This day-after-Christmas post is a collection of random thoughts illustrated with a jumble of photos from one of my favorite boondocking areas — Poverty Flats and Sand Mine Mesa between Overton and Las Vegas, Nevada. Don’t let the unrelated-to-the-text-photos confuse you!
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Roger and Reggie at Sand Mine Mesa Camp
How was our first Christmas at our house in southern Arizona?
The best ever! Throughout the day I made quick checks on this blog and read your Christmas wishes for Reggie, Roger, and me.
If you know me at all, you know I enjoy being alone with my crew. I’m never lonely, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy people. With all you blogorinos “out there” coming “in here,” I was able to enjoy being alone while also enjoying your warmth and kindness.
Thank you.
And I didn’t even cook for you!
A reader wondered what we ate for Christmas dinner.
Well, I had a big baked potato with broccoli and cheese sauce. Not very exciting and certainly not elegant or festive, but exactly what I wanted.
I meant to accompany the potato with cranberry sauce but I forgot to buy a can. (I never was very good at the “domestic arts.”)
As for Reggie and Roger . . .
The boys got a taste of my scone at breakfast (beggars!), and a few bites of yesterday’s left-over chicken for dinner.
It was a good day of relaxation, reflection, and celebration of Jesus’ birth.
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Some powerful wind came through our property.
It’s the afternoon of Christmas Day when it arrives. I’m lounging in the sunshine out in our side yard. At first I hold position in the lounger, the board fence providing a delightful calm around me, while watching the pine boughs wave above.
I soon realize the strength of the wind elsewhere on the property.
I chase the stuff blown out of the patio area. The boys run for cover. Reg huddles at the patio door. Rog puts on a brave face, but I notice he doesn’t hesitate to dart inside when the patio door slides open.
One of the camp chairs somersaults across the yard.
Reminds me of the time I chased the same chair to the precipice of the cliff at Poverty Flats.
“Running toward the precipice — April 2017” is the post about that incident.
The wind disappears as suddenly as it appeared and all is calm by nightfall.
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Wednesday, December 26
Around 3;30 a.m. Roger jumps out of bed. He runs from one end of the house to the other, barking furiously, as if his fur is on fire.
Reggie, on the other hand, sits up to listen, but stays in the covers with me.
Eventually Roger is satisfied with his work and returns to bed.
“Good job, Rog.”
I’m all slept out so I slip out of bed and head to the kitchen to start the coffee.
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An overcast, dark and damp morning . . . .
The sun tries to break through and manages to glint off the neighbor’s metallic garlands around their Italian cypress trees. The bird feeder visitors are singing their usual, cheery songs, bless their itty-bitty hearts.
For the first time, I feel winter has arrived at our house.
It may go down into the 20s (F) in a few days, if the forecasters are right.
We may even have snow on Friday.
I’m excited about that!
I close this post with the last photo of Sand Mine Mesa boondock, taken in spring of 2017.
rvsue
NOTES:
Your product recommendations help me with this blog and also help your fellow readers. I invite you to enter comments and tell us why you recommend a product you purchased from Amazon.
Please give details and, if you know the ASIN number, that will make my job much easier. (You can find it on the product’s Amazon page under “Product Details.”) Thank you!
A reader recently placed an Amazon order for Emergen-C.
Fantastic!
That order reminds me to get more for myself as I only have two packets left. I gave a few packets to my neighbor when he stopped to wish me Merry Christmas while walking his dog.
I recommend Emergen-C 
If I’m going to get sick, which blessedly is rare for me, January historically is the month in which it is most likely to happen. This January I’m going to try to get in the habit of having a glass of Emergen-C daily. It comes in several flavors. So far I’ve tried tangerine and “super orange” and I like them both. Check it out for yourself! — Sue
Emergen-C (60 Count, Super Orange Flavor, 2 Month Supply) with 1000 mg Vitamin C, Caffeine Free
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RVSue and her canine crew is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
First?
YIPPEE FOR CYNTHIA! FIRST!
I still like Poverty Flats. I remember asking you something or other about Nevada when you posted about Poverty Flats before. It’s still gorgeous, at least to me.
I can adapt to wind, and sometimes it’s nice. I’ll admit to not liking snow any better than I ever did, but in Southern Arizona, it doesn’t stay long.
Lovely pics! If I ever got to travel, I don’t know if I’d take so many pics, but then I have no one to share them with, lol. Hope you have a Happy New Years Sue and all blogerino’s!
