A QUIET DAY ON THE RANCH

BISBEE'S COUNTY COURTHOUSE


Didn't end up taking any photos to-day so I'm going to go with the pics I took in Bisbee yesterday. While taking some of those photos a couple of ladies walking by stopped to say hello when they noticed our Ontario license plates on the car. I asked the lady where she was from & she said Mississauga. (near Toronto Ontario) I said we were from Bayfield. Her face lit up & she said, "we own a house in Bayfield on Ducharme Street." Had we talked further I'm sure we could have come up with some mutual friends back home, but as it was the ladies husbands were somewhere up ahead of them & they had to hurry to catch up. I figure the boys were probably in a gift shop browsing around for some nice things to buy their wives. D'ya think:)) Once again though, what a small world this is.

Our temperatures are slowly warming up so the water troughs in the corral had a thinner crust of ice on them this morning but we're still dressed in our winter gear until the sun starts warming things up around 10. The usual convoy of bird watchers slowly flocked by this morning, binoculars glued to their faces while hanging out the windows of their slow moving vehicles. Curly, the local game warden guy figures some of their spotting scopes cost more than his pick-up truck. I figure Curly's right. THIS IS A TOWN OF NEVER ENDING STAIRWAYS

Worked away on a little garden project here in front of the ranch house for most of the day. What I accomplished to-day would have taken me less than a couple of hours a few years ago but for some reason the shovels & rakes are getting old & just don't seem to move as fast as they once did. My shovel gets tired more often than it once did & my garden rake seems to take more breaks. Even the little wheelbarrow here on the farm seemed a tad pooped. Luckily Ray has an ATV with a trailer & I have been using that for getting around. That ATV must be a young whipper snapper because it always wants to get right up & go like nuts so I gotta keep a tight rein on it. Aw youth, you were such a fleeting young thing when I knew you well years ago.

I'm a little behind on my DVD movie reviews. Keep in mind, these are just the views from a cranky old cursmudgeon.
"Return To Me"....David Ducovny & Minnie Driver. Forget this one guys, it's a girl's movie!!
"Woman In The Water"....This one started out not too bad, got weird, & finished up with a tacky ending!!
"The Da Vinci Code".... Tom Hanks. We turfed this one after half an hour & that was too long. I'm sure this piece of Hollywood junk has to be a major embarrassment for director Ron Howard!!
"After The Sunset"...Pierce Brosnan, Woody Harrelson. We sent this one to the trash bin in less than 10 minutes!!
Like I said.......just my opinion. Not sure what we're up to for to-morrow but next week we hope to get over to Cochise's stronghold. Geronimo's place of surrender in Skeleton Canyon has been closed to the public so we won't be going there now. Still a few small ghost towns in the area to check out. And for sure we will be going back to Bisbee a few more times............... AL'S ABSTRACT PHOTO

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BISBEE & THE UNDERGROUND QUEEN MINE TOUR

ALL SUITED UP & READY TO GO

We had to get ourselves moving a little earlier than usual this morning because we wanted to have breakfast at the Bisbee Breakfast Club before taking the Queen Mine tour at 10:30. A cloudless sky made for some heavy frost in the night but the weatherman tells us we're right on the doorstep of a healthy warming trend. That would be nice!! WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB

It was a relaxing 25 minute drive to Bisbee despite the Border Patrol helicopter flying at tree top level on Frontier road with boots on the ground beating the shrubs for rabbits wearing sombreros. The land is flat here on the valley floor but we were soon into the foothills of the Mule mountains heading for the fascinating little alpine like town of colorful Bisbee. This is a town like no other and I must say that it is probably the most interesting little place I've ever been.

