KINDA LIKE GRAND CENTRAL STATION AROUND HERE TO DAY

Pheebs & I usually slip outside every morning around 4 a.m.  Me to do a little stargazing while Pheebs tends to business.  Always have to dress warm because desert night’s are cold.  PJ’s, housecoat, & slippers work just fine.  This mornings temp was 43F.  Later in the day we nearly made it to 70.

Last load of crushed stone a couple months ago came at 8:05 a.m in the morning.  Fella said on the phone Monday our truck load of stone would be here first thing this morning.  I was outside at 7:45 & had the gates open wide.  Positioned my wheelbarrow nearby & stood at attention with my shovel at the ready.  Focused my eyes down the road & waited.  The truck came at 11:10.
 
Our screen door guy, Ted from North Ranch  came about 10 minutes after the gravel truck guy left & we now have a quality built  screen door hanging on the back of our house.  Not a perfect fit but that’s not the fault of the door, it’s the old crooked cowboy house.  Just like an aging grizzled cowpoke himself, it has a few twists, bends & gnarls.  Might be able to close up some of the door gaps with a few layers of weather stripping.  Ted’s coming back in a few weeks to fix up a little soffit problem under one of our eaves.  Nice to have someone who knows what they are doing.  Ted’s a retired police officer.

 <<< TED FITS THE DOOR
This 3/8 inch crushed stone is sooooooooo much nicer & easier to work with than our first load of 1/2 inch stone a couple months ago.  Too bad we have two different sizes to blend together now but not much we can do about it.  Only took about a half dozen wheelbarrow loads of stone to put my right leg pain right back up there in the higher numbers again.  So disappointing.
 
THIS 3/8 STONE IS JUST SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE 1/2 INCH STONE…KELLY, PHEEBS & GLENDA FROM ‘CASITA ESCAPES’
A couple honks at the gate told us the Fed-Ex driver was here with a roll of rubber underlay for that big mat in our living room.  Pheebs won’t keep bunching it up now.  An hour later UPS was out front with a new set of Skype headphones for Kelly.  Her old headset was no longer working.  And somewhere in this Grand Central Station kind of a day, Kelly managed to install a new battery in my Toshiba Satellite A505 laptop.  It had come in the mail Monday.  Good thing the roofers didn’t come today or we would have been swamped.  Marteen, our fence builder did show up though to load up an old swamp cooler we didn’t want.   
 
KELLY WORKS ON DEER PARK LODGE REGISTRATIONS FOR THE COMING SEASON…WITH HER NEW SKYPE HEADSET…COOL:))
A week or so ago we had an email from Glenda over at CASITA ESCAPES.  They were winding up a month long stay in Zion Canyon & were heading on down our way with a short stop in Sedona.  Wondered if we were up for an overnight stay & we said, sure, come on down.  Glenda & Jeff rolled in around 4 o’clock this afternoon & set up in our side yard.  Friendly full timing RV folks.  Pheebs was so happy to have another doggy Pal to play with & she got along with Keira just fine.  And, a pussy cat too:)) 

SNUGLY TUCKED AWAY IN OUR SIDE YARD
   


They have the neatest satellite dish.  Just plug it into power & the satellite whizzes, whirs, & twirls slowly around until it finds & locks onto the satellite automatically.  Neat-O, now why didn’t we get one like that years ago. Could have saved ourselves a whole lot of aggravation for sure!! 

 
NO, THAT IS NOT A BBQ JEFF IS STANDING OVER, IT’S THEIR AUTOMATIC SATELLITE FINDING DEVICE

JUST PLUG IT IN & OFF IT GOES TO FIND THE SATELLITE
Whenever company comes it’s always a great opportunity to grab a yummy Pizza Supreme from the CONGRESS DEPOT.  With the late afternoon temps dropping it was good to slip into the house & sit ourselves down around our dining room table & dig in.  Glenda & Jeff are early to bed folks similar to Kelly & I so as soon as the Pizza was wolfed down, it was nighty night for everybody.

