POSSIBLY OUR MOST VISITING DAY OF EVER:))

STOPPING TO SMELL A ‘BIRD OF PARADISE’ PLANT ON OUR WALK THIS MORNING

Filled the rig’s fresh water tank this morning.  Doesn’t take long because it is on the small side.  More stuff loaded up & more outside stuff put away. Sunny & warm.  Ten day weather forecast looks good for our South-West checkpoints along the way as far as Raton Colorado.  A warm front is moving in across the West beginning this week-end.

We slipped over to see John & Jackie this morning.  Jackie was vacuuming & John was underneath the house tracking down a minor water leak.  Sure is one mighty nice place those folks have.  John & Jackie were very helpful to us last winter when I was having a lot of trouble with my right hip.  We will see them again in October when we return to Congress.  And this afternoon we headed on over to Pat & Mike McFalls place for their 4 p.m. Happy Hour.  There is often a number of folks there but tonight Kelly & I were the only ones & how nice it was for us to just sit on down & talk with Mike & Pat their very selves:))  I think this actually turned out to be a record breaking visiting day for the Bayfield Bunch when Bev & Jim popped in after supper.  They knew we were leaving soon & wanted to say good-bye before we left.  Jim & Bev are the couple who have put together all our great Jeep tours the past couple winters. 

Not sure why but I have been having some kind of problem leaving comments on a few fellow Bloggers blogs.  I’m suspecting a Google problem of some kind but I’m not sure.  Tried 3 separate times to leave a comment on Nan & Johns SOLAR post but no go.  Tried again on their todays post but nada again.  Wonder if anyone else is having the same problem.

I may have confused a few folks about our Saguaro Cactus in Sunday’s post.  In a comment on my Saturday night post Craig asked in part…….. “In your post tonight, I don't understand, if you have 2 saguaros big enough to be worth more than the house, how can they be small enough to move? Are they in pots? Are you allowed to sell them and get rich”?……..Ok Craig I’ll try & clear up what I said…..Yes, we have two big 15 foot Saguaros out front of the house.   Saguaros can fetch up to about $2,500.00 a foot, at least that is what we heard.  We actually have a third 10 foot Saguaro as well.  Doing the math & allowing for that $2500.00 figure to be over the top I think it might be safe to say we might have in access of $50,000 worth of Saguaros here.  First off we would never consider selling them & second it is totally illegal for people to do so unless they go through all the channels to apply for a permit to either sell or re-locate a Saguaro.  Arizona is very strict about the removal of Saguaro Cacti. Very strict.  I think the confusion came in when I wrote, “It became windy enough this afternoon to move our 2 large Saguaros out front”.  I did follow that line with, “From my bedroom computer chair I could see them swaying slightly with each wind gust”.  The key words there were ‘swaying slightly’.  Anyway I am the guy writing this stuff so the onus is on me to say what I have to say….clearly. 

TIOGA GEORGE has been in an accident.  Mr. Ed from the FLIP FLOP RESORT INN left a comment on my Sunday post.  It’s written by Tioga George & says……………..