INSIDE THE BBC

We found the Bisbee Breakfast Club located in a very old part of Bisbee that we had not seen before. http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/ It has one mainstreet & most of the stores are vacant. Looks like everybody just dropped everything & left one day many years ago & never came back. It's almost as if the town decided to move about a mile to the northwest on the other side of the big open pit Lavender mine where the heart of Bisbee now lives. It's nice that the Bisbee Breakfast Club is located in this 1940's section of town because that means lots of easy parking. Even so, there were a lot of cars on the street around the restaurant. We hear that people are lined up to get in on the week-ends. As soon as you walk into the BBC the open spaciousness, creative designs & warm breakfast smells make you feel at home. Didn't matter if they brought me a stone on a plate, I was still going to like it here. Breakfast was great & the staff was friendly. Be sure to have a look at to-day's web album because I even took a picture of my breakfast. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ AN OLD SECTION OF TOWN

We arrived at the Queen Mine building near an RV Park about 10 & got our tickets. $12 each. http://www.queenminetour.com/ The building is large with a big cozy fireplace in the corner. Lots of mining displays & exhibits here. About 10:20 we were all summoned up to a counter where we were outfitted with raincoats, mining helmets, and a battery pack with a light attached to it. There were about 40 people suited up for the tour. Lots of picture taking because we all looked like a bunch of yellow hard hat penguins or something. Outside the building everyone boarded a train like affair unlike any other train like affair I've ever seen. Pulled by a small orange iron engine of sorts it's 10 cars or so had to mounted much the same way as you mount a horse. You stepped up & swung a leg over a raised but cushioned board or something. Some folks raised their leg better than others, if ya know what I mean. Two ex-miners were our guide tours. The main fellow said his Grandfather & Father both worked this mine & he had worked here for 30 years before retiring in 93. ALL ABOARD FOR THE MINE TOUR

The Queen Mine goes straight into the mountain for 1500 feet unlike most other mines that would go straight down that distance. Temperature in there is about 48F at all times so we were all dressed warm. The guide might have told us his name but if he did I didn't hear him so from here on I'm going to call him Rocky. I will call his assistant, Stoner. Rocky & Stoner boarded the small orange engine & away we went bumping & rocking our way into the long dark mountain tunnel. First stop was at about the 300 foot mark where we all dis-embarked the straddling train & walked single file up a set of old wooden steps into a cavernous room. Reminded me right away of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico & the Kartchner Caverns not far from here over near Benson. However there was a big difference. Those large caverns were made by Mother Nature & this small cavern we were standing in was made by man. Good thing we were all wearing miner's lights. Rocky explained all parts of the mining operations in this cavern & how it was done. He pointed out different mineral veins running through the rocks & an air shaft. Sparkling crystals could be seen in some of the rocks. So hard to believe that early miners only had candles to work with. WE WILL GO STRAIGHT IN THERE FOR 1500 FEET

Our next stop was at the end of the tunnel at the 1500 foot mark. Here we dis-embarked & Rocky led us on foot into another side tunnel while Stoner took off with the train to some unknown dark destination to turn it around. In this section of the mine were heavy iron cars used for hauling the tons of rocks. There were old elevators & chutes for dumping the rock into the small rail cars. A red car for hauling dynamite & a red emergency phone on the rock wall in case of disaster. 3 steel rock drills were set up & Rocky explained how they were used. He called one the widowmaker because of the dust it created which in turn entered the operators lungs, thus shortening his life. He also demonstrated how dynamite was packed into the drilled holes & how the fuses were all lit to set the dynamite off in a series of timed explosions. From the time the fuses were lit, the dynamite guy had a short 8 minutes to get himself over to the other side of Texas. Of particular interest was another steel car sitting nearby with two curious opened lids & two round holes on the top. Well wouldn't you know it......this was the miners toilet. A true dumper so to speak. Rocky said when this car was full it was pulled out of the mine by a "honey wagon" person & pumped out. Not a nice job in them days for sure!!!! THE MINER'S TOILET CAR

By the time we returned up the shaft, Stoner was back with the train. Everyone straddled up & away we went heading back for the outside world. Yes, yes, some people straddle better than others. We emerged about 5 minutes later out of the cooler dark mineshaft into the much warmer & brighter light of day. From there it was back into the miners building where everyone was helped out of their mining gear. All & all, it was a great tour & we enjoyed the hour long underground learning experience. ROCKY DEMONSTRATES THE LIGHTING OF DYNAMITE FUSES

