UNEXPECTED SUN SPLASHES IN OUR YARD TODAY QUICKLY HAULED ME OUT OF THE HOUSE

HAD OURSELVES A FAIR FEW NICE BURSTS OF SUNSHINE TODAY

My sleep induced mind was beset with puzzlement throughout the night as I kept waking up to confusing weather sounds.  Could it be high winds again beating on the house or was it torrential rains pounding on our roof.  Or heaven forbid, was it both.  Wasn't until curiosity finally dragged me out of my recliner around 3 a.m. & I looked out a front window that I was able to determine the noisy sleep disruptive culprit.  Rain!!  We have a steel roof on the house & any downpour of rain can set up quite a clatter.  My next worry was leaks but a quick check of several old roof leak spots confirmed all repairs were holding well.  Back to my recliner I scurried hastily crawling under my still warm blanket & soon had sugar plum fairies dancing in my head again.

STANDING BESIDE OUR BIRDFEEDER TAKING A PHOTO OF OUR YARD THIS CACTUS WREN LANDED ON THE FEEDER RIGHT BESIDE ME

THIS WREN WAS VERY MUCH AT EASE WITH ME STANDING THERE

A couple F-16 fighter jets roared over the house shortly after 9 this morning & they were lower than normal.  With a heavy cloud cover again sitting on surrounding hilltops I was hoping those fighter jocks were keeping a close eye on their instruments because the heavy clouds they were flying in would have visibility down to zero.  Didn't want the tops of our 2 tall Saguaros knocked off. 

DON’T WANT THOSE FLY BOYS KNOCKING THE TOPS OFF OUR SAGUAROS

NICE TO SEE PATCHES OF BLUE SKY BEGINNING TO APPEAR BY LATE MORNING

About 10:30 holes began appearing in the heavy cloud cover allowing brief sun splashes to play across the land.  Pheebs & I were out the door in a flash to absorb as much of that sun as we could.  How nice to feel those inner energy cells charging again.  Took a few photos & busied myself with some minor outside chores.  Nice to see how the rains had washed up the Motorhome & Jeep real nice.  Tempting to uncover the porch furniture & set out the patio chairs again but a quick weather check confirmed it was only a brief reprieve between traveling storm fronts.  More rain moving back in overnight accompanied by a temperature drop.

MY BIRD PHOTO CHAIR USUALLY SITS BESIDE THAT TABLE BUT IT’S IN THE SHED STAYING DRY

NOT OFTEN YOU SEE A WATER PUDDLE & A CACTUS IN THE SAME PHOTO

It is always so hard for we animal loving people to lose any of our treasured best Pals.  It's even hard for us when others lose theirs.  Such was the case when I read Steve's post this morning about losing his beloved Basset Hound, Winston.  Painful memories well up inside me as I remember our own 3 sad loses just a few years ago.  Here is Steve's post about not only his first day without Winston but Stella, Sadie & Heidi's first day without Winston as well…..My 1rst Day Without Winston.

JUST A FEW PHOTOS AROUND OUR YARD TODAY

A reader in our Shout Box had a question wondering why we wouldn't just hook up the rig & move off down to Yuma to get away from our inclement weather here in Congress.  I have a couple answers for that question.  First, with these current off-shore El Nino storms sweeping into the South-west right now weather is not predictable anywhere, even Yuma.  If we have to wait out a weather front we would much sooner wait it out in our sticks & bricks than our Motorhome.  We've sat in our Motorhome more than once over the years waiting for rains to stop & skies to clear.  If we don't have to do that again we won't.  Every boon-docker knows about the mud dragged into the rig on rainy days!!  Second, we have company arriving Monday for a week's stay & rushing off this week in search of better weather would have put an unnecessary strain on us to hurry home & get a bunch of last minute things done.  But thanks for the question anyway Guest:))

SEEMS A ROADRUNNER HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE IN OUR BACK YARD  (WELL AT LEAST WE THINK IT’S A ROADRUNNER)

