Christmas chaos...........

This year for Christmas we had a houseful.

Our youngest son Louie, his girlfriend Dominique and their brand new baby boy, Arlo came to visit.

There were 5 adults, 4 cats, 3 dogs, 2 bathrooms and 1 brand new baby boy!!!!

Whew..........
What an overload.

But it's been so much fun!! I get to snuggle with Arlo all the time.

Changing diapers, fixing bottles........it's been so many years since I've had to do any of this.

My kitchen is clutter, my living room is buried under baby clothing and gear......and I'm totally having a blast. 

The bad part is......the kids have to leave Friday to head home and my daughter will be moving back to Idaho to finish school.

Our home will be back to 2 adults and 2 cats at that point.

Summer's just a memory.........

It's hard to believe, but we are just a week and half away from Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner.

Where the heck did the long days of summer go?

I guess we are lucky.......even tho it's getting cold at night, we still have no snow.

Yet!!!

So....with the colder nights and days, hubby decided it was time to do some R.V. winterization on our pretty little Arctic Fox.

Get it all ready for winter. That's what we did last weekend. Cleaned out the foodstuff inside, and drained the hot water heater, and water tank before flushing some r.v. anti freeze thru the lines.

Now, we'll just have to wait until spring.

Again!!!

Cold Days........Hot Chili!!!

With the days starting to dip down into the 30's and 40's, I start thinking of hot,yummy meals. Stew's, soup's and of course chili.

 I have to admit that I just have problems making a great pot of chili.

I've tried oodles of recipes, spices and suggestions from friends and family. I just couldn't put the right flavor together for my chili.

I like a lot of flavor with just a hint of heat. Just couldn't get it right.

Until my daughter in law introduced me to Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce.

WOW!!! WHO KNEW??

I cooked up a pot of beans and added a couple of chipotle peppers, ground beef and some tomato sauce.

 It was just the right flavor. Kinda smokey, a little bit of heat and full of flavor.

You can bet this is going into my camp meals recipes.

Here kitty kitty......

Right now we have a multitude of cats in the house.

When my daughter moved back home, she brought with her, 3 cats with distinct personalities and presence. 

Hubby and I have 2 cats with very strong personalities also.

Needless to say, there was and still is hostilities. We have managed around the hostilities by separating the cats for the most part.

One of our cats has an outdoor soul.

We  had built him an enclosure, where he spends most of his days. On the off day he comes inside for a visit...there is a lot of growling and teeth showing!!!

When my daughter brought home her first cat....years ago.....the cat, Jasmine conflicted right off with our older cat, Mo.

No love lost there. So, we keep them absolutely separated.

Have you heard of anyone camping with cats?

My daughter used to take her Jasmine cat camping. She would put a harness and leash on Jasmine and than tie a heavy stick to the end sorta "anchoring" Jasmine.

It was so funny to watch.

We are currently on a countdown until our daughter moves back out in December. At that time, our cats will be able to have "their" house back and our daughter and her cats will have their own place once again.

Wiggle, Wiggle little Worm!!!

Wiggle, Wiggle little Worm on the end of my hook. Down, down, into the water you go......

Wiggle, wiggle and wiggle some more............SNAP goes the trout.......

 Yummmm....

 Fried up and served with some pancakes for breakfast.

Well, hopefully anyways.

Hubby and I are loading the fishing poles up and heading out to a small unknown creek that will hopefully have a handful or two of some sweet tasting brookies.

Living in Nevada does not give one an abundance of fishing spots. 

Especially if you actually want to eat the fish.

Most of the places around here that offer fishing, also offer mercury,arsenic and other fun stuff in the fish(past mining operations).


Both hubby and myself started fishing when we were youngun's.

We had so much fun, that when our kid's came along, we went out and bought some fishing poles for kids and started them fishing.

Although, the only one who actually owns a fishing pole today is our daughter. Both of our sons kinda veered from that family tradition.

Oh, the wheels on the bus.......

 The wheels on the bus go round and round.......

Is it stuck in your head now??

Why is it, most kids songs end up being repetitious?

Then you get the blasted tune stuck in your head and it's down hill from there.


You'll be shopping the produce aisle, belting out "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly........"

or wandering down a Wal-Mart craft aisle singing under your breath........."On top of Spaghetti....."

Not that I'VE  personally done any of these.....





Do you know any  kids campfire songs that will get stuck up in the gray matter??

Maybe just keep going around and around and around...............

Teardrop Trailers.......

