Sunday, October 27, 2013

A NEIGHBOR TOLD US WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CACTUS GARDEN:((

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HOW NICE TO BE OUT WALKING UNDER THE WATCHFUL GUISE OF WICKENBURG’S VULTURE PEAK AGAIN…AND WHO SAID DESERT’S CAN’T BE GREEN

It was 5 a.m. & it was warm standing outside in our front yard gazing skyward.  Pheebs & I were under a canopy of stars from horizon to horizon.  A quarter Moon hung high in the south east.  One of my favorite constellations Orion in his westerly travels could be seen slowly beginning to slip westward.  Neighbor’s Rooster was a crowin & the hens was a cluckin.  A crescendo of Crickets completed an early morning homey feeling I had inside.  So nice to be back at our digs in Congress Arizona once again.  And it was already nearly 70F.  I think we might have eventually got up to around 87 today.

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EARLY MORNING LIGHT MAKES FOR LONG SHADOWS

Funny how easily one forgets things that are not part of their daily routine.  And so it was with our Roy Rogers coffee mugs this morning.  Wasn’t until Kelly made coffee that I was reminded of the mugs she had picked up at a garage sale in Congress last year.   When I opened our garden shed yesterday I saw we had things I had totally forgotten about.  Looking in my clothes closet I was reminded of shirts & jackets I had.  And who knew we had all this neat-o southwest furniture & stuff.  Kinda scary how easily some things just kinda slip out of one’s mind when one isn’t seeing or using things on a regular basis.  Am I slowly becoming a character of necessary routine & habit……………..

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Talking to a neighbor this morning we found out what happened to about 95% of our Cactus plants & it was a poor decision we ourselves made last winter that led to their demise.  Another neighbor around the corner suggested a good way to keep our weeds down during the summer was to let him put his sheep on our property.  Seemed like a win/win situation.  His sheep get fed & our weeds get eaten.  We asked if the Sheep would bother our newly planted cactus & he said no the sheep would just eat the weeds.  Well call us naïve I guess.  Our other neighbor said he put a couple goats on our property for the whole summer & that of course meant the end of our cactus.  Neighbor said our cacti were really doing well with blooms appearing but as soon as the goats were put on the property they quickly ate the cactus.  And that was that.  Will I start all over again?  Right now I don’t feel like it but knowing me I probably will.  So discouraging but I do like scratching around in the dirt planting things.DSC_0013

Pheebs got to meet up with a few of her old Arizona Pals this morning on a short walk.  Gizmo, Hatch, Pebbles, & Dally all got to bump noses with their best Canadian buddy Pheebs again.  Nice to see all the little wagging tails.  Didn’t see the Yakky Doodle dogs though.

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DALLY

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HATCH & PEBBLES

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GIZMO

I no I aren’t too darn good on the Grammar side of things & it are true I never seems to know where to put them there apostrophe thingys.  Grammar weren’t a favorite subject of mine in school but I did like English literature & composition.  I will try to get a handle on those apostrophes so that I don’t get no more worser.  Don’t want to end up bean the worsest of ever.  Oh, & I will have to do some thunkin about that Canadian spelling for a bit two.  Keep those comments coming folks, it keeps me on my toes & believe me I need all the help I can get some days.  And how did I get Trinidad Colorado moved back to New Mexico……’again’!! 

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PHEEBS WAS JUST SO HAPPY TO BE OUT RUNNING ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

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SLAMMIN ON THE BRAKES & GALLOPING RIGHT ALONG

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SUPERDOG IS AIRBORNE

John (Sarge) dropped by this morning with a bottle jack & handle crank for the Jeep.  We’re good to hit a few desert trails now.  He & wife Jackie just moved up to Congress from Elfrida & John is enjoying his recent retirement from Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista.  

