February 29 thru March 7, 2016 Friends and Rocks and Beads

Another great week in warm sunny Yuma…  (And I am updating another blog – YAHOO!)

This week’s highlights:

Rock and Gems..

Tuesday was the Yuma Gem and Mineral Club Meeting where we learned about Dendrochronology (how about that word!). It is the study of time using tree rings.  Mo, our geologist, taught us about the history of tree ring dating and how the time lines are built – very interesting.

On Friday we had our Rock Club Outing to Bouse, AZ.  We were mainly looking for red jasper and we found some nice pieces.

The site was a little south of Bouse and about one mile in on a dirt road.  We had a beautiful day for a ride:

Once we parked, Mo showed us what to look for and we all scattered in different directions – Andy heading back to the car with some of our treasures.

Searching for treasures – notice how green the desert is becoming:

Shrubs are flowering:

And every so often a little flower peeks up between the rocks:

A brilliant red flower on a cactus:

And a brilliant white flower:

What a great time.  We met a few folks as we all sat down to lunch and shared our findings.

After soaking and cleaning, here are some of our treasures:

Jasper and Quartz:

Even found part of a desert rose:

For us, it is the last outing of the season – looking forward to learning and exploring more next season.

On Monday, I went to beading at our park and on Wednesday, I went to Bonita Mesa for beading – great to see everyone.  However, the project I had been working on, had to be ripped out a few times so now I am back to the drawing board again. 

On Saturday, I took a class with Judy at Jan’s Bead Addiction using Tila and Half-Tila Beads.  There are so many new shapes out there and I decided that I was not going to buy any of them without a pattern (did pretty good too).  I will post when I am finished..

On Saturday, we met up with Leonard and Carol and had a wonderful time visiting both at our place and theirs and in between – dinner at the Amvets.  We met them last season in Casa Grande and our paths have crossed a few times this season but this was the first time we were able to sit down and get caught up.  Always good to see them.

There are wind and dust warnings for today.  As I started this blog and looked to the west, I could see all white from the horizon to about 1/3 the way up.  That was the dust storm on its way.  Now it is here, lots of wind, lots of dust, oh my.   We have all the windows shut, AC and air cleaner on.  Interesting!

And those are our highlights – looking forward to another great week.

Until then, enjoy today!

Yep, I am ready!!! 

January 1 thru 13, 2016 Fun Time in Yuma

Happy New Year to all.  We have been having a blast since I last blogged.

On the 4th and 5th, I took two classes in the park.  The first one was Making Embroidered Cards taught by Dan – I liked it and may try my hand at making more.  Of course I did a cat with beaded eyes – cute.  The second class was Zentangle taught by Barb – Fun but may need more lessons.  Talk about a small world, we met Barb and Dan many years ago in Alabama and then in Tennessee – great folks and it was good to get caught up with them.

On the 5th, Della and Bob invited Andy and me to the Yuma Gem and Mineral Club meeting.  What a great bunch of folks and the program was very interesting – about the Cocopah Indian Lands and their artifacts in this area.  As a result of learning new things and meeting such nice folks, we joined the club (Thank you Della and Bob).  So on Thursday, Andy and I took a Geology 101 course at the University.  The course was taught by Mo who is also the geologist for the club. So much stuff to learn about Minerals, Rocks, and Gems.  I am sure we will learn as we go along.

That same day we also got our permit for the Barry Goldwater Range so that on Saturday, 9th, we could go on the Rock Club Field Trip to the Fortuna Mine.

Here we are starting:

Before starting out we all had to call the Marine Corp Air Station and give them our permit numbers and where we were going.  After everyone was settled – off we went:

Beautiful areas of the desert:

The mine and townsite is about 10 miles from the Yuma Foothills.  We arrived and began looking for different types of rocks:

Lots of Trackers on the trip:

Those white veins are what we came for originally and sorry but I forgot to write down the correct name. 

There was a lot of quartz and we did get some nice pretty rocks.

In our travels over the past 9 years, we have collected different rocks from many different areas.  This past summer I started a little area in the yard to display them.  We may need to find out what some of these stones are when we get back.

There is a trail and many kiosks around the area and I would love to come back again to just do the history tour.

Did you read the above – 1100’ – that’s a LONG WAY DOWN.

We had lunch and then slowly made our way back to civilization:

It was a GREAT day – thank you Della and Bob, who were our mentors on the trip.  We look forward to many more trips.

I have also been beading with some of the ladies from Bead Week and from the Yuma beaders group – everyone is so talented that I hope it rubs off.

On Friday, there was a Boomers Ladies Luncheon.  It was so good to see some of the folks and hopefully our paths will cross again.  (I think I have been hibernating a little too long!)

We have also been touching base with the many folks coming thru the area on their way to Quartzsite – always good to see old friends.

Tomorrow we are heading to Blythe for the bluegrass festival so stay tuned and enjoy today.

March 24, 2014 Harquahala Mountain National Back Country Byway

Road Trip Day –

John planned a nice off road trip for us to the top of the Harquahala Mountain via the National Back Country Byway.  Harquahala Mountain is straight ahead in this picture:

After a quick stop at the trail head, we were off and running, well, riding.  Lots of saguaros:

And beautiful flowers:

The byway:

Sue driving:

All the girls were in one jeep and Susan drove – she did a great job.  Congratulations Susan – .   I was very comfortable with her driving and for those who know me as a passenger in any vehicle, that says a lot.

The road continues up the mountain:

Notice the red in the picture below – the ocotillos are blooming:

Yep, that is the road up to the top:

And the road from the top:

What INCREDIBLE VIEWS:

Isn’t this just amazing what can be done remotely:

Here is the observatory (we did not find more info at the top ):

Our crew: Andy, Geri, John, Bruce, Susan, and Mollie:

On our way back down:

Yikees:

On our way back to Congress we found this:

What a great trip.  We finished the evening by having dinner at Geri and John’s – Thank you.

Tomorrow starts my busy time with Bead Week so I may not be blogging until next month.

Until then, enjoy today –