DAY 2………MORE STRESS:((

THE ONLY SCENIC PHOTOS I COULD MANAGE TODAY WAS OUR VIEW OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS JUST NORTH OF FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA

Now I think this Bellemont Camper World is a place Sam from somewhere over there near St. Louis would really like.  Just a few hundred yards south of our location is a double main line set of railroad tracks running east/west & I’m guessing there is close to a dozen heavy duty long freight trains going by every hour.  Five & six big engines pulling a ka-zillion freight cars & boy oh boy are they ever noisy.  Despite that we both slept well.  We were just too frazzled to sleep any other way.  Besides I took a sleeping pill & knocked myself out like totally silly.  Oh & our fridge is still working perfectly ‘of course’.

CAN SEE HERE HOW CLOSE CAMPING WORLD IS TO THE DOUBLE MAIN RAIL LINE

Pheebs & I were up early & out the door by 4:30 a.m.  No stars so knew we were under a heavy cloud cover.  A bit cold with a few small patches of dirty plowed snow in the corner of the parking lot.  No wind.  Over coffee later we discussed what to do with the loss of power in the coach when climbing hills.  We never had the problem on the way down this winter & the Chevy 8.1 always powered us up & over the mountains with little problem.  Except west of Kingman on our way to the Mojave National Preserve.  A sudden loss of power climbing a grade but then it was fine again.  We figure something somewhere is definitely amiss.

One of the positive aspects of writing a blog & being honest enough to post about problems with various things is the positive feedback in the form of advice, suggestions,  & know-how tips from readers.  Reader feed back gave us a good heads up about our fridge as well as the coaches power problem.  Taking the advice of readers & especially an email from John & Pat Matoon saying, “there is a metal gasket that connects the right exhaust manifold  to the tailpipe.  That gasket went bad and was leaking.  When you are putting a strain on the engine, like climbing a mountain, it leaks more.  There is a Oxygen Sensor close to this gasket and the leaking exhaust caused the sensor to tell the Computer that the engine was running too lean”……..We decided to go back to the truck place & see if they would have time to check that.  Also many readers mentioned having the fuel filter changed so we decided on that as well plus an oil change if they could fit us in.

After breakfast at McDonalds about a mile from our location we were at Camping World’s service desk for our 9:45 appointment but rig didn’t get taken in for another couple hours.  A scheduling conflict.  Because the fridge is working right now we opted for a $79.95 full service whereupon the fridge is completely checked over & cleaned etc.  Blockages are also looked for.  We found the folks at the service counter very friendly & straight forward with regards to servicing the fridge.  Waiting room has internet, TV, & coffee.  Our rig was done just before noon & they said the flu needed blowing out & the igniter cap was off.  That was corrected & they think we may be alright now.  Writing this tonight our fridge is working perfect.  We have our fingers crossed.  No shenanigans, no tom foolery, & no trying to upsell us on anything by the store’s staff.  They did advise periodic servicing to avoid costly repairs.  I agree.  Two thumbs up for the Bellemont Arizona Camping World store at exit 185 on Interstate 40.  They even thanked us for being ‘nice customers’.

 

HANGING OUT IN THE CUSTOMER SERVICE LOUNGE FOR A COUPLE HOURS

 

AN ANTENNAE POD TOWER DISGUISED TO LOOK LIKE A TREE & OUTSIDE A HARLEY-DAVIDSON SHOP A TREE MADE OF HARLEY MUFFLERS I’M THINKING…BETWEEN CAMPING WORLD & THE BELLEMONT TRUCK CENTER

From Camping World we drove a short mile down the service road beside I-40 to the BELLEMONT TRUCK REPAIR CENTER again to see about getting the aforementioned things done.  This garage does service work for trucks in the area as well as towing.  We dug through the previous owner’s (Don) files & found the parts number for the correct Napa fuel filter & Bellemont had those filters in stock.  While waiting to get into the garage for service things really went south on us all of a sudden & it had to do with the rig again:((