SHHHHHH, TIPPY-TOE TIPPY-TOE

As far as I know & for as long as I can remember I have never considered myself a perfectionist.  I know people who do & I know people who are but I've always kinda been of mind that if I can get something close enough I consider it good enough.  I guess that's part, & a good part of the reason I never turned out to be a rocket scientist, an airplane pilot, or a neuro-surgeon.  Just think of the bad consequences if I had been.  Sometimes I think we 'close enough' characters just fortunately end up in lesser employments where close enough is good enough & nobody ends up being the worse for ware because of it.  These thoughts came to me a few days ago while watching a small airplane overhead.  Had I pursued a dream of flying I probably would have ended up as one of those statistics that didn't bother to see how much gas was in the plane before taking off,  figured the weather was good enough when it wasn't, failed to notice a broken landing strut, never bothered to file a flight plan, or figured a rough sounding engine was 'close enough' to running well.  Yes indeed I think maybe I may have saved many lives over the years by understanding & accepting the fact I never was or would I ever be......... a perfectionist:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man jumps out of an airplane with a parachute on his back. As he's falling, he realizes his chute is broken. He doesn't know anything about parachutes, but as the earth rapidly approaches, he realizes his options are limited; he takes off the parachute and tries to fix it himself on the way down. The wind is ripping past his face, he's dropping like a rock, and at 5000 feet, another man goes shooting up past him. In desperation, the man with the chute looks up and yells, "Hey do you know anything about parachutes?!"  The guy flying up looks down and yells, "No, do you know anything about gas stoves?!"

AN ENDLESS PARADE OF TETHERED GRAY

GAMBLE’S QUAIL

A band of grayish white clouds gracefully dragged themselves along the ground & across nearby hilltops like so many gigantic hot air balloons tethered together in an endless parade.  Earlier an enveloping light mist had left everything it touched wet with drizzle.  It was January 5th & it was the start of our day which would remain unchanged from dawn till dusk as rain showers came & went with a kind of untimed irregularity.

Kelly had a hair appointment in Wickenburg for 10 so Pheebs & I stayed home only venturing out twice to feed our soggy back yard feathered friends…………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy.  He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy didn't move.  Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy didn't respond.  Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing.  Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch.  The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.  "Well... Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try!"

CLOUDS & RAIN

Nothing I can tell you about my day is going to come across as interesting so I’ll just keep this post short……………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Did you hear about the self-help group for compulsive talkers? It's called On and On Anon.

UP THE YARNELL HILL, DOWN THE YARNELL HILL & SWEET ONION SAUCE

MORNING SUNRISE THROUGH ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD MESQUITE TREES

To say I was outside in our front yard at 7:30 a.m. this morning frolicking in my bath robe & PJ’s would be in part quite true.  Indeed I was out there in said ensemble but frolicking…..hardly.  I was out there with my camera taking photos of a fiery sunrise which Kelly had noticed a few minutes earlier when opening a few East facing curtains.  Checking our outside thermometer I noticed we were at 50F.  ‘Wow’ our mid winter heat wave continues.

FROM OUR BACKYARD MORNING’S SUNRISE CASTS A PALETTE OF PASTEL COLORS ONTO WESTERN CLOUDS

With our weather slated to go into the dumpster Monday for the majority of the week I figured Pheebs & I had better get ourselves out today while we still had sunny skies overhead & a slightly warmer day going on.  Well where to go??  With the limited amount of roads here compared to back home in Ontario’s Huron County we decided to head off towards Yarnell.  Up the Yarnell Hill we went, through Yarnell, out the other side & made a U-turn.  Back through Yarnell & down the Yarnell Hill we went heading south out across the desert floor lickety split.  Why the U-turn north of Yarnell??  Well it seem’s my chief navigator determined there were no close by eateries north of Yarnell.  My chief navigator in this case being my stomach.  Habits can be hard to break & back home in Bayfield whenever Pheebs & I head off somewhere we have a tendency to pick up a coffee & muffin before launching off onto the back country roads.  It’s a habit that as often as not determines where we go on our Jeep Safaris right here in Yavapai County Arizona as well.

MORNING’S HALF MOON OVER OUR HOUSE IN THE SOUTHERN SKY

Now here’s how it happened.  When the Cornerstone Bakery wasn’t open in Yarnell my stomach started pestering my brain to turn around & head for Wickenburg.  My cranium sponge had remembered a ‘SUBWAY’ right beside McDonalds & of course as soon as my brain reminded my stomach about that the dye was cast.  One U-turn & it was pedal to the metal for the south end of Wickenburg.  Twenty minutes later after winging our way around three highway 93 round-a-bouts I was standing at Subway’s counter ordering us up a 6” Tuna Sub.  Thought I’d change things up a bit & try a different sauce.  Girl behind the counter suggested ‘sweet onion sauce’ & ‘WOW’ was that ever a great suggestion.  It will be sweet onion sauce on all my subs from now on.  I’m even thinking of getting some ‘sweet onion sauce’ to put on my porridge in the mornings now.  Say, I wonder how sweet onion sauce would go with my daily peanut butter & honey sandwiches eh:))