Accident
MsTioga runs off the Interstate
On Saturday, March 15th, close to noon, MsTioga and I were driving on Interstate #5, a bit south of Bakersfield, California. Suddenly we were in a field to the right of the Interstate. I had no clue how I had arrived stopped in that field!
I saw a man running up the shoulder of the Interstate. He climbed over the field's fence and came to my aid where I was sitting in MsTioga's driver's seat. To his questions, I told him that I was OK, just a bit dizzy. "What happened to me?", I asked.
The man told me that he had been following me. Suddenly, MsTioga began fishtailing, then headed off the Interstate to the field where she was now sitting.
Ambulance to the hospital
Soon an ambulance arrived, and put me into a gurney. Then carried me across the field to the Interstate and put me into the ambulance. We drove to the Emergency Room of San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield.
Soon it was discovered that I had an irregular heart beat. While the top half of my heart beat at about 60 beats/minute, the bottom chamber beat in the 30 beats/minute range. The doctor told me that the irregular heart beat likely caused me to pass out.
Posted by Tioga George at 3/15/2014 11:30:00 AM UPDATE:: GEORGE HAD OPEN HEART SURGERY TUESDAY MARCH 18TH.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, "It was a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theater seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now."
The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, "And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to church, so I supported you when you brought in that rock'n'roll gospel choir. Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony."
"Thank you, Father," answered the young priest. "I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth."
"All of these ideas have been well and good," said the elderly priest, "but I'm afraid you've gone too far with the drive-thru confessional."
"But, Father," protested the young priest, "my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!"
"Yes," replied the elderly priest, "and I appreciate that.
But the flashing neon sign, 'Toot 'n Tell or Go to Hell' cannot stay on the church roof.

WE MAY MOVE OUR DEPARTURE DATE UP

Had ourselves a cooler cloudy morning & I was thankful for that.  Energized me enough to get rid of some brush & dig out a bunch of nasty weeds last week’s spraying didn’t kill.  Cooler air meant we felt comfortable enough about the snakes to walk the desert road behind us.  We keep Pheebs on the road & do not let her race off chasing rabbits.  A single loud command from me will pretty much stop her in her tracks.

FRONT YARD SAGUARO CACTUS ARMS

We also decided while on our morning walk to move up our departure date.  At the moment we are waiting for a new T-Mobile cell phone to arrive & after that there is nothing holding us here.  It’s not just me who’s ready to roll, it’s Kelly too.  We always reach a point somewhere in mid to late March when we both feel it’s time to go.  Has happened every year we have been here in the South-West.  So with that thought in mind we had ourselves a busy morning.

THIS IS THE TYPE OF NOPALEA CACTUS I HAVE BEEN PLANTING ON OUR PROPERTY

I’ve heard some of the Blogger Gals talking about ‘deep cleaning’ a few times over the years.  Well this morning we were into ‘deep packing.’  We are loading everything in the rig we possibly can except for the last minute stuff.  Don’t know when we will go but could be by the end of this coming week.  Looks like some hot 85+ weather headed this way soon & we do not want to just be sitting here twiddling our thumbs in the heat.  Organized our shed & put away the garden tools, hoses, wheelbarrow, tables, lawn chairs, & all the birdfeeders except for one.  Kelly moved a lot of her stuff into the rig & I concentrated on packing bins.  We’re just about at the starting gate……………………….

KIND OF A LAZY DAY AROUND OUR HOUSE THIS AFTERNOON

Figure we might take a month wandering through North-East Arizona & another month moseying across Northern New Mexico.  Figure after leaving New Mexico it will take us about 25 minutes to get home to Bayfield Ontario.  Now if taking all that time to get through Arizona & New Mexico sounds like a big exaggeration, it probably is.  But by golly that 25 minute trip home from the New Mexico/Kansas border sounds like it just might work:))

It became windy enough this afternoon to move our 2 large Saguaros out front.  From my bedroom computer chair I could see them swaying slightly with each wind gust.  When we bought the house in 2012 the Realtor told us those 2 Saguaros were worth more than our house.  No doubt he was right.  Kelly had a full load of laundry on the umbrella clothesline I had moved last week & I figured for sure it would blow over.  Nope, blew the empty laundry basket across the yard but my recently dug in laundry pole held fast.  No clean laundry tumbling into the dirt.  Close call for me I’d say. 

Pat in a comment on my Saturday post said, “The difference between the cold of the North and the heat of the Southwest is, when the Sun goes down, the cold gets colder, but the heat gets cooler. We may sit in the house much of the day, but the nights are wonderful and the night sky spectacular”.  Pat’s right about that spectacular night sky.  Cooler colder air is stable air & much better for night viewing.  In Ontario our summer air is often heavy with humidity making night air unstable giving a shimmer & a haze to the stars.  Still mighty nice but not as crisp & clear as Arizona night skies.  Many more stars visible here.