Snow for Christmas; how appropriate. I’m sure you will enjoy it for the short time it will last there.
Ha ha, notice that I was such a hurry to be first, I couldn’t even properly type my home town!! Anyway, now that I’ve gone back and read …..
I love the “throwback” photos – they remind me of going through an old photo album of places you’ve visited and people you’ve spent time with. It’s a little sad that with the advent of social media and digitized photos, people don’t seem to create physical photo albums anymore.
So glad you had a lovely Christmas filled with R&R cuddles and a yummy baked potato. I would have been happy with the broccoli and cheese sauce filling, although I probably would have thrown in a big ole dollop of sour cream too! We had a lovely Christmas Eve with the family – went to church and then lasagne and a Jesus birthday cake at our house. Yesterday, we went to their house for Christmas dinner. My son cooked pork loin on the BBQ and my DIL made a scrumptious chipotle cranberry sauce for it, roasted potatoes, and green beans. Apple pie for dessert. With some nice wine it was a wonderful dinner. The grandsons are old enough now (19 and 15) that we can really have some interesting, philosophical conversations at the dinner table. Although I miss having little ones around at Christmas, it is nice not to have to worry about food getting spilled on the floor and temper tantrums when someone gets overly tired.
We are having a lovely day here in So Cal – not a cloud in the sky and a crisp, cool 58 degrees. We had a decent rain Christmas morning so everything looks so clean and green! Well, I’m off to put a new battery in my bathroom scales – it went dead right before Thanksgiving and I figured “why bother?” fixing it over the holidays. I have an ominous feeling I’m going to be in for a nasty surprise when I step on that thing and see the truth in big ugly numbers!
Ha haha..put a smile on my face with your ‘bless their itty-bitty hearts…’ Do you think gnats have hearts? Just wondering. I was also wondering why you didn’t shut two fence gates? I have mine shut and locked from inside all the time for safety of me and dogs. They have a doggie door to back yard so they go out when they want.
My niece took myself and daughter out to movies and dinner a day before Christmas eve. We saw Mary Poppins and went to a BBQ restaurant. My niece was beside herself I didn’t eat enough because I ordered a loaded bake potato instead of BBQ ribs but that was exactly what I wanted….with sour cream on side. It was very filling but not overly.
Cynthia in San Clemente you have piqued my curiosity about the chipotle cranberry sauce in your comment. I made a cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries, granny green apples, marshmallows, sugar & whip cream. My kids love this…it’s sweet and tart.
RV Sue & crew merry Christmas & happy new year. Your new home must be kinda like boondocking in wide open spaces with conveniences…lounge in sun in back yard while listening to birds with itty-bitty hearts and a few steps away a shower, laundry room, kitchen, bedroom….aahhh what a life!
Hi Rita,
.
About the gates… I wrote about the gates which are interior gates separating the back yard from the front yard. The front gate, the main access, which is part of the chain-link fencing stays closed all the time
Wow snow in Arizona.. in the 60s here in SC… love the pictures here, scary about the coyote Reg and Roger would be an after dinner snack for a coyote… put shutting those gates on your to-do list. I made one of those flip signs like they make for dishwashers clean on one side dirty of the other. Except mine said back door locked/unlocked. It helped me remember and not have to go down there to see if I’d locked it over and over.
I love these photos, keeps my daydreams of traveling alive. We also had a very relaxing Christmas at home. I did a lot of holiday baking in Christmas Eve day for neighbors and made sausage, egg and hash brown casserole yesterday which I also share with the fire & rescue team down the street along with some biscuits.
We are supposed to get very strong winds here tomorrow expecting them to last for 24 hours, with gust between 40 -50 mph. They are also predicting rain & thunder storms with that later in the day.
Enjoy your day.
Hi, Sue – I hope this is where I’m supposed to leave comments about something I recommend your readers purchasing. I just placed my third order for these wonderful nonslip clothes hangers. The best thing about them is that they are shaped in such a way that they don’t leave shoulder dimples on even my flimsiest knits. I wear a lot of knits! Don’t you hate those pokies that most clothes hangers leave? These don’t do that! It’s physics or something. I am gradually replacing all my hangers with these. They’re the best! ASIN Number B017VF9YAS
Thank you very much, Suzette! Your recommendation is perfect! 🙂
Glad to hear you had a nice day, Sue!! Ours was simple and laid back too. An old friend called to chat for awhile with us, whom we had not talked to in some months, and then early afternoon we went over to daughter’s for awhile. She made some yummy homemade turkey and wild rice soup that we enjoyed and I had made a gluten free apple pie…which some of us enjoyed (heh, not the best crust…but healthy, and the grandson was super happy with it…so good enough!!) About dark we came home and did our usual stuff online. Heh, funny how much like my grandparents I have become…come dark, I just want to go home!! Hubby too. Guess it is what age does maybe? Sure hoping and praying that 2019 will be a better year for all of us!!! Wishing that for all the blogerinos!!
