‘HAPPILY SAD’ IS ABOUT THE BEST WAY FOR ME TO DESCRIBE IT

A FEW PHOTOS TAKEN WITH MY CANON POINT & SHOOT CAMERA  FROM ATOP THE MOTORHOME THIS MORNING
“Brrrrrrrr” we were bouncing off the freezing mark first thing this morning.  A crystal clear desert night sky descended a lot of cold air upon us.  Looking forward to losing some altitude and heading for warmer temperatures soon.


OUR SOUTHEAST FRONT YARD CACTUS GARDEN
Today was crunch day for us and we had a full slate of last minute ‘to do’ things ahead of us.  Wanting to get one last short area Jeep ride with Pheebs in I had intended to do the loop drive out to Stanton, up the Weaver Mountains along Old Stage Coach Road to Yarnell then tumble ourselves all the way back down the mountain along the twisting and turning Yarnell Hill to Congress.  However, that’s not what we did.   Realizing I had forgot to pick up a couple things at Bashas Supermarket a few days ago Pheebs and I instead made a flying trip into Wickenburg’s Safeway.  From there it was down to McDonalds for a coffee to go and straight back to Congress.  Maybe we can rustle us up a short drive in the morning, we’ll see.

FRONT GATE ENTRANCE WITH THE WEAVER MOUNTAINS ON THE DISTANT HORIZON

NORTHEAST CORNER OF OUR FRONT YARD
Kelly transferred the majority of our fridge stuff from the house to the rig.  I climbed up on the Motorhome’s roof and cleaned the 4 solar panels.  Had to re-clean all the outside glass after Friday’s storm left a dusty mud residue all over the coach.  The time I spent washing and cleaning the exterior over the past few weeks turned out to be a complete waste of time and I wasn’t about to expend a lot of time and energy in washing it all over again today. 

FOOT HILLS OF THE DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS NORTHWEST OF OUR HOUSE

SMALL CACTUS GARDEN OUTSIDE OUR FRONT DOOR
Closing date for our house is Monday December 19th so as soon as we pick up our final papers and see that the house sale money has landed in our bank account we will roll out of town.  We’re hoping that will be sometime Monday afternoon.  If we have to wait until Tuesday morning we’ll just boondock ourselves somewhere around Wickenburg for the night.

LOOKING SOUTH TO OUR SOUTHGATE WHERE THE MOTORHOME DRIVES THROUGH

LOOKING SOUTHWEST TO WHERE WE PARKED THE MOTORHOME AT THE END OF THE HOUSE
The sooner we are on the road the better it will be.  For us once a decision is made to do something we just like to up and get it done.  Waiting to act on a decision is always the hardest part and it’s been a long wait for us.  We made this house decision about a year and a half ago and here we finally are less than 24 hours away from that long wait being over.  I have used the word sad a few times lately but today I have to add a word to that and the word is happy.  Happily sad is how I would best describe my feelings this afternoon.  When we first stumbled upon this house and property in late February of 2012 it was an absolute mess but we knew that with a little hard work and imagination we could do something here, and we did.  We depart our house and property soon with a warm feeling inside knowing we leave it in much better condition than when we found it.  The house came along just at the right time in our lives and I feel we came along just at the right time for the house to save it and the property from possibly becoming another one of Ghost Town Roads junkyards.  That alone for us is a rewarding feeling and something we can always look back upon knowing what we did here was the right thing.  Highlight of the day for me came when Kelly and I took a break and went out to sit in the warm sunshine on our backyard patio.  We talked about the house and how right we both feel about leaving.  We reminisced a bit about our efforts here and that is when a feeling of happily sad came over me.  And I liked when that happened…………..

ANOTHER SMALL CACTUS GARDEN NEAR THE HOUSE
If your all getting a little tired of all this house talk as of late I can tell you that after Monday my attention will be shifting away from our life and times here in Congress and focusing on our travels ahead once again.  We do have some things coming up but I’d rather write about them when we are doing them rather than get ahead of myself like I sometimes do then have to backtrack when things don’t go according to plan.  And having things not go according to plan is something all RV’ers well know about.

I FONDLY REMEMBER BUILDING THAT FENCE THE FIRST WINTER WE WERE HERE
And before I forget, a note about this years upcoming Bloggerfest in Quartzsite Arizona.  I copied the following paragraph from Shadowmoss at In The Shadows  “Lorne and Sue Green who blog at A Place Called "Away" have stepped forward to host Bloggerfest this year. I am so happy that it will happen again. Date has been set as January 28, the last Saturday of the big tent in the Q. It is a great chance to meet in real life some of the bloggers we read online. I hope as many bloggers as possible will be there”.