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Despite a week of travel we did get a few more things done this morning before we both began to fade around noon.  And fade very fast we did too.  I think a weeks hard traveling combined with 3 time zone changes & today’s hot temperatures combined to knock us out of action for the rest of the day.   Very hot here at the moment but it will be heading back down into the 70’s & 60’s shortly.  I will probably have a go at our yard’s weeds in the cooler weather.  Got to get me some gas & oil for my weed whacker.  And maybe start hunting me up some new Cactus sources.  I am determined to ring this place in greenery despite our Cactus garden set-back.  And on closer inspection this morning I did find a few (very few) cactus plants still surviving.  I would say we lost about 95% of them though & definitely every single one that I had planted around our front & side fence line.  There were well over a hundred cactus plants.  And even some of the cactus plants (not prickly pear) that were here when we bought the house are now gone as well:((

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SPENCER LIKES SLEEPING IN MY BED & GAVE ME A CROSS LOOK WHEN I WOKE HIM UP THIS AFTERNOON…………:))

Question in the Shout Box wondered if we turn the power off to the house when we leave in the Spring.  Answer is yes.  Water is also turned off & the Congress Water department puts a lock on our street valve.  Kelly phoned them a day before we arrived & the guys went out & removed the lock so all I had to do when we got here was turn the valve lever on.  We turn our own electricity on & off as well.  Made sure the water heater was full before turning on the electricity to the heater too.  We had things powered up & running in about an hour Saturday.

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I’M THINKING I REMEMBER THESE FELLOWS AS CACTUS WRENS…GONNA HAVE TO GET MY SOUTH-WEST BIRD BOOK OUT AGAIN

I remember someone asking about our gas mileage on this trip with Winnie’s Ford 10 cylinder engine.  Don’t have an answer for that because I have never been one to keep track of miles per gallon gas mileage.  Some things are just better left unknown for me.   However I can tell you we spent $1,295 for gas to travel 2,361 miles getting here. Judging from other years that was very comparable to our Class A 33’ Damon challenger with it’s 8 cyl Chevy Vortec engine.  Must say I do have a preference for the Chevy V-8 engines simply because they seem to have more pep than the Ford V-10.  Just my opinion of course.

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FILE PHOTO OF THE SETTING MOON TAKEN FROM OUR BACK YARD A YEAR AGO IN NOVEMBER

GROANER’S CORNER:((  I stopped at a friends house the other day and found him stalking around the kitchen with a flyswatter.  When I asked if he had gotten any flies he answered, "Yeah, 5 .... 3 males and 2 females."  Curious, I inquired as to how he could tell the difference.  He answered, "It's easy, 3 were on a beer can and 2 were on the phone.

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

25 comments:

  1. I sure don't think you should worry about Canadian vs. USA spelling! Do it like you always do. When I lived in Ireland full time for 3 yrs I kept spelling American although I did switch to their date format. I also tried to use the local words for things such as "lift" (elevator); "boot" (trunk of car); etc., but I would never in a zillion years spell "color" with a "u". Most other folks from the U.S. wouldn't either, so don't let anyone tell you that you should change.

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  2. Have you read I.M. Vain's blog? Seems like you have, 'cause you were channeling him with thr "I no I aren’t too darn good" bit. You're better at your own style than his...

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  3. Good work on making sure hot water tank was full before turning on power.
    Happy to hear the cactus mystery is solved. I was also wondering how the Ford pulled hills vs the Vortec Chevy.

    When we get to our Cabana we will discover clothes and dishes that we use in our other life. It is kind of a neat feeling.

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  4. Too bad about the Cacti, that was a lot of work for you. I use the Canadian spelling often, it's just natural I guess.

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  5. Welcome to your other home :)

    Too bad about the cacti, but it was a toss up, would you rather have come back to tons of weeds?

    Don't wear yourselves out....you have many months ahead. Enjoy the moment and the sun.

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  6. I'd be madder than a wet hen at the loss of so many cactus plants. Wow the work you must have put in. And now you'll miss the blooms. Sure hope you'll do it all over and not be so generous with the sheep/goat guy. Hope it's not too much of an expense.

    Oh and I am with you all the way about being happier and calmer when I don't do radio or TV news.

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  7. Glad that you are getting all settled in again in sunny Arizona.
    Don't feel too bad about your use of apostrophes. As the daughter of an English teacher I really notice things like this and believe me you are far from alone!
    Kelly is looking healthier and more like her usual pretty self.