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While waiting an 18 wheeler ‘cab’ came down the road, slowed, & pulled in behind us.  I figured right away he was here to pick up one of the 2 trailers parked on either side & to the back of us.  And he was.  I jumped out of the rig & went back to ask him if he needed us to move the rig.  Said he did because he was after the trailer on our passenger side. (see photo below)  So no problem I jumped into the Big EEE’s driver seat, turned the key……………….nothing!!!!!!  Battery was stone dead.  Not even using the house batteries ‘power boost’ worked.  Stone dead.  Kept trying & trying.  Nothing & nothing.  Scurried back to tell the truck driver of my dilemma which of course now caused a dilemma for him.  Young fella & didn’t seem mad.  So far so good, well sorta.  I raced around & fired up the Jeep pulling it up in front of the rig.  Out with my jumper cables, hooked them up……..nothing.  Tried & tried & again nothing & nothing.  Truck driver was a little concerned but turned out to be a really nice guy about it all.  Next I went into the truck garage & explained my predicament to the lady at the desk.  She right away rounded up a mechanic guy & he came over with a truck & hooked his booster cables on.  Problem solved?? Nope!! Nothing…………That mechanic tried everything he knew but he could not even get the starter to turn over.   Truck driver was now at the point where he had to somehow get that trailer hooked up, out of there, & off to Flagstaff.  There was a narrow space between the trailer & some boulders at the edge of the gravel parking lot & he had no choice but to try to squeeze his cab through there to get in front of the trailer to back up & hook onto it.  I stood on the largest boulder & guided the passenger side of the truck past it but sure was a tight fit.  Couple minutes later he was in position, backed up & hooked onto his trailer.  From there I spotted for him as he backed the 53’ trailer of refrigerated goods out & onto the road.  A big smile, a hearty wave, & hi-ho Silver the big blue truck pulled out & headed east for I-40 & Flagstaff.  What a nice young fella that driver was & despite the problems we were having he & I had some hearty laughs kibitzing back & forth.  Although living in Phoenix now he was originally from Chicago.  For some reason I know I will always remember this brief encounter with that fellow.  Okay, back to our problem……………..

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The mechanic (another really nice guy) spent a good 40 minutes trying this & trying that.  He was on his back under the engine 3 or 4 times.  I stood by the windshield & every time the mechanic would say “try it again” I would signal to Kelly in the drivers seat to hit the switch but nothing worked, just a couple clicks from the relay or starter or something.  Did I mention the cold wind with rain in the air at times.  Every wire he checked with his volt meter was fine.  Battery checked out to fine as well.  After crawling out from under the motorhome for about the 4th time he said he was going back into the garage to talk to another mechanic about the problem.  It was a good opportunity for me to hit the washroom & while in the washroom………the motorhome started up.  What!!!!  Kelly had tried the ignition switch again & sure enough the rig started right up like nobody’s business.  I made fast tracks for the garage to tell the mechanic & you can imagine how relieved he was.  Said while he was under the rig the last time he noticed one of the wires coming from the starter was touching the frame so he pulled that wire over away from the frame.  Could this be the source of our dead battery problem.  Remember this very same thing happened in Williston North Dakota early last October on our way south.  Despite it now being after 5 in the afternoon he said drive the rig around to the shop & he would do the oil change, fuel filter, & tape up that loose starter wire.  While he did this Kelly, Pheebs, & I headed the short distance to the Pilot truck stop & McDonalds/Subway complex.  Got us  big honking 12” sub & headed back to Bellemont Truck Service & waited in the Jeep eating the sub while the skies above rained on us.  Half an hour later our rig was ready to go.  Said there was some dirt in the old fuel filter but he’s seen worse.  Said they couldn’t do the Manifold gasket check because they do not have those gasket parts & said we would be better off to take the rig to a GM dealer for that.  At least this way if we have that loss of power again on the hills we’ll know it’s not the fuel filter.  Anyway I had better get out of here.  This post is already waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long & I am waaaaaaaay too tired.  We’re going to head out in the morning for warmer sunnier weather.  That is if the rig will start & we are able to get over a few more mountains.  Thanks for all your positive support & helpful advice & ideas folks.   Certainly makes things a little less stressful………………….Over & out for tonight.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Oh ya, we’re overnighting here at the truck garage in the same spot we were parked earlier today.  And 2 big thumbs up for the Bellemont Truck Repair place at exit 185 on I-40 between Williams & Flagstaff Arizona:))

 

PARKED AT THE BELLEMONT TRUCK CENTER WAITING TO GET IN

 

KELLY CHECKS THROUGH PREVIOUS OWNERS FILES WHILE THE NICE MECHANIC GUY CHECKS OUT A FEW THINGS IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  It had been snowing for hours when an announcement came over the intercom: "Will the students who are parked on University Drive please move their cars so that we may begin plowing."  Twenty minutes later there was another announcement: "Will the twelve hundred students who went to move 26 cars please return to class."

