At the Corner of Apatite and Bornite

Life is good at the corner of Apatite (Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals) and Bornite (Bornite is an important copper ore mineral) in Valle del Oro (valley of gold). Most of the streets here are named after minerals and I sure don't know how to pronounce many of them. I'm glad we live at a corner that seems rather simple. So, what is life like here? We have some wildlife. In addition to lots of small cottontail rabbits, there are Gamble Quail






and doves.



Last week it rained. We looked out the window and wondered what these doves were doing. We finally figured out they were taking a bath in the falling rain! I guess there aren't any bird baths or ponds anywhere nearby.



Once in a while we have to take time for routine housekeeping chores. One day we washed the outside of our RV.



I've always wanted to learn how to make things out of clay, so I quickly signed up for the first basic pottery class I saw. Here is my work area, before the class started.



And this is the small plaque I made. It then had to dry for a week or more and wait to be fired. This week I applied glaze and now I wait for that to be fired.



Lots of park model owners decorate for the various seasons. Here is a Halloween arrangement.



These two black figures sit in front of a park model and are fun to watch. Last month they were waving "Hi!."



Next, the man was washing windows and the woman was pointing out where he missed some dirt. Right now, the woman has her arms full of packages and the man is sitting with his hear buried in his hands. I have been remiss in taking pictures since the one above. I will try to get some more before the end of the year.

Last year John carved two walking sticks from Agave flower stalks. He wanted to make another one this year, but since it is illegal to go pick them in the wild, he had to look around the park to find one in somebody's yard. Finally, last week he found one and the park model owners didn't want it. So we cut it down, then took the parts he didn't want to the dump area. Here you can see the flowering top of the stalk in the bed of our truck.



And here the two pieces of stalk cleaned off. He only kept the skinny portion.



Yesterday we attended the community Thanksgiving dinner at 3 pm with several hundred of our closest friends. Actually, 880 people signed up and the kitchen staff cooked 500 pounds of tukey breasts in addition to legs, baked stuffing and made gravy. Everyone who attended brought side dishes. I took pumpkin chiffon pies. Here is a view of part of the crowd.



And here is our table, right after the food was served.



We had a great time and left stuffed with food. We really miss being with family, but it good to be able to celebrate this holiday with other snowbirds.