Heading to Abajo – June 2020

June 30, 2020July 21, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

We are eager to go camping for Clifford’s ham radio field day, the weekend of June 27 & 28. After considering our options, we decide to go to Pine Flats, the large dispersed area on the north slope of Abajo Mountain. We head up on Wednesday morning prior to field day, and partway up the mountain, there is road construction with a THREE-hour wait. Luckily we are able to pull off and wait it out in the shade of the forest service campground adjacent to the flagman. We make use of this time to have a picnic lunch, then Clifford plays his dulcimer and I write in my journal.

Finally we are on our way again, following the pilot car to the turnoff into Pine Flats. We are pleased to find that our favorite spot is available. The road is rugged and we drive about two to three miles an hour for the last half mile.

The spot is at the end of a side-road and with some finagling we are able to get Cougar tucked back under the pines so as to have plenty of shade for these hot summer days. I am hot and dusty by time this accomplished. It is pleasant to sit in the shade and relax before we finish setup.

Clifford gets his antennas set up; he is ready for field day, but also for the usual morning traffic net (ham radio message transfer). I make sure the inside is homey and comfortable.

The next days are a mix of sun, clouds, calm, and wind – sometimes all in the same day.

My mornings begin with a walk on the road that makes a big loop through this dispersed area, traversing pine forests, aspen and scrub oak groves. I really like the lovely peacefulness of these forests and photos taken on the morning walk often become the Higher Vibration photo for the day. Other activities include journal writing, photo editing and blogs, editing my daughter’s most recent novel, and either cello and viola as often as I can fit it in.

Clifford’s activities: ham radio, dulcimer, virtual flying.

Calls, messenger, FB, texts, Instagram – these are the ways I am in contact with my family and friends. While we are here, work is scheduled for repairs to the roof of the house following the hail damage earlier this month. Waiting for this work to take place means our Montana travel plans will have to be adjusted. Further adjustment may depend on the virus situation, as the news remains contradictory. But in the meantime, we are grateful for all the mountain offers in the way of peace and quiet, beauty and shade, and cooler temperatures than the valley below.

Home-base and an Abajo Outing – June 2020

June 24, 2020July 6, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Sunday June 7 to Tuesday June 24:

My mornings start as much as possible with quiet sitting, coffee, journal writing, and uplifting reading of some sort. I water the flowers, fill the bird baths, and run the sprinkler for a few minutes.

Clifford starts his day with his ham radio traffic (the passing of radio messages) net before moving on to his other projects, namely virtual flying, playing his dulcimer, and his CI experiments. I continue to make improvements to the backyard, along with editing for my daughter, Ang, posting photo blogs, and occasionally getting out either the cello or viola for a bit of playing.

We see a little damage from the hail and wind of June 6, but hear of other people with broken windows and broken windshields. As it turns out, we have the roof inspected, there is more damage than we realized, and a claim is filed for hail damage.

Our only outing is a trip up Abajo Mountain and this time we go to Monticello Lake. We are lucky that the spot way at the back behind the earthen dam is available. What a great spot for our picnic and music.

Great spot for a picnic on Abajo Mountain as seen from the dam

On this trip, Clifford also takes his drones and flies them for a bit. It has been breezy, but he manages to get in a couple flights with each of them.

————–*****—————

The “news” about Covid19 is so contradictory and smothered in political name-calling, it is nearly worthless, as well as filled with negativity. Other than a couple of documentaries sent by trusted individuals, I do not engage in the news about the virus or the riots. Clifford reads news from his outlet daily and fills me in where needed. My own effort in staying healthy and doing something good for the world is to stay in a place of positive vibration, focusing on what is still good, right, and beautiful in my life and in the world.

Picnics and Flowers and More – June 2020

June 6, 2020July 4, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

June 1^st Monday – 6^th Saturday: Clifford and I are engaged in our usual activities – music, ham radio, and virtual flying for Clifford; photography as it relates to blog-writing and posting on my website and on FB, editing for Ang, and domestic activities for me. I especially enjoy taking photos of our few flowers and preparing them for the Higher Vibration Series posted daily on FB. I am up to day 237 – one photo a day plus a comment.

Highs are mostly in the mid-80’s, 50 to 60 at night, wind is almost constant, although sometimes calmer in the early morning, and that is when I try to take care of watering flowers and refreshing bird baths. Some days the sky is beautiful blue, sometimes spraying creates haze.

On Thursday we go for an outing up Abajo Mountain, even though it’s breezy. We are happy to find our favorite spot at Pine Flats is available and we get set up with Suburban blocking the wind somewhat as we have our picnic and then play music. Of course, any outing is an opportunity to take photos, and right now it is the wild iris that demand my attention.

The big project of sanding the picnic table and a couple of benches in preparation for staining happens on Friday. In the later afternoon, a very strong wind causes a power outage lasting nearly 5 hours.In the night lightning, thunder, and rain wake me up. I am happy to have the rain.

