Keeping Busy

Our friends from Canada Steve and Dianne have been inviting us out for some quad rides. That's what they call ATV's and UTV's. It has been fun and the scenery out there in the desert is pretty in its own right. On one such ride we went to Dripping Springs. Way back into the mountains.

There is a rugged beauty in the desert. Driving the trails has been very fun for me. On this particular ride, Lisa only got out twice to walk the trail because of the rough terrain. Does she not trust my driving skills? Should I be offended? Hmmm? We made it in one piece to Dripping Springs.

The springs weren't dripping and there was very little water at the bottom. It hasn't rained for weeks so that probably explains that. Near the springs there are many petroglyphs. Native American markings on the rocks that could be thousands of years old.

It is amazing how they have withstood the test of time. I just hope that idiots would just leave them alone. There was one rock panel that someone had shot at and there were chunks of rock out of it. Why? After that we drove to a stone cabin. Apache cabin it was called. There are quite a few cabins amongst the mountains and I can't imagine the people that lived in them. Where did they get water and food. The nearest Walmart would have taken them days to get to.

BlindApache in front of Apache cabin.

In some of the cabins people will leave trinkets. I don't know the reason for it but this was one of those cabins.

I think there are some ladies riding around out there "Commando". Then we went to another cabin.

Not sure of the name of this one but it even had a rest stop near it if you really needed to go.

And another cabin somewhere else.

We were looking at the stones at on cabin and it is just like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Fitting each rock into the right spot.

More riding. At times the ride can be challenging and a little thrilling. I like the challenge and I would say that the Ranger is handling the obstacles nicely. I call it the "Little Billy Goat" as it crawls up and over the rocks. And when Lisa is feeling nervous I keep telling her to "trust the Billy Goat". To which she says "No." and gets out and walks. I have not forgotten our purpose for being out there.

We had one possible Graboid encounter.

On a more personal note. While we are frolicking out in the desert, our garage back in Minnesota is finally getting built. We went with Foltz Buildings because of their great reputation in the area. Besides Jim and Barb were busy with their place still and we didn't have years to wait to get it done. I also wanted my building wrap put on the correct way. Not upside down.

Day one progress. They put in the poles. The builder said that the weather has been nice and there isn't much frost in the ground yet.

Day two. They got the walls and rafters up. This crew working on this building sure know what they are doing and can work quick.

                                  

Day 3 and 4. They got the building wrapped and the steel put up on the roof and one side wall and the back wall.

Day 5. The other side wall and some of the soffit. Also the walk in doors and windows. They said in about a 1 to 2 more days it will be finished. Amazing. We will have to wait until spring for them to pour the concrete floor.

On another personal note. It was Christmas last week. We did not get home this year for Christmas which is a first for us. So we had Christmas out here in the desert with new and old friends.

Photo courtesy of Jim. l-r. Dianne, Jim,Cec, Lisa, Me, Earl, Allison, Barb and Steve.

It was a nice gathering. Every couple was assigned a dish to bring. Lisa had mashed potatoes. Everyone went through the line and filled their plates. Now we are sitting behind these tarps because the wind was blowing that day. Well a gust of wind came and billowed the tarp behind the mashed potatoes, gravy and salad table. We watched in slow motion as the table tipped over and everything landed in the dirt. "More turkey anyone"? That's what memories are made of.

Happy New Year everyone! Next year promises to be a busy one for us.