WHAT MUST THIS ALL LOOK LIKE IN THE SUMMER WHEN LEAVES ARE FULLY OUT AS WELL AS THE MANY CACTUS FLOWERS….DON’T KNOW, WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ARIZONA IN THE SUMMERTIME AND LIKELY NEVER WILL….AND THAT TOO IS JUST A SIMPLE REALITY
GROANER’S CORNER:(( Shortly before Christmas, a business man was anxious to get home. The business trip had been grueling and he was not in a particularly good mood. The airport loudspeakers blared Christmas carols he was sick of hearing. He thought their decorations were tacky. The worst decoration, he thought, was the plastic mistletoe hung over the luggage scale.  Being in a grumpy mood, he said to the woman at the counter, "You know, even if I weren't married, I wouldn't kiss you."  "That's not what it's there for," said the attendant. "It's so you can kiss your luggage goodbye."
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Q. How is the Italian version of Christmas different?
A. One Mary, one Jesus, and 32 Wise guys.
Q: How come you never hear anything about the 10th reindeer "Olive" ?
A: Yeah, you know, "Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names"
Q: What was so good about the neurotic doll the girl was given for Christmas?
A: It was already wound up.
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When you consider Christmas, there are four stages in your life:-
1) You believe in Santa
2) You don't believe in Santa
3) You are Santa
4) You look like Santa

CAUGHT OURSELVES UP ON A WEE BIT OF VISITING TODAY

I was startled by a big blast of wind which actually blew our back door wide open late Friday evening.  Pheebs flew off the couch and ran up beside my chair.  Everything was perfectly normal of course.  Big sudden wind gusts are nothing new here in the southwest and we have been pummeled by them many times whether in our RV or in our house here.  That big blast of wind traveling like a speeding freight train across the desert floor chased the rain, thunder and lightning right out of town bringing with it an immediate change to our temperatures dropping us within minutes into the low 40’s and upper 30’s if the wind chill factor is figured in.  But hey here’s the best part……we started our day with big bright clear sunny skies this morning:)))))))

We slipped over to North Ranch and dropped in on Janna and Mike for awhile about mid morning.  Might be the last time we see them for awhile……or maybe not:))  If anyone read Janna’s latest post they will have seen the yummy cheesecake she just made and we got to help her and Mike finish it off this morning.  Scrumpdiddlyishus for sure.  Lucky us.  Sitting here I was trying to think back to when we first met Mike and Janna and it seems to me it might have been back in our ranch sitting days near McNeal, Elfrida, Douglas, Bisbee, and Tombstone Arizona.  Or was it near the little tumble down town of Bouse Arizona one time??

From Janna and Mike’s place we slipped around the block and dropped in to see Pat and Mike McFall.  Janna and Mike knew we were coming but Pat and Mike didn’t and I’m always very sensitive about dropping in on folks unannounced.  We hadn’t seen the McFalls since last March just before heading back to Ontario.  They are both doing reasonably well for a couple of folks who have had way more than their fair share of poor health over these past several years.  As Kelly and I age I will no doubt reflect back on today’s visit with Mike and Pat and remember their positive attitude and things they said regarding the inescapable ravages of illness and aging.

Despite clear blue sunny skies the day’s wind added an icy chill to the air and arriving home in early afternoon we were quick to get our portable heaters going.  I stick my heater under my Ikea chair and crank it up.  I know this cold is nothing like what is happening right now back in Bayfield but here’s the difference.  We would actually be warmer in our Bayfield house because we have a regular furnace (and a brand spanking new one at that) which keeps the whole house warm and toasty.  In our Congress house we’ve never had a furnace heating every room so we kinda have to dress warm and stick close to our heaters.  I checked the thermometer on our porch about 2 p.m. and it said we were at 50F.  For our friends back home 50F right now would seem like the tropics.

Sunday will be a busy day for us.  A few last loads of laundry, a bunch of housecleaning and a number of final things moved into the Motorhome.  Pheebs and I will get out for one last morning Jeep ride around the area on a few of our old familiar dusty desert roads.  Maybe even find us a muffin and a coffee somewhere too.

I am finding now that our days in Yavapai County are counting down I have to work harder at keeping my mind focused on the road ahead and not the road behind.  I am a very sentimental character at heart and my nostalgic affection for this whole Congress Arizona area weighs heavy on my heart at the moment.  But I’ll be alright, I always am……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An elderly man lay dying in his bed.  In death's agony, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed.  Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled down the stairs.  With labored breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.  Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?  Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted: the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.  The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.  "Stay out of those," she said, "they're for the funeral."

FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES OUR HOUSE IS NOW SOLD……….BUT NO ‘YAHOUIE LOUIE’ JUST YET

Under a partial heavy overcast with a light rain falling Kelly and I headed out for a 9 a.m. appointment at the Pioneer Title Company in Wickenburg.  We signed the final house sale papers this morning so for all intents and purposes our house is sold but until we see the money actually show up in our bank account hopefully Monday I’m reserving my ‘Yahooie Louie’ announcement until we know for sure things are even more final than final this time. 

GRUMBLY CLOUDS PACKING SOME LIGHT RAIN AS WE HEAD FOR WICKENBURG

We didn’t use a Real Estate agent to sell our house therefore saving ourselves a hefty Real Estate agent’s fees.  Here in Arizona house sales are done much differently than back home in Ontario.  Lawyers are not involved and that of course saves everybody a lot of money.  Down here Title Companies do all the leg work for buyers and sellers at a fraction of Lawyers fees.   Our Pioneer Title Company lady (Andria) who helped us with the sale of our house was the same lady who did all the work for us last March when we nearly sold the house at that time to another couple.  We have one more stop at the Title Company Monday to pick up our final copies of the house sale and from there we will be making tracks out of town and out of the area for maybe the last time.  I do sincerely hope we can get back some day to touch base and check on how our old Congress house is doing.  I’d really like to see how all my cactus plants are making out.  These are excitingly happy times, they are of course apprehensive times and they are for sure sad times.  But most importantly they are our times, they are our ways, and they are us.

SIGNING FINAL HOUSE PAPERS WITH ANDRIA AT WICKENBURG’S PIONEER TITLE COMPANY

From the Title Company we headed over to Bashas for some road groceries and from there a couple blocks to Kelly’s favorite sandwich place called The Local Press Sandwich Bar.  While she was inside ordering us up a couple chicken sandwiches I snapped a photo of a 6 locomotive freight train rumbling through downtown Wickenburg just across the road.

WHILE LOADING A FEW GROCERIES INTO THE JEEP IN BASHAS PARKING LOT THIS FELLER WALKED BY……WELL HEY IT’S ARIZONA EH AND PARTS OF THE OLD WILD WEST ARE STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE AND WELL HERE

Our days here at the house are winding down and yes we are anxious to move on but it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend for the last time.  Our house and property have given us so many great memories which will last us forever.  Looking back we have no regrets for buying our house when we did.  In fact it came along just at the right time for us and gave us a new project to sink our teeth into again.  Both Kelly and I have always been at our best when we have had exciting changes and challenges in front of us.  Whether we’re changing vehicles, RV’s or houses, etc it’s those stimulating changes that has always injected new life into us each and every time.  Although we have both slowed down these past few years we have always been kind of an ‘action Jackson’ couple and how invigoratingly youthful it feels when we still occasionally get ourselves together enough again to think outside the box and go do something kinda crazy.  We were never the type years ago to sit around doing nothing every day.  We’ve always been of the mind, ‘if you don’t like something, change it.  And change it we did many times. 

MOODY SKIES STILL HUNG OVER US AS WE MADE OUR WAY HOME FROM WICKENBURG THIS MORNING

Predicted Friday afternoon rains came early Thursday night but the expected much lower temperatures thankfully held off.  Despite a glorious half hour burst of brilliant sunshine about mid morning the afternoon remained overcast and sullen with Friday night clouds occasionally dumping a few deluges of rain water on us .

THERE IS A REASON I HAVE INCLUDED THIS PHOTO…..ARIZONIANS WILL RECOGNIZE THOSE BROWN DROPPINGS ON THE GROUND AS SAGUARO FLOWER BLOOMS AFTER THEY HAVE BLOOMED AND FALLEN OFF THE SAGUAROS…..IT JUST DAWNED ON US A COUPLE DAYS AGO THAT ANYONE VISITING US MAY HAVE SEEN THESE AND FIGURED IT WAS DOG POOP WE HADN’T BOTHERED TO PICK UP……WE JUST WANT TO ASSURE PAST VISITORS THAT THIS IS NOT DOG POOP, IT IS SPENT SAGUARO FLOWER BLOOMS………..:))

Ever wonder why many of we Northerners head south for the winter months?  Have a look at Stu’s photos from today and the answer is right there.  Many areas of Ontario are being pummeled by heavy winter storms and freezing temperatures at the moment and Stu lives only a couple hours drive northeast of Bayfield.  You can find his winter photos here at The Furry Gnome.  And happy to say we had an email from our good friend and neighbor Bruce today telling us about the heavy snows and nasty weather.   Bruce keeps an eye on our house while we are away and the fact he didn’t say anything about frozen water pipes or our roof collapsing under the snow load we take that to mean everything is so far Okay at our place:))

VIEW FROM MY BEDROOM WINDOW THIS AFTERNOON

WE ARE IN THE VERY FINAL STAGES OF PACKING UP

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Just before Christmas, two brothers were spending the night at their Grandma's house. At bed time, they knelt down to say their prayers.  As they closed their eyes, one boy said in a loud voice, "Dear Lord, please ask Santa Claus to bring me a smart phone, a telescope and a new bike."  His older brother said, "Why are you shouting? God isn't deaf."  "I know," said his brother, "but Grandma is."

