JUST BEING MY OLD CONSIDERATE SELF:))

SUNSET AT THE RANCH LOOKING SOUTH TO-WARDS MEXICO

This morning Kelly headed off to Elfrida's exercise class at 9 a.m. & I, out of pure consideration remained home. Despite my absolute love for exercise classes I thought it better to deny myself that said pleasure & give Kelly a much deserved break from myself. RVing can bring people close to-gether for prolonged periods of time like no other lifestyle. Fulltimers willingly or reluctantly resign themselves to the adaptations that are required & just simply get on with the closeness of every day life regardless. Snowbirder's on the other hand face a bigger challenge always having to adjust between two lifestyles. Life in the sticks & bricks is spacious with participants having their own spaces. At home I spend my night's in our sunroom on the computer while Kelly is in the living room watching her nightly TV shows. We don't have the joys of that needed separation while traveling though!! I prefer my quiet music at night & Kelly prefers her medical & CSI type TV dramas. Problem is, our computer desk is situated directly under our television. My head is exactly 34 inches from the speakers!! (I measured it)

And, no doubt I am going to be in some mighty big trouble about to-day's post title:))

DID I MENTION IT REALLY GOT COLD LAST NIGHT

Last winter I purchased a good set of Sony headphones so I generally plug my ears into the computer with the volume well up & listen to my on-board computer music library. But, even with my headphones on I can still hear wailing police cars, gunfire in the streets of Miami, & the screams of hapless murder victims ripping through my peaceful world of ambient music. Fortunately, here at the ranch we do have a workable solution though because Kelly is able to go into the ranch house each night & watch her nightly collection of dramas there. That has been a big help!! But, I still try to be as considerate as possible & give her every break from me I can. And, for that one reason alone I shall miss the Yoga class to-morrow morning & give her another well deserved break...........:))

Has anyone noticed a change in their toilet paper lately?? Be sure to check out RAY'S MONDAY BLOG & then head back to your washroom with a tape measure!!

WORKING ON A LITTLE ADOBE BRICK STEPS PROJECT HERE AT THE RANCH

Thanks to RICK to-day for his email on how to effectively reduce the resolution in my photos for uploading to the blog. The solution was sitting right here in front of me all along in my Picasa Photo Editing program, which incidentally I consider to be the absolute best, & easiest photo editing program for people who are new to digital photography. All my photos are done using Picasa 3.5 & if I can do it......you can do it too!! Oh, & it's a free download from Google:))

LOTS OF SUPERVISORY HELP >>>>>>

The Efrida photography class went well to-day with a few new people showing up at 1 o'clock. Some folks were interested in learning about photography related blogging & a few others had some camera questions. New blogger Jean & I were able to help a few ladies with a look at the Blogger set up. We also helped another lady get started on her very own site. Ray was able to answer questions & give suggestions to the other folks about their cameras & photo programs. I think it was a helpful 2 hours for those who were interested.

To-morrow the Bayfield Bunch is having some rare company. JERRY AND SUZY are coming down from Benson. Jerry & I are going to have a rootin tootin Cowboy Cookie shoot-out here at the ranch. Gary Cooper's High Noon has nothing on the suspense filled caper. Put yer money on me folks because I'm bigger & hungrier than Jerry.........but, he's older & more experienced in the ways of Cowboy Cookies than I am. Hmmmmm, could be quite a shoot-out here in the Arizona desert sometime after High Noon........:))

To-night I am using Blogger to publish the post but I am having upload problems with Blogger as well so maybe it's not Live Writer after all that has been giving me publishing headaches.  Once again it is pointing back to connection problems I think.  To-morrow night I will try Live Writer again & see how I make out,
P.S. I love you & miss you Live Writer:((  Oh yes, & this is my first time using Rick's tip on lower resolution photos.  Figure I have saved enough bytes to fill a gravel truck already!!

