IN WORDS & PHOTOS……IN WORDS & PHOTOS

TONIGHT’S PICS ARE A SMATTERING OF PHOTOS FROM BORREGO SPRINGS WHICH NEVER MADE IT INTO MY OTHER POSTS

I had never seen our 2 big Saguaros out front sway in the wind as much as they did today.  Our wind sock was straight out as an even colder Saturday wind came whipping in from the North scattering our lawn chairs.  Wind gusts rattled windows & howled in the eaves.  Bird bath water froze & some of the tiny birds trying to reach the feeder I’m sure were probably blown all the way down into Mexico.  I always travel with a winter jacket, gloves, & warm hat in the Motorhome & this mornng I was soon wearing all three.  Kelly took Pheebs for a short walk & the wind almost blew the fur right off the dog.  Sure glad we were in or sticks & bricks today instead of our Motorhome somewhere.  But hey, we had clear sunny skies all day:))

A LOOK AROUND AT SOME OF OUR BOON-DOCKING NEIGHBERS LAST WEEK

Needed a few groceries & knew it would be toasty warm in the Jeep so we headed off to Wickenburg with the wind blowing us all the way.  Weather’s always a bit different there & we almost had to switch into shorts & tank tops.  Kind of a longer grocery shopping ordeal than what I care for but did manage to tough it out.  A Turkey even found it’s way into our shopping cart so it was turkey with all the fixins for supper tonight.  And it will be turkey with all the fixens for the next 10 days probably too but’s that’s Okay cuase we never seem to tire of turkey this & turkey that.

AND HERE YOU THOUGHT BORREGO SPRINGS WAS ALL ABOUT DESERT & SAND

I filled up the bird feeder first thing Friday morning & within minutes the feeder was swarming with happy little birds.  About 10 minutes later I happened to look out & there was not a bird in sight.  Plenty of seeds in the feeder but just no birds.  I right away knew something was wrong & suspected a Hawk had swooped in.  Peering out a different kitchen window I thought I saw something move in a nearby Mesquite tree & the movement just didn’t look quite right to me.  Grabbed one of my cameras which had a 300mm lens on it & took a photo through my bathroom window. 

LOOK CLOSELY THERE’S MORE THERE THAN JUST A MESQUITE TREE

For the second photo I slowly opened the back door.  The click of the camera turned it’s head towards me & without further adieu it quickly took off.

I walked over to where it had been sitting only about 4 feet off the ground & there were no feathers around or blood on the tree branch so I don’t think it had caught a bird.  In the photo of it taking off I don’t see anything in it’s talons so I’m guessing it was just sitting there watching the feeder & waiting for the unsuspecting birds to return.  I don’t know what kind of a Hawk it was, maybe a Red Tail or maybe a Goshawk.

FIRST PHOTO SHOWS WHAT I FIRST SAW IN THE TREE, SECOND PHOTO SHOWS HIS HEAD TURNED TOWARDS ME & THE LAST PHOTOS SHOWS THE HAWK TAKING FLIGHT

Using a shovel from the shed this morning I was able to get the last bucket of Borrego Springs sand out of my ears.  Next big job will be getting it out of the Motorhome.  Figure I might rent a front end loader.

A short drive through one of Borrego Springs neighborhoods a few days ago reminded me of my favorite South-west style of architecture.  If I had a choice of which kind of a house I would like to have someday it would be like any one of these single floor low profile South-west adobe ranch type houses.  Love the styles, the landscaping, the tiled roofs, the colors, arches, beams & posts.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT AS WE CRUISED A FEW STREETS

Someone asked how we like the Jeep Liberty for off roading down here & my short answer to that is, ‘Great”.  Lots of pros & only 1 con so I’ll give you the con first which by the  way has nothing to do with the Liberty & everything to do with me.  I have been very hesitant to get it all scratched up with deseert pin striping.  Unlike the Wranger this Jeep has a nice shiny almost gold flecked paint finish to it where the Jeep was a duller brown & scratching it wasn’t a big concern.  Because of Libby’s nice surface I have purposely avoided some roads & areas so as not to scratch her.  Aside from that I am loving the 07 Jeep Liberty.  Smoother & quieter ride, more interior space, better sound system, convenient 4 doors istead of 2, much easier for me to get in & out of & I do love the automatic transmission & power windows as well.  I can go most places the Wrangler could but I have to watch for high rocks because Libby does not have a skid plate underneath.  With the Wrangler’s 6 speed standard transmission angling down a steep rocky hill in 4 wheel drive using first gear I could take my foot off the brake & just let the Jeep walk itself down.  Not so much in the Liberty as I really do think the automatic transmission could use one more lower gear to do the same thing.  But all & all we both like the Liberty & have not regretted buying it.  Great all round car with a little bit of everything.  And it handles itself well on the tough & tumble South-west Jeep roads.

