A GOOD DAY FOR SWIRLING OUT THE RIG’S BLACK TANK

MOM, POP, & ALL THE KIDS ON THE POND TODAY

Figured the weather was looking good enough to haul the Motorhome out for a spin over to Exeter this morning.  I figured wrong.  Pheebs & were only a few miles down the road when a fast moving storm coming in off the lake rolled over us.  Not severe, but just enough rain for half an hour to have the windshield wipers on & turn all my big shiny wheels to dull gray again.  It’s a 40 minute drive to the town of Exeter & I make this run every year about this time. 

In the north end of Exeter is a small park where RV folks can camp for a night free.  There is also a dump station & potable water here.  This is the place I like to give my tanks a good swirling out in the Spring.  Especially the black one.  Some may remember a year ago when my old sewer host bust as soon as I pulled the black tank handle.  I really don’t need to tell you what happened after that but luckily I knew there was a Canadian Tire Store about 3 blocks away with an RV section.  Cleaned up the mess & myself & headed for the store.  Bought myself a new fold up accordion flexible Rhino sewer hose.  Been using it ever since & it works great.  One small mishap in Hazen Arkansas last fall but it was my fault & not the hose.  Anyway, got the job done (in the rain) this morning & Pheebs & I were back home before 11 a.m.

  

LAST YEAR IT WAS ME & THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE MAKING THE EXETER TRIP ALONE & THIS YEAR IT WAS PHEEBS & I

About noon I hopped on the bike & headed off to Goderich to buy myself a six pack of Boost.  I am determined to loose some weight ‘again’ & I plan to use that food supplement Boost to help me along with that.  I’m not going to say anything more about my weight loss plan because I have done that half a dozen times before & blogged about it only to gain all the weight back & fall right on on my big fat face.  If I am successful for any length of time I will be sure to tell you.

 MY LITTLE ORANGE ORANGUTAN BUDDY RIDES WITH ME ON THE BIKE EVERYWHERE I GO >>> 

As you all know, I sometimes refer to myself as Mr. Blabberfingers & I do that with very good reason.  This gets me into trouble sometimes around the house here.  I am one of those people who has a tendency to write about whatever is on my mind at the moment.  Sometimes I do not think things through too well & dribble those thoughts out onto my keyboard.  It seems I do this because as I sit here putting my blog together, I feel like I am actually having a casual one on one chat with a good friend.  However, this is where the Blabber part comes in & as Kelly sometimes tells me, some things are better left unsaid.  You would think I would learn that wouldn't you.  But no, when I get keyed up about something, my arms get to shaking, my hands get to trembling, & my fingers get to tapping.  No, it's not a game I play, as a commenter suggested….. it's just me trying to keep an impossibly tight lid on my Blabber!!

Now, blabbering right along…………..let me just give you the following scenario.  I know many people & especially fulltime RV folks who have been down this road.  You make a decision to change up your lifestyle a bit.  Maybe it’s to hit the road fulltime or maybe it’s just time to sell your house & move on to a new area with a different house & some new surroundings.  Here’s where the problem comes in.  You may be out pricing new or used rigs or properties or houses & you come across the dream vehicle or house you have been looking for.  For example purposes let’s use a house & property.  Everything lines up perfectly & it is exactly what you have been looking for.  You reach in your pocket to pull out some money for the new digs but you come up way short of course.  Well, most of us do anyway.  Fact is, you have to sell the house your in before you have enough to buy the new place.  Well, how useless is that.  You make an offer to buy something you like & your offer is accepted, but what good is it.  While your sitting on your can waiting for your own house to sell, your dream property probably get’s sold out right from under you.  The next guy walking on to that property simply had more money in his pocket than you did.  So, there you sit, still ‘wishin & a hopin’.  I think Dusty Springfield had a song by that name years ago.

