DAWNING LIFE AND NEW FRIENDS

Behind Squaw mountain the lingering sun ignites and warms with it's horizontal golden light the western slope of jasper and agate.  These rock nuggets have been nursing and storing heat and will  warm the little creatures that live within the weathered clefts well into the night.  Shaded by this mountain with the afternoon breeze brushing against my skin, I become chilled through in minutes.  January’s waning moon is rising in the eastern sky and since I’m the known fire-starter of  creatures large and small, hereabouts, will be warmed not with sun drenched rocks but by campfire.

Tough work here in the desert bringing in the firewood.

Regeneration of the desert grasshopper.  I think these are the pallidwinged variety.

    

Side-blotched (or Blue Backed) Lizard, seemingly the most common.  Approx. 8 in. long.

             Painted Lady Butterfly.  The only butterfly seen around here~~by me anyway, the others, if any, are illusive.

We’ve made friends here with two ladies, Parnel and Maddi, Jim (camera shy) and six dogs.  Four campers, including ours, in a compound of four-hundred sq yards, a sort of mobile suburb of Earp, CA

Time was marked here for the better part of two weeks and now it’s time to sip reality and travel north to the big city of Lake Havasu, AZ and the friendly Walgreens Drug Store.  Better living through chemistry, eh?

500 MILES OF PICTURES (Tucson to Earp)

New Year’s eve Jackie and I sat around a lava-rock fire ring as the sun dipped behind the western mountains wondering where all these many years have sped off to.  No going back, except in memory.  Hope I am able to keep that part of me working for a while longer. Earp, California, dry camping on BLM land. 

Here’s a bunch of pictures that I’ve meant to organize with some sort of story line but instead I’ve let  pile into an unsorted mess. So here they are, hoping their stand-alone posture is view worthy.

      My New Year’s resolution, “Keep blog updated.” 

$2.87 for regular, I'd say, "Not too shabby."  Tucson, AZ.   12-22-12

Friendly reminder at the Interstate rest stop east of Yuma, AZ.

Dateland Express.  Music to sleep by.

Real dates on a real Date tree in Dateland, AZ.

Bonnie and Dorris studying the map for new camping locations Christmas Eve.

Sidewinder sunset. North of Ogilby, CA

Sidewinder moon.  North of Ogilby, CA

Jackie's gourmet breakfast.  Okra, broccoli, soy hotdogs, and rice...COLD!....straight from the fridge.  I'm sure there is some sort of violation to the senses here but perfectly normal and scrumptious to Jackie.

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

Curlew, Long-billed.

Verdin

 Audubon's Warbler

White tailed Antelope Squirrel.  (Look close, he's there.)

This morning, sitting in the warmth of the rig, comfortable in the complete silence of the desert the camera reaches a dozen miles across the Colorado River into the sleeping town of Parker, AZ.  Of all the places we've been able to travel in the past four years, this is our home away from home.   Happy New Year.