TO-DAY WE MET 2 INCREDIBLE PEOPLE & THEIR 106 LEGGED FAMILY

ROSANNA & HER BEST PAL & MOM, CAROL

On our journey through life we occasionally meet some fascinating people along the way who turn out to be true kindred spirits. And so it was this morning as we met 2 big horses, 3 mini horses, 4 curious goats, 3 inquisitive sheep, 5 exuberant dogs, 9 passive cats, 1 large feathered & sometimes noisy blue/gold McCaw, a rather handsome & lengthy King snake, & of course 2 wonderful spring chickens named Carol & Rosanna. Actually, Carol & Rosanna are the human Mother & Daughter side of the Paws & Hooves ranch near Sunizona, Arizona. And yes, definitely spring chickens.
MMMMMM, I LOVE MY OATS

Can't exactly remember how we first came across the Paws & Hooves ranch but I'm thinking it was probably from an RV website or fellow bloggers about 4 months ago. A chance encounter with fellow RV'ers Doug & Joanne http://www.mytripjournal.com/ourdream in Yuma last December brought the P&H ranch to the forefront as Doug & Joanne were good friends of Carol & Rosanna. That meeting in Yuma also directly led us to our ranch sitting job here near McNeal Arizona where we met Jeannie & Ray who of course were very good friends of the P&H ranch as well. We soon began emailing back & forth with Rosanna & that eventually led to our visit to-day. And, another chance meeting on the internet with a lady in Wisconsin turned out to be Rosanna's sister, Donna. Yes, I know this is all a bit complicated & I'm not even sure if I have it all straight but I it never ceases to amaze me how a lot of scattered & random RV people are all interconnected somehow. It's a very small world out here on the road indeed.
MY NAME'S PAL & I'M THE BIG NUMBER ONE YARD BOSS AROUND HERE!!


Everyone we met spoke highly of Carol & Rosanna & without exception everyone said the same thing..."you just have to meet Carol & Rosanna, they are the best people ever!!" And so this morning we took a drive up to Sunizona & the Paws & Hooves ranch to meet the ladies. Carol is Rosanne's Mother & at 85 she truly is a spring chicken. They are genuine animal lovers & all the critters on their ranch have been rescued from bad situations at one time or another. These are dedicated people & look after all the critters on a daily basis. And they care for these animals with all the love you could ever imagine. SO, YOU NEVER SEEN AN ALIEN BEFORE??

We first met Fred the King snake. A rather lengthy fellow residing in a large glass case in the living room. Fred was just in the early days of waking up from his winter's hibernation. A rather handsome fellow as he slowly moved about in his environment looking for a snack. An ear piercing screech brought our attention around to a large blue & gold McCaw sitting in a big cage near a window. His name was Chile & I think he figured we were paying too much attention to Fred. All this time little Tooti the wee dog was dancing around us nervously barking. I'm sure she considered us intruders. I can't remember all the cats names but some were sleeping & some welcomed us with open paws. Wow, this was just our kind of place.
MY NAME'S FRED....WHAT'S YOURS


Outside we met 3 mini horses, & what sweet little fellows they were as they nuzzled up to the fence for a pat on the nose. All the critters on the ranch have names but being on the north side of 60 now, my memory didn't retain them all. The goats & sheep kept their distance but they followed us everywhere with those slotted & mysterious alien eyes. All the while in the barnyard we were accompanied by a large friendly dog who's name was Pal. He is the official yard boss. Next was 2 large horses with one being an Appaloosa. Rosanna fed them & it was funny to see them toss the loose hay on the ground to get at the oat kernels in the bottom of the feeder. Carol was busy topping up the water tanks.
THE ANIMALS ON THE FARM COME FROM RESCUE CENTERS


In the large front yard 3 big friendly dogs just about bust the fence down trying to get our attention. These guys were really hyped for our affection so Rosanna opened the gate & turned em loose. We were nearly bowled over with frantically wagging tails, large jumping paws, & big slurpy smooches. These guys were wired & I loved it. Dogs are my all time favs. Dogs I can bond with.....we have a lot in common:)) GET OVER HERE MISTER & I'LL PUT A SLURPY ON YA


