TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

VERY DISAPPOINTED

It is rare for me not to publish comments, good or bad but this morning was an exception & I chose not to publish 3 accusatory comments. In fact, one was so rude that Kelly suggested I not read it, & I didn’t. This is my third attempt to write the blog tonight & I am going to try very hard to keep a lid on my feelings about all this. My first two attempts were written in anger & I have to stay away from that!!

The negative comments were in regards to Kelly picking up some lemons by the side of the road next to an orchard yesterday. If you look at the photo you will see the lemons have have already been picked from the trees with the exception of the one on our dash with leaves on it. I’m sure it would have rotted on the tree if left there anyway. Kelly first spotted the other lemons on the ground as we were driving. In Ontario where we have many apple orchards it is no big deal to stop & pick up fallen apples on the ground.

For somebody to accuse us of taking someone’s livelihood away by picking up those lemons is in my opinion uncalled for & way over the top!!’

Unfortunately, both Kelly & I let this cloud our whole day. It is highly unusual to see Kelly feeling down about something but today was one of those very rare days for her & that in itself is upsetting to me.

Criticism I grew up with & understand. Suggestions from readers I take to heart. Mistakes in the blog pointed out by readers are welcomed & if there is something confusing about a topic I go back & try to rewrite & explain it. But, to be accused of stealing someone’s livelihood & whatever that other blog comment had in it is where I draw the line. Enough is enough!!

Now, it is up to me to resolve my anger with all this & get things back into perspective!! I am not up to writing about our Jeep trip to Split Mountain & the Wind Caves today or post any photos. Maybe tomorrow……..

IT WAS A 2 CANYON DAY

GREAT MORNING FOR A HIKE IN ‘LITTLE SURPRISE CANYON’ & KELLY LISTENS IN ON A BOTANIST TALK

Despite starting my day at 2:45 a.m. I didn’t feel too bad. It seems my internal clock is still in the Eastern Time Zone & this latest hour time shift from Arizona to California has really messed up my clockworks.

Nevertheless, it was a sunny morning so out the door we went, hopped into the Jeep & headed for a place called, ‘Little Surprise Canyon’ just on the southwestern edge of Borrego Springs. We had heard there were some flowers blooming there. . We did find some flowers but not as many as we had hoped. This is a reasonably easy trail in a picturesque little canyon. A bit of rock scrambling keeps things interesting. Kelly did well despite having her bothersome knee wrapped in a knee brace. It was just so great to be out on nature trail again & the surrounding mountain scenery was it’s usual breathtaking self.

DESPITE A BANDAGED KNEE KELLY DID THE WHOLE TRAIL

From Little Surprise Canyon we we drove around Borrego Springs a bit looking at many of the beautifully landscaped expensive ‘movie star’ type homes. There certainly is a lot of money here in Borrego & yet….no big box shopping malls or high end Foo Foo shops. Just a great plain Jane little town & that is one of the many things we love about Borrego Springs.

BORREGO SPRING’S PALM CANYON DRIVE

Took a drive out through Henderson Canyon to Coyote Canyon where we had seen a lot of flowers last year at this time. But, not this year. That deadly cold snap a few weeks ago has damaged a lot of the flora in the area. We saw rows upon rows of orange & lemon trees all damaged & frost bit. There are acres & acres of fruit trees that may or may not recover. Sections of Palm Trees are brown & whole rows of shrubbery are shriveled & dying.

Where we saw flowers & greenery in Coyote Canyon last year at this time we only saw vast stretches of gray desert plants hit hard by the freezing temperatures. As we clambered along a very bumpy, sandy & hard packed desert road we gained some altitude & it was apparent the frost damage wasn’t as bad at the higher altitudes. We drove 7 or 8 miles crossing a couple creeks along the way. The 3rd creek crossing meant we would have had to turn up stream & drive in the creek for a few hundred yards before climbing out of the stream & back onto the hard packed sandy road. We decided at this point to turn around & head back to Borrego Springs & grab a bite to eat. It was a nice drive on a reasonably good road with maybe half a dozen rocky sections. Nothing too serious but just enough to bounce us around inside the Jeep like a couple of manic ping pong balls.

Kelly talked me into a fish Taco at Jilbertos & I was surprised I liked it. I just thought of it as Fish Burger. In fact, I might just even get me another one some time:))

Back to the rig & let the doggy guys out. Jean & Skip dropped over for an hour & we had us a good old desert chin wag. They are beginning their homeward trek in a few days back up to Vancouver Island via Death Valley. Spring starts much earlier on the Island than it does in Ontario so they are feeling the urge to head home.

ALWAYS LOVE WHENEVER WE COME ACROSS WATER & I HAVE A FEELING THIS IS SPRING WATER COMING FROM THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS

I think most, if not all of us out here remember the ‘Cold War’ era of the 50’s & 60’s. Back yard bunkers, duck & cover, atomic blast, radioactive, hydrogen bomb, fallout & ICBM’s were just some of the common everyday phrases of the time. I think the Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) threat was one of the scariest things hanging over everyone’s head. Huge Titan missiles located in secret locations all over the country ready to rain down atomic death & destruction on our Russian enemy at the time. One of those deadly, hidden & mysterious Titan missile silo’s was located just south of Tuscan Arizona. Ivan over ROADTRIP 10 just toured that very missile site…..and he’s got pictures!!