From the mine we drove across the road & into the downtown section of Bisbee. We spent the next hour & a half walking & driving up & down & around the town trying to take in as much of this Bisbee experience as we could. For anyone interested in architecture, painting, photography, etc., this town is a must see for sure. Seems to be something here for everybody, especially if you are an arts type person. To see how the houses are built into & onto the hillsides is something else. The narrow little winding streets, the squeeze through alleys, and never ending stairways reaching for the sky just have to be seen to be appreciated. Multi-colored restored miners cabins, magnificent stone & brick buildings, stately Hotels, cozy bed & breakfast cottages, artsy cafe's, quaint shops, miner's museums, & the list just goes on & on & on. We even saw daffodils & pansies blooming to-day. I took another ka-zillion million pictures but I'm not going to include them in to-day's web album. Instead I will make up a separate web album with to-day's Bisbee pics & the one's from last week & put them all to-gether. I'm sure we'll be back to Bisbee a few more times before we depart the area next month & I will include future photos in one big Bisbee album so that they are all to-gether. I will start putting that album to-gether to-morrow. NO MAME YOU CAN'T KEEP THE MINER'S HELMET

We rolled out of Bisbee around 2 heading for the rig. Noticed a "For Sale" sign on a nice looking but abandoned ranch style house on the way back. Just for fun Kelly called the real estate number & got a recording. It said, "I'm up to my butt in alligators to-day but if you leave a message I'll call you back." She didn't leave a message but yep, we're out here in the old wild west alright where cowboys is cowboys & gators is gators. Butt grabbin gators that is...........................................................

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DOUGLAS ARIZONA'S HOTEL GADSDEN

Another fine Arizona morning. Any morning is fine if the wind isn't trying to rip your skin off as soon as you step out of the door. Kelly forgot to turn off her Deerpark Lodge work phone off last night so at 4 a.m. I was jolted out of bed by a wrong number. Not nice!!!! Did a clean up around the corral this morning & spent some time schmoozing with the animals. Found out chickens don't like to schmooz. Noticed cars stopped out on the road again & 3 people were out with large spotting scopes looking across the field. Figured they were probably birdwatchers looking for the rare & elusive Abyssinia Asscratcher that was reportedly sighted in a grove of Pecan Pie trees back in the summer of 1836 by a wandering band of Chiricahua Apaches on their way to the Bisbee Breakfast Club in nearby Bisbee. Needed a few groceries so headed off to Douglas around noon. We had heard about the lobby & grand staircase in the Hotel Gadsden so decided to head there for a look see. Also heard there was a large glass light dome in the local police station which originally was the Douglas train station so we stopped there first for a picture. The Gadsden Hotel is by far the largest hotel in this sleepy little border town of Douglas. A big blocky looking building gives no clue to the grand lobby & staircase inside. It reminded me immediately of the swanky-do lobbies I have seen in many Las Vegas Hotels. Big & grandiose with a sweeping marble staircase leading to a wrap around mezzanine deck 20 feet above the spacious lobby below. Right away I thought, what a great place to drop water balloons on people below. It is reported that the notorious Pancho Villa road his horse through the Hotels main doors into the lobby & right up that marble staircase. Yes, there is a lot of history here.....and a lot of ghosts too. Check the website. http://www.hotelgadsden.com/ Be sure to check our web album to-day for pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ From the Gadsden we headed over to another great American icon.....Wal-Mart. Cruised around picking up some groceries & just doing some general browsing. I think we were probably the only 2 English speaking people in the whole store. This is a border town & I think most of the other side of the border makes Douglas their home. A bonafide white American person would have a pretty tough time finding any kind of employment here. We were back to the ranch by 3 & on the job by 4. Only 2 eggs to-day so it's going to be a pretty skinny omelet to share in the morning. We're going to have to figure out some kind of stimulus package for those chickens. Some kind of incentive program. Maybe more feed for more eggs. How about for every egg laid we offer a free chicken massage. Maybe the promise of an exotic cruise in the south China sea aboard the SS Henrietta would bring the girls around. Well, whatever!! Guess we can always buy some eggs if we have to but it just ain't the same as when you grows em yerself....................................
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LAND OF STANDING ROCKS....THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

