"ALWAYS AN ADVENTURE"

I have been thinking a lot as of late about downsizing due to wanting to move out to the claim for an extended camping time. I came across an article from Elle Decor on Re-Doing an apartment room to look more spacious. I like it! BEFORE & AFTER: A CRAMPED STUDIO GETS A SPACIOUS NEW LOOK A tiny New York apartment is brought from dark and cluttered to bright and airy BY  LINDSEY CAMPBELL Enjoy the photos and the how-to Ideas! WHAT'S NEW: I can picture some modern Macrame Window Valances across the window in natural Jute! My newest work with Fiber Arts in Curtain Decor is just that! This is my "Wallscape" Design called Macrame & Basket Weave  Knotted  Decor.  See more info in my Etsy Store. SH ARE A HEART FELT STORY/OPINION/INSPIRATION HERE! WHAT PULLS AT YOUR HEART STRINGS? A Country Gals Heart Strings Thanks for visiting! Cindy from Craftflaire.

Yes Buddy(my husband) and I are in our Sixties and we are able to still get outdoors and dig in the dirt for GOLD! Hi Folks! It has been awhile, but we are working our claim here in Arizona now that the weather is a little less hot! Enjoy this video I(Cindy) took. Gold Mining is hard work but we manage to find some humor in it along the way. We dug out 3 foot cubes of dirt off the bedrock each day during our camping weeks in October out at the Claim. I put in a couple of hours each day just like I do when I garden at home. Buddy did the rest! LOL This is part #1 of a few videos in sequence.  This is part #6 showing our take from the dig over a period of two weeks. Watch for the full story soon. We need to work on putting the videos into one video. Thanks for visiting! Buddy and Cindy

Would you believe we are having very sunny weather here in Az. in January! This is our First Camping Trip this year out at the New Claim. We spent four days camping and prospecting, my wife and I. We had a surprise visit from our Daughter, Brandy and her Finance, Dewayne, and their children, Warren, Zoey and Alexis!   We loved it that they came out to enjoy some time with each other around the campfire! Gold Mining is not as easy as it used to be. You have to dig down to Bedrock. We found some Bedrock partly exposed  in the creek. We shoveled off the over burden of dirt and rocks and dug into the cracks of the bedrock. We found 1 half of a gram, total weight of gold pieces. Enjoy the photos!  I still use the Original Gold Bug Detector!  My wife is always ready to give me coffee or hand me a tool!  Digging back two to three  foot of soil and rocks!  The creek bed in background showing our dig holes during our four day stay!...

This recipe was too good not to share with you. Great for your camp-outs! Thanks for visiting! BEER CAN CHICKEN The liquid from the beer can creates steam that helps cook the chicken from the inside and keep it moist and delicious In the past decade, whole chickens mounted on beer cans have become a familiar sight at backyard barbecues the country over. And for good reason: The liquid creates steam that helps cook the chicken from the inside and keep it moist. Also, standing the chicken up vertically means the legs (which take the most time to cook) are exposed to the most intense heat, meaning the bird will cook evenly without drying out the breast. The result: one of the tastiest chickens imaginable with no heavy sauces or sides. You'll Need: 1 chicken (3-4 lb) 24 oz Coca-Cola 3/4 tsp salt Freshly cracked pepper 1 can beer How to Make It: *Combine the chicken and the Coke and soak overnight in the fridge (or for at least 2 hours). *Heat a grill. If using charcoal, bank the hot c...

I remember our last camping experience in the desert before the boy's had to enroll in school. We had a chevy stepvan then, with bunkbeds in the back built by my husband. We were invited to visit Arizona by some folks we met at Buckskin Joe, near Canon City, Colorado, during our previous visits to Colorado. We found a dirt road leading into the desert from the highway near Apache Junction, Az. We parked along side a nice dry wash. Did some Gold Prospecting and seached for Arrowheads, Driftwood and such. We came upon a natural spring along the top of the bank of the wash, about five foot up. My husband put holes in a tin coffee can and attached the can to a shrub just under the spring. We now had a shower! Ice cold, but in the heat of the day it was great! We had the neccessary camping equipment to cook, and light our camping area with and a huge ice chest that kept our food cold. Once a week we drove into town to replenish our supplies and do laundry. We met several interesting peo...

