Cold Moon 2025

 Thursday, December 4, 2025

Another chilly day in Quartzsite the last time I checked the temperature we were on our way out to Roadrunner to enjoy Happy Hour with Kim and Ken. It said the temperature was 63 degrees but with the breeze even in the sun it did not feel that warm. Though we did manage to muddle through a couple hours of sitting, chatting, and possibly a couple of adult beverages. What would be nice to add next to this blog would be a picture of the group. But that would mean I remembered to take one which by now you have  probably guessed I did not.

Then I almost caught the sun slipping behind the Dome Rock Mountains.

Sitting back down we noticed the moon rising over the mountains across the way and I did manage to get several pictures of that.

Some interesting tidbits about the moon we call The Full Cold Moon. At least I thought they were interesting.

The Moon names we use in The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from centuries of Native American, colonial, and European traditions. December’s Full Moon is most commonly called the Cold Moon (Mohawk), reflecting the frigid season. 

It is also known as the Long Night Moon (Mohican) because it rises during the longest nights of the year, near the winter solstice, and remains above the horizon for an extended period.

Other traditional names that highlight the cold and snow include:

Drift Clearing Moon (Cree)

Frost Exploding Trees Moon (Cree)

Moon of the Popping Trees (Oglala)

Hoar Frost Moon (Cree)

Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee)

Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki)

Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers (Dakota)

Little Spirit Moon (Anishinaabe)

In Europe, ancient pagans called it the “Moon Before Yule” in honor of the Yuletide festival celebrating the return of the sun.

This picture and the ones below I took on the way home.

We stopped along the highway on our way home and  I snapped
this picture I do not know what I hit to make the background
black. But I do like how it turned out.

It was a good day in our little part of the world. We enjoyed a fun Happy Hour with friends and we saw a super moon rise over the mountains. 

 If you have enjoyed the pictures I have put out there 
or the words I have added that makes me smile. 
If you have time to leave a comment they are always special to read. 
No matter what I am glad you stopped by!

Time With Friends

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

When we got back home from dinner at Silly Al's with the group below the sky still had some lovely dark shades of pink showing threw. There must have been a lovely afterglow while we were inside enjoying good conversation and food.

You probably already have seen this picture of the group we went to
Silly Al's with for dinner Tuesday night on Patsy's Blog.
The thing it was so much better than the one I took I just had to "borrow" it..😊.
Right to left: Bill, Ken, John, Tom, myself, Gayle, Kim and Patsy.

Earlier in the day I joined three other ladies for a few games of Pokeno. Patsy has talked about how much fun it is, so when she said why don't you join us I decided to go and see what it was all about. I counted out my precious pennies and walked over to the club house just before 1 o'clock to join in the fun and I have to say, and fun it was. Of course, it would have been more fun if I would have not lost most of my pennies but sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad...lol

After I got back from Pokeno Tom and I joined Kim and Ken at Patsy and Bill's for Happy Hour before heading over to Silly Al's for dinner.  Where Gayle, Patsy's sister, and her husband, John joined us. Tom and I had not seen Gayle and John in several years so it was wonderful getting to chat with both of them.

It was another good day in Quartzsite, Arizona.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

It was another chilly morning in the Sonoran Desert, 43 degrees as our day started. But with blue skies and sunshine it always feel a little warmer except if there is a breeze and this morning there was breeze. At a few minutes after 9 I walked over to the Clubhouse for Coffee and Snacks. Tom followed a few minutes later he had a few calls to make this morning. It was a very pleasant hour chatting with people and there were muffins baked by Sue that Tom said were very good.

A little later we headed out to Plomosa Road to pick up friends Melissa and Lyle at their spot out there and drove into Bouse for a late lunch. Two meals with friends in two days, plus coffee and snacks, we are starting to feel like social butterflies...lol

Driving down Plomosa Road we can see
the Plomosa Mountains in the distance.

Then we are driving through the mountains......

As we come out the east side of the mountains
this is one of my favorite views.

I wonder what mountains those are in the distance.

Lunch at El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant in Bouse, AZ
With Melissa and Lyle. The food was pretty good 
but the company was excellent.

The moon was rising as we pulled out of their
spot to head home.

Every once and awhile when you are driving through or near
mountains you get to watch the sun set more than once.
Plomosa Mountains.

After driving through the Plomosa Mountains the sun still
had a ways to go before slipping down for the day.

Looking east towards the Plomosa Mountains
as the sun was setting behind us.

Couldn't let a blog go by without an Ocotillo

Our last sunset for today as we approach AZ-95 
going west on Plomosa Road.

Turning on to Tyson Street as we made our way
home I liked the pink color in the sky.
That little white dot in the upper left is the moon.

I do like the warning on this sign located
on Plymouth Road in Quartzsite.

Our days are flowing by and we are enjoying them all. 

 If you have enjoyed the pictures I have put out there 

or the words I have added that makes me smile. 

If you have time to leave a comment they are always special to read. 

No matter what I am glad you stopped by!

There is a Potty Garden by the Gold Eye Mine!

Monday, December 1, 2025 

The start to a new week and month. Goodbye November and Hello December. One thing just so you know, November, you flew by way to fast. 