A WESTWARD VIEW FROM MASSAI POINT

Knee was feeling a bit better this morning so I was optimistic we could head out to do a little sightseeing to-day. Jeanie had recommended the Chiricahua National Monument as a good day trip so after clearing the idea with Big Chief Little Boss I threw the cameras into the car & we headed off to the place the Apache Indians called, Land of Standing Rocks. EASY TO SEE WHY THE APACHE INDIANS CALLED THIS, LAND OF STANDING ROCKS

Beautiful sunny morning as we headed north up the Sulphur Springs Valley. Scenic mountains on both sides reminded me once again how fortunate we are to be where we are. The thought also occurred to me that I was probably born in the wrong place 64 years ago. This land of mountains & deserts feels more like home to me than home does. HARRIS MOUNTAIN....SCENE OF AN APACHE MASSACRE

Took us a little more than an hour to reach the main gate of the Chiricahua National Monument at the foot of the legendary Chiricahua mountain range. (Chiricahua is pronounced...Chair-a-cowa)
http://www.nps.gov/chir/
http://www.desertusa.com/chi/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiricahua_National_Monument
The flatter valley scenery immediately began to change as we began the 8 mile climb on Bonita Canyon Drive to Massai Point at the summit. Oak, Pine, & Cypress trees lined the winding road. A stop at the visitor center along the way netted us a National Audubon Southwestern Field Guide. Next stop was a look at a campground in Bonita Canyon. No trailers over 26 feet & no RV's over 29 feet in this cozy little tree clustered campground though. It's open year round & has 24 sites. Continuing upwards we could see why the Apache Indians called this place, Land of Standing Rocks. Tall massive columns of rocks were visible through the trees towering hundreds of feet into the air on both sides of the roads. The rocks took on many shapes challenging the imagination as we climbed higher through Fir, Sycamore, & Juniper trees. A stop at Echo Canyon quickly had us scrambling into our coats. We were at the snow line at 6,780 feet & the warm temperatures of the valley floor had given way to a driving & frigid wind. My hat blew off 3 times in a row before I got myself smartened up & hooked it on my belt. A short walk along a snowy patch of trail for some pictures & then it was back into the warm car. The views from here were beautiful. Just up the road was the Sugarloaf Mountain view & trailhead at 6,840 feet. More pictures, more wind, & more cold temperatures. But, totally magnificent views. We could see clear across the valley to the Dragoon mountains to the west & Cochise's stronghold there. We'll be doing a day trip to that stronghold sometime in the next week or so. A short drive took us up the final half mile to the summit at Massai Point. We were now at the 6,870 foot level & the wind up here was doing every thing possible to blow us right off the top of the mountain & back out across the Sulphur Spring Valley about 10 miles to the west. Just taking photos in this wind presented some stability problems along the trail as the wind could suddenly whip through narrow rock openings & buffet an unsuspecting hiker. What a beautiful place this Chiricahua Monument is & what a beautiful land this is. And we've only seen a mere fraction of it. Just so much to see & do & so little time left to see & do it all.

We left the summit around 1:25 & headed back down to the mouth of Bonita Canyon where the Faraway Ranch is located. We knew a tour of the ranch house started at 2 & didn't want to miss it. There is quite a family history here. A workamping couple led the tour of the house for about 10 of us who had gathered there. This is a link to the Faraway Ranch http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/FarawayRanch.html It is also well worth noting that it was the Civilian Conservation Corp who constructed all the roads & trails in this National Park as well.

