GOOD NEWS FROM VANCOUVER:))

 

KELLY TALKING TO HER DAUGHTER SARAH ON SKYPE THIS AFTERNOON

This was the first morning we were not below the freezing mark in the last 4 days.  On the cold nights we turn off all the outside water here.  There are a lot of irrigation & water pipes on the ranch so water has to be shut off at a main valve about a foot underground.  It's easily accessible so no problem.  Trick is to keep an eye on the days weather to see how low the night time desert temperatures will drop.

TOP:  PROUD DADDY BRADLEY WITH HIS LITTLE PRINCES……BEAMING MOM SARAH WITH HER LITTLE PRINCE…….BOTTOM :  BABY GIRL AT LEFT & BABY BOY AT RIGHT

Mother & twins are doing fine up there in Vancouver BC Canada.  Kelly talked to her daughter Sarah & son-in-law Bradley to-day on Skype.  The baby girl (twins aren't named yet) is now out of neo natal intensive care & will be in the same room to-night as her new twin brother.  Sarah had developed a serious condition known as Hellp syndrome & that had complicated things for a few crucial days.  Everything is on the up & up now & they should all be one big happy family back home soon. 

TELESCOPE AT LEFT IS SET UP FOR ASTRONOMY & AT RIGHT IS CONFIGURED FOR THE CAMERA (the tall mossmagator thingy on the top is a red laser beam pointer for aligning the scope with an object in the night sky)

Kelly was off to Yoga this morning so I was able to put away my book of 1001 excuses for another few days.  Corky's Mom & Dad dropped him off about 11 so there was lots of neat-o play time doggy stuff going on for the rest of the day.  In between all that we managed to clear a bunch of old dead tomato stocks out of the garden too.

MY PAL CORKY

Sure wished I had something more exciting to write about but these are quiet days at the ranch right now.  I had uploaded a photo album to Picasa Web Albums on Thursday but to-day I deleted it & started all over.  Had made too many mistakes in putting the album to-gether & after looking at it to-day knew it was not acceptable.  I will do the new upload next time I'm at the Elfrida Library.

 

SAND HILL CRANES HEADING TO THEIR ROOSTING SITE AT THE WHITE WATER DRAW  (700mm lens)

Started reading my new National Geographic book, 'Backyard Guide To The Night Sky' a couple days ago.  Great book so far & to-night I was able to clearly see 4 of Jupiter's moons with my telescope.  It's a Stellarvue Nighthawk 80mm refractor scope & I have 3 varying power eyepieces for it.  A 5mm, 17mm, & a 35mm. With the moon being in it's quarter stage the craters & ridges are easily seen because of the shadowy contrast effect.  Contrary to popular belief a full moon is not the best time to look at it with a telescope.  Too bright & the lighting is too flat.  The cold & dry desert air is perfect of stargazing.  No humidity in the air to make images unstable.  Later to-night I will take myself for a tour around the sky checking out the Andromeda Galaxy, the double cluster in Perseus & the Orion Nebulae with various stops in between.  Like the song says, "fly me to the moon & let me play amongst the stars:))"

MAX IS RESTING HIS LEG ON THE MOTORMOUSE

DOG, DOGS, EVERYWHERE TO-DAY

GROANER'S CORNER:((  At a hastily called press conference this morning, the Taliban Minister of Emigration . . . . . Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that if any further military action was taken against Afghanistan, Taliban authorities would not hesitate to cut off America's supply of convenience store managers.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

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

AN EXCITING DAY FOR GRAMMA KELLY:))

MOTORMOUSE & HER BESTEST LITTLE PAL……FUNKY CHICKEN

Turned out to be an exciting day for Kelly.  One of her twin daughters gave birth late last night to a set of twins herself in Vancouver, British Columbia.  A few complications for the 4.5 pound boy & 4.3 pound girl plus Mom, but they are all doing much better to-day.  Sarah, Kelly's daughter, will have to remain in hospital a couple extra days though.  Needless to say she has been a busy little computer person to-day with emails & Skype calls to Spain, Cambridge Ontario, Spencerport New York & a few places in between.  Exciting times for sure:))

