A QUIET FINAL FEW DAYS BEFORE THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

SIGNS OF SPRING AT DUSK

It was actually a relief to see clouds this morning because it meant we were going to have a cooler day. Even with A/C going the last few days you just couldn't escape the heat build up in our rig. Windows & blinds closed to keep out old Sol's hot rays but it still gets mighty warm inside. To-day all the windows, vents, & side door are open letting welcomed cooling breezes flow through. Weatherman has issued a wind advisory for Sunday so looks like we're in for another big blow. We Canadians are known for always talking & complaining about the weather so just wanted to clear that up too. IT'S AL ON EARLY MORNING POOPER SCOOPER PATROL

About a week ago I added a widget to the bottom of the blog called, Linkwithin. It's those 3 little pictures of past blogs that may relate somehow to the present day blog above. Might be a little confusing to folks if they click on one from a couple years ago because we were traveling with a tan GMC truck & a white Rockwood 5th wheel at that time. And before that you might see us in small Class C Ford Gulfstream. Noticed that some of the blogs don't have dates on them but if we're in the truck & fifth wheel it will be the 07/08 winter season & if it's the Class C, that is a trip to Big Bend in Texas back in December of 2004. THE LITTLE ALPINE VILLAGE OF BISBEE IS THERE IN THE MULE MOUNTAINS

And a few words for several of our neighbors back home who are going through some very difficult medical problems right now. We are thinking of you & hoping your situations will improve. We'll see you out in the flower gardens soon. TWI-LIGHT AT THE RANCH

These are a quiet final few days here at the ranch before heading home. Kind of like the lull before the impending travel storm. We will take our usual route of about 2,400 miles of Interstates & highways. We have found a route that works well for us & have over the past few years become familiar with the rest stops, traffic hot spots, mountain passes, boondocking spots, & State Parks. Oh yes, & a few Cracker Barrels along the way too. SUNDOWN

No idea how long it will take us because it all depends on the weather at this time of year. Last year we had to hold up in Arkansas for a couple of gloomy wet & rainy days beside a lake waiting for a bad snowstorm west of Memphis to blow itself out. March is a volatile weather month across the country so we really have to pay attention to weather forecasts all the way. Two years ago we got into a bad Michigan storm with our truck & fifth wheel. That was not nice. Ice formed on the fifth wheel adding a lot of weight which in turn set up a bucking motion between the truck & trailer. I could not even hold a cup of coffee without the coffee jumping out the top. Some Interstates are made of cement slabs with a bump at the seams & that just made the bucking worse. By the time we got home the whole back of the truck, hitch, & trailer were coated in ice & I had to go to the local hardware store for a propane torch to thaw out the hitch before I could get the trailer off the truck. That was enough of that & we traded that truck & fifth wheel 3 months later for a motorhome & have never looked back. We love our motorhome.....10-4!! It's now after 8 o'clock at night, the side door & windows are wide open & it's a calm night. Kelly's in the ranch house with Motormouse watching her TV shows, Checkers is laying outside the door on a mat, & Max is already stretched out on my bed. The ranch dogs Gleason & Pearce are out there somewhere in the darkness patrolling the grounds along with Charlie the friendly cat. The chickens are roosting for the night the donkeys & horses are safe in the back 40. And I know the Goldfish in all the drinking troughs are having themselves a quiet night as well. My soothing ambient music is quietly playing away on the satellite radio here in the rig while I'm contentedly working away on the computer putting another daily blog to-gether. Now how much nicer could life be than that eh. My thanks goes out to the people who actually read the blog & give me reason & purpose each day to clear the mind's cobwebs & look for new photos & blog topics. Thanks guys, much appreciated..................................................:)) AND ANOTHER FINE DAY DRAWS TO A CLOSE AT THE RANCH

No photos for the web album to-day.

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

GOT GOOIE LOUIED AT THE BBC IN BISBEE TO-DAY

I'M ABOUT TO GOOIE LOUIE MYSELF

We had some DVD's from the Bisbee library to take back before we leave soon so it was off to Bisbee we went this morning. Before we left I spent some time checking the motorhomes tire pressures, oil, trans fluid, radiator fluid, etc. Wanted to get that done early in the morning when the air is still cool & comfortable enough to do things like that. Grabbed a shower & we were westbound for Bisbee by 10. No Mexican back-packs along the way on Frontier road this morning. Got me a real nice fleece lined denim work jacket out the last backpack we found but feel bad for the fellow who lost it by suddenly having to shed his heavy load. If I knew who or where he was I would return the jacket to him but that's not likely to happen. LOOKS LIKE KELLY'S GOT SOME HEAVY READING AHEAD OF HER

