Feb. 23, going for a swim

This is my motto!

Which is what drives me to swim in 57 degree water.
Lake Mead, Nevada


The neoprene suit helps. As the water gets inside it, it warms up, and then
it feels pretty decent.

The dog was thrilled when I went out in the water!

She joined me, but...

...only for a minute!
Where's my polar bear kids when I need them!

Oh well, I'll swim alone!

At least I got a bath, which is more than I can say for some of my...um, roomates!

ha ha ha!

Feb. 24, Thursday

"There's still something wrong. Check under the mattress. Make sure there isn't a pebble or something!" (The cat-princess and the pea) lol

"Anyone want to come out and play? Huh? Huh?"

"Not ,I" said the cat.

"Not I," said Susan.

Odie gives up and sits in the cat's usual place, surveying the kingdom.


I took the laundry (in the bucket) down by the lakeshore to wash.

Then strung a clotheline from the mirror of the uhaul, to the folding picnic table, and to the back of the uhaul. Then I hung the laundry. It was close to the ground, so I had fold the clothes over the line. And "someone's" motorcycle was in the way...

Steven got a thorn through a sidewall on one of his bicycle tires.

Patching the hole.

Shaking the sand out before airing it up.

I gotta admit...when I looked over and saw him doing that,

I grabbed for my camera.

"Helicopter Stevie!"

I started some sprouts today. We like alfalfa sprouts best, but this is a "salad mix" of beans and seeds. I soak them for about 12 hours, then drain them and put them in the sprouter. After that I rinse them twice a day while they grow.

Chili-making kit. Home-dried tomatoes, peppers, and onions, home-canned ground venison, olive oil, hate-to-admit-it store-bought kidney beans, tomato paste, chili powder, and garlic powder. Plus can-opener for the cans.

Into the solar cooker, stir it up, and set it in the reflector.
Because of the wind I had to put the solar cooker up close to the uhaul.

Later, I mixed up some cornbread, mixing it a bit on the dry side so it would cook well,

and I put it in with the chili to bake.

Feb. 25, Friday

"Heh heh heh! I think I'll change Steven's password on his computer!"

The sprout seeds, drained and spread in the sprouter.

The lid has raised places that corresponds with the vent holes around the top of the seed tray.

Never know where you'll see the cat sprawled out.

I tossed my duffel bag up on the bed, and there she is, on top of it!

I bought some silicone caulk in town a few days before, and today it was dry enough

and warm enough, so I caulked all the windows.
For the record, when it rained over the next couple days, there were no leaks.

Windy, windy day.

Ditto

Steven went for a spin on his bicycle to see if his patched tire is holding air.

The cat and I watched for him to come back.

We're up in the over-the-cab bunk in the uhaul.

I took the picture holding the camera out with my left hand.

Just aimed it toward me and the cat.

Took about 4 pictures, hoping to get one with the cat and I in it.

Bingo! This one is pretty good!

And there they come...man and beast!

That is one dog you just cannot tire out!

The cat playing with the legs of Steven's TV tray in the uhaul.

The dog can't resist. She moves in to join in the fun.

I wanted to make huckleberry muffins but I couldn't find my dried huckleberries.

I got the idea to make "orange" muffins using some tang mix.

I figured they'd taste like those orange Hostess cupcakes, and by golly,

they did!

I was too lazy to make frosting later, but I was going to flavor it with Tang, too.

Steven eats one of the muffins, while Odie watches, positively drooling!

A raven landed near the uhaul, looking for crumbs.

Almost didn't get it in the picture when it flew away!

Here I am, trying to fight my way back inside with the howling wind pulling the door from my grasp, and my hair and shirt trying to be gone-with-the-wind.

Bad hair day?

Feb. 26, Saturday

It was only cloudy and windy this morning, so we still got to go for our walk, but by 10:00 it was raining. This is a band of rain coming toward us from the southwest.

Raindrops on the window.
To me, there's something forlorn about this picture.
Maybe because I didn't want to be stuck inside for a rainy day!


So I made biscuits and a pie for something to do, and to heat up the uhaul a bit with the
heat from the oven. I used my large cutting board to roll the pie crust, but the only space big enough was to sit on the floor and work.
But as anyone who knows me knows, sitting and/or working on the floor is part of who I am!


Peach Pie and biscuits, baked in the Coleman camp oven on the one-burner propane stove.

Dinner was pretty good, too.

I made some breading such as for fried chicken, and I breaded and fried some of the canned ground venison patties. Then I made gravy with the rest of the seasoned breading.

I soaked some of my home-dried potatoes and onions, then fried them (back left, with gravy on them). Front left is a biscuit with gravy. Gravy on the breaded burger patties.

Back center is a biscuit with real butter (home-canned) and back right is canned pineapple.

This picture was supposed to be on the next post, but I accidently uploaded it here.

I was laying in the sun on the hood of the uhaul, out of the wind where it was warm,

reading a library book.

Feb. 27, Sunday

This morning it was 36 outside and 54 inside. Once the sun comes up, it warms up quickly.

But that first hour or so it's kinda cool in the uhaul. We make hot chocolate and sit with blankets around our legs while we talk, read, do Sudoku puzzles, or work on our computers.

I had to re-learn that computers are still useful when there's no internet access!

The cat sits on the bed waiting for one of us to get up.

As soon as we do, *whoosh*, she's in our spot where it's nice and warm!

We went for a walk this morning.

Odie couldn't understand why we didn't walk through the puddles too!

There's a loop of gravel roads about 2 miles in length that has become our "route".

Odie, defending her turf!

On the small mesa a few hundred yards away is a black truck.

The people came in, hiked down to the water, then back to their truck and left.

Odie watched their every move!

This is looking northeast from the uhaul.
There's a bit of new snow on the mountains.

The tall one is Virgin Peak, south of Mesquite.

Camoflouged cat, stalking rabbits.
(Look close, she's there!)


We watched these airplanes track across the sky.
Wonder if they waved as they passed each other?


Self-portrait...sillouette!
Bicycle ride.

About 5 miles from camp, looking back down toward lake.

That brown square on near shore, almost to right of picture, might be the uhaul.

I haven't enlarged it to see.

Across from it, on the far lake shore, just to the right of center, is that Island we see from camp.

About 6 miles from camp two canyons meet here and form one wash.

It's a cool place to climb around and explore.

Standing on the same spot as the previous picture, I turned and faced the lake.

This desert flower grows bravely out of the rocks.

Looking out one of the many cavelike holes in the canyon.

A desert bush in bloom.

Jojoba?

I have two different desert plant books. This bush looks like the picture of Jojoba in the one book, but doesn't look like the picture of Jojoba in the other book.

Anyone know?

I used the first jar of home-canned bacon tonight with dinner.

I unrolled the bacon from the parchment paper and put it in the frying pan.

Sizzling away in the skillet!

While the bacon cooked I mixed up biscuits. From scratch, not Bisquik!

After I removed the bacon from the pan I fried the biscuits in the bacon grease, flipping them once, and leaving the lid on the rest of the time to help 'bake' them.

After removing the biscuits I fried some pinto beans in what was left of the bacon grease.

Then I stirred the bacon into the beans and served the whole mess over the biscuits.

Good stuff.

Not heart healthy!