A TIRE FIXED, A NEW CACTUS, AND OUR FIRST WARM AIR DAY IN A LOOOOONG TIME

GILA WOODPECKER ON ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD SAGUAROS

How nice each morning to step out our front door & actually see 5 Planets in the pre-dawn sky.  From East to West it’s Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, & Jupiter.  Venus is the bright one low to the horizon in the Southeast with Mercury below & to the left.  Saturn is left of the large constellation Scorpios while Mars in is to the right of Scorpios in the constellation Libra with Jupiter the other bright Planet further off to the West.

I headed off to Wickenburg first thing this morning.  Notice I said I & not we.  Had to leave the little Pheebers at home because I was headed for the Wickenburg Tire garage.  Been noticing a slow leak in the Jeeps passenger side rear tire so wanted to get that looked at.  I recall a slow leak in one of the rear tires last summer but can’t remember which side it was.  Could be the same one.  I was pleased with the quick service at Wickenburg Tire & I was in & out of there in about 20 minutes.  It’s a ‘first come-first serve’ type garage.  In that 20 minutes they found the valve stem had a slow leak so replaced the valve.  I also had the tires rotated while there too & all tire pressures checked.  Fifteen dollars for the valve stem replacement & fifteen dollars for the tire rotation.  Thought that reasonable.  We will definitely be doing further business there & plan to take the Big EEE in for a tire check before we begin our long haul back to Canada next month.  Wickenburg Tire is for us conveniently located on Tegner Street very close to the round-about at highway 93 & Tegner.

  

We know it’s our kind of weather when we can begin leaving our windows & doors open all day long again & the last couple days that is just what we have been doing.  About time too after this long cold winter here in the Southwest.  Today was the first day our air was actually warm even with a slight breeze blowing.  Sure hoping our cold weather is behind us now.  Of course night’s are still cold but that’s the way it is in the desert.  Starting today our long range forecast is calling for sunny 80 degree temps each & every day. 

THIS IS THE WEST END OF A GILA WOODPECKER TRAVELING EAST THROUGH A PRICKLY OCOTILLO PLANT

Spent the majority of my day sitting quietly outside reading while soaking up & thoroughly enjoying our beautiful weather.  Finished my book by American fighter pilot Arthur Donahue called ‘Spitfire’ & am now well into The Last Enemy which is another autobiography by an RAF Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. 

ANOTHER NEW ARM GROWING ON ONE OF OUR SAGUAROS 

IT’S NOT OFTEN WE GET A FLICKER AT OUR FEEDER & NOT SURE IF THIS A NORTHERN OR A GILDED

 

‘SARGE’ BROUGHT US OVER A NEW CACTUS THIS AFTERNOON SO I WASN’T LONG IN GETTING IT INTO THE GROUND

GROANER’S CORNER:((   An elderly husband and wife noticed that they were beginning to forget many little things around the house. They were afraid that this could be dangerous, as one of them may accidentally forget to turn off the stove and thus cause a fire. So, they decided to go see their doctor to get some help. Their physician told them that many people their age find it useful to write themselves little notes as reminders. The elderly couple thought this sounded wonderful, and left the doctor's office very pleased with the advice.  When they got home, the wife said, "Honey, will you please go to the kitchen and get me a dish of ice cream? And why don't you write that down so you won't forget?"  "Nonsense," said the husband, "I can remember a dish of ice cream!"  "Well," said the wife, "I'd also like some strawberries on it. You better write that down, because I know you'll forget."  "Don't be silly," replied the husband. "A dish of ice cream and some strawberries. I can remember that!"  "OK, dear, but I'd like you to put some whipped cream on top. Now you'd really better write it down now. You'll forget," said the wife.  "Come now, my memory's not all that bad," said the husband. "No problem, a dish of ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream."  With that, the husband shut the kitchen door behind him. The wife could hear him getting out pots and pans, and making some noise inconsistent with his preparing a dish of ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream. He emerged from the kitchen about 15 minutes later.  Walking over to his wife, he presented her with a plate of bacon and eggs. The wife took one look at the plate, glanced up at her husband and said, "Hey, where's the toast?"

PLODDING ALONG ON THE OLD STAGE COACH TRAIL

It’s those in between days I have the most difficulty with.  You know the ones where you can’t decided what you want to do for the day.  I didn’t want to sit around the house yet I didn’t feel like going anywhere.  For a few hours I was stuck in limbo between a ‘didn’t want’ & ‘didn’t feel like’ before Pheebers finally convinced me in no uncertain terms to take her for a Jeep ride.

NICE TO SEE THE HILLSIDES GREENING UP

PHEEBS CHECKS OUT A DRY CREEK BED AS WE CROSS IT

Well where to go I thought as we drove out the gate & headed down Ghost Town Road.  It was a beautiful sunny warm Sunday morning with birds singing in the trees & some nice tunes on the radio.  Figured we’d just keep it simple & head ourselves on over to the old gold mining town of Stanton & pick up Stage Coach Road heading north up into the Weaver Mountains.  Always a nice scenic drive up that way so that’s what we did.

