TOO HOT FOR US TODAY SO WE HAD TO CHANGE OUR ALTITUDE

I said Altitude not Attitude:))

We’ve been making a point of getting out earlier for our morning walks.  The cooler air is always refreshing before things begin heating up around 8.  Jeeped ourselves a short distance to a different section of desert.  Decided on our walk the best way to beat the heat today was to get out of Dodge.  Congress is fortunately situated in the Sonoran Desert right at the foot of the Weaver Mountains.  In 10 miles or 10 minutes we can drop our temperature 10 degrees by simply driving up the side of the Weaver Mountains to Yarnell atop the Colorado Plateau.  Only this morning we went further & knocked off a few more degrees.

TWO NEW BEST PALS RUSH TOWARDS EACH OTHER THIS MORNING

 

PHEEBS LATER MEETS 2 MORE BEST PALS

Prescott Arizona is an hour’s scenic mountain drive from our house & at an even higher altitude than Yarnell.  We haven’t spent a lot of time in that area over the past couple years so this morning we figured we’d head on up to Prescott’s west side & have us a look around in the Prescott National Forest.  We pass right through here each time we make the trips between Bayfield & Congress & vice versa.  Tall Pine forests remind us of similar forests in Ontario.    

 

COLORFUL AUTUMN VINES IN THE FOREST

We’ve been curious to check out campgrounds in the area case we decide to bring the rig up for a week’s change of pace sometime.  Yavapai Campground was our first look around.  Like the topography & there were some sites we could probably fit into with our 37 feet.  Most sites were small & uneven though.  Dry camping only.  Had we had the rig & decided to stay we would have been the only one’s in the whole campground.  Bonus:))  Continued on up the Granite Basin Road to Granite Basin Lake.  Again very peaceful & scenic & of course it’s off season so very few people around.  A lady there scooping up Dragon Fly larvae for her Granddaughter's school project said it’s unusually hot for this time of year & they generally have their first snowfall around Halloween.  Yes folks it does snow in Arizona.  We’ve been snowed on twice so far in Congress & Congress is in the desert.

  

THIS LADY IS GATHERING DRAGON FLY LARVAE

We toyed with the idea of slipping over to Prescott’s northern edge & checking out the GRANITE DELLS but decided we would save that for another time, possibly one day next week when the temperatures around Congress are to still be in the high 80’s.  Took us for a drive closer into Prescott & over to the Thumb Butte area.  Nice housing area & hiking trails at a Park there but we didn’t stay.  Kelly was feeling even more tired than I was so we headed back out of Prescott on Iron Springs Road for home.  I always like to see populated areas disappear in my rear view mirror:)) 

 

Feeling a bit on the hungry side from our mornings exploring we knew where there was a nice little Café that we had been to a couple winter’s ago with Aunt Jean when she was here.  And it was right on the way home.  The Skull Valley Café is about the only thing in Skull Valley still on it’s feet.  General Store closed last year.  I was surprised at how busy it was for a little place out in the middle of seemingly nowhere.  Hunters, ranchers, & folks just passing though I guess.  Car beside ours was from Alberta.  As we sat at a table I looked across at the 3 stools where Aunt Jean, Kelly, & I had sat for lunch the day we had stopped there.  Nice memories.  Kelly had a pork burrito & I had a BLT with the best bowl of soup I have probably ever had.  I’m not a soup guy but the Chicken & Rice soup came with my BLT.   

LAST TIME IN THE SKULL VALLEY CAFÉ I HAD THAT LEFT STOOL, AUNT JEAN THE CENTER ONE & KELLY THE RIGHT STOOL

 

PROBABLY THE BEST BOWL OF SOUP I’VE EVER HAD

 

Rolling through Peeple’s Valley we noticed an RV pulled over & recognized John & Jackie.  They were taking the rig back to Congress from Prescott where John has been undergoing treatments for prostate cancer.  He has one treatment left Monday morning & he’ll take the car back to Prescott for that one.  John said I could link his Facebook page but not being much of a Facebook guy I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.

 ALWAYS LIKE LOOKING AT THIS RANCH COMING THROUGH PEEPLES VALLEY

 

Sure hadn’t cooled off any by the time we got home so we quickly fired up all our fans.  Luckily we also have big ceiling fans in all all our rooms & they do help some.  John dropped over later saying he had a portable/mobile A/C unit we could borrow.  So we did.  I followed John home & brought the unit back.  We’re still pouring over the manual trying to figure out how to get some cold Arctic air coming out of it. 

  

For 2 nights in a row now I have set up the Critter Cam at 2 different angles trying to determine if Mr. Skunk has truly left the building.  First night the camera picked up the south end of a Pack Rat going north & the second night Miss Pussycat walked by.  Tonight as a final check I am going to place the Critter Cam right inside the hole in our foundation & if it does not detect Skunky tonight I will get to work in the morning sealing up that hole.

I DON’T THINK SHE KNOWS SHE IS GETTING HER PAWS WET

Thanks to Sue Davis Worth for this CORNER GAS trailer on the upcoming movie due to be released on December 3rd.  The gang looks pretty much the same as they did in the series years ago.  Humor seems to treat aging well.

DESCENDING THE YARNELL HILL LOOKING DOWN ON THE ASCENDING LANES & THAT’S HARQUAHALA MOUNTAIN ON THE HORIZON OUT THERE IN THE SONORAN DESERT…OUR HOUSE IS JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE DARKER MOUNTAINS ON THE RIGHT

And this comment in our Shout Box a few days ago…. Guest: “The weather's too cold in Ontario, too hot in Arizona. Complaining about the weather is a bad blogging habit that every blogger seems unable to avoid”.  Well I’m honored to be included with all my fellow ‘bad blogging habit’ Bloggers.  Were it not for we folks keeping weather conditions current we might all end up in some very boring passive weather conditions.  And besides if it wasn’t for the weather what the heck else would we talk about most of the time.  Could it be our ‘Guest’ lives in a ‘no weather zone’ somewhere & is a bit miffed the rest of us get to squawk & squabble about our ever changing weather patterns.  Not only Squawk & Squabble about it but by golly some of us even even express our creative thoughts & feelings about it.  Good & bad I may add.  Keep those weather thoughts coming fellow Bloggers & maybe we can eventually use our bad habits to turn our Guests sour grapes crop into the sweetest grapes on the vine.  D’ya think:))  Oh, & the temperature in Congress Az today??  91F same as Thursday.  And I may add under clear blue skies with no wind.  High 80’s predicted for all of next week.  Your welcome………………:))

KELLY RESTS AT A PICNIC TABLE BESIDE THE LAKE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist:  While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water being half empty or half full, I drank it. Sincerely, The Opportunist