‘HO-HUM’…..MORE CACTUS PLANTING & TREE TRIMMING…..& PIZZA:))

MATTHEW TENDS HIS FLOCK OF SHEEP THIS MORNING

Until we get our first road trip on the go from Congress here I’m afraid my days may get a little repetitive as we continue to get things in order around the house & grounds.

 

PHEEBS IS NOT TO SURE ABOUT THESE 3 NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK…THEY SEEMED A BIT SURLY

Picked up half a wheelbarrow load of Cactus pads & Aloe Vera plants from our Mexican neighbor & managed to get them all planted before it got too hot.  More tree trimming & that about did me in for the rest of the day.  It’s very hot here but at least it is not humid.  Did myself a load of laundry & how nice to hang things outside to dry.  Sure doesn’t take long in this dry Arizona air. 

 

ALOE VERA IS PLANTED & THE MEXICAN CACTUS PADS WILL BE NEXT

Kelly & Pheebs cruised in to the Congress Post Office, checked out a garage sale & stopped to say hello to the folks at Congress Depot.  That is where they make the yummy Pizza’s & it’s where we had our Damon sitting for a few weeks last winter with a ‘For Sale’ sign on it.  I still have to wash all the road grime off our Winnie Wagon from last week’s 2,000+ mile trip.  Got some tanks to dump too & luckily we can do that right here at home.

  

RATHER THAN WALK WAY AROUND WE CLIMBED A GATE EARLIER TODAY

Chances are we may not go ahead with our Direct or Dish satellite TV program plans.  Kelly has spent a fair bit of time on the phone with especially Dish & does not want to get into a 2 year contract or have to pay over $400.00 to have them put a dish on the house, buy the equipment outright in order to not go the contract route.  Our Canadian Shaw satellite TV seems to be working fine. I have hardly watched any TV since we got here nearly a week ago but did manage to find half a dozen episodes of CORNER GAS so far:))   And so glad to have much better cell phone coverage this year.  Kelly’s not doing the Deer Park reservations this winter so we bought a newer 4G phone & that solved our spotty connection problems.  Our internet seems to be working fine as well.  Not like March of 2012 when we had so many problems with it here at this location.

 

THESE ARE ALL VIEWS TAKEN FROM MY BEDROOM’S COMPUTER CHAIR WHERE I SPEND MOST OF MY RELAXATION TIME

A 300mm VIEW OUT THE WINDOW FROM MY CHAIR…SAGUARO CACTUS

Still not attracting the herds of birds to our feeders like last year yet & I’m wondering if it might have something to do with a Predator.  Couple days after arriving I was in the back yard standing near the bird feeders when I heard a flapping disturbance in a Mesquite tree behind me.  Turning I saw what may have been a small Hawk with a bird pinned to the ground.  Reached for my camera but the Predator took off clutching it’s prey.  Only thing left on the ground was a bunch of small downy feathers.  I wonder if the sight of those feathers are keeping birds away or do they know a Predator is frequenting our back yard.  

SO THIS IS WHERE OUR BAYFIELD FRONT YARD AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES COME FOR THE WINTER

When I first met Kelly over 20 years ago Friday Pizza nights were very popular at her house.  She still had 3 teen-agers at home so Pizza it was.  And Friday night Pizza from the Congress Depot it was for us tonight as well.

AND HERE COMES THE PIZZA NOW WITH KELLY DRIVING & PHEEBS RIDING SHOTGUN

 

Think we’re going to try working on rustling us up some day trips in the area shortly.  There is still a whole area to our northeast we have yet to explore.  And we will once again get ourselves & the Jeep out into the desert looking for new Jeep roads & new scenery.  Going to wait until the days cool off first though.  No A/C in the Jeep plus we do not want any unexpected encounters with Rattlesnakes.  Majority of the them are now underground in early stages of hibernation but hot days can still bring them out to warm themselves on sunny rocks.  We always walk early in the morning when it’s still cold or very cool just to be on the safe side.  And we won’t be venturing into any rocky outcrops until temps drop even further.  Finding 2 DEAD RATTLERS last March has made us more cautious.

PHEEBS SNOOZING ON MY BED TONIGHT WITH HER FAVORITE DUCKY

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The  irony of life is that, by the time you're old  enough to know your way around, you're not going  anywhere.  And did you know God made man before woman so as to give him time to think of an answer for her first question.  Ya, figured you all knew that.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.

PHEEBS & I JEEP OURSELVES UP THE MOUNTAIN TO YARNELL

WATER IN THE DESERT AND WHERE DID THE MOUNTAINS GO IN THE REFLECTION??

Sometimes we can hear ‘goings on’ under our house & sometimes it’s quiet.  Last night & today has been quiet.  Quiet is good.

 

THESE DESERT PONDS ARE ACTUALLY CALLED TANKS & SERVE AS A WATER SOURCE FOR CATTLE…WE HAVE TWO CLOSE BY & THIS ONE IS CALLED THE SULLIVAN TANK

Each morning our walks get a little longer.  First bunch of days after arriving last week we didn’t get too far.  A week’s traveling with little exercise had turned our leg muscles to mush.