First stop in Bisbee was a Thrift store & I actually made it in & out of there without spending my dollar. Next was Safeway for groceries & then off to the Bisbee Breakfast Club for lunch. That is one very busy place & we had to wait a few minutes for a seat. We had heard they have good burgs in there so I immediately went to that section of the menu. Just below the standard burg was something called a Gooie Louie so without further hesitation I knew anything with a name like that has got to be good. And so it was. Topped with mushrooms, onions, & Jim Bean's barb-e-que sauce it had a great flavor. It comes complete with home cut fries on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes, & ucky pickles. I'm not a pickle person!! This was a great burg & lived up well to it's name. Two thumbs up for the BBC's Gooie Louie:)) Kelly had something called a Grilled Coffee Chicken Breast. Don't ask, I have no idea what the coffee has to do with it. She said it was really good & ate the whole darn thing all by herself. BISBEE'S CITY PARK

Next stop was the Library to return the DVDs. Really nice old stone & brick building right in the heart of downtown Bisbee. This is one great little town & the more you get around to see, the greater it gets. You have to drive the narrow hillside streets as well as walk them. Everytime we go there we discover new things. It's hard for me to find the right words to describe this town so if your in the area just go to Bisbee & take a few days to walk the town & it's cliffhanging back streets & alleys. Climb it's thousands of steps, & enjoy it's quaint little cafe's & shoppes. This town is a photographer's paradise. Everything is here. Architecture, color, ambience, nature, landscapes, old cars, characters of all description, flowers, trees, an abundance of old buildings, history, birds, etc. etc. etc. The absolutely rare Abyssinian Asscrather bird has even been seen here nesting in an old sleeping hippies beard. Art studios & crafts are everywhere. Of all the towns & cities I've seen in my lifetime I would have to say Bisbee is at the top of my list as far as interesting places to visit. If I was forced to live in a small town again I would choose Bisbee Arizona & if I was a talented young professional photographer I would definitely make Bisbee my home for awhile & absolutely photograph the complete heck out of the whole darn place. I LOVE THE BOLD COLORS IN THIS TOWN

Last week when we visited the Texas John Slaughter Ranch east of Douglas & forgot to mention something about the road leading to the ranch. It's called The Geronimo Trail & it was the inspiration for Stan Jones's 1948 country hit song, "Ghost Riders In The Sky." I have misplaced the literature but it was along this trail either during or after a thunderstorm that he was inspired to write the song. One of my favs & I have the Vaughn Monroe version in my music library.

Checkers let the chickens out to-day again................................. OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

ROUNDING UP ALL OUR EMAIL FRIENDS

ON THE COCHISE TRAIL IN THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS FEB 23/09

We knew it was hot out to-day when Kelly opened the barb-e-que lid this afternoon & the sun automatically lit the propane burners. Pearce & Gleason, the ranch dogs barricaded themselves in the cool ranch house & refused to come out. And two of the chickens laid fried eggs!! And you know what, it isn't even the hot summer season yet. IN THE GHOST TOWN OF CHARLESTON NEAR SIERRA VISTA JANUARY 28/09

Spent the biggest part of the morning on the computer gathering to-gether scattered emails, notes, & memos. I'm usually kind of well organized but our 3 email accounts had steadily been getting ahead of me. Should have set up a better system before leaving Ontario but fell into that, round-to-it stage so here I am nearly at the end of our trip organizing files that should have been done at the beginning of the trip. Sound familiar?? I came across a lot of people I had been meaning to email & stay in touch with so I've dashed off some quick emails to see if they are still out there amongst the land of the living. I always have a twinge of guilt if I don't get back to someone who has obviously taken some time out of their day to email us. Am hoping by rounding everyone up into the proper corals I'll be able to keep a closer eye on the herd. I enjoy communicating with people on the internet and don't want to leave anyone out. Just wasn't prepared for the number of emails coming in though. But, no excuses!! IN THE GHOST TOWN OF MILLVILLE

Sometimes there are website links from people in the emails, comments, or guest book pages. Some of those websites have music on them when opened. Our Verizon program allows us 5GB a month for bandwidth. Because I upload a lot of photos we just barely squeak under our quota each month & there is a heavy financial penalty if you go over. In order to wiggle under the line we don't listen to or download any music, podcasts, videos, animated jokes & cards, etc. When I hear music on somebody's website I have to turn the site off because I'm worried about using up bandwidth. This is really unfortunate because there are fellow RV'ers & bloggers out there with great sites that we're missing. No problem looking at these sites when we get home because we're on unlimited cable. But no can do while on the road. Came across some this morning while re-organizing & that is what reminded me of it. IN THE FORT HUACHUCA MUSEUM FEBRUARY 3/09

Kelly's place of employment back home is Deerpark Lodge in Bayfield. It's a seasonal business & that allows us to travel in the winter months. However, Kelly in effect, is still working. All calls to Deerpark are forwarded to a cell phone which Kelly carries with her. She handles all the reservations for the upcoming season so not only travels with a cell phone, but a big reservation book as well. That phone can ring at anytime & anywhere. We could be driving through downtown Indianapolis, eating tacos at Jilbertos in Boreggo Springs California, cresting a mountain road in the Chiricahuas, hiking a mountain trail in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, or fighting a heavy crosswind on a Kansas interstate. Makes no difference to the cell phone, it still rings. People on the other end have no idea they are talking to someone far away in the American southwest. They assume Kelly is sitting in the Deerpark office taking the call. Big surprise when some of them ask about the frigid temperatures & how much snow is in Bayfield. And now that spring is here the phone has been getting steadily busier. To-day's photos show Kelly taking some of those calls in different places we have been while I've had a camera close by. IN THE RIG FEBRUARY 10/09

