DOGS....MY BESTEST PALS OF EVER:))

THE CHICKENS KEEP ASKING....WHEN IS CHECKERS GOING HOME!!

Despite my seemingly gruff outward appearance at times, I am a big softy at heart in many ways. I could feel the twinge of sadness begin as soon as I stepped out of the motorhome this morning. My two best ranch pals Gleason & Pearce came running over as they do every morning as soon as they see either Kelly or I. Tails wagging, jumping & playing. Gleason rolls over on her back for big tummy rub while Pearce snuggles up as close as he can get for big smooches on the nose. This goes on periodically all day long as we cross paths here & there on the ranch property. The sadness comes from knowing we will only be here one more day & I am going to miss my new best pals more than anything else. ANOTHER PEACEFUL MORNING WALK

It was a beautiful morning & we had our side door wide open from 6:30 on. Sunlight played across the distant Mule Mountains between cloud patterns & flocks of birds were in full spring song. I kept looking over at the mountains on our walk trying to imprint on my mind the beauty I was seeing. We don't have mountains on our morning walks where we live in Ontario so these memories are going to have to last me awhile until we return once more, one day, to our beloved American Southwest. DAPPLED MORNING SUNLIGHT ON THE MULE MOUNTAINS

Ingrid & Tom dropped Corky off (their big black Lab) about 9 so it was more snuggles & wagging tails. Sometimes I get down on the ground with the guys & it's dogs, dogs, everywhere flying around upside down. It's no wonder dogs are referred to as man's best friends. That sure has been the case in my life & I am very thankful for that. I'M GONNA GO OVER THERE & CATCH ME A CHICKEN!!

I saw Checkers whisper something in Corky's ear this afternoon & it wasn't long & the two of them had the chickens out to play. We hastily rounded up the ladies but not before our little Motormouse got in on the action taking a big run right into the midst of them. The birds just simply flapped themselves up & out of the way while the little Motormouse skidded headlong into the chicken wire fence shortening her nose up even more. She picked herself up, dusted herself off & beat a hasty retreat for the motorhome amidst a lot of feathered clucking sounds that sounded an awful lot like laughter to me. To save the chickens any further undo stress & exercise we put them in their main pen where the door has a latch & is Checkerproof. AND WE'RE GONNA MISS YOU GUYS TOO

Spent a lot of time reading this afternoon because I wanted to finish up my Walter Cronkite book before we leave. The book is entitled, A Reporters Life & was a bit heavy reading in spots for me but I did make it through cover to cover. He sure reveals the shady side of politics over the years & the game playing that goes on behind closed doors both in politics & the media. It doesn't leave you with a lot of trust in your fellow man. With all the ongoing Wall Street scandals it must be very difficult for a man of principle like Walter Cronkite, coming from a different era & morals to even begin to comprehend what has happened to the world he once knew & loved. MORNING CLEAN UP AROUND THE HAY BALES

Kelly is reading a book at the moment called, The Evolution Angel by Dr. Michael Abrams that sounds interesting. One line in the book goes something like, "we are not human beings going through life having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings going through life having a human experience." When I heard that, a dim light flickered on in my dense fog of understanding & I thought to myself, now there's something that finally makes a bit of sense to me. INGRID & TOM AT THE LONGHORN

When Ingrid & Tom returned from Sierra Vista this afternoon they invited us over to the Longhorn in Elfrida for supper. They are an interesting & kindly couple. Ingrid is a German lady who escaped the firebombing of Dresden during the second world war & fled Germany with members of her family narrowly avoiding capture by the Russians. She eventually made her way to America. Tom was in the Amercian Airborne 82nd Division during the war. Seems unlikely that a German girl & an American soldier would ever end up someday married for over 50 years but that's just what happened & it has been nice knowing them & hearing of their adventures over the years. Corky was in their truck waiting when we left so I blew him a smooch & waved good-bye. He was looking very sad............ & so was I:(( HE WAS LOOKING VERY SAD.....AND SO WAS I

It's windy to-night so that could mean a restless sleep for us. To-morrow will be final preparations for leaving Tuesday morning & I'll hitch the car up later to-morrow afternoon.
It will be a sad departure but I know once we make the turn onto Interstate 10 about an hour & some north of here my mind-set will change & the excitement of the open road will take over & my focus will be on the homeward journey. My mind will shift from looking back to looking ahead as we bring the bow into the wind with all sails set for home....................:))

No photos for the web album to-night.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

CHECKERS GIVES THE ROOSTER A GOOD BARKING TOO!!

ANOTHER FINE SUNSET OVER THE MULE MOUNTAINS

Well, the most exciting thing we did to-day was take a big bag of garbage to the Elfrida dump this morning. Now, where do I go with the blog from here:(( LOOKING SOUTH INTO MEXICO

Jeannie & Ray will be home sometime Monday so it looks like our departure date will be Tuesday morning bright & early. Secured the bicycles on the back to-day, re-organized some bins & to-morrow morning early I'll clean some windows & mirrors before the big winds roll in. Corky, the big black energy dog comes for the day to-morrow so that will be good for some rollicking tumbles in the grass. MULE MOUNTAINS NEAR BISBEE

