Again, no such luck.  The dog's smarter than she looks.

Odie picking up sticks in the water.  Earlier she was taking her tennis ball above the shore and letting it roll into the water so she could swim after it.  She was very hesitant to get in the water when we first got to Nevada.  We can't keep her out now.

Sunset, day one!

27-29 March, 2011 - Calling coyotes and putting up with the wind.

These are our final two days on the Virgin River access road on Gold Butte.

Susan brought four of last year's pumpkins from our garden.  We had to pick them green when the vines were killed by frost.  (They were all very small.  Last year was a cold summer for gardening.) One of them rotted before we could use it but she cut this one up a couple of days ago.  We noticed that one of the seeds had sprouted while inside the pumpkin.

Susan wanted to try grinding grain with stone tools so she found some suitable stones and gave it a whirl...

We had to set up the folding chair for a windbreak.

The first batch was corn and it ground up very well with minimal effort.

Next she tried barley.  (We didn't have any wheat with us.)

The barley grouind up okay but it was a lot more difficult than the corn.

The morning of the 28th I decided to try calling coyotes again.  The wind had finally died down some so I headed off on my bicycle.

This is the spot I tried.  It's about six miles from where we camped.  I called in one coyote in this spot.  He was one of the biggest coyotes I've ever seen and I missed him clean.  He was facing me at about 125 yards so I tried for a head shot.  The bullet went to the right. I never got a chance for a second shot.  I may have grazed his leg but it wasn't serious at any rate.  I tracked him for about 100 yards and there was no blood nor any changes in his gait or tracks.  I checked the zero when I got back to camp and my sights were off a bit.  It was hitting about four inches left at 100 yards.  I said some naughty words (again) and adjusted the scope.  I've used this rifle to shoot gophers with head shots at 100 plus yards so I was sure surprised when I shot and the coyote ran off!

Tht bushy stuff in the foreground is about ten feet high and very thick.  We got lost in it last year and spent about two hours getting out of it.

This is a picture taken from the ridge-top a couple of miles east of the place I was hunting.  The clear places you see are sand flats along the river.  The rest is hundreds of acres of brush.

This is the edge of the brush.  It gets very thick the farther in you go.  Once in it you can

t see any landmarks to get your bearings.  If you go the wrong dairection you'll be parallel to the edge and you can go over a mile before getting out of it.

Susan made Tacos one evening.  The lettuce is some she planted in a bucket before we left Montana.  Fresh lettuce was a nice addition to the canned cheese and venison.

Susan put a sleeping bag on top of the camper so she could sleep out there ... then the wind came up and blew it all off.

Susan already had her sleeping  bag and air mattress set up on top of the camper.  There was no wind so we started a campfire and made smores. After the fire burned down we went in the camper to watch a movie and about half-way through it we felt a gust of wind then more wind.  We rounded up the sleeping bag and found the air mattress about fifty yards away.  The wind wasn't too bad and we debated whether it would be safe for Susan to go ahead and sleep on the roof then decided against it.  It's a good thing we did.  She have been like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  It was a night of some of the worst wind we've had.

The next day the wind was still blowing but not nearly as hard so we went for a bicycle ride.  We took a different fork than the one I took the day before and rode down to the Virgin River.  The dog was really happy to see the water and waded, drank, laid in the water then drank some more.

I went to put some more air in my tires for the ride home and saw a bubble in the sidewall.  Somewhere along the line I scraped the tire against something and tore a hole in the sidewall.  It made it back to the camper but I'm going to have to buy a new tire.

The road goes through canyons almost all the way.  It's about 6 miles to the river from where we camped so it was about 12 miles round trip.  The canyons are beautiful and there are hundreds of them.

I took my rifle along figuring to try calling in some more coyotes and see what happened with the dog along as I did it.  Odie tends to sing along with the calls whether rabbit distress calls or coyote barks, howls and whines.  We wanted to see if it kept the coyotes away or brought them in.  We ended up not calling.  I should have left the rifle at home.  I need to find a better system for carrying it on a bike.

I had three quarts of water with me and a bottle of tea in the bike bag.

Susan had water and tea for her and we brought water for the dog in the bucket on her bike rack.

One of our shaded rest stops on the way back.  It was a slight uphill grade all the way back but about half of it was on loose sand and gravel.  A lot of work on a bicycle!

Susan had put the cut pumpkin in the solar cooker and cooked it.  Now she's cutting the rind away.  We'll be having pumpkin bars or pumpkin pie soon.

I decided the rifle needed cleaned so I took care of that chore as well.

We broke camp later and headed back into Mesquite in preparation for coming back to Overton.

24-26 March, 2011 - Desert wanderings

Disclaimer?  (or just whining?)  My camera misnamed and otherwise messed up all the photos I had saved in the 24-26 March folder so this blog will be kind of short...

Susan made fried apple pies for breakfast this morning using some fresh apples we picked up at WalMart. She mixed up the crust then cut up the apples and mixed in the spices with them.  She then added filling to the crust, folded the crust over and fried them in the skillet. They were very good.  It's amazing what she can cook in a frying pan!

One of the wild flowers we found.  Susan is going to put all the flower pictures in ne folde on her computer.  Don't ever think of the desert as a dead place.  It's full of both animal and plant life.

The cat woke up ready to take on the dog.  It's a good thing the dog is benevolent.

Susan got some good pictures of "Ninja Cat" doing it's thing on top of the camper.  Unfortunately those are some my computer messed up and I don't have time to straighten it out today.  (The cat was trying to catch bugs.)

It astounds our friends that we can get cell phone service almost anywhere out here.  At home we have lots of dead zones with no cell service.

Susan on one of our exploration trips.  We spend a lot of time just wandering around.  You wouldn't believe how many pictures we've taken during this trip.

More wildflowers.

I'm washing dishes, Susan is washing clothes in the five-gallon bucket.  The dog is supervsing in the cat's absence.

The evening sun hitting the mountains east of us. 

Odie found a rather large burrow to sniff around.  She didn't stick her head into this one!

That pesky cat!