KELLY IS GETTING TOGETHER A TRADER JOE’S SHOPPING LIST

SOUND ASLEEP THIS MORNING WITH HER LITTLE PAL OLLIE THE OLIPHANT

Ahhhhhh, clear blue skies with a big bright Arizona sun this morning.  Just what the Doctor ordered.  Now if Arizona could just turn it’s heat up a tad to the point where I can begin complaining about how hot it is all will be well again.

MY GARDEN TOOLS WERE PATIENTLY WAITING FOR ME THIS MORNING >>>

Contentedly resumed my clean-up project on the neighbor’s property.  Working in a nice quiet secluded area now with Joshua Trees, Agave’s, Saguaros, Ocotillos, Chain Fruit Cholla, Prickly Pear Cactus, Palo Verde, & Mesquite trees etc.  Raking out dead cactus & trimming back overgrown branches.  For me it’s a nice way to spend a few solitary hours & get myself a little exercise to boot.  Worked away till I wore myself out around 1:30.  Best part about wearing oneself out is flopping in a big old comfy recliner & kicking back for some R & R time.  I like that feeling.

ANOTHER WHEELBARROW LOAD OF DRIED CACTUS ETC HEADS FOR THE BRUSH PILE

Something I forgot to mention about Prescott in Tuesday’s post.  Two big thumbs up for the 101.7 radio station.  What a pleasant surprise to come across a mature radio station in this day & age with easy listening music & no yammering announcers or teeth jarring hoaky commercials.  Thank you for adding to our pleasant day Prescott:))

THIS AGAVE WAS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED BY THE PALO VERDE TREE NEXT TO IT SO HAD TO CUT THE PALO WAY BACK

So glad we are not back in Bayfield digging our way out of yet another winter blizzard.  Imagine I will have myself a big Spring clean-up this year with tree limbs down etc.  An email from home said a falling Pine branch broke the globe on our light at the end of our driveway.  Fingers crossed that our water pipes will be alright with the intense cold this year. 

AW COME ON PHEEBS HOW’S ABOUT ANOTHER SMOOCH

Been nearly 2 years (March 2012) since we bought our Congress house so how do we feel about that decision at this point.  Two thumbs up with no regrets comes to mind & we especially enjoy it while we are here for the winter.  But it’s a long stretch from when we leave in early April until we return in late October.  And it is during this time we have a tendency to occasionally waiver & think to ourselves maybe we should sell it.  However, those wavering doubts are soon dispelled as soon as we pull into our Congress Arizona driveway here in the Fall.  We’re just so glad to have what we have & all our reasons for buying the house & property in the first place come rushing back ten fold.

Congress is such a great central location & springboard for area travels to new & old places.  We could drive to Bisbee Arizona in a day or Borrego Springs California in half that time.  It’s a full day’s drive to Moab Utah & we could make it to the South rim of the Grand Canyon in about 4 hours.  About 3 & a half hours to Joshua Tree National Park.  A short 3 hours down to Darby Well in Ajo & about 3 hours over to the Sedona area.  Two hours can put us in the Kofa Mountains.  A day’s drive could easily land us in Silver City New Mexico & a good day’s drive from Congress could put us up into Cortez, Colorado.  Yep, I think we are in a pretty great area for future travels alright.

<<< I’VE BEEN BUSY DOING SOME MORE PLANTING

Kelly is putting a list together for the next time we go to Trader Joes.  Peanut Butter Pretzels were suggested & are high on that list for me.  Kelly’s got ‘Almonds’ wrote down after another suggestion.  Not being familiar with TJ’s I guess we’ll have to spend a bit more time having us a look around in there.  Do any of you TJ folks out there have any more suggestions for Kelly to add to her Trader Joe’s list…………….

It was mentioned in the Shout Box today that I have written some ‘bad blogs here’.  Well, let me be the first to say yes I have written some posts & said some things over the years that I would rather take back but I stop short of thinking of them as bad.  Opinionated for sure, a bit aggressive at times, maybe not well thought out at other times, occasionally accusatory, biased even, but downright bad……hmmmmm.  Here’s how the dictionary defines ‘bad’……of poor quality; inferior or defective. 
substandard, second-rate, second-class, unsatisfactory, inadequate, unacceptable, not up to scratch, not up to par, deficient, imperfect, defective, faulty, shoddy, amateurish, careless, negligent, miserable, incompetent, inept, inexpert, ineffectual; awful, atrocious, appalling, execrable, deplorable, terrible, abysmal; crummy, rotten, godawful, pathetic, useless, woeful, bum, lousy………… I guess it’s all in what one considers ‘bad’.