THERE ARE BABY GILA WOODPECKERS IN THAT HOLE IN OUR SAGUARO

Noticed Cheryl Ann from DEEP CANYON responded to my Saturday post on UFO thoughts with a post of her own.  Reminded me of something I saw about 5 years ago one night at Hickiwan Trails in Why Arizona.  I am quite often outside at night.  I saw a string of unusual lights in the night sky moving very slowly from East to West.  I am familiar with the night sky & generally know where major stars & constellations are as well as the Planets.  I’m quick to notice if something doesn’t look the way it should & that is what brought my attention to the lights.  There should not have been points of light where I was looking.  Seconds later I determined the lights were moving.  I ruled out aircraft lights right away because of the configuration.  I’ve watched planes in the night sky & this did not look like that.  I was getting excited.  Then I made an assumption.  There was no sound to the approaching lights therefore I assumed they were not jet engines.  Also figured the lights were moving too slow for aircraft.  You can see where my ‘assuming’ was taking me.  Now I was getting real excited but fortunately something else was going on in my mind.  Aside from the obvious excitement & assumptions my mind went into overdrive.  There just had to be a logical explanation for what I was seeing but it was getting a little unnerving.  I’m just like that, if I see or hear things that does not make sense to me my mind will immediately go to work at trying to make two & two add up to four out of what I am seeing or hearing.  I’ve seen myself standing at length looking at odd marks on the ground trying to figure out how those marks got there & why.  Kind of a Detective type mind trying to tie things together to form a logical conclusion.

WAS FINALLY ABLE TO GET A PIC OF A FAST MOVING BACKYARD CHIPMUNK SQUIRREL

One thing was certain.  I was definitely observing a UFO.  But a UFO in the literal sense of what those 3 letters mean.  ‘Unidentified Flying Object’.  I could not logically identify the object moving across the night sky therefore what I was seeing was a technically correct ‘unidentified flying object’. 

NEEDING A LITTLE HELP WITH A STICKER THIS MORNING

The lights in the sky were just about above me now & just as I was about to believe I was indeed seeing an Alien Spacecraft of sorts I heard & saw something familiar.   A very faint but growing low sound.  A jet engine.  Then several lights pulsing at regular intervals.  Aircraft identification & warning lights.  Things were quickly beginning to fall into place.  But what about the staggered pattern of unfamiliar lights & why so slow.  What was going on up there??  Finally my mind kicked in with the much sought after answer it had so been frantically searching for in those 3 or 4 minutes.  First, the sound told me it was a jet aircraft & the pulsing lights confirmed that.  Because of the slowness of the staggered lights moving steadily in one direction I concluded I was watching an air to air refueling operation.  I had seen this a couple times before in daylight.  A tanker refueling several jets at the same time.  (could have been A-10 Warthogs) At least it appeared that way from the ground.  That explained the staggered lights of both the tanker & several trailing jets.  Didn’t figure they would be refueling at a high speed & that explained the slowness they were moving at.  Also explained the quieter engine noise trailing far out behind the planes before it reached my ears.  Sound compared to light is a very slow mover so my being miles ahead of the approaching lights also explained ‘no noise’. 

PLANTED THIS NORTH RANCH CACTUS IN MARCH 2012 & SO GLAD TO SEE IT GROWING WELL

But it just goes to show how quickly one’s mind can wrongly jump to conclusions & assume things.  Magicians rely on people’s minds doing just that all the time.  The better the mind is fooled, the better the Magician.  When I said in my Saturday post I had never seen a UFO I should have added that I actually had seen an Unidentified Flying Object one time for about 4 minutes…..until I was able to identify it as an IFO.  (Identifiable Flying Object)  And there you have it.  My very own little UFO/IFO story.  Would I like to see a real Alien Spacecraft or a true UFO??  Ya darn right I would:))

Did you know today was Kelly’s Birthday?  Yup, it was.  We generally do not have a lot of fanfare here at the Bunch for Birthdays & Anniversaries.  The days just quietly come & even more quietly go as we ease ourselves through another one of our annual aging memories.  Guess you could say we are not big celebratory people & of course you would be right……it’s just the way we are.