HARRIS RANCH HOUSE & GROUNDS

After stopping at the gravesites of the Faraway Ranch's Erickson's, we headed back down the valley to the ranch & our rig. We had lots of wagging tails when we got back. All & all, it was a great day & it just felt good to be out seeing something we had never seen before & doing something we both enjoy so much.................
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MEGAPIXELS SCHMEGAPIXELS

Turned out to be another quiet day around the ranch. Just as well because the wind gusts were so bad to-day they blew all the feathers right off the chickens. Kelly had to quickly knit up some tiny sweaters for the girls. Right knee is still sore so tried to give it another day of rest. The key word there was....tried!! Had hoped to get out & do a little sightseeing to-day. Maybe to-morrow. Realized late this afternoon that I hadn't taken any photos to-day so grabbed the camera & took a quick picture of our happy face garbage can sitting beside me on the floor. A herd of Cranes went by so I hammered out a few fast photos of them as well. Thanks birds. Spent some time looking at my camera manuals to-day. I'm not very technically minded & my short term memory embarrasses me when people sometimes ask me about my cameras. I know two of them are Nikons & my smaller one is a Canon. Nikon D-40 & D-50. The Canon is an A720iS & I just had to go get the Canon to tell me that. A fellow asked awhile back what millimeter lens I was using. I couldn't remember so had to tip the camera back & look down the barrel. Megapixels is a common question. Nope, can't ever remember that one either. Maybe I should get all this info tattooed on the back of my hand. How about ISO settings?? What!! Image quality settings?? Who!! Do you prefer shutter priority over aperture in low light?? I prefer ice cream with my apple pie, thank you very much!! Do you bracket your photos?? No, I hang them up on a clothes line to dry!! Does your Canon have image stabilization. No, it has me....why would it need image stabilization!! Geeeezzzzz, questions, questions, questions!! I just point the camera in the general direction of something I see, press the button & hope I hit something. Sometimes I do & sometimes I don't. So, ask me something technical about my cameras & as often as not, I'm gonna end up feeling dumb because I probably don't have the answer for ya. Hope some of you animal folks out there caught the PBS special last night entitled, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. I'm sure it will be on again so keep an eye out for it or if you go to Rene & Jim's website there is a link to view it on-line. http://www.liveworkdream.com/
Rene & Jim dropped into the Ranch a couple of days ago & spent the night before moving on to New Mexico & Texas. First time we had met them but had been in touch via emails for nearly a year. They lost their dog, Jerry, to cancer this year & I could sense the loss is still very much a part of them. I especially felt it watching Jim interact with our dogs here at the ranch. It was a sense of love.....and loss. Sometimes with our Bayfield Bunch name there is a little mis-conception. Bayfield isn't our last name, it's the picturesque little village we come from on the shores of Lake Huron in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The Bayfield part is the town & the Bunch part is us. Kelly, myself & our 3 super precious dogs, Max, Checkers, & Cora. (Motormouse) I took some photos around our little village last August. You will see that Bayfield is a very unique place:))
http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/gallery/5845016_7pESE#362675509_zZfh9 No idea what we are up to to-morrow but I'm kind of hoping we'll be able to go somewhere we've never been & see something we've never seen. SURE WISHED I HAD ME A BETTER BIRD LENS.....OR A GOOD SET OF WINGS THAT I COULD FLY UP CLOSER TO THEM

Oh, & by the way, if you happen to see me out somewhere flopping around with my cameras, please don't ask me what kind of a camera I'm using because I'll probably have to stop & turn the camera around to read the name. Now, that is embarrassing!!!!!!!!

No photos for the web album to-day.

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A TIME FOR MUSIC, A TIME FOR MEMORIES

SUNRISE OVER THE SWISSHELM MOUNTAINS


It was a cloudy & quiet Sunday on the ranch to-day. One of those rare days when it was necessary to kind of just sit & do nothing. Time to heal some minor sprains, strains, & tired old brains. It was a good day for reflection too. And it was a good day for music & old memories.