Checkers let the chickens out again to-day for about the fourth time but it has turned out not to be a problem. The girls like to come out & strut around in the fresh & newly growing green spring grass. Checkers then goes into the chicken coop & really gives the rooster a good barking too in the next pen. It seems to be the rooster who is the focus of Checkers attention. Could be because the rooster is male & Checkers is acting on the girl's behalf about issues of the past when the rooster may have seemingly had his way with the ladies causing some undue stress & embarrassment in the old hen house. Whatever it is, Checkers has sure been giving the old rooster a piece of her mind!! By the time we leave the old bird may have changed his roguish ways completely. Yesterday was Kelly's last Yoga class & afterwards she got talking with some of the other ladies there. Turns out one of the ladies lives just south of McNeal at a Quakers community. It's an interesting concept they have & I was surprised to hear it was not based on religion. How refreshing!! We took a drive through there on our way back from Elfrida & it looked like quite a peaceful little community. Saw a small flock of Sand Hill Cranes this morning but the bulk of the birds have left for their northern summer quarters. I think some of them go to Nebraska & some of the older birds just fly over to Elfrida & hang around the Longhorn saloon for the summer. THE TOMBSTONE HILLS

To-day marks day 44 for us at the ranch & that is by far the longest we have ever stayed in one location. It also marks 101 days since having to pay for a campsite. At an average of $23 a night we have saved about $2,530.00. That more than pays for our gas here & back plus covers our propane usage for over 4 months plus buys us a fair good bunch of Cracker Barrel meals. Cost of having 2 solar panels plus 4 new batteries & accompanying hardware/software installed by Solar Mike's Sunworks in Slab City California over a year ago was about $3000.00. http://www.thesunworks.com/id7.htm Our solar installation has already paid for itself because we boondocked 2 months out of last years season too. We can generally do a couple weeks of comfortable boondocking before having to dump tanks & take on water. If it wasn't for having to dump the black tank we could boondock indefinitely because water can always be brought back in containers. SUN IS GOING DOWN OVER SIERRA VISTA ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MULE MOUNTAINS

Just when I thought I didn't have any photos for the blog to-night I was lucky enough to catch another nice sunset going down....................................

THE GLEASON MOUNTAINS

No photos for the web album to-night.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

A QUIET FINAL FEW DAYS BEFORE THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

SIGNS OF SPRING AT DUSK

It was actually a relief to see clouds this morning because it meant we were going to have a cooler day. Even with A/C going the last few days you just couldn't escape the heat build up in our rig. Windows & blinds closed to keep out old Sol's hot rays but it still gets mighty warm inside. To-day all the windows, vents, & side door are open letting welcomed cooling breezes flow through. Weatherman has issued a wind advisory for Sunday so looks like we're in for another big blow. We Canadians are known for always talking & complaining about the weather so just wanted to clear that up too. IT'S AL ON EARLY MORNING POOPER SCOOPER PATROL

About a week ago I added a widget to the bottom of the blog called, Linkwithin. It's those 3 little pictures of past blogs that may relate somehow to the present day blog above. Might be a little confusing to folks if they click on one from a couple years ago because we were traveling with a tan GMC truck & a white Rockwood 5th wheel at that time. And before that you might see us in small Class C Ford Gulfstream. Noticed that some of the blogs don't have dates on them but if we're in the truck & fifth wheel it will be the 07/08 winter season & if it's the Class C, that is a trip to Big Bend in Texas back in December of 2004. THE LITTLE ALPINE VILLAGE OF BISBEE IS THERE IN THE MULE MOUNTAINS

And a few words for several of our neighbors back home who are going through some very difficult medical problems right now. We are thinking of you & hoping your situations will improve. We'll see you out in the flower gardens soon. TWI-LIGHT AT THE RANCH

These are a quiet final few days here at the ranch before heading home. Kind of like the lull before the impending travel storm. We will take our usual route of about 2,400 miles of Interstates & highways. We have found a route that works well for us & have over the past few years become familiar with the rest stops, traffic hot spots, mountain passes, boondocking spots, & State Parks. Oh yes, & a few Cracker Barrels along the way too. SUNDOWN

No idea how long it will take us because it all depends on the weather at this time of year. Last year we had to hold up in Arkansas for a couple of gloomy wet & rainy days beside a lake waiting for a bad snowstorm west of Memphis to blow itself out. March is a volatile weather month across the country so we really have to pay attention to weather forecasts all the way. Two years ago we got into a bad Michigan storm with our truck & fifth wheel. That was not nice. Ice formed on the fifth wheel adding a lot of weight which in turn set up a bucking motion between the truck & trailer. I could not even hold a cup of coffee without the coffee jumping out the top. Some Interstates are made of cement slabs with a bump at the seams & that just made the bucking worse. By the time we got home the whole back of the truck, hitch, & trailer were coated in ice & I had to go to the local hardware store for a propane torch to thaw out the hitch before I could get the trailer off the truck. That was enough of that & we traded that truck & fifth wheel 3 months later for a motorhome & have never looked back. We love our motorhome.....10-4!! It's now after 8 o'clock at night, the side door & windows are wide open & it's a calm night. Kelly's in the ranch house with Motormouse watching her TV shows, Checkers is laying outside the door on a mat, & Max is already stretched out on my bed. The ranch dogs Gleason & Pearce are out there somewhere in the darkness patrolling the grounds along with Charlie the friendly cat. The chickens are roosting for the night the donkeys & horses are safe in the back 40. And I know the Goldfish in all the drinking troughs are having themselves a quiet night as well. My soothing ambient music is quietly playing away on the satellite radio here in the rig while I'm contentedly working away on the computer putting another daily blog to-gether. Now how much nicer could life be than that eh. My thanks goes out to the people who actually read the blog & give me reason & purpose each day to clear the mind's cobwebs & look for new photos & blog topics. Thanks guys, much appreciated..................................................:)) AND ANOTHER FINE DAY DRAWS TO A CLOSE AT THE RANCH

No photos for the web album to-day.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/