GROANER'S CORNER:)) Last year in Arizona I tried to be a chef -- figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just wasn't at home on the range:((

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

GREAT GALLOPING GOBS OF GHOSTLY CRANES

A glance out the window early this morning told me it had been a frosty night. Rays of sun breaking over the Swiss Helm mountains cast an eerie yellowish  pastel glow over the valley through a low hanging bank of fog. The day later dawned clear as a bell & all the magic mushroom like clouds of the past couple days were gone. The big blue Arizona sky was back.....and so were the welcome cooler temperatures:))

There was a continuous sound coming from high overhead that lasted the whole morning. Great soaring formations of Sand Hill Cranes circled on the air currents rising to heights only seen with binoculars. Round & round they went on the thermals. Some formations sweeping in one direction would intersect with other formations going the opposite way. The sky was alive with a 'weebling' sound. It never let up. At times the birds appeared dark against the blue sky & other times as they swooped into a turn the sun backlit the whole feathery flock giving them a massive ghostlike appearance. Laying back in a chair with my 8 x 50 binoculars I was reminded of film clips I've seen about the Battle of Britain. Formations of Cranes looked like squadrons of British Spitfires spiraling, diving, tightly turning with near collisions, & close formation flying. Some flew in large groups, others as pairs intermingled with single flyers. Some groups criss-crossed others, some followed, & some seemed to make head on passes. And all the time came the steadily weebling sound from the sky.  There was a definite intelligence in the air & it was an entertaining morning with a grand stand seat to a free & well co-coordinated air show.

RICK had another very informative post this morning talking about Verizon (& other) air card usage & how to wisely keep from blowing through the monthly 5 Gig cap. I suggest anyone using an air card read Rick's blog & file it away for future reference. In last night's blog I had mentioned about listening to Old Time Radio on Saturday nights but I don't do that while we're on the road because streaming audio like that really chews through the bytes. I only do that while at home with the desk top computer. 

Going to keep this blog short. One day to go before we roll into a new Verizon coverage month & then we will start anew putting some of Rick's air card tips into play.

Sorry about the quality of the Sand Hill Crane photos.  I was trying to stretch my 200mm lens with a 2TX converter & the results were less than poor:((

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I once worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe!!

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

THIS MORNING WE OUT-FOXED RANCH DOG GLEESON

(click on photographs to enlarge them)


Kelly phoned Verizon this morning & we are already over our monthly limit to the tune $3.49 cents with the turnover date not being until Monday at midnight. What that simply means is that I will have to hold off uploading bunches of photos for the next 3 days because it is those photos that are eating up our bytes. We do not download things from the net like You Tube, music, jokes, web casts, etc. No chat room stuff or streaming videos. No Skype web cam calls or blogger websites with sound & animation. We do have a live feed site though called Feedjit & I'm beginning to wonder if maybe that may be eating up some of our bytes. It's not a necessary thing but it gives me an idea of what photos people click on. Anyway, we have hit on a bit of plan though. I've decided these exercise & Yoga classes just aren't my cup of tea but I will go with Kelly on those days & make use of the Library next door with it's internet facilities & do things like Picasa Web Album uploads & Microsoft updates, etc. Kelly will be in one building with her exercise & Yoga classes & I will be in the next building furiously exercising my fingers on the keyboard, not to mention the great brain work-out in attempting to accomplish everything in an hour. Well anyway, that's the plan for now because when in Elfrida we plan to do what the Elfridians do:))

All photos to-day were taken with my Canon A720 & doesn't have the high resolution my Nikons are set for so maybe I'll just mainly stick with that camera for the next little while until we get a handle on this bytes thing.