SAND HILL CRANES……..700MM

Did some updates on the laptop at the Elfrida library & uploaded another album to Picasa Web Albums this morning but I have to re-edit that album & make some changes & add some captions.  The librarian gave me the website of another couple living in McNeal who are fairly knowledgeable about this area so I hope to meet them before too long.  They had a photo of the stone cairn where Tombstone's infamous Johnny Ringo is buried & I would like to know where that is plus the McLaury boys who were killed in the shoot-out with Wyatt Erp at the OK corral had a ranch near McNeal here somewhere & I'm curious as to where that was.

SURVEILENCE BLIMP OVER SIERRA VISTA 30 MILES AWAY

Set my wayward tri-pod up this afternoon & popped my Nikon D-40 on it with the Stellarvue telescope/camera lens attached.  Was hoping to catch some returning Sand Hill Cranes but they obviously saw me setting up & immediately cleared the area.  All morning & early afternoon there had been flock after flock of Cranes going over but as soon as I was set up & swung my lens around & up into the air.............there was nothing there!!  Not a bird to be seen or heard.  Nothing!!  Isn't that always the way though.  About 3 hours later I heard a familiar weebling sound in the distance & managed one photo of 6 Cranes winging their way south just west of the ranch.

TO-NIGHT’S CRESCENT MOON

Managed a few shots of the crescent moon after supper.  Also a shot of the Border Patrol Surveillance Blimp flying high over Sierra Vista on the other side of the Mule Mountains from us.  It would be about 30 miles away as the crow flies so that 700mm lens did well in picking up that blimp.  Also a test shot in the dark of a porch light & silhouetted bell at the ranch house about 300 yards away.  Am looking forward to tracking down some local birds at the White Water Draw just down the road.  Some of you may remember the bird photos I did this past summer with this lens back home in Bayfield.  It's not an easy lens to use though because it is first & foremost a telescope & not designed for a camera so 2 separate adapters have to be used in attaching it to my camera.  I have no control over this lens except for shutter speed.  Focusing is done manually & because the lens is very heavy a tri-pod is required.   Oh well, keeps me on my toes & makes me do some manual thinking myself for a change.

 

To-morrow my old doggy pal Corky is coming for the day.  Haven't seen him since last March so I wonder if he'll remember me.  That will be 7 of us old scruffy dogs running around the ranch to-morrow if you include me.  And I'm sure Kelly would:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind and the job had no perks.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

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

SPENT PART OF THE DAY WORKING ON OUR LIVE WRITER PROBLEM!!

 

SUNSET AT THE CORRAL

We've been working on our Live Writer problem to-day but we are not a lot further ahead than when we started this morning despite reading reams of info, applying fixes, trying this & trying that.  And I should say it was Kelly who was doing most of the working. 

After Live Writer failed to publish last night again for about the 8th time in the last couple of weeks I was just so mad I grabbed the anchor chain & jumped overboard.  Kelly spent part of the day hauling me back aboard after RICK from Cowichan Bay in British Columbia had thrown me down a long lifeline in the form of an email this morning.  One of my self imposed problems is that I work on the blog at exactly the wrong time of day.  I am usually very tired at night & it is that time of day I have the least amount of patience left in my daily  patience reservoir for things that go bump in the computer.  I think Blogs & things like that are best done in the morning but my problem is, by that time I've probably forgot most of what went on the day before.  So, I'm stuck with nights.

Kelly chased the problem up this alley & down the next.  Emails to Microsoft & help forums.  She found that others were having similar problems & she found answers & solutions by various people.  She tried them all & none of them worked.  She went at the problem from different angles as did Rick from B.C.  Rick sent emails with possible fixes as well.  We practically re-wrote the rules but nothing worked.  And where was I when all this was going on??  I was making up some egg salad & peanut butter sandwiches to put in my knapsack before heading across the desert on foot to the distant mountains.  Figured on becoming a Hermit to escape all this frustrating technology stuff.  Living in a cave with a stick actually seemed attractive.

