DO WE HAVE ANY 'RANCH SITTERS' OUT HERE IN RV BLOG LAND:))

FULL MOON RISING OVER THE SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS AT THE RANCH IN DEC. 09 (700mm telescope lens)

Anyone following our blog knows that we have spent the last 4 winters traveling around the American Southwest.  You will also know that we have spent some time 'ranch sitting' the past couple years as well.  When we leave Bayfield in late October we will once again head straight for the ranch which is located in Arizona's southeast corner near McNeal, Douglas & Bisbee.  Unlike last winter, we have decided to spend less time at the ranch this year & more time traveling.  We will be there from the beginning of November until mid December.

STORM CLOUDS OVER THE RANCH HOUSE

The owners of the ranch, J & R are also RV folks & again this year would like to spend the winter months doing some traveling of their own .  Another RV couple is going to take over the ranch sitting job from us from mid December to mid January.  A third RV couple & friends of ours will take over sometime in January & will stay for awhile but not sure how long yet.  That will leave part of February & all of March available.

OUR FULL HOOK-UP SITE AT THE RANCH

Workampers will probably not be interested in this because it is not a paying job. You do have full hook-ups & the security of a locked gate & a very large area with coyote proof fencing so it's a great safety factor if you have pets.  The ranch is an excellent home base for day trips in this historical southeast corner of Arizona.  Thousands of Sand Hill Cranes fly directly over the ranch every single day.  Their roosting area is only one mile south of the ranch at the, WHITEWATER DRAW WILDLIFE AREA

SUNSET ON THE PORCH

It is imperative that you understand, care for & love animals.  The ranch has about a dozen frisky chickens, 3 clever donkeys, 2 new cows, two lovable dogs (Pearce & Gleason) & Charlie the cat to look after.  The gang has to be fed twice a day & the 3 or 4 chicken eggs have to be gathered daily.  And, you will be required to milk the chickens every Saturday morning before breakfast:))

DRAGOON MOUNTAINS NORTHWEST OF THE RANCH

Douglas & Bisbee are only about a 20-25 minute drive away.  Tombstone is about a 40 minute drive & Sierra Vista is just another 15 minutes on the other side of Tombstone.  The ranch is located in the Sulphur Springs Valley & surrounded by the Dragoon, Chiricahua, Swiss Helm & Mule mountains.  And, if you haven't been to Bisbee Arizona yet, you are in for an alpine treat in an old mountain mining town.  For many photos of the ranch & surrounding area attractions just check our archives for Feb-March 2009 & again from November 09 to just about the end of January 2010.  Or, check our PICASA PHOTO ALBUMS for those same dates.

3 OF THE RANCH'S DESPERADOS'....SARAH, NELLIE & PONCHO

So, if anyone is interested in 'ranch sitting' for a spell in February & March, just let us know & we'll forward your interest to the folks at the ranch.  Preference will probably be given to anyone on our blog list that we know or have been in email contact with for awhile.  Just a little something for you Buckaroo RV'ers to think about:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED...................
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats..
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food..
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair..
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

It is not the concept of God I have a problem with.....it's his fan club that causes me grievous concern:((

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

OUR DAY WAS SO SLOW WE ALMOST WENT BACKWARDS!!

 

“HEY SANTA”….HIGH 5 FOR ME & GABE’S FIRST CHRISTMAS EVER:))  (Kelly’s new twin Grandkids from Vancouver B.C.)

If our day would have been any slower I'm sure we would have traveled backwards in time.  Kelly had a momentary lapse of reason this morning when she contemplated driving over to Sierra Vista.  I was quick to point out it was only 4 days before Christmas & that place would be totally nuts with chaotic traffic & stressed out frenzied holiday shoppers.  Fortunately she came to her senses & relaxed with her book for the day with the exception of her exercise class this morning.

 

<< KELLY’S PHOTO OF A  BUNNY DRINKING FROM A PLASTIC KID’S POOL LAST NIGHT

Ray, from our Monday afternoon photo group sent an email saying he had to go see the Vet this afternoon for his semi-annul dis-temper shot so I figured that meant our photo group was canceled.  Said he figured I needed a rabies shot too but didn't figure the Vet would have enough serum to settle me down!!  Told him I didn't have my list done anyway.  What list!!  The list of people I carry in my wallet so that if I get rabies I'll have a list of people who I'm gonna go out & bite first!!

SAND HILL CRANES TAKING FLIGHT FROM A CORNFIELD

Not to worry about me putting music on the site folks.  Mentioned yesterday I thought music on sites was a bad idea & only suggested I might put an optional button on sometime if I happened to have a special photo album I wanted some music to go with it.  Not likely I'll even do that though.  Whewwww, close call there!!

