A LOOK BACK TO LAST WINTER’S ‘PAWS & HOOVES’ RANCH

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!!

Frost warning for our area to-night so old man winter's icy tentacles are beginning their first slow probing reaches into our area of southern Ontario.  Furnace has been coming on a few times & we've had our gas fireplace toasting up the cozy sunroom.  Only birds left at the feeders in the front yard now are Blue Jays, Black Cap Chic-a-Dee's & some Morning Doves.  The squirrels & chipmunks are still active & I'm still catching a few remaining frogs in the pond.

HI, MY NAME’S FRED…..DIDN’T MEAN TO SCARE YA

Kelly had most of the day off so we ran around doing a few errands in Goderich.  This afternoon she spent time working the phones getting things organized for our trip south soon.  She made arrangements for our Cable TV to be put on hold while we are away as well as our Bell Telephone account.  She is still phoning around gathering quotes for our medical coverage while in the States.  That alone will cost us over a thousand dollars.  Our ERS (emergency road service) comes up for re-newal shortly & that's another $200 gone.  She got us signed up with Ontario Hydro our electricity company so we can monitor our monthly bills on-line while away.  Hopefully this will prevent them from ripping us off again this winter.

MY NAME’S PAL & I AM THE BIG NIGHT TIME YARD BOSS!!

And what did I do to-day you ask.  Well, raked up a bunch of pine needles outside & cleaned the interior of our Hyundai Santa Fe.  Didn't want to take that Ontario dust all the way to Arizona with us.  They have enough of their own!!  The Santa Fe goes into the Bayfield Garage to-morrow morning for a tune-up & pre trip inspection & Checkers, our black & white border collie goes in for her semi-annual tune up at the local doggy groomers place in Varna called, ON GOLDEN PAWS.  The Motorhome was at the Bayfield Garage yesterday & everything checked out A-OK.  It always seems to cost us more money before we ever leave home than the whole 6 months away does.  This snowbird RV lifestyle is not for the cheap & faint hearted I can assure you!!

THESE LITTLE FELLOWS SPEAK WITH ENGLISH ACCENTS

While ranch sitting near Douglas, Arizona this past winter we were fortunate to not only see a lot of the surrounding territory but we did get to meet some mighty fine people as well.  Just east of a little place called Sunizona & just west of the mighty Chiricahua Mountains sits a small ranch by the name of, 'Paws and Hooves.'  I think this charming little place may have been the inspiration for the term, 'Animal Farm' because the Mother & Daughter team who run this wayward home for lost animals look after & care for quite a collection of critters.  In total they have a 106 legged family (give or take a few legs here & there) & one member (Fred) who doesn't have any legs at all.  Kelly & I dropped into see the Paws & Hooves gang on March 1rst of this year & you can read my blog for that day HERE & see the photos HERE.  We will be spending the American Thanksgiving in November with Rosanna & Carol at our friend's Jeanie & Ray's ranch near McNeal, Arizona.  In fact, about a month from right now we will be somewhere between here & there on our way down.  Probably closer to there though. 

AL CAN’T REMEMBER MY NAME BUT THAT’S OK…..I HEAR HE’S ONLY WEEKS AWAY FROM 65 NOW

Between phone calls this afternoon Kelly was loading more stuff in the motorhome so things are slowly coming to-gether at last but it won't be until we get down to the last week before we leave that things really get revved up & exciting.  I always like that final week before departure because the countdown is on, the rocket is fueled, checklists are complete, & the rig is waiting for the pilot, co-pilot & 3 furry crew members to board, ignition on, shift lever into gear, pedal down, & with a whir & a roar the big wagon wheels begin to roll.   "Westward Ho:))"

BRING YOUR FACE OVER HERE MISTER & I’LL PUT A BIG SLURPY ON YOUR NOSE

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

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

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

TO-DAY WE MET JC & BEV...FELLOW RV'ERS & BLOGGERS;))

JC & BEV ON THEIR 2008 HONDA GOLDWING

Weatherman said it's going to be another cooker to-day so figured we'd just hang around the ranch & try to stay cool. Kelly headed off for a Yoga class in Elfrida this morning & I continued puttering with my little garden project. Have also been busy watering trees the the past couple of days as well. They have quite an extensive irrigation system here on the ranch with lots of taps & hoses.

Jeannie phoned this morning saying another RV couple was coming down to look at the ranch sitting job plus another one in the area for this coming November in case we can't make it back here in the fall. With the economic downturn & a very unpredictible summer coming up for everyone it is a good idea for them to have some back up people in place because they are planning a 3 week cruise in November. Under normal circumstances we could have been back here for sure but with all the doom & gloom predicted in the coming months it's anybody's guess where we all be. A LAST MINUTE PICTURE

So, to-day we met fellow RV'ers & bloggers, JC & Bev. They are Escapee members & are presently camped up in Benson at the Escapee Park. They rolled in around 1:30 on a nice looking 2008 Honda Goldwing motorcycle complete with trailer. When they are traveling in their 40' Country Coach Class A Motorhome the trailer actually fits inside their towed Ford Hybrid car & the motorcycle has it's own lift & carrier right on the back of the motorhome. These folks are fulltimers & have traveled extensively including Europe. Really nice people & it was a pleasure to meet them. And of course it never ceases to amaze me once again how we already know & have met some of the people they know of. You can check out their travel website here... http://mytripjournal.com/webber I have also added them to our, "Blogs We Follow."

And now a "shout out" to any fellow RV'ers who might be interested in a ranch sitting job next November. A few days ago I did a blog on the Paws & Hooves Ranch up in Sunizona. Well those two ladies are friends with Jeannie & Ray who we are presently ranch sitting for. All 4 of them are planning a cruise for next November so Rosanne & her Mother are going to need someone very reliable to look after their critters for 3 weeks. Jeannie phoned us yesterday morning & suggested we post it in our blog because it's really RV people who are probably best suited & outfitted to do the job. Email The Bayfield Bunch at mousebanana@msn.com & we will forward your emails to Rosanne at Paws & Hooves. Rosanne & her Mother can have a look at the emails then directly email back anyone they are interested in. To have a look & find out more about the Paws & Hooves ranch just check back in our blog here a few days ago to Saturday Feb. 28/09.

Last night's DVD was called "De Lovely" staring Kevin Klein & Ashley Judd. It is a musical about the life & times of songwriter & composer, Cole Porter. Wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first but once the movie got going I enjoyed it to the end. Another movie we watched the other night was called, "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly." This is a well done movie & true story of a man in France who suffers a massive stroke & is left totally paralyzed except for his left eye. Through the help of 2 special needs nurses he learns to communicate by blinking his eye yes or no to their unique communication process. I don't care for captioned movies as a rule but this movie just draws you in right from the opening scene & we watched it right to the end.OK, HERE WE GO........HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT!!And it was one year ago to-day that we left Truth or Consequences New Mexico for our long 8 day journey home to Bayfield Ontario, Canada.

Well, it was a good thing JC & Bev showed up to-day or I wouldn't have had a single photo for the blog to-night. After all, how many chicken pictures can I put in before our readership drops below zero................:((

No photos for the web album to-night.

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