TOOK THIS SPIDER PHOTO BESIDE THE HOUSE WITH A 300mm LENS THIS MORNING & DID NOT SEE THE DRAGONFLY UNTIL I ENLARGED THE PHOTO >>>

Ok, scenario number two.  You find a small acceptable place to rent for a bit & then put your house up for sale.  As soon as your house is sold you bank that money & move into your small rental place, all the while still keeping your fingers on the Real Estate market looking for whatever it is you are looking for.  When found, you walk up the driveway & make the seller an offer.  Only this time you have enough money in your pocket to seal the deal right there & then before the guy behind you does.  Now, am I missing something here or does scenario number 2 just make a whole lot more darn good practical sense.  It’s a little something Kelly & I have been doing some thinking about lately……….. 

 

TWO MALE BALTIMORE ORIOLE’S HAVING A SPAT IN OUR DRIVEWAY…HAPPY TO REPORT THEY BOTH WERE FINE & FLEW AWAY UNHARMED 
Thanks to DONNA (FROGGI DONNA as we all fondly know her) for her suggestions on getting our comment section settings ironed out.  I can certainly well understand people not wanting to have to get all involved in that Google + social network stuff.  Here is Donna's suggestions as what to do for folks having difficulty signing in to our, or anyone else’s comment section.....And, as you will notice, our comment section is looking different today after Kelly, following some of Donna's suggestions below made the necessary changes this morning.  Hopefully we now have this comment fiasco thing under control finally.  Donna says............
1) Enter a comment
2) Your friend will be prompted to log in to his Google account
3) Enter Google information
4) Enter the word verification if asked
5) Click the link for LIMITED PROFILE
6) Enter name they want displayed
7) Click OK
This way you are not creating a Google+ ID, just a link between the Google Gmail account and Blogger. It has nothing to do with a blog.
I did get an error message in the popup window but when I closed it and clicked ENTER COMMENT again, it showed me as logged in.
Hope this helps your friend and anyone else who wants to use Google but not create a G+ account.

RED BREASTED GROSBEAK

Oh, and they need to expand the comment window to see the login box. All they are seeing is the CREATE a BLOG part, they need to ignore that.
You might want to consider switching to either embedded or full page comment forms rather than the pop-up......THANKS DONNA, MUCH APPRECIATED:))

And, thanks to commenter RunNRose for reminding me about a Passport Canada call we had last month.  I may have forgot to update what is happening about that.  We couldn't figure out why Passport Canada had phoned & they never did call back.  Couple weeks later we received a form saying we had failed to check off one of the employment boxes.  Kelly did that & sent it back.  Haven't heard anything since & this is a good reminder to maybe call them & see if everything is still moving along OK.

WE HAVE MANY FINE OLD STONE HOUSES IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
And, talking about poor short term memory.....yesterday I had a question from some folks about the deck stain I used last year on our deck.  Instead of getting up from the computer & slipping out to the shed & writing down the name on the can I promptly forgot the question within seconds of reading it.  I was not reminded of the question until Thursday night while sitting in the waiting room at the Clinton Hospital.  They had a small television in there & a commercial came on about paints & stains for people's decks.  'BINGO' I quickly pulled out my little book & made a note to myself to answer that question when I got home.  Next problem was, where had I seen that question.  Poured through all of yesterday's Hotmail, Yahoo, & Gmail programs trying to find it.  No luck.  And then, out of the blue I remembered Facebook Messages.  Yep, there it was.  It bothers me to no end all the time because I know I have misplaced or forgotten to answer people's questions whether they come in my email, Facebook, Shoutbox, Gmail or Hotmail.  Seems if I don't answer a question within seconds of reading it, chances are good my mind is going to forget it.

WE HAVE LOTS OF PERIWINKLE AROUND OUR HOUSE

Mark, from BOX CANYON BLOG.COM has joined the Bayfield Bunch on our travels afar & our travels around the house now that we are home for the summer.  Welcome aboard and we always enjoy having new Blog Followers dropping in:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A man from the city is out plowing his field and gets his tractor stuck in the wet ground.  A farmer driving by stops his truck and walks to the fence to call over the city feller. You need a mule to plow such wet ground he says.
"Where can I buy one?" he is asked.
Well, I just happened to have one for 100 dollars he says.
"I'll take him," says the other man as he counts out the money.
I can't bring him over today. I don't work on Sunday morrow OK?
"Sure."
The next day the truck pulls up and the old farmer gets out. He says, "sorry, bad news."
I went out after breakfast and the mule was dead.
The city feller says just give me my money back then.
"Can't, spent it already!"
"Well... unload the mule then."
"What ya gonna do with him?"
"Raffle him off!"
"Naw, ya cant raffle off a dead mule!"
"Just watch me, us City fellers know a few tricks too ya know."
One month goes by and the city feller and farmer run into each other at the barber shop.
"What did ya do with that dead mule?"
"Raffled him off, sold 100 tickets at two dollars each and made 98 dollars profit."
"Didn't anyone complain?"
"Just one guy………………….. so I gave him his two dollars back!"

