JEEP RUN TO THE GATES OF MULESHOE RANCH

THE JEEP GANG MEETS IN SANDY’S RESTAURANT PARKING LOT IN SUNIZONA, ARIZONA…RAY, JEANIE, CAROL, ROSANNA, KELLY & JEEP

We met our 4 Jeeping Pals Jeanie & Ray & Rosanna & Carol in the parking lot of Sandy’s restaurant in sunny Sunizona this morning at 10.   Arizona highways 191 & 181 meet here & it is a good jumping off spot for Jeep trips in the area.  Sandy’s is a ‘new owner’ restaurant with a growing ‘good food’ reputation.  Sandy’s also has an RV Park attached.  Now, how convenient is that:))

It was a beautiful morning for an outing with warm temps & a big blue Arizona sky.  We formed up our little convoy with Jeanie & Ray leading, we the Canadians in the center, with Rosanna & Carol riding shotgun in the rear.

Today’s destination was the MULESHOE RANCH CONSERVANCY AREA northwest of Willcox Arizona.  This is a 49,120 acre tract of land that just goes on forever & ever through rolling hills of yellowing grass.   Beaver Tail Cactus are in abundance everywhere.  Not a lot of trees but a generous helping of Soapstone Yuccas & Agave plants.  Beyond the rolling hills are distant mountains towering above the horizon all the way around us.  This was new territory for us so my mind was busy scrambling through it’s mapping memory banks trying to put names to the various mountain groups.  

The road was dusty & a bit bump infested in spots with a few sections of nasty washboard trying it’s best to turn the Jeep sideways.  We never hit any stretches where 4 wheel drive was required & after a couple hours of scenic driving we reached the trailhead for the Muleshoe Ranch.  And, the Ranch was closed today!! 

We determined from the reader boards at the trail head that from this point on the road became rugged & only 4 wheel drive vehicles were allowed.  In fact, drivers are required to sign a register stating name, type of vehicle & purpose of visit before proceeding further into the Muleshoe range. 

We decided, because of the time of day, we would return again in two weeks after getting a much earlier start to the day.  Apparently there is lot to see once the Muleshoe Range is entered including a movie location from the latest TOMBSTONE MOVIE starring Kurt Russell a few years back.

We decided this trailhead area was a good spot for lunch so without further ado out came the snacks & we all stood around by the Jeeps kibitzing & munching our oats & hay.  Then, it was back into the Jeeps & back out the long winding dusty road heading for home. 

 

NOTICED CAROL SEEMED TO HAVE EYES FOR OUR LITTLE ORANGE MONKEY PAL

I THINK THESE TWO GOT SOMETHING GOING ON HERE:))

HERE’S ROSANNA BELTING OUT A FEW BARS OF ‘THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER’    :))

 

IT WAS KIND OF A STAND UP JEEP BUNCH LUNCH TODAY

At a fork in the road we parted with our Jeepster Pals as they headed for Benson & we headed back down to Willcox.  Kelly wanted to stop in at the Bonita Bean Company located south of Wilcox so that was our destination on the way home.   Grabbed a couple sacks of beans.  One is a 9 bean soup mix & the other one is Pinto beans.  Kelly is a big bean person & I am just kind of a little mashed potatoes & gravy guy:))

 

PICKING UP A FEW SACKS OF BEANS AT THE BONITA BEAN COMPANY SOUTH OF WILLCOX, ARIZONA

It was late afternoon when we arrived back at the rig & tonight I have been outside cracking off some pics of the full Moon coming over the Swiss Helm Mountains.  It’s late now so I probably won’t do all the photos tonight & will save some for Thursday night’s blog.

 

CRACKING OFF A FEW FULL MOON SHOTS AFTER SUPPER (MOON PICS IN THURSDAY’S BLOG)

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A research group on sea mammals captured a rather odd porpoise on one of its trips. Its peculiarity was that it had feet. After they had photographed and measured the poor thing, they prepared to set it free.

