FRIDAY, FIRST DAY OF ANOTHER NEW YEAR

ONE NIGHT AFTER LAST WEEK’S CHRISTMAS FULL MOON

How nice to step outside this morning into balmy 45F temps instead of the 30 & 35F stuff we were having last week.  Looks like we might be in the high 60’s by Sunday then the bottom of the barrels falls out for all of next week.  Temperatures drop & it looks like rain, rain, & more rain headed our way.

NO THAT IS NOT A PREDATOR SWOOPING IN JUST ANOTHER LITTLE SPARROW

Pheebs & I took ourselves for a drive down to McDonald’s in Wickenburg & picked up a few supplies at the drive-thru.  From there our travels took us up highway 93 aways then out into the desert for a walk.  Nothing too exciting but at least we got out & went somewhere.  We were back home before noon.

WICKENBURG ARIZONA SURE IS COWBOY COUNTRY AS EVIDENCED BY THESE PHOTOS i TOOK HEADING OUT OF TOWN THIS MORNING

(click to enlarge)

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING GOING ON HERE EVERY TIME WE DRIVE BY

I’m afraid we didn’t do anything much different from the last bunch of afternoons.  A few more bird photos & some reading.  I stretched out in my gravity chair & soaked up some warm Arizona Sun while being serenaded once again by our melodious back yard bird choir.  Maybe this first new day of the year will set the pace for the rest of the days of this new year.  Well that might be fine for some folks but it sure doesn’t give a daily Blogger like myself much to write about each day.

KELLY SIPS HER TEA ON THE PATIO AS I REPOSE IN MY GRAVITY CHAIR WITH BIRD CAMERA IN HAND

 

New Year’s Eve we watched a DVD Kelly had picked up at the Library called GRAVITY starring Sandra Bullock & George Clooney.  Definitely a movie to be seen on a big screen with big sound for sure.  Best part of the movie was the great special effects & I wonder if there is an Imax version of it.  Of course my favorite all time space movie is 2001: A Space Odessy & what I liked about that movie so much was it’s un-Hollywoody approach.  Very realistic & not over dramatized in the usual Hollywood fashion.  I would be content to just sit & watch ‘Gravity’ in a big Imax theater…..with no dialogue.

PHEEBS & I DID COME ACROSS ANOTHER CATTLE WATERING HOLE (TANK) WE HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE

WE HADN’T SEEN THIS NEARBY APIARY BEFORE EITHER

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW WATER COMING DOWN OFF THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS CUTS ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

Looking back one year ago today I see we were boon-docked on Ogilby Road west of Yuma & our Bayfield friends Diane & Harry (STORMRUNNER RV SALES & SERVICE) drove out to see us.  No not from Bayfield but from Yuma where they were staying for a bit.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( You know it's time for a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight when you step on a talking scale and it says, “One at a time, please!”  And may all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions…………

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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.

ALL THE BEST IN 2016 TO FRIENDS, RELATIVES, READERS, & WHOMEVER:))

Kelly, flushed by her successful patio furniture deal was off to Wickenburg not only for some groceries this morning but I’m sure she was hot on the trail of any post-Christmas bargoons as well.  If she had just been going for groceries she would have asked me to come along but with no such invitation I knew she was in browse mode & we both know I don’t do so swell getting dragged kickin & hollerin through store after store.  Besides it’s more fun seeing what she all has jammed into the Jeep when she get’s home.  Yes indeed it sure looks like we’re keeping the house alright………..

Not too cold & not too hot so it was a good time to get a few outside things taken care off.  Cleaned some windows both on the house & the rig.  Weed whacked some stuff on our neighbor’s property, & watered some plants in our yard.  Fixed a leaky drainage pipe running from our washing machine underground to a row of Mesquite trees behind the house as well.  Just a puttery kind of last day for the year.