EVEN SOME MOSS IN THE CREEK….& DID I GET A SOAKER TODAY? AS A MATTER OF FACT I GOT 2 SOAKERS WHEN MY FOOT SLIPPED OFF A ROCK WHILE CROSSING THE CREEK.

A few months ago we had the pleasure of meeting Eve at the GRAPEVINE CANYON RANCH. Eve is the owner & driving force behind the Ranch & is one of those charming ladies who have had a rather remarkable life. In her latest post Eve writes about her first flight in a small airplane in Australia. She describes that plane as looking like a car with wings on it. Check out Eve’s blog & see what career changing events that first ‘shaky’ flight actually had on her life ….FIRST FLIGHT

KELLY SNITCHES SOME LEMONS FROM ONE OF THE MANY ORCHARDS

And a fellow RV’er & blogger hangs up the keys & packs in her blog with a few parting thoughts about the fulltime lifestyle. BOONDOCKING BLOGGER

WHILE DRIVING IN COYOTE CANYON THE PHONE RANG & IT WAS MY UNCLE HARRY CALLING FROM THE RITZ VILLA IN MITCHELL ONTARIO

Check out the comments on ERIK'S RV BLOG as they wrestle with the decision whether to replace the older RV carpet with laminate flooring or new carpeting.

And I just noticed on Facebook that another fellow RV Blogger is packing in her blog. For reasons some of us bloggers well understand, Jo at the WANDERING WISHNIES is calling it a day. We will be keeping an eye out for you Jo….just in case:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((

Boyfriend v Computer Husband Software

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0. What I have noticed is a slow down in the performance of the flower and jeweler applications, which had operated flawlessly under the Boyfriend 5.0 system. In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.9, but installed undesirable programs such as Sport 7.3, NFL 3.2 and Tennis 4.1. Conversation 8.0 also no longer runs and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Your faithfully

Desperate Susan

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Reply from Tech Support

Dear Desperate Susan,

First, keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 was an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try to enter the command C:/I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and install Tears 6.2. Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications: Guilt 3.3 and Flowers 7.5. But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to such background applications as Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Please remember that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will create Snoring Loudly.WAV files.

DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. It could also potentially cause Husband 1.0 to default to the program: Girlfriend 9.2, which runs in the background and has been known to introduce viruses into the Operating System.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and can't learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to enhance his system performance. I personally recommend Home Cooking 3.0 and Single Malt Scotch 4.5. Finally consider applications such as Lingerie 6.9 (which has been credited with improved performance of his hardware).

Good Luck

Tech Support

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The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

TODAY WE MET UP WITH LAURIE & ODEL:))

We never know who are reading our blogs out there & we bloggers never know when we may have written something that is going to ‘stir the pot’ so to speak. The Borrego wind Gods obviously took offense at my mention in last night’s blog about the ‘storm that never happened.’ In full blown revenge mode, temperatures dropped late Saturday afternoon & the gusting winds beat us up all night. For me it was the basic ruin of another day as I was up at 2:30 again unable to sleep. Headache & feeling yukky. Yep, gotta watch what you put in these blogs alright!!

We are aware that our time here in the Southwest is rapidly winding down for another season. We can either remain here in Borrego Springs until it is time to head for home or we can flex our traveling wings & expand our horizons a bit. Because we have not seen a lot of new territory this year or even the year before, we have opted to bite the gas bullet & head into some new areas we haven’t been before. I think it is important for us to do it this trip while we are here because it is a long way home & an even longer way back again.

A STRANGE LITTLE BUG

Turned out to be kind of a throw away day for me & I spent a lot of time dozing in my chair & catching up on some computer stuff. Winds diminished & the day turned out sunny & warm. Just couldn’t summon up the energy to get with it though.

WE ARE THE 3RD RIG FROM THE RIGHT AT DEAD CENTER

It was just over a year ago at the BBC Breakfast Club in Bisbee Arizona that we first met Laurie & Odel from SEMI-TRUE TALES OF OUR LIFE ON THE ROAD. Today we met Laurie & Odel for the second time at the Anza Borrego State Park in Borrego Springs California. They coincidentally arrived in Borrego the same day we did just a few days ago. I would have to say they are one of the most well known & liked couples out here in the RVing blogging world & all the folks that have have met Laurie & Odel would surely agree. Easy folks to talk to & feel at ease with. We had been following Laurie’s blog about their recent Motor Home’s renovations & today it was nice to see how well all the work turned out. It’s a new Scoopy for them, they are happy with the results & it shows. We stayed for an hour & half covering the usual RV topics about travels, friends in common, future plans & past reflections. All the best in your journey guys.