Verde Antique Marble

I love the color of this apple green marble set in patinated silver. I got a little experimental with the second stone and inset a pretty blue topaz, then made the silver pin. The piece is now convertible from pendant to brooch. How very clever of me!

To Warm Springs Wilderness

Weather is improving. Yesterday was warm enough to bring out a snake -- a garter or striped-whipsnake. Warmer weather also means I can start working with clay and cutting rocks again, but I won't have much time. We'll be heading north next month.

Material for stone cutting

Clay dog

Three Women

Stones and copper

Farewell to the DogMover

Our beautiful red Eurovan will be handed off to a new owner tomorrow.


I feel sad to see my reliable old friend go. So many memories traveling with the dogs.




Maybe I will replace it with a red scooter and side car, like this!

We have a door!

Finally. The closet can now be closed. I didn't like looking at that dark gaping hole. Bob did a good job building the hardware using instructions found here: DIY barn door hardware  We didn't find quite the same hardware they used but made do with what was available. It was tricky finding a solid spot to put the bolts in the hollow core door. There is a shallow frame in it that was wide enough for them but limited the placement of the brackets. A solid door would allow them to be placed further in from the edges. Very pleased with it anyway. It rolls smoothly with no tendency to wobble. There are two little wheels attached to the back of the door that roll handily in a groove in the floor trim to keep the door from hitting the wall. A couple of bolts still need painting, and while doing that we plan to lower the door an inch so the gap under it isn't so big and the track will be visible above the door. This is a neat space saving option when you can't install a pocket door.

Quartzsite and the Gibraltar Mountain Wilderness

Quartzsite was kind of a dud. I was looking forward to lots of rock and tool vendors but most of them were at the big shows in Tucson so we didn't have much to see. I picked up just a few samples to work with if it ever warms up here. After spending a few days in the glorious 70's it was not fun to return to a chilly 52. 

We set up the Chalet in the a far corner of the BLM free camping area on Plomosa Rd, about five miles north of Quartzsite. The camping strip is three miles long by half a mile wide and other campers were spaced out so privacy wasn't an issue. As you can see, we had no neighbors at all in our corner so there were no problems with the dogs running and making noise. A large pack of coyotes serenaded at night and next day the camp host told us they were dangerous so we should keep the dogs close... a spelunker had been sent into a cave nearby where he found seventeen dog collars. Hmmm. Right. OK then, time to move on.

The lone Chalet

Sonoran Desert with towering saguaro cactus and palo verde trees.  

A small fruiting pincushion cactus

Quartzsite is a tent city this time of year. Vendor booths line the main roads, RVs and trailers are everywhere. It's a little like a dingy carnival. Everyone looks like they've been in the desert without running water for awhile, brown skinned, scruffy, covered with dust. We fit right in. (No pictures of the town. I just wasn't inspired to snap a picture.)

There wasn't much left to see by early afternoon, so we headed back to Plomosa, broke camp and moved on. Plomosa Road to Bouse goes through the mountains with some nice scenery. Different from the surrounding flatlands, anyway.

Plomosa Road pass

There are lots of campers on the Bouse side of the pass, too. I wonder how many people are living in RVs these days. It's possible to survive on practically nothing out here. Bouse is even smaller than Quartzsite. Didn't appear to be anything of interest. Blew on through headed for the Gibraltar Mountain Wilderness. Set up camp in a wash in the shade of some tall trees with plenty of time for a hike left.

Hiking with the dogs

Our campsite (white spot in upper left quardrant). Very private!

Morning was warm and sunny, birds were singing. I would have liked to stay and explore the Bill Williams River and Swansea mining area but we had things to get back home to. Next trip.

The wash, park-like with new spring growth, birds singing.

A video scene:

Lunch in the mountains

We took lunch in the mountains to watch a pair of big horn sheep that have been in the area, then I walked the dogs to the unnamed springs for a swim. Bob stayed at the Rhino to watch the sheep and, lucky duck, saw a bit of courtship and mounting! We've been hoping another ram might come along and really make things interesting, but they seem to have the area to themselves. (Enlarge the picture for a better view.)

Tux

Tux

Our girl with the big desert-tough paws. She's not into mugging for the camera and I never manage to get a good picture of her.

Below, clay works. I am planning to single fire this load of sculpting clay so am applying glazes in the leather hard stage.

For the garden, cactus in bloom

Wall art

Below: A fold-formed copper heart that has been textured and flame painted. 

Pendant

Hungry Guests

Last week we had a visit from the horses of the Oatman Stables. One of them is able to open their pen gate and they get out pretty frequently. This was the first time they explored our side of the highway. What a wild bunch they are. We've been warned to keep our distance when they get out, but it was a delight to see the herd kicking up their heels outside our windows. 

This morning the town burros managed to open our front gate while I was showering. I found the lot of them eating fallen mesquite leaves in the yard when I came downstairs. Hooper was keeping them safely in the front yard, thank goodness. They can do a lot of damage unsupervised.

Stormy Weather

Hoopie

Plastics implicated in salmon decline

Bad news in an ADN story today. An environmental analytic chemist who teaches at UAA has found that phthalates released from plastics in the marine environment may be affecting the survival of juvenile salmon. Phthalates are added to plastics to make them flexible but are easily released into the environment, like when drinking out of plastic water bottles. They are ubiquitous in our environment. The oceans are full of degraded plastics. A 2000 CDC study found every single person in the study tested positive for phthalates. So why do we care? Phthalates can disrupt hormones and cause genital defects, breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes... kind of nasty stuff.

So this UAA research was conducted on trout, which are genetically similar to salmon. Long story short, ocean debris, including plastics, is pushed more than a mile inland to a small pond on the Kenai Peninsula where the trout in testing are located. The water there is highly polluted with small bits of plastics. It's been found that DHEP, one of six phthalates being studied, is interfering with cell division in trout immune systems leaving them vulnerable to disease, and could be implicated in the decimation of salmon runs. This is some pretty hot research right now when Alaskans are wondering why so many runs are in disastrous decline.

Still kickin'

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