THANKS TO OLD MAN WINTER FOR BEING SO DAM MISERABLE EVERY YEAR

I was relieved to see intermittent clouds in the sky this morning.  Not only do they look nice but they give us some welcome cooling protection from the hot Sun.  Clouds cast moving shadows & filtered light over landscapes below making for nice photo opportunities as well.

RELIEVED TO SEE THIS COOLING CLOUD COVER FIRST THING THIS MORNING

Critter Cam caught some movement last night but due to the close proximity & small confines of where I had placed the Cam the photos it took were all completely washed out.  Going to monitor the hole one more night from a further back angle & see what happens.   It goes against my grain to see any kind of animal harmed so I’m going to great lengths to try & help this Skunk out by making sure it is no longer under the house.

GATEWAY TO THE DESERT

GUESS THIS IS WHY THEY CALL THEM ‘JEEP ROADS’

In my Friday post I in part quoted a lady saying, “it’s unusually hot for this time of year & they (Prescott AZ) generally have their first snowfall around Halloween”.  Responding to  Friday’s ‘Prescott’ post TOM commented, “ Silly me has been looking at Prescott homes for a Winter Home location. A ranch home with reasonable weather year around”.  Well Tom, I think Prescott would be an excellent choice for weather year round.  Averages 52 & 55 in January & February.  Yes they do get some overnight snow but it doesn’t stay long.  If I was an American living somewhere in the States I would for sure by now have found myself a place with moderate temperatures year round.  No extreme winters & no extreme summers.  Kelly & I have talked about this before & both agreed had we started our RV travels earlier & had I applied for a green card a bunch of years ago we could very well have ended up living somewhere here in Arizona or New Mexico in an area such as Prescott.  I think Sue over at THE MOHO & OTHER TRAVELING TALES said it well when in a comment on my Friday post she in part said, “That altitude shift may be one of the best kept secrets of living in the West.   Doesn't happen like that a lot in the Midwest or the East”.

    

DOGGY RUNNING FAST THIS MORNING

Both Kelly & I love Canada & just about everything about it except those miserably long cold snowy winters.  As mentioned in a previous post, over 60 years of winters was more than enough for both of us.  However on the other side of the coin we at least have winter to thank for spurring us into the RV Snow Bird lifestyle.  Had we not lived in the land of climatic weather extremes we may have missed all the great places we have seen, been, & experienced here in the southwest these past nearly 9 years.  Thanks to Old Man Winter for being so dam miserable every year:))

We can see sunsets from our backyard but we can’t see them all the way to the horizon because of a row of Mesquite trees along our fence line.  Tonight’s sunset was taken from atop our rig.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Unable to attend the funeral after his father died, a son who lived far away called his brother and told him, "Do something nice for Dad and send me the bill."  Later, he got a bill for $200.00, which he paid. The next month, he got another bill for $200.00, which he also paid, figuring it was some incidental expense.  Bills for $200.00 kept arriving every month, and finally the man called his brother again to find out what was going on.  "Well," said the other brother, "you said to do something nice for Dad. So I rented him a tuxedo."

TOO HOT FOR US TODAY SO WE HAD TO CHANGE OUR ALTITUDE

I said Altitude not Attitude:))

We’ve been making a point of getting out earlier for our morning walks.  The cooler air is always refreshing before things begin heating up around 8.  Jeeped ourselves a short distance to a different section of desert.  Decided on our walk the best way to beat the heat today was to get out of Dodge.  Congress is fortunately situated in the Sonoran Desert right at the foot of the Weaver Mountains.  In 10 miles or 10 minutes we can drop our temperature 10 degrees by simply driving up the side of the Weaver Mountains to Yarnell atop the Colorado Plateau.  Only this morning we went further & knocked off a few more degrees.

TWO NEW BEST PALS RUSH TOWARDS EACH OTHER THIS MORNING

 

PHEEBS LATER MEETS 2 MORE BEST PALS

Prescott Arizona is an hour’s scenic mountain drive from our house & at an even higher altitude than Yarnell.  We haven’t spent a lot of time in that area over the past couple years so this morning we figured we’d head on up to Prescott’s west side & have us a look around in the Prescott National Forest.  We pass right through here each time we make the trips between Bayfield & Congress & vice versa.  Tall Pine forests remind us of similar forests in Ontario.    

