HAD MYSELF A FEW 'WOWSERS' MONDAY NIGHT

Not long after the Sun had settled itself over the western horizon I had my tri-pod set up and my Celestrom 15x70 binoculars mounted atop it.  I was about to 'WOWSER' myself.  The constellation Orion was straight overhead slightly to the south and that meant it wasn't going to be any kind of easy feat for me to get myself into some kind of configuration to have those binoculars tilted straight up on that tripod.  Luckily when I bought the Manfrotto tri-pod years ago I made sure it was solidly adaptable to many configurations.  I had to somehow get my eyes underneath those binoculars and look straight up.  Because of the strong magnification with these binoculars they really need to be on a solid and steady tripod and not hand held.  Below are 2 selfies I took and 3 photos Kelly took while I was leaned back in my gravity chair with the tripod tipped towards me holding the binoculars over my face.

My first 'WOW' came when I looked at the Orion Nebula.  Not my first time seeing it but Monday night it just seemed to jump right out of the crystal clear sky.  I was momentarily startled when lights suddenly flashed through my field of vision from left to right.  It was an airplane heading west.  From Orion's Nebula I swung the binoculars even higher and contorted myself even more as the Pleiades came into view filling my field of vision and giving me my second 'WOW' for the night.  From there I wandered around the sky checking out a couple Planets.   Both Venus and Mars were visible with Venus shining like a great white and green beacon in the sky.  Maybe tonight I will haul out my 80mm Stellarvue Nighthawk refractor telescope and have an even closer look at things.

ENJOYED SOME NICE OUTSIDE TIME TODAY PLUNKING AWAY ON MY NEW LAPTOP COMPUTER AND BEHIND ME YOU CAN SEE THE WHITE WATER HEATER DOOR THAT WE TEMPORARILY LOST EAST OF OCOTILLO WELLS  A WEEK OR SO AGO

Monday morning was my turn with the Jeep and this morning it was Kelly's turn so she headed off into Yuma to check out a few stores in the Yuma Palms Mall.  Pheebs and I had the house to ourselves and not long after Kelly left I was overcome by a rush of rare energy so right away figured I had better take full advantage of that while it lasted,  A week ago while pulling out of our tight spot south of Borrego Springs I got the passenger side of the coach up against an old half dead Creosote shrub rounding a corner.  What the hard knubby branches of the Creosote bush did was to make for some rather creative Picasso type erratically wavy scratches along the bottom passenger side of the Motorhome.  In the southwest these scratches are commonly referred to as 'desert pin striping' and is a common fixture on most every boon-dockers vehicle.  A right of passage you might say and worn proudly by many. 

I REALLY SHOULD HAVE TAKEN SOME PHOTOS BEFORE HAND TO SHOW HOW REALLY NOTICABLE THE SCRATCHES WERE

I always travel with waaaaaay too many vehicle cleaning supplies but this morning the rubbing compound and wax came in very hand as I worked away on our side door plus 2 bin doors a wheel well and our hot water heater section.  Always amazes me how well that rubbing compound takes out scratches.  Well not totally for some of them of course but standing back about 5 feet and from certain angles the scratches are completely invisible.  I threw a coat of wax on the cleaned up areas as well.  Still 3 large bin doors to go but I didn't want to blow out all my energy in one big shot.  Instead I slipped inside and relaxingly plugged away at cleaning up the whole Motorhome dash area.  A nice sense of accomplishment and any accomplishment for me is always a good feeling.  In between those two little jobs Pheebs and I had us a big game of toys outside.  Sometimes she gets a big crazy going on and races around about 600 miles an hour with sand and gravel flying every which a way.  So nice to see her run so fast. 

Be sure to check out Doug's post over at Miss Adventure Travels to see how he and Yuma got themselves into a bit of trouble they very nearly didn't get themselves out of.  Having been in a similar situation several times I know exactly how Doug was feeling.  It's what good and not so good memorable moments and adventures are made of.