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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

A MORNING VISIT, A WINDSHIELD FIX, A BONE DENSER & BABY GOOSES:))

Second full day & still no Anonymous spam.  Now, how great is that:))  However, there may be a problem with doing this.  Just received this email from a friend today which reads………..”Al, you removed 'Anonymous' from your blog's comment identity options, which is good, but in the process also removed 'Name/URL' which is bad since that was the option I used. There now appear only two options - Google Account and OpenID. I have a Google account for gmail but when I enter that it takes me to a sign up page for a Blogger account. I don't want a Blogger account. Got too many accounts to keep track of as it is and I have no idea what an OpenID is, so until you find a way to add Name/URL back to the list of options I won't be commenting again, which you might view as a good thing. :-)”  Oh Dear, anybody got any suggestions??

A BALTIMORE ORIOLE WATCH’S THE BLUR OF A PASSING MOURNING DOVE

Another in a series of warm sunny days & I do have a feeling we are going to to have a long hot dry summer.  All our foliage is looking so vibrant & green at the moment but it may be a different looking landscape in a month if we do not get the usual rains.  First year I have ever had to top up our rain barrel with the garden hose.

After 10 consecutive working days, Kelly has a few days off (no, that is not a picture of Kelly) so we were on the road about 9:30 this morning heading for Mitchell to visit Uncle Harry.  Not too much new there & he is still holding his own for his age.  Of course Pheebe always brings a big splash of sunshine into his room every time we go & she always makes Harry's day.

PHEEBS IS FASCINATED BY HARRY’S BOUNCING ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY BALLOON’ AFTER KELLY TURNED A ROOM FAN ON

Back to Bayfield & dropped off Kelly & the Pheebs.  I was at the glass repair place for the Jeep's windshield fix by 1 o'clock.  Sure didn't take them long to repair the crack.  It's still slightly visible, but barely.  Our little green dash frog from Niland California keeps a wary eye on it.

SOME KIND OF MACHINE GIZMO IS AT WORK REPAIRING THE CRACK IN OUR WINDSHIELD

We sure have been going round & round with some future plans & decisions ever since returning from Arizona nearly 2 months ago.  Well, actually it has been much longer than that & I would say many of our future plans began back as far as 2007.  Guess that kind of makes a couple of those future plans…….’right now’.  Some have already been realized, some have withered & died on the vine while others have been simmering on a couple back burners.  We have just turned a few of those burners up this week.   Oh how I love when burners get turned up & plans begin to cook.  I always love the prospect of major change simply because it always results in something major new:))  The following 4 nature photos may or may not have something to do with one of our ‘possible’ upcoming decisions.  You can rest assured if the pot comes to a full boil…..I will be telling you about it.  If not, we’ll just quietly turn the burner back down a bit…….until next time:))

  

My bone density scan at the Clinton Hospital just after supper tonight went just fine.  A few groovy whirring & beeping sounds emitting from the machine & that was it.  Aside from a few scattered staff members, I think I was the only Bone Denser on the floor.  Now, how nice is that:)) 

And, late breaking news just hot of the Goose Pond.  Took Pheebs for a walk after returning from Clinton & saw some fluffy little baby Goose guys gathered around Momma Goose on the nest:))

MOMMA GOOSE IS TRYING HARD TO KEEP THE KIDS HIDDEN & QUIET

 

 

PROUD POPPA GOOSE STANDS GUARD OUT ON THE POND

MOMMA & THE KIDS ARE ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE POND OUT OF CAMERA VIEW TO THE RIGHT

GROANER’S  CORNER:((  On a rural road a state trooper pulled this farmer over and said: "Sir, do you realize your wife fell out of the car several miles back?"
To which the farmer replied: "Thank God, I thought I had gone deaf!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

ANOTHER DOCTOR APPOINTMENT…..SO, WHAT ELSE IS NEW!!

