Blast from the past

Hidden Valley Ranch, Deming, NM 88030 Feb. 26 - Mar. 13, 2013  

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RV LIFE:
Funny how little things  evolve as we adjust to RV life.
It is now normal to take navy showers, meaning wet yourself down, turn off the water, soap up, turn on water to rinse off. Saving water by not running the shower continuously and also saving the grey tank from filling too quickly. I've known about these kind of showers since childhood. My father was in the navy during the Korean War.

My Dad

He often mentioned navy showers and encouraged us to embrace that. But of course, we never did.
I caught myself automatically stepping over the floor heating vents. When we first moved into the RV, we went through quite a few of these cheaply made vents because we kept stepping on them. Now it is just a subconscious move to avoid them.

I'm really enjoying NM. Of course when we step outside Hidden Heaven, I  mean Hidden Valley and we venture into town, then it's not so heavenly. Hidden Valley has the park nicely landscaped and not a lot of shrub. Whereas along the drive on the dirt road and into town, the property hasn't been pruned and it is quite ugly and junky looking.
We have only been here 9 days and already, I feel a part of this community.  We are tentatively planning on spending a good part of the winter here at the end of 2013.
The dry air is really starting to affect me. itchy, watery eyes, gook in the corners, bloody nose, dry face and hands. We are using body cream daily now.
The slow internet is also really starting to bother me. I've downgraded my rating of Hidden Valley to 4 because of that. I am so used to just Googling items that I want to know more about. Here at Hidden Valley, it just takes too much time. I have been reading my Kindle in between page loading down time. Very frustrating. Speaking of Kindle...
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PETS:
We've again tried to leave Devin loose in the RV. Unfortunately, he is just too inconsistent to be trusted. This time, he got my Kindle. Grrrr! I had the Kindle on the little shelf beside our bed. Devin likes to look out the window on the bed. My Kindle has a nice heavy brown leather cover. Dog & leather... ...ahhh chew toy!

All those dots are teeth marks

Mom & Dad left me something so I wouldn't be bored while they were away. Yep, Devin decided to gnaw on my Kindle, and yep he cracked the screen.

I could still read it for the most part. The upper right corner is unreadable. Oh what the heck, it was the first edition Kindle and a Scott hand me down. I think it's time I upgraded anyway.  So, I ordered a new Kindle Paperwhite.
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PRODUCT REVIEWS:
Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi only, No ads $139.00
My rating 5 out of 5
Scott is so jealous!  Maybe if Scott leaves his Kindle 3 on the bed and Devin loose, then Scott can also get a new Kindle Paperwhite.
I think all the Kindles have a 6" screen. It's the surrounding area that is different measurements. The Kindle will be larger if you opt for the keyboard instead of on screen keyboard.
The purpose of my Kindle is exclusively to read, so there is not much use for the keyboard.  I wanted something light and small. My new Kindle is light and thin. Even with the leather cover it's still much smaller than the Kindle 1. It fits nicely into my pocketbook without adding too much weight. Very handy.
The touch sensitivity is very good. Instead of pushing a side bar to turn a page, you just tap or swipe the screen. Very rarely have to re-tap.
The special advantage to the Paperwhite as to a regular Kindle is that it has a back light. Even with this light, the battery life is quite long. The light means  that in bright sunlight, you can darken it for better contrast. At night, you don't need a book light. The screen can be adjusted to read at night without giving off any blaring light.
It's very easy to navigate on screen. I don't miss the keyboard or the 4 buttons at the bottom at all.
I opted to pay an extra $20. so I wouldn't receive ads on my home screen.

Marware Eco-Flip Kindle cover $34.99
My rating 4 out of 5
This would be rated 5 out of 5 if the price was more in the $15.00 range.
This is a simple well thought out cover. I love the hot pink color. Of course it also comes in boring black & brown.