I'm sure you've seen these light camping trailers being towed down the road.

They might be tiny, but they are very impressionable.

Basically, you've got room for sleeping and some storage area.

Some of the teardrop trailers also have an area in the back for cooking........

Teardrop trailers first became popular  in the 1930s, when magazines such as Mechanics Illustrated published plans. 

The first teardrops were designed around the idea of using standard 4 by 8-foot sheets of plywood with hardwood spars. 

Teardrop trailers remained popular until the mid 1960s after which they disappeared from mainstream camping.

However, in the late 1990s, plans became available on the internet and in recent years teardrop trailers have made a resurgence and are again growing in popularity.(Wikipedia)


I'm just trying to picture myself and all I feel is "necessary" when camping stuffed into this little trailer.

I think I would need another trailer for all my stuff!!!

Just think, when you see one of these rolling down the highways, it's almost like looking at a piece of history.

Toasty,tasty Granola!!!

I started making my own granola cereal about a year or so ago.

Found the recipe on line (the internet is so handy for stuff like that). 

The granola jar was totally empty and hubby was making noises about no granola for his breakfast.........

So, took a few minutes yesterday to make some.

Oats, peanut butter, honey.................

dried cranberries,sliced almonds and some pumpkin seeds.........

Yummmm............

I've even added this recipe to my food ideas for camping. It's so handy, just throw in a baggie for some trail mix to take on a hike or bike ride.

Wireless on The Go!!

This past June, hubby and I bought ourselves a laptop and signed up for Mobile wifi Verizon.

Well, it's actually called a MiFi, but not everyone knows what that is. If I say WiFi, then they seem to know what I'm talking about.

We've taken our laptop and Verizon MiFi to the coast on vacation, Antelope hunting and visiting folks back home. As long as we get cell phone reception, we will also be able to long onto the internet.

Which, in means of keeping up with our blog posts is -HUGE!!!

We also can stay in touch with the kids via Facebook or Skype.

Are you a TRUCK Person?

I'm curious........

How many gals out there would rather drive a pick up truck than a car?

I grew up driving trucks. The first one was an old International crew cab my dad called the "Crummy". I'm not even sure how old it was.

What I do remember is when you put it in 4 w.d. low, that rig would crawl over anything in it's path!!!

So, it went from there.

Than hubby and I got married and he brought to the marriage a pretty little short bed Ford 4 w.d. I've been driving a truck ever since.

Right now we have a Dodge Ram that's 15 years old with 200,000 miles on it. Yea, it's getting old and we keep asking ourselves"when to buy a new truck"?

I've thought about getting a small economy car, but I know I would miss driving my truck. When I have to drive into Reno, I feel so much safer sitting in my Dodge Ram than I would in some small economy car.

So, what's your preference?

Would you rather drive a small economy car or a truck?

Yurts, Yurts, Yurts!!!

Sounds like a foreign language!

What the heck is an Yurt?

If you have more than one Yurt, do you than have a herd of Yurts??



Actually, a Yurt is a tent crossed with a cabin, sorta. If you spend any time at State Parks in Oregon, you will see an Yurt.



On our latest camping trip, we stayed at two Oregon State Parks and each park had about 6 Yurt campsites.

And, each Yurt was in use.

These little structures are quickly becoming popular with the camping crowd.



All you need is your camping gear, no tent-no R.V.!!! I think I'll still keep our pretty little Arctic Fox. All the comfies of home!

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!!

Cooking in my pretty little Arctic Fox!!!

I believe that with age, surely must come a little wisdom.  Right?? Maybe??




I think I might be getting to that point. I had prepped most of the meals "before" hubby and I took off on our road trip last week.

Now we have time to stop and smell the flowers

 Some roasted chicken, a Burgundy Beef Stew and a roasted pork loin. All cooked, wrapped up and frozen.



When it came time to fix dinner, didn't take much to whip up some simple camping meals.

Sand and surf

Jerry and I spent part of a week  in Lincoln City doing some Oregon coast camping.

We got there Sunday night and spent 4 nights there.

After the wicked heat we've been having in Nevada, the cool days on the coast was welcomed with open arms.

The beach was just a short walk away from our little Arctic Fox.


Spent some time down on the beach, walking and looking for some pretty stones to bring home.



Managed to get some sand between our toes also.!!!

Road trip to the Coast

All hooked up and ready to roll

Valley of the Rogue River State Park

Just a quick few words. Jerry and I loaded up our little Arctic Fox and hit the road.