Judy, over at TRAVELS WITH EMMA will be undergoing hip surgery in the next few days & Nurse Ratchet has already traveled 2,009 miles to be with her in the difficult days ahead. Judy, a fulltiming RVer, volunteers at many wildlife refuges around the country. Currently in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, Judy is our ‘go to’ person for bird photo identifications here in Blogland. If it has a feather on it, Judy knows what it is:))
 
GROANER’S CORNER:))  A teen-aged boy with spiked hair, nose ring and baggy clothes was overheard telling a friend...
"I don't really like to dress like this, but it keeps my parents from dragging me around everywhere with them."
-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS -https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

WOOD FENCE IS DONE, MORE CRUSHED STONE ON THE WAY, & SAYING GOODBYE TO A NEIGHBOR

Busy week coming up.  Our roofer guy dropped off 7 bundles of roofing material this morning & hopes to be back Tuesday or Wednesday.  Said the job will definitely be finished this week.

 

THIS IS THE SECTION OF ROOF TO BE DONE & THESE SHINGLES WILL ALL BE COMING OFF 

We have company coming from Rochester NY a week from today so we have things to tidy up around here.  Motorhome needs a run, a spiff up, tanks attended to & set up in ‘living mode’ .  Kelly brought the last post & rails back from Wickenburg today so I was finally able to finish up the wood fence project.

WOOD FENCE IS NOW DONE

Gravel truck coming in the morning with a big load of red crushed stone to finish off my gravel project around the house.  That ought to keep me busy with my shovel & wheelbarrow for a few days.  Today I began by removing some of the half inch gravel from some places & using it to widen our parking area.  The gravel we have coming Tuesday is a smaller three eights size & that will go into the places I removed gravel from today.  I will also spread it completely around the house & that will help keep inside floors cleaner.  I feel three eights crushed stone is nicer to walk on than half inch.  Lot of extra work, but that’s the way it is.

   

REMOVED HALF INCH STONE IN SOME AREAS & WILL REPLACE WITH THREE EIGHTS INCH STONE

We lost our good neighbor Bud today.  No, Bud didn’t die, but he did pack up & move to Oklahoma.  Met Bud last March & he kept any eye on our place over the summer.  By the time we arrived in November, Bud was already over in California working a job till just after Christmas.  He returned a couple days ago just long enough to pack up all his belongings in a U-Haul trailer & head for Oklahoma City.  He is starting a ranch job in Texas shortly & will not be back to Congress.  Bud didn’t own the place beside us so we don’t know what will become of it.  Bud was a good neighbor.

 

SAYING GOOD-BYE TO OUR NEIGHBOR BUD THIS MORNING

I don’t know how we forgot to bring the Jeep’s rear seat with us but we did.  Maybe has something to do with the fact we took the rear seat out of the Jeep just days after we bought it back in June of 06.  ‘Out of sight out of mind’ as they say.  For sure I will have ‘jeep seat’ on my ‘things to pack’ list for this Fall’s southwest return!!

ALTHOUGH WE HAVE A 4 WHEEL DRIVE JEEP, SOFT SANDY WASHES LIKE THIS ALWAYS GIVE ME SOME CONCERN

I miss my Bayfield country road drives.  Readers will remember the many drives Pheebe & I often take when back in Ontario for the summer.  Throw a couple cameras in the Jeep, crank up some nice ambient music & away we would go for a few hours cruising the back country roads just totally enjoying the fine days & lovely scenery.  I needed a flat bottomed shovel today so Pheebs & I snagged the Jeep & headed off to Yarnell.  Just like old times.  I miss my relaxing solitary drives.

CAN YOU SEE THE LARGE SLEEPING FISH LIKE ELEPHANT STONE SNAIL

Closest hardware store is a short 20 minute scenic drive away in the little town of Yarnell.  Highway 89 climbs 2,500 feet in 4 miles up the side of the Weaver mountains.  This is an exhilarating drive on a great piece of cliff hugging highway.  It is one of those stretches of road one pays close attention to, either ascending or descending the mountain.  The ‘Yarnell Hill’ is known to motorcyclists far & wide.  It has claimed many of them over the years.

  

Didn’t take Pheebs & I long to round up our stuff at the Yarnell hardware store & on the way home we stopped at the Arrowhead Roadhouse just outside of Congress for a big mess of bacon & eggs.  Like I said, it had been a long time since being out for a drive by myself so I just had to celebrate with a good old greasy breakfast.   