 

HEDGE HOG CACTUS IN BLOOM

GROANER’S CORNER:((  "I used to dread getting older, because I thought I would not be able to do all the things I wanted to do, but now that I am older, I find that I don't want to do them."  Well ain’t that the truth!!  How about the man who woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, 'Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs !' The doctor replied, 'I know you can't - I've cut off your arms !'  And did you know laughter doesn't require teeth……………..

PHOTOS TONIGHT FROM LONE PINE CALIFORNIA & ITCHING TO GET ON THE ROAD & GET ROLLING

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM OUR MARCH 2011 TRIP TO LONE PINE CALIFORNIA…’SUNRISE’

Well, I’m having quite a time with myself.  Knowing we have a major trip ahead I am itching to get on the road & get rolling.  This sitting around waiting to go somewhere has me about half drove crazy. We both agreed today if we had a larger more spacious rig we might have been on the road already taking a longer leisurely route maybe first to a never before been to place for us Sue from The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales mentioned in her recent post.  The MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE in California lies just North of JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK.  Could have spent some time there before working our way Eastwards over towards & through Arizona’s Monument Valley.  I remember in 2009 when we left Borrego Springs in March we went up through Joshua Tree to LONE PINE CALIFORNIA.  Because I didn’t take any photos today I have included photos from our Lone Pine trip.  What is really holding us back from heading to Bayfield too soon right now is the amount of ice & snow still on the ground.  Neighbor emailed us saying there is still nearly 2’ of hardened snow in our driveway at home.  Certainly do not want to arrive home to those conditions.

 

ALABAMA HILLS BACKGROUNDED BY THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS 

Reading MERIKAY'S post this morning I was reminded of why we return to the South-West every year.  Florida would be much closer for us each winter as would the popular Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  But our hearts are in the South-West.  I have traveled at one point or another through probably two thirds of the States.  I have a tendency to look for & usually always find the scenic beauty in each State I have ever been in.  It was on a trip West through America’s Northern States in 1971 that I first saw mountains & that was it.  When I traveled down through Utah into Arizona as far as the Grand Canyon’s North Rim in May of 1992 & saw the desert lands through Monument Valley my destiny was sealed.  From that point on my soul purpose was to some day if possible return to the great South-West.  Been doing that now since 06 with not a single solitary regret.  I have posted many times in the past why we prefer the Western side of the country as opposed to the Eastern side but I’m not going to get myself into all that again.  Just as the saying goes, ‘Different strokes for different folks’ & leave it at that.

 

Merikay also mentioned she wouldn’t like to live in the desert long term.  Nor would Kelly or I.  We’re fine for the months between late October & early March but to spend hot summers here would not interest us.  Just as much as we do not like cold northern winters we would not like hot desert summers either.   Both those 2 weather elements would trap us inside with furnaces running in winter months & air conditioners going full blast in summer.  Not our idea of a healthy environment.  And boondocking in the heat would be totally out of the question for us as well.  Can’t see sitting around in the hot desert with energy levels sapped by the heat.  Desert walks & hikes would be out as well because of snakes.  We could never relax knowing Pheebs could run into a Rattlesnake at any time.  Even right here on our own property & that is one reason we will be glad to put a few miles between us & Congress shortly.  Not that we don’t love you Congress, it’s just the Rattlesnakes we want to avoid.  And we know they are around us right now………………….

 

Kelly has never seen the Canadian Maritime Provinces or traveled up through Northern Ontario & out across the Canadian Prairies.  She has never seen the mountains of Alberta & British Columbia so those two trips are of definite interest to us at some point.  The Canadian West & American North-West might be an option for us this Fall, we’ll see. 

