It’s true what they say about campgrounds.
You meet a lot of people! This morning I met Gaye and her Border Collie, Mandy. They live in Datil in the western mountains of New Mexico. Gaye says, “It got so cold, I had to get out of there. So I came down here to stay a few weeks.” She has a big Class A motorhome which she might get rid of to buy something smaller. “It’s so expensive to maintain,” she explains. We talk for a few minutes in the brisk, morning air while Mandy and the crew play around at our feet. She tells me she heard an owl hooting last night.
One propane tank is empty!
I go to make coffee this morning and the burner won’t light. Aha! An empty tank. I go out and turn on the second tank, and I remember to turn the pointer knob toward the full tank. From August 16th, when I picked up my Casita and bought propane, to November 8th, I used 20 lbs. of propane.
I use propane mostly for the range. I did use it for the fridge for the five days I was without electric hook-up at Conchas Lake. I don’t try to conserve. If I want propane, I use propane. I’ll use more when I heat with the catalytic heater, but I’m told it won’t be much.
Camp Host George stops by while I’m outside this morning.
He asks if everything is okay and I tell him it is. This is George’s first camp host position, although he has other workkamping experience. I ask him if he likes it. “Yeah, I do. If anybody causes any trouble, I call the ranger and let him handle it. I stay out of the middle.” Sounds like a good plan.
Later I go next door to thank Kathy for her chicken and green chilies dish she shared with me yesterday, and to tell her how much I enjoyed it. She already has the recipe written out for me. I look it over and say, “This looks so easy, I think I can do it!”
Green Chili and Cheese Chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chopped green chili (skinned, of course)
1 cup chopped cheddar cheese
1/2 yellow onion, chopped, sauteed
4 large chicken breasts, skinned, boneless
Combine first four ingredients and heat until cheese is melted. Pour over breasts in casserole dish. Marinate in refrigerator 3-6 hours or overnight (great!)
Cook in 325 degree oven 1 and 3/4 hours – 2 hours.
Kathy adds this note: “Chili lovers double the amount of green chili and sometimes use HOT chili. (Chili comes mild, medium, and hot). We use medium type.”
The sauce on the chicken is so good you’ll want to sop it up with a slice of bread. I don’t have an oven in my Casita. I’m going to try making it in my crockpot. I like recipes that don’t have many ingredients, and you don’t have to buy some expensive spice you’ll never use in any other recipe.
Let me know if you try it and like it. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hear about it!
I wash the Perfect Tow Vehicle today.
The campground forbids car-washing due to the drought. So I fill a small bucket with water and sponge off the dirtiest parts, using Bounce softener sheets to remove the bugs. Instead of rinsing with a hose, I drip water over the area and dry it with a towel. Spike and Bridget watch me from their pen.
I get out my stepladder because I can’t reach much of the PTV’s windshield without it. The PTV is high! Even with the stepladder, I can’t reach a triangular area at the top center. Errggh! My arms are too short! I guess I need a squeegee. I clean all the other windows, too, so now the PTV is lookin’ good again.
It looks like nighttime potty breaks are part of our new routine.
Whether shorter days or time change, the crew needs to go out after dark before going to bed for the night. Scooping up doggie-poop is challenging in the dark, to say the least. I guess I need to wear a headlamp. That ought to be special . . . A sixty-something woman roaming around the campground wearing a headlamp. This is silver mine country. People will think I’m searching for the mother lode.
rvsue
rvsue and her canine crew 