Alamo Lake

 We first visited Alamo Lake 13 years ago.  I was there again about 6 years back, hanging out with old college friends.  It's off the communication grid: no cell phone signal and no WIFI.

The earthen dam that forms the lake on the Bill Williams River.  Having visited Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, and several others, this one isn't a bit impressive. 

This overlook is near the dam.  Trish is reading the sign, part of which is shown below.  The name Bill Williams intrigues me: why his parents gave him the same first and last name is beyond me.  I have to wonder: was his middle name Bill also?

We returned from Alamo Lake yesterday.  As noted in my prior post, it was our last RV trip.

We're Done RVing

 We just returned from our last RV outing.  The RV and the truck that towed it will soon be on the auction block.

We loved every bit of our 15 years of RVing.  But: the short trips around AZ and northern Mexico aren't much fun without friends.  There were 5 RV couples at first.  In the last few years that dwindled down to 2: Terry and Lisa., and us.  T & L joined us on our recent trip to Alamo Lake State Park, and told us it was their last.  We quickly decided it was our last, also.

The loss of RV friends isn't the only reason, of course.  Trish and I are getting up there in age, becoming more forgetful (forgot to pack the ketchup), and towing a big rig has become more tiring and stressful.

What's next?  A smaller, more economical pickup.  And, a place for guests to stay; a much larger challenge.

Baa!

 My latest addition to the menagerie

We had a herd of about 200 sheep on the MN farm where I grew up.

Lambing season was in the spring, and there would always be 2-3 lambs that their mother couldn't nurse.  So we took them to the house and bottle fed them until they were big enough to wean.  I remember one in particular, we called Cuddles.

Shearing was also in the spring, when a couple of professionals would come and shear for a couple days.  My brothers and I wrestled the sheep to the shearer, then gathered up the wool and tied it into bales.  At the end of the day, we'd be awash in lanolin - and a few sheep ticks to boot.

Poodle

 I didn't really plan to paint a bunch of critters.  That said, I just painted the fourth one, a poodle.

So, what the hell, seems I'm on a roll: gonna do a few more critters, at least the rest of those we had on the MN farm where I grew up.  They won't be realistic.  If you prefer reality, you could take a photo of the real thing.

Borrego Springs, CA

It's been on Trish's bucket list for several years because it's said to have a fantastic dessert bloom about this time of year.  Key word: about.  We missed it.  You need to reserve an RV space months in advance and there's no way to tell exactly when the bloom will occur.  We reserved the only space available.

The other big attraction is metal sculptures, which are spread out around town.  We saw most of them.  

This sandworm is about 300' long and goes under the road.

The young one seems large to be hitchhiking on mom's back.

Farmworkers.

Our rv park was old and was designed for smaller rigs than our 32' 5W.  I spent 40 minutes trying to back into our space, finally gave up.  Spent another 30 minutes getting into the only other available space.  Finally gave up trying to back it in straight, left it at angle, said the hell with it.

It's a spendy place.  My sons' hotel room was $475 a night.  Restaurants were expensive, too, - grossly overpriced for marginal food and lousy service.

The frosting on the cake: rv park wifi was so f-ing weak, I couldn't do diddly squat.

Definitely not a happy camper!

Cowboys vs Aliens

Movie review.  It may be the stupidest, most ridiculous, most camp flick we've ever seen.  But - we loved it!  Laughed our asses off.  

Star power: Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Keith Carradine, Olivia Wilde, several others you may recognize.  How they ever got this much talent for such a lousy movie is beyond me.  I'll bet the actors laughed a lot when they were making it.

A combination of Alien, Star Trek, James Bond, and cowboys and Indians movies.

It streams on Netflix.

 https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TdITjbNTc4yYPQSSszJTM0rVkjMS1FIzi9Pyq8sBgCk3QrH&q=cowboys+vs+aliens+cast&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS867US867&oq=aliens+%26+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBEC4YChiABDIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAuGAoYgAQyCQgCEAAYChiABDIJCAMQABgKGIAEMgkIBBAuGAoYgAQyCQgFEAAYChiABDIJCAYQABgKGIAEMgkIBxAAGAoYgAQyCQgIEC4YChiABNIBCTE0NDg0ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&si=AKbGX_pdKZ2aImOX4iClatj4MUUcJH3UAn06I4n4vwyWsCLA5i5gUDavrK5TCIr_BZ6aOS3_zOg3pUKnZeX1Ag0NCPlqXSdswq4HoHo_s6j6J-u3epB8UYqp1PMpcGR40m0nlRfVBgRLDxjPOnBFOd_pTicu3QskOw%3D%3D&ictx=1&ved=2ahUKEwjtlLy05amEAxUqEkQIHfljBcUQ9JYCKAd6BAgwEBE&clie=1

If you watch it, please let me know if you enjoyed as much as we did.

Cheapskate

Lots of folks my age were children of parents who suffered through The Great Depression.  We grew up on the cheap.  I grew up on a farm.  The Depression didn't impact farmers as much as city dwellers.  We grew or raised most of our own food, preserved it by canning and freezing.  We never went hungry.

Farm kids worked hard and darned few were compensated for it, other than food, shelter and clothing.  Allowance?  Uh, uh.  I doubt my Dad even knew the word.  My Mom and us 8 siblings had to beg a few bucks from Dad for Christmas shopping, personal items, anything and everything.  I suspect other farm families were the same, but I never asked my school friends if they got an allowance.   

Now, we are senior adults, and most of us don't need to live on the cheap.  But - no matter how successful we are, how much our net worth, how much we don't have to be frugal - we still are.  Case in point: me.  Although comfortable financially, I'm still a cheapskate.  Yes, I could afford to buy top-of-the-line groceries (I even use coupons), clothing, furnishings, do high-end travel, you name it, mostly I don't.  

Funny thing is, I've donated hundreds of thousands of $ to a favorite cause.  But that doesn't change my day-to-day behavior, my spending habits.  Kinda weird.