Coasting in Bouse.

Location, Bouse, AZ

Greetings from Bouse, AZ.

The weather has returned to the usual Arizona winter weather of cold nights with warm days and wind. However, at the moment there is no wind.

I have been spending my days reading and visiting with Jack and Judy. In the evening I have been doing something I rarely do and that is watching some DVD’s Judy loaned me.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday and we will watch the game at Jack and Judy’s RV.

We do have another ATV ride scheduled for Tuesday. It will be a long ride requiring trailering the ATV’s to the area we want to explore. It is much easier to do that than riding all the way from here.

I have a few photos from last weeks ride. There were nine of us on that ride.

 

View from Picnic Point near Hope , AZ

Big show in Quartzsite is over.

Location, Bouse, AZ

The big show at Quartzsite is history for another year.

There still are vendors selling goods and junk but the RV show in the big tent is over.

Our camp grew daily until we had a total of seven RVs in the circle and another parked nearby. Everyone went their own way during the day but gathered for cocktail hour and after dinner around the campfire. By 9 PM most folks were in their RV’s for the night.

The weather was perfect this year. No wind with mostly sunny days and temperatures in the high 70’s to low 80’s. Nights were in the 40’s and 50’s.

I have moved on to stay with friends near Bouse, AZ. How long I will stay here remains to be seen. I hope to get in a few ATV rides but right now I am helping my friend with a project he has ongoing.

Here is a photo of the circle of RV’s.

Random Q photos.

Location, Quartzsite, AZ

Here are some random photos from today’s trip in to Quartzsite (Q).

First, two photos of our camp with 5 RV’s present with 3 more to come.

 

My RV

 

 

 

 

 

CES has ended.

Location, Las Vegas, NV

CES is over for 2014. I saw somewhere that 155,000 people attended. It could have been more and was undoubtedly the most exhibitors for any CES.

The 3 big things this year were the new and upcoming car technologies wireless charging, and 3D printing.

I think what you will hear most about is the car technologies as it will show up in car ads. Also, expect everything you buy within the next year or so to have a micro-chip embedded within it. It is coming folks.

I finished off yesterday by visiting some lesser areas of technology and by picking up lots of give-always. Some are mundane and some are very useful.

Here are a few random photos I took. 

A exotic booth display.

 

Curved TV.

 

A full function guitar rendered with 3D printing.

By the time we arrived back at our RV’s last night we were all beat. A few hours later we had revived enough to venture out for dinner. We are becoming jaded by the buffets as the food has gone downhill in recent years. We now are looking at the little cafes within the casinos to do our dining.

Fremont Street Experience on a Friday night is when all the “freaks” as I call them come out to play. These are all the people dressed in costumes trying to get a buck or two by posing for a photo with you. Last night in particular was the greatest number of those people I have ever seen on Fremont Street. This along with the numerous bands playing makes for a very loud and noisy environment.

Today we slept in and then did our usual tour of Harbor Freight, In-and-Out Burger, Bass Pro Shop as well as a few other stops.

Tomorrow we will fuel the vehicles and grocery shop in preparation for leaving for Quartzsite on Monday.

CES day 1.

Location, Las Vegas, NV

Greetings from Las Vegas where I am attending the Consumer Electronics Show also known as just CES.

Yesterday was the first of a 4 day show where industry tries to impress the world with the latest gadgets and inventions and entrepreneurs hope someone will like what the have to sell and pony up the big bucks to manufacture and market their baby.

Two items stood out for me yesterday. The Winbot and the robot BBQ grill cleaner.

The Winbot shown below adheres itself to the glass and systematically cleans the entire windows surface. The draw back is it needs to be moved from window to window. When asked by someone watching it clean about moving it from window to window the exhibitor said “that’s what wives are for”. I didn’t ask the price but expect it is not cheap.

The second Item was again a robot. This one cleaned your BBQ grill even it is still warm as long as there was no flame on. It uses a set of three brass brushes which rotate rapidly to clean the top of the grill. For heavy duty cleaning there is a set of stainless brushes which are extra. The unit operates for 4 hours on one battery charge and sells at the show for $89. Normal price is $109.

I was disappointed in the Health area as it was touted to be 40% larger than last year. It may have been larger but consisted mainly of knock offs of the Fitbit module and of all things, electronic cigarettes. The Fitbit captures all your movements during the day such as how many steps you take.

Christmas tasks winding down.

Location, At Home

The majority of the Christmas shopping is done. Packages have been mailed and received.

We will make tamales tomorrow. The pork is cooking in the crock pot today. It is a labor intensive job but they do taste good when we are done.

My root canal turned out just fine. I had 2 sessions with the endodontist for the root canal part. He managed to save the tooth. Later I went to my regular dentist to have the cap re-plugged where it had been drilled through for the root canal. I really had no pain through this whole process and feel very fortunate to have the tooth saved.

We will spend Christmas day with our niece Chelsea and family. I will cook a turkey the day before on the Weber kettle as usual for our Christmas dinner.

This spring we had the large Chinese Elm tree removed from our backyard. At the time the stump was also ground out. That process took two sessions with the grinder but in reality, a lot of large roots remained in the ground. Craig has been chopping, digging, and sawing more of the roots over the summer and fall as he feels like working on it.

He screened all the ground and removed rocks and more roots. A soil amendment was added and a ficus tree that has sat in a pot on our patio for years is now planted.

Chinese Elm

 Ficus

 I am sure this tree will also grow fairly large in the spot but by then I will be too old to care.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who may read this.

Not much happening.

Location, At Home

Clyda has done very well with physical therapy since her surgery. Other than resting and “icing” her knee frequently, she is walking and moving freely.

I, on the other hand have not gotten much done. I did put up the Christmas tree and decorations and put up the outdoor lights. Both the tree lights and the outdoor strings are experiencing “old age” as several bulbs have quit working on both. I bought a string of lights for the tree to cover the bottom branches where one string has quit. I left the old lights on and added the new over them. From a distance it is not really noticeable. I guess I need to bite the bullet and either replace the strings or buy a new tree next year.

I am having problems with a tooth and tomorrow I have the pleasure of having a root canal done. If the tooth is cracked too badly it will need to be removed and an implant put in its place. Oh the joys of old age!!!!

I’ll end with a sunset photo from my recent trip to Death Valley.