TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Monday, December 23, 2013

HAD OURSELVES A PLEASURABLE CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE TONIGHT

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

Kelly thought she heard some scratching under our front porch Sunday evening. When Pheebs & I went out Pheebs right away detected something & scurried around the porch sniffing & looking underneath. I grabbed a flashlight & got down on the cement but could not see anything in the 9” space under the porch. That called for the ‘Critter Cam’ & I attached it to one of the porch posts for the night. Checking the Cam this morning I see the only Critters our camera caught were the resident Critters in their PJ’s & house coats:((

Looks like I am not the only one who doubts his abilities when it comes to fixing things or tackling mechanical issues. With a track record like mine it is not too encouraging when I sometimes attempt things that try my patience. Fortunately we here at the Bayfield Bunch have Kelly. For RV’ers traveling alone they do not have back-up & have no choice but to do things by themselves best they can. Barney THE OLD FAT MAN just tackled the job of changing the anode rod in his water heater. His thought process moving through this job sounded soooooo familiar…….

Ever notice how projects YOU yourself think of always seem to be more acceptable, interesting, & enjoyable than those projects thought up by someone else for you to do. Now why is that anyway?? D’ya suppose it might have something to do with not liking being told what to do Guys?

WE HAVE KNOWN FOR AWHILE NOW WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE’S LIVING IN OUR HOUSE

IT WAS A DAY OF GRACEFUL TAKE-OFFS & IFFY LANDINGS

ALWAYS A WATCHFUL EYE ON THE CURVE BILL THRASHERS

A few days ago Peter & Bea at AMERICAN TRAVELER left Campobello Island with van & travel trailer heading for Florida. First day went fine but then came the second, third, & fourth days. With post titles like, 13 HOURS ON THE ROAD BUT NYC WAS HELL - IF NYC IS HELL WHAT IS WASHINGTON DC? - FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP....OH...WHAT A DAY one can only imagine the time they are having. Did I mention they got stuck too……Oh Dear & they may not even be to Florida yet:((

Bruce, the fellow who keeps an eye on our place in Bayfield while we are away sent us a few pics this morning in the aftermath of a snow & ice storm that swept through the area. I saw right away that my bird station was broken & tilted downwards. Probably a combination of ice, snow, & aging wood. And most likely some faulty construction along the way too:((

THAT’S MY BIRD FEEDING STATION HANGING DOWN

THE WEIGHT OF SNOW & ICE ON PINE TREES IS ALWAYS A CONCERN AROUND OUR HOUSE

Stained a couple small wooden tables this morning, packed a few things in the rig & that was about it for me today. Seemed to be a little low in the energy department. Haven’t decided where we are headed or when we’re leaving yet but we pretty well have the Winnie Wagon loaded up & ready to rumble. Kelly had a hair appointment in Wickenburg early this afternoon so Pheebs & I held the Fort here at home.

PHEEBS ALREADY HAS 2 OF HER FAVORITE TOYS LOADED UP…EARL THE SQUIRREL & SHUSTER THE ROOSTER

KELLY SURE HAS A LOT MORE ROOM IN HER BEDROOM THAN I HAVE IN MINE

And a surprise tonight. Well not exactly a surprise but it is the first time we have ever had a group of folks come to our house singing Christmas Carols. Les, the fellow who has been a big help to us this year asked if he could bring a group of Caroler’s over from his Church. They do this every year & it is their Mennonite way of spreading the Gospel. The surprise came when Les included us on their Christmas tour of folks to drop by & sing for. A very memorable & pleasant 15 minutes as they sang 5 Christmas Carols for us.

THAT’S LES IN THE GRAY SWEATER AT THE LEFT

GROANER’S CORNER:(( T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. They'd been worn all week and needed the air.

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

Sunday, December 22, 2013

TRAVEL PLANS ARE A BREWING…..:))

PYRRHULOXIA >>>

I have a small electric heater beside my bedroom’s computer chair & with this mornings 39F temps I had it cranked. Heater is too small to heat the whole room but keeps the area around my chair warm. Needless to say I stay in my chair for as long as possible on cold mornings. Warmed up enough through the day for us to leave our doors & windows open though.

JUST A FEW FROZEN WATER PUDDLES

Now that our porch post project is complete we got us a little travel talk going this morning. Been checking the weather maps looking to see where warmer temperatures are lurking. Having a look at some new spots as well as some old favs. Packed a few things into the rig today:))

A NEIGHBOR’S CACTUS SURROUNDED BY DAISY PLANTS…GONNA BE PRETTY IN THE SPRING

Reading GYPSIES post this morning about the graduation of her son Joe as a Respiratory Therapist I am again reminded of all the great professional people who have seen fit to work & dedicate themselves to the medical profession, & to the assistance of the medical profession. Men & Women working tirelessly for years & decades trying their best to help their fellow man. People who have stuck it out in schools, Colleges & Universities to listen, learn & earn their medical training & degrees. Lab researchers & Scientists. Doctors, medical staff, nurses, paramedics, & specialists of all kind. These are the people, in my mind, who deserve the praise & the thanks for their personal & dedicated efforts. I have always had great respect for all those hard working people in the medical profession. And, when a life is saved or improved, it is generally the combination of many well trained people successfully working together as a team to help their fellow man. Yes mistakes are made & medical decisions are not always correct but on the whole these are a great bunch of people trying their best to make a difference.