Hi, Sue,
Sounds like you and the boys had a perfect Christmas Day! 🙂 Thank you for sharing the throwback pictures; I enjoyed the memories of those camps. 🙂
Gracie and I are recovering from hosting Christmas dinner. It was wonderful to catch up with family, especially my “little peanuts.” They just discovered their fingers and hands and love to chew on them. I cherished the short time I had to hold and play with the twins. 🙂 Gracie loves the babies. She gave them both toesie kisses, and thoroughly inspected their car seats. She had an exhausting afternoon of socializing. 🙂
Have a great day, Sue! Sending you, Reggie, and Roger lots of love and hugs from me and Gracie pup! We are enjoying a wonderful lazy day. Earlier this afternoon we were catching up beauty sleep. I was laying on the sofa with little Miss stretched out on my legs. She was sleeping hard, even snoring at one point! Life is good! 🙂
Hi Sue! You had me double check my calendar when you wrote,”Tuesday, December 26″. Ok, I’m alright. Really. Well, I’ve got to say that I would certainly eat what I wanted too and do! I usually pick the menu for feast meals since I make it, but I do very often select when I know my guests will really like. Sounds like you had a wonderful relaxing day with a little excitement.
May the blessings of the new year be plenty!
Thanks, Renee. Same to you!
Gee, it’s Wednesday already? I fixed it. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed your Christmas day with Reggie & Roger. Don’t be sure that a coyote can’t jump a 6 ft. fence. I have friends that a coyote jumped a 6 ft. wall & was threatening their dogs. In their area people don’t let small dogs outdoors alone. More than one small dog (who was alone) has disappeared! Wouldn’t want Reggie or Roger to disappear! Have a Happy New Year!
Glad you had a nice calm holiday. Ours was the same only for our dinner we had leftover gluten-free pizza, a somewhat successful experiment from the day before. We thought about walking down to the Asian food restaurant for dinner but thought why should we do it just because it’s a holiday? We can walk down anytime. So we didn’t.
For Christmas, my spouse got a cold and a bottle of honey brandy, and I got a bottle of dark cherry-infused vodka, so happy holidays to us. 🙂
I finished my post on the best books of the year so if anyone cares to check it out, clicking on my name will take you directly to the blog.
Happy New Year!
Robin
Happy Holidays! We had grown children and spouses over for a late lunch and ate too much! I made mini cheese cakes in a muffin tin with a butter cookie on the bottom and cherry pie filling on top! It was just enough! The kids met our new dog who joined our family a few weeks ago. She showed up on a very cold night. I brought her into a heated out building and started checking for her owner the next day. No one claimed her and she required extensive vet care as she had intestinal issues. She is about 3 or 4 years old and has the sweetest disposition! We are the lucky ones to have her wander into our lives! Happy New Year everyone!
Laurie, God bless you for keeping her and taking care of her. Your new baby hit the jackpot!!
It sounds as if your first Christmas at your house really was perfect, Sue. I love the imagery in “…the fence creates a fortress… all is calm by nightfall.” How lovely to have such peace in one’s own little world when powerful winds can be heard just outside of it, to be alone with your crew, yet feeling the warmth and kindness of friends, while free to privately reflect on the reason we celebrate Christmas.
The Christmas meal with my friends this year was among the nicest we, as a group, have experienced. Somehow everything came together to have the just right blend of people, prayer, food, snow fall, gifts and gentle camaraderie. As precious as our tradition of gathering that way for Christmas has become to me, when I was finally settled in at home with Polly and Kyla kitties, I sighed with relief, gratefully thinking “It feels wonderful to not have any more responsibilities this Christmas.”
Coyotes have no problem jumping six foot fences. They can get over taller ones in many cases and can even “climb” up a wall. In the older parts of the Phoenix area, they use the back alleys in residential neighborhoods to get into back yards without being detected. The canal paths are their highways. Cats and small dogs are at risk and disappear every day there. Your boys should never be allowed in the yard unless you are out there to supervise.
