MELTING INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT:))

SAND HILL CRANES HEADING FOR THEIR FEEDING GROUNDS WITH THIS MORNINGS SNOW COVERED MULE MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

Tuesday's buffeting winds left quietly sometime during the night. We had gone to bed with our slides pulled in to lessen the noise & around 3 I woke up & all was quiet except for a pinging on the sides & rooftop of the motorhome which I just assumed was rain. Figured that was ok as long as the winds didn't come back so rolled over & headed for dreamland again. 

SNOWING THIS MORNING WHEN WE GOT UP!!

It was still dark when we both arose around 6 & when Kelly opened the door to let the little Motormouse out..........the ground was white!!!! Those pinging sounds I had heard earlier was rain transitioning to sleet & then snow. Needless to say it was quite a surprise to see snow all over the ground. We did see snow once before here back in February of this year & there was more of it at that time. The surrounding mountains were totally beautiful in their new white cloaks. Took a few pics & then hustled down to the corral & opened the pasture gate for the donkey's to come in. Had my favorite Christmas Carol playing in my head while watching the snowflakes falling slowly on the donkeys as they came happily trotting through the gate. Johnny Mathis singing, 'Sleigh Ride.' "Just here those sleigh bells jingle-ing, Ring ting tingle-ing too." I even hum that one in the summer time when I'm feeling happy:)) Fixed the donkey guys up a nice fresh bale of hay for breakfast & there were contented Hee-Haw's all the way around. I'm sure they were glad to get in with a roof over their heads because it was still snowing a bit & they looked pretty bedraggled.

I generally have myself a pre-Christmas bluster every year but as Christmas Eve draws closer the little boy in me comes trotting out of the past & puts this old cursmudgeon right in his place for a couple days. And you know what, I kinda like when that happens every year. But, more about that little boy later.

We needed a few groceries plus I was feeling a little Christmassy when I woke up this morning so we decided to slip over to Wal-Mart in Douglas. Besides, I wanted to see the snow covered mountains on both sides of the valley on the drive south.  I  also felt like a people fix & usually a half hour in Wal-Mart takes care of that for me. Kelly said the store was not busy yesterday so I took a chance that it still wouldn't be busy this morning,  And, it wasn't.  Nice to see the Christmas decorations, hear the Christmas Carols, & tune into the Christmas feeling tingling in the air. Not quite the same here in Arizona though when you have been used to over 60 years of gently falling snow on quiet winter nights. Twinkling colored lights melted into snow banks under evergreen trees & the soft crunch of new fallen snow under warm winter boots. Nope, not quite the same I thought to myself as we walked across a snowless parking lot back to the car in the warming rays of the morning sun.

ON THE WAY TO DOUGLAS ARIZONA THIS MORNING

Resurrected our Star Choice television satellite dish this afternoon & after some finagling with the elevation adjustment we were locked back onto the bird. Of course after the first couple sweeps of the sky when the signal was not found I was convinced the LMB was wrecked & was ready to throw the whole set-up in the garbage but Kelly persevered & with a tweak here & grunt there, all was right in AL's world again.

SLAM DUNKED TRIPOD
TUESDAY & SET UP AGAIN WEDNESDAY

Kelly picked up a nice string of cactus/cowboy boots lights a week ago so we have them hanging in the motorhome. I left them on last night when I went to bed because they cast a warm Christmassy glow inside making everything look so warm & cozy. When I awoke in the night & looked around I was reminded of those festive & fun Christmas times so many years ago when I was just a little feller. My first Christmas memory sometime in the late 40's was of being in an old department store in Woodstock Ontario & there were Christmas Carols playing. Large colorful red bells, wreaths, & decorations were all around me & everything seemed so big & so happy. Remember, I was just a little fellow probably only about 3 feet tall. I was with my Mom & Dad at the time. It's the only pleasant memory I have of them to-gether. They were later bitterly divorced when I was about 6 I think. But, I still have that memory & I kept that in my mind last night as I drifted off back to sleep. Despite all my pre-Christmas blusters, the little Christmas boy is still inside me playing happily with his memories of warm & fun filled Christmas's long ago:))

SNOWY DESERT MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I have a friend who is a real inventor. He took the fender from a Chevy, a motor from a Ford, & the transmission from a Mercedes Benz. D'ya know what he got for that? -- Three years!!

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.