Thanks to a few friends I now have a some new thoughts humming in my brain I will not be letting go of for a bit...lol

Looking out the window it is another day of blue skies and sunshine. It is a little chilly, 45 degrees, as I  start writing this on Tuesday morning the 2nd. Then I checked the temperatures our family and friends are enjoying back in the "frozen north". So, I think we will enjoy all the predicted high's in the 60's these next few days and even the lows in the 40's thoroughly.

So the decision on Monday was to take a ride after lunch. Tom had come across something called the Potty Garden. I ask you, how could anyone pass up going in search of toilets lined up in the desert filled with silk flowers? Obviously not us, so off we went with the vague directions, north of the Gold Eye Mine. What follows below are several pictures, okay to be honest it is a picture overload, the ride to our successful find, and the ride beyond.

Looking towards Sugar Loaf Peak in the Dome Rock BLM.
We are on Cholla Road heading back towards the mountains.

We are looking for a specific road.

We found it, it just was not the right road.
Bottom right, we have turned around and headed back to Cholla Road.
 It was not a bad detour.

In the top left of the above collage you can see what the power of water accomplished. A good chunk of the road is gone. On this ride and our last one we saw several places on the roads that had been washed away. Especially where the washes cross the road, we have been over some good size grooves.

Then we found the right road.

A little ways down the road we came upon this sign success we found the Gold Eye Mine . Now to find the Potty Garden. In the upper right photo we could see where people are mining. A little farther and we could see a flag and what looked like the remnants of a cabin in the distance. I zoomed in on it. We kept going and there was a sign with the word cabin on it and an arrow pointing right. So we made the turn and a little farther another sign with the same instructions then we saw them a row of potty chairs all filled with flowers.

What we came looking for.

One of the first things I saw was the flag up the hill behind the above picture.

The Erdman Cabin

 

There was a plunger in one of them and even a bathroom sink.

The Potty Garden was created by Lehre Erdman the original miner of the Historical Gold Eye mine.  He also built the stone cabin that is there. He spent 63 years at this mine. Interestingly the Quartzsite area has been a beacon for gold miners since the 1860's.

I could not find any information about who maintains this all now but it is obvious someone does. It is well kept up. There is no admission fee but there is a box for donations and it did mention donating silk flowers. 

Inside the Erdman Cabin

You will notice there are items in the above pictures some are said
to have been left by Lehre Erdman.

There is the remnants of another cabin across the way.

Bottom picture: this must have been a sitting room. On the shelf
there is what is left of an old television. 

This is someone's claim.

Tom thought this looked like an old mine shaft; it is fenced in,

Looking down from the Historical Gold Eye Mine.
Mr. Erdman enjoyed this wonderful view for 63 years.

We have now continued past the mine.
We could see several holes where people had dug
into the side of this hill looking for their fortune.

Some of the road we continued down. 
There was a sign that said La Paz Valley and an arrow pointing which
road and we did start down that one, which we have been on in the past.
But then we made a right turn to the one above. 

I just liked the look of the mountains in the distance.

We saw several Teddy Bear Chollas, some Buckhorn Chollas
and one Prickly Pear.

One lonely Saguaro overlooking the road we are on.

I wonder how old these guys are?

Dome Rock Mountains where in our view as 
we drove along.

The Ocotillos are mostly still dressed in their lovely little green leaves.

This is were we turned around. 

Looking at the map I could see we were coming to the end of the road. Yet we kept saying one more turn lets go over one more rise then we saw the end off in the distance. I zoomed in with the camera and that is the picture in the top left. We could see a transmission tower in the center of the large grey area. There was also a white vehicle down there. No doubt the "Jeep with No Name" was capable of taking us there but we sat a minute and decided not today we had gone far enough. 

We had passed a road that looked like it would take us in the general
direction we needed to go mainly easterly and it looked pretty good.

So instead of backtracking we decided to take it even though we could not see a road marker which meant the map was useless. But, like many times in the past, we headed down it anyway hoping for the best. By that I mean we were hoping we would not come to something we could not go down or up because more then once we have had to turn around and enjoy even more backtracking for that reason. But what is life without a little adventure into the unknown...lol

Along the way we could see the moon rising. It is faintly in the
upper left corner. The Sleeping Indian is in the bottom right.

Then there it was a steep descent into a wash with the ledge right
next to the road. It really doesn't look that bad in the picture.
On the right is from the bottom. 

Not to far and the road got interesting and for the first time in 
awhile Tom got out to check ahead. 

Ahead was the steep climb out. I am not sure why I did not have him stop at the top for that picture. It actually was less of a challenge then the coming down. Besides there was no other way to go to get out. Once we reached the top the road ahead was lovely, flat, and we recognized where we were. We knew there was one more wash ahead to cross but not one to worry about. In fact, our Jeep Trailhawk had taken us from Kuehn Street down that wash to the crossing ahead of us.  

The one on the left I had taken a while back the one on the left 
just before we reached the end of the ride.

Top picture: La Paz Valley in the distance.
Bottom picture: Old Yuma Road and we are headed home.

It really was a fun ride, the type we had not done in awhile. Especially after we stopped at the mine and Potty Garden. Though if we decide to go and finish that road down to the transmission tower, two things, we will leave earlier in the day and there will be  backtracking to where we decided to go right instead of left. The thing is we had been left before, right looked inviting, and it was.

So ended a nice little afternoon adventure for us near Quartzsite, Arizona.

If you have enjoyed the pictures I have put out there 

or the words I have added that makes me smile. 

If you have time to leave a comment they are always special to read. 

No matter what I am glad you stopped by!