A DRIVE AROUND SUN SITES, OLD MEMORIES IN PEARCE ARIZONA, AND BURGS AND FRIES AT TJ’S BAR AND GRILL

I haven’t seen a clear night sky like the one I saw Thursday night here at Janna and Mike’s place near Sun Sites Arizona since way back last winter sometime.  With no Moon in the cold crystal clear air the dark night’s Milky Way literally leaped out of the sky with it’s faded brilliance.  With no light pollution anywhere tiny diamonds glittered from horizon to horizon.  So nice to once again be back in the great American Southwest standing under a clear and unobstructed night sky with a forever view deep into the ever expanding Universe.

SUNRISE OVER SQUARE MOUNTAIN MESA TO THE EAST
Soon as night gave way to morning we had us a big blue sunny Arizona sky going on.  Sunlight poured through the side windows of our coach chasing away a few gathered overnight chills.  It was exactly two weeks to the day and hour we had left wintery Bayfield Ontario.  Wasn’t long and we had ourselves out for a morning walk and met Janna and Miss Emmi out doing the same.

DESERT NIGHTS CAN BE VERY COLD AS EVIDENCED BY THE LAYER OF FROST ON MIKE’S TRUCK

NOTICE HOW WARM  KELLY IS DRESSED

COCHISE STRONGHOLD

HEY THAT LOOKS LIKE JANNA AND LITTLE MISS EMMI WAY UP THERE AND PHEEBS IS ALREADY RACING TO MEET THEM

AFTER A SHORT MORNING POW-WOW JANNA AND EMMI HEAD FOR HOME
Kelly, Pheebs, and I piled into the Jeep this afternoon and took ourselves for a drive around the little valley town of Sun Sites Arizona about a 3 minute drive from Janna and Mikes.   We liked the nice ranch style homes with their Southwest desert landscaping.  The town has kinda fallen on hard times over the years but there are signs it’s fighting back.  Of course we like little western towns like this and after all we did buy a house and enjoyed living in the little tumble down town of Congress Arizona for 5 years.  Sun Sites is also the town back in December of 2010 where we first met a couple many fellow RV’ers know, Jo and Fred Wishnie.  They along with mutual friends JoAnn and the late Doug Dubrouillet met Kelly and I at Marge’s Diner there.  Meeting some old friends -- Meeting some new friends

JOANN, DOUG, KELLY, ME, JO AND FRED….CAN’T REMEMBER THE LITTLE POOCHES NAME
From Sun Sites we drove the short 1 mile distance south to the old ghost town of Pearce Arizona where we again had more great old memories of Pearce Heritage Days 1 and Pearce Heritage Days 2.  Yep, we were to both of of them and it was like something right out of the old west.  Today I wanted to stop into Pearce’s Cemetery again because there is an Abraham Lincoln connection buried here which I had remembered from our last time in Pearce a bunch of years ago.


 
NOTICE THE WARNING SIGN AT LOWER LEFT

GUESS SOME OF THE OLD TIMERS DIDN’T WANT TO BE BURIED UNDERGROUND

SPOTTED THIS GRAVE MARKER FAR FROM THE OTHERS OUTSIDE THE GRAVEYARD

SOME GRAVESITES CONTAIN UNKNOWN REMAINS SO A SIMPLE BOARD WITH NO NAME MARKS THE LOCATION

THIS OLD DUSTY CEMETERY JUST WEST OF THE TOWN IS ABOUT AS DUSTY AS A CEMETERY GETS
There were several other places in Pearce Kelly wanted to stop as well so we looked them up and they were still there.  First place was Marcia's Garden Natural Goat Milk Soap Shop


THIS WAS THE CUTEST LITTLE PLACE, HOMEY, COZY, AND IT SMELLED SOOOOOO NICE IN HERE….SOFT CELTIC TYPE MUSIC PLAYING AS WELL

WE WANDERED AROUND ALONE HERE BEFORE THE SOAP LADY CAME
 
IT’S THE CREATIVE SOAP  LADY HERSELF


NOTICED THIS NICE BIRD ON THE FRONT PORCH


AND ON THE ROOF, A CURVED BILL THRASHER

AND HERE ARE THE ACTUAL SOAP CONTRIBUTORS THEMSELVES
  
SOAP??  WHAT THE HECK IS SOAP??
  
THIS IS THE GOAT SOAP LADIES HOUSE AND IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE FIRST PHOTO OF THIS POST CAME FROM

Next stop in Pearce was right round the corner to a little place Kelly had bought a few things before about 10 years ago.  It was the Old Pearce Pottery Shop located right beside Pearce’s original old Post Office

THE OLD POST OFFICE

DIDN’T SEEM TO BE ANYONE AROUND AT FIRST BUT A LADY FINALLY CAME ALONG AND OPENED THE SHOP FOR KELLY

PHEEBS AND I MOSIED AROUND OUTSIDE TAKING A FEW PHOTOS
 

Kelly’s Bayfield Doctor emailed her the results of her Cat Scan a couple days ago and although a few things have changed there is no need for us to rush back to Ontario,  Before leaving Bayfield we had talked about waiting for the Scan results or just heading south with our fingers crossed,  It was a gamble we took and a gamble we won.  Had we decided to wait and with the weather so brutal at home now there’s a good chance we would not have come south and just hunkered down like everyone else and rode out the long winter storm.  Snow would have been so deep on top of the Motorhome we would have had to get a back-hoe up there to plow the roof off   And the snow would have been so deep around the Motorhome we probably couldn't have got into it till Spring anyway.

