AN UNEXPECTED ARIZONA THUNDER STORM HAD US SCRAMBLING TONIGHT

WE LOVE OUR QUIET MORNING DESERT WALKS

Unlike the previous morning Kelly didn’t say if we had caught another Skunk or not so I assumed we had not.  I assumed wrong.  We indeed had caught another Skunk & when I slipped out the back door to retrieve the Critter Cam I could see this fellow meant business.  He turned & raised his tale so I quickly retreated into the house.  Undaunted I went out the front door & down around the end of the house where I figured I would have a better chance to get the cam without being blasted.  Held my flashlight on him while I clumsily unhooked the cam from the ladder I had it attached too.  He was in a firing position & could have easily pulled the trigger on me but he did not.  Camera in hand I quickly retreated back in the house unscathed or in this case……..unskunked.

JUST ANOTHER PEACEFUL & SERENE MORNING WALK

  

 

Disappointed I only had 3 blurry unrecognizable photos on the Critter Cam.  Have to chock that up to ‘Operator Error’ I guess.  I may have had the cam aimed a tad to high.  There is no sighting device on these cams & one just aims the cam in the general direction of the expected subject.  Learning as I go………………..

DESERT SUNRISE

  

I was in the shower again when Les came to pick up the Skunk.  He was here & gone before I even had a chance to take a picture of Skunk number 2.  Traps are again set for tonight in case there are more.  Would like to get a photo of the critters actually exiting out of that big hole in the foundation.  That way we would know for sure they are not coming in from the outside somewhere.  Maybe slipping through our gate at night.

Was happy to see a high cloud cover this morning.  Knew it would be cooler for working outside today.  And it was.  The clouds gave us some nice subdued pastel colored lighting on our walk this morning.  Love to see the desert landscape bathed in those kinds of soft hues.  We also made it a point to walk earlier.  A quiet peaceful morning walk always starts our day off on the right foot.  We found by walking later around 8 'o’clock we were meeting too many other people out for their morning walks & that often leads to talking, talking, talking, when we would both prefer to be quietly walking, walking, walking.

  

KELLY POINTS OUT SOMETHING OF INTEREST WHILE PHEEBS RUNS ON AHEAD

I have absolutely no idea how or where I lost a day this week but somewhere along the line Thursday totally disappeared on me.  I thought today was Thursday & when Kelly insisted it was Friday I just couldn’t believe it.  Or was it Tuesday I lost.  I have no idea where Wednesday went.  In fact I’m not even sure I was really here for any of those days.  I’ve never had a day vanish on me like that before.  Well not that I can remember anyway.

BIRD’S ON A WIRE

Kelly & I headed over to North Ranch for a couple more loads of free dirt this morning & I went back for another load myself this afternoon.  Probably be back tomorrow for more.  In between those loads Kelly had a couple garage sales to check out as well.  Pheebs & I waited in the Jeep.  Looking for one of those garage sales we discovered another part of Congress we had never seen before.  Located just west of town on the south side of highway 71 was a nice little community of well kept homes called Congress Village.  Really liked the desert landscaping & south west ranch style architecture on many of the houses.  Saw 4 for sale but they were all out of reach for us.  Nice views out there of the Weaver & Date Creek Mountains.……………….

PICKING UP OUR 2ND LOAD OF DIRT AT NORTH RANCH…YA YA I KNOW KELLY’S DOING ALL THE WORK

 

Worked on my flower beds project again & by late afternoon I was whupped & in my recliner resting my legs.  It’s my darn legs that get tired on me all the time.  Probably a good thing because that at least makes me go sit down.  Had figured on dropping over to Mike & Pat McFalls for their 4 o’clock Happy Hour today but we never made it.  We were both just too tired to even go open the gate.

NOT SURE WHAT WE’LL PLANT IN THAT FLOWER YET BUT I’M SURE WE’LL THINK OF SOMETHING

 

Kelly was busy packing the rig for next week’s trip over to that California place.  Because of this week being shorter for me (remember I lost Thursday) I am going to have to scramble to get my rig loading chores underway as well.  Geeez I didn’t even get the rig washed from our trip down from Canada.  Oh well, no use wasting precious energy units when we’ll just be out into the dusty desert with it next week anyway.

 

 

MOVED MYSELF A FAIR BIT OF DIRT TODAY

RETIRED ROD found the rattle in his new Jeep.  Well, he didn’t find it but the Jeep garage finally found it.  Took them awhile to track down the source.  Rod will tell you where that source was at, THE JEEP RATTLE.

 

KELLY WATCHES THE SUNSET FROM OUR BACK YARD

 

OUR ABSENT NEIGHBOR’S JOSHUA TREES & SAGUAROS

We were totally caught off guard tonight by a fast moving Arizona thunder storm.  Heard the thunder & saw the lightning so dashed out of the house to roll up Jeep windows, bring in the rig’s slide, close the vents & put up the cab windows.  I quickly got things rounded up on the porch as the first rains were upon us but as the rains got heavier I had to bring all that stuff inside.  Quickly retrieved the Critter Cam, folded up & put away lawn chairs, & raced around looking for anything else I had left lying around outside.  As I am typing this now I am slightly on the damp side & the rain is really coming down.  Lost the satellite signal for our TV.  Could be heavy rain laden clouds or it could be one of our satellite dish legs has sunk into the mood throwing us off the satellite.  And yep, we sprung us a couple leaks.  Nothing serious but leaks nonetheless……………………..