I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE A BIT OF SNOW LEFT AT THE HIGHER ALTITUDES

We motored along at a slow plodding pace probably not much faster than an old stage coach of yesteryear would have been traveling as it bumpily made it’s way over the once rutted & stony trail.  I wondered if the stage driver & his passengers at this time of year had noticed the surrounding hills greening up as I did this morning. 

About two thirds of the way up through rugged hills & short steep canyons is a small flat area with a few old Cowboy corrals still occasionally in operation judging from the cow paddies on the ground.  We generally always stop here for a leg stretch either on the way up or the way down Stage Coach Road.  Had to throw on a jacket to cut the higher altitude’s cool breeze.  Beautiful views all around with the morning’s silence broken only by the occasional moooing of cows somewhere off in the prickly Mesquite nearby. 

From the Cowboy Corral we probably climbed another five or six hundred feet up the last & roughest section of the winding road.  In some places this sometimes rock strewn stretch is narrow enough for only one vehicle.  With jagged rocks on one side & a nasty drop off on the other side a feller has to keep an eye on where’s he’s going.  A couple blind hair pin curves can make for an interesting confrontation with any approaching vehicles nosing around from the other side.  It’s no place to be in a hurry & for sure we were in no hurry this morning.  Don’t think we’ve ever met another vehicle on this section of road going the other way anyway.

Minutes later we were in Yarnell & after a quick cruise through the little town we found ourselves heading our way back on down the big Yarnell Hill on highway 89.  Noticed the guard rail is already fixed where the big 18 wheeler’s trailer had crushed it a week or so ago.  For anyone familiar with the Yarnell Hill the scene of that accident was at that sharp curve where the white Elephant is painted on the rock.

A LONG FREIGHT TRAIN PULLING ABOUT 60 TRAIN CARS SNAKES IT’S WAY UP OUT OF CONGRESS & BEGINS IT’S SLOW CLIMB NORTH THROUGH THE DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS……5 DIESEL ENGINES ARE AT THE RIGHT

Five minutes later we were home & that was about it for our day.  Sat outside later in short sleeves soaking up the Sun’s warmth reading my Kindle while tipped back in my chair listening to the sweet sounds of our backyard birds.  It’s quite a life we seem to have sometimes………….:))

PHEEBS SHOWS KELLY WHAT SHE DOES COMING DOWN THE YARNELL HILL IN DAD’S JEEP

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Two elderly Wal-Mart greeters were sitting on a bench at the entry way when one turns to the other and says, "Slim, I'm 73 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age. How do you feel?'  Slim says, "I feel just like a new-born baby."  Really, Like a new-born baby?"  Yep. No hair, no teeth and I think I just wet my pants again."

SATURDAY MORNING DESERT JEEP DRIVE FOR PHEEBS & I

Aside from Pheebs & I out Jeeping around for a couple hours in the desert behind our house this morning it turned out to be a quiet reading day.  ‘Spitfire’ is my latest book about an RAF fighter pilot before, during, & after The Battle of Britain.

THESE WANDERING JEEP ROADS GO FOR MILES & MILES & MILES

 

Try as I did tonight I couldn’t really come up with anything of interesest to write about so I’ll call it a day & maybe something will catch my attention tomorrow………………..

FOR OBVIOUS REASONS THE PHEEBS REMAINED IN THE JEEP WHILE I TOOK A FEW PHOTOS OF THIS PAIN INFLICTING TEDDY BEAR CHOLLA

CONGRESS ARIZONA ON THE SOUTHEAST HORIZON

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A tiny but dignified old lady was among a group looking at an art exhibition in a newly opened gallery. Suddenly one contemporary painting caught her eye. "What on earth," she inquired of the artist standing nearby, "is that?"  He smiled condescendingly. "That, my dear lady, is supposed to be a mother and her child."
"Well, then," snapped the little old lady, "why isn't it?"

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ABOUT YOUR FACE

Have you ever wondered about your face?  You know the one that groggily looks back at you every morning in the mirror.  The one you might catch a glimpse of half a dozen or more times during the day.  It’s the same face you’ve been seeing since about the time you can first remember.  Yes there’s been a few changes along the way as years have slipped by but it’s still mostly the same face you remember every day right??  You see it constantly so in your own mind so nothing really ever seems to change much.  Well there is a real good way to see for yourself just how much your face has changed without you really noticing it.  And here’s all you have to do to see those changes & it has absolutely nothing to do with you looking at your own face.

Sit down at your computer & switch on your brain’s memory banks as best you can.  Think back, way back to your school years, people you have worked with & friends you have met along the way all those many years ago.  Think of your home town & people you knew there & grew up with.  Now you might want to write down the names of people you remember before you forget them again then type them into your Google search engine one at a time.  Some people you will find & some you won’t.  I recently spent some time on websites I found that had to do my old home town in Southwestern Ontario, Tavistock.  I was able to find a few friends who are still a part of the town & with a check of Tavistock’s local newspaper, the Tavistock Gazette I was able to see some photos of people I know who are on various committees etc.  Now most of these folks I have not seen in maybe 30, 40, 50 or more years.  I have also looked up people from the past through Facebook & there are generally recent pictures of those people posted as well.  Google searches also returned some familiar faces…….wait a minute!!  Did I say ‘familiar faces!!’