 BIG ARIZONA SKY FOR OUR WALK AGAIN THIS MORNING

The big Arizona sky once again dawned with big wide sweeping & beautiful cloud formations. Weather is definitely cooler, but no wind. It was a 5 dog walk this morning with the whole gang turned out with lots of wagging tails. And, in my pocket unbeknownst to ranch dog Gleeson, was...........a dog leash!! Last Saturday morning was the rabies clinic in Elfrida & Gleeson out-foxed us by not making himself available for us to take to the clinic. We did manage to take ranch dog Pearce though. So, this morning it was our turn to out-fox the Gleeson. We knew the same Vet's traveling Vet clinic (High Desert Veterinary Service) was being held west of Bisbee to-day at the San Pedro feed store near Hereford. I casually slipped the leash on Gleeson as we were walking & he was fine with that & didn’t suspect a thing. She readily jumped up into the back of our hatchback when we returned to our rig & within minutes we were off to the rabies clinic about 30 miles to the southwest. A successful fox ploy:)) Gleeson was as good as gold about the whole thing & didn't make any fuss at the clinic. We were the only ones there so no waiting. We had taken a liking to the Vet & his caring wife assistant a week before in Elfrida so decided to set up an appointment for Max the wonder dog to have his nails trimmed. Max is not an aggressive dog but is very fearful of anyone fiddling with him & he doesn’t even like us looking at his paws. About 3 years ago he had a minor ear infection so we took him to a Vet in Clinton, Ontario. Even with a muzzle on it took 5 of us to control him while his ear was swabbed out. We are going to approach his nail trimming a little differently & a sedative will be used this time to calm him down. I have to be careful while typing this because he is sitting on the bed behind me & I don't want him to see what I'm typing!!

For the last bunch of years Saturday nights have been Big Band nights for me & while I'm at the computer most Saturday nights I like listening to tunes of the 40's. I think that habit began about 10 years ago when there was a program on the radio called, Big Band Saturday Night. Awhile ago I blogged about a website that has a lot of old time radio shows like Gunsmoke, Amos & Andy, Big Band music, etc. on it. OLD TIME RADIO  I received an email from a fellow last week who has a website called, OLD TIME RADIO CATALOGUE. You can purchase MP3 episodes of countless old radio days programs from music to mysteries. Old cowboy shows to historical newscasts. And he broadcasts free old time shows as well. Check out the site because I think there is probably something there for everyone & I did add it as one of our links in the column to the right.

HELPING THE VET WITH GLEESON’S RABIES SHOT THIS MORNING >>>>>>>>

A week ago we received an email from some RV folks wondering about RV Parks in this area with availability to amenities, etc. Not really being RV Park people & not too familiar with that sort of thing here in this region I forwarded the email on to JERRY up in Benson with a note attached figuring he would know the area better & have the correct info. Well, that was all OK except for one thing!! I addressed the email to Jerry & Sherri. Well, Jerry's wife’s name is not Sherri…….it’s Suzy!!!! With so many RV couples having similar sounding names I'm sure I've got others mixed up as well but that was still no excuse. Needless to say I got a quick response from Jerry & found myself hauled up on the carpet for my mistake. Felt pretty bad so dashed Jerry off a very hasty & not too well thought out response that went something like this:

Yes, I have been known to mix up my Sherri's with my Barrys
And my Bruce's with my Mooses,
But I try to do it right by staying up all night.
And when my Jerry's get mixed with my Larry’s
And my Rick's get mis-taken for Mick’s
I will try not to mix my Doug’s with a belly full of Slugs.
I shall Endeavour to do better but it may not be to the letter,
So whether your a Suzy or a Joe
Or a Billy & a Flo
You have to understand my part
In becoming such a forgetful old tart........10-4!!
(the tart word was an optional sound alike:))

KELLY PICKED UP SOME HOT DOGS ON OUR WAY HOME….. 3 FOR HER 1 FOR ME & 2 FOR GLEESON:))

**For the 4th or 5th consecutive night Live Writer has failed to publish  for me so I am throwing in the sponge on it & going back to the Blogger format because Blogger seems to work OK for me regardless of connection!!  Live Writer has been throwing various error messages out each time & I have then been forced to partially re-do the blog in the Blogger format: each time.  Enough is enough!!  I did follow Ricks instructions on a fix but it didn't seem to last.  I don't have a lot of patience for this sort of thing & especially at night when I'm tired!!!!!!!!!!!**  Too bad because I really liked Live Writer while it worked...............:((

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunk went into a telephone booth and dialed at random.......... "Salvation Army," was the answer."What do you do?" asked the man."We save wicked men and women," came the reply."Okay, save me a wicked woman for Saturday night will ya."