CONGRESS TO BELLEMONT AZ. (CAMPING WORLD) & A PROBLEM WITH THE RIG:((

ENGINES RUNNING & WE ARE READY TO GO

In my PJ’s with coffee in hand I stood quietly in our front yard’s early morning sunrise listening to a cacophony of beautiful bird songs all round me.  Prevalent was a male Cardinal in a nearby Mesquite tree.  Oh the sounds of happiness from our so many feathered little friends.

KELLY THROWS THE MAIN SWITCH, CLOSES THE FUSE PANEL DOOR & WE ARE GONE

We had left the fridge on electric all night just in case it might work….and it did.  Imagine our surprise to open up the fridge door to cool temps this morning.  Kelly switched it over to gas & wouldn’t you know it the fridge worked totally fine all the way to Camping World & is still working fine tonight as I write this. 

NEXT IS UP YONDER YARNELL HILL TO THE TOP OF THOSE WEAVER MOUNTAINS & BEYOND

We were in no hurry so there was no rushing around & we just took our time loading up & taking care of last minute things.  Did a walk around of the property taking photos of all the flowerbeds etc.  Need to have a visual record of things.  Photos inside of all the rooms as well.  I generally do this every year mainly as a record of what we have & where things are.  Checked & re-checked everything, said good-bye to the birds, my new shovel, the shed, the house & just about every other little thing in between.     It was exactly 11 a.m. Arizona time when rolled through our south gate.  Pheebs & I in the rig & Kelly following in the Jeep.  What a gorgeously beautiful 84F Arizona morning it was.

 

The Big EEE climbed the Yarnell Hill like it wasn’t even there & we would probably have been alright with the Jeep on but sometimes it’s just better to err on the safe side.  Pulled into Yarnell’s Ranch House Restaurant parking lot & hooked on the Jeep.  Luckily the restaurant was closed today so we had lots of room.  Smooth ride all the way to west of Prescott & then……..a problem!!!

JEEP HOOKED ON IN YARNELL AT THE RANCH HOUSE RESTAURANT

We seemed to be losing too much power getting over the summit just south of Granite Mountain.  Pedal to the floor at 10 mph.  Pulled over, shut it down for a few minutes, started it up & we were good to go again & the rig ran fine all the way up through the Chino Valley to I-40.  East of Williams is a tough series of very long grades which are known to be notoriously hard on vehicles.  And today we were no exception.  Seems to me Gaelyn from Geogypsy ran into some serious problems here a few years back.  The 6% grades stretch for about 6 miles.   It was in these grades loosing power that we had a ‘check engine’ light come on.  It was not a blinking red light so we didn’t panic.  Other than going up the steep grades the rig ran fine but we had to get onto the shoulder at a few points & shut it down for a few minutes.  Pulled into Williams & spotted a CarQuest place.  A fella came out & plugged into our rig’s computer to see what the red light ‘check engine’ codes were.  We had 5 faults with one of them being a throttle sensor.  The fellow at Carquest said that 6 mile stretch west of Williams is one of the worst spots in Arizona & it’s not uncommon for that section of I-40 to disable vehicles including 18 wheeler trucks.  I did notice some trucks plus one other Class A struggling.  We’ve done these grades with our Class A Damon, our Class C Sunseeker, & our Class C Winnebago but today was the first time we’ve had trouble.  It puts our trip from Moab to Denver Colorado in question now.  Lotta big mountains & grades going over the Rockies there.  Did it in our Damon heading west back in late 07 so we know how rugged those mountains are.

ROLLING THROUGH SKULL VALLEY

Earlier Kelly had phoned Camping World to see about the availability of staying in there lot overnight & they said sure no problem.  That saves us a pile of money from not staying at the KOA like I had previously figured on.  We knew Camping World was only another half hours drive east of Williams where we were so headed out.  The rig ran fine & didn’t cause any more problems.  Rolled into Camping World around 2 & checked in with service.  The people here could not have been friendlier & the young fella at the counter went one step further when he heard of our ‘loss of power’ problems.  He right away got on the phone to a truck garage about a mile west of where we were & the folks there said to bring the rig on down…….so that’s what we did.