I have a habit of leaving the same station on the satellite radio all the time & earlier this morning while puttering around outside, Kelly decided to switch channels & put on some good old 60's music. It's been awhile since I've taken the time to listen to an age of music that was so influential to so many people. I am a person who loves music & has grown up surrounded by it for most of my life. I was born in 1944 right into the big band era. What a great beginning it was & what a great age for music. The 40's gave way to the be-boppin 50's & the great music machine just kept right on a rockin & rollin right through to the late 80's & early 90's. It was an era of music like no other, & we are not likely to ever see that wide range of superb talent, creativity, & simply feeling good music ever happen again.......ever!! The great music has truly died.

SAND HILL CRANES FILING THROUGH THE SUNRISE

To-day as I put my head back & relaxed in my chair I let the 60's music take me back to a decade of tumultuous changes, a time of good & a time of bad. A time of happy & a time of sad. The 60's meant The Beatles , The Stones, The Beach Boys. Memories of friends who are gone now. Special friends, best friends, girlfriends. With each song on the radio to-day came faint whispers out of the mists so long ago. Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Duane Eddy. The many cars, the many jobs, & the many moves. The relationships & break-ups. It was a decade of excitement, & unlike to-day, the music was the driving force for a generation of us trying to catch onto the coat tails of something moving so fast, none of us understood which way it was moving in the first place. Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves. It was a time of growing up, making mistakes, & occasionally getting something right. The music was happier, people were kinder, cars went slower. AND ANOTHER DAY BEGINS IN THE MULE MOUNTAINS

Songs on the radio to-day like Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkel & Spooky by the Classics 4 take me back to a time I lived in Toronto for a short time. Johnny Rivers, The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison. Jimi Hendrix, The Moody Blues, & Santana take me to a another place & another time, & another relationship. "What A Day for a Daydream" by the Lovin Spoonful take me back to my Navy days & "The Mountains High" by Dick & Deedee take me even further back to my high school days. And so it goes as the tunes pour out of the radio. Another car, another job, another town, another era. Another set of memories to file away in the recesses of the mind. SUNRISE ON THE RANCH

Best friends have come & gone. The Bob Dylans are gone. Best high school buddies have long been lost over the years and in the RV world, new friends become memories before you even get to know their last names. Sing to me, Stevie Wonder, Dianna Ross, & Ray Charles. Memories flood in & fill me with many regrets, a few chuckles, some embarrassment, & an overall sadness. There is no turning the clock back at this stage. To late to make the apologies, to soon to make the promises, & just to crazy to say the hell with it all & let the Troggs sing "Wild Thing" one more time . And the songs keep coming. Crystal Blue Persuasion, Wolverton Mountain, Sea of Heartbreak, All Along the Watchtower, Dock of the Bay, A Whiter Shade of Pale, House of the Rising Sun, The Sounds of Silence, Honky Tonk Man, California Dreamin, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Yesterday, El Paso, & Skeeter Davis singing, The End of the World.

And the end of the world it is for the decade of wondrous music, imagination & timeless energy. The days of feeling alive & being inspired by the music are gone & there is no new music out there good enough or great enough to take it's place. But, all is not lost. We have our memories. Sing "Crazy" to me Patsy Cline, play "Black Magic Woman" for me Santana, & "Light My Fire" Jim Morrison........................... No photos for the web album to-day.

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TO-DAY WE RAMBLED AROUND IN THE GHOST TOWN OF GLEESON ARIZONA

GLEESON'S SALOON WHERE TOMBSTONE'S JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN ALIVE

I think it had to be one of the coldest nights we've had so far. Left a hose nozzle & sponge in a bucket overnight by mistake & this morning they were froze solid in the ice. Strangely enough the plastic nozzle didn't break & has survived to squirt another day. Cloudy to-night so maybe we'll get a little break from the frosty temperatures.