Hubby and I, nearing our son’s country home one time in NC, saw a pair of coyotes sail over a 5 ft fence like it was not even there. Maybe with a wood fence they are a bit less apt to jump over…hope so!! (Our son had no idea they were even in the neighborhood…and with all his outside animals too!!)
Hey Sue ! I like that baked potato topped with broccoli cheese sauce meal. was that a sauce you made ? or something you bought ?
I would like to try making that sometime…. its sounds really good.
I dont have an oven so I usually make my baked potatoes in the microwave.
If you have a recipe for the sauce…. or if you got that sauce already made somewhere… i would like to know.
Thanx
Anyway… i love a quiet Christmas…. glad to hear you had one too.
Hi, AnnH… See my note to everyone below for info on cheese sauce.
I had to chime in after reading the coyote messages. I also had coyotes jump my 6 foot block wall fence and caught my cat. Luckily I heard the commotion and the cat was not seriously harmed.
OMG Carol! How terrifying! Poor Kitty! Happy dance to hear Kitty recovered!! My goodness!
Great post Sue, as usual, with photos of past camps to temp us.
Your Christmas sounded just perfect! No need to make traditional meals to make you feel like a holiday is upon us, is there? We’d been craving veg curry over rice for a few days, and since we had some beautiful fresh broccoli and a pretty sweet red bell pepper, I made Thai red curry over rice for our Christmas dinner. I used up some pretty red cabbage, a sweet onion, and wedges of fresh tomato, simmered in coconut milk and curry paste. Yum! It was perfect, like your baked potato with broccoli and cheese on it; just what we wanted. Meals like that are a challenge in the small Casita kitchen, but doable! Topped with with a bottle of wine we’d been saving, and a homemade truffle apiece for dessert, we were in hog heaven! Life on Darby Wells Road is pretty darned amazing I’d say. Even Mochi Kitty approves!
Cheers Sue!
Suzi, Larry, and Kitty
Hi Sue! Glad you had a nice Christmas. I had a nice one with my immediate family. My mom is not aging well, so I’m really trying to enjoy the time that I have when I visit with her and my dad. We had a lovely beef rib roast with crispy oven potatoes and asparagus. I wanted to give a shout out to a product I got for Christmas from Amazon. It is a Luci light. It’s a waterproof solar powered, small lamp. I love it! ASIN is B00DQ1RDWS
Hi Sue. – Not sure if anyone else has mentioned – absolutely coyotes can scale your fence, or dig under it. They are very creative. Please keep a close eye on your crew at dusk, early in the morning, and of course, in the middle of the night. Hate to see anything happen to those cuties! ❤️🐾❤️
Our Christmas was quiet! Chuck got a flu shot, his first in several years, and it has put him down for awhile! Seems he gets sick whenever he gets a flu shot! So we stayed home and watched tv all day!
Seems like you and the boys are all settled in and happy! Good idea to close all the gates to keep that curious coyote out! 😄
We are in for more rain here. It has been a very wet winter so far. I hope you get to see snow tomorrow! 💗 That would be exciting! Go make a snowman! 😂 Love you,Sue!
HI, EVERYBODY!
A new year is coming up soon! I hope you’re ready! 🙂
A few notes: I appreciate those who have concern regarding coyotes and the crew. If it’s reassuring at all, it seems every other house in this neighborhood is home to chihuahuas, pugs, yorkies, or some other breed of tiny dog. Almost all of them are in yards surrounded with 4-ft. high chain link. The guy down the street is owner of many cats (I’ve been told 17 total) and they roam freely about.
A hungry coyote would take the easy pickins’ first. I asked a 20+ year resident when the last pet was lost to a coyote and he said he never heard of any and he’s pretty aware of what goes on around here.
I’m still happy we have a 6-ft. tall board fence with points on the top. 🙂 No more coyote comments please.
Someone asked how I made cheese sauce with broccoli for topping a baked potato. Nothing fancy, just the typical, old-fashioned recipe with butter, flour, milk, and cheese. Basically making a roux like one would make for thickening gravy. I found the instructions written out for you at allrecipes.com.
Beautiful day today. A few clouds in a pale blue sky. Cold. I can see snow on the mountains!
Have a super day! Thanks for coming here,
Sue
Oh, I wrote two kinda long paragraphs to you and was checking my spelling, etc and I lost it!!! I hate it when that happens! I’m writing using my phone and I must have accidentally hit the wrong place and I lost all I wrote!
