Cate Mueller

Radio Contest Withdrawals I didn’t win KLPZ’s iPhone giveaway contest. It was probably all for the best, I mused as I sat dejectedly in my lifeless Jeep. I didn’t need another expense. I turned the key again. Click. Dagnabbit. Then the hood latch release broke off in my hand. DAGnabbit! I wandered back to the house and turned on the …

AM Radio Fun Remember the movie “American Graffiti” about life – and hot rods – in a small California town? I grew up in that one-horse town. We had exactly one local radio station, KFIV “K-5” AM and it formed the soundtrack of our lives. I remember as a teenybopper lugging around a tape recorder and radio and recording songs …

Busted…? A long, long time ago in a yard far, far away… My summer job was watering desert plants and looking after my snowbird neighbors’ homes while they were off enjoying cooler climes. My work vehicle was a bicycle, the basket stuffed with water bottles and house keys. My uniform was portable shade — a wide-brimmed straw hat, long sleeved …

A powerful monsoon storm slammed into my neighborhood three miles northwest of Bouse Sunday evening, July 11th, 2011. Wind toppled tall trees, smashed windows, blew out metal garage doors, plucked coolers from rooftops, ripped awnings from houses and tore off a roof from a stick-built home. “The wind was blowing the rain so hard it hurt,” reported that homeowner. “I …

A Salute to All Who Protect and Serve I listened to Saturday’s Parker tube float play-by-play on the radio — the police scanner radio. I salute all our law enforcement, medical and other officials who work so hard protecting and serving us. Heck, maybe that should be protecting — and saving — us from ourselves. My hat is off to …

Bizarre Bouse! Several months after I moved to Bouse in 2007, strange things began appearing in and around my house. I found a Robert Heinlein novel one morning when I made the bed. I changed those sheets plenty of times without finding any sci-fi. Odd. I don’t read Heinlein. One night I let down the blinds and a tiny sombrero …

I Don’t Understand I assumed by the time I turned 50 I would have life all figured out. Wow, was I wrong! Here are some things I still haven’t sorted out: Why are there so many ways to spell Ketchup — and is it an acceptable source of Vitamin C? “Do my thing.” As in, “I stepped outside to do …

Swansea Scratching I have an idea for a fun, furry fundraiser, providing you gentlemen don’t mind being a little itchy. Autumn 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the filming of Day of the Wolves, a movie shot in nearby Lake Havasu City and Swansea copper mining ghost town. The plot involves a mysterious and greedy mastermind who recruits distant thieves …

Re-Discovering AM Radio When I was a child AM radio was all there was. That probably dates me worse than admitting to making reel-to-reel tapes, but I’ll own it. When FM appeared, that was it — I was rocking! When I landed in Quartzsite ten years ago as a brand-new RVer I found the mother of all swap meets. I …

Welcome (?) to Quartzsite! “What’s the name of the place I’m going? Cortez? Courtside?” I asked my friends as I climbed into my new home – an old RV. “Quartzsite! RVers’ Mecca. Bye, have fun!” My friends bade me a happy 40th birthday and a fond farewell and I set sail as a brand new full-time RVer. One flat tire …