Watched the second half of the Bob Dylan DVD this afternoon. "No Direction Home" reveals a Bob Dylan that I had always suspected. An ordinary talented guy with a knack for stringing words to-gether in a way that put his inner thoughts & feelings out onto the public stages of the world in a way that clearly shook up a whole generation. He was clearly uncomfortable in front of cameras & silly media questions & spurned the publics determination to turn him into some kind of great guru which he himself knew he wasn't. An honest & unassuming fellow despite all the hype. Great song writer & his music will live on for sure. It's a revealing DVD & I enjoyed it.IN THE DOUGLAS ARIZONA WAL-MART STORE FEBRUARY 8/09

Surprise visitor late this afternoon. Sergeant John stopped in on his way home from Fort Huachuca. I did a blog a few weeks ago about John & his Hudson Hornets. He didn't want us slipping away without saying good-bye. We have a bad habit of doing that so John made sure he was one step ahead of us. That's military training for ya:))

Double checked our medical coverage yesterday & realized it runs out on April 1rst so once we leave here we'll have to make some fast tracks for the Ontario border for sure.

ANOTHER CALL IN THE GHOST TOWN OF MILLVILLE ARIZONA

To-morrow will probably be our last trip to Bisbee so we want to slip into the BBC (Bisbee Breakfast Club) where we hear they put up a pretty good lunch special. I have a feeling I might get dragged through a couple thrift stores too. I'm only going to put a dollar in my pocket so I don't get carried away & blow my whole allowance for the week...........................

OUTSIDE THE CEMETERY IN THE GHOST TOWN OF PEARCE ARIZONA

No photos for the web album to-night.

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

A DAY OF REST & A BIT OF REFLECTION

CHECKERS AFTER GIVING HERSELF A DUST BATH

Checkers, our purebred black & white border collie has always had a Motherly herding instinct. She has been totally fascinated with the chickens ever since we came to the ranch last month. She loves to hang around the chicken pen watching the goings on inside of the 9 hens & single rooster. Late yesterday afternoon as I was sitting at the computer I casually glanced out the window. To my astonishment all the chickens were walking around on the lawn outside their compound. And, there was Checkers right in the middle of all the girls contentedly watching over her little flock. She had finally figured out how to open the wire gate & let the ladies out for a walk. And, she did the same thing again to-day. We may have to consider getting Checkers her very own flock of chickens when we get home. Might have to borrow a couple chickens to take with us on our way home for Checks. Suppose we could always mail them back to the ranch. MORNING WALKS...CHECKERS, MAX, PEARCE, MOTORMOUSE, KELLY & GLEASON

Kelly had a Yoga class this morning in Elfrida & then headed over to Bisbee this afternoon for a little browsing. I stayed home with the furry guys in air conditioned comfort getting caught up on some computer stuff & reading. Sure wouldn't want to be here in July & August but at least there is no humidity turning me into a bucket of paste.

Right leg is still biting a bit but after to-days big rest up (and probably to-morrow too) I will once again be leaping over tall buildings in a single bound. But running faster than a speeding bullet is by now history I'm afraid:((

THE BIG SUPER FRIENDLY CORKY BOY

I think for the first time since leaving home back in November of 08 I haven't fired off one camera to-day so I'm going to have to do some scratching & digging for a few blog pics to-night. Wasn't fast enough on my feet to-day to get a picture of Checkers & her chicken buddies either. Maybe to-morrow:)) KELLY, RAY & JEANNIE.....THE DAY WE GOT SNOWED ON

And speaking of home......I am already beginning to experience the feelings that accompany any upcoming RV move. The sadness of leaving & the excitement of moving on down the road. This time it will be particularly difficult for me because I will really miss the two ranch dogs Gleason & Pearce. And I will miss Ingrid & Tom's dog Corky who comes to the ranch on Sundays. I have a habit of bonding with dogs & it's always hard for me saying good-bye to best friends. Our time here at the ranch has been a wonderful experience for us & we have Doug & JoAnne http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-430903 to thank for recommending us to Jeannie & Ray, the ranch owners. We have had so many great day trips around the area & thoroughly enjoyed every minute we've been here. Even when we got snowed on last month. That was A-OK because all the snow was gone by early afternoon. We have also met some great people & learned some about chickens, donkeys, horses, cats, & dogs. Learned not to throw a big shovel full of dry donkey poop into a big Arizona wind too. Learned that no matter how hot it gets during the day ya still got to wear your woolies at night. And don't carry eggs in your pockets!! Which reminds me of Calicos In Borrego Springs California where we had our first encounter with an egg pocket. OUR FIRST MEETING WITH JOANNE & DOUG IN YUMA

