Monthly Archives: May 2013

Household, Upkeep, New Experiences, Lessons and SO Much More to Figure Out

I don’t know if it a change in the water or the climate, but my hair feels funky and is reacting weird. It is a cross to feeling straw like dry or greasy. I haven’t determined which and I haven’t change my routine (I do the no “poo” method, as in I use no shampoo, I use baking soda/vingar). Been keeping it in a ponytail, seems to be most simplest. Debating on seeing about doing my favorite purple/red coloring, since I can’t seem to do anything with my hair and ask them what they think. Not sure….

One lesson learned from boon docking, that using the shower is a waste…..you waste water just trying to get the right temperature balance (VERY inconsistent unless running nonstop). The most refreshing way I’ve found so far to get clean, was to do dish pane of warm water and a half gallon of warm water. I’d use the dish pane of water to use the wash cloth and soap, then use that water as a partial rinse. After using my baking soda/water mix on my hair, I used the half gallon to rinse my hair the rest of myself. It was the best I had felt since having hookups with a steady supply of water.

We aren’t dealing with as many flies here as we did in the NW. But we are dealing with ants. Right now it is the little ants. Been trying to find ways to deal with them and not to harm our kitties. In the process of researching ways to prevent a rodent issue, since we don’t have them and now are living in an area that has them, I was reading how rodents don’t like strong smells of peppermint/spearmint or moth balls….and that the mint smells can fool ants on the trail of food smells. Well, between the two….we are trying the mint….smells better, but we did pick up some ant traps.

The ants discovered the cat dish today….not good. We’ve put borax out around the rig, but that not something you want all over inside. Just messy. I still need to do some more research. But I’m not going to let them overwhelm us.

We still need to put up our hook and loop (velco) so we can put up our 20+ pounds of souvenir magnetics. That would really make it feel more like home. We’ve been collecting them from all the places we’ve been over the years. We can’t put them on the ‘fridge, because it isn’t magnet. Which would’ve been way too helpful….rolling eyes.

Still need to figure out our spices. All our spice jars are glass, way too much weight and they don’t seal worth a damn. I think we found a solution. I found some plastic spice jars on amazon. Trying to decide how many of what size. The more of the smaller ones the better, but I don’t want to waste our spices and we need some of the 4 inch high ones…thinking of just 10 of them should do. We have like 30 spice jars, so I think that would work if the rest are the 2 inch ones. Mulling it over to figure out what is best.

Been a long time since we’ve use clumping litter. That is another experiment in process. We started out with the “World’s Best Litter”, that seemed to do good, then started smelling it. I decided to mix that litter with Tidy Cat…..then later discovered that I was not getting it clean underneath the sifting part of the litter box. By that time, I threw it all out and started fresh.

Right now I’m mixing Tidy Cat regular clumping and Tidy Cat Pure Nature (cedar, corn and pine). Not too please with that mix. The Tide Cat regular clumping doesn’t clump as good as “World’s Best Litter” and neither does the Pure Nature. And to top it off, the Pure Nature tracks all over the place and their fur.

Next time we are at the pet store, I’m picking up the “World’s Best” for the better clumping and Tidy Cat Clumping for the smells. But I think since I know what spot I was missing when cleaning, I really shouldn’t have to worry about it this time. I have another week or so before I can do that, need to use what I have.

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Household, Upkeep, New Experiences, Lessons and SO Much More to Figure Out

I don’t know if it a change in the water or the climate, but my hair feels funky and is reacting weird. It is a cross to feeling straw like dry or greasy. I haven’t determined which and I haven’t … Continue reading

Pauline’s Daily Tweets 2013-05-08

Gunsite Wash BLM & Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument

Gunsite Wash BLM is dispersed camping, right outside of Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument. We got there Apr 18th, after the snowbird season is over. We were only going to stay one night…but ended up staying three, with no regrets. =)

We didn’t realize 85 was so noisy with the weekend. But then I didn’t know that it was a main road for a border crossing. It goes right through the Monument. We wanted to stop at the border town of Lukeville, AZ but right at the sign that says border crossing 1 mile, the line started no the road. We didn’t want to cross, just stop at the town, didn’t feel like waiting in line just for that.

The BLM was pretty private. But totally loved that when we got here, only 3 other sets of RVs including the camp host on about a 1000 acre of land. Lots of different places to set up. We parked outside of it, unhooked and then scouted out the some of the spots. A full timer, Everett, that has been doing this 8yrs greeted us and gave us some local background of the area and suggestions for the best sites. Very friendly and helpful.

Heard and seen all sorts of birds and heard free roaming cattle. Even heard a few military “birds” doing night maneuvers.

Learned quickly not to leave our Jeep windows open over night….bird poo…..lol We did have the tops on, so it could’ve been worst…grin

We would camp here again, even with border patrol check point lit up like crazy at night down the road…lol

HOLY COW….we aren’t in Oregon anymore. We drove through the SW back in ’07, but the border patrol is huge in comparison of then. They are every where….it is crazy. I know that we are much closer to the Mexican border then in the past, but they have increased their presence ten fold.

Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument was stunning. We have never seen anything like it. Just a forest of Pipe Cactus and we did get to see some beautiful blooms. I’ll never look at supposedly “dead” bushes, trees or cactus again. Just with a little bit of rain they really pop. It is something that you have to see.

We did the Ajo Mountain Drive, it was not what you call an easy drive, road wise….but so worth it and beautiful, especially just before sundown.

We did check out their Twin Peaks Campground that allowed RVs. With it being April, the campground was fairly empty and it has some sites that could accommodate RVs up to 40ft. It is a pretty nice set up the way they have it. We personally prefer the BLM, but have no issue with recommending this campground.

It has been visual adjustment for us. Starting in California…which was gradual to the desert….it was so strange for us. Here in Patagonia, we are at 4000 ft, so it more of a high plain desert, but less stark then at Joshua Tree or at Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument.

Pauline’s Daily Tweets 2013-05-07