EXERCISE PROGRAM IN THE A.M. & A PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM IN THE P.M.

 

BRIGHT EYES IN THE SUNRISE

At Kelly's Yoga class last week she noticed other programs offered at the Chiricahua Community Health Center & one of those was a beginner's exercise program.  Well, guess where Al ended up this morning with Kelly prodding him through the door of the Elfrida's Community Center.  I knew I was in trouble right off the bat when it was obvious I was the only male there with 8 ladies, floor mats, wide elastic stretching bands, hand weights, & chairs.  I had seen these Senior exercise programs on TV before & now here I was about to become part of one.  So, it is true.  With the passing of the 65 age barrier I have entered into another era of my life.  I have become a Senior.  How did this happen & why did it happen to me!!!!

SOUTH SIDE OF THE RANCH HOUSE’S WRAP AROUND PORCH

Fortunately I had Kelly to lead me around by the hand this morning picking out a floor mat (purple) for me & suggesting what hand weights would be suitable.  I was hoping they would have balloons for weights.    She even brought me a chair for balancing & sitting exercises.  The instructor of course was the youngest person in the room & I of course was the odd man out in the room.  Made sure I got myself in the back row to avoid as much major embarrassment as possible.  The class lasted an hour & at no time did I feel I was doing any of the exercises remotely right.  Just a few short years ago I was smoothly moving through all 108 moves of a complex Taoist Tai Chi program & here I was this morning having trouble with walking on the spot.  Some of the leg twisting & stretching exercises shot pain through both my knees & I found that very discouraging.  My co-ordination was off & I felt like I had bags of sand in my joints.  And, to-morrow morning is my first Yoga class.........oh dear:((

Another free program offered by the Chiricahua group is photography.  Now, that one perked my interest because I'm always willing to learn new & better ways of doing things.  The 2 hour program was held in the Elfrida library at 1 P.M. with 6 people in attendance.  I think small communities always seem to have the nicest people & to-days gathering of shutter bugs was no exception.  I generally use Picasa 3.5 as my photo program but Ray & Jean O'Neal talked of another photo program called Paint.Net 3.5.  Kind of a half way  program between Picasa & Photoshop.  I have already downloaded it & will be taking it for a test drive shortly.

 

THE PHOTO GANG…..MAYBE BY THE END OF THE MONTH I WILL REMEMBER EVERYONE’S NAME

Ray also told me a place nearby called Rattlesnake Crafts which actually made it on to the ‘To-day’ show awhile back.  Sounds like we'll be heading out there soon for a day trip.  Not exactly sure what is all there but I guess that's why we're going to go. 

OLD FARM MACHINERY OR AN ALIEN COUPLE FROM ROSWELL

We are really having to scramble & re-think our on-line internet habits.  We are on a limited 5 GB Verizon Air Card & already we are over the 80% usage mark & we've still got one week to go.  We learned last year to avoid unnecessary downloads & uploads.  No using the web cam with Skype anymore & we don't send or receive large mega gobbling jokes while we're traveling.  I wonder if some of Windows Live Writer applications may be consuming a lot of bytes.  I might have to cut back on the photo album feature, decrease the size of my pics, & just simply upload less photos.  Maybe skip a blog or two which may be a reality sometime in the coming days as we rapidly approach our 5 Gig cap.  We love our air card.......except for the 5 Gigabyte cap!!!!  But, to skip a blog or two is just not acceptable

Welcome to new followers MAC & DIANNA & TRENT & TERESA.  Thanks for following our blog folks:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese.

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

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

A HARROWING MOTORHOME DRIVE OVER MINGUS MOUNTAIN IN NOVEMBER OF 2007

A WINDY STORM TOSSED LAKE HURON ALONG BAYFIELD ONTARIO’S SHORELINE

RV NET is our favorite website for keeping tabs on the pulse of the traveling RV public & it's the place to go with all your RV questions, curiosities, & comments regarding the lifestyle.  Many topics in the forums & any RV problems you have can be answered here by fellow RV folks.  Always people ready to lend a helping hand.  There is no cost to join the site, just register & away you go.  We've been members since 2002. 