 

IT CAN BE VERY COOL IN THE EARLY MORNING DESERT AIR SO KELLY ALWAYS DRESSES PLENTY WARM

 

WHEREVER THERE IS WATER IN THESE PARTS THERE IS LOTS OF GREEN

Pheebs favorite Pal this year is Dally who lives just down the road from us.  Dally watches for Pheebs every morning now & the two of them race back & forth along the fence line.  I always like to watch dogs at play having fun.  

DALLY WATCHES FOR PHEEBS EVERY MORNING

THESE TWO ARE THE BEST OF PALS

 

Again, most of my morning was spent clipping sucker branches off our properties Palo Verde trees.  Talked to the neighbor lady on our north side.  Nice Mexican family & she said to come over & take as many Cactus pads off their tall cactus plants I wanted.  It’s a special kind of cactus they brought from Mexico years ago.  She gave me a wheelbarrow load last March but of course they got all ate up.  I may do that in the morning & get them planted.

THESE ARE THE NEW CACTUS PADS I PLANTED WEDNESDAY ALONG OUR FRONT FENCE LINE IN THE CACTUS GARDEN

Kelly headed off to the garage & had the battery replaced in the Jeep.  Also left Winnie’s flat tire & rim there.  Kelly informed me this morning I had it wrong in Wednesday night’s post about getting a used tire for a spare.  It is a new tire we are getting.  Despite being super busy at that garage the fella installed the battery in the Jeep right quick.  We learned a long time ago if you want quick attentive service at a garage just have a good looking blonde take the vehicle in.  Works every time.  And Kelly is such a charmer:))

 

NEW BATTERY IN & I DID NOT KNOW TILL TODAY OUR ENGINE HOOD CAN GO ALL THE WAY BACK & REST AGAINST THE ROOF…WHO KNEW?

Congress is having 3 free dump days at the moment so it was a good opportunity to rid ourselves of an old blue child’s outdoor swimming pool that had blown into our yard.  That & a Hughesnet satellite dish that we had taken off the the house last year.  Only two items but it was a good enough excuse to load up the Rascal Buns & head ourselves out of town.  Dropped off our 2 junk items & headed ourselves up the side of the Weaver Mountains to the tiny but artsy quaint village of Yarnell. 

HEADING FOR THE WEE TOWN OF YARNELL ATOP THOSE WEAVER MOUNTAINS & PHEEBS ENJOYS THE SCENERY ON THE WAY UP

Our destination was the hardware store.  Needed a few things & it’s always an experience navigating the narrow chocked full of stuff aisles in that place.  Two brothers own it & they have everything from soup to nuts in that place.  And they know where every bit of soup & every last nut is too.

THIS IS THE RANCH HOUSE RESTAURANT OFTEN SEEN IN THE YARNELL FIRE COVERAGE…MUCH OF THE YARNELL FIRE DAMAGE WAS RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD WHERE 127 BUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED IN THE GLEN IIAH NEIGHBORHOOD

  

YARNELL’S HARDWARE STORE…IT’S QUITE A PLACE

HIGHWAY 89 THROUGH YARNELL

Again I was amazed to see how that Yarnell fire came so close to destroying the entire town.  Trees right beside the highway are burned in spots.  And so close up behind other buildings along main street.  Firemen did an amazing job in keeping that fire from jumping the highway.   

OK BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN DAD

We didn’t linger in Yarnell & just tumbled our way down the mountainside’s Yarnell Hill back to our little Adobe Digs in Congress far below.  Kelly & I have both been tiring easily so it was a quiet afternoon just taking things easy.  For Kelly that generally means reading & catching some zzzz’s.  For me it’s plunking away at my blog post for the day.  If I doze off for a few minutes in my chair I consider that a good thing.  I never ever lay down for a snooze on my bed though.  Don’t know why but that just never works for me.  Works fine for Pheebs though.   She likes snoozing on my bed during the day.  But only if I am in the room.  She generally always likes to be close by to wherever I am.

 

HAD LOTS OF HELP IN THE BACK YARD TODAY BUT CAN’T REMEMBER THIS LITTLE FELLOW’S NAME

Pheebs has been doing real well at avoiding cactus barbs since we arrived here nearly a week ago.  Her memory has retained the info of how painful they can be if she gets into them.  Goatshead stickers are something else though & there is no avoiding those miserable things for man or beast.  Pheebs needed a little help with one this morning.  Since I raked this entire one acre property last year we do not have nearly as many Goatshead stickers as we first did when we came here.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MOM SHE WAS AS GOOD AS NEW AGAIN

BECKY & DREW joined us on our ‘Friends List’ over there in our right hand column today.  Thanks for dropping by folks & welcome to the Bayfield Bunch’s combination travels & home time.  Last week was travel & this week it is Arizona home time.  And a last minute check before Publishing tonight shows we have a second Friend Connect person checking in today.  Welcome to ANN CONDRAN from we here at the Bunch & thanks for dropping in on us Ann:))

PHEEBS SNAGS MY SPOT AGAIN THIS MORNING

GROANER’S CORNER;:((  My wife and I had  words, but I didn't get to use mine.  And always remember….try to aspire to inspire before you expire.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.