 

COLORFUL AUTUMN VINES IN THE FOREST

We’ve been curious to check out campgrounds in the area case we decide to bring the rig up for a week’s change of pace sometime.  Yavapai Campground was our first look around.  Like the topography & there were some sites we could probably fit into with our 37 feet.  Most sites were small & uneven though.  Dry camping only.  Had we had the rig & decided to stay we would have been the only one’s in the whole campground.  Bonus:))  Continued on up the Granite Basin Road to Granite Basin Lake.  Again very peaceful & scenic & of course it’s off season so very few people around.  A lady there scooping up Dragon Fly larvae for her Granddaughter's school project said it’s unusually hot for this time of year & they generally have their first snowfall around Halloween.  Yes folks it does snow in Arizona.  We’ve been snowed on twice so far in Congress & Congress is in the desert.

  

THIS LADY IS GATHERING DRAGON FLY LARVAE

We toyed with the idea of slipping over to Prescott’s northern edge & checking out the GRANITE DELLS but decided we would save that for another time, possibly one day next week when the temperatures around Congress are to still be in the high 80’s.  Took us for a drive closer into Prescott & over to the Thumb Butte area.  Nice housing area & hiking trails at a Park there but we didn’t stay.  Kelly was feeling even more tired than I was so we headed back out of Prescott on Iron Springs Road for home.  I always like to see populated areas disappear in my rear view mirror:)) 

 

Feeling a bit on the hungry side from our mornings exploring we knew where there was a nice little Café that we had been to a couple winter’s ago with Aunt Jean when she was here.  And it was right on the way home.  The Skull Valley Café is about the only thing in Skull Valley still on it’s feet.  General Store closed last year.  I was surprised at how busy it was for a little place out in the middle of seemingly nowhere.  Hunters, ranchers, & folks just passing though I guess.  Car beside ours was from Alberta.  As we sat at a table I looked across at the 3 stools where Aunt Jean, Kelly, & I had sat for lunch the day we had stopped there.  Nice memories.  Kelly had a pork burrito & I had a BLT with the best bowl of soup I have probably ever had.  I’m not a soup guy but the Chicken & Rice soup came with my BLT.   

LAST TIME IN THE SKULL VALLEY CAFÉ I HAD THAT LEFT STOOL, AUNT JEAN THE CENTER ONE & KELLY THE RIGHT STOOL

 

PROBABLY THE BEST BOWL OF SOUP I’VE EVER HAD

 

Rolling through Peeple’s Valley we noticed an RV pulled over & recognized John & Jackie.  They were taking the rig back to Congress from Prescott where John has been undergoing treatments for prostate cancer.  He has one treatment left Monday morning & he’ll take the car back to Prescott for that one.  John said I could link his Facebook page but not being much of a Facebook guy I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.

 ALWAYS LIKE LOOKING AT THIS RANCH COMING THROUGH PEEPLES VALLEY

 

Sure hadn’t cooled off any by the time we got home so we quickly fired up all our fans.  Luckily we also have big ceiling fans in all all our rooms & they do help some.  John dropped over later saying he had a portable/mobile A/C unit we could borrow.  So we did.  I followed John home & brought the unit back.  We’re still pouring over the manual trying to figure out how to get some cold Arctic air coming out of it. 

  

For 2 nights in a row now I have set up the Critter Cam at 2 different angles trying to determine if Mr. Skunk has truly left the building.  First night the camera picked up the south end of a Pack Rat going north & the second night Miss Pussycat walked by.  Tonight as a final check I am going to place the Critter Cam right inside the hole in our foundation & if it does not detect Skunky tonight I will get to work in the morning sealing up that hole.

I DON’T THINK SHE KNOWS SHE IS GETTING HER PAWS WET

Thanks to Sue Davis Worth for this CORNER GAS trailer on the upcoming movie due to be released on December 3rd.  The gang looks pretty much the same as they did in the series years ago.  Humor seems to treat aging well.