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.
BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

BIG WINDS & STORMY SKYS IN THE VALLEY

 

WATCHFUL EYES OVER THE MULE MOUNTAINS

(click on the photographs to enlarge them)

Knew for sure we were definitely in Arizona last night when big walloping wind gusts tried their best to totally re-locate us some distance east of where we presently are.  People in sticks & bricks houses wouldn't be aware of the wind unless they saw branches blowing by but if your in an RV it's akin to being in a wind tunnel.  The rig rocks, the slide awnings flap, & every square corner sets up it's screaming banshee sound.  Needless to say this is not at all very conducive to a good night's sleep.

 

BLACK CLOUDS IN WIND BLUSTERING MORNING

Converging weather fronts brought in a tangled mass of angry looking clouds & the day dawned with a moody determination.  Bright blue sunny days are nice but it takes clouds to give the sky a fuming personality & dark ominous clouds are my fav.  Took some photos & would have taken many more but it was Yoga morning & I couldn't really come up with a good legitimate excuse not to attend my first class this morning.   All the way to the Elfrida Community Center my eyes were on the sky watching Mother Nature's wonders at work.  The cloud shadows & sun splashes on the mountains were inspiring.

SILOUETTED SOUTH END OF THE SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS AT SUNRISE THIS MORNING

Looked to be about a dozen ladies gathered around in a large circle with chairs & mats when we walked in to the Elfrida Community Center at 9 this morning.  David, an instructor from Bisbee welcomed us to the group & it wasn't long & I was seated in a white chair with a purple floor mat at my feet.  I immediately knew I was going to be more comfortable here than the exercise class when David dimmed the lights.  I am not a bright lights kind of guy.  The first minute was spent in a relaxation mode.  Now, this was my kind of exercise.  The instructor had a soft voice as we went through a series of stretches with closed eyes.  The closed eyes part really worked for me because I was able to drift off down memory lane making some now & then comparisons.  My mind took me back 44 years ago to my days in boot camp at a naval base in Canada called Cornwallis.  How different my body now as I sat there in this dimmed room trying to do even the simplest of stretches.  Where once I scrambled up & down 30 foot ropes, drilled for hours on parade grounds, ran for miles on cross country runs, & did a whole host of improbable physical things, I now found it hard to simply bend a knee joint to reach the floor or raise a leg to an even level while in a seated chair.  I was on the floor, on my back, & found that hard.  I was on my stomach & that didn't work well either.  Mashed my face into the purple mat.  The only thing that finally worked for me was when after an hour & a half I heard Yoga instructor David say, "and now for our final move.......:))"

 

ANGRY WIND TOSSED SKYS

Elfrida has a community garden just behind their community hall so after the Yoga class we took a walk over there to have us a look see.  Yes, I was still able to walk after the class.  This plot of garden land is made free to the local people & seeds are provided.  Each person or family is given a tower or in Canada we'd call it a raised bed with screened soil where they can plant their seeds.  Two spacious greenhouses are filled with strawberry plants.  A large earth oven has been built as well as a small pond with seating benches.  We saw rows of onions & a long patch where peanuts had been grown.  A band of roving chickens kept an eye on us as we strolled under an arbor that might have been grapes at one time.  Gourds had grown up along a fence line & were hanging loosely for anyone to pick.  What we thought were corn stalks turned out to be sugar cane.  A Mexican caretaker fellow shoveled soil through a screen in another greenhouse as his boombox belted out Mexican tunes.  We talked with a couple of ladies who had walked over from the Yoga class.  Eve lives here in the valley near McNeal but has property in Nova Scotia as well.  Another lady was visiting from England.