JUST A RELAXING GREEN GRASS, PHLOX, & PHEEBE KIND OF DAY

How nice it was this morning to open my comment section & not find a single Anonymous spam sitting in there.  And, better yet, the section has remained spam free for the whole day:))  Here is the change Kelly made in my Blogger Dashboard.  Click on 'Settings'  'Posts & comments'-'Who can comment'?  Switched from the 'Anyone' box to the next one down, 'Registered User'.  If you do this, just remember to save your settings by clicking the orange 'save settings' box at upper right.  For our legitimate Anonymous folks:  Commenter Sherry says, " If you disallow anonymous just remind your followers that they can post under name/url and just leave the url part blank and their name will show up.  Anyway, I will try this for now & see how it goes.  If I still get spammed I will go back to 'comment moderation'.  Comment moderation is the way I always had it up until Google came up with that moronic double 'word verification' crap.  For the most part, I like Google & think they have a lot smarts going for them but they sure dropped the ball in that word verification department!!

COULD IT BE THAT ONE OF THESE LADIES HAD A LITTLE MORE ‘GAS’ THAN THE OTHERS

Been about 4 years since we last carried our bicycles on the back of the rig all the way out to the Southwest.  We never did ride them enough to justify hauling them back & forth so I took the bicycle carrier off the back of the rig a long time ago.  This morning, I put it back on.  We intend to take the bikes to Arizona in October & leave them there.  The landscape is far nicer for riding than here.   In Congress, we are one short block from miles upon miles of open desert with a hard packed Jeep road right at the gate.  The desert surface is also hard packed making for challenging rides through the Cactus & Mesquite.  This for me is far more relaxing, interesting & exciting than riding in an endless straight line on a dangerous paved road with traffic whizzing by.

When’s the last time you had a good Spring tulip fix.  Might want to check out THE MOHO & OTHER TRAVELING TALES today.  Go slow & tip toe lightly over the old weather beaten covered bridges along the way.

I remember seeing my first ‘shoe tree’ many years ago alongside the road in Utah’s Kodachrome Basin.  They have a habit of springing up in unlikely spots.  HAPPY TRAILS found a healthy one growing near Zion Canyon.  Certainly is bearing a lot of clustered fruit this time of year.

Thursday I have an appointment to get a stone chip fixed in the Jeep’s windshield.  Kid in an old pick-up truck came roaring down a gravel road last Saturday & threw a stone into my windshield.

 

GEEZER ROW IN THE WAITING ROOM TODAY

It was nearly an hour & a half sitting in the Goderich Hospital waiting room before I got in to see the Doctor late this afternoon.  Yes, he said, the growth on the side of my head has to come off.  No, not my ear!!  He said it looked benign but it’s best to remove it.  His reaction to the second growth on my chest was different so I now await a call from his office for a date to have both those growths removed & analyzed.  We will see what happens after that…………..

NO, THAT IS NOT DOC ROBOT…IT’S DOC ANNAN WHO WILL DO MY ‘NEXT’ DAY SURGERY

Late tomorrow afternoon I am off to the Clinton Hospital (ho-hum) for a bone density test, whatever that is.  I understand it is painless so that works for me………

SPOTTED THIS LITTLE FELLOW ON OUR WALK THIS MORNING JUST AS HE WAS ABOUT TO CRAWL INTO THAT HOLE IN THE TREE TRUNK IN FRONT OF HIM…ALL OF TODAY’S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITH MY CANON POWERSHOT POINT & SHOOT SX210iS & I WAS SURPRISED AT THE CLARITY OF THE RACCOON DESPITE THE LENS BEING FULLY ZOOMED & THE PHOTO CROPPED…SAME WITH THE COWS PHOTO

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A clergyman is walking down a country lane and sees a young farmer struggling to load hay back onto a cart after it had fallen off.
"You look hot, my son," said the cleric. "why don't you rest a moment, and I'll give you a hand."
"No thanks," said the young man.
"My father wouldn't like it."
"Don't be silly," the minister said.
"Everyone is entitled to a break. Come and have a drink of water."
Again the young man protested that his father would be upset. Losing his patience, the clergyman said, "Your father must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find him and I'll give him a piece of my mind!"
"Well," replied the young farmer, "he's under the load of hay."

