January 9-11, 2021 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

70's and sunny, Lawn chair day.

I finished the basket sitting in my lawn chair in the sun. It took most of the day to sew the two rows of beads and the leather backing. It is 10 x 8 x 1 1/4 inches. The center is a piece of glass I fused. The beads are glass beads, it is dyed pine needles and polyester thread. It is very bright.

Back side of the basket. it has suede on the back to protect the glass. Sunset from dinner at our picnic table tonight. No clouds. John made Cajon shrimp and brown rice. It was very yummy and the sunset show wasn't bad either. 

The newest  basket. It is about 6 inches across. It won't get any wider, just a bit taller. This cactus wren was watching me coil my basket, hoping I would drop some food. 

Sunset tonight. Need to add beads around the center and leather on the back and it is done!

John cooking dinner tonight. Cheese steaks! It was really good. My lawn chair is in the background, I worked on the basket in the sun. It was lovely. Loved this mural for the Shadow Ridge RV resort in Ajo as we headed north.

We went through 2 border patrol stations headed north. This was the only one we had to stop at. They asked if it was just us, John said yes and they waved us through. Outside of Gila Bend we passed a huge dairy surrounded by miles of alfalfa fields. Behind the tall fence is the Solana Power Generating station. It is on 3 square miles and has 3,200 parabolic (curved) mirrors that follow the sun. It turns solar energy into steam that runs turbines to produce electricity. I also has 6 molten salt storage batteries and can store the heat for up to 6 hours when there is no sun, so it can produce power during peak usage times.  We are now at Painted Rocks petroglyph site and campground north west of Gila Bend. This is the day use picnic area. It has no water or hookups and pit toilets. 59 HUGE sites. Our neighbors are a couple hundred feet away on both sides. Very quiet and very, very dark. 

This is part of the petroglyph site at Painted Rocks petroglyph site and campground. The rocks are covered with petroglyph. 

Near out campsite these are two palo verde trees. They have green branches and trunk so in time of drought they can drop their leaves and still photosynthesize. Our campsite is next to this on this arroyo lined with mesquite trees.  

I sat at our picnic table in the warm sun in shorts and a short sleeved blouse and worked on my baskets. I finished this basket last night. It is 6 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, made with dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads and a center of dichroic glass I fused. Very colorful. 

 

This is the latest masterpiece in progress. The center is a piece of glass I fused in the shape of a paw, glass beads, natural and dyed pine needles and polyester thread. It is 5 inches in diameter so far. We went back to the petroglyphs in the evening light. There are an amazing amount. 

A couple of huge boulders covered in petroglyphs.

A few more petroglyphs. We had dinner at sunset again at our picnic table in our site, what a view. 

We could see a big bird down the arroyo in a tree. With binoculars you can see it is an owl. It was shopping for dinner. It stayed right in the sunset the whole time. It was just cool to know it was there. 

The only ocotillo we saw with leaves on it. The rest were long sticks with big thorns on them. When it rains they grow leaves within day. Then is drought they drop them to save water. The camp ground is on many historic trails. The Butterfield trail, these are the rules for riding in their coaches. Don't drink unless you share, no spitting into the wind, leave your valuables behind , Extra charge for food. A petroglyph covered rock, a cut out design in the fence and a spine in the arroyo.