Salton Sea Winter 2014 Part 2

Well spring is here and time the snowbirds have returned back north to our ranch in British Columbia Canada.   Lot of leaks and floods in the plumbing when we turned our water back on and feeling overwhelmed with trying to get everything back in order here.  But before things get crazy busy with life at the ranch I thought I should get part  2 of our life at the Salton Sea this past winter.  So on with my collage of photos which help tell the stories.

I spent way too much of my free time making my homemade greeting cards.  But I have finished them all.  I now have about 250 in stock.  As a test on setting them up I went to the outside flea market near Salton City to see how it would all go. 
Baby Steps

I could not forget my passion for flowers and this spring at the Salton Sea we had beautiful blooms in our yard of desert scape plants.

The empty gravel yard when we bought this house was like a blank canvas for me and over the last 3 years I have so enjoyed creating the landscape and patio areas with mostly materials and plants with little or no costs. 

I am forever moving rocks and adding a plant or two.  The heat this past winter here did slow work down in the yard.  There was not a drop of rain in 10 weeks and most days ranges from 85 to 100 degrees.  The hottest winter I can remember in 25 years going there.  But as I was inside working on my greeting cards progress was made there.

Everyday either early morning or just before the sun went down I went for a walk for about an hour with my dog Sheaba. Our neighbourhood is so varied and forever changing from one location to the next.

Found under many big trees in the the washes around the neighbourhood are makeshift shelters that were used by  illegals Mexicans or even homeless.

From beautiful homes to stuffed chairs on empty lots our area has it all.

Surrounded by mountains  and glimpses of the sea were always there during my walks.

Occasionally company would come and stay with us so would take them for a walk down near the Salton Sea.  We still own a empty lot near the sea and went for a picnic there with friends.  Then headed for the long walk down to the waters edge.

The shoreline here is lined with barnacles, but one still feels like they are walking along and ocean beach even if it is only a salt lake.

The main fish still in the Salton Sea are Tilapia, which dead ones can be found sometime along the shoreline.  I am sure they were once also a source of food for Sheaba when she ran wild down here near the Salton Sea.

The constant hum of ultra lights can be heard all along the shore of the sea a favourite area for them to fly.

There is now so much activity on the shores of the sea with ATVs, jeeps and fishing.  This group of vehicles parked on the shore were sitting in lawn chairs waiting for the full moon to rise.

Every March Tera Del Sol Jeep club holds a jeep rally near Salton City California near the Salton Sea.  Thousands of camper and jeeps swarm the desert during this weekend.

It’s fun to just park at a view point and watch all the activity in the desert and bad lands.  The dust they create is more then I want to put myself near. 

Our area is not without wildlife even with all the dyeing vegetation.  Coyotes are a regular seen around the neighbourhood and desert along with pelicans near the sea and hummingbirds at the flowers.  I discovered a burring owl just on the edge of the neighbourhood.  How it has managed to survived with ATVs driving within 20 feet of it’s burrow.

Seems the little burrowing owl had a mate in the hole, which I could have been around when the babies hatched out.  So many other birds and creatures were always there to be seen when one took the time to look.

I will miss my walk I took everyday and seeing the every changing landscape and skies.  The mountains with the shadows that changed with the time of the day.   But the snowbird had to leave and head back north.

From Autumn to Winter

Seems since my last blog somehow my view of the world has jumped from Autumn colors to Winter white.  A window to my world with no words… Very easy to do where my computer sits.

But with my photos already layout in my blog I look at them and the words start to flow.  I never know what I am going to write, it is the photos that create the words.