WICKENBURG’S SUBWAY WITH LIBBY BEHIND THE BUCKBOARD

Again with no clear destination in mind we left Subway, grabbed a coffee to go at McDonalds & again headed out Constellation Road southeast of Wickenburg.  Figured we’d just head off on Blue Tank Road & slowly angle ourselves back towards Congress but along the way I remembered a place Jim & Bev had taken us to a couple times on our Jeep drives a few years back.  Wasn’t exactly sure where SAYERS SPRING was but I did have an idea as to the area it was in & sure enough within half an hour trundling along in a sandy wash we came upon Sayers Spring.

CLICK THE ABOVE ‘SAYERS SPRING’ LINK IN THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH TO READ SOME HISTORY ABOUT THIS PLACE

OLD STEPS WHICH ONCE LED SOMEWHERE NOW LEAD NOWHWERE

THE SPRING LIES JUST UP THERE ABOUT DEAD CENTER AT THE BASE OF THAT ROCK FACE…THE RUINS ARE JUST OFF TO MY RIGHT

Having been here a couple times before we knew our way around & what was there.  Nothing had changed much since our last stop two winters ago when Peter & Leslie were along riding with us.  Bit of climb up an embankment of loose & tumbly rocks & gravel to a couple cave like entrances where I knew spring water was to be found in a couple cave like entrances.  Imagine my surprise to find both springs pretty much dried up & especially the upper one where there had been a pool of crystal clear spring water last time about 2 feet deep. 

THE LOWER SPRING HAD ONLY A COUPLE INCHES OF GREEN BRACKISH WATER

THE SECOND HIGHER UP SPRING WAS DRY EXCEPT FOR DAMP LOOKING MUD

ABOVE AS IT LOOKED TODAY & BELOW AS IT LOOKED LAST TIME WE WERE THERE ON JANUARY 21RST 2014…THIS ‘LINK’ WILL TAKE YOU TO THAT DAY

THAT IS THE SANDY WASH WE CAME IN ON…JEEP IS SLIGHTLY VISIBLE ABOVE THE TREES ABOVE THE 2 BLACK WATER TANKS

<<< NOPE YOU WON’T BE GETTING A DRINK IN THERE TODAY PHEEBS

From Sayers Spring we continued along the rough & tumble road climbing ever higher into the surrounding mountainside towards the Williams Ranch.  We had been this way before following Jim & Bev in their Jeep & actually ended up at the Williams Ranch that day & talked to the Ranch owner fella himself.  But today we only went maybe a couple miles high up into the hills before deciding to turn around.  Had noticed our sunlight slowly disappearning as the leading edge of the bad weather front began pushing in from the west.   It was almost noon anyway & without sunlight spilling down the mountainsides into the valleys below punching out the colors my keen interest in the landscape generally peters out.  With that thought in mind stopped atop a high ridge I swung the Jeep’s nose back around, pointed it & downhill & our return trip to Congress was underway as we went rumbling & tumbling downwards along a narrow dusty road cut diagonally through solid rock in places.  These are old mining roads from years ago & there are no guard rails anywhere so the driving is definitely more exciting than just plodding along on a standard flat paved road.   It’s just another one of those things I like so much about the great American South-west.  By the way if you would like to see more photos of Sayers Spring, plus a couple gold mine sites with buildings & our stop at the Williams Ranch just click on my post for March 8th 2012 entitled ‘A GREAT 6 HOUR JEEP TOUR THROUGH GOLD COUNTRY.  A big thanks to Jim & Bev up there in that Idaho place for showing us all these interesting places a few years ago:))

THAT SANDY AREA IN THE VALLEY IS WIDE DRY RIVER WASH

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE WE FOUND THE NARROW ROAD WIDE ENOUGH TO TURN AROUND & HEAD BACK

Debated on going back through Wickenburg but why the heck do that if a fella doesn’t have to.  In my opinion that ‘high rollers’ race track between Phoenix & Las Vegas they call highway 93 running through Wickenburg is to be avoided at the best of times.  We swung right onto our old familiar Blue Tank Road & followed that twisty winding up & down road to Rincon Road & hung a left to the race track highway.  By taking this route we eliminated 2 of 3 round-a-bouts.  Fifteen minutes later we were home.  It was nearly 1 o’clock & we had been gone about 4 hours.