View Full Album

Wind gusts had picked up in intensity & when we arrived back at the ranch two of our tables were blown over & our Star Choice television satellite dish was on the ground with the dish pointing straight up in the air like a turtle on it's back.  I immediately assumed the worse figuring the electronics in the LMB arm would be shattered & we would never ever be able to watch television again in this lifetime.  Set the tri-pod back up, re-mounted the dish in the high winds, made a few slight adjustments & had Kelly turn on the TV inside.  When I moved the dish slightly & saw Oprah Winfreys face fill the screen I knew that all would be right with the world again because Kelly would have her Oprah show back.  Whewwwww, close call for me!!  I then staked the tri-pod legs to the ground & suspended a heavy jug of water under the tri-pod center for added weight.  I then re-positioned the car close to the dish to act as a wind break.  It's nearly 7 p.m. now & so far so good.

DARK CLOUDS OVER THE GLEESON MOUNTAINS

Rest of the afternoon was spent inside because every time we stepped out the door we were practically blown right off our feet into the next county.  We occasionally have strong winds in Ontario but they are not like the big winds that sweep out of the mountains in the southwest & come screaming across the desert floor to turn your whole world upside down right quick!!

SAND HILL CRANES LOW TO THE GROUND STRUGGLE AGAINST THE WIND TO-DAY

Later in the afternoon I stood outside & watched as thousands of Sand Hill Cranes struggled against the massive wind gusts on the way back from their feeding grounds at the north end of the valley.  They were heavy with the days intake & at times were motionless in the sky only to be pushed back by the winds.  They reminded me of salmon struggling upstream against the onslaught of relentless rushing waters.  Great flocks of birds were down low to the ground trying to escape the wind shears.  They came low over the ranch house & dropped even lover as they hugged the ground heading for their nightly roosts another 2 miles south of here.  It's dark now as I'm typing this & yet I can hear them overhead trying to get home.  Usually they are all back well before dark.....but, not to-night.  I'm sure there will be some for which there will be no sunrise.............

ANOTHER 2 MILES & THEY WILL BE HOME

And welcome to new bloggers &  friends JEAN and RAY from Gleeson Arizona and their website QUIET COUNTRY CREATIONS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I once had a job in an Orange Juice  factory, but I got canned..... I couldn't concentrate.

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL

BETWEEN SNOOZING & READING TO-DAY I WAS ABLE TO FIT IN SOME DOZING

RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS IS LOCATED OVER THERE IN THE GLEESON MOUNTAINS

It was 20 days ago that we left Ontario & to-day we had the quietest day since leaving home.  Kelly headed off to the exercise class but I decided to stay home.  My back is feeling normal again & I want to keep it that way.  Besides, I was able to get a bit of house cleaning done.  Did the dishes, vacuumed the floors, & made my bed real darn good.  I'm a handy little cuss to have around sometimes but just don't ask me to do any of that silly cooking stuff!!

THE A-10 BOYS FROM YUMA PAID US A VISIT TO-DAY

Want to clear something up about last night's blog.  There are no rattlesnakes at Rattlesnake Crafts.  John & Sandy do catch the rattlesnakes out in the desert but are not in the habit of bringing them home alive.  Their crafts are made from rattlesnake skins, rattles, etc.  John told Kelly there is no point in keeping live snakes around because they will just escape anyway.

 

Thanks for the compliments on last night's photo with myself in the blue ball.  If you look at the photo  you can see that blue ball in the bottom row about half way down.

Our weather changed a bit to-day with gusting winds coming in from the southwest & bringing the temps down to a more comfortable level.  It was a nice day for snoozing & reading with a bit of dozing in between the two.  And we didn't have to put the A/C on either which was a bonus.  Whenever you have to run the furnace you know it is too cold & whenever the A/C has to be turned on it's obviously too hot.  Somewhere between those two temperature extremes resides a little place called temperature heaven.

HEY, WHAT DID YOU SAY!!
LEGGO MY NOSE!!	OK, I’M SORRY
	YOU 2 GUYS ARE NUTS!!