Our annual Autumn bike ride this fall we did on a quiet country road that runs along the local river.  It was  a beautiful Autumn day.  After about 13klm we stopped for lunch along the river. Of course the trip back was pure torture as the trip there ever so slightly  down hill.  I wasn’t prepared for uphill for 13klm going back.  I was almost in tears by the time I caught up with hubby at the end of the ride.  Ok I was in tears and pissed as at him as he  had the water and I was dying of thirst.  I would pedal like crazy to catch him just to have him disappear over another hill.  Our rule is never leave me behind biking or hiking or any other activities.  He said his knee hurt so bad he was afraid to stop pedaling that he would never get it going again.  Ok I had to forgive him this time.  The day was perfect in many other ways.

On our bike ride we passed by  a 3 acre piece of property for sale on this quiet country paved road just 10 minutes from town.   I sat on the bike and looked up at the property that was slightly wooded, with a gentle uphill slope and faced south with a very old rundown cabin or house on it.  Then looked to the south across the road at the view it has and fell in love instantly.  Wide open views of fields, mountains and a slight view of the river.  Also important in this area is it gets sun all year.  I had been looking for smaller acreage near town for about 5 years now but everything was way beyond our budget.

Hubby also felt drawn to the place.  So after a couple days of thought we put in a  low cash offer and it was excepted. I am sooo excited about the changes in life this place can bring to our lives.  It will mean starting all over, but the changes will be positive for our future in being closer to town as older age approaches, ok I am not so old but my hubby will be 76 and could be 80 when we move there.   Don’t ask about what we will do about our present property and home, that is so far away in the future right now that we have no idea.

A week of beautiful weather had come during October and I thought about camping again, which would have entailed a lot of extra work to prepare to leave as well as falling behind again when we returned, so instead we took it a bit easier at home and relaxed on our deck to enjoy the late Autumn warm weather and beautiful colors in our yard.

 

 Fast forward only about 2 weeks we had our first snows in early November.

Just a week ago we had almost 9 inches and then had nothing but sunny skies for almost a week.  Finally a whole week for me without having work outside and only went out for my afternoon walks which generally I tramp around the property for almost an hour.

Soon snow had added it’s white fluff to everything.  Even Sheaba…

 For a desert dog she loves the snow.  In the morning she goes out with hubby and waits patiently for him to feed the chickens, then they are off for the morning walk or for her a run and hunt.  Late in the day I take her again where she often picks up a rabbit to chase and finds herself so tired and hot she even plops in the water in freezing weather.  Her social progress is still very slow, but she does love her walks.  Some days I wonder if she had bad dreams that night as her day will start very fearful and afraid.  Other days she wakes in the morning coming to greet us wagging her tail and not anxious to go outside yet, but happy to hang with us in the house for awhile.  We have never had to spoil a dog like we have with her, just to get her to respond with us.

 So I am enjoying the new world my camera has to capture,  I love all the sun flares I can get with it.  Still canning about once a week now.  Making jams from the berries I froze during the summer.  But this week enjoying a little slower pace.

 I was busy as well making more of my homemade Christmas cards.  I had planned on attending some Christmas events to sell them there.  However all my time spent on investigating the new property and trips into  near by towns and cities for appointments of different sorts put me way behind making more cards, so didn’t have enough done to present at a sales and was beginning to stress over getting more made when I decided to let it go for this year.

So feeling snug as a bug here enjoying a little less stressful time for the moment.  I am so glad I let go of some of my plans.  I don’t take stress well, I knot up and get so tight I can’t breath, so feels good to breath deeply again and allow my creative juices to flow freely as winter surrounds me.

Creativity to Christmas

Well it has been a very busy past month and more so with finally taking the time to be creative with my many photos in so many different ways.  I have been up many a late night trying to squeeze all this extra work into my already busy days.  So just a little view of all my creativity I have been up to the last month and more.
  Also ending this blog with a very special merry Christmas video I  created from many of my winter photos and Christmas scenes.

But first lets get in the winter spirit.  We are late getting snow this year but it is coming now.  I finally look out my window at a winter wonderland which has help to put me in the Christmas spirit. 

My winter wonderland view and a little more.

 Greeting Cards

I am finally making greeting cards with my photos instead of just sending them by e-mail.  