Happy to say ‘Open Live Writer’ published my last  3 posts posts with no problems whatsoever.   A big thank you to the OLW people for ironing out the bugs.  The original Microsoft Live Writer was always a totally excellent program & as long as the new OLW continues in the same original LW vein I will happily stay with it.  I'm hoping they will add a 'spell check' program shortly as well.  I've been asked several times how I put my posts together & here's what I generally do.  Most times I will write my post using an email format or Microsoft Word then copy & paste that into my Live Writer program.  I use the email format in Bayfield a lot because when home I can access my draft copy from either my laptop or desktop computer & this works great for me.  I do use both computers to compose my post most days.   Once pasted into Live Writer I then add my photos between paragraphs.  With Live Writer's format photos are added instantly & the post then comes together very quickly.  Again, thanks to the new Open Live Writer folks for keeping this totally excellent program alive & well:))

BUSY ENCOUNTER AT A DESERT CREEK CROSSING

Well this pretty much catches up all my photos so guess Pheebs & I will have to get ourselves on the road again shortly to see if we can scout us out some new ones.  Us guys are needing a morning cruise in the Jeep anyway.  We are due for some nice quiet desert scenery methinks.  Oh & I just remembered a question somebody had about the Clark Dry Lake Bed east of Borrego Springs on highway S22.  They wondered if Rockhouse Road leading to the Dry Lake Bed was called Rockhouse Trail & my answer to that is we’ve never heard it referred to as a trail & there is actually a green roadsign at the highway that says ‘Rockhouse Road.’  It’s paved for a couple hundred yards then turns into a hardpacked gravely sand covered road. Anyone looking for the ‘Oven’ site we were at can find it just after the pavement ends if they keep looking down to the right a couple hundred feet from Rockhouse Road.  Look for a mound of dirt down there & the oven is to the left of that.  Just remembered another question someone had about the topography & a Google Earth view of that area which I will try & remember to answer tomorrow night……………………

WE HAVE A TABLE BETWEEN OUR 2 RECLINDERS & LATELEY PHEEBS HAS TAKEN TO JUMPING UP ON MY LAP THEN WALKING ACROSS THE TABLE TO SIT ON KELLY’S LAP…..IN THESE PHOTOS SHE DIDN’T SIT ON EITHER LAP & DECIDED TO JUST SIT ON THE TABLE ITSELF

Oh how soon my mind forgets sometimes.  We were actually at Borrego Springs a year ago right now & Christmas morning Kelly & I hiked up Ghost Mountain.  I had totally forgotten that.  CHRISTMAS MORNING ON GHOST MOUNTAIN 2014  Had I not started a blog years ago so much of our travels would now be forgotten forever.  I can’t really think of a better record keeping device than a blog & a daily blog at that if one really want’s to keep track of oneself.  And the icing on the cake of course is the photos.  There they are everytime I click on any one of my nearly 3000 posts.  Words & photos & how nice that is anytime for whatever reason I pick out almost any day in the past number of years & click on it.  Presto, there we are in words & photos.  For example if I randomly go back 5 years & click on December 30th I see we were ranch sitting in McNeal Arizona & it just so happens I took some rather unique photos that morning & I encourage readers to click this link & see what a trickling garden hose created one very cold Arizona night……WATER & ICE.  And 8 years ago today we were again boondocking in Borrego Springs & took ourselves for our first drive to a mountain top little town called Julian California.  A SCENIC DRIVE TO JULIAN.  So there ya go, if your thinking about starting a blog then go ahead & start one.  The sooner the better.  It will return so many lost memories to you some day in the near or distant future when your wishing you could really remember those days oh so long ago when you had oh so many adventures.  Memories will fade & become lost but maybe, just maybe, blogs will live on forever & ever in words & photos……..in words & photos.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A little boy went up to his father and asked: "Dad, where did all of my intelligence come from?"  The father replied.
"Well son, you must have got it from your mother, 'cause I still have mine."

----------------------------
"Mr. Smith, I have reviewed this case very carefully," the divorce Court Judge said,
"And I've decided to give your wife $775 a week,"
"That's very fair, your honor," the husband said.
"And every now and then I'll try to send her a few bucks myself."

------------------------

A doctor examined a man, took the wife aside, and said,  "I don't like the looks of your husband at all." "Me neither doc," said the wife.
"But he’s a great cook and really good with the kids".

NICE TO GO AWAY BUT IT’S EVEN NICER COMING HOME:))

DUE TO A HAZY CLOUD COVER CHRISTMAS EVE I DIDN’T GET A ‘FULL MOON’ PHOTO BUT HERE’S A THREE QUARTERS MOON I TOOK IN BORREGO SPRINGS A FEW NIGHT’S AGO

Several factors contributed to our decision to leave Borrego Springs Thursday morning & here's one of them as expressed by Jodee over at On The Road Abode. "A very Merry Christmas to you and Kelly and Pheebs. You were smart to head out yesterday. Last night was the worst wind yet! Bill is out searching for our rug and tire cover, and a few other campers' BBQ covers are decorating the flora"........Kelly & I have toughed out Borrego winds before & after 2 nights of not sleeping well due to wind gusts we decided a good night's sleep on Christmas Eve back in Congress was priorty.  Also, with a brisk wind blowing out of the South-west  Thursday morningI knew that strong tail wind would blow us all the way home. And it did.  Also it's quite likely we will be back in the rig & on the road off to somewhere again in 3 to4 weeks.