"Wait a minute," said one of the researchers, "Wouldn't it be a kindness if our ship's doctor here were to amputate the feet so that it would be like other porpoises?" "Not on your life," exclaimed the doctor,

"That would be defeeting the porpoise."

--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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 A BOSE KINDA DAY:))

 

OUR LITTLE DESERT PAINTER IS AT IT AGAIN

At 7 o’clock tonight it was still warm enough to have our rig’s door open & that is unusual for this area at this time of year….but we’ll take it for sure:))

Congrats to Renee way up there in British Columbia for making it all the way through my 655 picture BISBEE ARIZONA PHOTO ALBUM last night.  You sure do have a lot of patience & I am happy you enjoyed the photos:))  I should add here that I purposely randomized all the pictures to follow no set patterns or themes.  Thought that might make it a little more interesting.  But boy oh boy did that ever chew up a bunch of Verizon bandwidth on us.  Two thirds of a Gigglebyte.  Guess I won’t be doing that again anytime soon:((

Some may remember those bizarre looking vehicles around Bisbee called, ‘Bisbee Cars.’  Well, figured I had better get with the program & get rolling on my own Bisbee Car:))

    

There are rumblings in the wind we may be off on another Jeep tour Wednesday with our 2 Cochise County Jeeping Pals, Jeanie & Ray & Rosanna & her Mother, Carol.  Have I mentioned Carol is 80+ but wouldn’t miss getting bounced around in the front seat of Rosanna’s little red Jeep for anything.  What a sport she is:))  No idea where we’ll be going but I’m sure it will be somewhere kinda rough & somewhere very scenic:))

We have a small Kit Fox coming in for water & Kelly has seen him twice.  We keep half a dozen water dishes out for the birds & the little Fox has been squeaking through the fence & coming in for water.  Hope to catch him with my 300mm lens.

KELLY RELAXES WITH HER BOOK TODAY

Today we welcome a couple new blog Followers.  Ross from MAGIC BUS has climbed aboard as well as Terri Lee.  Appreciate your interest folks:))

TOY TIME AT OUR HOUSE >>>>

I have blogged before about what I think about this business of wheeling & dealing with people so I won’t get into all that again except to say it is not my nature to haggle & argue with someone over the price of anything.  Hate it!!  However, we have a member of the family here who does quite well at that sort of thing.  Kelly noticed Best Buy had a sale on something called a Bose Sounddock Portable Digital Music System last week.  We had been wanting a small portable something for a long time to replace our ailing old boom box.  This Bose player is designed to work with our IPod Nano & how great was that because I would now have my complete music library on a portable external speaker system. 

NO, IT’S NOT A TELEVISION….IT’S A SOUND SYSTEM, & ‘WOW’ WHAT GREAT SOUND AT THAT:))))))

Talked it over & decided to go have a look at it last Sunday in Sierra Vista.  Kelly phoned Sunday morning to confirm the sale was still on & the clerk said, ‘nope, the sale ended Saturday.  What!!!!  Undaunted, Kelly phoned back & got another clerk who told her the same thing & wouldn’t budge on the price but offered to talk to the manager.  Came back on the phone 30 seconds later & said the manager said, no!!  We figure he just put the phone down & never went anywhere to ask anyone anything.  Kelly’s third call went right to the store manager himself & within 20 seconds his words to her were, “Yes, I will give you the sale price, come on over & pick it up.”  In fact when we got there he gave us a price even better than the sale price so it was a done deal &  now you know what we were doing banging around in the Best Buy store in Sierra Vista Sunday:)) 

 

From my IPod today I chose 53 songs from my 70’s Playlist & we were soon relaxing outside listening to the likes of the Eagles, America, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Bee Gee’s, JJ Cale along with Emmerson Lake & Palmer plus many, many, others.  Thanks to Kelly’s perseverance & determination we now finally have a quality portable outside sound system. 

ALWAYS LOTS OF INTERESTING LOOKING CHARACTERS AROUND & THAT IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((   I just got off the phone with a friend in Minnesota. She said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling. The temperature is dropping below zero and the north wind is increasing. Her husband has done nothing but look through the kitchen window. She says that if it gets much worse, she may have to let him in!!