Had a couple fellow Canadian RV'ers drop in this afternoon.  Gerrit Van Keulen has been reading my blog for a number of years now and dropped around to our house in Bayfield about 5 years ago one time to say hello.  Gerrit and his wife sold their home in Wingham Ontario a number of years ago and have been on the road happily fulltiming ever since.  They have a place on the east side of Yuma in the Fortuna Hills.

I FORGOT TO GET A PHOTO OF THESE FOLKS BUT BY GOLLY I DID GET A PICTURE OF THEIR NICE JEEP LIBERTY

Sorry for all the 'selfies' and 'me' photos today but I really didn't have much else in the way of new photos to post so it looks like you got stuck with me.  Well until I was able to get a few pics of Pheebs and Shuster the Rooster tearing around that is.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Ron and John, 2 Blonde Guy were building a house.  John was on a ladder, nailing.  He'd reach into his nail pouch, pull out a nail, look at it, and either toss it over his shoulder or proceed to nail it into the wood.  Ron couldn't stand it any longer and yelled, 'Why are you throwing some of the nails away?'  John explained, 'When I pull it out of my nail pouch, if it's pointed toward me, I throw it away.  If it's pointed toward the house, then I can use it.'  Ron replied, 'What's wrong with you?  Don't throw away the nails that are pointed toward you! They're for the other side of the house.'

When she got flowers from her husband on Valentine's Day, my daughter quickly opened the card. All it said was, "No."  What did that mean? She called her husband and asked him.
"I didn't attach any message. The florist asked if I had a message and I said, 'No'."

God first went to the Egyptians and asked them if they would like a commandment. "What's a commandment?" they asked. "Well, it's like, THOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," replied God. The Egyptians thought about it and then said, "No way, that would ruin our weekends." So then God went to the Assyrians and asked them if they would like a commandment. They also asked, "What's a commandment?" "Well," said God, "It's like, THOU SHALL NOT STEAL." The Assyrians immediately replied, "No way. That would ruin our economy." So finally God went to the Israelites and asked them if they wanted a commandment. They asked, "How much?" God said, "They're free." The Israelites said, "Great! We'll take ten!"

JEEP RIDE, MINE SITES, AND SOME ROCK SCRAMBLING

MY FURRY LITTLE MOUNTAIN GOAT THIS MORNING

WHAT A GREAT MORNING IT WAS FOR A DRIVE OVER BY THE CARGO MUCHACHO MOUNTAINS

Skies cleared overnight with morning's Sun rising early into a cloudless clear blue sky.  An encouraging way to start yet another great California day with both of us feeling much better than the day before.

RARE TO SEE CACTUS IN THE AREA BUT PHEEBS AND I SPOTTED THIS BEAVER TAIL CACTUS ON A JEEP RIDE THIS MORNING

Been over a week since Pheebs and I had last gone bouncing around in the desert with the Jeep so this morning that is exactly what we decided to do.  One doesn't have to go far to find interesting things so we headed off down 'American Girl Mine Road' in the direction of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains.  The Muchachos have been mined for gold since the 1800's and there are many old abandoned mining sites and ruins still visible.

SPOTTED THIS MINE SHAFT SO WE HIKED UP TO HAVE US A LOOK

 

Parking the Jeep near one of the sites Pheebs and I struck off on foot to see what we could find.  Now that my legs are feeling much better since re-starting my arthrotec arthritis medicine Sunday I was able to walk without stiffness or pain again so Pheebs and I were soon doing some rock scrambling to get ourselves up to a mine shaft I had spotted.  I find rock scrambles are much better exercise for my legs than just walking along on a flat surface.