DESCENDING THE YARNELL HILL LOOKING DOWN ON THE ASCENDING LANES & THAT’S HARQUAHALA MOUNTAIN ON THE HORIZON OUT THERE IN THE SONORAN DESERT…OUR HOUSE IS JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE DARKER MOUNTAINS ON THE RIGHT

And this comment in our Shout Box a few days ago…. Guest: “The weather's too cold in Ontario, too hot in Arizona. Complaining about the weather is a bad blogging habit that every blogger seems unable to avoid”.  Well I’m honored to be included with all my fellow ‘bad blogging habit’ Bloggers.  Were it not for we folks keeping weather conditions current we might all end up in some very boring passive weather conditions.  And besides if it wasn’t for the weather what the heck else would we talk about most of the time.  Could it be our ‘Guest’ lives in a ‘no weather zone’ somewhere & is a bit miffed the rest of us get to squawk & squabble about our ever changing weather patterns.  Not only Squawk & Squabble about it but by golly some of us even even express our creative thoughts & feelings about it.  Good & bad I may add.  Keep those weather thoughts coming fellow Bloggers & maybe we can eventually use our bad habits to turn our Guests sour grapes crop into the sweetest grapes on the vine.  D’ya think:))  Oh, & the temperature in Congress Az today??  91F same as Thursday.  And I may add under clear blue skies with no wind.  High 80’s predicted for all of next week.  Your welcome………………:))

KELLY RESTS AT A PICNIC TABLE BESIDE THE LAKE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist:  While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water being half empty or half full, I drank it. Sincerely, The Opportunist

NOT MUCH TO SAY……….

This pretty much sums up our day, not much going on & not much to say………………..

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach a man to fish and he will go out and buy expensive fishing equipment, stupid-looking clothes, a sports utility vehicle, travel 1000 miles to the "hottest" fishing spot and stand waist-deep in cold water so he can try to outsmart a fish.  Average cost per fish: $596.73

COULD THEY BE AMERICAN AVOCETS & NO MORE GARAGE SALES

COULD THIS BE A SMALL FLOCK OF ‘AMERICAN AVOCETS

October’s Big Dipper stood large on it’s handle this morning along a horizon line made up of Arizona’s Weaver Mountains .  Saw 2 meteorites flash through Orion & spotted a slow moving satellite making it’s way from West to East in the Milky Way Tuesday night.  Standing beneath an endless blanket of shimmering jeweled stars is always a mighty fine way to start or end another Arizona day. 

CIRCLING THE POND

 

FINAL APPROACH & THEN IT’S FULL FLAPS & LANDING GEAR DOWN

ONE LATE TOUCH-DOWN

Haven’t been having much luck with the cage in catching Skunky so last night I was determined to outlast him.  My idea was to wait until he had left his den under the house in the night then seal up the hole.  Kept myself awake until 11:30 but didn’t see any tracks leading out from under the house.  Decided to forego my sleeping pill because I knew without it I would for sure wake up some time in the middle of the night & of course I did.  It was 2:15 when I was back outside looking for tracks.  Didn’t see any so I temporarily blocked the hole just in case he was out.  Didn’t want to make it permanent in case he wasn’t.  I have wire mesh set up that Skunky can easily push out if he is still in there & I have the Critter Cam monitoring the hole for any movement.  If that Critter Cam shows no movement tonight I will assume after he went out last night he did not get back in.  I didn’t see any signs this morning of anything moving the temporary blockage I set up about 2:30 this morning.

  

PHEEBS & CLEM HEAD FOR HOME

We were out early while the air was still cool & took our usual walking route out into the desert.  We knew where there was a pond (they call them ‘Tanks’ here) & I was curious to see how much water remained after Arizona’s summer rains.  The ‘tank’ was fuller than the last couple years & we were surprised by a flock of what I am guessing might be AMERICAN AVOCETS lifting off the still waters.  That was the closest match I found in my National Audubon Society Field Guide To The Southwestern States.  Maybe JUDY can correct me if I’m wrong.

 

LOOK CLOSELY……. ARE THEY REALLY FLYING UPSIDE DOWN??  NOPE, JUST THEIR REFLECTION IN THE POND’S SMOOTH SURFACE AS THEY PASS LOW OVER THE WATER

We are staying inside & sticking pretty close to our 3 fans this week.  Talked briefly about an A/C window unit for our living room but decided against it.  We had not expected to arrive here as early as we did & besides the weather will be cooling off soon.  We have everything we need in the house now & have decided not to invest any more money in it.  Also agreed ‘no more garage sales’!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((   The new bride went crying to her mother. "Momma, I can't get my husband to do anything. I want him to fix up the house, but he keeps putting it off."  "Honey," her mother replied, "after being married to your father for thirty-eight years, I've found the only way to get him to do anything is to tell him he's too old."