Rene & Jim rolled out this morning around 9 a.m. headed for New Mexico & Texas. They are booked into an RV park to-morrow somewhere near the Arizona & New Mexico border. They don't travel with a television in their rig so they wanted to be at the park to watch their appearance on television Sunday night Feb. 15th. The program will air on PBS & is called, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. Their dog Jerry, who they lost to cancer last year will be part of that show. Rene & Jim's website is http://www.liveworkdream.com/

INSIDE THE CRUMBLING SALOON

We had some DVD's to take back to the Elfrida Library this morning so we figured we would do that & head out northwest of Elfrida to the old mining & ghost town of Gleeson. It's one of those places that you could drive through & never know it was there if you weren't specifically looking for it. Spotted a few old tumbledown houses first & then the cemetery. No ghost town is complete without it's past inhabitants buried somewhere near by. The cemetery is on a slight hill at Gleeson's west end & overlooks what was once a bustling mining town of 500 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleeson,_Arizona
The cemetery is mainly overgrown now but part of it is still being used. Small piles of rocks mark some of the gravesites while others have old iron gates surrounding them. The weather has worn names off some stones while some have crumbled into the dust. I'm sure there are many more people buried here than time remembers.

GLEESON'S CEMETERY

From the cemetery we stopped at the ruins of an old house where I took more photos. If only those old crumbling walls could talk. We saw a long white building on the north side of the road with some people standing behind it so headed over that way. It was a Jeep tour guide giving a couple of people a driving tour of the area. He was very friendly & gave us some history on Gleeson. Not sure if the gun & holster he was wearing was real or just a prop. We don't see things like that in Canada!! The long white & deteriorating building we were standing beside was once Gleeson's lively saloon. It was here that Tombstone's Johnny Ringo was last seen alive.
The building is locked up because it is crumbling & not safe to enter but we did find a small space in a front window that I was able to get my camera up against & take some photos of the interior. It wasn't until we got home & I could look at the photos that we knew what the inside looked like. Appears to have been a stage at the far end & there is a large mural clearly visible on the north wall. I'm sure this was probably a very lively & rowdy old west place in it's heyday. Afterall, it was a mining town. Part of the roof has caved in & I think the building is beyond repair which seems too bad because I'm sure it probably has some historical significance to the late 1800's. I did manage to scramble my way through the brush & have a peek into the rear of the basement but it was pretty deteriorated in there with parts of the floor coming down. If there are such things as ghosts, I think this old crumbling saloon probably has it's fair share of them.

ONLY THIS OLD JAIL HAS BEEN RESTORED

From the saloon we went a short distance up the road to the old jail which is in the process of being restored by a private party. Managed to take a few pictures of the interior through a small window in the door. All these photos I'm mentioning will be in to-days web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ Across the road & up a bit is the ruins of a large building that once housed Gleeson's school in the basement & a large dance hall upstairs. This was a very solidly built building with a lot of concrete in it. Probably the center of a lot of Saturday night dances years ago. One can only imagine the outcome of those nights where guns & alcohol to-gether were commonplace. FORMER SCHOOL & DANCE HALL

Our last stop before leaving Gleeson was the old adobe ruins of the hospital. Just some sections of walls standing with long gaunt windows in them. Couldn't help but think of all the pain & suffering that must have taken place inside these walls many years ago. There appeared to be a large round well on the south side of the hospital as well. In the distance I could see where the mining operations had taken place & wondered how many mine accident victims would have been brought down out of those hills by cart or horseback to this very hospital. GLEESON'S HOSPITAL