And what is it that holds this magical animal farm to-gether? Well, "you just have to meet Carol & Rosanna, they are the best people ever." You have to see the love that comes from these two to-wards their animal family. They are dedicated hard workers. At one point I saw Carol carrying a long iron fence post across the yard. Did I mention Carol is 85:)) They told us about the diamond back rattlesnake they had living in their shed for awhile. They let it be & it let them be after Rosanne had a talk with it. The snake lived there until the local vet moved it for them while out at the ranch on a call. Rosanna is an avid & serious hiker having done the Grand Canyon twice, top to bottom. And rafted down the Colorado River through the canyon as well. She has hiked trails in Europe & is out once a week on long hikes in the nearby Dragoon & Chiricahua mountains. In the gloom & doom of our worldly times the personalities of these 2 ladies is like a big breath of fresh air, a warming ray of sunshine, or just a great big glass of feeling good. It was truly an honor for us to meet the whole warm hearted 110 legged Paws & Hooves crew to-day. And one with no legs.........see, I didn't forget ya Fred.........................ssssssssssssssss:))


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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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WE GOT US SOME NIGHT WALKERS!!!!

PLANET VENUS & THE CRESCENT MOON TO-NIGHT

Well, I'm really stuck for something to blog about to-night. Haven't even come up with any photos yet & it's getting dark. I can hear the neighbor's dog barking so that suggests we are probably going to have another noisy night. My theory is that this warmer weather has brought out.....the night walkers. The Border Patrol refers to the illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico as "walkers." Last night the dogs once again heard the walkers, & so did I.

We are only about 20 miles from the Mexican border here at the ranch & between two mountain ranges which makes this flat valley a natural walk way north for people heading for Tucson or Phoenix from around the Douglas area. We have also found out a popular pick up point is a mere 2 or 3 hundred yards down the road from us here. We sometimes see slow moving vehicles in the dark. Earlier last night Kelly saw a flashlight beam in that area. The ranch dogs Gleason & Pearce plus the neighbor's dog started running & barking around 10. This went on for awhile so I quietly slipped outside & walked up along the fence line to the road. Both dogs were focused on a spot just south of the gate but I couldn't see anything. However, I heard the footsteps. Someone was walking down the road & it wasn't a neighbor out for a leisurely stroll. Because of the warmer night temperatures & basically moonless nights right now, I figure there are probably a lot of walkers out there these nights in the desert making their way north. The dogs have really been barking up a storm for about the last 4 nights. A neighbor said there are also a lot of deer in the area that make the dogs bark as well. And, there are coyotes nearby because we hear them at night all to well. I think the coyotes just come up to the fence & make stupid faces at the dogs just to rile them up. So far all is quiet to-night but we'll see how it goes as the night wares on. MY LAST MINUTE ROOSTING CHICKENS PICTURE

Heard the chickens making a ruckus earlier so went over with my camera in case there was a wily coyote making faces at them from the fence line or something. No coyote but I did flash off some chicken pictures in the dark. The girls were all roosting. Haven't downloaded the pics yet but I'll have to go with whatever I got because it's the only photos I took to-day.

It was another warm day up in the 80's but we had a big wind come in around noon & stayed until about 6. That was a big relief from the heat. Kelly wanted to do some browsing & shopping in Bisbee so she headed off over there about mid morning. I do not do browse & shop!!!! Didn't take me long to crank up the tunes & grab my little can of paint. Before you could say likity split I had my brush & paint roller in action on the last remaining bathroom wall. Same adobe color as the rest of the joint. Figured RV's are too small for coming up with different colors for each room so we've stuck to our adobe color throughout. This completes the interior painting now but I do have enough paint left over to maybe paint the bottom of the car or something. Hate to waste paint you know & whatever happened to two toned cars anyway:))

I MAY HAVE EVEN WOKE UP SIR ROOSTER OF SHUSTER

Looks like this computer is messing up the dates again for some reason!! This is Wednesday, not Thursday!!!!