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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

CLEARING UP A MISCONCEPTION

A SET OF WOODEN STAIRS LEAD FROM BAYFIELD’S PIONEER PARK TO THE BEACH BELOW

Guess I had better quickly clear up a misconception I may have accidentally created in Monday's post when I said, "Kelly & I are off to the Clinton Hospital Tuesday morning to meet with Doc Robot to go over the results of my Kidney Stone ultra-sound last week.  I guess he will let us know just what all he has to do next Monday when he goes digging for those stones.  Two key words there were ‘next Monday’.  My surgery was not today, it's next week on Monday May 28th……………………….

HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM THIS MORNING, & NO, I DO NOT HAVE AN INTEREST IN READING ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH POLITICS!!

OK, flash forward to this morning's meeting with Doc Robot.  Before he entered the room I saw Doc shake hands with someone in the hall & for sure I saw a smile on his face.  Seconds later, before I could recover from my mild shock he entered the room with a 'Hello.'  I immediately melted in my chair & dripped myself onto the floor.  Now, over the next few minutes he may not exactly have come across as Mary Poppins but I thought I did detect a hint of warmth & reassurance in his voice.  Just a touch mind you, but I think it was there.  Well, I’m going to tell myself it was there anyway.  Told me everything was looking good for Monday's Moon shot.  Well, maybe not quite a Moon shot, but the procedure is in the same vicinity of sky.  And, by the way, I have never questioned this fellow’s surgical skills.  I have only made gest of his less than warm medical bedside manner.  And yes, I well know that in the end, it is a Doctor’s surgical skill that really matters.  But, if in my unconscious fog during the procedure next week I hear Doc Robot utter the word, Ooooops……I’m a gonna really be ticked!!!!!!!!!!!!

 BEYOND THAT FAR DOOR LURKS DOC ROBOT >>> 

When I first opened the comment section of our blog this morning I had 12 comments, 7 of which were 'Anonymous' spams.  Our spam load has doubled, if not tripled in the past week so for sure something has happened.  Makes me wonder sometimes if it's possible for someone to purposely submit a person's URL directly to a Spammer’s list somehow!!  Anyway, I have several options available to me on how to deal with these scum bag Spammers.  Either re-instate Google's ridiculous double word verification or block all Anonymous comments.  I am leaning toward the latter.  However, by doing so this means that some of our legitimate 'Anonymous' readers may no longer be able to comment.  Now, I'm not sure exactly how this works but I'm wondering if the way around that for folks is to simply sign up for a Google account.  No harm in doing so & it does give you an extra few perks like Gmail which you may or may not decide to use.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  May also have to go back to 'comment moderation' to keep the crap & garbage out of the comment section as well.  Anyway, I did make one change in my Blogger Dashboard today so we’ll see what happens.  Also wondering if it's possible to block a specific email address from accessing a blog’s comment section........

OUR BACKYARD ‘ARIZONA’ PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS GARDEN

After publishing Monday night’s blog on the early side I grabbed my cameras & headed over to the lake.  I had heard rumblings of thunder & figured we might have a storm rolling in.  The storm did not materialize but I did manage to get a few photos from Bayfield’s Pioneer Park atop the cliffs overlooking Lake Huron.

OBSERVATION DECK AT PIONEER PARK

Late Wednesday afternoon I am off to the Goderich Hospital to see another Specialist but I will fill you in on the details of what comes out of that meeting tomorrow.  And, we haven't even got to the medical side of June yet.  But hey, if it wasn't for all this medical stuff going on, what other fun would I be having this summer eh.