 

TONIGHT’S MOON RISE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

Q: How many skunks does it take to make a big stink?
A: A phew!

Q: How much money does a skunk have?
A: One scent!

Q: What did the judge say when a skunk entered the courtroom?
A: Odor in the court!

Q: What did the religious skunk say?
A: "Let us spray!"

Q: What do you call a flying skunk?
A: A smell-icopter.

Q: What do you get when you cross a robot and a skunk?
A: R-2 P-U!

Q: Why are skunks so smart?
A: Because they have a lot of scents!

Q: Why did Sally bring her skunk to school?
A: For show-and-smell!

Q: Why didn't the skunk call his parents?
A: Because his phone was out of odor!

Q: Have you heard any good skunk jokes?
A: You don't want to, they really stink!

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- 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.

WE DEFINITELY CAUGHT US A CRITTER IN THE NIGHT

NO LACK OF PASTEL COLORS ON THE DESERT FLOOR

Probably the first first words out of Kelly this morning were something like, “we got a Skunk”.  And sure enough as I shined the flashlight out through the kitchen window there it was in the small cage.  Definitely a Skunk.  I slipped carefully out the back door & retrieved the Critter Cam.  As expected, there were about 40 pictures.  Every time the Skunk had moved the Cam took a photo.  First few pics showed the Skunk circling the cage & then presto….he was in the cage.

I was going to just delete all the following Critter Cam photos figuring they would all be the same with slight movements between each one.  But whoaaaa, what’s this!!  Scrolling quickly through the the thumbnails something caught my eye & I backed up.  Two frames showed a second Skunk in the other cage.  But then all the following frames showed the cage empty again.  A second Skunk had got away.  (Oooops, forgot to change the font color)

OH NO……….TWO SKUNKS BUT THE ONE ON THE LEFT GOT AWAY

Kelly phoned Les right away & minutes later he rolled in our driveway.  He had been close by just heading out of Congress.  I was in the shower when he showed up so didn’t get any photos of Les putting a blanket over the Skunk cage & carrying it out to his trailer.  Said he had a place where he lets them go.  He figured he had the one cage set to tight & that’s why it didn’t trigger.  Adjusted it & set it up again to see if we can catch the second Skunk tonight.

 

TODAY’S BIRDS:))

 

 

 

Finished up my railway tie project this morning so I’m glad that’s done.  Surprisingly enough I didn’t wake up this morning with any aches & pains from Tuesdays project.  Thought for sure I would have a sore something somewhere.  But nope, despite my legs being stiff I was good to go.

USED TODAY’S FREE DIRT TO RAISE THIS ‘UNDER THE WINDOW’ FLOWER BED ABOUT 4 INCHES & RE-TOPPED IT WITH STONES…FREE DIRT??

Kelly stopped at North Ranch a couple days ago on her way back from Wickenburg & checked their bulletin board.  She’s always checking bulletin boards for things on sale.  Noticed somebody in North Ranch had a bunch of fill (dirt) to get rid of….free.  Well you know where we were this morning with the Jeep & trailer.  Yep, we got us a load of free dirt.  I will probably go over in the morning myself & get another load or two.  Sure is great having a good little utility trailer.  I’m using the dirt to raise some flower beds close to the house.  Don’t know what we will plant in them yet but I’m sure we’ll think of something.

THIS LOAD OF DIRT WAS HEAVIER THAN 8 RAILWAY TIES AT A TIME IN THE TRAILER

John & Jackie dropped around in their new Ford Escape.  Only got 250 miles on it so far.  Bought it last week in Wickenburg.  Nice little car.  Seems our last two visitors both had brand spanking new vehicles.  Does this mean the economy is on the mend…………………..

KAMPER KATS is the latest person to join the Bayfield Bunch on their Snow Bird south-westerly adventures whether they be on the road or at the house.  Thanks for stopping by KK:))  

<<< TONIGHT’S NOT QUITE FULL MOON AT 300mm FROM MY BEDROOM WINDOW

GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

Q: Did you hear about the great new restaurant on the moon?
A: The food is excellent, but there's no atmosphere.
Q: Why did the cow jump over the moon?
A: Because the farmer had cold hands!
Q: Did you hear about the bones they found on the moon?
A: It seems like the cow did not make it.
Q: What holds the moon up?
A: Moonbeams.
Q: How do you know when the moon is going broke?
A: When it's down to its last quarter.
Q: What do you call a clock on the moon?
A: A lunartick.
Q: How does a man on a moon get his haircut?
A: Eclipse it.
Q: What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Moon pi.
Q: How does one astronaut on the moon tell another astronaut that he is sorry?
A: He Apollo-gises.
Q: What was the name of the first satellite to orbit the Earth?
A: The moon.
Q: What do moon people do when they get married?
A: They go off on their honeyearth!
Q: When is the moon not hungry?
A: When it is full!
-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.