We left Fernley headed up to Lincoln City, Oregon. Looking for a some nice places to camp in Oregon.

We did not want to spend umpteen hours on the road, so we just planned on finding some nice shady and COOL campground to spend the night in.

Boy, did we find one.

Valley of the Rogue River State Park. Nice and cool, shady with wild blackberries growing along the walk.......yummm!!!!


Talk to you all soon

Ojos de Dios..........

Cruising around the internet, looking for images of some God's Eye projects, for  a post I was writing.....Camping Craft Ideas for Kids.
And I found this really neat website-Jay Mohler's Ojos de Dios.

He makes some gorgeous God's Eye creations.

I always thought kid crafts when thinking about God's Eye.

But after seeing some of the stuff this guy creates, I'm gonna have to rethink that. Can you imagine the time and talent it takes to make one of these??

I thought about trying to make one of these, but I'm not sure there's enough beer out there!!!

Tires,Tires,Tires,

The hubby and I are planning a trip up the coast of Oregon. (I see seafood in my near future).


Anyway's..... hubby decided we needed new tires on our pretty little Arctic Fox. I couldn't really argue with him, since last year when we went to Lakeview, Oregon, we had to change one of the tires, it was starting to separate.

But........holy moly!!!!!

The cost of four new tires, plus they repacked the bearings.....hang on to your hats.........821. and change!!

OUCH!!!

But, if you're gonna be towing r.v. trailers, you DON'T want a tire to blow out.

At least that's what hubby says, and since he drives truck and he's seen trailers with blown out tires......... well, let's just say it's not a situation we want to encounter.

 More about our trip later.....

Flowers in the Sun

 I've been busy planting some bright, happy looking flowers....................

 A few Sunflowers........

Some Marigolds......

and my favorites- Moss Roses...........

Okay, so I've been browsing the internet for some new and different recipes to play with.

Especially some quick and easy camp meal recipes. 

And look what I found.............I haven't tried this one.....YET!!!!!!!!!

Hubby and I are planning on hooking up to our pretty little Arctic Fox and puttering on up to Oregon next week.

Guess what we are going to have for dessert one night.....or two.

 CHOCO RASPBERRY BURRITOS

 Ingredients:
4 8-9" flour tortillas
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 
How to Prepare: This is a recipe that kids can help you make.

At home, mix sugar and cinnamon and store in a zip-lock baggie. Don't forget to bring it with you camping.

At the campsite, stack the tortillas and wrap in a piece of foil; grill over indirect (med-low) heat, turning once, for about 5 minutes until they are warm and pliable.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup each of the chocolate chips and raspberries in the center of each tortilla; fold in the sides and roll up (like a typical burrito). Brush rolls with half of the melted butter. Grill burritos over indirect (med-low)heat, turning once, for about 3 minutes, until they start to show grill marks and the chocolate chips are melted.

Remove from heat and brush with remaining butter. Sprinkle with stored sugar and cinnamon mixture. Serve warm.

*These can be made at home on the grill too. They are great with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Kids love them!   Sent by: Evan Schmitt Date: 2003-07-21
This recipe was found on the blog”http://www.camprecipes.com/recipe-Choco-Raspberry-Burritos-119”







So, what do you all think???  I'm thinking of adding some  Mascarpone.  Wonder how that will grill up with the raspberry's and chocolate??

  Pictures, oohs and ahhs to follow........       

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Where to go, where to go?

Planning a camping trip this weekend and can't make up our minds. Let's see, there's Logger Campground (a favorite of mine), but it can get a little busy this time of year.

Than there is Eagle Lake, hmmmmm........choices choice!!

Than, there's also Ft.Churchill, a State Park of Nevada.........Lot's to see and do there. I'm gonna have to figure it out soon, will be leaving tomorrow!!!!!

A Favorite Camping Site

Jerry and I have a handful of favorite camping sites that are fairly close by.

For a get away week-end, without traveling half the day we really like camping at Eagle Lake Campground. It's one of our favorites and one of the best camping sites in California.

Another favorite spot of ours is Stampede Reservoir and Logger Campground, just outside of Truckee,California. 

If it's hot down here in Fernley, by the time we get up to either campground, we can be sure it's nice and cooler.

Has anyone used one of these?

 I've been doing some research on tents, and found the Coleman Instant Tent.

This is something that looks too good to be true. 

I've read some mixed reviews about them, and was wondering if anyone out there has actually used one.

The advertisement claims that this tent can be put up in less than a minute.