However, Kelly convinced me otherwise so I ate my sandwiches & sat down at the computer.  Ran a series of simple test Live Writer tests using text only, text & pics, pics only, plus photos in the Live Writer Photo Album.  Five out of 6 tests published successfully & thanks to the folks who responded with positive feedback about those tests.  The one test which failed was Live Writer's Photo Album after I uploaded about a dozen pics to it.  I am beginning to suspect a problem with that animated photo album.

To-night I will just put a  few simple photos in the blog & see if it will publish.  To-morrow night maybe the same plus a Table or something.  I'll add a little more each night until it fails to publish again & that should give me an idea of what feature is broken in Live Writer.  Or maybe I'll do all of that to-morrow as more tests.  We'll see.  Plan to slip into the Elfrida Library while Kelly goes to an exercise class in the morning & get my Picasa Web Albums updated.  Don't want to use our Verizon bytes for that.

We also have to get ourselves working on some day trips around the area shortly as well.  Our blog numbers are dropping like the autumn leaves & that tells me I'm boring people so it's time to get out & rustle up some excitement, new ghost towns, & interesting places.  Besides, this old rolling stone is beginning to get some moss on him again and I don't like when that happens!!  I didn't spend this past totally boring summer sitting around waiting to get on the road again just to sit around allowing moss to grow on me!!

Ok, I'm gonna try & post this now, but if it fails to publish again to-night I am definitely loading up my knapsack with peanut butter sandwiches & heading for that cave in the mountains!!!!!!

P.S. And thanks to Rick's sharp eye for pulling my bacon out of the fire this morning when I got my Jerry's & Suzy's, & Sherri's & Barry's , mixed up with my Bruces & Mooses again.  Whewwww, close call there for sure.  Thought I saw my life flash before me....................10-4

GROANER'S CORNER:))  A few years ago I thought my mining job was interesting.....but then they gave me the shaft!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

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

THE BENSON BUNCH MEETS THE BAYFIELD BUNCH

THE COWBOY COOKIE SHOOT-OUT

Well, as soon as towering Jerry got out of the car this morning I knew I was in big trouble because he was definitely bigger than me. I might be wider but he was definitely taller!! Suzy exited their car with cowboy cookies in hand but I was able to quickly dis-arm her in the midst of a hug. I immediately shifted their attention off the cookies so I could sneak some before taking them for a walk around tour of the ranch. And, when I had shaken hands with Jerry earlier I did not detect any peanut butter & onions fumes emitting from under his cowboy hat Rick. Whewww, close call there for sure.

                                                      THE 'COOKIE MAN' HIMSELF

Well, let me tell ya......THESE ARE NICE FOLKS.   Kelly had just left for Yoga when Jerry & Suzy rolled in so we had a couple of hours talking to do before Kelly got back. Now, I'm not a real good conversationist so was a bit worried about that. I have zero interest in sports, politics, or hunting & fishing so that usually knocks me out of about 90% of all male conversations right off the start but the 3 of us found some common ground right off the bat & we were away. Cowboy cookies, the RV lifestyle, blogging, & photography, kept us busy as did the antics of various dogs coming & going. The Sand Hill Cranes provided photo opportunities for Suzi & every once in awhile the nearby donkeys threw in an opinion or two.

JERRY & SUZY AT THE RANCH

Kelly was back from Yoga about 12:30 & brought her easy going personality with her. Where I am a bit clumsy in conversations she is a master of schmoooooz & no matter where we go she wins the hearts of one & all. Well, she won the heart of this old cursmudgeon 16 years ago ya know. We are truly a good example of beauty & the beast.....Kelly being the beauty of course!! And, while all the conversations were rattling around to-day I was sipping away on those totally delicious cowboy cookies. Right now as I am typing this to-night I'm feeling a tad uncomfortable from wolfing down so many of those round little delectable's. And yes, I did win the shoot-out by consuming the most cookies alright but Jerry being older, wiser, & bigger, turned out to be more wily in the ways of cookie shoot-outs & won in the end by not overloading himslelf like a two legged dump truck.........which I did  !! Jerry had sent an email earlier saying he wasn't quite up to speed to-day because of a little arthritis in his trigger finger. Ya right Jerry!! All & all it was good day & a real pleasure to meet some really nice folks.......10-4:))

