24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

Excitement at camp this evening. I was listening to an audio book just a short while after sunset and while looking out the window I suddenly saw a large fire with tall flames light up about a half mile to the east. I knew the only thing over that way was a large RV on private land. The first response was a helicopter which arrived fairly soon and flew over and circled the scene with flood lights.

One of my neighbors jumped into his UHV and headed over that way. While he was gone another person I had not yet met who had recently moved by the wash behind me came over. He said he had been camped over towards there a few days earlier and it was a large, newer 5th wheel but he had never seen anyone parked near it. The guy in the UHV eventually came back and had talked to the sheriff who had showed up who confirmed no one was around who might have been inside.

A third neighbor who has camped here for several years said he thinks an active duty marine had bought that piece of land and put the trailer on it. It was a newer model, good sized 5th wheel.

It was obviously a total loss within a very short time. I could tell that by the width and height of the fire even from a half mile or so away. Eventually I could see the lines of the framing of thevwalls within the light of the flames. It took the fire trucks a while to find the right dirt roads to get over to it as there are not any regular types of streets and street signs over that way and some of the dirt tracks dead end at closed gates. But it made no difference as the trailer was already fully consumed in flames before the fire truck ever got off highway 8 onto the exit to the paved road leading to the dirt road. Eventually several other fire dept vehicles showed up but not of course any need for sirens or flashing lights by then. Just mopping up duties at that point. There are of course no fire hydrants out in this area.

I know my curious UHV owning neighbors will be driving their little vehicles over there tomorrow to check it out.

 

[Happy Camper]

That's a bummer

 

[Morgana]

So the shelter where I volunteer right now is only licensed for overnight so they have to kick people out temporarily after breakfast. One of the guests came back in the evening with a piece of cake she'd acquired somewhere, cut it into thin slices, and among the first people she offered them to were the community volunteers. The shelter uses a lot of guest-volunteers too, and the guy working the kitchen kept trying to feed me all evening. ("No, I don't need any help, but here -- eat this!") And this morning another guest volunteered to take breakfast leftovers and hand them out on the street ("we're not the only people who need help, you know"). I got to help him, tagging along with a basket of oranges like (a fat, old, urban) Little Red Riding Hood. I love that management went along with it -- and even provided the picturesque basket. The guy was so self-assured and charismatic. You gotta wonder what some of these people did in their former lives.
The hungry feeding the hungry!

 

[Morgana]

PS forgot one -- this little two-year-old tried to give me her Go-Gurt. What a day.

 

[vanbrat]

Thank you for sharing that story it sure felt good to hear about the good out there in the world.

 

[Morgana]

Yeah, people will surprise you -- for or .

 

[maki2]

^^van life is not just about looking at pretty sunsets and sitting around campfires. There have been lots of fires discussed in this thread which is titled “talk about anything” The person who started this thread lost her home and most of her possessions to fire after she started this thread. So over time there has been plenty of talking about fires in this thread.

Today is going to be another blast at my campsite. But just from the wind which will hopefully not go higher than the 41mph gust predicted by the app Windy.
The wind is going to do a 90 degree shift during this storm from South to West so I have my vehicle parked parallel close against the long side of my trailer which faces west.

 

[INTJohn]

How bout this mess? Tryin to fit 10 tons of **** into a 1 ton van…….
Ahhh; ever heard of Downsize?
Doesn’t yet understand you can’t bring your entire house with you if you’re going to live in a van.

When I get my van it’ll look empty compared to that; hell my truk right now loox empty compared to that.

 

[bullfrog !]

That’s living with “simply not enough room”! Lol!!!

 

[vanbrat]

I have to laugh at myself looking at this. I want to gather enough to have fun as we travel. And what I like to do is Cook so just my Kitchen stuff is heavy. We like to do stuff so.... the chess board, watercolor kit, fairy house kit, walking stuff, doggy stuff, and beach toys take up a lot of space. Then we get to the tools we may need....
Like I said I have to laugh at myself.

 

[maki2]

Putting fairy houses into cactus can be hazardous to your health

Of course so can installing fairy doors across the openings of small tunnel holes underneath the desert bushes.

 

[vanbrat]

I have yet to go to the desert with my van so that has not been my issue. Though I hope to this spring. I went to Arizona every year with my family when I was a kid. I want to go to some of the old hang outs and see some new ones.
Yea I don't think I would put ANYTHING around a cactus. Well maybe a few politicians, but that is for another forum. I'm guessing not much use for beach toys either.... So what kind of "stuff" like that do you do with the desert?
I plan to take tons of pictures and look for 'pretty' rocks to bring back to the preschool kidos, And I hope to sit for a while and play with my watercolors and have a few campfires and make up a few new Ghost stories to tell and maybe just get over the @#$%^& we have been dealing with this last year.

 

[Happy Camper]

Yea I don't think I would put ANYTHING around a cactus. Well maybe a few politicians, but that is for another forum.

I thought the politicians were the cactus lol.

I went back to where I grew up and do much had changed I didn't even recognize it. But it wasn't bad, just different.

 

[maki2]

You are not supposed to “do” anything to the desert or the forest either. At least not on public lands where it is actually an illegal activity. No putting in fairy doors or gardens, no rock painting, etc. No plant collecting either although some forest areas do have permits for gathering mushrooms, firewood, some types of herbs and such.