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM AN ARTSY LITTLE PLACE IN WENDEN ARIZONA

Stopped at the big Arco Auto/RV/Truck Center in Salton City & dumped a couple tanks & from there we headed North on highway 86.   For a change of pace we decided not to take our normal side trip through Box Canyon & slipped up to Indio catching I-10 East. This was the second time we had headed East out of Indio on I-10. Last time was with our little Class C Chevy Sunseeker. I hadn’t remembered the long steady climb out of the Coachella Valley but the rig handled the grades just fine. A Chevron fuel stop at Chiriaco Summit had us in a line-up for fuel at what was a very busy stop alongside I-10. The General Patton Memorial Museum is located here as well.

As expected there was a fair bit of I-10 traffic Thursday morning & I saw kids in some of the cars going by on their way to Grammas house for Christmas. With a clear sunny day & a steady wind behind us I almost had to throw an anchor out to hold our speed down. I was sure glad we were not going the other way heading into those winds.

 

A welcome leg stretch at Quartzsite's McDonalds netted us a coffee & some eats. I like this dusty little western town in it's off season but not so much in January when hordes of RV'ers descend turning the streets into traffic jams. Reminds me of our own Grand Bend during the summer months back in Ontario when all the young folks descend on the town. If I had my choice I would much sooner mix it up with Quartzsite's older RV crowds as opposed to Grand Bend's ram-jam teen-agers though.

I REALLY LIKED THESE WELL MADE CREATIVE $35 BIRD HOUSES

Just east of Quartzsite we turn off I-10 & pick up highway 60 heading towards Congress. This quiet stretch of road is one of my favorite drives & along the way there are a few slow downs for half a dozen little tumbleweed towns.  One of these slow downs is a little place called Wenden & we have often noticed an artsy kind of complex along the highway but never bothered to take the time to stop & have a look around. Well Thursday morning was finally the time to stop & have us that look around. Friends Bev & Jim from Idaho had talked of this place & said how nice it was to drop in & do a bit of browsing. Once the old Sunset Motel back in it’s heyday it is now the home of local artisans who have turned it into a number of artsy little shops. Just one lady there while we walked around.

Courtyard On 60

For me these types of places hold more of a photographic interest than walking around looking for something to buy. Colors, shapes, & creative creations always catch my eye so I enjoyed my time there taking a few photos while Kelly turned her interest to browsing many of the arts & crafts. She did find a nice ceramic bluebird she liked. And here's the best part, Pheebe was allowed to walk all around as well.  I think we were close to half an hour before heading on.

It was exactly 3 p.m. when we pulled into Congress & minutes later we rolled through our south gate & parked in front of the house. It always feels so good to be home whether it be here in Congress or Bayfield Ontario. Always nice to head out somewhere but boy oh boy it's even nicer to come home. Our first 6 years Snow Birding were the exact reverse of that but now in these latter 4 years since we've had our Arizona house our feelings have changed. We are so glad we didn't sell it & this past week pretty much confirmed that we would prefer not to spend 5 & 6 months in the rig each winter again like we did in earlier years.

REFLECTIONS THROUGH A REG GLASS VASE

Definitely colder here in Congress than Borrego Springs but we knew that before leaving Borrego. A nice sunny day today but an icy cold North wind kept us mainly indoors. A much different Christmas morning from years ago I thought to myself as I did 2 loads of laundry & then hung everything outside to dry. Probably like a lot of folks my favorite Christmas mornings & memories are of many years ago when I as a kid. I treasure those memories & hold them close.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  It was Christmas and the judge was in a merry mood as he asked the prisoner,"What are you charged with?" "Doing my Christmas shopping early", replied the defendant.
"That's no offense", said the judge. "How early were you doing this shopping?" "Before the store opened."

-------

What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa?
A rebel without a Claus.

---------

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?
Tinselitis!

--------

What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas time?
Sandy Claws!

--------

Why is Christmas just like a day at the office ?
You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.

--------

Why did Frosty the Snowman want a divorce?
Because he thought his wife was a flake.

--------

What do get if you cross a duck and Santa?
A Christmas Quacker.

===============================

THIS POST IS COMING TO YOU FROM CONGRESS ARIZONA…MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE:))

Well it's Christmas Eve & we are back home in Congress Arizona.  Made the decision to head out about 8 this morning & an hour later we were on the road.  My last few posts have been long so tonight I'm just going to keep it simple & say we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas:))

Driving Home For Christmas by Chris Rea

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

Moe: What are you going to give your little brother for Christmas this year?
Joe: I haven’t decided yet.
Moe: What did you give him last year?

Joe: The measles.

0000000000000000

Zoey: What do you get if you cross an iPad with a Christmas tree?
Johnny: I don’t know. What?

Zoey: A pineapple!

0000000000000000

Amanda: What’s the difference between Santa’s reindeer and a knight?
Robert: What?
Amanda: One slays the dragon, and the other’s draggin’ the sleigh.

0000000000000000

One night a Viking named Rudolph the Red was looking out the window when he said, “It’s going to rain.” His wife asked, “How do you know?” “Because Rudolph the Red knows rain, Dear.”