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  8. Just curious, if you are not getting better gas mileage in the new rig - why did you downsize to a smaller rig that is not as comfortable and that you will now have to pay to add solar to the new rig. Also, wondering about something in an earlier post - your description of the Ford engine gearing down automatically - I have the Ford E450 engine and I change to 3rd, or sometimes 2nd on my own when going downhill - am I missing something?

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  9. I sell RVs at Camping World of Tampa and just want to back up your comment about the V-8 in the Damon having more pep than the Winnie V-10. In your case, it is true, the V-10 in a class C puts out 305hp where your Vortec was rated at 340hp. However, in today's class A's, the newer Fords have a "beefed up" engine and chassis, so your Challenger with today's engines would have 362hp. Class C's have not been changed.

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  10. If your figures for total cost of gas and driven mileage are correct and we assume $3.50/gal. for gas, then your rig is extremely thirsty as it has a gas mileage under 7pr. gallon. Reminds me of our first 1989 27ft. Class C.

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  11. Nice that you can get all settled in and enjoy the great weather.
    Our 1999 36 ft Holiday Rambler with the older for v-10 gets 7.25 miles per US gallon. So you should do about 8-10 mpg I would think.
    The way we look at it pretty reasonable when you spread it over 6 months.

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  12. Sure was great to see out for your morning walk in the dessert!

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  13. I agree with "Contessa".
    And, maybe the goat owner didn't know himself that you had planted them there. For the most of the people cacti are weeds, a nuisance. Well, another winter, another chance.
    The grammar and spelling - don't even mention it. I am hopeless. Never got the hang of it and never will. I settled down to the main thing: make people understand what I want to say.

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  14. Since others are chiming in on the apostrophe issue, I will too. You truly are not alone in the misuse of them. I see them on several other blogs, on billboard signs, in magazines and in businesses. As for cacti disappearing, please excuse my opinion on this, but as an ex-pat Arizonan, I wonder if there is some other greenery you could use? Older prickly pear in the desert often have snakes and rats burrow in underneath. Well, and rabbits too.

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  15. I'm not much for getting upset over dead plants. Plus, we need a couple goats around here to sort out the weeds.
    Finding things that you forgot about is always fun. Once upon a time we were moving *stuff* from our apartment in Horseheads, N.Y. to the house we rented in Puerto Rico, all the while never having given up the place here in Ontario.
    And since we had already moved into the place in P.R., there was *stuff* there too.
    Think I could find anything?

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  16. I think George Yates is correct about your gas milage. I have a 1999 V10 in a 25' Class C and before I lost my spreadsheet I keep track of every mile and gallon. I got 9 mpg. I don't drive Interstate highways, the slower speed helps some but my home is my car so I do more town driving than you do.

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  17. Indeed, you are correct, those are Cactus Wrens. Been a long time since I saw one. It's lovely to see them spread their tail feathers

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  18. I am not a cactis lover, so in my opinion the goat, sheep, etc. don you a favor!!
    We planted a lots of them when we first got our lot back in 1999 and then in a few years I paid a guy to come in with a Bob Cat and get rid of the prickey dern things....

    Isn't this SouthWest weather just lovely?
    Nice to have you back in the neighborhood!!

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  19. If you replant the Cactus and put some kind of metal fencing around them such as chicken wire would that not keep the sheep away from them. If that did work though you would then have a lot of weeding to do next fall. Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  20. I sure enjoyed all the pictures of Pheebs running around. What a happy girl! I think she likes Arizona.

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  21. Guess I came up with the wrong solution to your cacti problem!

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  22. Think I would be asking the Goat Guy for some labor helping with the replanting. I assume you were not asked if the Goats were welcome?

    Good to see you are back in AZ safe and sound.

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  23. Did I get it right that your neighbor just took it upon himself to let his goats on your property?? If so, that wouldn't fly here in Illinois..You just don't let animals graze a neighbor's yard without asking..
    Sounds like the Winnie might be a tad thirsty..When we pull our Hiker we get an average of 10mpg, and that's diesel.. I know this only because MacGyver is a stickler about knowing how much fuel is costing and why..

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  24. Sort of like Christmas in July with gifts and hot weather. Assume it was cooler today with all the wind. Dang goats.

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  25. Sorry to hear about the cacti! Of course the goats will eat them. What was the farmer thinking.

    Love Pheebs excitement:)

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