GROANER’S CORNER:((   A very zealous soul-winning young preacher recently came upon a farmer working in his field. Being concerned about the farmer's soul the preacher asked the man, "Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord my good man?"
Not even looking at the preacher and continuing his work the farmer replied, "Naw, these are soybeans."
"You don't understand," said the preacher. "Are you a Christian?"
With the same amount of interest as his previous answer the farmer said, "Nope my name is Jones. You must be lookin for Jim Christian. He lives a mile south of here."
The young determined preacher tried again asking the farmer, "Are you lost?"
"Naw! I've lived here all my life," answered the farmer.
"Are you prepared for the resurrection?" the frustrated preacher asked.
This caught the farmer's attention and he asked, "When's it gonna be?"
Thinking he had accomplished something the young preacher replied, "It could be today, tomorrow, or the next day." Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer remarked, "Well, don't mention it to my wife. She don't get out much and she'll wanna go all three days."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

MONDAY

Kelly & I are off to Clinton Hospital in the morning to meet with Doc Robot to go over the results of my Kidney Stone ultra-sound last week.  I guess he will let us know just what all he has to do next Monday when he goes digging for those stones.  Was thinking of taking a bottle of water with me tomorrow just to see if it would turn to ice when he enters the room.

 

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A bus load of tourists arrives at Runnymede. They gather around the guide who says, "This is the spot where the barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta."A fellow at the front of the crowd asks, "When did that happen?"
"1215," answers the guide.
The man looks at his watch and says, "Damn! Just missed it by a half hour!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

SOME RVING THOUGHTS & TOO MANY GROCERIES FOR THE SADDLEBAGS

A LITTLE COLOR CREATIVITY IN GOOGLE’S PICASA 3.9:))

Ever buy too many groceries to fit in your saddle bags?  Yep, did that one this morning.  Spent a couple fine Sunday morning hours tooling around our quiet countryside on the bike.  On the way back to Bayfield I stopped at a supermarket in Goderich for a few groceries.  Forgot I had all my rain gear in one of the saddlebags so when I returned to the parking lot with a bag of apples, 2 quarts of Soy Milk, a bunch of bananas, two large containers of Cranberry Juice, two tubs of Blueberry Yogurt & 3 quarts of skim milk I had myself quite a job stuffing into ,& tying stuff onto, the Motorcycle.  We all made it safely home albeit a few bruised bananas.  And nuts, I didn’t think to take a few pics of my precarious load.

NORTHERN FLICKER

Had us one mighty hot & humid day going on so I cranked the A/C for the first time this year.  That now makes it official…………I can comfortably beginning complaining about another hot summer season again.  Yahouie Louie, let the griping begin:))

OUR IRIS FLOWERS ARE FINALLY OUT

In Saturday’s post, JUDY suggested, in a comment, that I had a contradiction of terms in a statement I made. My statement was, “"But, knowing ourselves as well as I do, I also know, that by now our minds would be once again evolving towards towards ‘something different. Not being a creature of ‘same old, same old’ it’s just the way I am & it’s just the way we are”:)) Judy’s question was: ‘Is that not a contradiction to buying a house in AZ? Just curious about how you think you'll feel after a few winter trips there.’

 

ANOTHER SPLASH DOWN FOR POPPA GOOSE…MOMMA GOOSE IS STILL ON THE NEST
First, let me define the word, ‘evolve’: To develop or achieve gradually: evolve a style of one's own.

DEER PARK LODGE…..WE SURE LOVE THE COLOR GREEN IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS

I think what Judy is getting at is this….if we have been getting a little tired of traveling to the same old places, won’t we get tired of going to our Congress house winter after winter too?? Yes, the excitement & newness of a house in the southwest will wear off after awhile for sure, but there is a difference here. First, at this stage of our RV lifestyle, our intentions are not to just go to our Congress house & sit there for the winter. How boring would that be!!  That eventually may happen but our traveling minds are just not there yet & we are still in basic traveling Snow Bird mode. Remember, this is an evolving process for us. I have used the term ‘home base’ to describe our place & for now & until things change we intend to use our Congress location as a base for future travels around the southwest.  We hope to work away at the house for awhile, take a few weeks to travel off somewhere, a few more weeks or month at the house, some more time on the road, etc.  I think that should make for a very interesting & adventurous winter for us between house & travels.  It will be something different, & for me, that is the key:)) 

