AN ALL ROUND GOOD ARIZONA MORNING:))

 

WE’VE GOT A LOT OF COLORFUL HOMEGROWN CHILE’S TO EAT UP NOW

It was an early start for everyone on the ranch this morning.  Jeanie & Ray had their p/u truck loaded with suitcases for their long days drive to San Diego & the cruise ship.  Rosanna from the Paws & Hooves ranch north of here rolled in with her Mom, Carol around 7:30 & piled Carol's suitcases into the back of the truck with the other 115 suitcases.  It was nice to see Rosanna & Carol again since our visit to their place last March.  Pictures were taken, hugs all around, smooches for the dogs, & lots of laughter.  Then, it was time to go.  Rosanna headed back to the ranch while Jeannie, Ray, & Carol headed for Hawaii.  Alo-ha:))

 

NELLIE BELLE, KELLY, & ROSANNA

Well, I gotta just tell ya right up front......had me the best morning I've had in years.  The energy levels finally rejuvenated themselves overnight to the point where it wasn't long before I had the ladder out with a bucket of water & sponge on the go.  Now, I'm not the kind of guy who jumps out of the rig every time we arrive somewhere & wipes the wheels & tires off but we just had too much road grime on the rig from the 2,353 mile trip to let it go any further.  We normally wear our desert pinstriping, minor scrapes, abrasions, contusions & dusty wheels with great pride.  Don't want people pointing at us going down the road all sparkly & shiny calling us fancy 'long tall shortys!!'  That was term my Dad always used for......well, you know.

“NOW MOM, I DON’T WANT YOU TO DO ANYTHING THAT”………….”YES ROSANNA, I KNOW!!”

Kelly headed into McNeal this morning for Yoga classes (I start next Tuesday) so out came my boom box, slapped my 'Sons of the Pioneers' CD into the player, cranked on some major volume, & blew 5 big Crows right off the old fence down by the corral.  Even got the donkeys ears a twitchin half a mile away.  Geeeezzzz, I love when that happens. I ain't too old to cut the mustard yet!!

THE HAWAII GANG WAVES GOOD-BYE

Another hot one to-day but at least the hot days here in Arizona are not as bad as the hot ones we have in Ontario where there is no escape from the crushing humidity.  It just envelopes you in a hot sweaty glue & won't let you go.  Maybe not as bad as Florida in the summer but bad enough for us northern folks who never really get used to it.  We have always noticed here in the southwest that there is a big temperature difference from the sunny side of the motorhome to the shady side during the winter months.  At least here, if you can find some shade, you have a chance of enjoying the day. And here's another big plus.....I am bothered by arthritis in my legs & the cold damp Ontario weather really takes a toll on my activity.  Just danced the Watusi & went under that limbo bar one too many times as a teen-ager I guess.  This morning in the hot dry Arizona air I'm outside bouncing around like a puppy dog.  Up the ladder, down the ladder, scurry off here & scurry off there.  By Tuesday's Yoga class I'll be able to sit on the floor, spin around twice, & wrap my legs around behind my head.  That'll be a sight I'm sure.  Ok, Kelly just informed me it's not that kind of Yoga.  It's for older folks & called 'Chair Yoga' where everyone sits on a chair to do it.  So, now I gotta sit on a chair to exercise!!  Oh, the perils of aging.  Ok, I have just been re-corrected again!!!!  Kelly says maybe 20% is done on a chair & the rest is done on a mat on the floor.  Oh Oh, back to the legs behind my head concept again:((

SARAH, NELLIE, & PONCHO NEEDED A LITTLE CONSOLING AFTER THE FOLKS LEFT

I was pretty disappointed with myself when I realized a few days ago that I had forgot to bring my new camera/telescope tri-pod with us.  Worse yet, I had no recollection of where it was back home.  Only thing to do was to dash off an email & call in a professional search & rescue person whom we just happened to have looking after our house back home while we're away.  Our neighbor Bruce is retired from the Canadian Forces where he spent years on Canada's east coast as part of a search & rescue crew aboard Canada's aging helicopter fleet.  It didn't take him long to track down the missing tri-pod & located it behind the sunroom couch.  It is a total mystery to Kelly & I as to how it ever got there in the first place.  We are now making arrangements for Bruce to box it up & mail it to us.  Without the tripod I cannot use the heavy lens with my cameras or even use the scope for it's intended purpose of stargazing.  And to be in the Arizona desert without a telescope would be like visiting England's Buckingham palace without your underwear on!! Ok, ok, doesn't make any sense to me either.

AL’S BUSY WASHING THE MOTORHOME

Have had a fair few inquiries from people asking about permission to use my photos for their desktops, paintings, etc.  Yes, by all means, please do.  I am not in the business of, nor am I interested in selling photographs.  That is a job for the pros & I am not a pro.  I'm just like you, only I may have a few more opportunities than you do to be in some really nice photogenic places.  Photography for me is a super enjoyable hobby & if I tried to do anything else with it the magic would be gone.  I am very flattered that someone would think enough of my photos to actually put one of them on their desktop.  And what do we have on our two computer desktops??  My photos of course:))

RELAXING WITH ‘THE SONS OF THE PIONEERS’ TO-DAY

I finally finished captioning & re-organizing our 2 latest trip web albums up to this point.  I must never let myself get that far behind again.  It's a real cranium drain trying to remember in which order all the photos happened.  Especially when your using 3 cameras all the time.  And if you take a lot of photos like I do it can be a real challenge to get everything sort of right!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day his supply of the birds ran out, so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises.

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