While at home in Bayfield Ontario for half the year we have a fast internet connection & are not on any kind of limiting Gigabyte plan. Different story when we are traveling south of the border. Verizon is our internet carrier & we are on a 10 Gigabyte limit each month. If we go over that we are financially penalized. Our connection here in Congress is not lightning fast & to download anything can take a long time using up many precious bytes. My posts & photos plus both of us being on line with 2 separate computers each day eats up a lot of those bytes. For the winter months we cannot do ‘You Tubes’, videos, on-line music downloads, animated jokes & cards etc. Maybe one day we’ll get that problem solved too.

ANOTHER ANGLE OF OUR PINE PORCH POSTS

Slipped into Wickenburg on the early side this morning for a stop at Stewart’s Hardware, Alco, & Safeway. Getting this close to Christmas we didn’t want to be anywhere near the stores later on in the day.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Did you know that according to the song, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", Santa has twelve reindeer? Sure, in the introduction it goes "There's Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen..." That makes eight reindeer. Then there's Rudolph, of course, so that makes nine. Then there's Olive. You know, "Olive the other reindeer used to laugh..." That makes ten. The eleventh is Howe. You know, "Then Howe the reindeer loved him..." Eleven reindeer. Oh, and number 12? That's Andy! "Andy shouted out with glee." The proof is in the song!

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

Saturday, December 21, 2013

OUR PINE PORCH POSTS ARE IN PLACE

OUR PINE POSTS ARE IN

Not often our cell phone rings but it did this morning around 9. It was Les saying he would be over shortly to put our porch posts up. Ten minutes later he was here & right at it. Porch roof jacked up, measurements taken, posts cut to exact length, old posts out & new posts in. An hour later the job was done. Les is a fast efficient worker & it was a pleasure for me to help him a wee bit. Key words there were, ‘a wee bit’. Sometimes there is a fine line between helping someone a wee bit or just getting in the way. I tried not to be in the way.

HEY, AT LEAST I’M HOLDING THE JACK

In the New Year sometime Les is going to make us a couple wood doors for our aluminum garden shed. The current 2 doors are in pretty grim shape. That should pretty much complete this winter’s main house projects here in Congress.

CLOUDS HUNG LOW IN THE WICKENBURG MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING

WE LOVE OUR GREEN DESERT

Liked Randy’s thoughts from THE ROAD RUNNER CHRONICLES when he wrote about BLOG REASONS. I always find it interesting to read other Blogger’s thoughts on how & why they write their posts.

<<< IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE PHEEBS PEEKNG OVER THE FLOWERPOT IN FRONT OF SPENCER

Commenter Phil had a few questions regarding communications. Our satellite TV is Shaw Direct which comes out of Canada. Our cell phone provider is Bell Telephone also out of Canada & for Internet we use Verizon. There are other Internet providers but where we are located in Congress AZ Verizon seems to work the best for us. Verizon service is much improved since we first came here in March of 2012. Not smoking hot by any means but it’s adequate for our needs most of the time.

Don in our Shout Box asked, “Did you all train Pheebs or was she trained when she adopted you”? About the only thing we noticed Pheebs was trained to do was come if we whistled while on walks. I’ve since changed that to a couple hand claps. She learns quickly & seems able to figure things out. We hardly have to explain anything to her, she just seems to know things. She is not an aggressive Alpha type dog & that is a huge help in itself. Very passive & very caring. We were just talking a couple night’s ago about how lucky we were to have found her a couple years ago. We almost didn’t. We had been so focused on getting another dog in St. Thomas that we didn’t pay a lot of attention to a phone call from our Vet saying he knew of a dog needing a good home. When we received an email saying the St. Thomas dog was going to another home we remembered our Vet’s phone call. And the rest is happy Bayfield Bunch history…………….:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Every Christmas morning, when my kids were little, I read them the nativity story out of the big family bible. When my son was old enough to talk, he asked me what a stable was. I thought for a moment how to explain it to him in terms he could understand, then told him, "It's something like your sister's room, but without a stereo."

Twinkle Twinkle chocolate bar
Santa drives a rusty car
Press the starter
Press the choke
Off he goes in a cloud of smoke!

Friday, December 20, 2013

TURNED OUT TO BE A TELEVISION DAY

It was about 4:45 a.m. when I first heard it & knew our Pine porch post project would not be a go this morning. Rain on the roof!! Rain quit about 5:15 but figured it was probably too wet for Les to come over. It was.

CACTUS WREN

Wasn’t until after 10 when I saw the first rays of sunshine landing in our front yard that I felt like venturing outside. Venturing outside dressed warmly that is. Temps were in the lower 40’s & with the recent rain it felt damp. Ontario weather. Moved all our outside stuff that I had moved inside yesterday back outside. Worked on a little shelving project for my bathroom & it was back in the house again when heavy clouds returned to the area totally blocking out any sunshine. And with those clouds came more rain. Weatherman is calling for better days ahead starting Saturday. Not a single cloud in tonight’s starry sky so I am optimistic.