  

I also created book marks with a quote I made up and on the back my website location.  These I included with my greeting cards I sent for Christmas.

 

Calendar

Here are photos of my pages on my
Calendar I created for myself.  Again I so apologize for the poor qualities photos I took of my calendar.  Trying to get so much done to fast. 

Below is January – November

Below is the last month December

Camera
With all this extra creativity going on I realize I do need to take a step up with my little point and shoot camera and go to something I can do more with. I know nothing about cameras except the bit of research I have done.  I have always been happy with my little Olympus point and shoot I have had for 4 years and probably taken over 10,000 photos with it and it still gives me some really great photos.

 

Coyote and Whiskey Jacks
My camera does lack when it comes to wildlife I try and get in our field from my house, this is a coyote.
 

These whiskey jacks were taken
from inside my house through my window.

Smoking Salmon
Hubby has also been busy creating his yearly smoked salmon.

Firewood
My poor old 1978 Datsun truck has been getting a real workout with loads of firewood.  We almost have 2 shed filled now.  We have 3 different stoves in different building so even if we aren’t here all winter we need lots of firewood.

 

My Winter at the Salton Sea 2012

While at our winter home at the Salton Sea in California life took on a pace that consumed all my time and left me going to bed very early.  While there we had no internet and no TV, but so much to keep us busy.  Even now upon returning back to our home in British Columbia I have been so busy and no time to spend at the computer.

Ok landscaping, landscaping and keeping up on previous landscaping. The lower picture in this collage is when we bought the house.  The upper one is how it looks now. We have added so much landscaping already in the 2 winters we have spent there.

 At this angle the lower photo show how the house looks now.  We put all the landscaping in ourselves.  We also had to put in underground water supply to every plant, tree, shrub or flower we plant.  This is all on timers and always pray each summer everything works or we could loose a lot.

 We put on a new paver patio.  I got my center Island planter fill now with many varieties of desert plants.  I also created a  dry creek bed next to a strip of desert scape.  It is not finished so more to add to it next year.  The bed is made of barnacles that pile up on the beach of the Salton Sea.  Free to shovel and use for landscaping.  The desert is full of rocks for borders and accents.  Many cactus and palms were from neighbours or our other landscaped lot you will see later in these photos.

 The previous photos were where our house is we just bought a couple years ago.  These next 2 photos are a vacant lot we have right on the Salton Sea.  We spent a couple winter here in our motorhome and began landscaping it, also with all underground watering system on timer.  The top photos in this collage show what it looks like now and the bottom show before we hand cleared the weeds to begin landscaping.  This particular weed comes back most years and requires hand pulling over and over again.  This year we were spared the extra work and only a few came as there wasn’t any heavy rains during the winter.

 More of our landscaping at our lot on the Salton Sea.  Most the big plants have basins around them that have to be re-dug out every year as blowing sand fills them in.  This allows a place for the water to fill when the automatic water systems comes on.  Also at all the cactus, smaller tubes for delivering smaller amounts of water and must be all  readjusted each year to ensure every plant is getting the right amount of water along with adjusting water to every plant.  Many friends ask why we didn’t build there.  The lot is very big which always overwhelmed me when I would look out at all the work we would create for ourselves.  Also the cost of buying the mobile home we bought on the other lot all ready to just move in was so cheap at the time and I didn’t feel overwhelmed with all the work.  When visiting our vacant lot I still get overwhelmed seeing the work just to keep up what landscaping we did put in.

 When spring arrives late March and early April our lot and place where we have our house comes alive with color.

 All the hard work shows the rewards of the years of cultivating in the desert.

Yes the sea was right there, but somehow this year I didn’t spend much time down near it. 

But it was not all work and no play we did have a very full social life as well.  So many fund raiser we attended like this hobo stew were everyone dresses like a hobo and brings a can of vegetable to add to a stock pot that is served later in the cans.  I did manage to get 2nd place in the hobo costume contest.  I am in the middle of the 3 girls together.

