FORBODING SKIES AND BIG WINDS

DARK CLOUDS OVER THE RANCH HOUSE

Some of you folks may have clicked on our blogsite last night & seen 'no blog tonight.'  Well, that was true but I got up early this morning, redid the blog, & posted it.  In it I talked about the new Dolorme PN-40 GPS unit we just ordered yesterday.  Also gave an explanation of how I'm thinking the entire post was lost.  Combination of Live Writer, Verizon, our computer, and of course last but not least.......Me:((  Seems the madder I got the harder I banged on the keys with my hammer & finally the computer had had enough & just seized up & shut down!!  Want to thank KAREN for her tip about setting up 'autosave' in Live Writer.  Blogger does it automatically & I guess I assumed LW did the same.  It doesn't!!  You Live Writer folks might want to check that out.  Don't thank me for the tip.....thank Karen:))

A FLOCK OF BIRDS TAKE FLIGHT AGAINST STORMY SKIES

Thankfully we had a quiet night with only a slight patter of rain around 5 A.M.  At first light we could see the heavy dark cloud cover overhead moving from south to north up the valley at a fairly good clip as far as clouds go.  By 8 the big old Arizona sun had managed to burn a few holes through the thick cover setting the valley floor & mountain sides ablaze with small traveling splashes of sunlight.

As far as weather goes though we sure can't complain after reading Joe & Sherri's blog, SOMEWHERE IN TIME.  They are over in Texas & got hit real bad in a hail storm & lost vent covers.  Like Joe said, "We could see the storm on the radar & knew we were in trouble!!"  Hail scares me because it could easily smash to bits our two expensive solar panels on the roof.  Kelly had a fairly new car smashed up in bad hail storm years ago & it looked like someone had walked around with a ball peen hammer & hit it about 50 times.

Been organizing things & cleaning the rig up in preparation for getting the big wheels rolling again at the end of the month.  Been here at the ranch for nearly 3 months & a lot of dust had settled on the dash so with a little soap & water & some Armor-All I've got things sparkling like new again.  Windows cleaned, bins reorganized, tires & batteries checked, etc. etc.  As usual when it comes time to leave I will be filled with sadness & excitement again all at the same time.  It will be the two ranch dogs, Gleason & Pearce who we will miss the most.  I think they are going to both need doggy counseling when we leave.  Pearce loves spending his days in the rig snoozing & Gleeson just about jumps out of his fur every time we come outside because he is so happy to see us.  And every Sunday their cousin Corky comes for the day & we'll really miss that big playful guy as well.  And the donkeys, Charlie the cat, & all the chickens.  Oh dear, I'm getting myself all teary here.  Yes, it's true, in these last bunch of years I have found that animals have a far greater emotional effect on me than people do.

I uninstalled all our 'Tweet' & 'Tweetdeck' stuff today.  Never use it, seems kinda silly, & I suspect it was one of our main bandwidth drainers.  We have Facebook so I think that's good enough although I do get very annoyed about all that moronically silly game & goofy heart throb stuff on there.  We use it strictly as a communication tool.  In fact, that's how Kelly found out she had twin babies Grandson/daughter awhile back.  She knew daughter Sarah was having them but didn’t know she had gone into the hospital.  Found out her Dad was in the hospital one day two weeks ago on Facebook as well because her family is always on there.  If used properly I think Facebook is a good thing.  Just seems like some people spend endless hours on there looking for totally stupid ways to annoy other people.  Enough said!!

A few weeks ago we had an email from Erika B. at the Media, Public Relations & Film for the city of Sierra Vista asking if they could use one of my photos from a hike we did in the Coronado National Memorial.  Of course I said yes & today we received an email from Erika showing us their new brochure which can be seen here at  CORONADO.  If you look at the photo on the right you will see Kelly hiking along the trail.  Yaaaaay Kelly, you go girl:))

Boy, did I ever do something really super dumb today.  Every Sunday & sometimes during the week friends of Jeanie & Ray, Ingrid & Tom drop off their dog Corky for a few hours while they go into town.  Ingrid & Tom bring their pickup truck, park it, & switch to their car which they keep here.  The road near their house is too rough for a car & that's why they have a pickup too.  Corky came this morning so I was outside playing with the doggy gang for awhile but came in when the wind started getting too bed.  Awhile later I went out to see how the doggy guys were doing but Corky was missing.  I walked all around calling his name but no Corky.  The big front gate is always open & I figured the wind may have spooked him & he ran out the gate.  Quickly hurried over to tell Kelly that Corky was missing & then jumped into the car & hurriedly drove down the road towards the highway looking for him.  No Corky.  Made a U turn & headed back towards the ranch intending to check the road to the south.  In the meantime Kelly had been out calling Corky's name as well.  When I got back to the ranch Kelly waved me to come in but I still didn't see any sign of Corky.  I stopped & she walked over to the car saying, "didn't you notice the pickup truck was gone.....Ingrid & Tom have already been here & picked Corky up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not once did I think to look over & see if the truck was there & I actually walked within about 10 feet of where the truck was when I was looking for Corky.  Didn't even notice there car was back when I walked right by it.  One of these days I'm going to have to get a big long leg extension so I can reach around & give myself a good swift kick in the assparagus. 

  

(click photos to enlarge)

The wind gusts snapped our flag pole in half today but our satellite dish is weathering the storm well so far.  Guess I should mention I accidentally stepped on the pole about a month ago & cracked the fiberglass.  Taped it up but today it broke.  Yep, I had better get that leg extension on order alright.

At the moment on this cold windy afternoon we have all 5 dogs in the motorhome & we're going to have us a game of 'spin the bottle' to see who gets the most slurpy smooches:))  Outside the sky is about as black as I've ever seen it & the wind has not let up one bit.  The rain finally arrived about 6 o'clock.

And, if you wonder why we leave our beautiful little town of Bayfield Ontario back in Canada to come south in the winter just check out our friend Jan Hogeveen's photos of the fishing boats coming into the Bayfield harbor from Lake Huron Tuesday.  We live about a mile & a half from here.

 

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And in these hard economic times remember to tell your children next time you are all together that you are going to have to let one of them go!!

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