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Q. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas? A. It's Christmas, Eve.

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Q: What is a webmaster's favorite hymn?
A: Oh, dot com all ye faithful!

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Here’s a good Holiday tip….. Never catch snowflakes with your tongue until all the birds have gone south for the winter.

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Christmas Carols for the Psychiatrically Challenged……………….
- Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
- Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Queens Disoriented Are
- Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
- Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angles Sing About Me
- Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and trees and Fire Hydrants and......
- Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Get me
- Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
- Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell You Why
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ---Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

WE ARE SO LOOKING FORWARD TO UPCOMING CHANGES

OUR VERY OWN PRECIOUS LITTLE COUCH POTATO

Pheebs and I piled into the Motorhome about 7:30 this morning and drove ourselves down to Wickenburg’s Wickenburg Tire.  Being sensitive about tires now I wanted the professional tire fellas to look over our tires and check all the pressures.  All 6 tires checked out perfectly so we are good to do a bit of traveling soon. 

AT ‘WICKENBURG TIRE’ THIS MORNING

PHEEBS NAVIGATES THE WAY HOME AND BELOW IS HER FAVORITE PLACE TO RIDE IN THE MOTORHOME

In case anyone has been wondering we have not given up on a tire monitoring system and as a matter of fact Kelly has spent a fair bit of time on the phone this past week with questions to some of the major tire monitoring manufacturers.  For 2 months now we have been bouncing around from one manufacturer to another trying to decide which system to get.  I think we may be getting it narrowed down finally.

I THINK THERE’S BEEN A BIT OF MONKEY BUSINESS GOING ON WITH OUR ROAD CREW THESE PAST FEW DAYS

I did a load of laundry this morning while Kelly headed into Wickenburg to browse all her favorite stores.  Browsing for anything at anytime is not a favorite pastime of mine so Pheebs and I quite happily stayed home.  Well Okay so we browsed through the fridge a couple times.

AFTERNOON SIESTA

A large cloud cover moved in over the land this afternoon and weather folks are predicting a nasty Friday coming up for us.  Temps will drop from our near 70’s to the high 50’s.  An 80% chance of rain predicted for Friday afternoon.  Not nice but a whole heck of a lot better than back home in Bayfield.  Sub freezing temperatures with heavy snow and road closures.  We think the power may have been off in our area this morning as well.  Unpredictable bad weather is one of the main reasons we always prefer to head south well before there’s any chance of trouble plus why hang around up north any longer than we have to when we know of the many pleasures and adventures awaiting us here in the great American Southwest.  A FEW REMAINING CONGRESS CEMETERY PHOTOS TONIGHT

SOME OF THE GRAVES ARE SMALL SUGGESTING CHILDREN AND I HAVE A FEELING MANY GRAVES MARKINGS IN THIS CEMETERY HAVE BEEN LOST TO THE TIMELESS DESERT WINDS AND RAINS

Wonder how many people knew James Montgomery “Jimmy” Doohan was born to Irish immigrants in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.   Better known as Scotty on the original Star Trek Jimmy Doohan was not only born in Canada but was schooled in Canada attending the Sarnia Collegiate Institute in Ontario.  He also served with the Canadian Army through World War 2, landed on Juno beach on D-Day and was accidentally shot 7 times by a fellow Canadian soldier.  He has had an interesting life and you can read about it here at Jimmy (Scotty) Doohan. 

If our house sale is successful we’re not really sure where we are headed once we leave Congress.  We have a few ideas but we’ll just wait and see how we are feeling, which way the wind is blowing and where the sun is shining warmest.  One thing is for sure though and that is wherever we go we will again seek out the quietest places free from people, people pressure, and people noises.  We will resume our old boon-docking ways from a few years back where privacy, peace and quiet was always one of our top priorities.  In fact that even becomes more important to us now than ever before.  No visitors and no visiting as we take time to transition back into our preferred hermit like boon-docking lifestyle we so loved for our first 6 Snow Bird years on the road.  We are ‘both’ so very much looking forward to yet another welcome change in our seemingly ever changing lives……………………..

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative."  "However," he pointed out, "there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."  A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right."

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Bob: "I just got a new set of golf clubs for my wife."  Jim: "Great trade!"

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A man walks into a piano store and says, "I would like to buy a hairy piano." Perplexed, the sales clerk asked, "Why do you want a hairy piano?!" Nonchalantly, the customer responded, "Well, the last piano store only had Baldwins."