Around 10:00 Saturday morning, with just enough warning for me to move herbs and potted flowers to safety, we are hit with a ferocious hail storm. The extreme wind, thrashing trees, and hail, some stones the size of gumballs, creates darkness and a deafening roar for several minutes.

Even after the storm passes and big cumulus clouds replace the dark storm clouds, it remains very windy all day. As far as we can tell, we have only suffered minor damage and are grateful it wasn’t worse.

What I have not mentioned because I do not want to focus attention on it, but for future reference, the controversy over how best to handle Covid19 remains, peaceful protests have been infiltrated resulting in rioting and looting, as well as undeserved deaths. The weather is increasingly unstable. It is a challenging time for this nation, the world, and our planet Earth.

May Draws to a Close – May 2020

May 31, 2020June 14, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

The last weeks of May are marked by wind and highs in the mid-60’s. The final days of May are a bit warmer, so we make an outing to Abajo Mountain for a picnic and music.

A trip to Ace Hardware in Blanding twenty miles away gives us an excuse to stop at Recapture Reservoir on the way back to Monticello. We are always on the lookout for places to camp.

At the close of the month, we do an exploratory outing on Abajo Mountain, checking out a narrow rocky road that leads to a knoll with a scenic view, followed by a hike to find Taylor Springs.

Besides our usual projects and these few outings, I take photos of blossoms in our yard, happy for their beauty in our lives.

Utah Outings – May 2020

May 17, 2020June 8, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

In mid-May when my brother Rollie and his lady friend, Tata, stopped to visit Clifford and me at our Utah home-base, in addition to rebuilding our deck, we went on two outings.

The first outing was a short trip to Pine Flats on Abajo Mountain west of Monticello. Although there were clouds and a breeze, we were not deterred from having a picnic and playing music in a grove of scrub oaks. Nearby aspens added variety to the scenery.

The second outing was a longer trip to Needles Overlook, south of Moab, about 20 miles off highway 191. Needles Overlook provides an unrivaled view of the dramatic landscape of the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park. In addition to walking the trail along the rim of the overlook, we again had a picnic and then played bluegrass tunes.

This area is worthy of more exploring and we did pull off on one side road, but there is more to be seen another day.

One Thing Leads to Another – May 2020

May 15, 2020June 6, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

I vacuumed my backyard today, well, not all of it, but some. You might ask why I would do such an odd thing as that, so I will tell you.

It started last fall when I fell through some rotting boards of our deck, luckily not getting injured in the process.

The hole left after rotting boards removed

We put some planks over the hole and left for Arizona, where we camped near my brother, Rollie, and his lady friend, Tata, south of Quartzsite. Clifford and I returned to our home-base in southeast Utah in early April, due to travel restrictions, thanks (NOT) to Covid19. Rollie and Tata stayed longer in Arizona and enjoyed some good camping until the temperature reached 100 degrees and they decided it was time to head north.

In mid-May Rollie and Tata stopped by our place on their journey from Arizona to Montana. The week they were here was special, as it was good to see them and Rollie helped us rebuild a large portion of our deck. Tata, being an extra good cook, made sure we had tasty and interesting meals all week long. A couple smaller projects were tackled and we made two scenic outings (next blog). It was a fun and busy week for all of us.

Since a mostly new deck was now in place, it needed staining, which Clifford and I did, but since one things leads to another, we decided we should sand and stain the picnic table (which Clifford built when we still lived outside Santa Fe, and which had followed us from there to Idaho and now to southeast Utah). And since we were sanding the picnic table, it seemed sensible to sand the old park bench that I had rescued when we moved here.

So I geared up for the sanding with a mask, and eye and ear protection.

The picnic table didn’t need much, but working on the bench – old white paint, probably not lead-free, was all over the ground. And since I am trying to make the backyard into a bird refuge (lots of bird baths in this dry environment), all those little flecks of toxic paint were a problem.

Bird refuge (birds took off when I went out to take photos)

So, I took the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed up the yard, three bags full, until every speck of white was gone.

Now I’m ready to stain, wondering what will lead to what next. (Note to self – next time do your work on the sidewalk outside the fence so you can easily vacuum up the mess.)

Loving the lilacs here, even these on the neighbor’s side of the fence.

Flowers at Homebase – May 2020

May 13, 2020May 31, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

May starts out with a trip up Abajo Mountain for a picnic and music. In the morning it is calm with a lovely blue sky, but by time we head up, it is quite windy. We drive around Pine Flats until we find a spot a little more out of the wind.

The next two weeks are projects at homebase. With highs in the 60’s and windy most days, we are not so tempted to make more trips up the mountain.