--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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.

FINALLY COMPLETED THE BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM

I HAVE PUT THE PICASA ALBUM LINK IN TONIGHT’S POST FOR THE BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM BUT YOU WILL NEED A COUPLE THERMOS’S OF HOT COFFEE TO KEEP YOU AWAKE THROUGH THE WHOLE ALBUM………

Our days are slowly warming up with temps running into the low 70’s.  I’ve always figured mid 70’s to be a perfect all round temperature.  When temps get into the mid to high 80’s & A/C becomes a factor, it is no longer a perfect weather day for me.  Being trapped inside by the heat with A/C running is just as bad as being trapped inside by the cold with a furnace running.  Same entrapment, same result!!

 

BISBEE ARIZONA & IT’S CHARACTERS

I have finally managed to scramble around through my thousands of photos & gather together most of the pictures I have taken in Bisbee Arizona the past few years.  No easy feat I can assure you & I know I haven’t found them all but will add to the photo album as I come across them.  I suggest if you go to the album site you click on ‘Slideshow’ & then press your F11 key to go full screen.   Slideshow can be canceled any time by scrolling mouse to bottom & clicking the X on the pop up control menu.  Viewing time for each slide can be adjusted on this panel as well &  I would suggest turning off the captions function.  Now, let me warn you….. this is a very large photo album & will not be of interest to most people but for those of you living in Bisbee or with an interest in Bisbee & surrounding area you might just get a kick out of this album & chances are, you will see someone you know:))   Click here…. BISBEE ARIZONA PHOTO MEMORIES.

On a recent trip over to Sierra Vista (not Sunday) we took a different route home because we were curious to see if we could find a piece of property that a blog reading couple had purchased recently near Sierra Vista.  We first came into email contact with these folks 2 years ago while boondocked along the San Pedro River.  We have never met them, but received an email awhile back saying they had decided to purchase this property as a result of, in part, following our blog.  They are in California now but emailed directions for us to drop around & have a look at their new property.  Great views for a full 360 degrees.  They will be able to watch the sun rise over the Mule Mountains & watch it set over the Huachucas.  Pretty darn nice I’d say:))

YEP, NICE PIECE OF PROPERTY ALRIGHT

Some readers have suggested using Blogger’s ‘reader’ as a way to get some semblance of order for all the blogs randomly floating around on my desktop here.  As usual, with anything new, I’m having difficulty gaining a handle on the concept but I guess the light will come on any time now………

The Bayfield Bunch welcomes our latest blog supporter GYMONR to our once again growing list of Blog Followers.  Thanks Guy:))

I’m having quite a time with my IPod Nano & the 1,054 pieces of music I have crammed inside it so far.  The tiny flute players aren’t so bad but it’s those big brass Tubas & long wooden Cello’s I’m having the most trouble fitting in.  Jimi Hendrix keeps trying to get out & for sure I know I heard Jerry Lee Lewis banging on some piano keys in there this morning.  Tis quite a little device & I’m sure I will have to take some Apple night classes just to find out how to turn the volume down.  I think the hardest part for me with all this new technology now is my impatience with myself to stay on the learning curve.  There never was a time when I could have breezed through all these learning technologies but there was a time when I at least had enough patience with myself to quietly work away at something for awhile without wanting to boot it into orbit after 30 seconds!!!!  Guess I just have to try harder at accepting this inevitable aging process & all the little nasty's that go with it:((

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

The blacksmith immediately began his instructions to the lad, "When I take the shoe out of the fire, I'll lay it on the anvil; and when I nod my head, you hit it with this hammer."

The apprentice did just as he told. Now he's the village blacksmith.

--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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.

A TIRING DAY IN SIERRA VISTA

We are sooooooo close to going over our new 10Gig Verizon limit tonight at midnight that I am only including one photo in the blog.  After 12 we begin anew for another month.  I didn’t think using two laptops would have jumped our Gigabytes this much…..but it sure has!!  We may have to consider Millenicom’s 20Gig plan after all.

