Fri. & Sat., March 18-19

This morning after breakfast we set off on our bicycles to explore the dirt roads that wind through the fields and marshes.

This Wildlife Management area where we're camped is at the north end of Lake Mead where the Muddy River runs into the lake. With the lake level so low, the marsh isn't as marshy now.

The water was calm, so the reflection of the hills was cool!

Ducks were in the water, and geese were circling around, but I never got a good picture

of the geese.


I got a picture of this bird, though. I'm not sure what it is. In this picture it looks a bit like the Herons we have in Montana, but...

In this picture it looks like a whilte Flamingo!

End of the road!

The dog didn't think so.

She's in the water, to the left and in front of Steven.

Happy doggy!

This wash had water intermittently. It runs underground in places, then reappears.
The wet sand can be like quicksand. You have to be careful walking down there.

That didn't bother the dog, though.

If there's water and she can get to it, she's in it!

Steven is taking the rear tire off the motorcycle so he can mount the new tire.

We used the trailer as a stand to keep the rear tire off the ground.

A closer view.

I stood on the tongue of the trailer to hold it down and the back end up while

Steven put the spare tire for the trailer, and a couple chunks of wood, under the back.

I cut a few yucca leaves this morning on our bike ride, and now I was using a knife to scrape the pulpy residue off the leaves. That leaves cordage that can be braided or twisted to make rope.

On one side of the knife you can see a little ball of green crumbly stuff.

It has the consistency of fine sawdust.

The green "Sawdust" scrapings from the yucca leaves. Not all yuccas will produce lather and make soap. When I added water and stirred, this one didn't.

I'll keep looking!

Steven rode to town (2 miles away, from this campsite) to see if the tire shop could mount the new motorcycle tire. They said they couldn't. On the way home Steven swung by McDonald's and bought us lunch as a treat. He carried the bag in one hand, against his bicycle handlebar, and the Sundae's in the other, by the little handle in the cardboard top!

He pedaled like crazy to get home while the cheeseburgers were still hot and

the sundae's weren't soupy!

What a treat! It was wonderful!

Parked nearby, on the picnic table, was the kitty in the carrier.

We can't let the cat run loose here because the highway is nearby.

Those cheeseburgers were the center of attention, sitting about a foot

away from the carrier!

"Does this carrier make my butt look fat?"

Finally the cat turned around and laid the other direction and pretended not

to be interested anyway!
The cat seems to enjoy at least being outside, even if

stuck in the carrier.

Steven had to find some way to "break the bead" on the tire, meaning to separate the tire from the rim. He wedged a wrench against it and used the rail from the back of the trailer (see license plate hanging from it!) and pushed it against the picnic table bench to get the leverage needed.

Meanwhile, I was wandering around, tending my plants. The lettuce (right) is thriving. In the bucket on the left I have one cantaloupe plant left (rear, right), and one 'something' coming up in the bottom center. I don't know what it is yet. I didn't plant anything in there except a potato right in the middle, and it isn't up yet. That's NOT a potato coming up. Whatever it is, it looks healthy! I wonder what it'll turn out to be?

I'm still using the "swamp cooler" method to keep cheese cold. There's about a third of a jar of cheddar cheese under that wet wash cloth. So far I've kept cheese for as long as 4 days this way. I don't know how long it would keep, since that's the longest we've gone with it.

I kept a jar of cream cheese in there, too, for a few days as we worked on eating it.

We've sure enjoyed being able to have cheese. Canning it was definitely worth it.

I picked some tips of greasewood (Creasote) branches and spread them to dry.

I'm not sure they actually dry. They're very waxy/oily.

I'm going to make a body powder with them.

The view out the door. That's Steven's yard sale tent.

I miss seeing the lake out there, but this view is nice too.

Success! The tire is off the rim!

Now he has the new tire on the rim. But the only tire pump we had with us is this little one that he normally carries on the frame of his bicycle!

We took turns pumping that thing for well over an hour before Steven hopped on his bicycle and rode back into Overton to Ace Hardware and bought a small air compressor!

When he got the tire put back on the motorcycle and the chain adjusted we took it for a spin into town. We swung by the city park so Steven could fill the water bag in his camelback pack.

They've replaced the spigot handle! It's green now!

Must be stimulus spending improvements! (ha ha!)
I wonder if the city maintenance people can just replace the handle, of if they

had to present it at a meeting, and they had to vote on it?

Frankly, we didn't notice anything wrong with the old handle!

It didn't leak, and it turned on and off just fine!

Some of you may remember the picture a couple weeks ago of the leaning Cottonwood trees.

They're leafing out now.

While I made dinner last night the cat was trying to look out the window in the door.

Never mind that there were open windows on the three other sides of the uhaul.

It had to be THIS one! So I set the wooden stool over there for it to sit on

and opened the window.

Now you can see part of what the cat can see.

Okay, people, move on. Only the cat is allowed to be mesmerized for hours looking out the window!

We bought a gallon of milk yesterday, and after we poured some to drink with dinner I set the jug in a pie pan and covered it with a soaking wet towel.

Like I explained with the small one I use for the cheese, the wet towel in this dry climate becomes very cold when the breeze hits it and as the water evaporates.

By setting it in a dish it slows down the evaporation because the water that drips down lands in the pan, and it's wicked back up into the towel to keep it wet longer.

Then I keep it in the shade in a place that has a bit of a breeze. If I set it in a still area without breeze it wouldn't stay as cold.

Milk doesn't keep as long as cheese this way, but it's cloudy and around 70 today with a steady breeze. It should keep at least until this evening.

Overall, milk and meat are not good candidates for swamp cooler refigeration.

In Searchlight, Nevada (south of Las Vegas) last year we saw an evaporative cooler someone had built. They made a box about 2' square all around, out of screen and wood framing. It had a door on the front and stood on legs. It looked kind of like a rabbit hutch only with a screen top instead of a roof. Above it they had a container that held water and dripped onto a cloth that covered the box. The dripping water kept the cloth wet, and the breeze cooled it enough to keep food cool. I'm guessing it was used mostly for fruits and vegetables and possibly butter and cheese. Condiments and pickles would keep well in there too.