TAKE CARE FOLKS & WE'LL BE UP TO BENSON TO SEE YA FOR SURE:))

Sounds like we 3 Amigos (Jerry, Rick, & I) might just end up in the same general area this coming March over in California. There has already been talk of a cookie shoot-out at the OK Cookie Corral somewhere around Palm Desert!! Could be a tense one if Rick shows up with his ham salmon sandwiches!!
My errant camera/telescope tri-pod arrived from Canada to-day via the post office in Elfrida. Bruce, our friendly reliable neighbor back home had done a totally fine engineering job on boxing it for shipping. I started to unwrap it around 4 this afternoon......well, you get the picture:)) Hopefully I can get some better quality bird photos now. I will probably need all 700mm to catch some of those high flying cranes.

YAAAAY, MY TRI-POD ARRIVED TO-DAY

I liked the suggestions I saw in our comment box regarding last night's blog on the computer/television differences we sometimes have. Great idea about plugging headphones into the television for muting the sound. We just hadn't thought of that. Definitely something we will look into because I think the television sound quality would be improved as well & it would work out better after Kelly goes to bed & I want to watch something too.

COWBOY COOKIES:))

Ok, to-night I am going to try Live Writer again so wish me luck..........Well, it didn't work again & I am sooooooooooooo upset.  I had included a nice photo album of to-day's photos which took me awhile to put to-gether & now I have to start all over again & go back & do the blog in Blogger.   Not a happy camper to-night!!!!!!!!!

GROANER'S CORNER:)) A top movie producer was discussing his new project, an action docu-drama about famous composers...starring several familiar Hollywood faces. Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Van Damme were all there. The producer really wanted the box office "oomph" of these three, so he was prepared to allow them to select the famous composer they would portray in the film. "Well," Stallone said, "I've always admired Mozart. I would love to play him." "Chopin has always been my favorite," said Van Damme. "I'll play him." The producer was very pleased. He then said, "That sounds splendid. But who do you want to be, Arnold?"
Schwarzenegger looked him square in the eye and said, "I'll be Bach!"

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

JUST BEING MY OLD CONSIDERATE SELF:))

SUNSET AT THE RANCH LOOKING SOUTH TO-WARDS MEXICO

This morning Kelly headed off to Elfrida's exercise class at 9 a.m. & I, out of pure consideration remained home. Despite my absolute love for exercise classes I thought it better to deny myself that said pleasure & give Kelly a much deserved break from myself. RVing can bring people close to-gether for prolonged periods of time like no other lifestyle. Fulltimers willingly or reluctantly resign themselves to the adaptations that are required & just simply get on with the closeness of every day life regardless. Snowbirder's on the other hand face a bigger challenge always having to adjust between two lifestyles. Life in the sticks & bricks is spacious with participants having their own spaces. At home I spend my night's in our sunroom on the computer while Kelly is in the living room watching her nightly TV shows. We don't have the joys of that needed separation while traveling though!! I prefer my quiet music at night & Kelly prefers her medical & CSI type TV dramas. Problem is, our computer desk is situated directly under our television. My head is exactly 34 inches from the speakers!! (I measured it)

And, no doubt I am going to be in some mighty big trouble about to-day's post title:))

DID I MENTION IT REALLY GOT COLD LAST NIGHT

Last winter I purchased a good set of Sony headphones so I generally plug my ears into the computer with the volume well up & listen to my on-board computer music library. But, even with my headphones on I can still hear wailing police cars, gunfire in the streets of Miami, & the screams of hapless murder victims ripping through my peaceful world of ambient music. Fortunately, here at the ranch we do have a workable solution though because Kelly is able to go into the ranch house each night & watch her nightly collection of dramas there. That has been a big help!! But, I still try to be as considerate as possible & give her every break from me I can. And, for that one reason alone I shall miss the Yoga class to-morrow morning & give her another well deserved break...........:))

Has anyone noticed a change in their toilet paper lately?? Be sure to check out RAY'S MONDAY BLOG & then head back to your washroom with a tape measure!!