 

Only another 4 or 5 days & all this Christmas schmozzle will thankfully be over for another year.  If I have to sit through one more morning Christmas cooking show on television I'm going to up & snort!!  Christmas was a lot different when I was a kid growing up in the late 40's & early to mid 50's.  I remember what Christmas used to be like & it was nowhere near the commercial hype, stress, & mess, it is nowadays.  Why anyone with a lick of good sense would be thrashing & bashing around in a store this week is beyond me.  I began backing away from the whole Christmas thing in the mid 80's somewhere & that included the thrashing & bashing.  Just got bashed by a maddened shopaholics grossly over loaded grocery cart one too many times I guess.  Fortunately when I met Kelly she was traveling down the same track in her life & since then we have stopped all the gift giving & Christmas card sending.  No more credit card mania & no more helter skelter running all over the place trying to please everybody.  And best of all, no more of those horribly boring company Christmas parties.  Yaaaaaaaay!!  Bah Humblebug:)) 

AND ,THIS FOLKS……….IS McNEAL, ARIZONA:))

Want to welcome our newest follower, Renee.  Hmmmmm, wonder if she is from off the coast of British Columbia somewhere.  Welcome aboard Renee & despite my above blusterings I hope you have a fine Christmas:))

Now, without further ado I'm going to back myself out of here & go hum myself a Christmas Carol...........backwards!!

View Full Album

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The only time the world beats a path to your door is if you're in the bathroom.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

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

FRIDAY…..SAME AS THURSDAY:((

 

To-day was kind of a repeat performance of yesterday so it's going to be a challenge to come up with something to blog about to-night.  Just finished emptying the cameras into Picasa so I've got a pile of photos to go through again.  I really need someone to come out here & take these camera's away from me.  I have totally swamped myself again to-day with sunsets & old farm machinery.  But, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining..........it's a very, very, enjoyable hobby:))

 

Not sure how many people out there are familiar with the, 'NEW TRIBES MISSION' but they have a very active community here in McNeal, Arizona.  This is the aviation division of New Tribes & the community is complete with aircraft, hangers, & an airfield.  They fly missionaries into remote & inaccessible locations.  Kelly's exercise instructor is part of the New Tribes family & her husband is the chief flying instructor here.  She told Kelly her husband would be delighted to give us a tour of the facility & it's different kinds of aircraft so we plan to head the short 2 miles over there one day next week for a look see.

Noticed a few days ago that Ivan is on the move again with ROADTRIP 09.  Some of you may remember his trip up the Alaska highway a few months ago about the same time WANDERING WILLY was up in that neck of the woods too.  Looks like Ivan swung through BC & Vancouver Island on his way south from Alberta this time & right now is somewhere around Barstow, California.  Not sure where he's headed but I'm guessing he's in search of warmer weather somewhere.  Aren't we all this year:((

Last night I blogged about my confusion with the Picasa photo editing program & it's upgrades.  When I opened the program to-day I somehow had the new version again.  I hope it stays this time!!!!

Google offers something called, 'Google Alerts' & we downloaded that awhile back to try & get a handle on who visits our Bayfield Bunch blogsite & how did they find it.  For the most part I don't really understand how this program works but to-day we found out we somehow landed on this FEEDJIT Double Adobe blog site.  Also landed on another site called TECHNORATI.  Nice to be picked up by other sites I guess but it's a little scary in a way too because we bloggers have little or no control where our blogs go & who picks them up for whatever reasons or uses.

Would like to thank everyone again for all the nice comments & emails that have been coming in.  Very much appreciated by the whole gang here at the Bayfield Bunch:))

Fired up the rig's generator to-day as well as the rig itself.  Occurred to me last night that we hadn't started up the motorhome since arriving at the ranch over a month ago & with these below freezing night time temps I was a little concerned about the battery.  But, no problem as it started right up, & unlike last summer I remembered to turn it off again before it ran for over 5 hours like last time!!!!  Hmmmmm, wonder if I remembered to turn off my motorcycle before heading south in October.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Why is psychoanalysis quicker for a man than than a woman?  When it's time to go back to childhood, he's already there.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

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

SEARCHING THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS FOR OLD FORT RUCKER

