TOUCHING ON SOME TRAVEL PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2013

We are just so much enjoying this milder weather.  Even I myself haven’t been complaining about it being too hot with temps in the mid 80’s but I will like it even better this coming week when we drop into the 70’s.  EL-Perfecto:))

KELLY & PHEEBS HAD TO DO THE MORNING WALK ALONE, MY LEG WOULDN’T LET ME GO:((
Some of our Snow Birding friends have already headed north & some are already home.  Some are on the way & some are just getting ready to leave.  We will be following the gang in a few weeks & of course it is with mixed feelings again.  I always look forward to a change of routines so getting back on the road with a destination in mind is something I do look forward to.  But it is also sad every time we leave the southwest.  Our winter lifestyle here always seems more exciting, more invigorating, & more interesting for some reason.  In only a few weeks our little house will be sitting here all by itself again all closed up until we return sometime in the Fall.  And, knowing me I will be counting the days until we once again return to begin another winter anew in the great American south-west:))    

As expected, pretty much all of our time this winter was spent around the house & property working on a bunch of projects.  Maybe could have spaced out some of those projects over the next couple years but being the impatient people we sometimes are we just simply wanted to get as much done this first year as we could.  For me it’s always important to get things done before the novelty of new wears off.  By doing the bulk of the work this winter I figure that will free us up for future travels next winter.  After all, that was the whole idea behind having a home base in the southwest in the first place.

I’M GUESSING THIS FELLOW AS A HOUSE FINCH
We have already touched on plans for our return trip in the Fall & have both agreed we will plan on beginning our journey in early September & head straight for southern Colorado & Utah.  I’ve been wanting to do this trip for 3 years now & am thinking this just might be the year by golly.  From southern Utah we would eventually wander ourselves down through Arizona’s Monument Valley & eventually drop ourselves into our home base in Congress.  Well that’s the preliminary plan at this stage anyway & it’s only 5 short months away.  Bonus:))

CURVE BILLED THRASHER
We do more of something here than we do back home in Bayfield.  Relaxing outside.  Although we do have neighbors here we can’t see the folks place across the road & we never hear them except for their chickens & roosters.  Same with out back.  Can’t see the neighbor’s place but we do like hearing their horses.  And with our other neighbor around the corner having Sheep it sounds like we are living on a farm & that is just great.  I love the sounds of barnyard animals all around.  Now if we could just get those Javalina’s to ‘Oink’.  Now add to that the never ending twittering of birds from sunrise to sunset & it’s obvious why we spend more time outside here.  Oh & aside from some Yellow Jackets…..'no bugs’:)) 

INCA DOVE
Our Mexican neighbors to the north are visible but they are not a bother.  Like us, they are on the quiet side.  And with our house being about in the middle of our 1 acre we do have somewhat of a buffer zone around us.  However, we have a bothersome bunch of kids on our south side but we’re hopeful that problem will be resolved by the time we return in the Fall.  

Back home in Bayfield our neighbors are much closer than here.  It is just ‘one’ of the reasons we will continue looking for a quiet place in the country as soon as we get home.  With Real Estate prices being what they are in our area the chances of finding another ‘super deal’ are pretty slim but if one gives up & quits looking, one is apt not to find whatever it is one is looking for.  And we are always ‘looking’:))

Kelly picked up a bird bath in Wickenburg today so now the little bird fellers have a place to wash off all that pesky desert dust.  We enjoy sitting out near the bird feeders, Kelly with her book & me with my camera.  I have all the patience in the world to sit & take bird photos but getting a sticky wrapper off a popsicle could put me in therapy.

THIS LITTLE FELLOW WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE THE NEW BIRD BATH HE ABSOLUTELY LOST HIS HEAD
Nina from WHEELING IT has posted her Bisbee Part 2 adventures.  Some of you foody folks will like this segment with some favorite local eateries listed.  Glad they made it to the Bisbee Breakfast Club on old Erie Street.  This short street is a page taken right out of a period in time.  And THE TALLEYS are still toughing out the 90 & 100 degree heat in the desert near California’s Borrego Springs.  And that’s after being rocked last week by an earthquake.

It was an exciting time for us one year ago now but also a sad time as well.  With our departure time for home looming ever closer we were just on the go every single minute scrambling to get our newly acquired house in some semblance of shape before we left.  I was busy painting the kitchen as well as the kitchen cupboards.  Septic system in backyard was in the process of being inspected & repaired.  Arrangements were being made to have the whole house stuccoed, & a big clean up was underway both inside & out.  Furnishings were being gathered at garage sales & second hand stores.  It was an exciting time for us.  But it was a sad time for us as well as our little Cora’s (aka Motormouse) health continued to decline.  Little did we know that in just a short couple weeks she would no longer be with us. 

But of course we still have our ever happy, ever playful & our ever entertaining fabulous Pheebs.  What a joy she is as every single day she puts a smile on our slightly aging faces.
 
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Friend: "I suppose you carry a memento of some sort in that locket of yours?"
Woman: "Yes, it's a lock of my husband's hair."
Friend: "But your husband is still alive."
Woman: "I know, but his hair is gone."
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.