TO-NIGHT’S MOON COMING UP OVER THE SWISSHELM MOUNTAINS
Maybe one of these mornings I can start the blog off by saying how warm it is outside but probably not until later next month when we move over to the Yuma area. We are in the high desert here in southeastern Arizona so the nights will be cold from now until March sometime.
WE ENDED UP HAVING TO TURN AROUND HERE
Ranch owners Jeanie & Ray finished loading their 5th wheel this morning & it wasn't long & they were hooked up & on their way to Tucson. Its hard for them to get a break from the ranch so we are staying on here until about the middle of January. That will give Jeanie & Ray a nice RVing holiday to slip around the southwest doing some boondocking, 4 wheeling, & visiting with family & friends over the next 6 weeks.
RUGGED, BUT BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OVER IN THE SWISSHELM MOUNTAINS
Kelly & I headed for Elfrida at 8:45. She had an exercise class at 9 & I had planned to do updates & uploads to the computer at the library next door. Had problems getting connected but remembered a small restaurant up the road that had Wifi. No problem so that's where I headed & of course I couldn't get connected there either. Only logical thing left to do was bury my face in a big mess of bacon & eggs while I was there & cut my losses. We were back at the ranch by 10:30.
LOVE FOLLOWING BACK ROADS TO SEE WHERE THEY GO
Had a nice sunny cool day going for us so we didn't want to sit around. Had heard there some roads going up part way into the Swiss Helm mountains north of Elfrida so decided to take the car for a little rock scramble. Pavement ended & we were onto a rough rock strewn road. Stopped to open & close a couple of gates & made our way up to as far as we could go. It was surprising how the vegetation changed just by climbing maybe 5 or 6 hundred feet from the valley floor. Cholla, Agave, large Prickly Pear cactus, Yucca & Mesquite trees. Very rocky terrain & prime rattlesnake country in the warmer weather.
THIS IS PRIME RATTLESNAKE COUNTRY BUT IT’S TOO COLD FOR THE SNAKES TO BE OUT AT THIS TIME OF YEAR
Dropped in for a few minutes to visit a lady we had met Thanksgiving Day at the Friends of the Southwest dinner. "Cheryl & her husband Tony have a very nice place complete with a hobby barn that Tom calls the Man Cave. Tom was busy doing some wood staining in the barn so Cheryl showed us around. They moved here from Alaska 4 years ago. Visited this area once, went back to Alaska, sold their house with one phone call, & moved right back down to Arizona's Sulphur Springs Valley. Tom said the change in his health was immediate & Cheryl said he's been 100% better since moving to their home in the lee of the Swisshelm Mountains. Nice folks.
GOTTA WATCH YOUR STEP IN THE DESERT
FREE RANGE CATTLE & HORSES FEEDING AMONGST THE CACTI
After some more bumps, bangs, gulley whumps, wash outs, gulches, & some genuine thumps & wonkers, our little Santa Fe mountain goat got us back down to the valley floor & we were at the ranch by 3. Fed the 8 chickens, gathered one egg, fed Gleeson & Pearce plus the elusive ranch cat Charlie. Honked at the donkeys & that was it for another day.
 |  CHERYL & KELLY |
 |  NICE HOUSE |
CHERYL & TONY’S PLACE UP THE HILL EAST OF ELFRIDA
(click to enlarge the photos)
Well, the Bayfield Bunch has finally made it onto the HITCH-ITCH site. Took us awhile to make the cut so would just like to say thanks to the Hitch-Itch folks for finally including us on their site & to any folks who may have mentioned our name over there. Thanks guys:))
OUR LITTLE MOUNTAIN GOAT DOES WELL ON THESE KINDS OF ROADS
With all the health care talk & issues going on in the States we sometimes get asked about the health care system in Canada. There seems to be a lot of mis-information going around about Canadian health care. I don't know if it's the media or the politicians who are mainly responsible for all this but lets try to set the record straight about a few things. Check out JB's second last paragraph on his blog DOWN THE ROAD FROM DOG POUND. And if your fed up with all that paper junk mail just do as Ray does in his QCC blog……buzzzrup!!
THEY GROW SOME MIGHTY BIG TUMBLE WEEDS AROUND HERE
GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet and says, "My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?" "Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him." So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he says "I'm going to have to put him down." "What? just because he's cross-eyed?" "No, because he's really heavy."
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.
MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)
It might be cool there in the morning, but it still looks pretty good to me. Can't wait to get down to the desert again this year.
ReplyDeleteWe miss the desert this year. I'm enjoying my visiting with family, but man the humidity here can be a bummer. Thank goodness for the occasional cold front....LOL!
ReplyDeleteHey! I see we both made the Hitch_Itch.I put in a request weeks ago when you were remarking about not being accepted.Then gave up when there was no reaction for me either.I wondered why my hits have gone up lately.
ReplyDeleteWe love those bumpy back roads too! Used to do 'em all the time, but the bouncing does affect back and shoulders. When Suzy's shoulder is replaced, maybe we can hit a few of them again. Good info on the Canadian health system. Wish our congresspersons would read that blog!
ReplyDeleteTell me more about HitchItch!
OK, comment on the Groaner's Corner....GROAN!! Congratulations on being accepted by HitchItch. You guys are an asset to RV'ing (and photography)so they should have accepted you previously. I think the health care stuff is an ongoing issue because the conservatives don't want the government to run healthcare. Personally we do need something but if we left it to our politicians health care would be a bandaid, a bottle of iodine and a $2500 copay.
ReplyDelete