And there has been all the nice emails & comments from people following our blog. We have met some of those followers & now include them in our growing list of friends. For example I remember the two fellows in Quartzite who rode out of the desert one day on their ATV's & approached me while I was in the midst of putting up some flags on the rig. Figured for sure I was in big trouble again for flying the Canadian flag but it was just a couple of guys who had been following our blog & tracked us down to say howdy. So a big hello out there to Pete & Ed:)) HEY, IT'S PETE & ED IN QUARTZITE

Our focus this summer will be to make it back once again to the southwest in the fall. Our ranch sitting job will be open for us in November & that would make a great start to another adventurous 4 months in some of the gol darn pertiest country this here side of the Pecos...................................................... A CASA GRANDE SUNSET

No photos for the web album to-night.

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

UP & OVER THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS TO PORTAL ARIZONA

BETWEEN PORTAL & CAVE CREEK ARIZONA

We had heard from several people that it was a nice drive from the Chiricahua National Monument area up & over the mountains to the wee town of Portal on the other side. Signs say 4 wheel drive vehicles are recommended but someone said we would be fine with our 2 wheel drive 5 speed Santa Fe.....and we were. Rosanna from Paws & Hooves had offered to drive us over but I don't like to bother other people to drive for several reasons. To-day for example we probably made over 40 stops just getting through the mountains because I'm always looking for photos & stopping to look at stuff. Driving in the mountains is exciting so I like to be behind the wheel, shifting the gears, & making the driving decisions. I'm not a very good passenger at any time. We also meander up side roads, down back roads, & just generally poke along exploring things. It is the main reason we don't like going places with groups of people. We just like to do our own thing & it's much easier for my peace of mind if I don't have people walking in & out of the photographs I'm trying to take. We generally try to get a feel for whatever area we are in & sometimes that just requires a whole lot of quiet. I know there are some people out there who will understand that & some who won't. YES, THESE MOUNTAIN ROADS ARE VERY STEEP IN PLACES

We got ourselves an early start this morning & were actually out the gate by 8:15. An hour later we were into the Chiricahuas. Always amazing how fast the landscape changes in just a matter of a few miles. On the valley floor we humans are taller than most vegetation but within gaining a few hundred feet in the mountains we are suddenly dwarfed by towering Pine trees, Sycamore, Juniper, & Oak trees plus a whole host of other greenery like Mesquite trees, Agaves & Prickly Pear Cactus just to name a few. Within a few miles exist two different worlds. I remember parts of British Columbia being like that when I lived in the Okanogan Valley back in the early 70's for a few years. SNOW ON THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAIN TOPS AHEAD

The gravel road was very washboardy when we first entered the mountains but as we climbed it smoothed itself out. Saw some great camping spots in the forest alongside the road. Only accessible for small Class C's or B Class vans. Great for truck campers & pop up tent trailers though. Forded a few shallow creeks along the way & saw a couple of deer on the road. Stopped at what we presumed was the mountain summit because we could see the road headed down from there. Hauled out my thermos of coffee & took a picture of the sign which said we were at Onion Saddle, elevation 7,600 feet. Scouted out a side road but it was too rough for our Santa Fe. If we continue to come here to the southwest we are really going to have to get ourselves a 4 wheel drive jeep. Nothing wrong with our Santa Fe but so many times we have wanted to go places that we knew our beloved little Santa Fe couldn't go. CASTLES IN THE AIR

Began our descent down the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains making many stops & marveling at the beauty surrounding us. I was continually out of the car with the cameras. Not so good for my sore leg but no matter, it's just the way it has to be & I'll rest it up some more on Tuesday. It is improving anyway. Saw a sign saying Paradise so we took a bumpy little side road 3 miles down into a sleepy little place with a few houses on either side of the road with people living in them. Just kind of rolled right through & continued on to Portal. Passed a sign that said, Paradise Cemetery so wheeled in to take a picture of the cemetery gate which had a sign saying it was indeed the Paradise Cemetery. Just goes to prove that when some people die they do actually go to Paradise. HEADING FOR CAVE CREEK

The closer we got to Portal the more spectacular the mountain ranges became. Large stone bluffs & formations began appearing atop mountain ridges. Towering rocks looking like "castles in the air." Don McLean has a song entitled that. We knew we were in a very scenic area. PORTAL ARIZONA
http://www.portalarizona.com/

