A RANDOM THREE DAYS FROM OUR ARIZONA RANCH SITTING DAYS

 GOLDFINCH

A drive into Bayfield and back for Pheebs and I this morning.  A slight drizzle in the air.  

 BAYFIELD'S BEACH BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE PILE OF ROCKS WENT THAT WERE PILED UP THERE

 THE HIGHWAY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BRIDGE IS PAVED AS WELL AS THE BRIDGE ITSELF AND THEY ARE WORKING AT SOMETHING AT BOTH ENDS WHERE THE HIGHWAY MEETS THE BRIDGE

 THIS CHRISTMASY SCENE IN BAYFIELD NEEDS SOME SNOW

We traded in two days of sunshine for some clouds today but with temps above normal at 45F it's kinda hard to complain.  Temps accompanied by high winds Thursday are expected to reach up close to 60F.  Friday we will be back in the fridge at 32F. 

 GOLDFINCH

 AN UPSIDE-DOWN NUTHATCH

Facebook threw me some memories today from 12 years ago when we were ranch sitting at a ranch near McNeal Arizona.

December 14th 2009...In Awe Of The Southwest

December 15th 2009...Warbling Some Cowboy Tunes and Cleaning Corrals

December 16th 2009...Hanging Onto the Donkeys

THE RANCHHOUSE

 COCHISE COUNTY NEAR THE RANCH

 ARIZONA'S MULE MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

 HERE'S KELLY CONVERSING THE THE DONKEYS

MORNING DOG WALK 

 WORKING ON SOME ADOBE BRICK STEPS

 THAT CUTE LITTLE FACE BELONGED OUR LITTLE CORA...aka THE MOTORMOUSE

 SANDHILL CRANES HEADING NORTH TO THEIR FEEDING GROUNDS NEAR WILCOX ARIZONA

 ROADRUNNER

SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

 SANDHILL CRANES HEADING HOME AT THE END OF THE DAY TO THE WHITEWATER DRAW WHICH WAS JUST A MILE SOUTH OF THE RANCH

Tuesday's Dynacare blood tests were requested by my diabetes person at the Maitland Valley Medical Center.  She is phoning me Friday morning to talk about how I am doing.  Kelly has already attained the test results online.  Says I still am 'pre-diabetic' which is better than I was a year and a half ago when I was at a diabetic stage two level.  However, there were some anomalies showing in the blood and urine tests which I will find out about Friday morning.  Tuesday's tests came at the right time because I had not been feeling well the past three days.  So far today, all is good:))

 PATIENTLY WAITING FOR MY BLOOD TEST EARLY TUESDAY MORNING

 KELLY ON A 'ZOOM CALL' WITH BROTHER PETER AND SISTERS CATHY AND REBECCA TUESDAY NIGHT

 TUESDAY'S FRONT YARD SUNSHINE

GROANER'S CORNER:((    One Sunday morning the pastor noticed little Johnny was standing staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The young man of seven had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up and stood beside him, and gazing up at the plaque he said quietly, "Good morning son."  "Good morning pastor" replied the young man not taking his eyes off the plaque. "Sir, what is this?" Johnny asked.  "Well son, these are all the people who have died in the service", replied the pastor. Soberly, they stood together staring up at the large plaque.  Little Johnny's voice barely broke the silence when he asked quietly, "Which one sir, the 8:30 or the 10:30?"

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AFTER I CAME HOME

Just me in the Jeep early this morning heading to Goderich's Dynacare Lab for blood tests.  Didn't take Pheebs because I didn't know how long I would be.  I took her for a short Jeep ride after I came home.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Once a man questioned his wife, "Would you have married me if my father hadn't left me any fortune?"  "Dear hubby, I'd have married you... no matter who left you a fortune!" she replied softly.

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BASKING IN THE WARM SUNSHINE

Another nice bright 43F day with a cold 36F windchill factor.  Not a patch of snow to be seen anywhere.  Pheebs and I headed to Goderich for a few groceries and were home again before 11 a.m.

With the sun lower on the southern horizon at this time of year, it shines right into our sunroom and alights on my recliner in the corner.  My favorite place to be these days is tipped back in that recliner reading a good book and basking in the warm sunshine.  And it even gets better when I drift off to dreamland for a while:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor's office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone.  He said, "Your husband is suffering from a very severe disease, combined with horrible stress. If you don't do the following, your husband will surely die."  "Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, and make sure he is in a good mood. For lunch make him a nutritious meal. For dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him. Don't burden him with chores, as he probably had a hard day. Don't discuss your problems with him, it will only make his stress worse. And most importantly, satisfy his every whim." If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely.  On the way home, the husband asked his wife.  "What did the doctor say?"  "You're going to die," she replied.

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MY HANGING BIRDFEEDER FELL DOWN

 ON A TABLE IN OUR SUNROOM

The Jeep had been over a few muddy roads these past days and was in need of a wash not only to get the mud off but the corrosive road salt as well.  So, it was away we went to the Bayfield's carwash Pheebs and I did go.  For a basically impatient person like myself I was glad to see nobody there ahead of me.  It's a two-bay facility but one side was closed.  Decided to wash my muddy floor mat too so I hung it on the wall after I exited the Jeep.  I put all my three-dollar coins into the slot, depressed the trigger, and waited for the big gush of pressurized water.  Nothing!!  I waited, still nothing.  I was dead in the water.  The machine wouldn't work.  I fussed with it long enough that a man walked in and asked if I was having trouble.  I thought maybe he was the owner but no, he was the next guy waiting to use the carwash after me.  Well, there was nothing I could do so I backed out and made way for him to pull in.  He drove into the bay and thirty seconds later I see tons of water and steam flying around all over the place as he happily (and probably quite gleefully) went about the business of washing his car with what I definitely perceived to be a smiley smirk beaming in my direction.  Well, there was nothing else I could do so Pheebs and I rolled out of the carwash parking lot with my justification for losing three dollars being I would simply forego two Tim Hortons coffees next week and that would make up for my staggering loss.