PICKED UP THE MINERAL SPIRITS IN PRESCOTT TUESDAY TO TRY & GET THESE ROAD PAINT SPATTERS OFF THE JEEP

Liked the colorful photos TRAVELS WITH CC & DIXIE had in their recent post.  Especially the ones of the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park. It was the 34th annual Reenactment of the Seminole Indians vs. American soldiers battle of December 23, 1835, so called Florida-Indian wars.  A quote from their post says, “With the smoke in the woods, many of my photos look like paintings”.

WITH A WHOLE LOT OF LUCK THIS FELLOW MAY ONE DAY GROW INTO A FULL BLOWN JOSHUA TREE >>>

Boy are the birds ever mad at me.  Ran out of birdseed & the store where we get it is closed today.  We could have a full scale feathered revolution here at any minute.  Our back yard right now is full of angry looking winged warriors.  Could be tense over the next 24 hours……………………..

<<< YEP, THIS GUY IS REALLY TICKED OFF

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Did you know that marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is a husband. And there's one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's.

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

- I sure hope I don't live long enough to get old....AL.

AN EXPLORATORY JEEP TRIP TO A CITY WE ONCE DID SOME BUSINESS IN

 

HAD US A NICE BACKYARD SUNSET TONIGHT

With cloudy skies overhead this morning I wasn’t inspired to venture outside & resume my clean-up project.  Couldn’t even get myself into a morning walk so Kelly & Pheebs headed out without me.  I busied myself with a load of laundry & a couple other small indoor projects.

ALWAYS ENJOY SEEING THE NEIGHBOR’S COLORFUL ORANGES

We figured it might by a good day for a day trip to a city.  Prescott Arizona is a place we have only been to twice & both times it had to do with business back in March of 2012 when we bought our Congress house.  We do kind of bounce off the outskirts of Prescott coming & going between Bayfield & Congress each Spring & Fall though.

 

SOME KIND OF NEST, DEN, OR LAIR BOTTOM RIGHT BUT WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS

There are 2 ways to Prescott from Congress & the one we take with our rig is Iron Springs road.  It is not recommended RV’s travel highway 96 through Wilhoit to Prescott.  This is a mountainous stretch of road with hair pin turns & many 20, 25, 30 & 35 mph curves.  This is the route we took both going to & returning from Prescott today.  We had traveled it once before back in March of 2012.  Let me just say…..this is a marvelous stretch of highway but may not be for everybody.

DIDN’T TAKE ANY PHOTOS OF THE CURVY ROAD BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO ALARM MY PASSENGER

Personally, I enjoy the driving challenges of road’s like this.  Scenery is great as well as the 15 mile stretch from the town of Wilhoit to Prescott winds it’s way through scenic forests of tall Pines & a variety of other greenery.  Valleys of forest with snow scattered along ridge lines, hill tops, & small mountain peaks.

A BARREL CACTUS SEEMINGLY GROWS OUT OF THE ROCKS

Our drive to Prescott today was that of an exploratory mission to familiarize ourselves with the town/city for future trips.  Luckily we remembered our way around a bit from nearly 2 years ago & didn’t have any problem finding the great mall complexes east on highway 69.  We had no particular destination in mind other than to have a look around but it was soon lunch time & after spotting a Red Lobster Kelly had a hankering for some sea food.  She assured me I could get a burg in there.  I am definitely not a seafood guy.  Had been about 15 years since Kelly had been to a RL & I had only been in a RL once back in the mid 80’s.  That was when I found out I do not like Lobster or any other creepy crawler critter that comes out of the ocean.   

 

KELLY CAREFULLY PONDERS THE BIG RED LOBSTER MENU

Kelly’s seafood platter was acceptable but she felt it was overpriced for what she got.  My last minute decision to have Fish n Chips was OK & I was glad my plate was not overwhelmed with French Fries like so many other places.  Fish was good but I think somebody spilled the salt shaker on my fries.  Took a long time to get the bill & we both decided we would probably not head on back to a Red Lobster again.  We made the same decision about Applebee’s after being in one in Sierra Vista Az a few years back as well. 