Kelly's off to a yoga class in the morning so I'll have to figure out what trouble I can get myself into for an hour & a half. Say, maybe Jeanie & Ray would like the bottom half of their brand new Jeep Wrangler Sahara painted a nice adobe color. Hmmmmmm, now there's a thought.............................................:))

No photos for the web album to-night.

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WISHED WE COULD SEND SOME OF THIS HOT WEATHER TO CANADA RIGHT NOW

Well, we wanted hot....now we got hot!! I'm already seeing some other bloggers succumbing to the heat & pining for those good old cooler northern winter days. "Give me some ice, give me some snow, let the winds come, let the winds blow." Well, fellow bloggers..........ya gotta be nuts!!I'M THE BIG HORSE BOSS AROUND HERE & DON'T YOU FORGET IT

Aside from cleaning some outside windows on the rig this morning it's been a quiet day. We were low on come grocery items so headed off for the Safeway store in Bisbee. That part of Bisbee used to be called San Jose years ago & is actually a few miles west of downtown Bisbee but I think that whole area is now referred to as Bisbee. Stopped at Jimmy's Hot Dog Company for some eats before the grocery store Someone once said it's better to grocery shop on a full stomach so that was our logic this morning. It worked because we didn't come home with the usual 25 cases of Oreo cookies.

It's 4 P.M. right now, the side door of the rig is open, we've got 2 fans rolling & the thermometer in front of the computer says it's 89F inside the rig. The ranch house is waaaaay cooler so earlier this afternoon we went inside & watched a DVD. We stopped in Elfrida yesterday to drop off some books & the Librarian recommended a good DVD movie so we brought it back & that is the movie we watched about an hour ago. This movie was unlike any other movie I've seen. It's a very powerful thought provoking movie, guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat & guaranteed to remain in my memory from this day forth. The movie is called, Wit. Mike Nichols directs & Emma Thompson plays a woman diagnosed with a devastating illness. My Dad died of cancer years ago & I saw some comparisons. My Mother passed away a few years ago as well & again I felt comparisons. A very touching movie. Emma Thompson's superb performance deserves an award. Movie is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Margaret Edson.

Some folks have been having difficulty enlarging the photos in the blog so I'm going to try uploading two other sizes & see if that works. First pic will be the usual larger size. Next one will be medium & the following pics will be the smallest size. Would appreciate knowing if that works.
This is a pretty nice set up we've got here. Kelly is able to watch her night time television shows in the ranch house on the big screen cable TV & I'm able to sit out here in the rig listening to my tunes while working on the blog. If I didn't have this blog to do I'd probably go bonkers because we only have one TV station in the rig & the night time programming is total garbage. (NBC)

So, on that positive note I'll wrap this up & send it off into cyberspace somewhere. Careful, it just might land somewhere very close to where your sitting..........................................

No photos for the web album to-day.

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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

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MONDAY FEB. 23/09 HIKING TO THE COCHISE STRONGHOLD

It was so nice to finally not have a freezing cold night & I'm thinking it may have been our mildest night since leaving Ontario back in mid November. Didn't even have to run our Blue Flame propane heater. And, to-night is going to be even warmer. Just came in from looking at Comet Lulin again & I hardly needed a jacket. AN ABANDONED RANCH WITH THE COCHISE STRONGHOLD IN THE BACKGROUND RIGHT

Bit of a cloud cover when we got up this morning so figured it might be a good day to head for the Cochise Stronghold about an hour's drive north of here. http://www.cochisestronghold.com/ Weatherman said it was going to be a very warm one (a record breaking 91F in Tucson to-day) so a bit of cloud cover was probably good. Kelly made up some peanut butter sandwiches & popped some bottled water & orange juice into a back pack & we were off about 9:30. A totally beautiful morning as we headed into the little town of Sunsites & made a left turn on Ironwood Road. We could see the Dragoon Mountain Range ahead of us & Cochise's Stronghold was plainly visible with it's large rock mountain called Rockfellow dome. The mid morning sun played across the rugged looking mountains casting shadows into deep canyons & highlighting the tall jagged peaks. It gave one the feeling of a very mystic & mysterious place. The paved road soon turned to dirt & gravel becoming a bit washboardy. Stopped at an abandoned ranch for some pictures. It was one of those kinds of places you just wanted to sign on the dotted line & move right in the next day.

CHECKING THE TRAIL MAP

At the end of Ironwood Road is the Cochise Stronghold Campground. Not for large RV rigs but you can get in there with small trailers & truck campers. http://www.hikercentral.com/campgrounds/114051.html
It's a cozy little campground with a lot of trees & the trailhead for the 3 hiking trails are right there. We decided on the longest trail which leads up into the mountains for 3 miles to the summit divide. When you reach the divide you can also begin a descent on the west side of the mountain range. Our goal was to reach the summit & then return the same way back to our car, all on the east side of the mountains. And, that is what we did.
IT'S A 6 MILE ROUND TRIP ON A ROCKY TRAIL

Right from the parking lot the trail begins it's ascent & it's a continuous climb for the next 3 miles. In hindsight, we should have taken more water & less camera gear, binoculars, etc. By the time we got back down the mountain 5 hours later all that gear seemed to have doubled in weight somehow. This is a beautiful area with an abundance of greenery everywhere. We were especially taken with the early flowering Pointleaf Manzanita bushes along the trail & for us northerner's it was sure nice walking along underneath green trees once again. Pines, Junipers, & Cottonwoods, just to mention a few. We do miss our trees!! The first third of the trail is reasonably good walking & we met some fellow hikers along the path on their way down from the summit. Nice folks from Utah & Colorado. They told us the trail gets steeper the higher you go. And, they were right. We moved on, rounded a bend & the trail began to climb sharply. The scenery began to change as well. Less trees & more open vistas around us with many towering rock formations. Again came the feeling of how lucky we were to be here. At one point we had just come down through a narrow slot in the rock path when we heard voices ahead. Coming down the trail through a rocky outcropping was a lady leading a horse with a small boy sitting on it. Behind them were 3 cows & behind the cows was another lady bring up the rear on another horse. We stepped aside on the path to let them through but couldn't believe that they were going to try & go up the rocky narrow & steep section of rocks we had just come through. But, sure enough, without a seconds hesitation that's right where they headed & while I cracked off some pictures, they went right up, over, & through what we thought was an impossible situation. Two women, two horses, 3 cows, & one small boy. Guess we got a lot to learn about cows, horses, women, & small boys!! Apparently they were taking the cows from one section of free grazing land to another. I could have understood it if the cows had been mountain goats......but cows!! And they didn't even have good Merrell hiking boots on their hooves. COWS & HORSES ON THE TRAIL

We continued our upward trek until we reached an old man made spring. Stopped for a peanut butter break here before continuing on. Wasn't long & we reached a place called, Half Moon Tank. Might have been the Army Corps of Engineers who built this small dam years ago but not sure. When we got there a fellow was kneeling beside the cement dam & using it's top as an easel for his painting. Nice chap & we talked to him for a bit about directions. He was familiar with the trail, having been there before. CASTLE DOME PEAK

We continued our ascent but by now we were both tired & running out of steam. We thought of turning back but it seemed we had made it about two thirds of the way & it would be a shame not to reach the summit. Stopped & talked to another hiking couple from Wisconsin. They had a portable GPS with them so we talked about that for awhile before making our final push to the summit divide location. We were sooooo tired by this time that it just didn't matter any more. The time was 2 P.M. & we had been hiking steadily upwards for over 3 hours when the summit divide was finally reached. I had been hoping to see a sweeping panoramic view of the San Pedro Valley splayed out before me........but it was not to be. I could see a bit of the valley to the north & a fellow hiker said I would have to go farther down the west side of the mountain to see farther out into the valley. That was not going to happen!! We were at our limit of endurance as it was & we already had a 3 mile hike ahead of us back down the mountain trail to the parking lot & our car. Our feet & legs were already sore but at 2:15 we began our descent & at first it was a relief to be going down hill using our uphill muscles in a downhill sort of way. But, that didn't last long & soon our toes were trying to push themselves out the front of our hiking boots. But, we just kept going, & going, & going and all the while, our backpacks, camera bags, etc just kept getting heavier & heavier & heavier. ATOP THE DRAGOONS