Turned out to be an afternoon of television which was Ok for a change. But not so good for coming up with a whole lot stuff to write about tonight. I guess these kinds of days are to be expected now & then.

In a comment question regarding a photo in Thursday night’s post Flowergirl asks, “Does the bird nest hole hurt that big cactus”? Well, I have often wondered that too & I would think if over a period of time enough Woodpeckers made their nests in a single Saguaro it would definitely weaken the plant. It is a fairly big nest they hollow out inside the Cactus. When Woodpeckers abandon a nest it becomes home for other birds like Cactus Wrens & House Sparrows, etc.

And thanks to commenters for identifying the plants Kelly brought home as Agaves. I had a feeling they were but had not made the distinction between a Cactus & an Agave. Kind of thought anything with stickers & barbs on it was a Cactus in these parts. Ed from the THE PEREGRINATING GRAYBEARD once again came through in a detailed manner setting the record straight for me. Ed explained it this way………..

Agave:
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Agavoideae

Cactus:
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae

I know my head is much clearer now…..how about yours. Ed’s always tuned into the politics of the day & you will find his writings & opinions enlightening & challenging. Ed’s post resides at the very bottom of my ‘Fellow Bloggers’ list & despite many efforts I have never been able to get his posts to post currently in my Blogger’s list. Box keeps coming up saying, ‘Could not detect a feed for this URL’. Anybody have any ideas how I can get Ed’s current posts onto my Fellow Bloggers list?? You can read about the day we met Ed back in 2010…TODAY WE MET ED FREY & ON CHRISTMAS EVE SOMETHING CREEPY OUR WAY DID COME.

I THINK I’M FEEDING THESE GUYS TOO MUCH

Every night I am herded to the supper table whether it be here in Congress or back home in Bayfield. No matter where I am or what I am doing Pheebs comes & gets me for supper. When Kelly has things on the table she simply says to Pheebs, “Go get Dad” & with those 3 simple words she excitedly & somewhat ecstatically races off to round me up for supper. And I use the words ‘round-up’ & ‘herd’ because that is exactly what she does. She barks to get me moving faster & is right on my heels. Not in front of or beside me. No, directly behind me. She rounds me up & herds me right to the table. Works for breakfast or lunch too. What a great little Pheebs she is:))

<<< CURVE BILL THRASHER

I especially liked Nan’s post over at TRIPPIN WITH THE TALLEYS tonight. One of those posts I can easily relate to as Nan writes about the other side of all the usual Christmas hype. Entitled ‘Sad People’ she strikes a reality chord in many of us. I have great respect for, & enjoy reading posts from people who are courageous enough to be honest with their feelings.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Christmas Downsizing:

Today's global challenges require the North Pole to continue to look for better, more competitive steps. Effective immediately, the following economy measures are to take place in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" subsidiary:

The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree never turned out to be the cash crop forecasted. It will be replaced by a plastic hanging plant, providing considerable savings in maintenance.

The two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost effective. In addition, their romance during working hours could not be condoned. The positions are therefore eliminated.

The three French hens will remain intact. After all, everyone loves the French.

The four calling birds were replaced by an automated voice mail system, with a call waiting option. An analysis is underway to determine who the birds have been calling, how often and how long they talked.

The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of Directors. Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could have negative implications for institutional investors. Diversification into other precious metals as well as a mix of T-Bills and high technology stocks appear to be in order.

The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer be afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one egg per goose per day is an example of the decline in productivity. Three geese will be let go, and an upgrading in the selection procedure by personnel will assure management that from now on every goose it gets will be a good one.

The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in better times. Their function is primarily decorative. Mechanical swans are on order. The current swans will be retrained to learn some new strokes and therefore enhance their outplacement.

As you know, the eight maids-a-milking concept has been under heavy scrutiny by the EEOC. A male/female balance in the workforce is being sought. The more militant maids consider this a dead-end job with no upward mobility. Automation of the process may permit the maids to try a-mending, a-mentoring or a-mulching.

Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number. This function will be phased out as these individuals grow older and can no longer do the steps.

Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill. The high cost of Lords plus the expense of international air travel prompted the Compensation Committee to suggest replacing this group with ten out-of-work congressmen. While leaping ability may be somewhat sacrificed, the savings are significant because we expect an oversupply of unemployed congressmen this year.

Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple case of the band getting too big. A substitution with a string quartet, a cut back on new music and no uniforms will produce savings which will drop right down to the bottom line.

We can expect a substantial reduction in assorted people, fowl, animals and other expenses. Though incomplete, studies indicate that stretching deliveries over twelve days is inefficient. If we can drop ship in one day, service levels will be improved.

Regarding the lawsuit filed by the attorney's association seeking expansion to include the legal profession ("thirteen lawyers-a-suing"), action is pending.

Lastly, it is not beyond consideration that deeper cuts may be necessary in the future to stay competitive. Should that happen, the Board will request management to scrutinize the Snow White Division to see if seven dwarfs is the right number.