THAT’S A HUNK OF LOBSTER WITH SOME SHRIMPY THINGS & SCALLOP DOLLUPS

Kelly spotted a ‘Ross’ store she liked so headed on in for a looky see while Pheebs & I held the Fort down in the Jeep.  She returned with some new bed sheets.  A quick stop at Home Depot netted us some Mineral Spirits.  In Canada we call that Varsol or Turpentine.  The HD clerk had no idea what Kelly was looking for & said they had never heard of Turpentine or Varsol.  Yes there are some definite differences between our two countries alright.

PATIENTLY WAITING FOR MOM TO COME OUT OF THE ‘ROSS’ STORE

Next stop was a store I have heard a lot of RV’ers raving about so figured I had better go in & see what all the fuss was about.  Was there a water slide inside, free ice cream for every customer, or an all expenses paid Caribbean Cruise for every 100th customer through the door?  Well it was none of those & there wasn’t much fuss that I could see but then again I am not a ‘Foody’ person & this was definitely a Foody person’s store.  We were at Trader Joes.

YEP, WE WERE AT TRADER JOE’S ALRIGHT

It was the business right next to Trader Joes that caused us to give ourselves a kick in the pants & added insult to injury for going to Red Lobster.  One of our favorite burger places is 5 Guys & sure enough there it was with all it’s free peanuts & everything. 

A casual question to the clerk at Trader Joes led us around the corner to Cupper’s Bistro for ice cream.  Now here was a place we liked & had ourselves some very tasty Gelato.  Chocolate for Kelly & Carmel for me.  Yummy.  Decided on a coffee to go & it came in the most intelligent coffee cup I have ever seen.  Charbucks & Tim Hortons are missing the boat on this practical cup design.  Tim Horton’s cups have flat cardboard sides which can be very hot on fingers.  Cupper’s cups are ribbed so fingers are protected from the heat.  Very clever.  Liked the different slide open sippy cup idea as well.  Two thumbs up for Cuppers Bistro:))

KELLY BELLIES UP TO THE GELATO BAR

 

ABOUT THE SMALLEST SPOONS WE HAVE EVER HAD

 

CLEVER COFFEE CUP & LID DESIGN

It was going on 3 p.m so decided it was time to head for home.  But not before a stop at City Hall in downtown Prescott.  It was maps we were after & someone had told us City Hall had them.  They did.  Kelly went in for the maps while I slipped across the street to take a few photos in a lovely Park surrounding the Yavapai County Court House building.  This is the core of historic Prescott & the street with all it’s stores & little Shoppe's running along on the north side is called Whiskey Row.  We made a mental note to return to Prescott another day & spend some time having us a look around this part of town. 

YAVAPAI COUNTY COURT HOUSE

 

NICE PARK SURROUNDING THE COURTHOUSE

 

LOTS OF DOGGIES OUT WALKING IN THE PARK INCLUDING THE PHEEBS

 

WHISKEY ROW

  

It was shortly after 3 when we began our southerly journey back down highway 96 twisting & turning our way through the scenic green forests.  Nice drive into a late afternoon cloud banked setting sun.  One hour from Prescott to Congress.

 

Slipped on down through Peeples Valley into Yarnell where we began our decent down the Yarnell Hill to the floor of the Sonoran Desert & our home only minutes away in Congress.

THE FAINT WHITE LINE BETWEEN THE 2 DARK HILLS IS NORTH RANCH

   

ABOUT 3 MINUTES FROM PHEEBERS HOUSE

Still full from our lunch in Prescott today we skipped supper.  Well sort of, I had a walloping big peanut butter & honey sandwich.  Fiery sunset in our backyard finished off what I consider to be a worthwhile day.  We went somewhere, saw some things we had never seen before, learned some new things along the way & just quite simply had an enjoyable Bayfield Bunch day………..:))

FROM OUR BACKYARD

GROANER’S CORNER:((     A three-year-old boy went with his dad to see a new litter of Labrador puppies. On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother, "There were three boy Labrador puppies and four girl Labrador puppies."
"How did you know that?" his mother asked.
"Daddy picked them up and looked underneath," he replied. "I think it is printed on their bottoms.

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

- I sure hope I don't live long enough to get old....AL.