ALL THESE BAYFIELD HARBOR BOATS WILL SOON HAVE TO COME OUT OF THE WATER FOR THE WINTER

It was while I was perusing through some of the topics yesterday morning that I came across a post from some folks thinking of buying their first RV. They were trying to decide on what length of an RV to buy.  The fellow mentioned that he didn't want an RV that was too long or it might limit them to certain parks & he didn't want to get into towns or places that were too small to get his RV out of.  He mentioned the MINGUS MOUNTAIN  town of Jerome, Arizona as an example & that immediately reminded me of an accidental wrong turn & harrowing ride we had over Mingus Mountain right smack dab into the narrowed streets of Jerome on November 26th of 2007 with our 33 foot motorhome.  Our blog for that day is HERE & the photos I took while trying to squeeze through the streets of Jerome & still leave some paint on the rig are HERE.  Additional pictures of Jerome, Arizona are HERE.

SQUEEZING THE MOTORHOME THROUGH THE STREETS OF JEROME, ARIZONA

When we think of Autumn we generally thing of falling Autuman leaves, & that's a common thought.........unless you live in a pine forest!!  Before moving here we never thought of pine trees dropping their needles in the fall.  Not all of them of course, but a lot of them.  Always a big huge pine needle clean-up in the sping.  It is windy here to-day & it almost looks like a lite snowfall with all the pine needles falling from the trees.

THE YELLOW PINE NEEDLE  ROAD IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE

Had a few questions about yesterday's Ikea blog & the furniture we bought there for the motorhome.  A resounding 'yes' to the question about whether the furniture has worked out well & do we still like it. 

POANG CHAIR….2008	VERY HAPPY WITH EVERYTHING
THE PAINTING BEGINS	BORREGO SPRINGS 09

ONE PICTURE SHOWS MAX RESTING ON A BIG CHAIR IN THE CORNER….THAT CHAIR FOLDS OUT INTO THE  COMFORTABLE SINGLE BED LITTLE CORA IS SITTING ON

While boondocking east of Sierra Vista last winter we met a fellow on RV Net who worked on the army base at Fort Huachuca.  We called him Sergeant John.   The ‘Sarge’  & his wife Jackie live in the little town of Elfrida.  They are an RV couple & the Sarge’s hobby is his 2 Hudson Hornet cars.  They have traveled to many car rallies over the years & I think John may have been President of the Hudson Hornet Car Club at one time.  The photo album below shows the Sarge’s cars in storage at his home.

View Full Album

It has turned out to be a very windy & gray rainy day but I did manage to slip over to the lake earlier & grab a few photos before the rains returned.

THE FISHING BOATS EVEN STAYED IN HARBOR TO-DAY

A VIEWPOINT AT BAYFIELD’S PIONEER PARK OVERLOOKING LAKE HURON & THE BEACH BELOW

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.

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

SERGEANT JOHN & HIS HUDSON HORNETS

REMEMBER THEM BIG BACK SEATS YEARS AGO:))


We first met Sergeant John back in December last year when Kelly posted a question on the RV Net Forum http://www.rv.net/forum/ about boondocking spots around Sierra Vista Arizona. John responded on the forum saying he lived in the area & worked at nearby Fort Huachuca so new the area well & daily traveled the very road we were presently boondocking near. We corresponded with him back & forth for a bit & John dropped in to see us one Friday afternoon on his way home to Elfrida from Sierra Vista. He extended an invitation for Kelly & I to drop in & see him & his wife after we got settled in our McNeal ranch sitting job. To-day we dropped in & met John again, his lovely wife Jackie, & their cute little dog, Mattie. She's a little peach. THIS 1951 HUDSON HORNET HAS HAS WON MANY AWARDS & APPEARS ON VARIOUS CAR WEBSITES


John is a car buff & his two vintage Hudson Hornets have been a big part of his life for quite a few years. Lovingly cared for they have won many awards & been to countless car shows across the country. John once had the largest Hudson website on the internet.......until AOL pulled the rug out from under many subscribers a few years back & he lost the whole site. Much of it was backed up but John just hasn't got around to setting it all up again. WHEN CARS WERE CARS