RUGGED COUNTRY IN THESE HERE PARTS

IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY MORNING OF 2008 WHEN I TOOK THE PHOTO BELOW OF KELLY WHILE WE WERE ROCK SCRAMBLING AND LOOKING FOR GOLD ON THAT HILL NEAR THE TOP RIGHT OF THE PHOTO

STILL EVIDENCE LEFT FROM SOME OF THE OLD MINES

THOSE ROCKS MAY HAVE BEEN PILED THERE AS FAR BACK AS THE LATE 1800'S

IF ONLY THESE OLD WEATHERED BOARDS COULD TALK

Had to pay particular attention to the Jeep road conditions this morning and especially any low spots.  Recent rains have left the ground very soft in places so one has to mindful of where one is driving.  The pool of water below was tempting me to drive through it but I thought to myself, 'oh no you don't, I'm not falling for that old trick!!

Driving near or through any mountain range one can generally tell if there has been any mining going on by the small and sometimes large patches of different colored soil and rock spilled down the mountain side.

IN THIS CASE THE LIGHTER PATCH OF FINE ROCK (TAILINGS) SUGGESTS A SMALL MINE SHAFT GOING STRAIGHT INTO THE MOUNTAIN

HERE ONE CAN SEE A MUCH LARGER PILE OF TAILINGS SUGGESTING THEY WERE DUMPED HERE IN MORE RECENT YEARS BY TRUCK OR MACHINE

ANOTHER TELL-TALE SIGN OF MINING IS THAT DUG OUT SECTION BOTTOM RIGHT

ONLY A SMALL PART OFTHE ORIGINAL MOUNTAIN REMAINS AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE PHOTO WITH THE REST OF IT HAVING BEEN BLASTED OUT

We came across another one of those curious things one occasionally comes across in the desert on our Jeep ride this morning.  I'll let the photos below show you what it was.  I'm thinking maybe it might be one of those medicine wheels or something.

I'M SURE THIS ALL MEANS SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SOMEONE OR SOME GROUP....A LOT OF WORK SURE WENT INTO PUTTING THIS ALL TOGETHER

THERE WERE 2 ENTRANCES TO THIS LARGE MEDICINE WHEEL AND THIS ONE ENTERS FROM THE BOTTOM LEFT

THIS IS THE CENTER OF THE CIRCLES

THOSE ARE SMALL SEA SHELLS WITH ONE LARGER SHELL ALL AT THE CENTER POINT

THERE WERE ROCK CIRCLES WITHIN THE PATH CIRCLES AS WELL

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Motoring our way through a bunch of boon-docking RV's just south of us on our way back to the rig I noticed a bunch of folks gathered for what appeared to be some kind of ATV training class for young folks.

I THINK THESE ARE PROBABLY THE PARENTS ON THE BIGGER ATV MACHINES

THIS YOUNG FELLER BUZZED ME DOING ABOUT 500MPH.....NOTICE THE 'GO-PRO' CAMERA ON HIS HELMET

Just a beautiful morning in California as I watched the big white cotton ball clouds come drifting back into the area.  With 70 degree temperatures the day could not have been better for me.  Not too cold and not too hot.  Perfect for walking, hiking, rock scrambling, Jeeping, or just sitting outside in the Sun.

THESE DESERT BRITTLE BUSH PLANTS WILL SOON BE IN BLOOM WITH THEIR YELLOW FLOWERS

'AW COME ON DAD WERE YOU AND MOM REALLY PICKING UP GOLD NUGGEST BACK ON CHRISTMAS DAY OF 2008'?? ... .. WELL NO PHEEBS BUT WE SURE HAD FUN THAT MORNING THINKING WE WERE:))

Pheebs and I were back to the rig by noon and that morning Jeep ride for us turned out to be just what the Doctor ordered.  Feeling much better both mentally and physically for sure.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man sits down at a bar and orders a double martini. After he finishes, he peeks inside his shirt pocket, then orders another. After he finishes that, he again peeks inside his shirt pocket and orders another double martini. The barman says: "I'll bring you martinis all night but why do you look inside your shirt pocket before you order a refill." The customer replies: "I'm peeking at a photo of my wife. When she starts to look good, I know it's time to go home."

A blonde ordered a pizza and the clerk asked if he should cut it in six or twelve pieces. She responded, ''Six, please. I could never eat twelve pieces.''