To make a long story short, we finally made it back to our car in a flurry of grunts, ughs, & groans about 4:15 P.M. I think the last 500 yards to the car were the worst. Just like when you have to go the bathroom real darn bad, it seems the closer you get to the washroom, the worse the urge to go, gets!! It felt sooooo good to sit down in those soft cushy car seats. Luckily we had water, coffee, & an orange in the car so that was priority 1. Second thing was to get our shoes off & give our feet a break. With that done I hooked up my seat belt, started the car, put it in gear, & drove all the way back to the ranch in my socks. COCHISE PEAK....HE MAY BE BURIED UP THERE SOMEWHERE

It was after 5 when we rolled into the yard. Lots of happy dogs to see us as we quickly changed our hiking hats for our farm chores hats. The donkeys & horses were happy we were back but boy oh boy were the chickens ever mad at us for being late. It's not nice having chickens mad at you. They can give you such a stare!!

Our day finally ended with aching joints, sore bones, blistered feet, & a beautiful sunset. What a day, what a day............................................ OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

TOTALLY KER-POOPED

I am sooooooo totally tired & out of energy right now I'm going to have to finish the blog to-morrow morning. I did manage to get a bunch of photos uploaded to the web album though. We overdid ourselves to-day with a 5 hour, 6 mile strenous hike into the Dragoon Mountains & Cochise's Stronghold..............ker-pooped:((

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CORKY CAME FOR THE DAY

SAND HILL CRANES IN THE SUNRISE

A lot of sounds in the morning sky as flocks of Sand Hill Cranes headed north for their feeding grounds. Or, were they departing the area for the last time. Some people have told us the Cranes begin their long journey north to their summer haunts around this time in February. Come to think of it, I don't remember hearing them come back to-day but they might have slipped past during one of my half dozen afternoon siestas. I'm sure they were being extra quiet so as not to wake me. Little do they know I was out in my pajamas & housecoat taking pictures of them flying across the sunrise hours earlier this morning. Worked away on my little garden project for awhile this morning while Kelly rode her bicycle all the way down the dirt road to the Whitewater Wildlife Refuge & back. She was a little miffed I hadn't told her I forgot to hook up the wheel brake when I put the front wheels on the bikes a few days ago. I tried to explain that years ago we never had front wheel brakes anyway. My explanation didn't fly!! HARK, IS THAT FLORENCE OF ARABIA OFF ON A MORNING RIDE

Kelly had brought some books back from the Elfrida Library yesterday. Started one of them Saturday morning & finished it this afternoon. "Dead In Their Tracks" tells the story of people crossing America's desert border lands. It's a true documentary by photo journalist John Annerino & tells about the tragic plight of thousands of people who have tried crossing vast stretches of desert from Mexico into America. He tells the story from both sides as he rides & fly's with Border Patrol agents who are not only trying to apprehend illegal aliens but also trying to save their lives. He also walks the blistering heat drenched deadly miles with the very people the Border Patrol's are trying to save. Graphic descriptions & graphic photos make this book not for the light hearted.LIKE A SQUADRON OF BOMBERS GOING OVER

Corky came to-day. Corky is a big black friendly dog who comes to the ranch on Sundays while his Mom & Dad go over to Sierra Vista for the day. Ingrid & Tom are a friendly older couple who live about 3 miles away & have been friends of Jeanie & Ray for years. Corky loves coming to the ranch & now that we are here with our 3 dogs it makes for quite a circus with a total of 6 dogs running around upside down for the whole day. They all get along & I love watching them interacting with each other. The more the merrier. Ingrid & Tom brought back supper from SV late this afternoon so we all ate in the ranchhouse. Tom is a WW2 veteran paratrooper who flew in gliders during the early days of the war & Ingrid hails from Germany. Hmmmm, I wonder how an American soldier & a girl from Germany ever managed to meet up back in those dark days years ago. SINGLE FILE PASSED THE CRESCENT MOON (try clicking on the pics to make them bigger)