So what are our big plans for New Years Eve.  Very happy to say we have no big plans at all & what a relief that is.  I can’t even remember the last time I saw the far side of midnight.  We have thankfully evolved over the years into a very low key  couple & we are both very comfortable with that.  We’ve done all the heavy duty parties & socializing years ago.  We’re a good example of that phrase ‘been there done that’ & in many cases we’ve been there way too much & done it way too often.  As I sit here in my PJ’s early on New Year’s Eve 2015 listening to Frank Sinatra on the radio with a warm heater going under my Ikea chair gently toasting me to perfection I tap away at my post tonight musing contentedley to myself thinking there’s nowhere else I’d rather be……………….:))

Finished reading my book Straight On Till Morning: the Biography of Beryl Markham by author Mary S. Lovell.  Thought it was a great read & I again enjoyed learning more historical facts about things that have actually happened down over the years.  Beryl Markham lived a most remarkable life & her story is as interesting as any I have ever read.  Also today I started Beryl Markhams own acclaimed book West With The Night & with only a few pages read I can see she truly was a gifted writer.  In part this is what Ernest Hemmingway had to say about her book {As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But she can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers}

Been awhile since I mentioned this but due to more friend requests on Facebook it’s time I mention it again.  For folks sending in ‘Friend Requests’ please don’t be offended or take it personal if I don’t click on the ‘Confirm’ tab.  I have been hacked twice clicking on ‘Friend Requests’ so I just made it a policy for myself a few years ago not to accept any more friend requests.  I’m not a Facebook person anyway & the only time I’m on Facebook is to drop my post in each night.  Unless Kelly mentions something to me about seeing something on Facebook it’s not the type of place I go or hang out.   And folks please do not send me game requests, I’m not into games whatsoever.  Zero interest in that kind of thing.  I do have a Twitter account by the way but again I’m only in there for a few seconds each night to drop my latest post off.  I’m just not much into any of the social media sites at all.  I do my blog & that’s about it.  It’s even rare for me to write an email any more.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention again my appreciation to all readers out there who have made this blog possible through their kind words, encouragment, & support.  Thank you all for giving me a creative focus & purpose each & every day.  And thank you for 2015.  You all is the best:))

Well here we are at the end of another year & it looks like we have survived 2015 reasonably intact.  We still have all our stuff which we are happy to have & for the most part despite our advancing years we still are in fairly good health.  Yes there are some issues but basically we’re still good to go.  We could be a bit better but we could be a whole lot worse too.  So onwards & upwards with 2016 we goes & where we stops nobody knows.  All the best to everyone in the coming New Year……………………….:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.

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I was going to quit all my bad habits for the new year, but then I remembered that nobody likes a quitter.

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New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

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New Years Eve forecast: Mostly drunk with a slight chance of passing out.

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New Year's is just a holiday created by calendar companies who don't want you reusing last year's calendar.

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What do you call always having a date for New Year's Eve?………………. Social Security.

A DESERT WALK FOR PHEEBS & I PLUS KELLY NABS A DEAL ON SOME PATIO FURNITURE TODAY

KELLY NABS A BARGAIN TODAY AT ‘AUNT PEARLS’

Birdfeeder was on the ground this morning so I suspect it was another swarm of Elephants in the back yard again.  Luckily only the roof of the feeder was broken & it was nothing some glue & good old duct tape couldn’t fix up.  Last time the feeder was knocked out of the tree I suspected a flock of Giraffes.

ANOTHER FINE MORNING FOR A LEISURELY DESERT WALK

 

WE CAME ACROSS A BIT OF COWBOY FENCING

Despite mid 30's cold air at least the sun was shining & that's all Pheebs & I needed for a walk in the desert behind our house first thing.  Soon as that Sun clears the horizon & begins gaining altitude it warms things up pretty fast & at no time did either one of us feel uncomfortably cold.

 

I’M SURE GLAD WE LIVE WHERE SAGUAROS GROW

 

A few weeks ago I had photos of Cowboys on horseback atop a tall round hill out near House Rock.  I had intended to walk around the hill that morning but after seeing the Cowboys decided not to.  Thought maybe they might have been in the middle of doing something with the cattle nearby & didn't want to interfere.  No sign of any Cowboys this morning so we parked the Jeep & set off to again have a crack at walking around the big hill.

 

FOLLOWING A WELL WORN COW PATH

With clear blue skies overhead we made our way along, through, & around many tall stately Saguaros, green Palo Verde trees as well as Mesquite scrub & various other forms of cactus.  Came across some fairly new looking cattle pens & a water tank  but never did encounter any cattle despite following a well worn cow path half way round the hill.   Our 40 minute walk finally led us back to the Jeep again & we headed off little farther down a narrow sandy road.