WORKING ON A LITTLE ADOBE BRICK STEPS PROJECT HERE AT THE RANCH

Thanks to RICK to-day for his email on how to effectively reduce the resolution in my photos for uploading to the blog. The solution was sitting right here in front of me all along in my Picasa Photo Editing program, which incidentally I consider to be the absolute best, & easiest photo editing program for people who are new to digital photography. All my photos are done using Picasa 3.5 & if I can do it......you can do it too!! Oh, & it's a free download from Google:))

LOTS OF SUPERVISORY HELP >>>>>>

The Efrida photography class went well to-day with a few new people showing up at 1 o'clock. Some folks were interested in learning about photography related blogging & a few others had some camera questions. New blogger Jean & I were able to help a few ladies with a look at the Blogger set up. We also helped another lady get started on her very own site. Ray was able to answer questions & give suggestions to the other folks about their cameras & photo programs. I think it was a helpful 2 hours for those who were interested.

To-morrow the Bayfield Bunch is having some rare company. JERRY AND SUZY are coming down from Benson. Jerry & I are going to have a rootin tootin Cowboy Cookie shoot-out here at the ranch. Gary Cooper's High Noon has nothing on the suspense filled caper. Put yer money on me folks because I'm bigger & hungrier than Jerry.........but, he's older & more experienced in the ways of Cowboy Cookies than I am. Hmmmmm, could be quite a shoot-out here in the Arizona desert sometime after High Noon........:))

To-night I am using Blogger to publish the post but I am having upload problems with Blogger as well so maybe it's not Live Writer after all that has been giving me publishing headaches.  Once again it is pointing back to connection problems I think.  To-morrow night I will try Live Writer again & see how I make out,
P.S. I love you & miss you Live Writer:((  Oh yes, & this is my first time using Rick's tip on lower resolution photos.  Figure I have saved enough bytes to fill a gravel truck already!!

GROANER'S CORNER:)) Last year in Arizona I tried to be a chef -- figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just wasn't at home on the range:((

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

GREAT GALLOPING GOBS OF GHOSTLY CRANES

A glance out the window early this morning told me it had been a frosty night. Rays of sun breaking over the Swiss Helm mountains cast an eerie yellowish  pastel glow over the valley through a low hanging bank of fog. The day later dawned clear as a bell & all the magic mushroom like clouds of the past couple days were gone. The big blue Arizona sky was back.....and so were the welcome cooler temperatures:))

There was a continuous sound coming from high overhead that lasted the whole morning. Great soaring formations of Sand Hill Cranes circled on the air currents rising to heights only seen with binoculars. Round & round they went on the thermals. Some formations sweeping in one direction would intersect with other formations going the opposite way. The sky was alive with a 'weebling' sound. It never let up. At times the birds appeared dark against the blue sky & other times as they swooped into a turn the sun backlit the whole feathery flock giving them a massive ghostlike appearance. Laying back in a chair with my 8 x 50 binoculars I was reminded of film clips I've seen about the Battle of Britain. Formations of Cranes looked like squadrons of British Spitfires spiraling, diving, tightly turning with near collisions, & close formation flying. Some flew in large groups, others as pairs intermingled with single flyers. Some groups criss-crossed others, some followed, & some seemed to make head on passes. And all the time came the steadily weebling sound from the sky.  There was a definite intelligence in the air & it was an entertaining morning with a grand stand seat to a free & well co-coordinated air show.

RICK had another very informative post this morning talking about Verizon (& other) air card usage & how to wisely keep from blowing through the monthly 5 Gig cap. I suggest anyone using an air card read Rick's blog & file it away for future reference. In last night's blog I had mentioned about listening to Old Time Radio on Saturday nights but I don't do that while we're on the road because streaming audio like that really chews through the bytes. I only do that while at home with the desk top computer. 

Going to keep this blog short. One day to go before we roll into a new Verizon coverage month & then we will start anew putting some of Rick's air card tips into play.