Lynx Creek, and surrounding area, located just out of Prescott, Arizona, was discovered around 1863-1864. The area was a major gold producer and is filled with interesting mining history. The area has a huge drainage system and each spring run-off and summer monsoon flooding has a tendency to move material around, replenishing small flakes & dust of gold. This makes the Lynx Creek Recreation area a perfect location for the novice prospector to get started. Try shaking out the grass roots and moss in your pan, or sweep the cracks in the bedrock. You are almost assured to find "color" and small flakes. The gold at Lynx Creek is in the form of real thin small flakes, and there is plenty of "super dust", pin-point little pieces. This makes for an ideal place to perfect your panning techniques. I have always said, "If you can pan gold at Lynx Creek, you will be able to pan anywhere in the country". Good luck and Happy Hunting! There will be more inf...

From the story, Living And Learning From The Desert, Buddy has added some details I left out! Here is his story! I had decided to up-grade our situation a little, and build us an out-house. After all, I did have the material just laying around, a tree saw and a hammer. After a few hours work and no major incidents involving gushing blood or smashed fingers, I stood back to view my work of art. This was a thing of beauty. Solid 2x4 construction, with plywood flooring, and I had gone so far as to buy a padded seat and cover. One day while I was enjoying a cup of coffee, an SUV vehicle pulled up in the wash, and a little old gent jumped out and made a bee-line up the path to our little building. "The nerve of some people, not even the courtesy to ask if they could use the restroom!" I watched with some amuzement as he opened the door and stepped in. Now, give it a few seconds, the door opens, and there's no way to describe the look on this old gent's face, as he waddled...

We get so used to modern living with electricity, running water, gas and electric stoves and a store or shopping center close to home that we can't imagine that it's possible to get along without these conviences. My family and I lived for eight months in the Arizona desert, and it is possible to live without modern conviences and even fun. How many times have you turned on the shower and stood there for 20 minutes while gallons of water flow over you and then disappear down the drain? You may not be paying for the water, but the electricity to heat it costs quite a bit. When water is scarce, you can get just as clean by sponging down with a gallon of water! As a matter of fact, my wife, two boys and I used only 65 gallons of water per week, to drink, cook, and bath in. Cooking can be fun and save money when your away from modern conviences. We had a coleman stove that used white gas, and by cooking most of our meals, and heating our water over a campfire, we used about one gal...

I remember our last camping experience in the desert before the boy's had to enroll in school. We had a chevy stepvan then, with bunkbeds in the back built by my husband. We were invited to visit Arizona by some folks we met at Buckskin Joe, near Canon City, Colorado, during our previous visits to Colorado. We found a dirt road leading into the desert from the highway near Apache Junction, Az. We parked along side a nice dry wash. Did some Gold Prospecting and seached for Arrowheads, Driftwood and such. We came upon a natural spring along the top of the bank of the wash, about five foot up. My husband put holes in a tin coffee can and attached the can to a shrub just under the spring. We now had a shower! Ice cold, but in the heat of the day it was great! We had the neccessary camping equipment to cook, and light our camping area with and a huge ice chest that kept our food cold. Once a week we drove into town to replenish our supplies and do laundry. We met several interesting pe...

The power of the mention of a gold discovery brings to mind the time we were on one of our early camping and prospecting trips to Lynx Creek, just out of Prescott,Arizona. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and the creek was lined with people enjoing themselves and panning along the banks and small pools of water. The soothing buzz of insects, chirp of birds, and clinking of tools against bedrock, was suddenly broken by an excited, "Gold, I found nuggets"! Heads turned up creek, and a few folks actually grabbed up their tools and headed for the "discovery". Of course, the "rush" was short lived, when the "prospector" turned out to be Jim, our 2 -1/2 foot tall, chubby, little three year old! He had just panned his first little pieces of gold and just had to let the world know about it! The rest of the afternoon and well into evening around the campfire was filled with joy and laughter as the story was told and retold, how little Jim had created s...