The little town of Portal can hardly be called a town. I would say it's about 4 good stone throws long by 3 stone throws wide. Has a Post Office & Library but our main destination was the Portal Store Cafe & Lodge. Kelly had heard they had great Mexican food there so in we went. I had a grilled chicken burger with chips & Kelly had a great big plate of something Mexican I couldn't even pronounce. In the long run my grilled chicken burger turned out to be the best of the two. Took a drive around Portal which lasted all of about 60 seconds & then headed 3 miles back into the Coronado Forest looking for a little place called Cave Creek southwest of Portal. It was on this road that the scenery really took off. Towering mountains on both sides, mountain streams, waterfalls, & forests. This area has it all. It's a bird watcher's paradise & people flock here from far & wide looking for the rare & elegant Trogan bird. We saw birder's to-day along the roads with their binoculars & scopes. We saw beautiful mountains riddled with caves & hiking trails everywhere. Came across a great little campground with awesome views. Check our web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ About 15 well spaced sites & a campground that we could bring our motorhome to. We have mentally bookmarked this area & this campground as a place for us to return next year. And I'm being a bit uncharacteristically optimistic here in saying...."we will return to the Southwest!!!!"
Thank-you Mr. D:)))) MANY CAVES IN THESE MOUNTAINS

Not too much in Cave Creek but we did stop at a Forestry Building & ask for directions to another camping area we had heard about. Some nice private lodges in Cave Creek. Headed back down the winding forest road, past the jagged rocky peaks along botanical road & out the highway back to Portal. Stopped at the Portal Store for a coffee to go & rolled east out into the San Simon Valley. It was 2:15 as I watched the Chiricahua Mountains fading in my rear view mirror. Within minutes we crossed the New Mexico State line, turned right onto highway 80 for a few more miles & then passed the Arizona State line right back into Arizona again. Hardly any traffic on this scenic highway as we headed southbound through the dusty little town of Rodeo. Put the hammer down on the Santa Fe, took a short cut around the north end of Douglas & we were back at the ranch before 3:30. Just another super terrific day trip in the good old American southwest.

SUNNY FLAT RV CAMPGROUND

New Mexico, Arizona, California, & a few areas in southern Texas are by far the greatest scenic areas to escape old man winter. So much to see & do. So much perfectly great weather. So many great times. So many memories..........................................................

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

NO PAIN, YUMMY RESULTS, THOUGHT PATTERNS, & A GOOD LOOKER:))

AN EXAMPLE OF PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT PATTERNED TEAM WORK

The pain in my leg had me out of bed at 4:30 a.m. but by 9 it was all over. That little pinched nerve guy finally packed his bag & got out of my body. Noticed I wasn't getting the shooting pain in the leg & back when I walked. A little soreness & some numbing but that was all. Figured it would be best to remain in an upright position & keep the leg moving for the rest of the morning so went down & cleaned out the corral, did a bunch of watering around the ranch house, & did a little work on my garden project. The day went well & except for one time climbing off the ATV I was basically pain free finally. If to-night & to-morrow go well I will consider the problem over. And how did the problem occur?? My theory is that it happened while lifting a hay bale into a cart last week. I had been putting bales into the cart & pivoting to the right while doing so & I think that may have caused it. Just a theory. Kelly thinks it happened when I put too much peanut butter on a slice of bread & hurt myself when I had to use both hands to lift it up to my mouth. MAX SMELLS SOMETHING YUMMY COOKING

One Sunday morning about a month ago an infomercial appeared on television. I am usually quick to change the channel on those things right away but for some reason this one caught my attention & I actually sat there & watched. The product being demonstrated made logical sense to me so I watched the same commercial at the same time the following week just to be sure. Told Kelly this was the greatest invention since sliced bread so she trusted my word & ordered it on line. Well, we picked up our little gem this week at the McNeal Post Office & when I unpackaged it I could see that it was well made & not some cheapo little pile of junk. Looked to be of good quality & to-night we tried it out for the first time. A whopping yummy personal pizza success!! Pizza's are only one of many things you can make. Only took the cooker 7 minutes to cook it & Al 7 seconds to eat it. I think it will be something we will use a lot. It's called, "Xpress Redi Set Go" & it's a compact fast little cooker. No, we're not selling them or in ca-hoots with the company. I'm just passing this along because I think (so far) this is a good product. The compact size is good for RV'ers. I'll put the website link in plus a few pics I took at suppertime to-night. And, not to worry, if the cooker turns out to be bogus, I will tell you that too. http://www.redisetgo.com/?gcid=S12579x066&keyword=xpress%20redi-set-go_1 Now, a word of caution because after all it was an infomercial & those types of ads have a way of extracting a few extra dollars out of your pocket. The ad said something about free recipes but when Kelly checked the billing after ordering there was an extra charge of nearly $9.95 for the recipe club or something. After a number of phone calls we found out that we had automatically joined a recipe club & new recipes were now going to be coming to our house at $9.95 a pop every month for the rest of our lives or longer. Kelly got right after them & they finally canceled that little extra ditty. We feel the product is fine but be careful of the small print or the boxes you put check marks in & be careful about how "free recipes" is presented. However, if you are a recipe collector this just might be your cup of tea so just dis-regard my little flap. OUR FIRST RESULTS

