CAUGHT OURSELVES UP ON A WEE BIT OF VISITING TODAY

I was startled by a big blast of wind which actually blew our back door wide open late Friday evening.  Pheebs flew off the couch and ran up beside my chair.  Everything was perfectly normal of course.  Big sudden wind gusts are nothing new here in the southwest and we have been pummeled by them many times whether in our RV or in our house here.  That big blast of wind traveling like a speeding freight train across the desert floor chased the rain, thunder and lightning right out of town bringing with it an immediate change to our temperatures dropping us within minutes into the low 40’s and upper 30’s if the wind chill factor is figured in.  But hey here’s the best part……we started our day with big bright clear sunny skies this morning:)))))))

We slipped over to North Ranch and dropped in on Janna and Mike for awhile about mid morning.  Might be the last time we see them for awhile……or maybe not:))  If anyone read Janna’s latest post they will have seen the yummy cheesecake she just made and we got to help her and Mike finish it off this morning.  Scrumpdiddlyishus for sure.  Lucky us.  Sitting here I was trying to think back to when we first met Mike and Janna and it seems to me it might have been back in our ranch sitting days near McNeal, Elfrida, Douglas, Bisbee, and Tombstone Arizona.  Or was it near the little tumble down town of Bouse Arizona one time??

From Janna and Mike’s place we slipped around the block and dropped in to see Pat and Mike McFall.  Janna and Mike knew we were coming but Pat and Mike didn’t and I’m always very sensitive about dropping in on folks unannounced.  We hadn’t seen the McFalls since last March just before heading back to Ontario.  They are both doing reasonably well for a couple of folks who have had way more than their fair share of poor health over these past several years.  As Kelly and I age I will no doubt reflect back on today’s visit with Mike and Pat and remember their positive attitude and things they said regarding the inescapable ravages of illness and aging.

Despite clear blue sunny skies the day’s wind added an icy chill to the air and arriving home in early afternoon we were quick to get our portable heaters going.  I stick my heater under my Ikea chair and crank it up.  I know this cold is nothing like what is happening right now back in Bayfield but here’s the difference.  We would actually be warmer in our Bayfield house because we have a regular furnace (and a brand spanking new one at that) which keeps the whole house warm and toasty.  In our Congress house we’ve never had a furnace heating every room so we kinda have to dress warm and stick close to our heaters.  I checked the thermometer on our porch about 2 p.m. and it said we were at 50F.  For our friends back home 50F right now would seem like the tropics.

Sunday will be a busy day for us.  A few last loads of laundry, a bunch of housecleaning and a number of final things moved into the Motorhome.  Pheebs and I will get out for one last morning Jeep ride around the area on a few of our old familiar dusty desert roads.  Maybe even find us a muffin and a coffee somewhere too.

I am finding now that our days in Yavapai County are counting down I have to work harder at keeping my mind focused on the road ahead and not the road behind.  I am a very sentimental character at heart and my nostalgic affection for this whole Congress Arizona area weighs heavy on my heart at the moment.  But I’ll be alright, I always am……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An elderly man lay dying in his bed.  In death's agony, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed.  Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled down the stairs.  With labored breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.  Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?  Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted: the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.  The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.  "Stay out of those," she said, "they're for the funeral."