Sorry about the quality of the Sand Hill Crane photos.  I was trying to stretch my 200mm lens with a 2TX converter & the results were less than poor:((

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I once worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe!!

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

THIS MORNING WE OUT-FOXED RANCH DOG GLEESON

(click on photographs to enlarge them)


Kelly phoned Verizon this morning & we are already over our monthly limit to the tune $3.49 cents with the turnover date not being until Monday at midnight. What that simply means is that I will have to hold off uploading bunches of photos for the next 3 days because it is those photos that are eating up our bytes. We do not download things from the net like You Tube, music, jokes, web casts, etc. No chat room stuff or streaming videos. No Skype web cam calls or blogger websites with sound & animation. We do have a live feed site though called Feedjit & I'm beginning to wonder if maybe that may be eating up some of our bytes. It's not a necessary thing but it gives me an idea of what photos people click on. Anyway, we have hit on a bit of plan though. I've decided these exercise & Yoga classes just aren't my cup of tea but I will go with Kelly on those days & make use of the Library next door with it's internet facilities & do things like Picasa Web Album uploads & Microsoft updates, etc. Kelly will be in one building with her exercise & Yoga classes & I will be in the next building furiously exercising my fingers on the keyboard, not to mention the great brain work-out in attempting to accomplish everything in an hour. Well anyway, that's the plan for now because when in Elfrida we plan to do what the Elfridians do:))

All photos to-day were taken with my Canon A720 & doesn't have the high resolution my Nikons are set for so maybe I'll just mainly stick with that camera for the next little while until we get a handle on this bytes thing.

 BIG ARIZONA SKY FOR OUR WALK AGAIN THIS MORNING

The big Arizona sky once again dawned with big wide sweeping & beautiful cloud formations. Weather is definitely cooler, but no wind. It was a 5 dog walk this morning with the whole gang turned out with lots of wagging tails. And, in my pocket unbeknownst to ranch dog Gleeson, was...........a dog leash!! Last Saturday morning was the rabies clinic in Elfrida & Gleeson out-foxed us by not making himself available for us to take to the clinic. We did manage to take ranch dog Pearce though. So, this morning it was our turn to out-fox the Gleeson. We knew the same Vet's traveling Vet clinic (High Desert Veterinary Service) was being held west of Bisbee to-day at the San Pedro feed store near Hereford. I casually slipped the leash on Gleeson as we were walking & he was fine with that & didn’t suspect a thing. She readily jumped up into the back of our hatchback when we returned to our rig & within minutes we were off to the rabies clinic about 30 miles to the southwest. A successful fox ploy:)) Gleeson was as good as gold about the whole thing & didn't make any fuss at the clinic. We were the only ones there so no waiting. We had taken a liking to the Vet & his caring wife assistant a week before in Elfrida so decided to set up an appointment for Max the wonder dog to have his nails trimmed. Max is not an aggressive dog but is very fearful of anyone fiddling with him & he doesn’t even like us looking at his paws. About 3 years ago he had a minor ear infection so we took him to a Vet in Clinton, Ontario. Even with a muzzle on it took 5 of us to control him while his ear was swabbed out. We are going to approach his nail trimming a little differently & a sedative will be used this time to calm him down. I have to be careful while typing this because he is sitting on the bed behind me & I don't want him to see what I'm typing!!

For the last bunch of years Saturday nights have been Big Band nights for me & while I'm at the computer most Saturday nights I like listening to tunes of the 40's. I think that habit began about 10 years ago when there was a program on the radio called, Big Band Saturday Night. Awhile ago I blogged about a website that has a lot of old time radio shows like Gunsmoke, Amos & Andy, Big Band music, etc. on it. OLD TIME RADIO  I received an email from a fellow last week who has a website called, OLD TIME RADIO CATALOGUE. You can purchase MP3 episodes of countless old radio days programs from music to mysteries. Old cowboy shows to historical newscasts. And he broadcasts free old time shows as well. Check out the site because I think there is probably something there for everyone & I did add it as one of our links in the column to the right.