The picture at the top of the blog to-day is an example of teamwork & progressive thought patterns. We were ensconced in our lawn chairs enjoying the day when I glanced over to Ingrid & Tom's white pick-up truck. (I blogged about Ingrid & Tom & their big dog Corky a few weeks ago) It was parked beside a white flag pole complete with flapping American flag. I said to Kelly, "wished I knew how to use our photoshop program because I would take a picture of the truck beside the pole & then digitally remove the bottom half of the pole to make it look like the truck was actually flying a large flag from it's roof." Thought it was a pretty good idea but I was about to be upstaged. Kelly calmly said, " why not just turn the truck around." (Geeeeezzzz, how come women are always so smart) But then I came back with, "why don't I just walk around & take the picture from the other side of the truck." Well, that's what I did but I got to thinking later what a good example of teamwork that was & how within about 6 seconds we had taken an unsolvable problem to a finished solution. Aw yes, teamwork:)) KELLY MADE THE PIZZA & THE COOKER COOKED IT TO PERFECTION IN 7 MINUTES

We put a fresh pot of travel plans on the back burner this morning & it looks like we'll be heading back to Canada around the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of this month. Talked to Jeannie this morning & they are up in Dead Horse State Park near Cottonwood Az. Said they have been fishing in the stocked pond there but have been drowning more worms than catching fish. Gee, have they never heard of Captain Hi-liner's fish sticks!! Worms lives could have been spared:)) Jeannie & Ray will be heading back to the ranch sometime next week. Good thing we have saved the feeding instructions for all the animals. They're gonna need them.

COMPACT WELL BUILT MACHINE

Watched the first part of a two part DVD to-day called, No Direction Home. It's about the life & times of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Let me tell you first that I was never a fan of Bob Dylan's early music. Just didn't care for his voice or style. But even more than that, I was jealous of him. In 1964 I was going with an exciting, good looking foxy blonde from Stratford Ontario. Only problem was......she was a big Bob Dylan fan. Ate, slept, & breathed Bob Dylan. Thought he was number 1 & the greatest thing of ever. Thought I was supposed to be number 1 in her life!! Well, needless to say me & Bob just never got off on the right foot somehow & after a year the good looker was gone her own way anyway. Probably a Bob Dylan roadie by now. It wasn't until Dylan did Nashville Skyline with Johnny Cash that I forgave him & took a liking to his music. But, back to the DVD. Thought director Martin Scorsese did a better job on this one than the other music bio he did about The Band called, The Last Waltz . Last Waltz was good but this one is better. Much more professionally done. I'm looking forward to seeing the second half. I keep looking in the audience of his concerts to see if there's a good looking foxy blonde (slightly aged) from Stratford jumping up & down in the front row....................

No photos for the web album to-night.

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

IN SEARCH OF OLD FORT RUCKER

RUINS OF OLD FORT RUCKER


No improvement in the back & leg this morning but it was a nice day & I didn't want to sit around again. Kelly picked up a cane at the Thrift Store awhile back so I threw that in the car & we headed off for Rucker Canyon in search of old Fort Rucker. THIS WAS THE COMMISSARY


While at the Coronado National Park a few days I got to talking with a ranger who told me where the ruins of old Fort Rucker (formally Camp Supply) were in the Rucker Canyon. We had been through that area a week ago but didn't know about the Fort then. From the ranch we headed east about 9:30 through McNeal to Leslie Canyon. Skirted around the south end of the Swisshelm mountains into the sweeping picturesque hills of Leslie Canyon. The flat dirt road led us north until we intersected with Rucker Canyon road. We swung northeast into the Chiricahua mountains & drove until we reached the junction with Tex Canyon road. This is where we began our search. Parked the car beside a rock & boulder strewn creek bed & headed up the creek for a hundred yards or so then headed left through an area of trees & shrubs. I was glad I had the cane with me. Continued through the brush until we came to a road but still no sign of the fort. Kelly walked back to the car & brought it around to the road. We drove up a rocky narrow path into a grassy tree lined area but still no Fort. Drove back down to theTex Canyon road junction & headed south for a bit when I spotted what looked like an old adobe wall through a bunch of trees on the east side of a dry creek bed. Saw a clearing ahead & pulled over. There on a barbed wire fence hung a small faded sign that said, Camp Rucker U.S. Army 1872-1880. We had found the Fort!!

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jarucker.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Rucker
http://forums.ghosttowns.com/showthread.php?t=16136
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/camprucker.html
FORT RUCKER'S BAKERY

It was about a quarter mile walk from the road to the first building. An old log pole barn....with a new roof. There were cattle here as well. We could see some old adobe ruins farther on so we headed in that direction. I was surprised when we came across our first reader board. It was obvious no one had been here for a long time but I remembered the Ranger telling me there are plans afoot to restore this old Fort so I am assuming the reader boards are maybe the first step. Noticed later that a couple old buildings had new roofs on them to protect against further weather deterioration. Fort Rucker is actually in better shape than Fort Bowie because it has some buildings with actual walls still standing. One building like the officer's quarters still has glass in the windows & wooden doors . When Fort Bowie was decommissioned people came in & basically ripped the Fort to pieces for it's lumber, etc. That didn't happen here at Fort Rucker but Fort Rucker is only about a quarter the size of Fort Bowie. A much smaller outpost.