We watched to-night's movie in the house because it had been pre-programmed. "No Country For Old Men" is a very graphically violent movie. Reminded me of Pulp Fiction years ago. Not my kind of movie but I must say that I found it well done. If your going to show violence then do it as realistically as possible because it is simply the way it is. The scenes in this movie were not over the top like most other movies that portray violence in their standard bang bang shoot-em-ups with exploding cars, hero's, super cops, & all that blah blah blah televisionisk boredom. No, the violence & characters in this movie are believable!! There were a few stretches of the imagination here & there but what the heck, I still thought it was a good movie despite myself. INGRID HANDING OUT SOME DOGGY TREATS....THAT'S CORKY WITH THE RED COLLAR

It's been a restful & quiet past 3 days so I'm hoping we can get out & about somewhere to-morrow. We'll discuss that in the morning. Maybe Cochise's Stronghold, maybe the Texas John Slaughter's Ranch, maybe Belle Star's animal sanctuary, maybe the ghost town of Pearce, maybe Fort Bowie, or maybe, just maybe............................................................TOM & INGRID HAVING A LIVELY DISCUSSION ABOUT WHO'S GOT THE FACTS RIGHT

No photos for the web album to-day.

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ANOTHER QUIET DAY FOR THE BAYFIELD BUNCH

THIS WAS OUR LAST BOONDOCKING DAY NEAR DARBY WELLS ROAD WEST OF AJO ARIZONA ONE YEAR AGO TO-DAY

If I thought Friday was a quiet day at the ranch, I hadn't met Saturday yet. The temperatures have really come up the past couple of days so we spent the biggest part of the day staying out of the sun relaxing & reading. Kelly went into Elfrida this morning & brought back some books & DVDs.

A year ago to-day we were spending our last day boondocking just west of Ajo, Arizona near a place called Darby Wells Road. I'll include a picture of that. We then went to Hickiwan Trails RV Park http://hickiwantrailsrvpark.com/ in Why for a night before heading over to the town of Truth or Consequences on the first leg of our long journey home. But, that was a year ago.

HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT US GUYS

It took me a bit of looking with my tri-pod & 7x50 binoculars to-night but I was finally able to locate Comet Lulin. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html Thanks to the Hermit in Kitchener for jogging my mind in an email a few days ago to step outside & have a look for it. If I didn't know any better I'd say they sure have a lot more stars down here in southeastern Arizona than we have up there in southwestern Ontario Canada. But, I do know better:)) Beautiful night skies here. MAKING GOOD USE OF AN OLD BATHTUB

To-night's DVD was "Traffic" with Michael Douglas. Not the kind of movie I would normally pay to go see in a theater but on a free DVD it was OK. A little hard to follow in spots so you couldn't doze off for a second because you would soon become lost in one of the movies many twists & turns. It did win some awards & it did keep us entertained.

Hard to believe we're entering the final week of February already. A month from now we'll be watching the weather closely & formulating a homeward journey plan for an arrival time somewhere around the first week of April I think. I'm always sort of glad to get home but it doesn't last long. Within a week I'm itching to be back out on the road again heading for places I've never been before. I have always had the travel bug in me but these past few years it has really begun to bite. And not working full time or hardly even part time anymore doesn't make it any easier. So, some decisions have to somehow be made over the course of the next bunch of months. With the economy the way it is, everything is up in the air for everyone & it is a harder time than ever for decision making. AFTERNOON CHORES ARE DONE SO HEADING BACK TO THE RIG

Well it's nearly 11 o'clock & I've been sitting here spinning my wheels for something to write about long enough. Time to pull the plug on another day. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:))

No photos for the web album to-day.

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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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