DUST STORM INSIDE THE JEEP

My mission this morning was the Jeep. Had they ever looked inside our dusty little desert buggy at the border they would have charged us for bringing across a load of Arizona gravel. Every time we opened the doors at the same time it set off a desert dust storm inside the Jeep & I couldn’t find the steering wheel. So, this morning, with a bucket of soapy water & vacuum cleaner in hand I tackled the Jeep’s interior. Couple hours later it looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. Already looking forward to getting it all dusted up again next winter:)) Maybe tomorrow I’ll hook up the outside water & have a go at the exterior. ‘Heavens to Murgatroids’, can you imagine a sparkly shiny suburban looking Jeep in our driveway.  No, neither can I.

ABOVE, A POPLAR TREE LEAF’S OUT & LEFT, A MAPLE TREE’S UNFOLDING LEAVES

All of today’s photos were taken when Pheebs & I headed out on an afternoon walk in the forest. Looking forward to the arrival of Spring songbirds soon filling the quiet forest air with their joyous singing.

I’M THINKING THIS IS A BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEE >>>
The Sedona area of Arizona has to be one of the most scenic areas in the State. We were there briefly a few years ago & I’m hoping we can spend more time in that region over the next few years. Sedona is only a few hours drive northeast of our Congress house now. Can you imagine seeing all those beautiful rocks & canyons from horseback. JOHN & BRENDA did just that recently. In fact they see a lot of Arizona from horseback. Canadian ranchers from Alberta, they also have a winter place southwest of Phoenix. John & Brenda are true horse people & trailer their horses between their northern digs in Alberta called, Dog Pound North to their southern digs in Arizona called…..yes, Dog Pound South. We met John about 4 or 5 years ago one time when he looked us up while we were boondocking near Quartzsite Arizona.

WE STILL HAVE DANDELIONS BLOOMING

A reader questions why I never talk about California Parks. Well, first off let me say that we have not been to a lot of California Parks. But, as many long time readers know, I have written extensively each year about our adventurous times spent in California’s second largest Anza-Borrego State Park. Another one of our favorite all time places in & around Borrego Springs. Have also written about our trip to Joshua Tree National Park & also the Lone Pine area of California. Any of the above names typed into the search bar at the top of our blog sites right hand column will give you access to my many California posts. Even Slab City:))

A LONE PINE CONE SNAGGED ON A BRANCH

I again had a couple questions about my camera gear. I have 2 Nikon DSLR's & 2 smaller point & shoot Canon cameras. My Nikon D40 carries a Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto lens & my Nikon D90 carries a Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 wide angle lens. My Nikon D90 is the workhorse but I do have a preference for my simpler & easier to use D40. The D90 replaced my D50 which I accidentally dropped on a cement porch back in February of 2011. My smaller carry along cameras are both point & shoot Canons. An older Powershot A720iS & a newer Canon Powershot SX210iS which travels in a case on my belt everywhere I go. 

THIS COLTSFOOT HAS GONE TO SEED

A second question asks if I edit my photos & my answer to that is, ‘yes’. Especially every photo I take with my D40 because of all the dust on my camera sensor. I have to retouch all the dust specs out of each picture. I generally adjust the contrast in my photos, sometimes sharpening them & quite often cropping them using Google’s free PICASA 3.9 PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM. I see many good photos out here in Blog Land that could be made better if only folks would take a little time & make an effort to understand the wonders of their photo editing program. And, photo editing programs do not get much easier than Picasa.  If it wasn’t easy, I wouldn’t be using it…………

OUR CORKSCREW TREE BEGINS TO BUD OUT

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There were two good ol' boys from Alabama, who love to fish, and they wanted to do some ice fishing. They'd heard about it up in Canada, so they took off up there. The lake was frozen nicely. They stopped just before they got to the lake at a little bait shop and got all their tackle. One of them said, "We're gonna need an ice pick." So they got that, and they took off. In about two hours, one of them was back at the shop and said, "We're gonna need another dozen ice picks."
Well, the fellow in the shop wanted to ask some questions, but he didn't. He sold him the picks, and the old boy left. In about an hour, he was back. Said, "We're gonna need all the ice picks you've got."
The bait man couldn't stand it any longer. "By the way," he asked, "how are you fellows doing?"
"Not very well at all," he said. "We ain't even got the boat in the water yet."
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- If one's thoughts are positive about the landscape, one's eyes will appreciate what they see...AL.
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com