SUNDAY WAS A FINE DAY FOR A DESERT WALK

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Old people shouldn't eat health foods. They need all the preservatives they can get!!

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS -https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

ANOTHER GREAT JOSTLING JEEP RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT MOUNTAINS

A Sunday morning gray overcast sky saw the Bayfield Bunch creeping across the desert floor.  Had to keep our eyes on the dark moody looking clouds.  Didn’t want to get ourselves caught out there in a rain.

This mornings Jeep mission was to find a desert road leading through a canyon in the mountains west of our place.  From experience, we knew there had to be a way through there because desert roads & trails lead everywhere.  Our first attempt, through a gate off highway 71, led us on a willy nilly winding trail that finally dead ended us a few miles west at highway 93.  Backtracked to 71 & headed in closer to Congress & slipped back out into the desert through another gate.  This time with much better success.

KELLY CHECKS OUT A ROUGH SPOT AHEAD

 

THESE ‘DESERT BROOMS’ LEFT SOME NICE PIN STRIPING ON THE JEEP

Winding our way through the cactus we knew we had been on that particular trail before.  We’re getting to be quite familiar with the terrain in that area.  Easy to get lost because of all the roads & trails & yet it’s not easy to get lost as long as you pay attention to all the surrounding mountains.  Mountains tops, all different, make excellent reference points no matter how turned around one gets.  If someone went out there on a foggy day they would simply get lost forever.

WE CAME ACROSS ANOTHER DESERT BONE YARD

  

YEP, I THINK IT’S A TYRANNOSAURUS REX DINOSAUR SKULL ALRIGHT

Made our way northwest in the direction of ‘House Rock’ again, only this time we were looking for a rough looking sandy road just south of House Rock we had spotted last week.  We knew the road headed in the direction of the canyon pass we were looking for & sure enough, we found the road.

SHADES OF LONE PINE CALIFORNIA’S ALABAMA HILLS HERE

  

STOPPED ALONG THE WAY FOR A LITTLE ROCK SCRAMBLE

And, here again is one of the main reasons we like the southwest so much.  Soon as we clambered onto that canyon pass road we began gaining altitude & even a slight change in altitude here in the southwest means a change in landscape, flora & fauna.  Within minutes we noticed the changes occurring around us as we drove into yet again a different world.  Rock colors changed, Teddy Bear Chollas appeared & we were in the land of tall Saguaros again.  The rough road bent & twisted it’s way through gulley's, rock cuts, & scenic rocky ridges.  Not a land for two wheel drive low slung cars, but a land for little Jeep Wranglers for sure:))

 

TEDDY BEAR CHOLLAS ON THE RIGHT ARE ABOUT THE VERY MUCH MOST BADDEST CACTUS ONE CAN TANGLE WITH…VERY, VERY, PAINFUL BARBS & I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE

We both felt the excitement (Pheebs too) of seeing something totally new again as we made our way into a beautifully serene Sonoran valley with views stretching easily away for 30 miles or more.  Distant mountains on distant horizons stirred the imagination.  Our morning cloud cover had lifted & sunlight bathed the greening desert landscape in warm colors.  And then Kelly spotted something man made.

 

SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO OPEN A FEW COWBOY GATES ALONG THE WAY

In the valley distance amidst a sea of desert greenery the sun glinted on something shiny.   It was the small tell tale sign of a windmill & that windmill became our new destination.  Soon, the road came to a fork where it branched left & right.  Right would take us in the direction of the windmill so that was where we headed.  Next time back in this valley we will take the fork to the left.  Our neighbor Bud has told us of a lost town he once came upon out here.  I don’t know if Bud was smoking something funny at the time but it’s hard to imagine an old town out in this valley anywhere.  But then again, not too much surprises us anymore about what can be found out here in this still wild & almost untouched land.  We will be back to look for that town for sure, whether it’s there or not.  Bud even said it has streets.  Shades of the Lost Dutchman Mine here methinks.