THIS IS PEARCE’S OLD GENERAL STORE AND IT ONLY OPENS ONE DAY A YEAR AND KELLY AND I HAPPENED TO BE THERE THE ONE DAY IT OPENED AND GOT TO SEE INSIDE…..WOW, A PAGE RIGHT OUT OF HISTORY IN THERE AND I DO HAVE PHOTOS INSIDE IN ONE OF THE PREVIOUS PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS LINK I ENCLOSED

Later this afternoon Kelly and I along with Janna and Emmi piled into their red Chevy pick-up truck and Mike took us for a tour around the roads between their place and the Dragoon Mountains.  A lot more ranches back in closer to the mountains that cannot be seen from the highway passing through Pearce and Sun Sites.  A lot of nice looking rustic old places nestled away in the open fields of yellow grass and Mesquite trees.  Kelly and I were fortunate enough years ago to be invited to a beautiful Ranch here at the base of the Dragoon Mountains and today we drove right by that ranch.  Here’s my post dated November 30th 2010.  Today We Visited Grapevine Canyon Ranch.  Mike drove us around Sun Sites for a bit before we all stopped into TJ's Bar and Grill whereupon we all loaded ourselves up on ‘Burgs and Fries’.  Both burgs and fries were great but they didn’t make much money on us from the bar when we all ordered water to drink.

LIKED THE  HOUSE DESIGNS IN SUN SITES

HERE WE GO DOWN THE STREET AFTER THE BOUNCER THREW US ALL OUT FOR BEING DISORDERLY AND THROWING WATER AT EACH OTHER AS WELL AS THE BAR PATRONS

YOU REALLY DIDN’T BELIEVE THAT LAST CAPTION DID YOU:))

ON DAD’S LAP

COMING HOME
I love my new blanket.  I’ve mentioned several times in the past why I have never cared for leather chairs.  Oh sure they look nice and all that but they are cold to sit on in winter and they stick to me in summer’s heat.  And then it’s about that squeaky creaky sound leather has a tendency of making every time one makes a move.  Only quick answer is to throw something over it and hope it stays put on the slippery leather surface.  Enter…..my new blanket.  Kelly said she had looked at some throw blankets in Walmart for my recliner but hesitated at buying one.  A couple days ago in Douglas Arizona while picking up some groceries in Walmart I reminded her of a blanket for my chair.  We walked over to the bed and bath section and I immediately spotted my blanket.  It was love at first sight and I soon had my arms wrapped around a blanket of something so soft I could hardly imagine it possible.  Only took me a mili-second to get my new best friend into the shopping cart.    It had been the only one sitting there lonely on the shelf waiting and waiting I’m sure for me to drive all the way down from Bayfield Canada to rescue it.  An hour later after arriving at Janna and Mikes I had my Pal unfolded and draped over my recliner.  Eased myself into my rocker and I’ve hardly been out of it since since.  The 90 x 90 blanket is made from a very soft material and seems to give off a warmth to the touch.  Warm in my world is a good thing and in this area of cool and cold desert nights I can see where me and my new best Pal are never going to be far from one another……Oh and by the way regarding the first photo in this post that said it was sunrise over Square Mountain Mesa…..Um, it was actually the northwest  roof line corner of Janna and Mikes house.  Gotcha:))))))
GROANER’S CORNER:((  A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows every week and began to understand what the magician does in every trick.  Once he understood that, he started shouting in the middle of the show: Look, it's not the same hat. Look, he is hiding the flowers under the table! Hey, why are all the cards the Ace of Spades? The magician was furious but couldn't do anything, it was the captain's parrot after all. One day the ship had an accident and sunk. The magician found himself on a piece of wood, in the middle of the ocean, with the parrot of course. They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day, and another, and another. After a week the parrot finally said: OK. I give up. What'd you do with the boat ?
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A cop pulls a car over on the highway for speeding. When he asks for the driver's license, the driver argued, "Speeding??? But officer, I was only trying to keep a safe distance between my car the the car in back of me."
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Census Taker: 'How many children do you have?'
Woman: 'Four.'
Census Taker: 'May I have their names, please?'
Woman: 'Eenie, Meenie, Minie and George.'
Census Taker: 'Okay, that's fine. But may I ask why you named your fourth child George?'
Woman: 'Because we didn't want any Moe.'
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