HELPING THE VET WITH GLEESON’S RABIES SHOT THIS MORNING >>>>>>>>

A week ago we received an email from some RV folks wondering about RV Parks in this area with availability to amenities, etc. Not really being RV Park people & not too familiar with that sort of thing here in this region I forwarded the email on to JERRY up in Benson with a note attached figuring he would know the area better & have the correct info. Well, that was all OK except for one thing!! I addressed the email to Jerry & Sherri. Well, Jerry's wife’s name is not Sherri…….it’s Suzy!!!! With so many RV couples having similar sounding names I'm sure I've got others mixed up as well but that was still no excuse. Needless to say I got a quick response from Jerry & found myself hauled up on the carpet for my mistake. Felt pretty bad so dashed Jerry off a very hasty & not too well thought out response that went something like this:

Yes, I have been known to mix up my Sherri's with my Barrys
And my Bruce's with my Mooses,
But I try to do it right by staying up all night.
And when my Jerry's get mixed with my Larry’s
And my Rick's get mis-taken for Mick’s
I will try not to mix my Doug’s with a belly full of Slugs.
I shall Endeavour to do better but it may not be to the letter,
So whether your a Suzy or a Joe
Or a Billy & a Flo
You have to understand my part
In becoming such a forgetful old tart........10-4!!
(the tart word was an optional sound alike:))

KELLY PICKED UP SOME HOT DOGS ON OUR WAY HOME….. 3 FOR HER 1 FOR ME & 2 FOR GLEESON:))

**For the 4th or 5th consecutive night Live Writer has failed to publish  for me so I am throwing in the sponge on it & going back to the Blogger format because Blogger seems to work OK for me regardless of connection!!  Live Writer has been throwing various error messages out each time & I have then been forced to partially re-do the blog in the Blogger format: each time.  Enough is enough!!  I did follow Ricks instructions on a fix but it didn't seem to last.  I don't have a lot of patience for this sort of thing & especially at night when I'm tired!!!!!!!!!!!**  Too bad because I really liked Live Writer while it worked...............:((

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunk went into a telephone booth and dialed at random.......... "Salvation Army," was the answer."What do you do?" asked the man."We save wicked men and women," came the reply."Okay, save me a wicked woman for Saturday night will ya."

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

BIG WINDS & STORMY SKYS IN THE VALLEY

 

WATCHFUL EYES OVER THE MULE MOUNTAINS

(click on the photographs to enlarge them)

Knew for sure we were definitely in Arizona last night when big walloping wind gusts tried their best to totally re-locate us some distance east of where we presently are.  People in sticks & bricks houses wouldn't be aware of the wind unless they saw branches blowing by but if your in an RV it's akin to being in a wind tunnel.  The rig rocks, the slide awnings flap, & every square corner sets up it's screaming banshee sound.  Needless to say this is not at all very conducive to a good night's sleep.

 

BLACK CLOUDS IN WIND BLUSTERING MORNING

Converging weather fronts brought in a tangled mass of angry looking clouds & the day dawned with a moody determination.  Bright blue sunny days are nice but it takes clouds to give the sky a fuming personality & dark ominous clouds are my fav.  Took some photos & would have taken many more but it was Yoga morning & I couldn't really come up with a good legitimate excuse not to attend my first class this morning.   All the way to the Elfrida Community Center my eyes were on the sky watching Mother Nature's wonders at work.  The cloud shadows & sun splashes on the mountains were inspiring.