 

GOT ANOTHER ONE FOR YA MIKE:)) 

We could hear the working of the whirring windmill as soon as we stepped out of the Jeep.  The canyon’s stiff breeze had us watching the blades whizzing around.  With it’s tail guide it swung back & forth scooping every bit of air it could from the gusting winds.  It’s fast paced whirring had a slightly ear catching metallic sound as the blades sliced through the crisp air.  No cattle around & the water trough was filled with clear cold spring water.  Careful where you step, the cows must have just left.  Pheebe loves cows & ran around frantically trying to find where they had gone. 

   

What a splendid day it had turned out to be & it was just the magic elixir I needed to pull me out of the doldrums these past few days. (one of the possible reasons for those doldrums is in my last paragraph)

NO PICTURES PLEASE

WELL OK, JUST ONE…………….

Walking, hiking, jeeping, bicycling,  ATVing, horseback riding or whatever way one can get themselves into these kinds of places just has to be the best of ever for sure.  The beauty one surrounds themselves with just never stops.  With every turn of the steering wheel, with every hiking step or hoof beat, there is something new to see.  Something new to feel, & something new to hear even if it is just the riveting silence of the canyon winds.  Took 152 photos today….can you tell I’m feeling better about things:))  We were home around 1 o’clock & spent the afternoon doing laundry.  Now, how’s that for an afternoon come down to a great morning eh.  But it’s okay, I don’t mind doing laundry:))    

HEADING HOME AFTER ANOTHER GREAT 5 HOUR JOSTLING JEEP RIDE

With so many miles traveled & so many of those miles traveled on high speed Interstates, tires are probably one of the biggest worries for RV’ers. Reading Ivan’s post this morning, GETTING 'TIRED' OF THIS I was reminded of that. Luckily, we’ve never had a flat on an RV but we’ve had two flats on our Jeep. Same tire twice, a year apart, but both within just a few miles of each other. FLAT TIRE 1 & FLAT TIRE 2.

WE ARE NEVER ALONE IN THE SONORAN DESERT 

Brief update on my legs problem. First, thanks to readers thoughtfulness for offering to send me Tylenol. None of the pain meds I’ve tried have really helped, including 800mg Ibuprofen. If I don’t move my right leg I have no pain. The pain & stiffness is not constant nor is it always the same. Been sitting watching TV a fair bit the last few days & my legs are feeling a bit better & I am cautiously optimistic. Makes me once again suspect a torn ligament or muscle problem. I have not gone back on the Crestor Cholesterol drug & have no intentions of doing so. Also, after about 13 years, I finally dumped my ‘Arthrotec’ arthritis medication & will not be going back on that either. Also totally stopped another prescribed pill called Zopaclone which was an aid for sleeping. When I first started taking that last summer it was a big help to me but I reached a point where it wasn’t working anymore & I would have had to increase it to get the same affect. I have an addictive nature (alcohol & nicotine years ago) so no way was I going to get myself tangled up in that dependency route again. I just have to accept the fact a ‘good night’s sleep’ is a thing of the past & that’s the way it is. So, in a nutshell, I am totally free of any prescription drugs & feel much better about that. I will just deal with the leg & sleep problems day to day & that’s it. However, stopping meds cold turkey has it’s consequences such as bouts of depression being one of the temporary side effects.  Been experiencing that since stopping those prescriptions last week & it’s been a bit of a roller coaster.  However, I feel the ride leveling out & I’m hoping today was a turning point in getting myself back on track again……:))

I JUST NEVER GET TIRED OF THIS LANDSCAPE

GROANER’S CORNER:)) A young mother finds out she is pregnant again, and she tells the good news to anyone who will listen. One day when the woman and the boy are out shopping, a friend of the mother asks the little boy if he was excited about the new baby.
"Oh, yes!" the little tyke says. And having overheard some of his parents' private conversations, he adds, "And I know what we are going to name it, too. If it's a girl we're going to call it Mary, and if it's another boy we're going to call it Quits."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS -https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

---

 

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AWWWWW PHOOEY

Ever write a post & then just say, “Awwwww Phooey” & dump the whole thing.  Tonight’s topic seemed interesting enough to me, but by the time I reached the end it just didn’t hold my attention anymore.  So, ‘Poof’ it was gone.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll get some words put together & snag a few photos somewhere.  I have a feeling 2013 may very well turn out to be a bit of a blogging challenge………………….. 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Middle age is a time in everyone's life when actions creak louder than words.

 ------------------------

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS -https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com