OFFICER'S QUARTERS AT FORT RUCKER

Our beautiful warm sunny weather continues here in southwestern Ontario & what a treat that is for everyone as we head into the finest time of the year. A month from now we should be peaking with our splendid autumn colors. Two months from now it will probably be dull, depressing, drizzly, wet, & cold, with long gray days back to back. Three months from now Christmas will be just around the corner so who cares & four months from now if you go outside without being all bundled up.......you will probably freeze up & die!! Some of you may remember this past winter that we had ourselves a cushy little 7 week ranch sitting job in southeastern Arizona. We were located in a great area rich with western history & were able to take many interesting day trips in the car. Located just a couple short miles from McNeal, Arizona we were about twenty minutes to Bisbee or 25 to Douglas. Tombstone was about half an hour & another 15 minutes took us to Sierra Vista. The Chiricahua Mountain range started about a half hour's drive to the northeast of the ranch & that's where we headed off one sunny wild west morning in search of the elusive & hard to find old Fort/Camp Rucker. BUILDING RUINS

Before we had ever heard anything of a Fort Rucker though we had taken a drive one day along a scenic winding road up into RUCKER CANYON. We told some folks later about that drive & they said, "did you find the Fort??" We were lucky to find our way back to the main road let alone a Fort but our interest was peaked at the thoughts of finding an old army camp somewhere in the Chiricahuas. Looked on the internet for information regarding Fort Rucker's location but it was vague. FRONT DOOR TO FORT RUCKER'S BAKERY

It was a couple weeks later while touring around Coronado National Memorial (OUR CORONADO BLOG) (OUR CORONADO PHOTOS) south of Sierra Vista on the Mexican border that a chance encounter with a park ranger shed some light on the exact whereabouts of old Fort Rucker. RUINS OF THE COMMISSARY WITH BAKERY BUILDING IN THE BACKGROUND

Click on this FORT RUCKER BLOG for our search in the Chiricahua Mountains & FORT RUCKER PHOTOS for our web album of pictures that day. OLD BARN IS STILL USED TO HOUSE CATTLE

Shortly we'll have us a look at the ghost towns of Gleeson, Pearce, & Fairbank.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A woman is like a tea bag......you don't know how strong she is until you put her in hot water!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

A SCENIC DRIVE THROUGH LESLIE CANYON

Holy Smackers was that sun ever hot to-day. I think we got up into the 80's somewhere. Not a lot of relief but to stay in the shade. I pulled my lounge chair around the back of the motorhome out of the sun, grabbed my binoculars, tipped my chair back, & watched the spiraling of thousands & thousands of Sand Hill cranes. With outstretched wings they soared ever higher in tightening circles. Some of the flocks had hundreds of birds in them & within the many flocks were many patterns, but no confusion. It was like a single great mind was in charge of the aerobatics as groups merged, split, flowed in & around each other. Sometimes as they made their sweeping turns the sun would catch their feathers & there would be great flashes of white in the sky. I was reminded of gliders & sailplanes I have seen winging their way skyward on ascending warm thermals on hot sunny days. Sometimes the cranes were so high I could only see them with the binoculars & at other times they looked like tiny bits of paper falling from the sky as they made their way back to earth landing just south of the ranch at the Whitewater Draw's shallow lake. THE ROAD TO LESLIE CANYON

Kelly slipped into Elfrida for a yoga class at 10:30. They have quite an active community center program & she is going again Friday morning. Eight people in the class plus the instructor & his friendly German Shepherd dog. When the class ended, the German Shepherd walked over & put a big slurpy smooch on Kelly's face. See, I told you about animals sensing good people:))By early afternoon the sun was beating us up pretty good so we jumped in the car, cranked up the A/C & headed east of McNeal for the Swisshelm Mountains. We had heard that it was a nice drive over to Leslie Canyon. Slipped over the south end of the Swisshelms on a dusty but surprisingly good dirt road into a picturesque rolling hills valley surrounded by gentle mountains. This was cattle country with fields of yellow grass stretching off in all directions to the foothills on the horizons. Some distant ranches here & there scattered about. It was a beautiful day for a drive with beautiful high nimbus clouds high overhead. It was a big Arizona sky day. RED TAILED HAWK SOARING IN THE WARM ARIZONA AIR

We headed north up the valley before heading west back to the Elfrida highway. We could see Cochise's Stronghold ahead & to our left shrouded in the blue haze of the day. We remarked that at the same time yesterday we were over there winding our way down the narrow rocky mountain path. Sore feet & all!! A VALLEY OF CATTLE

We were back to the ranch by 4 & on the job by 4:15. We had happy chickens to-day & have been restored to exalted chicken caregivers, feeders, & egg gatherers, in the eyes of His Royal Highness, Sir Rooster of Shuster. Sir Rooster resides in the pen beside his 9 lovely capons & reins supreme over his haramesque little flock of cluckers.............................................SIR ROOSTER OF SHUSTER

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/