Had hoped to have my Bisbee photo album online for tonight’s blog but there are still a few pics I am looking for.  If I can find them in the morning I will post the Bisbee album link Monday night.

Thanks to RICK for his helpful tip on the problem I was having with the double watermark on all my photos.  Followed what he suggested to do & it worked.  Thanks Buddy:))

A big welcome to acwhite for signing on as our latest blog Supporter.   Muchas Gracias my friend:))

It was late afternoon before we arrived home from Sierra Vista today & boy was I bushed.  Hiking mountain trails is sure a heck of a lot easier than hiking through shopping aisles in the big box stores.  Kelly wanted to have a look in the Marshall store for some new T-Shirts for me.

I embarrassed myself last Sunday when we walked into the Visitor’s Center at Ramsey Canyon.  The nice lady at the door was trying her best to have a conversation with me but I noticed her eyes kept glancing down at my chest.  Figured I must have left some breakfast on my T-shirt but no, it was the huge ragged hole right in the middle of my T-shirt that had caught her attention.  I’m sure she thought I was a homeless person wanting to use the bathroom or something.  I knew right then & there the jig was up & I was just going to have to finally part with all my favorite old, but ripped & torn, Eisenhower era T-shirts. 

I spent half an hour in Sierra Vista’s Marshal store parking lot while Kelly went in looking for sales.  I am now the proud owner of 5 brand spanking new T-shirts.  Oh dear, what is to become of me & my ragged ways!!

From Marshals it was over to Best Buy where I got dragged around a bit up & down a few aisles.   But, that wasn’t so bad because they got guy’s stuff in there too & lots of confusing wizmo gizmo gadgets of which most is so miniaturized I can hardly even see the darn stuff.  Got myself so grumpy I worked me up an appetite in no time!! .

Walked ourselves over to a place called the Texas Roadhouse.  Never been to one before & I must say I really enjoyed my Crispy Country Chicken & mashed potatoes smothered in gravy with a side order of apple sauce.  Nice place but waaaaay too noisy for me.  Seems to come with the territory where large masses of humans gather I guess.  Background music was way too loud & I figure maybe people were yammering extra loud trying to talk over the loud music.  Anyway, food was good but I was sure glad to get my ears on out of there!!  Walked ourselves back to Best Buy for another grueling half hour.  And what did we finally end up buying in there?  Well, I’m not sure because I’m too darned scared to look in the bag!!

Last stop of the day was Fry’s grocery store & by that time I was just hanging off the shopping cart wishing I was anywhere but where I was but soon I was somewhere I wanted to be & the day just didn’t seem so bad after all.  Now how was that for a big darn long run-on sentence…10-4:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A man walks into a bar, sits down, and orders a drink.

The bartender gives him his drink, accompanied by a bowl of peanuts. To his surprise, a voice comes from the peanut bowl. "You look great tonight!" it said. "You really look fantastic... And that after shave is just wonderful!"

The man is obviously a little confused, but tries to ignore it. Realizing he has no cigarettes, he wanders over to the cigarette machine. After inserting his money, another voice emits from the machine. "You jerk. Oh my gosh you stink. Do you know, you're almost as ugly as your mother."

By now, the man is extremely perplexed. He turns to the bartender for an explanation. "Ah yes sir," the bartender responds, "The peanuts are complimentary, but the cigarette machine is out of order."

--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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.

REPOSTING MY ‘BLOGGER’S ANONYMOUS’ 12 STEP PROGRAM:))

ALL OF TONIGHT’S BLOG PHOTOS ARE FROM OUR BOONDOCKING SPOT AT MITRY LAKE NORTH OF YUMA ARIZONA A FEW YEARS AGO

Another mighty fine Arizona weather day & we took full advantage of it by stretching out in our loungers & reading.