REAR ENTRANCE OF THE OFFICER'S QUARTERS

We spent the best part of a couple hours wandering around the grounds looking at the ruins. Once again, with the help of the reader boards I was able to take a lot of photos & you can follow the story of Fort Rucker through the story boards & my pictures in the web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ Standing there on the grounds it's hard to imagine what the day in a life of a trooper was like 135 years ago. There is an old water tank still standing, a bake shop, & officer's quarters still intact. Looking at the open door of the bakeshop I tried to imagine the soldiers coming & going through there. The smell of fresh bread baking in what's left of the large oven at one end of the old adobe building. Ruins of the original commissary are there & another adobe building with two rooms but no roof. No idea what that building was. The officer's quarters building is still in remarkably good shape & a person could move right in there. The tin roof has saved it from decay & the floor felt solid. A couple closet doors hung open where officer's uniforms once hung. A raised platform for the wood stove looked like it was waiting for another stove to be placed on it. It was as if the officer's had just stepped out for a moment. CATTLE BARN & CORRAL

But, the strangest building of all was the house. You will have to go to the web album & see the pictures because it's a bit hard to describe. It's an old adobe house but the interior looks like it's from about the 1930's or earlier. No reader board anywhere to tell anything about it. Might have been part of Fort Rucker & then renovated in the early 1900's or something. After the Fort was decommissioned the land was used for ranching so maybe it was built as a ranch house. Many small rooms inside & on different levels. Best have a look at the pictures. STRANGE OLD HOUSE

The temperature had dropped while we were there & a cloud cover moved in as we departed old Fort Rucker & headed back down the long dusty road through Rucker Canyon to civilization. I took a few pictures from the car window as the dark clouds moved in & before long it was raining. It was good to get back to the rig, crack on some heat, & grab ourselves a bite to eat. It had been another good day....sort of.
My leg had given me a lot of trouble for about the first 40 minutes of our hike but then the pain went away while we were walking around the old Fort's grounds. Felt so good I was bouncing around like a ping pong ball but by the time we got home & I tried to get out of the car, the pain was back full force on the outside thigh of my right leg. Seems that sitting bothers it the most. Oh well, not much I can do about it until that nerve decides to unpinch itself I guess. Maybe to-morrow I'll take Roger Miller's advice & try rollerskating in a Buffalo herd................................

RAIN MOVING IN

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

OH OH, IT TURNED INTO A LOOOOONG BLOG:((

Figured it would be best to slow things down a bit to-day & take time to rest a troublesome lower back & sore leg. It's a warm sunny afternoon in southeastern Arizona making it a perfect day for wiling away the hours quietly reading my Walter Cronkite biography.

Kelly had a Yoga class this morning so it was a good time for me to empty some tanks, get the dishes done, do a little vacuuming & get some puttering out of the way before cruising into a relaxing afternoon.

Also might be a good time to answer questions from some blog followers.

-Someone asked a question about our fulltiming RV life.
At this stage of RVing we are still just winter snowbirds heading to the southwest for the winter. Fulltiming may very well be in our future at some point but for right now we are just seasonal.

-A question about when we will be heading home this year.
We really don't know yet when we are leaving but we're guessing it will maybe be sometime around the end of the month. We will have to get the wheels rolling on some travel plans very shortly. Is the snow all gone up there yet??

-Randy & Pam inquired, how do I get sharp looking pictures & what kind of camera do I use??
I have 2 DSLR Nikons....A D40 & a D50 & a Canon Power Shot A720IS fixed lens cam. The Canon has 8.0 pixels & the Nikons are probably the same or higher. I use a Nikkor 18-55mm zoom lens on the D-50 & a Nikkor 55-200 zoom lens on the D-40. I generally shoot on the automatic setting & let the camera do the technical work for me. I also have the camera's image quality settings set at normal or higher. I also use a great web based photo program called Picasa 3 by Google. It's a free download & I highly recommend it for people like myself who like to keep things simple. I don't use the Nikon or Canon photo programs that came with the cameras. I do have Photoshop installed on my lap top but just haven't gathered up enough patience yet to figure it out. I may consider taking some kind of Photoshop course this summer. Picasa 3 is a scaled down & simpler version of Photoshop. No, you can't change backgrounds, edit people out, put snow on mountains or smiles on grumpy old faces. But, you can sharpen up your photos, add contrast where needed, crop, straighten, enhance colors, plus a host of other things. I have been using Picasa for about 5 years now. You can find it here... http://picasa.google.com/ It also goes hand in hand with Google's Picasa Web Album program for uploading photos to the web. The photo album program can be downloaded from the Picasa 3 site.