ON A WALK AROUND THE BASE OF THAT HILL IN THE BACKGROUND WE CAME ACROSS A FAIRLY NEW WATERING AREA FOR CATTLE & YES THERE WAS A THIN SKIM OF ICE ON THAT WATER

 

Knowing there was a familiar crop of rocks nearby we made our way along the winding road picking up a bit more desert pin striping along the way but nothing serious by the sounds of occasional scratching going by.  This particular pile of rocks & bouldners has some nice memories associated with them as this is where we had stopped a few years ago with my Aunt Jean when she was visiting us from Florida.  The big boulders all looked the same of course as I scrambled around them taking a few photos here & there.  How nice the memories of Aunt Jean climbing up one of the large boulders & sitting on top of it where she was soon joined by Kelly & Pheebs.  This morning Pheebs & I clambered up that very same boulder & sat atop it enjoying the surrounding views & welcome serenity of the desert.  Only thing missing was Aunt Jean sitting there beside Pheebs & I.THAT TALL BOULDER ON THE LEFT IS THE ONE YOU CLIMBED UP JEAN

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16TH 2013

SITTING WHERE YOU WERE TODAY THIS IS THE VIEW TO THE WEST

AND WHILE SITTING THERE PHEEBS TALKED ME INTO TAKING A SELFIE

THIS IS THE PILE OF ROCKS THAT NOW ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF AUNT JEAN:))

THERE’S A PHEEBER BUNS IN THIS PHOTO

AND SPEAKING OF PHEEBER BUNS

IN THAT BOULDER CAN YOU SEE THE PROFILE OF A BIG LAUGHING DOGGY KINDA FACE LOOKING OFF TO THE RIGHT??

HAVING A BIG YAWN SO I GUESS IT’S TIME TO HEAD FOR HOME

From the big pile of boulders we slowly made our way through the Mesquite & picked up another dusty road which led us back towards Congress & the gate that would let us out of the desert back into civilization again.  We were home about 11:30.

ON THE RIGHT IS THE HILL WE WALKED AROUND

A COUPLE OF PHOTOS TO TEST YOUR IMAGINATION

Kelly & Pheebs headed off to the Library earlier this afternoon & came home with a Jeep full of patio furniture.  Well it doesn’t take much to fill up a Jeep Liberty but filled up it was with 2 well built heavy wrought iron type chairs & an even heavier matching table complete with a removable glass top.  She found the bargoooon at ‘Aunt Pearls’ on highway 71 in Congress it’s very self.

I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW HEAVY THIS PATIO FURNITURE WAS

With Kindle in hand I tipped back in my gravity chair outside around mid afternoon, read for about 10 minutes then allowed myself to be lulled into a semi sleep state by the chortling & tweeting of our many backyard birds.  It can be quiet in our yard until I stretch myself out then I’m sure the birds gather around in nearby Mesquite trees & purposely see how long it takes them to lull me to sleep with their melodious songs.  Now if that’s what they really do & there’s no real reason to suggest otherwise then I quietly close my eyes & willingly let them carry me off down the sleepy road of fine old marvelous memories.  Thanks my many feathered friends I so like it when you do that for me:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A very elderly gentleman, (mid nineties) very well dressed, hair well groomed, great looking suit, flower in his lapel smelling slightly of a good after-shave, presenting a well looked-after image, walks into an upscale cocktail lounge. Seated at the bar is an elderly lady, about mid-eighties. The gentleman walks over, sits alongside of her, orders a drink, takes a sip, turns to her and says, "So tell me, do I come here often?"

IT WAS A 3 ‘AHA’S’ KIND OF DAY

SOME MORNING WALKS ARE JUST A LITTLE MORE COLORFUL THAN OTHERS

Highlight of my day was painting the area under our kitchen sink.  Cleaning a small water screen filter on the back of our our clothes washer came in a close second.  That filter screen project required turning off the house water out at the road so that made it a major project for me.  Suspecting a plugged 2’ hose I disconnected it from the tap as well as the back of the washer.  Now how to get the suspected blockage out of the hose.  Well that was an easy ‘Aha’ moment as I walked outside & screwed one end of the hose onto an outside faucet where we had some pretty good pressure.  Turned on the hose expecting a blast of blockage to come flying out the other end but just a trickle of water dribbled out.  ‘Aha’ that told me the hose must really be tightly plugged.  But how to fish that blockage out now.  Another ‘Aha’ moment as I headed Into the house for a coat hanger.  Figureed I could use that to poke through the hose & dislodged anything & everything inside.  With clothes hanger in hand heading back outside I in passing told Kelly how tightly the rubber hose was plugged & not even the outside tap pressure could unplug it.  Kelly asked if the water valve at the road was still turned off & I said yes it was………..I really don’t know how I make it through some of these days anymore:(( 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.