JUST GOTTA LOVE IT HERE IN THE ALABAMA HILLS

 

A reader sent a link this morning which may be of interest to Canadian Snowbirds again.  U.S. CONGRESS OFFERS LITTLE WARMTH FOR SNOW BIRDS.  RVing would be so much easier for we Canadian RV’ers if there wasn’t that darn border with all those rules & regulations between our two countries. 

 

THIS WAS OUR SWEET GIRL ‘CHECKERS’

A friend of ours in Bayfield also sent us this bit of information regarding Canadian Snow Birds::  On February 4, 2011 the Canadian and U.S. governments issued a declaration known as Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness. The purpose of the program is to enhance security and increase the legitimate traffic of people, goods and services. ------ By June 30, 2014, as part of the Beyond the Border initiative between our two countries, the border program will be expanded to include the sharing of entry and exit information on both Canadian and U.S. citizens. Thus, an entry record into one country can be utilized to establish an exit record from the other. ------ While this expansion will mean travellers will have to be more vigilant in calculating their length of stay in the United States, it will have no impact on the current policies which Canadian citizens are already subject to. To be clear, this exchange of information will in no way change or shift the way in which either country determines your residency. Canadian and U.S. policies related to immigration and taxation remain unchanged. ------ For immigration purposes, eligible Canadian citizens are generally admitted into the United States for a period of "six months less a day" which is calculated within any twelve month period. ------- For the purposes of taxation, generally speaking, if you consistently spend four (4) months or more each year in the United States, you would need to file IRS Form 8840, in order to avoid paying U.S. income tax.

 

First book I have chosen to read on our Kindle is, UFOs:  Generals, Pilots, & Government Officials Go On The Record. (suggested in our Shout Box)  One of the last books I read a few years ago while we were near Elfrida Az was, The Day After Roswell by Col. Philip J. Corso.  With so many schlocky books & hoaky TV programs on UFO’s it is difficult to separate fact from fiction.  Have read & seen many TV shows on the subject but it was Corso’s book a few years ago that logically put a lot of the UFO pieces of the puzzle together for me.  I am a very skeptical person when it comes to a lot of things & that up to a point includes the UFO phenomena.  I have never seen anything I couldn’t explain but my Mother did & when she told me about the large round object that floated silently over our house in Tavistock Ontario one summer night many years ago I believed her & that went a long way towards blunting my UFO skepticism & opening my mind.  Not just that but I have always had some kind of ‘knowing’ feeling inside about life elsewhere in the Universe.  Nothing I can explain.  It’s just a feeling I have & I’m sure many others have it as well.

 

 

As mentioned a few times previously my favorite time of the week is Saturday morning. Has been for as long as I can remember. In 1970 the Sandpipers came out with a song called, Come Saturday Morning & for me it sums up my feelings exactly. The words, "we'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles" have always stuck with me. The harmonies are soothing. You can listen to it here....SATURDAY MORNING. Two of my other Sandpiper favorites from the 60's are, GUANTANAMERA & Misty Roses. (couldn't find free music for Misty Roses)

THIS WAS OUR NUMBER 1 BOY ‘MAX’

 

Noticed an odd thing has been going on with my Picasa 3.9 photo editing program these fast 3 months or so.  The exposure I set (and save) for some photos is not the same exposure which publishes.  Darker photos such as sunsets, Moon, or night time often come out way lighter than I intended them to be.  Never had this problem until the past few months.  Wonder if anyone else using Picasa has noticed this.

 

AND THIS WAS OUR PRECIOUS LITTLE CORA (MOTORMOUSE)

 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  An elderly couple was attending church services when about halfway through she leans over and says to him, "I just had a silent passing of gas, what do you think I should do?"
He leans over to her and replies, "Put a new battery in your hearing aid..."