OH YA, I FORGOT:((

With rain still pounding on the roof in the night, I woke up thinking, 'I've got a lot of odd pieces of lumber stored away here, and maybe it would be a good idea for me to quickly throw some kind of an Ark together, and load up all the chipmunks, birds, frogs, and bunnies I can.  Of course, with my carpentry skills, we would soon all be up to our necks in deep water, clinging to scraps of wood and floating debris. Luckily, the rain finally stopped, and I saw the first slivers of sunshine touch down on the living room floor shortly after 8 a.m.:))  But, oh dear, my in-house weather station said we had 99% humidity.  And then the sun went bye-bye and the rain returned with a big 'Hello'!!

 BETWEEN RAIN SHOWERS I SLIPPED OUT TO THE FRONT YARD LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND SNAPPED OFF A FEW QUICK PICS

A week or so ago, I think I made an incorrect assumption.  I thought the Park owners were maybe (heavy on the maybe) extending White Cedar Drive to Bayfield River Road, giving the Park a third entrance.  With Park owner Adam still digging up the area around the previous owner's house, I think something else is going on, but I am not about to make another assumption about what it is until I know for sure what's happening.  The house had been 'For Sale,' but the for sale sign is gone now.

I know that sometimes in my blog, I probably go on too much about our past RVing days, and I think these past few rainy days have brought on another one of my laments, so bear with me here. Because of my love for the Great American Southwest and the fact that we spent 13 wonderful winters there (four of those years owning a house and property) and mostly boondocking our way around New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Utah, the ache in my heart and my desire to return someday is still with me.  I am reminded daily of our travels when Facebook sends me sites and memories of so many places we had visited in the Southwest, and especially of our time spent in Arizona.  It is uncanny how so many of those sites that Facebook sends, Kelly and I have been to. The memories of our time in those places tug at my heartstrings.  With these rapidly aging days upon me now, I know it is unlikely I will ever see all of our old familiar and favorite beloved places again, but maybe that's best, because without Kelly, Pheebs, Max, Checkers, and little Cora, it just wouldn't be the same, and I think the sadness for me might be too overwhelming.  And yet, I still long to return some day, to see the mountains and the desert landscape with its tall, stately Saguaros.  The clear, starry night sky with its zillions of stars from mountaintop to mountaintop.  The sunrises, the sunsets, the desert campfires.  I long to see the dusty little desert towns we once knew so well.  The camaraderie of fellow RV Bloggers, the friends we made, the twisting and jostling Jeep roads winding their way through the cactus, canyons, and scrub. We spent so many bumpity miles exploring old mine sites, ghost towns, and anything of interest we could find.  And I so much miss our daily morning walks and rock scrambles.  Every morning with the dogs, we were out walking. At our house in Congress, I would listen for the neighbor's roosters in the morning, the sharp calls of the Curvebilled Thrashers and Cactus Wrens outside the door, and the weebling  Gambel's Quails along the fence line.  And although not in Arizona, I do miss our many treks up California's Ghost Mountain in the Blair Valley to the Marshall South homestead.  Always a special feeling place for me.  Today, Facebook tossed me this site... 10 Walkable Towns In Arizona, and when I went down the list, Kelly and I had been to nine out of ten and the tenth one 'Williams' Arizona, we had driven by on I-40 probably half a dozen times while either coming from or going to other parts of Arizona, and especially our house in Congress.  So many stories and so many memories of all these places overwhelm my mind. By the way, you can access all my posts from the 'Blog Archive' gadget on my right-hand sidebar.  90% of our 13 years of RV travels are there, almost from start to definite finish.  Okay, I will try to hold off on any more Southwest laments for a while.  Maybe till the snow flies, when I'm sure at some point I'll not be able to help myself again.

Well, here it is, the last day of August already.  It's unofficially the last day of summer.  Next week, the kids will be back to school. The first few touches of Autumn may begin to appear along the tree lines; nights are already cooler, and on my walk between rain showers this morning I was accompanied by tiny grasshoppers and serenaded by crickets along the roadside and in the fields.  The days are already noticeably shorter, and night skies are gradually becoming a touch clearer in the cooler air.  It will soon be time to get my list out for loading up the RV and...................Oh ya, I forgot:(( 

 TURNING ONTO MY WALKING ROAD THIS MORNING, I SPOTTED THIS FAMILY OF 12 WILD TURKEYS

 WHEN THEY SAW ME THEY HEADED FOR THE SAFETY OF A FOREST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD AND I PATIENTLY WAITED UNTIL ALL THE GUYS SAFELY MADE IT ACROSS

Al's Music Box:: Cry Me A River by Julie London.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man was driving to work when a truck ran a stop sign, hit his car broadside, and knocked him out cold. A passerby pulled him from the wreckage and revived him.  He began a terrific struggle and had to be tranquilized by the medics. Later, when he had calmed down, they asked him why he had struggled so. He said, a bit sheepishly, "I remember the impact, then nothing. I woke up on a concrete slab in front of this huge, flashing sign. Turns out somebody was standing in front of the 'S' on the 'Shell' sign."

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I went skydiving today for the first time.
This guy strapped himself to me, we jumped out of the plane. As we plummeted, he said, "So how long have you been an instructor?"

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Just remember: when you go to court, you are trusting your fate to twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty!!

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If you hold the soul of your foot up to your ear, you can hear the sound of your hip dislocating.

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A lumberjack told me he'd cut down 27,352 trees.  "How do you know you cut down so many"? I inquired.  "Easy, I keep a log".

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At the height of a political corruption trial, the prosecuting attorney attacked a witness. "Isn't it true," he bellowed, "that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?"

The witness stared out the window, as though he hadn't heard the question. "Isn't it true that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?" the lawyer repeated. The witness still did not respond. Finally, the judge leaned over and said, "Sir, please answer the question."  "Oh," the startled witness said, "I thought he was talking to you."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery