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.

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

WEATHER'S WARMING UP....TIME TO LOSE THE HAIR!!

THE HAIRCUT

Guess the Arizona heat is re-arranging a few brain cells again. In last night's blog I thought the computer was messing up the calendar dates again. Nope, weren't the computer at all, just a little bit of my very own foggin in the noggin!!

For any night skywatchers out there you will see the moon & Venus very close to-gether to-night plus Comet Lulin is passing very close to Regulus in the constellation Leo. Better dig your binoculars out because it's not easy to see. Look for a small puff like dot of fog. Nope, you won't see a tail of sparks flying off it either. Remember the old Buck Rogers series on TV back in the 50's with the rocket ships going by & smoke & sparks coming out the back. My, my, how things have changed......for the better in some cases!!
CLEANING & RE-ORGANIZING SOME BINS THIS MORNING

We have had a few more inquiries about the paint we used for our motorhome walls. I have answered those directly but for anyone else who might be interested....The paint we used for the walls here in the motorhome is a satin finish latex. I went into Wal-Mart last year to the garden center & picked up a clay flowerpot. Took the flowerpot to the paint department & had them read it with their paint meter & that's how we came up with the adobe color.WASHROOM PAINTING IS FINALLY DONE

Jeanie & Ray, the ranch owners popped in to-day from Tucson. They had some property business to take care of over in Bisbee so slipped back to the ranch in their truck & decided to take the new jeep for a spin. Ray was needing a jeep fix for sure. Nice visit & it was good to touch base on our ranch chores. Before they left they were happy to hear that we haven't been feeding the horse's hay to the chickens or the chickens "scratch" to the donkeys. Scratch is chicken feed which comes in big bags. Needed a new bag of scratch this afternoon so carried one over from the driving shed. Saw some scratch trickling out of the bottom so knew there was a small hole in the bottom. Set the big bag of scratch in the large galvanized trash can & opened the bag. Well, it was a good thing I opened the bag & not Kelly because.......out popped a little grey mouse. Cute little fellow & up until that moment he had that whole bag of scratch all to himself. He wasn't long in skittering his way under the driving shed again. THIS LITTLE MOUSEBANANA IS ZONKED

Looks like we've got a definite warming trend going on here so figured it was probably time to get rid of some longer winter hair. Kelly tied me to a chair in the yard & went to work on my head with a scissors. Not quite a buzz cut but maybe next time. A man has to work his way up to these things you know. I actually think she got more hair out of my ears than off my head. Can you imagine that ladies.....hair growing out of your ears. Now there's a show for Oprah or an interview with Larry King!!

BEFORE & AFTER THE HAIRCUT (you can tell I'm really dragging the bottom of the barrel for pictures to-night)

The planet Venus & the moon are side by each to-night. Not too often you see a conjunction like that between those two. To-morrow we are heading up to Sunizona to meet some people with a ranch called, Paws & Hooves. They are friends of Jeanie & Ray's & have been following our blog for a few months now. I understand they've got a fair few critters up there so should be interesting. MOON & THE PLANET VENUS CONJUNCTION

Hey Sarge, we hope to drop in to see you on our way back from Sunizona to-morrow. Not sure what time though. We might have a pet horse in the back seat........................................ No photos for the web album to-night. YES I KNOW DEAR....I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE BEARD NEXT

No photos for the web album to-night........but soon:))

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