Powering down

More rain today and most of tomorrow. That means conserving my electricity. I turned the refrigerator thermostat up to 39 degrees. It's usually set at 31. I'll spend way less time on the computer in order to preserve battery power. In other words, I'll be acting more like I'm camping.

Mystery woman

On the way back from dropping trash at the Quartzsite waste transfer station I decided to stop at Taco Mio for lunch. A chimichanga. Not bad.

I finished and played solitaire on my phone while awaiting the check. The waitress came over and said, "The woman who was sitting over there paid for your meal."

Huh?

I tend to be in my own little world, so I hadn't noticed who had been sitting on the other side of the room. Had it been someone I know? If so, who? Was it a stranger who thought I was someone she knew? Does she make a habit of paying for random strangers' meals? Or did I just look so pathetic that she thought I needed a bit of charity? I might never know. Thank you... someone.

I guess sometimes there is such a thing as a free lunch.

What a difference a night makes

Happiness is restored after a downpour in the night, along with van rocking winds. Goodbye, clouds. Adios, dreariness. It's about ten degrees colder without cloud cover, but it's also less humid. I can be happy with that.

Waiting for the sun

Not the best weather this week for collecting solar energy. So I'll need to be judicious with my electricity use.

Besides that, though, there's the matter of how this type of weather messes with my attitude. I'm definitely a sunshine guy. I'm not happy. I'm not feeling very social, which defeats the purpose of being at a social event like the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. As my mother used to say, "Oh grumble grumble grumble. If you're going to be like that, stay away from me. Go outside." So I will.

Taking a break

The rain stopped falling for a few minutes, so I stepped out for some fresh air. And to give the stink eye to someone who was doing nothing about their barking dog.

This is not my stink eye

This creek wasn't there yesterday

What to do on a rainy day

Some people put on their rain gear and go outside. Not me. I wimp out and keep myself dry and cozy in the Rolling Steel Tent. And read. And nap. And take photos.

I think this is the egg Airstreams hatch from

"This is the Ecocapsule. It’s a solar- and wind-powered pod that lets you go off the grid anywhere, far away from human civilisation. Essentially, it’s a house for introverts!"

Very stylish, very high tech, with solar and wind power built in. And small enough to be transported by a car. But at $86,000, it's way out of this introvert's price range.

Chet wonders if he's too early for the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous

So, here we are again

Hit the reset button.

Reboot.

Return to Go.

Another new year. Another chance to start over—even though every moment of every day is a chance for that.

What I wrote 365 days ago still applies. More gusto, less guilt.

You get an extra day this year. Fill it with extra happiness.

Things sticking out of the ground

Confirmed sighting

Back in February I wrote that I was resisting the urge to get a trail camera. I stopped resisting. It's a cheap, bare bones one. No programming. Just turn it on. Still shots only, no video. But it shoots color in daylight and black & white in the dark. Assuming something triggers the motion sensor. Lately that something has been only bushes in the wind. No critters have chosen to visit my little desert photo booth. Maybe because they don't get prints or the rights to their own images.

But there was success when I deployed the camera last night. I got two partial shots of the elusive, migratory, thought-by-some-to-be-extinct, Blogging Desert Primate.

Evening, December 30, 2015

Morning, December 31, 2015

Turn right at the hubcap

Shifting and regrouping. Lou & Jo decided to stay a little longer at the Cocopah Casino. Denise & Dale had had their fill of the wind, dust and crop dusters at Fortuna Pond. They found a temporary spot near me in the American Girl Mine area and sat out the rain that night. Yesterday I went looking for a better spot for us and found it a couple of miles farther north up Ogilby Road. Sweet.

I didn't see this coming

There was nothing about the sky today that said rain. Maybe the occasional high, wispy cloud. No wind. Yet there's a soft patter of rain on the roof right now. Surprise. Will there be something resembling snow in the Blythe-Quartzsite corridor where it's near freezing?

UPDATE: Surprise! I have a leak where the solar cables come through the roof. This hadn't been a problem before, and I've been in some heavy rain a few times. I guess I need to refresh the caulking/sealant. That is not a job to do in the dark. While it's raining. Hurray for adventures!

Moving on again

A week at the Cocopah Casino RV parking area seemed like enough. I mean, what's left to do after installing a new roof rack and sharing the casino's Christmas buffet with Jo and Lou? Gamble? Surely you jest.

But where to go that isn't below freezing at night? After checking the forecasts and maps, I thought, "Hmmm, what about the Long Term Visitor Area near Holtville, California? It has a hot spring. So even if the weather turned too chilly, I could sit in the spring and get warm, clean and wrinkly. After all, this photo I found looks nice, right?

Lou and Jo were going to head out tomorrow, so I was the advanced scout.

Well, the place was too crowded (ugh, generators), too close to the freeway, and too close to a power plant. Not our kind of place, especially at $40 for two weeks (even though that pass is valid at any of the other LTVAs in the area).

I called Lou, interrupted his lunch, and gave him my report. "So, I'm going to go back to American Girl Mine Road to scout a place for all of us."

That was only partly true. I returned to American Girl Mine Road, but I set up camp (i.e., parked and put out the step) at the same spot I've been twice before. With the rock spiral. Because I like it. I'll find a group spot tomorrow morning. Denise and Dale are around here somewhere. And some bluegrass players.

Home again

Like folding a tent in a phone booth

Howling winds today meant I had to remove my windshield cover before it sailed off to Mexico. (I imagine all of Blythe, CA, and bits of Las Vegas will arrive here later this afternoon.)

The cover back in calmer times

All the small magnets I'd added to hold down the edges had worked great in lesser winds, but the cover was starting to flap around threateningly. So out I went to rescue it, which almost turned me into an accidental kitesurfer. (Oh look, there goes a neighbor's carpet. And the neighbor.)

Back inside the Rolling Steel Tent I had a brief conference between my old sloppy self and my new trying-to-be-organized self. Fold the cover nicely and put it back in it's handy sack, or just wad it up and toss it in a corner? Well, if I'm going to be stuck inside today, I should make the place as roomy as possible.

I started folding. And muttering. The cover is not only large, it was also stiff from the low temperature. Totally uncooperative. But I fought it and the urge to toss it outside and wave "Adiós, mi amigo terco. Tener una vida feliz en Baja." I eventually won and now the cover is in its designated spot next to the refrigerator. And I'm in my designated spot in front of the computer, as the Rolling Steel Tent rocks in the wind.

Tengan una vida feliz, mis amigos.