 

[maki2]

I have made quite a few miniature doors but I do not put them in the forest for people to find while out walking. I do travel with the tools for making such things. Model making tools are reasonably transportable and not overly power hungry.

 

[Morgana]

You could try geocaching if you really need another activity. It can be a lot of fun. IIRC people sometimes leave small (very small) cute things in the caches so there might be an outlet for your creativity too.

The fairy houses I saw on Monhegan Island 10-15 years ago were all made from found objects (though a quick Google shows that's not always the case), and that's the way I was taught it as a kid too (though I don't think we called them fairy houses) -- all twigs and moss and pebbles. You might challenge yourself to do it that way -- though as Maki said drylands environments are often more fragile so you'd need to make sure you played by the local rules.

In general, easy-access natural places are getting so crowded that "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" seems like a good rule of thumb anywhere.

If you're looking for a creative activity that can be kept small-footprint, you might consider beading. Or find smaller, backpacking- or camping-oriented, versions of the toys/tools you like to use now. Or you could challenge yourself to learn new, minimalist cooking techniques. But you sound like you may actually have plenty to do already.
Have fun!

 

[vanbrat]

You could try geocaching if you really need another activity. It can be a lot of fun. IIRC people sometimes leave small (very small) cute things in the caches so there might be an outlet for your creativity too.

The fairy houses I saw on Monhegan Island 10-15 years ago were all made from found objects (though a quick Google shows that's not always the case), and that's the way I was taught it as a kid too (though I don't think we called them fairy houses) -- all twigs and moss and pebbles. You might challenge yourself to do it that way -- though as Maki said drylands environments are often more fragile so you'd need to make sure you played by the local rules.

In general, easy-access natural places are getting so crowded that "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" seems like a good rule of thumb anywhere.

If you're looking for a creative activity that can be kept small-footprint, you might consider beading. Or find smaller, backpacking- or camping-oriented, versions of the toys/tools you like to use now. Or you could challenge yourself to learn new, minimalist cooking techniques. But you sound like you may actually have plenty to do already.
Have fun!

Ok so again. I would NEVER leave anything where it was a nature trail or such. Though I have found and left 'fairy houses' at the local beach where such stuff is encouraged. Also where kids may find, play, and such. Like around a play area. Or maybe around some campsites that are very kid/family popular. I do not ever use things that are plastic or trash or not local nature based sometimes I use cotton or hemp string but not often. My fairy house kit is a good pair of clippers for sticks found usually on the ground around the campsite and a good pocketknife (good not the dull one in my pocket) some cotton or thin hemp string.

I would not leave any painted rocks on any of the trails. I would leave them beside the check in thing or the bathrooms. I have found things at this type of places, and they always make me smile. I like to paint them and leave them at the store on a light post or beside the coffee shop drive up window or the park bench or or or

I was just wondering if there was something like this that was desert based. I don't think there are many ocean beaches there in Arizona. So I don't think a beach house would be possible.

I do some beading and that is one of the things I find as we go out and travel. I have a beaded thingy in my window at home. It has beads from lots of trips, and they make me smile when I dust them or the sun shines on them just right. The tiny charms and beads don't take up much room. I also find fabric stores and grab some good stuff for my sewing room and tuck it under the bed so it will stay a bit cleaner.

While I would not rearrange rocks on a wild trail, I might leave some stacked and such at the campsite. We used to find stuff when I was a kid that others left behind once in a while. My brother would always make a city for his trucks and hot wheels usually he would brush it level but not totally. We used to find stuff like that when we went out with my kids. They loved it as they also had a stash of hot wheels.

There is a book out that I read years ago, and it talked about the danger of not letting kids touch or pick up or engage in the very nature we are trying to get them to love. I think it was called 'The Last Child in the Woods' And as a teacher of very young children, I have seen to many kids who don't get that chance. So, before anyone growls to loud be assured, I won't be defacing anything.

Just laugh when you see my WAY over loaded van drive down the road.

 

[VanFan]

I have made quite a few miniature...

Your work is awesome! (I don't say that lightly, for what that's worth.)

 

[maki2]

Your work is awesome! (I don't say that lightly, for what that's worth.)

Thanks! Making miniatures is something I have done professionally since 1993.

 

[maki2]

Now that the weather is improving I was planning on a trip into town . But before heading out I needed to go online to my Etsy shop and print out postage so I could ship an order out at the post office. Oops just as I was ready a message showed up on my phone stating the Verizon area I am in was shutting down and having an outage of service for up to 14 hours! Fortunately that outage only lasted several hours but by then the last Saturday pickup of the mail at the Yuma area Post offices had gone by. Oh well, Monday is another day.

One good thing that I figured out this week, my Medicare supplemental insurance coverage now includes some fitness centers so I can go in and take showers. No fitness places in Quartzsite but there are some in Yuma, Lake Havasu City, Flagstaff, Ajo, Pahrump, and a few other city locations I like to camp near to. Hooray, there are now lots more “free” long hot showers in my future. While on the phone with my insurance representative I was given the necessary code number to present at the fitness centers. I will turn that into a printed card for my wallet as well a keeping a copy of it on my cell phone and laptop and in my personal document folder.