EASTBOUND ON I-40 WITH SNOW CAPPED MOUNTAINS NORTH OF FLAGSTAFF AZ.

Nice people here again at the BELLEMONT TRUCK REPAIR & the fella pulled our Motorhome into one of the two bays.  He checked everything out but did not get a ‘throttle sensor error’ but did pick up a couple 02 sensor errors same as Carquest.  He said everything checked out fine but if it occurs again we should have those 02 sensors replaced.  He cleared our ‘check engine’ light as well.  He also said about that bad 6 mile stretch of I-40 & how hard it is on vehicles.  We have our fingers crossed the problem won’t re-occur but I’m not so sure.  We could also be dealing with a partially clogged fuel filter after checking out the problem on the internet.

FELLOW AT CAMPING WORLD RECOMMENDED THIS PLACE & I WOULD TOO

PHEEBS MEETS A COUPLE NEW FRIENDS

Anyway we are tucked cozily & securely away in front of a big bay door here at Camping World for the night & they also gave us electricity.  Only stipulation is that we be out of the way by the time workers show up in the morning.  So far so good at Camping World, pets are welcome inside & the staff here loved the Pheebs.  The service manager wanted to take her home.

 

TUCKED AWAY FOR THE NIGHT

YEP THAT’S OUR HOUSE WAY DOWN THERE PHEEBS

Stressful day for us & we sure hope the rest of our trip is problem free & easy going.  Weather is looking bad for this whole area with a rain front coming in for the next 3 days.  I think when we leave here we’ll head straight for Goosenecks State Park where the weather is looking much better.  We’ll do the Grand Canyon another time when the weather is better.

KELLY CHECKS OUT OUR RIG’S ‘ERROR CODES’ ON HER COMPUTER TONIGHT

GROANER’S CORNER:)) Feeling Stressed Out?

Picture yourself near a stream.  Birds are softly chirping in the crisp cool mountain air.  Nothing can bother you here. No one knows this secret place.  You are in total seclusion from that place called "the world."  The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.  The water is clear.  You can easily make out the face of the person whose head you're holding under water.  Why lookie there... what a pleasant surprise... It's the person who caused you all this stress in the first place.  You let them up... just for a quick breath... then ploop!...back under they go...  You allow yourself as many deep breaths as you want.  There now... feeling better?

‘AWWWW NUTS!!!!’ WE’RE STILL IN CONGRESS……WITH A PROBLEM:((

By golly I heard Crickets chirping Sunday night when I took Pheebs out about 8 o’clock.  Now how special is that under a clear starry night sky on our last night in Congress.  Except……it wasn’t our last night in Congress.  We are still here!!!!  Thought we had the problem with our Dometic fridge resolved but obviously not.  Turned it on (gas) Sunday & when we checked Monday morning the fridge part was not working at all but the freezer was cold as ice.  We were not happy campers!!!!!!!!!

MAYBE WE SHOULD BE LOADING THESE HORSESHOES ONBOARD FOR GOOD LUCK >>>

When Renee from North Ranch was here a few days ago she in passing mentioned there was an RV techy guy she knew living at North Ranch who was available to help folks with various RV problems & projects.  Kelly emailed Renee for the fellow’s phone number & we gave him call.  Vern said he was familiar with Dometic refrigerators & came over to our place first thing Monday morning.  Checked this, checked that, checked the other thing but could not really find anything wrong anywhere.  Repositioned the cold sensing device & we thought it seemed to start cooling.  But as it turns out we only seemed to think that.  Vern told us to check the fridge in a couple hours which we did……fridge was still warm:((  I moved the rig back to it’s normal parking spot with the fridge side in the shade & plugged into electricity to see if at least that still worked.  Nope that didn’t cool the fridge down either.  Needless to say we were again hugely disappointed.  On our trip down it was the inverter problem & now we could be looking at what could be a major fridge repair.  And the fridge is less than 2 years old.

