Friday, November 06, 2015

A DESERT WALK, GROCERIES, A SENIOR MOMENT, & SOME NEW BIRD PHOTOS

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A CACTUS WREN HORIZONTALLY MAKES IT’S WAY AROUND THE TRUNK OF A MESQUITE TREE

Made it out to the desert for a quiet walk this morning & it was nice to see a favorite area again where we had first walked back in March of 2012.  The open desert here is only a block behind our house & it just goes for miles & miles & miles.  On the horizon jutted Vulture Peak near Wickenburg & there was Harquahala Mountain to the west bringing back memories of a rugged Jeep climb to it’s peak a couple years ago.  Nice to be back in the land of so many pleasant memories for us.

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ALWAYS A FAVORITE DESERT WALK OF MINE IN THE MORNING

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KELLY SITS ON A ROCK TO GET A STONE OUT OF HER SHOE

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WE WEREN'T ALONE IN THE SONORAN DESERT THIS MORNING

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IT IS A LAND OF GREEN CACTUS & BIG ROCKS

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A DESERT FLOWER >>>

Needed to make a grocery run so we were off to Wickenburg’s Safeway, Pheebs too.  When we had the Wrangler we couldn’t take Pheebs because there simply wasn’t enough room for her plus 300 bags of groceries.  So that’s why we bought the more roomier Liberty & now she can come with us:))

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NICE TO SEE OUR CARDINALS ARE STILL HERE

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YES I SEE YOU KEEPING AN EYE ON ME FROM BEHIND THAT BRANCH

I’ve always liked Wickenburg’s Safeway store & I do enjoy scooting around in there by myself gathering up my stuff.  Kelly’s a slow shopper with too many frequent stops reading labels on this & checking prices on that.  I’m like Speedy Gonzales, up one aisle & down another.  If an item doesn’t fit directly into my life or pocket book I do not stop & look at it.  None of this window shopping for this guy.  Grab & go, that’s me:))

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LOVE THE CHATTERING OF THESE CACTUS WRENS

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We did both have us a very Senior moment in Safeway’s Parking lot though.  While loading the groceries into the back of the Jeep I noticed our 4-way flashers were on.  What!!  Right away assuming the worst I grabbed the anchor & jumped right out of the sinking canoe again.  I thought because of the incident we had last week of dragging the Jeep for a few hundred feet that the 4-way flashers being on were a sure sign of damage inside our steering column.  With Kelly in the passenger seat & me in the drivers seat we tried everything to shut them off.  Kept pressing the button on top of the steering column, turning the Jeep off & on, turning the steering wheel back & forth, pressing the lock & un-lock buttons on the Fob but nothing would shut off those 4-way flashers.  Now what:((  We knew there was a Jeep dealer in the south end of Wickenburg & figured we would have to drive down there with our emergency flashers flashing all the way & people stopping to stare wondering what our emergency was.  The air was getting bluer & bluer in the Jeep when Kelly reached over & calmly ‘TURNED THE FLASHERS OFF’…..WHAT!!!!  And here’s where the Senior moment became quite embarrassingly apparent.  Our Jeep Liberty’s 4-way flasher button is not atop the steering column where the majority of flasher buttons are, our flasher is right in the middle of the dash & it’s a big button too.  I don’t know what the button on top of our steering column was I was pushing but it sure got a pounding work out.  Gonna have to get Libby’s manual out & see what the small ESP button means.  Oh, & what do we think the reason was for those 4-way flashers being turned on??  PHEEBE!!  We think she either hit that big 4-way flasher button with her nose or powerful wagging tail.  Say, you don’t suppose she did that on purpose do ya…………………………

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AND I LOVE THE SHARP ‘WOOT-WEET’ CALL OF THE YELLOW EYED CURVE BILL THRASHER

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HERE’S ‘CURVY BILL’ DOING A RUNNING TAKE-OFF

A quick stop at the TSE store just down the road for a big bag of birdseed that I nearly had to get a fork lift just to get it out to the Jeep.   Dogs are allowed in Wickenburg’s TSC store so Kelly took Pheebs in for a walk around & she even scored a treat from the cashier.  Bonus.