RESTORATION IS CONTINUING AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 WITH SATURDAY'S HIGH WINDS WE HAD A TREE FALL ON OUR REAR DECK

 WITHOUT SNOW IT JUST DON'T LOOK RIGHT DO IT

 SHE LIKES HER BIG COMFY BED

Turning left off the highway south of Bayfield we headed a short distance east and then made another left turn left in the direction of home.  We only went a hundred yards or so when I noticed a pile of corn in the ditch alongside the road.  It was spillage from a combine transferring corn to a truck.  I had my bucket and shovel in the back so I stopped and shoveled myself up a tall bucket of corn complete with a fine accompaniment of mud.  Getting back into the Jeep I noticed right away my floor mat was missing.  Well where the heck did that go?  Don't tell me somebody came up our driveway in the middle of the night and stole my floormat!!  I sat perplexed for a time backtracking my thoughts and 'Bingo'.......the carwash.  Made a hasty U-turn and it was back we went.  Of course, the guy who came in behind me at the wash would have taken my mat so I wasn't too hopeful of getting it back.  There was nobody there when we arrived so I drove right into the bay and holy smokes there was my hanging floormat right where I had left it.  And it was clean.  The guy had washed it so I had to spend a minute admonishing myself for having the negative thoughts about him I had.  Now, I did have three more coins, and well what the heck, I was right there anyway.  So, I rolled the dice.  Dropped my three coins into the slot and with enough pressure coming out of that hose to throw me back about forty feet I commenced washing the Jeep:))

 PERHAPS A LANDED ALIEN SPACECRAFT

NOPE, JUST A SMALL HANGING GLITTERBALL IN OUR SUNROOM WINDOW

It was a beautiful sunny day with temps up around 45F but the icy cold wind-chill factor drove that down to 34C so I spent the afternoon in our sunny warm sunroom reading and plunking around with my cameras.  And after supper tonight I made myself one mighty fine cup of grey coffee.  Grey??  Yep, I forgot to put coffee in the filter.  Aren't you glad your not me. Oh, and because my new hanging birdfeed contraption had crashed to the ground overnight I was outside again, up my ladder and trying to re-hang it.  The cord I had used broke and I don't know if it was yesterday's winds or a squirrel had got up there with a hacksaw and cut it.  Maybe a combination of both.  I am now contemplating making a drastic birdfeeder change...............

Weather's looking pretty darn good for the next three days so maybe Pheebs and I can head out a little further afield in search of a few photos.

GROANER'S CORNER:((    An efficiency expert concluded his lecture with a note of caution. "You don't want to try these techniques at home."  "Why not?" asked somebody from the audience.  "I watched my wife's routine at breakfast for years," the expert explained. "She made lots of trips between the refrigerator, stove, table and cabinets, often carrying a single item at a time. One day I told her, 'Hon, why don't you try carrying several things at once?'"  "Did it save time?" the person in the audience asked.  "Actually, yes," replied the expert. "It used to take her 20 minutes to make breakfast. Now I do it in seven."

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A man tells his doctor that his wife has laryngitis.  The doctor said there was nothing he could do to cure it.  The man said, "Cure it, I want to prolong it!"

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BIG WIND GUSTS AND TEMPERATURES NEAR 60F

 WHAT A LITTLE CUTSY PATOOTSY

It was already over 50F when Pheebs and I headed out the door around 9 a.m. this morning  Unbelievable for this time of year in these here parts.  We headed straightaway for our country road walking spot and despite huge wind gusts from the south we managed to take ourselves for a walk.  I suspect it will be the last walk of the year for us guys.  We didn't go anywhere after that except home again.  Our day's temperature topped out at about 57F.  Back in our Park, the tall pine trees were whipping around like a bunch of giant green noodles.  The wind roaring in the trees was constant, especially as the day wore on.  These winds had been predicted to be around sixty to seventy miles an hour plus.  But here's the odd thing.....at this point tonight at the time of publishing this post our power is still on.  It did wink out for a couple seconds about 6:30 but came right back on again.  However, it was just enough to knock out all our clocks and outside light timers.

 ON OUR WALK I COULD SEE RAINS OVERNIGHT HAVE MADE FOR SOME VERY WET FARMLAND

 THE FIELD ON THE EAST SIDE OF OUR WALKING ROAD HAS JUST BEEN PLOWED

 FACING INTO THE GUSTING SOUTHERN WINDS PHEEBS KEEPS HERE EYES CLOSED

 AND HERE'S GRUMPY GRAMPS HIMSELF PLOWING ALONG INTO THE HEADWINDS

Below is a short 15-second video showing the wind in our front yard.  Keep in mind, our front yard is very sheltered but notice the trees in the background swaying.  I would not like to be out in the open driving an RV in these winds.  If the video below works I might consider including more short videos in the future.  All my Nikon cameras are capable of video but it's something I just haven't thought too much about.  The above video was taken with my Nikon Coolpix P900. 

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.  Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.  "Careful," he said, "CAREFUL!

Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD!

You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them.
Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"
The wife stared at him. "What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?"
The husband calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."

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