 

THIS IS QUITE A JEEP VERN TRAVELS IN

  

VERN CHECKS OUT OUR DOMETIC PROBLEM

 

GOT A LOT OF TOOLS IN THAT THERE JEEP

AND GUESS WHAT THAT 1990 JEEP HAS UNDER THE HOOD

 

THAT’S A CORVETTE ENGINE WITH LESS THAN 20,000 MILES ON IT

Warm enough Sunday night that I slept with my window open & my overhead fan going.  We were both up shortly after 5 & actually had our morning coffee on the front porch.  Brought my computer out & how nice to sit there in the darkness watching a slow ever lightning sunrise.   Roosters crowing, early birds chirping, nice Moon, & Crickets.  What a nice way to start a day.  If only our day could have stayed that way.

AL CHECKS SOME TIRE PRESSURES

Most of our time on this weather perfect Monday was spent sitting quietly on our front porch reading, stressing out over the fridge problem, & considering our options.  We knew there was an RV repair place south of Wickenburg but after reading reviews about the place we decided it was definitely not one of our options.   

LES CAME BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON TO SPRAY OUR WEEDS

Double checked our fridge on electric later in the afternoon & the fridge was still warm.  Time to call in the big guys.  After checking & finding favorable reviews for Camping World between Williams & Flagstaff Arizona Kelly phoned & we have an appointment there for Wednesday morning.  It’s on our proposed route anyway so it just made good sense to go there.  We will put our fridge stuff in coolers & hope Camping World can fix us up.  Sooooooooo looks like we will leave here sometime Tuesday & probably head for the KOA Campground right on I-40 at Williams whereupon we’ll spend the night.  We’ve been there before.  From there it’s just a short drive in the morning to Camping World.

And ‘Oh Oh’ here’s another ‘Oh Oh’!!  Checking the weather forecast it looks like rain is moving into the whole area in a couple days.  Saw some overnight lows around the freezing mark at higher elevations like Flagstaff & the Grand Canyon.  If it’s cold & wet we will skip the Grand Canyon area & head for Valley Of The Gods Utah in search of warm sunny days.  It’s the nice part of traveling without reservations.  Go where you want when you want.  Can’t imagine doing it any other way………….

In a comment on my Friday post the Furry Gnome from Seasons In The Valley asked, ‘But isn't there a lot to do to leave the house safely for six months?  The simple answer to this question is ‘yes’ but we do have some positives on our side.  We are fortunate in Bayfield to live in a relative crime free area.  We have watch-full neighbors & we have a fellow who comes in to check on things regularly.  If our house was located in the country it would definitely be a big worry & concern for us.  As much as we would prefer to live in the countryside somewhere there are definite advantages to living in a community & security is one of the biggest factors.   Before leaving in the Fall we have to turn off the outside water.  We set our furnace to 45F & & leave the heat vents open to the bathroom & kitchen where water pipes & faucets are located.  We also learned through experience to replace the batteries in our thermostat as well.   We put our cable TV & Internet service on hold until we return & our neighbor  picks up our mail at the mailroom.  If he thinks there is something in the mail we should know about he emails us.  Anyway that is sort of how we do it……sort of:))

Routine for leaving our Congress house is much the same except for a few differences.  We notify the water company we are leaving & they come & shut our water off after we leave.  Notify post office to forward any mail to Canada.  We turn off the main electricity breaker.  A set of keys over to our neighbors & they check our house for us when we’re away.  Also put our Canadian Shaw Direct TV on hold until we return.  We close & lock all windows then pull the curtains & that’s kind of just about it until we return sometime in the Fall. 