RIGHT!!!!

I'm not from the "show me" state of Missouri...........but I would have to have someone show me this going up in less than a minute!!!

Camping

Okay, it's summer, so who's packed their r.v. and went for a camping trip?

I have to confess, we've been so busy this summer that we haven't had a chance to do any camping. Every weekend we've been busy around the house.

But, next week-end we are planning a three day trip to do some tent camping. And the last week of August we are taking a trip to the coast of Oregon for a week.

Gonna just park our pretty little Arctic Fox and relax. Of course, like I've said before, Jerry will do the driving and setting up the trailer. I've watched him lot's of time set up the trailer, but still am not 100% sure on how to level an R.V.

That's why we work so great as a team. He does all the outside setting up and I do all the inside setting up!!Works great, and I see no sense in messing with the dynamics!!

Kids crafts

I was browsing thru the internet and found this summer crafts for kids.

This looks like so much fun!!! I'm always looking for new things to try, so think I might try this one. Our lady's night craft meeting would be the perfect time to try this.

Who out there  has tried this craft?

Quick and Easy Summer Crafts

By Editors of Kaboose.com 

Sand Casted Starfish

If you've tried this fun and easy kids crafts for summer-let me know!

Summer Sun

I've been doing some research on sun protective clothes for camping, that has an UV coating.

I guess. I've had a hard time finding a site that explains "HOW" UV coated fabric is made.

Some of the of the info I can find, say's that just wearing a tight weaved dark colored clothing, will almost work as good as the UV coated clothing.

Who out there wears UV protective clothing?

Since we live in Nevada, I take some precautions when I'm gonna be outside for more than an hour or so.  A large brimmed hat, sunblock or longsleeved shirt completes the whole ensemble.

A few years ago, my hubby and myself re-shingled our roof (took us a week, a very long week). Between the hat and sunblock, not once did I get sunburned. And, this was in the last week of June.

Emergency Stoves

Maybe I'm just a little slow some days.

But, how many people out there have a camping stove in their hall closet for emergencies? I've been doing some research on stoves for camping, and some of the reviews I've read have people buying stoves to keep on hand in case of an emergency.

Maybe it's because we live in a part of the country that (so far anyway) we've had little call for an emergency cook stove. I just never gave that much thought. Also, we have a natural gas cook stove anyways. If the power goes out, we can still use a lighter to light the flame.

Just my thinking for the morning!!! Hope everyone has a safe and cool weekend.

Cooking with kids

So, my question is- who all out there is teaching, has taught or will be teaching their kids how to cook? We started teaching our kids how to cook (and clean the kitchen) as soon as they could stand on a stool and reach the counter. All my kids knew how to fix several easy kid recipes, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I never really thought too much about this, until my kids started growing up and hanging out with other kids. Than I found out, not all parents teach their kids how to cook.

Why is that?

When my oldest son got married, his wife was flabbergasted that HE knew how to cook!! They even called me so I could talk to  her and tell her that YES, my sons and daughter all know how to cook.

 In today's enviroment, it's so important that ALL kids know how to cook basic, healthy meals. They should even be taught how to "economize" on their meals. I know,I know.... not many people recognize or even know the meaning of the word. More's the pity!!

Here's an easy kid recipe for breakfast-

Try it out- see if you like it??

Dreaming of a Fox

No,no, no!!! 

Not that kind of fox. He is kinda cute tho.............

What I'm talking about is a  pretty little Arctic Fox slide in camper. Hubby and I have been looking at them on the computer. Researching for my "other"blog,  Family Camping Memories.


 I'm not sure at this time that we really need a pickup camper for trucks.

Our pretty little Fox!!!

We actually own a Arctic Fox 5th wheel that I absolutely adore.


We also have an older travel trailer we use when mucking about in the far back country and don't want to drag the 5th wheel out.

And......we also have all our tenting gear.
So,do we need another camper??????

The interior of the Arctic Fox camper.

But it's just so pretty!!!!!!!!!!!

Pinwheel Pink Afghan

One of my projects.......a baby afghan done with the pinwheel design. I'm getting really excited about it now that I can actually start seeing how it's gonna look.

Pink Pinwheel Baby Afghan

 It's kinda messy looking right now, but you kinda get the idea where it's headed. Need to make 3 more panels like this and than I'll be done.

I'm gonna have to really step it up tho. The little girl is due next month!!! Making these little grannie squares doesn't take that long, I just have to do it!!! I get sidetracked to easy sometimes.