Showing posts with label Elfrida Community Center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elfrida Community Center. Show all posts

Friday, November 13, 2009

BIG WINDS & STORMY SKYS IN THE VALLEY

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WATCHFUL EYES OVER THE MULE MOUNTAINS

(click on the photographs to enlarge them)

Knew for sure we were definitely in Arizona last night when big walloping wind gusts tried their best to totally re-locate us some distance east of where we presently are.  People in sticks & bricks houses wouldn't be aware of the wind unless they saw branches blowing by but if your in an RV it's akin to being in a wind tunnel.  The rig rocks, the slide awnings flap, & every square corner sets up it's screaming banshee sound.  Needless to say this is not at all very conducive to a good night's sleep.

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BLACK CLOUDS IN WIND BLUSTERING MORNING

Converging weather fronts brought in a tangled mass of angry looking clouds & the day dawned with a moody determination.  Bright blue sunny days are nice but it takes clouds to give the sky a fuming personality & dark ominous clouds are my fav.  Took some photos & would have taken many more but it was Yoga morning & I couldn't really come up with a good legitimate excuse not to attend my first class this morning.   All the way to the Elfrida Community Center my eyes were on the sky watching Mother Nature's wonders at work.  The cloud shadows & sun splashes on the mountains were inspiring.

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SILOUETTED SOUTH END OF THE SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS AT SUNRISE THIS MORNING

Looked to be about a dozen ladies gathered around in a large circle with chairs & mats when we walked in to the Elfrida Community Center at 9 this morning.  David, an instructor from Bisbee welcomed us to the group & it wasn't long & I was seated in a white chair with a purple floor mat at my feet.  I immediately knew I was going to be more comfortable here than the exercise class when David dimmed the lights.  I am not a bright lights kind of guy.  The first minute was spent in a relaxation mode.  Now, this was my kind of exercise.  The instructor had a soft voice as we went through a series of stretches with closed eyes.  The closed eyes part really worked for me because I was able to drift off down memory lane making some now & then comparisons.  My mind took me back 44 years ago to my days in boot camp at a naval base in Canada called Cornwallis.  How different my body now as I sat there in this dimmed room trying to do even the simplest of stretches.  Where once I scrambled up & down 30 foot ropes, drilled for hours on parade grounds, ran for miles on cross country runs, & did a whole host of improbable physical things, I now found it hard to simply bend a knee joint to reach the floor or raise a leg to an even level while in a seated chair.  I was on the floor, on my back, & found that hard.  I was on my stomach & that didn't work well either.  Mashed my face into the purple mat.  The only thing that finally worked for me was when after an hour & a half I heard Yoga instructor David say, "and now for our final move.......:))"

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ANGRY WIND TOSSED SKYS

Elfrida has a community garden just behind their community hall so after the Yoga class we took a walk over there to have us a look see.  Yes, I was still able to walk after the class.  This plot of garden land is made free to the local people & seeds are provided.  Each person or family is given a tower or in Canada we'd call it a raised bed with screened soil where they can plant their seeds.  Two spacious greenhouses are filled with strawberry plants.  A large earth oven has been built as well as a small pond with seating benches.  We saw rows of onions & a long patch where peanuts had been grown.  A band of roving chickens kept an eye on us as we strolled under an arbor that might have been grapes at one time.  Gourds had grown up along a fence line & were hanging loosely for anyone to pick.  What we thought were corn stalks turned out to be sugar cane.  A Mexican caretaker fellow shoveled soil through a screen in another greenhouse as his boombox belted out Mexican tunes.  We talked with a couple of ladies who had walked over from the Yoga class.  Eve lives here in the valley near McNeal but has property in Nova Scotia as well.  Another lady was visiting from England.

Wind gusts had picked up in intensity & when we arrived back at the ranch two of our tables were blown over & our Star Choice television satellite dish was on the ground with the dish pointing straight up in the air like a turtle on it's back.  I immediately assumed the worse figuring the electronics in the LMB arm would be shattered & we would never ever be able to watch television again in this lifetime.  Set the tri-pod back up, re-mounted the dish in the high winds, made a few slight adjustments & had Kelly turn on the TV inside.  When I moved the dish slightly & saw Oprah Winfreys face fill the screen I knew that all would be right with the world again because Kelly would have her Oprah show back.  Whewwwww, close call for me!!  I then staked the tri-pod legs to the ground & suspended a heavy jug of water under the tri-pod center for added weight.  I then re-positioned the car close to the dish to act as a wind break.  It's nearly 7 p.m. now & so far so good.