It is so hard to comprehend how people lived & died years ago in these small mining towns scattered throughout the southwest. But, at least some of that history is still here for people to see if they are interested. And it is what's left of these small towns that is the true history of the west. A lot of people come to see Tombstone Arizona thinking that is the original old west but Tombstone has become so commercialized that it is nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction there. If there is any originality left, it is lost in all the glitz & Hollywood glamour. If you want to see the true old west as it once was you have to get out & hunt down these little ghost towns scattered over the desert sands. But, be prepared to be disappointed if your expecting to see what you have so long been watching in Hollywood movies. You will come face to face with the reality of time & it's effects on man's history. So, bottom line......if you want to see a Hollywood ghost town, go to Tombstone. If you want to see the real McCoys, get your driving map out, get your hiking boots on & search out places like, Gleeson, Pearce, Fairbanks, Charleston, Millville, & countless others in this area. Last year in New Mexico we found places like Chloride & Hillsboro just to mention a couple. In California last December it was the mining town of Tumco.
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We were back to the ranch by 1 & spent the rest of the afternoon resting up from our ghost town venture in the morning. Next week we'll go have us a look at what's left of the town of Pearce. More old ruins, more old cemeteries & more old ghosts.......................

THEY SAY THERE ARE MANY GHOSTS HERE

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TO-DAY WE MET RENE & JIM.....FROM, LIVEWORKDREAM.COM

VISITING WITH JIM & RENE

Heavy frost on the car this morning as we started our first full day by ourselves on the ranch. Morning chores went off without a hitch & it was nice to see all 5 dogs running around playing. Even Gleason the shy one was bouncing around me like a little puppy dog. It always gives me a warm feeling to be accepted........especially by animals:))

Worked away on a little garden project before lunch over at the house & it felt good to be on the end of my old shovel & rake again. I have always found gardening very relaxing & a great way to get some good old exercise & dirt under the fingernails. While I was working away I became aware of cars going by slowly out on the road. At one point 5 vehicles were stopped out in front of the driveway. Wasn't sure what they were looking at but Jeanie had said sometimes people stop to look at the donkeys.....but the donkeys were out of sight back behind the hay barn. I still don't know what they were all looking at but I did walk over to the rig & trade my baseball hat for my cowboy hat. Figured maybe they were all from back east somewhere & wanted to see a western ranch & if that was the case, they would get a bigger bang for their buck if they could see a real live person with a cowboy hat on. Well, that's how I figured it anyway. ME & BANSHI ARE BIG PALS NOW

SHE LIKES WHEN I TICKLE HER NOSE WITH MY BEARD

Yesterday we received an email from fellow RV blog travelers Rene & Jim. http://www.liveworkdream.com/. We had corresponded with Rene & Jim over the past year ever since they had met Kelly's sister & husband, Becky & Norm, over in Truth or Consequences New Mexico at the Riverbend Hot Springs Spa. Rene & Jim are on their way from California over to Rodeo New Mexico & Terilingua Texas to have a look at some property. Because we have 3 dogs & are animal lovers, we were first attracted to Rene & Jim's site because of their 3 legged dog Jerry. Jerry had lost his leg to cancer & unfortunately he later lost his life to the same disease last year. This coming Sunday night Feb 15th, Rene, Jim, & Jerry are going to be on the PBS channel in a show entitled, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. The show will be on at different times across the country so check your local listings for the correct time. RENE & I HAD A SHOOT OUT WITH OUR DUELING CANONS

Rene & Jim are here at the ranch to-night. They had spent last night in a noisy parking lot area in Benson so we suggested they slip down to the ranch for the night. Ray had put in two extra RV sites here so there were extra RV hook-ups. Kelly phoned Jeanie this morning to OK the deal & Jeanie being a true animal lover herself said yes, by all means, have them come & stay. So, this afternoon we met Rene & Jim. It's not often in this lifestyle that we meet people younger than ourselves but Rene & Jim are two vibrant younger people full of life with a zest & zeal for adventure. They are fulltimers & have been on the road for about a year & a half working here & there & enjoying life. Check out their website. http://www.liveworkdream.com/. These are two very genuinely nice people with many interests. They came with us on our chores this afternoon & we all later got to-gether for supper in our rig. Chatted away until well after sundown. We have met so many really nice people in our travels & we're happy to say that to-day we have just met two more.................................

KELLY'S CONDUCTING A RANCH TOUR

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