The cars had been under winter wraps in John's large garage until to-day. The dusty covers came off & the Hudson's came out. A gun metal blue & gray 1951 Hudson Hornet & a pale yellow & green 53 Hornet. The 53 actually came from Saskatchewan Canada & John drove up their to trailer it back. The farmer he bought it from actually sent him the front license plate a couple of months later. You can see it in to-day's photo album. THIS 53 HUDSON HORNET CAME FROM SASKATCHEWAN CANADA


It's been awhile since I was around older cars & despite being about 8 years old when these cars were popular they did bring back memories for me. The overall rounded design of the car reminded me of the Chevs, Fords, & Dodges of that era as well. The big chrome grills, large whitewall tires, wrap around sun visor, & the big hood ornament. They all had hood ornaments back in those days as well as big chrome bumpers. The cloth designed & soft cushy seats, big round chrome centered steering wheel, the large round speedometers, & the big thumping bass sound of the single speaker in the middle of the dash. These were the days when cars were cars & quality meant what it said. No shortcuts, no plastic pieces, no back room politics about giving the consumer minimum amount of product for maximum amount of money. Those were the days when you trusted the cars your neighbor built. Those were the waning days of the last great decade of trust. Those Hudson Hornets came from the 1950's. And those Hudson Hornets in John's garage to-day were just about as new as the day they were made. And that was nearly 60 years ago & that says something about quality!!
A VIEW FROM THE BACK SEAT OF THE 53


Jackie & John live in the little burg of Elfrida north of Douglas, Arizona. They have a class A motorhome & generally travel in the summer months. They have covered all of the lower 48 States. John says the Army had occasionally sent him on training classes around the country & when that happened they took their RV with them. Great way to travel & see the country. This summer they heading over to California. KELLY'S NEW PAL, MATTIE

We don't often socialize a whole lot but I must admit it was nice to actually be sitting in a real stick house again to-day talking to some interesting people. Second day in a row for us & we're beginning to feel like social butterflies. When your living in an 8 x 33 box day after day it kind of blows you away when you step into someone's real house. Their kitchen is huge and they even have a real full size rec room basement under their house. I can't even remember the last time I was in a rec room basement. I had one in a new house a long time ago when I lived in Stratford, Ontario & it was my favorite place to hang out. Cool in the summer & warm in the winter. No outside noise & what a great place to run & hide when your wife had things for you to do. JACKIE & JOHN AT HOME IN THEIR COMFY LIVINGROOM


Yep, that basement brought back some memories alright, just like them there Hudson
Hornets......................


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TO-DAY WE RAMBLED AROUND IN THE GHOST TOWN OF GLEESON ARIZONA

GLEESON'S SALOON WHERE TOMBSTONE'S JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN ALIVE

I think it had to be one of the coldest nights we've had so far. Left a hose nozzle & sponge in a bucket overnight by mistake & this morning they were froze solid in the ice. Strangely enough the plastic nozzle didn't break & has survived to squirt another day. Cloudy to-night so maybe we'll get a little break from the frosty temperatures.

Rene & Jim rolled out this morning around 9 a.m. headed for New Mexico & Texas. They are booked into an RV park to-morrow somewhere near the Arizona & New Mexico border. They don't travel with a television in their rig so they wanted to be at the park to watch their appearance on television Sunday night Feb. 15th. The program will air on PBS & is called, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. Their dog Jerry, who they lost to cancer last year will be part of that show. Rene & Jim's website is http://www.liveworkdream.com/

INSIDE THE CRUMBLING SALOON

We had some DVD's to take back to the Elfrida Library this morning so we figured we would do that & head out northwest of Elfrida to the old mining & ghost town of Gleeson. It's one of those places that you could drive through & never know it was there if you weren't specifically looking for it. Spotted a few old tumbledown houses first & then the cemetery. No ghost town is complete without it's past inhabitants buried somewhere near by. The cemetery is on a slight hill at Gleeson's west end & overlooks what was once a bustling mining town of 500 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleeson,_Arizona
The cemetery is mainly overgrown now but part of it is still being used. Small piles of rocks mark some of the gravesites while others have old iron gates surrounding them. The weather has worn names off some stones while some have crumbled into the dust. I'm sure there are many more people buried here than time remembers.