Now you’re just gonna get the simple version which is just saying hi, I’m still a blogorino and this is my favorite blog.
I said other stuff but I don’t feel like writing it again.
Glad your Christmas was a good day and bundle up! It’s gett cold even in the lower elevations of AZ!
Coyotes can climb a 6 foot fence if they want to, I’ve seen it! No wonder they’re called Wiley (like in the cartoon).
Have a wonderful rest of this year and may the next year bring wonderful adventures whether you’re home at the house or home somewhere in your Casita!
Oops! Hadn’t read all the comments so I apologize for my coyote knowledge expensed! 🙄 Very sorry. I hope you don’t kick me out of the blogorino membership!
Oh, no! Not going to happen, Beth! I understand it can be hard to read all comments, especially if reading on a phone or any small device. I wasn’t directing all of my comment at you. 🙂
I’m sorry your first comment was lost, Beth. It may have timed out.
You give me the opportunity to remind anyone who writes a long comment…. Be aware that it might disappear if you take too much time. A simple solution is to cut it in half and post the first part right away before continuing with the second part.
I should’ve have written my post more carefully regarding the coyote and our fence. People are taking situations different than ours and applying it to our situation. There are areas where coyote habitat has been so encroached that the animals are desperate and jump over walls. This is not the case here. Everyone, see my comment above.
Thank you for the nice comment, Beth. I’m glad you’re still a blogorino and you still like my blog!
Good Morning, RV Sue,
It seems we got your storm last night, or one like it! It sounded like Hurricane Harvey again out there last night! Got 2.5 inches of rain which flooded an already saturated yard! The pond filled up! Beautiful day here today-hope yours is too.
Good morning, Terri! Yes, it is a beautiful day!
Hey, I wrote an apology then it disappeared so I wrote another and then the other one was there!
No, my first post disappeared because I have a small iPhone I was writing with and it’s easy for me to touch the wrong spot and Shazam stuff disappears!
Thanks for the note! Wiley coyote was such a crazy cartoon, I liked that cartoon, favorite of all time! 😁
Beth… When your first apology appeared, I deleted your 2nd apology because I assumed you thought the first one wouldn’t appear. We’re going around in circles… Ha! Singing”Ring around the Rosie….”
Hi, Rosie!
LOL! Yes, it’s a crazy day on the Internet! Rosie likes that song, she thinks it’s all about her. She loves being the center of attention!
Have a wonderful day!
Our RV Sue, birds of a feather are we. I, too, feel most balanced when solely surrounded by animals.
When I first got married at 30 I strived to be a kitchen wizard… that lasted all but a year at most as it soon became expected. And when that kind of energy takes place I quickly resist. Ever since I have chosen not to excel in the kitchen.
I’m very basic in a lot of areas! Some of which are clothing, food, interior design, belongings and many other things!! I practically wear the same thing every day except when EXTREMES of weather require more or less. (I thrived in parochial school with uniforms. And later in life in the medical field wearing SCRUBS!!!)
Your fortress sounds divine! If you’re going sticks n bricks, you’re doin’ it right!!
Thanks for the update it sounds like home!
I too spent Christmas mainly home alone with Chloe. I cooked a chuck roast with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, which I will be eating for several days. I also took a bowl of mashed potatoes and went to our community potluck, which was a pretty low-key affair. Got several presents in the mail and saved them for Christmas morning. And of course spent much of my day reading. As usual I have some health issues going on but I’m hanging in there. Starting pulmonary rehab soon. Trying to get more active but it’s tough with my back problems. Beyond that I’m taking some online classes to brush up my editing skills so I can hopefully get a job as an online editor.
That’s my news. Hope everyone is having pleasant holidays!
Hi, Desert Ginger,
Glad to see a note from you. Enjoy your Christmas dinner leftovers! I have leftovers, too. Whatever is left after tomorrow’s meals will be frozen for future use.
Good luck with your online classes. I hope that you start feeling better with rehab. Sending you and little Chloe hugs from me and Gracie pup! 🙂
Hi, Ginger!
I was just thinking about you! Your Christmas meal sounds delicious, especially the green bean casserole which I haven’t had in years. Wishing you and Chloe health and happiness — I like how you always seem to be looking forward. Always good to learn new things!
PLEASE…. NO MORE COYOTE HORROR STORIES.
I don’t like deleting comments because that can make blogorinos mad at me. I’ve deleted two already which I hated to do, but I don’t want long threads on this topic.
Thank you,
Sue
I’m hurrying to put up a new post! 🙂