We don't normally associate snow with Arizona but on February 10th of this year while at the ranch we did get snowed on:((  Saw snow on the Swiss Helm mountains to the east two days before so we should have known we were getting close to a dump.  By noon most of the snow had melted but I did manage to grab a few photos before it left.  Check out our BLOG & Picasa Web Album  WE GOT SNOWED ON for that day!!

WORKING WITH THE NEW COLEMAN

I do intend to try out the Yoga class in the morning but I'm sure not going in there with the attitude I did at the exercise class this past Monday morning figuring, 'hey' there isn't anything those women can do that I can't do.  Well, there was & my 21 year old attitude didn't match up with my 65 year old body & I paid the price.  Lesson learned!!

KELLY AT THE COMPUTER TALKING TO HER MOM & DAD ON SKYPE THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man walked into a bar and sat down beside a women.  Suddenly her glass eye popped out and he caught it. She thanked him and asked him if he would join her for breakfast the next day. He agreed and got her address. The next day he went to her house and had a lovely breakfast. He asked, "Do you treat all men like this?" She smiled and said, "Just the ones who catch my eye."

I think my Live Writer problem last night may have been caused by a poor Verizon connection.  Same problem to-night so re-connected & I was OK.  Thanks to Rick for his advice comment to-day which I followed:))

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS IN THE DESERT

THESE OLD WEATHERED GUNS ARE THE REAL McCOYS

( For some unknown reason to-night's blog would not publish in Live Writer so I have reverted back to the Blogger program for to-night's post,)

My back was tweaking this morning but not as bad as yesterday. I'm not quite out of the woods yet because the upper back muscles have tightened up & bent we slightly forward. Just going to take a little time for things to ease up & settle down. Did not want to just sit around all day again so we decided to take a drive over to the old mining town of Gleeson & see if we could find the Rattlesnake Craft place we had heard about. We had spent a few hours in what's left of Gleeson last March & our blog for that day is HERE. And, check out our PHOTOS of the old ghost town.

HEAD NORTH OUT OF ELFRIDA & TURN LEFT TO-WARDS GLEESON & WATCH FOR THE WEATHER WORN RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS SIGNS

The pavement ends just west of Gleeson's cemetery & the dusty road eventually leads to Tombstone 20 miles to the west. We spotted a large western looking gate with the words 'High Lonesome Ranch Real Estate.' Took a drive through the scenic rolling hills & saw 6 or 7 homes scattered about here & there. Wide open spaces with up to a mile between places & you would need a good set of binoculars to see what color your neighbors car was. I would like it here:)) We continued up the main road a few miles where another old weathered sign directed us onto another dusty & bumpier road. Wasn't long & we rolled into the Rattlesnake Crafts Ranch.

ON THE HIGH LONESOME RANCH PROPERTY

Well, let me tell ya, this was quite the place way out here on the high desert in the shadow of the Gleeson Mountains. As soon as we parked & got out of the car I knew we were going to be there for awhile. Kelly was excited about the number of rocks & mineral specimens. I was fascinated with a whole acre of photo opportunities. This was a step back in time as countless bits of history hung everywhere. Weather-beaten pots & pans, old rusting guns, jars, & well, just too many things to even begin to mention. Somewhere over 5,000 items on display. I'll have to refer you to my photos to give you an idea of this place. Most everything is real & all of it is old, very old, with the exception of the many rattlesnake crafts which Sandy John make.

AND THIS IS THE ROAD INTO RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS

Sandra & John Weber have dragged home a lot of stuff over the years & what they haven't brought home others have brought out to their place. I think these folks were on the 'To-day' show years ago & there are a bunch of newspaper & magazine articles posted about them. They call their little 1 acre place in the desert Rattlesnake Crafts because they have a whole trailer full of just about anything you can imagine made from rattlesnake parts. In fact there are 150+ rattlesnake related items in the jam packed old vintage trailer. Wallets, belts, ties, sunglasses holders, hat bands, cell phone & knife cases, etc. etc. And where do the rattlesnake parts come from?? Usually within about a 20 mile radius of where they live. On warm summer nights during July & August they head out into the desert in search of the rattlers. John said it can take as much as 9 hours to track down a rattler. They have been doing this for years without injury or incident. Kelly asked him if they keep any snakes on their property & John said, "no, they just escape anyway."