Working on the backyard ….

as well as the usual editing and domestic chores, fill up much of my day. I play around with Snapseed to make the most of flower photos, as this is the first year that we have had such blossoms. Many of these become the daily Higher Vibration posts.

Rescuing a volunteer gaillardia on the street corner becomes a little landscaping project – little in size, but big in effort!

Clifford works with his ham radio and music with the dulcimer and the CI Legacy Project.

Most days we go for a walk around town, just to get out. We are looking forward to campgrounds opening, hopefully by the end of the month, and maybe other outings in the meantime.

April in Utah – April 2020

April 30, 2020May 27, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Mid April brings cool temperatures, highs sometimes only in the 40’s. Most of my projects and Clifford’s are indoor activities. This is a good time for reorganizing closets and cupboards in Cougar, editing, blog writing, and reading. With Clifford’s help I submit four photos to the Community Beautification Project.

One of my sisters sent me a book, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Very interesting insight into the reign of infamous King Henry VIII.

In spite of the chilly days, as I keep an eye on all the flower beds, I am happy to see the potential for blossoms this spring.

Clifford is occupied with his ham radio, passing traffic (ham radio messages), and music, playing dulcimer and writing his own compositions using music software.

Although most small businesses are closed, on our daily walkabouts, we discover that the greenhouse is open, which I am glad to see. The “essential businesses” are mostly where we go anyway, so we notice very little difference in our weekly errands, other than the Plexiglas barriers in some places and many people wearing masks. We follow the news on Covid19 and inform ourselves through watching a number of videos related to the topic. There is certainly more going on than what the mainstream news reports, and even that is very contradictory.

It is only toward the end of April that temperatures reach the upper 60’s and lower 70’s and we are finally able to make another outing on Abajo Mountain. The pond created by snow melt is a good place for us to stop. We set up table and chairs for our picnic and music, and I enjoy taking photos of reflections on the pond in spite of the clouds and gusty breeze.

Abajo Picnic and Needles Overlook – April 2020

April 11, 2020May 22, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Upon our return to homebase in southeast Utah in early April, life begins to settle into a different routine for Clifford and me. Now we have more house and yard chores to take care of, but it is nice to have access to hot showers, washer/dryer, and other conveniences.

For the most part, we are still living in Cougar. I miss being able to walk in the vast desert of southwest Arizona where we were camped all winter, but we make a couple of outings that are enjoyable.

Our first outing is a drive up nearby Abajo Mountain for a picnic. We intend to go to one of our favorite spots, either Monticello Lake and Pine Flats. However, when we reach the parking lot at the first campground, we can go no further, as the highway has not been plowed and there is too much snow. We drive back down the mountain to a forest road that is clear enough to allow us to pull to the side and park safely. We set up our table and chairs between old snowdrifts for our picnic before taking out our instruments to play music on the mountainside.

Our next outing is to Needles Overlook, about 45 miles from homebase. We pass the BLM campground where we stayed last fall, currently closed. As we drive to the overlook, we watch for places where we might boondock later this spring. Needles Overlook is 20+ miles from highway 191, but worth the drive for the spectacular view of the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park.

Although there are picnic tables tucked in here and there, we decide to check out a couple potential boondocking spots for our picnic on our way back to the highway.

The wind deters us from picnicking until we find a low spot off a side road that is out of the wind. A juniper provides a mix of sun and shade. We have our picnic and then play music, happy to have found a spot warm and calm enough to enjoy our afternoon outdoors.

Flagstaff to HomeBase – Utah – April 2020

April 6, 2020May 9, 2020 Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

April 6, 2020 – At our overnight camping spot in the Coconino Forest north of Flagstaff, our last morning in Arizona, it is 38 degrees and windy. The winds will be coming from behind, so we pack up and are on our way by 10:00 a.m. We leave the forests behind and enter the badlands of northeast Arizona, taking the junction off US Highway 89 to US Highway 160, and then north on US Highway 191 into Utah. The badlands, while barren of vegetation, are impressive. It is Navajo Reservation all the way to Bluff, Utah.

When we reach the San Juan River just outside of Bluff, we plan to spend the night at the Sand Island Campground.

San Juan River at Sand Island Campground

The website did not indicate closure, nor was there a sign at the entrance to the campground. It is only after getting set up that, at the pay station, we see a sign indicating that the campground is closed due to Covid19. Odd, since are a few other RV’s camped along the river. I am very disappointed, as I have been looking forward to camping by the river, having gone all winter with no rivers, streams, or lakes. However, it seems that we don’t have a choice, so we leave the campground and continue the journey to our homebase in Monticello, arriving in the later afternoon.

Abajo Mountains – Monticello lies at the eastern foot of the range

And now we are back at homebase after having left four months ago, returning a month earlier than planned due to the travel and camping restrictions imposed by the covid19 issue. At this point, travel plans for the summer are on hold until we see how things develop.

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