GLEESON'S CEMETERY

From the cemetery we stopped at the ruins of an old house where I took more photos. If only those old crumbling walls could talk. We saw a long white building on the north side of the road with some people standing behind it so headed over that way. It was a Jeep tour guide giving a couple of people a driving tour of the area. He was very friendly & gave us some history on Gleeson. Not sure if the gun & holster he was wearing was real or just a prop. We don't see things like that in Canada!! The long white & deteriorating building we were standing beside was once Gleeson's lively saloon. It was here that Tombstone's Johnny Ringo was last seen alive.
The building is locked up because it is crumbling & not safe to enter but we did find a small space in a front window that I was able to get my camera up against & take some photos of the interior. It wasn't until we got home & I could look at the photos that we knew what the inside looked like. Appears to have been a stage at the far end & there is a large mural clearly visible on the north wall. I'm sure this was probably a very lively & rowdy old west place in it's heyday. Afterall, it was a mining town. Part of the roof has caved in & I think the building is beyond repair which seems too bad because I'm sure it probably has some historical significance to the late 1800's. I did manage to scramble my way through the brush & have a peek into the rear of the basement but it was pretty deteriorated in there with parts of the floor coming down. If there are such things as ghosts, I think this old crumbling saloon probably has it's fair share of them.

ONLY THIS OLD JAIL HAS BEEN RESTORED

From the saloon we went a short distance up the road to the old jail which is in the process of being restored by a private party. Managed to take a few pictures of the interior through a small window in the door. All these photos I'm mentioning will be in to-days web album. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ Across the road & up a bit is the ruins of a large building that once housed Gleeson's school in the basement & a large dance hall upstairs. This was a very solidly built building with a lot of concrete in it. Probably the center of a lot of Saturday night dances years ago. One can only imagine the outcome of those nights where guns & alcohol to-gether were commonplace. FORMER SCHOOL & DANCE HALL

Our last stop before leaving Gleeson was the old adobe ruins of the hospital. Just some sections of walls standing with long gaunt windows in them. Couldn't help but think of all the pain & suffering that must have taken place inside these walls many years ago. There appeared to be a large round well on the south side of the hospital as well. In the distance I could see where the mining operations had taken place & wondered how many mine accident victims would have been brought down out of those hills by cart or horseback to this very hospital. GLEESON'S HOSPITAL

It is so hard to comprehend how people lived & died years ago in these small mining towns scattered throughout the southwest. But, at least some of that history is still here for people to see if they are interested. And it is what's left of these small towns that is the true history of the west. A lot of people come to see Tombstone Arizona thinking that is the original old west but Tombstone has become so commercialized that it is nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction there. If there is any originality left, it is lost in all the glitz & Hollywood glamour. If you want to see the true old west as it once was you have to get out & hunt down these little ghost towns scattered over the desert sands. But, be prepared to be disappointed if your expecting to see what you have so long been watching in Hollywood movies. You will come face to face with the reality of time & it's effects on man's history. So, bottom line......if you want to see a Hollywood ghost town, go to Tombstone. If you want to see the real McCoys, get your driving map out, get your hiking boots on & search out places like, Gleeson, Pearce, Fairbanks, Charleston, Millville, & countless others in this area. Last year in New Mexico we found places like Chloride & Hillsboro just to mention a couple. In California last December it was the mining town of Tumco.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/83THELITTLEWESTERNTOWNATTHEENDOFTHEROAD
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/82THROWINGSNOWBALLSINTHEEMORYPASS
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/THEOLDTUMCOMININGSITE

We were back to the ranch by 1 & spent the rest of the afternoon resting up from our ghost town venture in the morning. Next week we'll go have us a look at what's left of the town of Pearce. More old ruins, more old cemeteries & more old ghosts.......................

THEY SAY THERE ARE MANY GHOSTS HERE

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