Time after time seeing recent photos of people I once knew I am often left staring in puzzlement.  Most of these people are unrecognizable to me & if not for captioned photos identifying who these people are I would not have known had I met them on the street.  If the caption said I was looking at a picture of Joe Blow I would immediately think, no that’s not Joe that’s his Dad Bill.  No it was Joe alright but what happened.  Well here’s the glaring truth for all of us.  It’s called aging & we maybe don’t readily recognize it in our own faces but we are quick to see it in the faces of people we have not seen for a long time.  It’s an instant shock to our memory banks.  In our minds we always carry an image of someone as they looked the last time we saw them.  Looking at someone’s recent photo for the first after so many years sometimes just doesn’t register & can send memory banks into overdrive trying to make something believable out of something unbelievable.  In a nutshell this is how I know my own face has changed so much.

If all the young people I once knew now look like old people then I have to look like an old people too because I was once like them & they like me.  I look in the mirror now & think to myself how would I feel if I hadn’t looked at my face for the past 50 years & all of a sudden looked myself up on the internet to see a recent picture of me.  Would I know who I am??  Would I be looking at an unrecognizable face.  Would I think it was the face of my Father.  How would I even know it was me.  Acceptance can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow & in trying to be my usual logical self it does indeed end in a hard swallowed pill alright.  If 10 of my long ago friends are now basically unrecognizable to me then for sure i have to be unrecognizable to them if & when they see a recent photo of me.  So with that thought in mind I’m now going to settle my nerves & go have a quick look in the mirror just to reassure myself who I see there is still recognizable to me.   And the more I look at that face looking back at me the better chance I have of not reaching a point where I look so unrecognizably old to myself.  Now lest I confuse me further I had better hurry up & get me on back for a peek at myself in that mirror again…………Hurry, hurry, hurry:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Grandma and Grandpa were sitting in their porch rockers watching the beautiful sunset and reminiscing about "the good old days". Grandma turned to Grandpa and said, "Honey, do you remember when we first started dating and you used to just casually reach over and take my hand?"  Grandpa looked over at her, smiled and obligingly took her aged hand in his. With a wry little smile, Grandma pressed a little farther, "Honey, do you remember how after we were engaged, you'd sometimes lean over and suddenly kiss me on the cheek?"  Grandpa leaned slowly toward Grandma and gave her a lingering kiss on her wrinkled cheek. Growing bolder still, Grandma said, "Honey, do you remember how, after we were first married, you'd kind of nibble on my ear?" Grandpa slowly got up from his rocker and headed into the house. Alarmed, Grandma said, "Honey, where are you going?"
Grandpa replied, "To get my teeth!"

HAVE YOU EVER TYPED YOUR OWN NAME INTO A ON-LINE SEARCH ENGINE? YOU MAY BE SURPRISED BY WHAT YOU FIND

With freezing hands after filling up the bird feeder & breaking ice in the bird bath I quickly retreated back into the house & resigned myself to just staying there until Thursday’s cloudy morning let enough sun through to warm things up.  I so much do not like cold weather just as much as I so much do not like hot weather!!  Where can we live that has nice steady & comfortable temperature of 75F each day with no humidity & lots of sunshine.  And warm nights too………..

 

 

Spent part of my day reading & was actually able to grab some new bird photos while stretched out in my backyard gravity chair.  Air was still a wee touch cool but this afternoon’s warming sun sure felt nice.

George & Suzie are soon headed to Borrego Springs California so I sent George an email with directions to the Great Stone Eagle in case they decide on a day trip up around Warner Springs way.  This is quite an impressive natural stone structure & in case anyone is interested in seeing it if they are in the Borrego Springs area here is my post for the day we went In Search Of The Great Stone Eagle.  Driving directions are in the post.

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS CURVE BILL THRASHER WINGING IT’S WAY THROUGH THE TREES YOU CAN SEE IT HAS A SEED IN IT’S BILL

Have you ever typed your own name into a search engine?  I did that today & was surprised at how many times my name, my photos, & the Bayfield Bunch kept coming up in different websites.  It put a smile on my face each time I recognized one of my own photos being used for a good purpose.  Some pictures had a photo credit & some didn’t but that’s alright I’m just happy that someone or some organization has thought enough of my photos to include them in their brochures & advertising etc.  I didn’t see any of my photos that I felt were not used in a proper way.  Like I have said many times in my posts if people enjoy looking at my photos as much as I enjoy taking them then that’s a bonus for me.  If my photos are used in a positive way by someone then that’s an added bonus for me.  It’s my way of giving a little something back & I’m perfectly happy to continue taking photos for folks as long as they enjoy looking at them:))

AND I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE OUT ENJOYING THE AFTERNOON SUN

GROANER’S CORNER:((   An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%. The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, "Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."  The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I've already changed my will three times!!"