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MOVE OVER JUNIOR IT’S ME THE BIG COLORFUL PYRRHULOXIA BIRD

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Sarge, (John King) pulled in behind us when we got home.  We only had half our gate open which is lots of room for a smaller Jeep Liberty to drive through but not wide enough for a big full size Dodge pick-up truck.  In that encounter the score ended up one nothing for the gate as Sarge inspected a new scratch on the side of his truck.  Not to worry he said as I looked at few other encounters Sarge & his big full size Dodge have had here & there.  We had a ton of groceries to put away so Sarge didn’t want to hold us up.  “Welcome home” he said.  We’ll da Sarge later………

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A FEW SLIGHTLY BLURRY ACTION PHOTOS

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A BIT OF NORMAL CONGESTION AT THE BIRD FEEDER

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Turned out to be a low energy afternoon for both Kelly & I.  We figure it’s still the long journey catching up with us.  We certainly do not want to think it has anything to do with our age eh.  Spent an hour or more in my recliner waffling in & out of Dozeville while Kelly spent a couple hours or more in her room sleeping.  I had filled up our bird feeders earlier & noticed later we already had a whole herd of birds in the back yard so hauled a comfy gravity chair over to my favorite bird photos location & took a few pictures.  I can see by my results I’m a bit rusty so I’ll have to work on that.  What an enjoyable & sometimes challenging as well as a rewarding pastime this photography hobby is…….:))

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I plan on having a relaxing day Saturday just puttering away on our yard clean-up.  No big plans, no place to be & nobody to see.  It’s the kinda day that works for me.  A bit of rhyming there in case you missed it……….:))

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WELL NOW THAT YOU ASKED, YES I AM QUITE PROUD OF MYSELF >>>>>

GROANER’S CORNER:((

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including an Hawaiian and an Alaskan), an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovak, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, an Iranian, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Syrian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahamian, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, a Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 2 Africans, walk into a very fine restaurant.

After scrutinizing the group, the Maitre D says, "I'm sorry...you can't come in here without a Thai."

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- 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.

11 comments:

  1. Those senior moments do catch up with us, glad Kelly figured it out.
    Nice to get back to the southwest again too. Love the bird pics.

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  2. Could ESP stand for 'ejector seat: push" ? You never know, Al!

    Boy, the birdies are glad the Bayfield Bunch is back in town! :)

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  3. New vehicles have too many buttons and levers for seniors. Every time my husband uses my car I find the windshield wipers on and sometimes the lights. I had to dig out the manual to find the hood release which they managed to hide out of sight. My husband has managed to lose his truck manual and blame me for it. He's out of luck finding out how things work. I managed to stop him before he used a crowbar on the parking brake.

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  4. Electronic Stability Program...... ESP It monitors all the wheel speeds and directions of travel.. It will correct driver inputs thru braking and throttle adjustments.. Should keep you out of trouble and upright..

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  5. Rod Ivers is right. Our Jeep had the same button. Had to laugh of your "flasher" story.

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  6. We all,have "flasher"stories! Fun to laugh at later.....
    I'm loving the bird photos!

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  7. You made me chuckle when you said your photography skills are rusty.... those bird photos are great.

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  8. Pheebs would neeeever push that button just to watch her humans scrambling around the Jeep - bet she got a kick out of it anyway :-) The wrens are beautiful and I love the attitude of the beauty in the last shot!

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  9. I was going to say something about senior moments, but I forgot what it was?

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  10. Al, your photography is just SO excellent - every time I read one of your posts, am re-inspired!
    ellen darby

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  11. Thank you for sharing your photo hobby. The bird pictures are beautiful. I am sure you and I have a totally different definition of "rusty".

    Celebrating the Dance

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