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DARK CLOUDS OVER THE GLEESON MOUNTAINS

Rest of the afternoon was spent inside because every time we stepped out the door we were practically blown right off our feet into the next county.  We occasionally have strong winds in Ontario but they are not like the big winds that sweep out of the mountains in the southwest & come screaming across the desert floor to turn your whole world upside down right quick!!DSC_4238

SAND HILL CRANES LOW TO THE GROUND STRUGGLE AGAINST THE WIND TO-DAY

Later in the afternoon I stood outside & watched as thousands of Sand Hill Cranes struggled against the massive wind gusts on the way back from their feeding grounds at the north end of the valley.  They were heavy with the days intake & at times were motionless in the sky only to be pushed back by the winds.  They reminded me of salmon struggling upstream against the onslaught of relentless rushing waters.  Great flocks of birds were down low to the ground trying to escape the wind shears.  They came low over the ranch house & dropped even lover as they hugged the ground heading for their nightly roosts another 2 miles south of here.  It's dark now as I'm typing this & yet I can hear them overhead trying to get home.  Usually they are all back well before dark.....but, not to-night.  I'm sure there will be some for which there will be no sunrise.............

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ANOTHER 2 MILES & THEY WILL BE HOME

And welcome to new bloggers &  friends JEAN and RAY from Gleeson Arizona and their website QUIET COUNTRY CREATIONS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I once had a job in an Orange Juice  factory, but I got canned..... I couldn't concentrate.

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL

Monday, November 09, 2009

EXERCISE PROGRAM IN THE A.M. & A PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM IN THE P.M.

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BRIGHT EYES IN THE SUNRISE

At Kelly's Yoga class last week she noticed other programs offered at the Chiricahua Community Health Center & one of those was a beginner's exercise program.  Well, guess where Al ended up this morning with Kelly prodding him through the door of the Elfrida's Community Center.  I knew I was in trouble right off the bat when it was obvious I was the only male there with 8 ladies, floor mats, wide elastic stretching bands, hand weights, & chairs.  I had seen these Senior exercise programs on TV before & now here I was about to become part of one.  So, it is true.  With the passing of the 65 age barrier I have entered into another era of my life.  I have become a Senior.  How did this happen & why did it happen to me!!!!

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SOUTH SIDE OF THE RANCH HOUSE’S WRAP AROUND PORCH

Fortunately I had Kelly to lead me around by the hand this morning picking out a floor mat (purple) for me & suggesting what hand weights would be suitable.  I was hoping they would have balloons for weights.    She even brought me a chair for balancing & sitting exercises.  The instructor of course was the youngest person in the room & I of course was the odd man out in the room.  Made sure I got myself in the back row to avoid as much major embarrassment as possible.  The class lasted an hour & at no time did I feel I was doing any of the exercises remotely right.  Just a few short years ago I was smoothly moving through all 108 moves of a complex Taoist Tai Chi program & here I was this morning having trouble with walking on the spot.  Some of the leg twisting & stretching exercises shot pain through both my knees & I found that very discouraging.  My co-ordination was off & I felt like I had bags of sand in my joints.  And, to-morrow morning is my first Yoga class.........oh dear:((

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Another free program offered by the Chiricahua group is photography.  Now, that one perked my interest because I'm always willing to learn new & better ways of doing things.  The 2 hour program was held in the Elfrida library at 1 P.M. with 6 people in attendance.  I think small communities always seem to have the nicest people & to-days gathering of shutter bugs was no exception.  I generally use Picasa 3.5 as my photo program but Ray & Jean O'Neal talked of another photo program called Paint.Net 3.5.  Kind of a half way  program between Picasa & Photoshop.  I have already downloaded it & will be taking it for a test drive shortly.

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THE PHOTO GANG…..MAYBE BY THE END OF THE MONTH I WILL REMEMBER EVERYONE’S NAME

Ray also told me a place nearby called Rattlesnake Crafts which actually made it on to the ‘To-day’ show awhile back.  Sounds like we'll be heading out there soon for a day trip.  Not exactly sure what is all there but I guess that's why we're going to go. 

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OLD FARM MACHINERY OR AN ALIEN COUPLE FROM ROSWELL

We are really having to scramble & re-think our on-line internet habits.  We are on a limited 5 GB Verizon Air Card & already we are over the 80% usage mark & we've still got one week to go.  We learned last year to avoid unnecessary downloads & uploads.  No using the web cam with Skype anymore & we don't send or receive large mega gobbling jokes while we're traveling.  I wonder if some of Windows Live Writer applications may be consuming a lot of bytes.  I might have to cut back on the photo album feature, decrease the size of my pics, & just simply upload less photos.  Maybe skip a blog or two which may be a reality sometime in the coming days as we rapidly approach our 5 Gig cap.  We love our air card.......except for the 5 Gigabyte cap!!!!  But, to skip a blog or two is just not acceptable

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Welcome to new followers MAC & DIANNA & TRENT & TERESA.  Thanks for following our blog folks:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese.

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.