SILOUETTED SOUTH END OF THE SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS AT SUNRISE THIS MORNING

Looked to be about a dozen ladies gathered around in a large circle with chairs & mats when we walked in to the Elfrida Community Center at 9 this morning.  David, an instructor from Bisbee welcomed us to the group & it wasn't long & I was seated in a white chair with a purple floor mat at my feet.  I immediately knew I was going to be more comfortable here than the exercise class when David dimmed the lights.  I am not a bright lights kind of guy.  The first minute was spent in a relaxation mode.  Now, this was my kind of exercise.  The instructor had a soft voice as we went through a series of stretches with closed eyes.  The closed eyes part really worked for me because I was able to drift off down memory lane making some now & then comparisons.  My mind took me back 44 years ago to my days in boot camp at a naval base in Canada called Cornwallis.  How different my body now as I sat there in this dimmed room trying to do even the simplest of stretches.  Where once I scrambled up & down 30 foot ropes, drilled for hours on parade grounds, ran for miles on cross country runs, & did a whole host of improbable physical things, I now found it hard to simply bend a knee joint to reach the floor or raise a leg to an even level while in a seated chair.  I was on the floor, on my back, & found that hard.  I was on my stomach & that didn't work well either.  Mashed my face into the purple mat.  The only thing that finally worked for me was when after an hour & a half I heard Yoga instructor David say, "and now for our final move.......:))"

 

ANGRY WIND TOSSED SKYS

Elfrida has a community garden just behind their community hall so after the Yoga class we took a walk over there to have us a look see.  Yes, I was still able to walk after the class.  This plot of garden land is made free to the local people & seeds are provided.  Each person or family is given a tower or in Canada we'd call it a raised bed with screened soil where they can plant their seeds.  Two spacious greenhouses are filled with strawberry plants.  A large earth oven has been built as well as a small pond with seating benches.  We saw rows of onions & a long patch where peanuts had been grown.  A band of roving chickens kept an eye on us as we strolled under an arbor that might have been grapes at one time.  Gourds had grown up along a fence line & were hanging loosely for anyone to pick.  What we thought were corn stalks turned out to be sugar cane.  A Mexican caretaker fellow shoveled soil through a screen in another greenhouse as his boombox belted out Mexican tunes.  We talked with a couple of ladies who had walked over from the Yoga class.  Eve lives here in the valley near McNeal but has property in Nova Scotia as well.  Another lady was visiting from England.

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Wind gusts had picked up in intensity & when we arrived back at the ranch two of our tables were blown over & our Star Choice television satellite dish was on the ground with the dish pointing straight up in the air like a turtle on it's back.  I immediately assumed the worse figuring the electronics in the LMB arm would be shattered & we would never ever be able to watch television again in this lifetime.  Set the tri-pod back up, re-mounted the dish in the high winds, made a few slight adjustments & had Kelly turn on the TV inside.  When I moved the dish slightly & saw Oprah Winfreys face fill the screen I knew that all would be right with the world again because Kelly would have her Oprah show back.  Whewwwww, close call for me!!  I then staked the tri-pod legs to the ground & suspended a heavy jug of water under the tri-pod center for added weight.  I then re-positioned the car close to the dish to act as a wind break.  It's nearly 7 p.m. now & so far so good.

DARK CLOUDS OVER THE GLEESON MOUNTAINS

Rest of the afternoon was spent inside because every time we stepped out the door we were practically blown right off our feet into the next county.  We occasionally have strong winds in Ontario but they are not like the big winds that sweep out of the mountains in the southwest & come screaming across the desert floor to turn your whole world upside down right quick!!

SAND HILL CRANES LOW TO THE GROUND STRUGGLE AGAINST THE WIND TO-DAY

Later in the afternoon I stood outside & watched as thousands of Sand Hill Cranes struggled against the massive wind gusts on the way back from their feeding grounds at the north end of the valley.  They were heavy with the days intake & at times were motionless in the sky only to be pushed back by the winds.  They reminded me of salmon struggling upstream against the onslaught of relentless rushing waters.  Great flocks of birds were down low to the ground trying to escape the wind shears.  They came low over the ranch house & dropped even lover as they hugged the ground heading for their nightly roosts another 2 miles south of here.  It's dark now as I'm typing this & yet I can hear them overhead trying to get home.  Usually they are all back well before dark.....but, not to-night.  I'm sure there will be some for which there will be no sunrise.............

ANOTHER 2 MILES & THEY WILL BE HOME

And welcome to new bloggers &  friends JEAN and RAY from Gleeson Arizona and their website QUIET COUNTRY CREATIONS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I once had a job in an Orange Juice  factory, but I got canned..... I couldn't concentrate.

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