-Someone about a month ago wondered about the availability of our ranch sitting job. I was unable to contact that person because they had not included a return addy in their comment.
There is a ranch sitting job open right now for 3 weeks this coming November in Sunizona Arizona. The ranch is called Paws & Hooves & I blogged about it on Feb 28th I think. If interested, check out my post & then email us & we can forward the email to the ranch. Also, for anyone emailing us, please put "Hello to the Bayfield Bunch" in the subject line & that way I'll know it's not spam. Well, at least until some spammer lowlife reads this that is. Also on this subject, I'm sorry if I've missed some emails out there that people have sent to our Hotmail account. It's hard knowing which emails to open or not & I've probably deleted some that were meant for us. So, if I haven't answered your email, please send it again & hopefully I'll catch it.

-Another reader asked, "how long does it take you to do your blog everyday??"
That's a hard question to answer because it depends on how many pictures I have taken. To just sit down & write the blog maybe takes me an average of 30 or 40 minutes. To add photos to the blog tacks on another 20 minutes maybe. But, if I have fifty photos for the Picasa Web Album it can take considerably longer. At the end of each day I upload all the photos from the cameras into my Picasa 3 photo program. I then have to sort the pics from all 3 cameras into some kind of story order & into one single folder. Then I start from the beginning photo of the day & look at each & every one making changes to them as I go along such as cropping, straightening, color adjustment, contrast, & image sharpening. When I am satisfied with all that I add the captions to the bottoms of the photos. Next comes the photo upload onto the net into my Google Web Albums. Fifty photos could take10 or 15 minutes sometimes. From those fifty photos I generally pick 5 or 6 to insert into the blog itself & that can take about 15 minutes. Sooooo, all & all I would say to do an average blog plus edit fifty or a hundred pictures & upload them all to the web album we are probably looking at maybe 4 hours all to-gether. Maybe 5 if I'm tired & making a lot of mistakes. It's not unusual for me to be still at the computer at midnight putting it altogether. So, bottom line............I enjoy it & that's why I do it.....flaws & all:))-Someone suggested I maybe take too many pictures.
Well, yes & no. I don't think I take too many pictures but I do agree that I put too many of them in the web albums. I generally send about 20% of the days pictures to the trash bin but I know it should probably be higher than that. I'm just not the kind of perfectionist to whittle them down to maybe 10 or 20.

-And I ask myself......why do I do this??
Ever since learning to type in High School back in the early 60's I had always enjoyed sitting at a typewriter tapping out letters, poetry, little stories, etc. Hadn't typed a word in maybe 20 years & then along came the computer age & I fell right into it. The written word is my favorite way of communication so it was a natural happening for me to take an interest in computers. The photography bug bit me back in 1965 when I was in naval boot camp up in Canada. Bought a little 35mm camera at the commissary & ran around taking lots of pictures of all the guys. In 1993 I lost interest in the photography world & rarely picked up a camera for the next 12 years. And then along came digital photography. We already had a computer by then so the digital photography interest fell right into my lap. My first camera was bought at a Staple store & was a 1 megapixel job. I literally wore that camera out in 2 years but it was instrumental in re-igniting my interest in photography. And then about 3 years ago, along came the blogging craze. Well, with my interest in typing, plus my love of writing & photography it all began to come to-gether. Add a couple more ingredients to the mix in the form of traveling & a wonderful RV lifestyle & it all leads to this moment with Mr. Blabberfingers sitting here at the computer on a sunny warm day in the middle of March somewhere between the Mule & Swisshelm Mountains in southeastern Arizona.

And, I would like add a few extra thoughts here about blogs & blogging. I try not to make the blog sound like a newspaper article with just a bunch of facts or events tied to-gether. And it's not a cook book of everything I eat every day. I try to put some thoughts & feelings into it & I try to make each blog different than the one before it. There are times in the middle of the night when I'll be bothered by something I've written, get up, turn the computer on & go back to the blog to either edit it out or re-write it. I am an opinionated person & that sometimes ends up in the blog as well & it's usually those blogs that wake me up at night. I am neither a hardened optimist or pessimist, but as a logically thinking realist I see things for the way they are & not for the way they are supposed to be. Sometimes those observations end up in the blog. And sometimes there is criticism, but as fellow blogger Rod commented once, it's your blog & you can say what you want.
Occasionally you will see flashes of anger if I get a rant going about something that upsets me. You will also find humor & that is my favorite side. When I sometimes read other people's blogs I look for the feelings behind the lines. I look for the person. I am not only interested in what they are seeing or doing but I like to know how they feel about what they are seeing & doing. I like Gypsy97's On The Road Again blog for example because she is someone who expresses her thoughts & feelings as she comes to grips with everyday RV life. It's the trials & tribulations of an older woman on the road by herself. I like her well rounded & honest writing style. Her blog comes from the heart. It tells you who she is.

Ok, it's about time I get myself outside & parked in the sun for awhile. I had no intention of getting into all of the above stuff but when your a true blue blabberfingers like me it's kinda hard to get your boots dug in good enough to get yourself stopped sometimes!!

Heard a great line to-day from the song Evil Woman by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
"Got a hole in my head that the rain comes in." Now, how's that for some good old 70's song writing eh!! No photos for the web album to-night.

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