CHATTING IT UP WITH LES WHILE HE SPRAYS THE WEEDS

Okay, hopefully tomorrow night at this time my post will be coming to you from somewhere other than here where I am at right now…………………….:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Comparison of Philosophical Theories in the Late 20th Century:::
Capitalism - He who dies with the most toys, wins.
Hari Krishna - He who plays with the most toys, wins.
Catholicism - He who denies himself the most toys, wins.
Anglican - They were our toys first.
Greek Orthodox - No, they were OURS first.
Atheism - There is no toy maker.
Polytheism - There are many toy makers.
Evolutionism - The toys made themselves.
Church of Christ Scientist - We are the toys.
Communism - Everyone gets the same number of toys, and you are in big trouble if we catch you selling yours.
B'Hai - All toys are just fine with us.
Amish - Toys with batteries are surely a sin.
Taoism - The doll is as important as the dumptruck.
Mormonism - Every boy can have as many toys as he wants.
Voodoo - Let me borrow that doll for a second.
Hinduism - He who plays with bags of plastic farm animals, loses.
7th Day Adventist - He who plays with his toys on Saturday, loses.
Southern Baptist - If your toy is a Disney product, you have a one-way ticket to Hell.
Jehovah's Witnesses - He who sells the most toys door-to-door, wins.
Pentecostalism - He whose toys can talk, wins.
Existentialism - Toys are a figment of your imagination.
Confucianism - Once a toy is dipped in the water, it is no longer dry.
Non-denominationalism - We don't care where the toys came from, let's just play with them.
Agnosticism - It is not possible to know whether toys make a bit of difference.
Unitarian Universalism - We still haven't decided if the toys exist.

JUST ABOUT READY TO GET THE BIG WHEELS ROLLING

OUR MESQUITE TREES ARE ADORNED IN THEIR SPRING COLORS

Lets just say it was a very busy morning with all the last minute check-list things to attend to before one heads off on any long distance journey.  I went all around the property in this morning’s cool air giving all our cactus plants a big drink.  It may be quite awhile before it rains.   More things loaded into the rig while Kelly busied herself cleaning inside.  To be fair I clean my own bedroom & bathroom & do assist with a few other ‘spic n span’ chores.  Stowed all our outside ornaments away including garden tools etc.  Couple loads of laundry plus a couple million other little things.  By noon we both had pretty well exhausted our energies for the day but just kind of kept intermittently plugging away at stuff anyway.  More to do Monday morning & then it’s very possible we may just take off.  If you do not see a post tomorrow night it may just be that wherever it is we are we may not have an internet signal.

MOTHER NATURE SURE IS A MASTER LANDSCAPER

Did a really dumb thing ‘again’ Saturday.  Checked the rig’s gas gauge & saw we had less than a quarter tank of gas so figured we’d better put in $50 to get us up to the Chino Valley north of Prescott before filling up.  Sure didn’t want to lug a full tank of gas all the way up the Yarnell Hill.  After picking up some propane we stopped at the gas station & put in $50.  Jumping back in the rig I checked the fuel gauge to make sure that $50 was sufficient & sure enough we now had a full tank of gas.  ‘WHAT’!!!!!!  Yep, I had gone & done it again.  For the third or fourth time since buying our rig back in May I read the gas gauge wrong!!  The rig’s gauge reads the opposite way our Jeep gas gauge reads & without thinking that is how I read the Big EEE’s gauge.  We now get to climb the long winding 2000’ Yarnell Hill with the extra weight of a full gas tank anyway.  Oh Joy.  Decided we will drive the Jeep up separately so Kelly will follow & I will hook the Jeep on in Yarnell.  Is it any wonder I frequently get sooooooo upset with myself.  And these Senior years are not making things any easier for me either because I don’t take too kindly to me doing dumb stuff:((

GOING TO MISS OUR VENTURES INTO THE DESERT BEHIND OUR HOUSE

It has been an odd feeling all day.  By this point I am generally geared up & ready to rumble but all day I just seemed to be in some kind of fog.  I’m sure once we get rolling my mood will clear & we’ll have our teeth into another rousing RVing adventure.

I did end up moving a bunch of bricks again this afternoon.  We have 5 larger Burbank cactus pods in pots & I knew from experience if I put them in the ground they would be chewed on by rabbits so I made another little enclosure out of the bricks under a Mesquite tree beside our patio & set the 5 cactus plants inside.  The black plastic heat absorbing pots are out of the blazing sun so roots should remain cooler over the summer.  I’m already anxious to see how everything turns out when we return in the Fall.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The hunched-back man decides very reluctantly, that he should go see a doctor after a few too many people have started to comment on his back.
DOCTOR: I need for you to get undressed, sir.
(Hunchback removes jacket and then stops)
HUNCHBACK: I really don't like getting undressed, doctor.
DOCTOR: If you want me to examine your back you'll have to get undressed.
(Hunchback removes his shirt but leaves his t-shirt on)
HUNCHBACK: I don't like showing people my back. They always laugh at me.
DOCTOR: Do you want me to examine your back or not?
(Very reluctantly, the hunchback removes his t-shirt)
DOCTOR: Ah...just how long is it since you were in school?
HUNCHBACK: Gosh, over 20 years, doctor. Why?
DOCTOR: Did you ever wonder all those years what ever happened to your backpack?