Well, Ivan sure boggled my mind this morning (I’m easily boggled) with a list of withering info about his super multi-functionally talented cell phone.  I just figured a phone was a phone was a phone….period.  Apparently not & who knew!!  What’s next, an anti gravitational application to enable people to lift people off the ground & float them over tree tops…..hmmmmm, I wonder:))

MOTORMOUSE, MAX & CHECKERS……CHECKERS IS THAT BLACK DOT IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER OF THE PARKING LOT BELOW – SHE DIDN’T FEEL LIKE CLIMBING UP THE HILL

    

It seems Kelly & I are spending more & more time on our computers reading more & more blogs these days.  We seem to get caught up in link hopping from one blog to another.  Kelly, on her laptop a few feet away will turn to me & say, “did you read ??’s blog this morning” & I might say “not yet” & if it’s a new blog I’ll say, “send me over that bloggers link.”  I have sooooo many blogs on my desktop right now that I am long overdue for professional help to keep this all straight!! (where’s Dr Phil when you need him) I lose track of people’s blogs, forget to follow through on questions whether through emails or comments & I always have this nagging feeling I have forgotten someone, which in reality….I have:((  I sometimes fear this most enjoyable blogging habit has become an all consuming Monster.   I think it is once again time to repost my 12 steps of Bloggers Anonymous and follow my own advice for a change!!!!!!!!

    

‘BLOGGERS ANONYMOUS’

Step One:  "We admitted we were powerless over Blogging - that our free time has become unmanageable."

Step Two:  "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to a simpler time before computers."

Step Three:  "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Spouses as we understand them."

Step Four:  "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our Blogger thoughts & Blog archives."

Step Five:   "Admitted to our Spouses, to ourselves, & to another Blogger person the exact nature of our blogging woes."

Step Six:  "Were entirely ready to have our Spouse remove all nasty posts from our Blogs."

Step Seven:  "Humbly asked Her/Him to remove our shortcomings, our spell checkers, & our publish buttons"

Step Eight:  "Made a list of all fellow Bloggers we had commented to, and became willing to make amends to them all."

Step Nine:  "Made direct amends to such Bloggers wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them, their Blogs, or their Blog followers ."

Step Ten:  "Continued to take personal written inventory and when we were wrong promptly didn't blog about it."

Step Eleven:  "Sought through humbleness and fear to improve our conscious contact with our Spouse as we understood Her/Him, begging only for knowledge of Her/His will for us and maybe our keyboards back to carry that out."

Step Twelve:  "Having had a Blogger's awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to all fellow Bloggers, and to practice these principles in all our restructured Blogging affairs."    10-4!!

Hi, my names AL & I am a Blogger:))

    

Well, with my love of music I guess it was inevitable that sooner or later I would be dragged into the oh sooooo confusing, but wonderful world of…….Apple.   I now have a purple 5th generation IPod Nano Mossmagator & am in the early stages of total mind boggle at all the things this slippery little wafer thin thing can do.  Kelly downloaded my entire music library into it yesterday & this morning I was able to wiggle, squiggle & contort one of my fingers around on the miniscule buttons enough to actually here, ‘Along The Santa Fe Trail’ by the Sons Of The Pioneers emanating from my Sony headphones.  With that slight bit of encouragement I am now rocketed into Apples Galactic Audio Galaxy.  Wow, seems like only yesterday I remember my Mother, Uncle & Grandpa gathered around the big old floor model Marconi tube radio on a Sunday night listening to Amos n Andy.  And that’s long before any of us at home had ever heard the word…..Television!!

Forgot to mention in Friday’s blog that all the birds I took photos of at the Willcox Community Center were alive & well.  The Heron & a very small owl looked stuffed but they were both very much alive.  Not all the bird photos turned out so I didn’t have the Turkey Vulture & a few others in the post.  Lighting on the stage was very low & I know my photos are all on the ‘soft’ side but sometimes ya just gotta go with what ya got at the time.

And what did we think of the pie we bought from Stouts in Willcox Friday??  Let me just say that south of Bayfield Ontario where we live is a Mennonite/Amish bakery where they make all their own pies from apples right there in their own farm’s orchard.  Without exception, we have never had better pies anywhere than from that Mennonite bakery.  Those ladies know how to do it right:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A child comes home from his first day at school. Mother asks, “What did you learn today?”

The kid replies, “Not enough. I have to go back tomorrow.”

--------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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.