KELLY PICKED UP A FEW ITEMS AT A BAYFIELD YARD SALE TODAY….CAN YOU GUESS WHERE THEY ARE HEADED??  YEP, ARIZONA:))

If one thing is for sure, it is simply the fact that ‘nothing is for sure.’ If, in the future we tire completely of the Congress house & find out our home base plan is not turning out how we expected, we will simply stick the ‘For Sale’ sign back in the ground & move on to whatever & wherever our minds our heading next. I remember well about half a dozen years ago going round & round in circles trying to decide if we should sink some major money into an RV. What about going south for the winters? What about this, what about that, what if, what if?? Decisions were finally reached & we have been evolving ever since. Our Congress house is just another in a series of steps in the continuing process. I know where we were 5 years ago & I know where we are know. I do not have clue where we will be in 5 years from now but I do rest comfortably in the thought that it will probably not voluntarily be, ‘same old stuff, same old location’ day after day!!

MOURNING DOVES

Ok, why Congress Arizona & not somewhere else?  First, right off the top, let me tell you that we landed in Congress last March by accident & not by design.  Had we not run into our little Saturday morning fiasco in Lake Havasu & re-routed ourselves a week later we probably never would have been in the Congress/Wickenburg area at all.  It was just kind of a fluke.  As mentioned in Saturday's post, Kelly always checks the Real Estate market in any area we travel to & sure enough, after a few days boondocked between Congress & Wickenburg a house of interest popped up. Already having decided we liked the area we decided to have a look & you know the rest of the story up till now.

AZALEA FLOWER >>>

After checking my Atlas one day early on, I realized Congress was ideally situated just about right smack dab in the center of the whole southwest area we liked so much.  New Mexico, Arizona, & California.  Although north of Phoenix it was still in the warmer temperate desert climate for the winters.  And yet just a 15 minute drive north of our house & up atop the Weaver Mountains plateau was a completely different landscape with a completely different climate.  Wow, how great was that.  We could be in the totally dry Sonoran desert with Saguaro cactus in our front yard & yet just a short 15 minutes later we could be in a mountainous Pine forest with possible snow on the ground.  Reminded me so much of my 3 years living in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley back in the early 70's.

<<< DEER PARK

RETIRED ROD, in his comment says, "Have you ever actually slept a night in the Congress House? I thought you were sleeping in the motorhome when you were there. So you can't sell it yet, until you spend a night in it"!!  Now, there is a scary point.  No, for the short duration we were at the house in March we stayed in our Motorhome, mainly because we had no beds in the house.  But, here's the scary part.  What if the house turns out to be haunted by the ghost of the old gold miner who originally built it.  Yikes!!  Our place is located on a two mile long dead end road.  We are about half way.  South end of Ghost Town Road starts in Congress & the north end stops at the rocky Congress Gold Mine.  That Gold Mine was the driving force behind the old dusty town of Congress years ago & the feller who built our house, worked in that Gold Mine just a mile up the road.  Guess we'll find out in the fall if anything goes 'creak' in the night.  Say, I wonder if maybe he might have stashed a few bags of gold nuggets under the floor.  And, just as soon as I can get myself back into 'reading mode' again I will certainly be reading up on all the old wild west history of the area.  And, from what I understand, there is lots to read about.  Maybe not the colorful cast of Tombstone characters or legendary historic names like Cochise & Geronimo, but I'm sure the area has had it's period of wild west desperados & nefarious characters.  After all, it is the great American west:))

  

OUR BAYFIELD BACKYARD JUNGLE IS FILLING IN QUITE NICELY      
We welcome PAT BROOKS aboard today as our first Blog Follower to break our list’s 500 mark.  Nice to have you along Pat & congrats on getting through Google’s hoops & barrels to finally get yourself on board:)) 

GROANER’S GROANER:(( Howard County Police officers still write their reports by hand, and the data is entered later by a computer tech into their database. One theft report stated that a farmer had lost 2,025 pigs. Thinking that to be an error, the tech called the farmer directly.
"Is it true Mr. (Smith) that you lost 2,025 pigs?" she asked.
"Yeth." lisped the farmer.
Being a Howard County girl herself, the tech entered: "Subject lost 2 sows and 25 pigs."
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
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