#18 Quartzsite 2014

God Bless Quartzsite, Arizona

We were in Quartzsite from the end of December to February 27, 2014. Quartzsite is a no-high-heels-flip-flops-are-dress-shoes-kind-of-place. We girls had to kind of sit around while THEY went to all the shows and to the bookstore. It all starts in October and goes through February but the REALLY peak weekend is when the big tent goes up.  That's when THEY said they wished Ang and Renee and Rhea could have come. The vendors sell everything here from rocks (which is how it all got started) to fine art and everything in between. Of course for HER it is like bead heaven. SHE makes some jewelry stuff. She even made US necklaces. Sigh.

Here are a few pictures they took of some of the shows and vendors.

 

This is the BIG tent. SHE doesn't take very good pictures does she? 

 

Rocks are everywhere

This is Beer Belly's outside bar at Tyson Wells

We camped right by these rock sculptures. Someone put in a lot of time doing these. People came to look at them and take pictures. We couldn't walk there but we wanted to get close to the gecko.

Stew took this from the roof of the doghouse

 

We think this is a turtle

 

We think this is a gecko

And here is a mosaic fire ring

We had some really nice sunsets and some days we all sat outside to watch.

 

 

 

 

One night we even watched the moon come up

Now we girls are always on "hi" alert. We just never know when we might run across a two-legged or four-legged we can say hello to. Here's a couple of our cousins we would have said hi to if THEY allowed us to go to the shows once in awhile. 

 

Quartzsite is quirky but a lot of fun.

This was in one of the little markets here. We sure would have liked to see that in person.

Simplify is a key word in Quartzsite

 

 

And this was by one of our campsites

 

We think this is kind of quirky. We've never seen a combination of a cafe, eatery and restaurant much less one attached to a laundromat. There's our mini doghouse parked there while they did their laundry. We girls don't have to worry about laundry but we do worry about theirs.  

We even had an ultralight do a flyover right over our doghouse.

 

 

THEY saw this amethyst butterfly at one of the shows

 

 







THE BOOKSTORE

THEY saw a Ram that said No Bull at the bookstore. Well, OK.

 

This is Pepper at the bookstore THEY go to.

But WE don't get to go. Sigh

 

This is Dick and KD Johnson. She is an author, too.

They are from Alaska

This is Sandra Bernsen. She wrote a book

about her life story and she just published a cookbook.

 

This is Joe Gerard another author, and

Sandra's husband, Rick

 

 

 

This is Stu Campbell and he has written

seven books.

THEY would go to the bookstore to sell the "Dear Sergeant Honey" book and try to sell some of HER jewelry. They have fun so we just patiently wait for them to come home.

 

Now we are at Pancho Villa State Park in New Mexico. We'll bark at you later.

Love Roxy and Abby XOXO

# 17 Watching the cows

Roxy

Abby

We girls realized after our afternoon nap today that it has been a few months since we let you know what is going on with us and we know you want to know. We all were in Kingman, AZ for part of September, all of October, all of November and  part of December. Stew was working at Uncle Don's winery and we got to keep an eye on the cows.

Now you may be wondering about us keeping an eye on cows.

 

 

This was one of the "cows" we had to keep an eye on. We thought it was just a bunch of bull.  Ceil took this picture right across from the fence where our dog house is parked. We could seen him out our window and told her so she took a picture for us. There are a lot of houses out here but this is "open range". That means the cows can wander around here and it is the job of the homeowners to keep them out. The winery has a fence around it but sometimes the gate is open for customers. Our job was to watch and make sure they didn't come in.

 

 

 

Here is another cow. There are about fifteen of them that wander around outside the fence so we are always on the alert. It's pretty crazy and it sure gives us a workout. Sometimes Don and Stew go chasing them when they get really close to getting in. They sure have fun running them off.

 

 

They like to mosey around right on the other side of this fence. The mountains are really pretty, too.

 

Every Sunday at the winery there is music and appetizers. They are open other days too for wine tasting. You gotta go there. You might even see us there.

 

Of course THEY get to go to this Sunday stuff. Sheesh, you'd think we are animals or something.

They have a beautiful outdoor fireplace and people go out there. They all pull tables around the fire and sit there until after they close. We can hear them over in our dog house just having a good old time and here we sit. THEY do come and check up on us and walk us and give us treats but we know how to pout real good. Sigh.

One day Uncle Don got this idea about a wine bottle tree. He sketched it out on a piece of paper and had it made. They had a grand event to initiate the wine bottle tree and people brought bottles to put on the tree. Here THEY are standing by the tree. That jacket SHE has on will sure wake you up in the morning.

Here is a picture of the wine tasting bar. They were working on the wine tree and getting things ready for an event. Not that we get to go in there. We have looked in the doors though.

They had good times with friends there. They would leave us and go over to Ang and Bill's for dinner and we had to stay in our doghouse. But Ang always sent goodies for us.

There are some awesome sunsets here, too.

We just got told we are barking up the wrong tree. We have to go find the right one.

XOXO Roxy & Abby P.S. We are in Quartzsite, AZ now and we'll update you soon.

 





# 16 Retired Tires and a Mayonnaise Cannon

We saw this at Storrie Lake. We want one.

For some reason THEY decided to go back to Storrie Lake after Heron Lake. It was probably a good thing because we had a tire blow out on the way. We girls didn't know what the noise was but then we found out. An inside tire decided to retire on our doghouse. It messed up the mud flap and had it all turned the wrong way. Stew had to saw it off with one of his tools on the side of the freeway and we drove on the messed up tire for about 13 miles to get to Storrie Lake but we still had five tires. We got four new tires in Las Vegas, NM and stayed at Storrie Lake until August 29 when we went to Elephant Butte Lake State Park.

Elephant Butte is named for an ancient volcano which is now an island in the lake, shaped like an elephant. We tried to recognize it but we think there was some ancient elixir that made someone think it looked like an elephant. It is a BIG park with lots of campgrounds. It is the biggest lake in New Mexico. People were still boating on the lake but it was way down.

Sunset at Elephant Butte

One day there was a hot air balloon launch for Elephant Butte Days. People think dogs can't see colors but this was our favorite balloon.

On another day we were taking our mid-morning nap before our lunch nap but after our morning nap. We heard something drop on the floor and were surprised to see stuff flying onto our bed. Well, SHE dropped a jar of mayonnaise and it went EVERYWHERE. Now we are in a small space so when we say everywhere we mean everywhere. It did polish up the cabinets, though. We had never seen a mayonnaise cannon before but we were sure impressed.

We've heard a lot about drones lately. We actually got to see one in person. This is a special drone called a camping drone. As you can see it is more rustic than a regular drone so as to blend in with its surroundings. We watched it watching us but got tired of it and went home for a nap.

Now we are at Uncle Don's winery in Kingman, AZ. We're gonna help do all kinds of stuff here by staying out of the way and taking lots of naps. XOXO Roxy and Abby