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- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

HAD MYSELF WORN OUT BY NOON

NATURE’S WONDERS IN THE DESERT

We had a big pile of sand leftover from when the fellas stuccoed our house 3 years ago this month.  Last year I decided to use that sand on the paths of our front yard cactus garden.  Quite a few wheelbarrow loads but I got it done.  Problem was I’ve never been happy with that silicone type sand on the pathways.  Now 2 wrongs don’t make a right but a few weeks ago I decided on a second wrong thing & wheel barrowed a bunch of finely crushed red stone over to the paths & dumped it on the sand thinking that would solve my problem.  Didn’t take me long to realize I did not like what I had done.  This morning I spent 2 hours under the hot sun with my shovel & wheelbarrow shoveling all that sand & crushed stone back up again.  I’m back to plain dirt paths & to me it just looks better & I don’t have that slippery crunchy feeling underfoot anymore.  I’ll pour some more thought into those pathways when we return later in the year.  Needless to say by noon I was totally ker-pooped.

HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE YELLOW BRITTLEBUSH

North Ranch had their 2nd semi-annual garage sale today so Kelly was off to that about 8 a.m.  So what did she come home with?  More cactus plants of course so I was again busy doing some more planting.  A reader in our Shout box confirmed my apprehension about leaving things in pots all summer so I also busied myself planting all our potted small Agave’s together in a flowerbed near the birdfeeder.  It’s anybody’s guess whether they will make it through the long hot dry summer.  But they’re native desert plants & if the rabbits don’t chew them off they may have a chance. 

WITH THE PRESENCE OF RATTLESNAKES NOW WE HAVE NOT BEEN OUT TO THE DESERT MUCH

Fellow RV’ers Glenda & Jeff have been camped out with their Casita in the BLM lands at the end of Ghost Town Road for the past 5 weeks & this morning dropped in to say good-bye on their way down into the Phoenix area.  Their travels this summer will include Branson Missouri, Oregon, & California. 

GILA WOODPECKER ON OUR OCOTILLO >>>

I am going to take a liberty here & share something I do not have permission to share & I’m hoping the writer of this email we received will not mind me sharing their thoughts.  Reason for posting this is simply because it is in reference to all we blog writing folks, our blog followers & all our loyal readers.  Email says:  “Hey Al and Kelly, I have stalked you and your followers for at least the last year and 3 to 4 months while I have gone through therapy for breast cancer.  You all have been a blessing and an outlet that just makes my day.  You all have put a smile on my face and joy in my heart.  Have a safe journey home to Canada!  I'll be lurking in the background”…………………

I thought that was pretty special:))

Way to late of course but today we did finally make it over to Mike & Pat McFalls for Happy Hour at 4.  I so wish we had made the time to get over to see Mike & Pat earlier in the season.  Also there today were Jim & Ellie Meachum, Mike & Janna, Jim & Bev, as well as Jerry & Carol who live up the other end of Ghost Town Road from us.  In one fell swoop we managed to say good-bye to all the people left on our list.  I hope next winter we can do better & get around to see all these individual couples two on two whether it be here in Congress or in Bev & Jim’s case up in the State of Idaho sometime.

BACKYARD SUNSET

GROANER’S CORNER:(( My sister has the courage, but not always the skills, to tackle any home repair project.  For example, in her garage are pieces of a lawn mower she once tried to fix. So I wasn't surprised the day I found her attacking the vacuum cleaner with a screwdriver.  "I can't get this thing to cooperate," she explained when she saw me.  I suggested, "Why don't you drag it out to the garage and show it the lawn mower?"

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Because I had forgotten the dates for a number of my friend's and relative's birthdays and anniversaries, I decided to compile a list on the computer and have the dates highlighted on screen when the machine was turned on. I went to a number of computer stores to find a software program that would do the job but had no luck at the first few. I finally found one where the clerk seemed experienced. "Can you recommend something that will remind me of birthdays and anniversaries?" I asked.
His reply: "Have you tried a wife?"