LISTENING TO THE WIND TINKLE & JINGLE ALL THE OLD TREASURES

We didn't meet Sandra but she did go by on one end of a table her & John were carrying out to set up a rock collection. John, a very personable & friendly fellow did his best to answer Kelly's many gemstone rock questions. I was busy just looking at everything & taking pictures, marveling at the amount of history packed into this solitary little place kind out in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much everything is out in the open. No specially track lighted display cases or marbled museum floors here. Just the harsh Arizona sun above, cattle wandering by through the mesquite & cactus, & John's big rugged smile lighting up his cowboy boots from under is well worn & weathered cowboy hat. These are real western people & this is a real collection of wild west stuff they have here. No pressure from these folks to buy anything either. John just happened be setting up some stuff nearby when we got there. And everything is on the honor system. He said once they were away for 3 days, just left the place open, & when they returned someone had left $300 for some stuff they picked up. Real trusting down home folks these Webers are & isn't it too bad the rest of the world couldn't follow their example. If you don't mind a little dust on your tires or a bit of sunshine on your face just take the Gleeson road at the north end of Elfrida & follow it west. The placement ends west of the Gleeson cemetery & it's maybe another 5 miles or so to Rattlesnake Crafts. Watch for the signs & make sure your not transporting nitroglycerine or your gonna get blowed up for sure on the bumpy road:)) Check out Sandra & John Weber's website at.......RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS & ROCKS. Tell em the Bayfield Bunch sent ya:))

JOHN WEBER & KELLY.......'ROCK TALK'

Gets pretty hot in these parts by noon so we were back home about 12:30 & spent the rest of the day inside with the A/C on. Took a lot of photos so I will create a separate album for this mornings jaunt to Rattlesnake Crafts & upload it to our Picasa Web Album. Problem is we are almost out of bandwidth but I will probably upload the pics anyway. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do!!

THERE WAS A BIRD NEST IN THE FIRST POT ON THE LEFT

Sat out under the stars last night for awhile with my binoculars doing some Stargazing. I am always a little dis-oriented here in the southwest for awhile. Same stars & constellations for the most part but everything is slightly in a different place. No problem for me finding the constellation Pegasus last night but it took me a long time to find the Andromeda Galaxy which is located not far off one of Pegasus's 4 star points. Watched mighty Orion slip up over the Swiss Helm Mountains to our east. The Hyades & Pleiades were in fine form as were many other old familiar pals high in the sky. Could see 2 of Jupiter's moons. Arizona is probably one of the most popular astronomy areas in all of the U.S. & how lucky that is for me to be here in one of it's darkest areas. Stars from horizon to horizon in the cool, crisp, & clean desert air. Will be glad when my forgotten tri-pod arrives & I can pop my telescope on & see if I can find me some alien spacecraft:)) Do I believe in that sort of thing?? Absolutely!! Makes a whole lot more darn sense to me than many other popularly held beliefs.............10-4:))

AL'S SELF PORTRAIT IN A BLUE BALL AT RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS

To see the rest of our Rattlesnake Crafts photos from this morning click…. PICASA WEB ALBUM

And just in case anyone is wondering who AMOS & ANDY was from last night’s blog, just click on their names:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What do you call a guy on the side of the road with his hand up a horses behind? An Amish Mechanic!!

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

PROBLEM!!!!

When I went to publish to-night’s blog I received the following message & the blog would not publish!!!!

The server reported an error with the following URL:

http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10886995/posts/default

400 Bad Request

I’m too tired to fight with this problem to-night & will try again in the morning!!!!