Another fund raiser is Old Farts Weekend.  We only attended one day.  Its where everyone in desert vehicles participates in fun games with the vehicles. Like driving a course blind with your co-pilot directing you.  Always lots of laughs watching these guys trying to manoeuvre thru the different events.  We were only spectators this year but next year want to participate in the games.

 A get together and barbecue for all the couple line dancer as well as the single line dancers put on by the instructor.  I took line dancing lessons every week all winter and now know at least 5 or 6 dances.  Yes all these old people love to dance.  And yes you will see a lot of very old people down here in this area.  I once called it the Elephant dyeing grounds.

The local watering hole where we all meet up on Saturday nights to show off our line dancing, shed a few pounds doing the twist and sing Karaoke.  I even got up with a couple friends to sing.   Occasionally some young people showed up and the place really got hopping.

We did occasional have guests come for a visit.  This little guy came trotting down the road and headed right for out bird bath for a drink and cool off.  Then just left.

This guest I wanted to stay, but she feared people.  I named her Sheaba.  She was a stray who had a pit-bull friend who had a home, but they didn’t want Sheaba.  Sheaba was starving.  The dogs that have been abandoned in this area would break an animal lovers heart.  I could see her and the pit-bull were such close friends.  The owners of the pit-bull called the dog catcher many times trying to get Sheaba picked up as she would dig into their fenced yard to let their pit-bull out, but they couldn’t catch her as she feared people. However the owners of the pit-bull told me she had be in their backyard and had seen Sheaba playing with her children along with the their pit-bull.  I thought there is a soft spot in her.

So began my attempt to gain her trust. For over a month she came for food every morning and night. You can see in the photos how scared and tense she was when she came.  When she would come with the pit-bull I would make great strides with her as the pit-bull was so friendly and would come up to me.  At first if I came outside she would get no nearer then 300 feet and then would just leave.  Or I could be near, but only thru the window of the house.  Then one day she came when I was outside working in the yard and didn’t notice she had come to the food bowl, which was only about 30 feet away. I just sat with my back to her and slowing turned for a couple photos.

One night she came with the pit-bull and I had some steak bones for treats.  When the pit-bull came for her treat, Sheaba also came and took the bone out of my hand and left immediately.  The next day they both came and while petting the pit-bull, Sheaba came up also and I was able to pet her briefly.  This all starting taking place only about a week before we were to head back North.  The problem was if the Pit-bull did not come with her.  She would only eat and leave.  She would not come up to me to be petted.  She did come and take a treat out of my hand.  But she would always leave immediately with no interest in getting to know me and want to return to where the pit-bull lived.  At the end I was able to sit next to her with about 1 foot at least while she ate here food.  But always when outside near her I had to be sitting, if I stood up she would run away.

It was time to leave and I know I couldn’t just catch her and throw her in a car to get her rabies shot then force her on a trip for 3 days to a strange place before even having gained her trust.  So I had to leave her behind and hope she does get caught in a live trap by the dog catcher.  I am watching there site if she shows up at their kennel.  I will then contact an organization to take her till I return next year.  But she really needs to be accessed first to see if she can learn to trust an adult again.  I would rather see her caught and put down then starve to death in the desert.  Dogs can and have survived there, but this year there wasn’t the new plant life to support the rabbits, so there won’t be many of them.  Also if she hadn’t been fixed she will get pregnant.  No one I knew down there that stays the summer wanted the responsibility of feeding her. 

My heart is broken over this dog.  But life has to go on.

With the sunrises and sunsets God always gives me a reason to be hopeful for a new day and thankful for the day I had.

During one of the fund raisers auctions we bid on a one night stay in Palm Springs.  So got to be real tourists and enjoy a night at a fancy resort right down town.

Well so ends our winter at the Salton Sea as we journeyed back up North to our home in British Columbia.