This cover is lightweight but sturdy and keeps the total weight of my Kindle Paperwhite light. Since I am only using this to read, I only view the Kindle in portrait mode. My old Kindle cover opened like a book and was bulky to hold while reading.
This Marware Flip cover flips up & over like a Steno pad (anyone remember those?) When flipped over, it enables me to read hands free, which is a a great feature. The other special feature I love is the slot for your hand. It makes it so much easier to hold the Kindle while reading. No more GRIPPING the Kindle. Simply slip your hand in the back and let the Kindle lay easily in your palm. Makes for many hours of comfortable reading.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST: Stenography
Stenography is a way to take dictation notes in shorthand. There are line wiggles to represent letters of the alphabet. Then there are other wiggles that are combos of letters of abbreviated words. I took Shorthand course in high school and did very well. I had to demonstrate for a job interview, but did not take the job. I never did use shorthand for the secretary job I did end up taking. But, I used it for my diary. I was a very unhappy and rebellious teenager. I wrote pages and pages and pages of shorthand journal entries. I kept it until I purged when we were going full time. Of course I couldn't read it now anyway. The point was that my father couldn't read it, so no need to hide or lock it up.

  Here is a great video demonstration.
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SIGHTS:
Rockhound Roundup, presented by the Deming Gem & Mineral Society, Inc.
More than 100 dealers, display cases, geode cutting, gold panning, spinning wheel, silent and live auctions, door prizes, raffle, guided field trips.
I've never appreciated the process of rock to precious gem, rock to polished stones & beads. Now that we are right in the midst of rock & mineral mining and we can walk out to the desert and have our pick, I've become interested in the process. I am truly amazed that rock enthusiasts can see an ugly rock in the desert with MAYBE a hint of color and know what it is and that it will polish up to a beautiful stone.
This show was the first of it's kind I've attended. This is all a part of living in the SW.
The inside vendors of the show was more commercialized and more expensive. I felt completely "lost" knowledge wise. Some of the stones were fake, or painted. How can I tell? So I was not willing to spend money on an unknown.
We did see some amazing items, one of which was a 3 foot high Geode.
We ended up picking up quite a few items. Check out our onyx goblets! Holds about 6 ozs.

Onyx before

Onyx after

I picked up an amethyst pendant, three bracelets ($3.00 each) & a slab of something pretty. May make a pin out of the slab.

And Scott picked up this little doggy item.

The vendors on the outside were cheaper and showed the raw materials and the finished products. Lots of info on rock tumbling. Scott may have the bug. I'm on the fence. If we had a permanent place, I'd say go for it, but being on the road, that means a rock tumbler takes space, adds weight. And as one of the vendors told us, one rock leads to more which leads to 10 pounds, then 20 pounds, then you start giving away your polished rocks to friends and then they start avoiding you because they don't need any more pretty stones.

FYI: Dogs were allowed. We didn't bring ours because we didn't know.

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FOOD REVIEW: 

Sunrise Kettle Corn, Deming, NM 

Caution, this may be addictive to your taste buds.

Yes! We found kettle corn! I love kettle corn.

We visited the Sunrise Kettle Corn booth, we were offered generous samples of different flavor kettle corn. We tried regular, caramel and cinnamon. They also offer chili and banana split, both of which I had no interest in.

The popped kernels were huge and fluffy. We were told they are called mushroom popcorn.

REGULAR KETTLE CORN: This was fluffy, with the right amount of salty and sweet. 

CINNAMON KETTLE CORN: At first I wasn't impressed. I was expecting more of a cinnamon/sugar combo taste, but it was pure cinnamon coating the kettle corn. I bought a bag anyway. Well, it is addicting!!! I love it. No need for more sweetness. 

CARAMEL KETTLE CORN: Perfect! This is not overly sweet nor sticky. Just a subtle caramel taste that lets you eat a lot without your taste buds being overwhelmed with sweetness.

All flavors above had the undertones of the regular kettle corn. We will be back.

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Let's end with a NM sunset

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 Mar 14 - 27, 2013 Desert Trails RV Park-Tucson AZ 85735

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013 Dead Horse Ranch State Park-Cottonwood, AZ

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village,(Part of Grand Canyon Park)