JUST BELOW CENTER OF PHOTO ONE CAN SEE MINE TAILINGS FROM AN OLD ABANDONED MINE SITE

TOP CENTER IS THE REMAINS OF AN OLD MINE BUILDING…JIM & BEV FIRST SHOWED US THIS SITE BACK IN EARLY MARCH OF 2012

CLOUD SHADOWS IN THE WICKENBURG MOUNTAINS

PHEEBS & I HAD OURSELVES INTO SOME PRETTY ROUGH & TUMBLE COUNTRYSIDE TODAY

HAD WE CONTINUED ON WE WOULD HAVE CROSSED THAT STRETCH OF ROAD TOP RIGHT & COME ACROSS A FEW MORE REALLY GROOVY MINE SITES WITH BUILDINGS

Ever been typing along on your keyboard working away on a post only to have it suddenly disappear forever.  Yep, it’s happened to me about half a dozen times over the years & any Blogger well knows the absolute frustration with that happening.  Hours of work instantly wiped out.  Unless one had copied & pasted the post aforehand from another writing program one has no choice but to start the entire post all over again right from scratch.  I’ve never understood what causes this to happen but perhaps a Saturday email from Bob over at Bob's Eyes explains not only what occurs but perhaps a solution to this most aggravating problem as well.  You might want to file this ‘solution’ away for….next time.  Here is what Bob wrote……Hi Al, I’ve been wondering for a long time what causes the whole blog to disappear every once in awhile and know other people have had this happen to them also and is very frustrating.  I just figured out how we can lose everything on the page in an instant as we all know.  It’s Control a, that key stroke selects the whole page.  Say you want a capital a, so you try to hit, shift a, but miss and hit, control a, instead, then you immediately hit another key, say k and the k replaces all of what you had selected, the whole page and poof, it’s gone.  Now, when that page disappears, there is sometimes a way to save it, if.  If you did a save blog before it happens,than once it happens,  you close Live Writer and do not do a save when it asks or you will replace the good saved stuff with the now blank page, so hit no save.  Than reopen Live Writer and do a file open recent draft and you will get back what you had saved up to that point. You can test this real easy by typing a few lines and hitting the right keys.  Feel free to pass that on if you like as others have had this frustrating problem, I’m sure. :O)  Thanks Bog:))

NOT A LOT OF ROOM FOR VEHICLES TO PASS ON SOME SECTIONS OF THESE MOUNTAIN ROADS & IT CAN BE A LITTLE DICEY FOR THE FELLER ON THE OUTSIDE

ANOTHER OLD GOLD MINE SITE BELOW

DURING MONSOON SEASON THAT WOULD BE A RIVER RUSHING THROUGH DOWN THERE

THAT SHORT VISIBLE STRETCH OF ROAD AT THE TOP LEFT IS LEADING UP & OUT OF SAYERS SPRING TOWARDS WICKENBURG ON THE HORIZON TOP RIGHT

AND OF COURSE HERE IS MY SLEEPLY LITTLE COMPANION TODAY

ARE WE GOING HOME SOON DAD, I’M MISSING MOM

OK PHEEBS WE’RE ON OUR WAY…ETA LESS THAN 1 HOUR:))

Remember a short while back when someone asked how I liked our Jeep Liberty here in the Southwest & I answered that question.  One of the things I said about the Liberty was that it wasn’t trail rated.  After reading that post Kelly had to take me by the hand & lead me outside over to the Jeep & point to the round emblem on the driver’s side saying……’Trail Rated’.  Guess I was standing on the passenger side of the car when i looked over at the Jeep.  No emblem on that side, never is.  Do you suppose if I put my name in now the ‘HOME’ might have pity & take me early…….:((

LAST PHOTO OF THE DAY AS WE ROCKET ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

At the time of posting this tonight we are under a solid cloud cover with no chance of Sun until maybe Thursday.  Wish me luck……………….

SUNDAY’S MORNING SUNRISE FROM OUR FRONT YARD

GROANER’S CORNER:((

- 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.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON…..'STORY TELLERS’

MORNING WALK

If you read my Friday post then you have already almost read my Saturday post.  A few different photos perhaps but other than that Saturday just simply mirrored Friday.  However before slipping away already I do have a few last minute thoughts on…….’story tellers’.

We all have our stories to tell & some folks have more stories to tell than others.  I’ve never cared much for verbally telling stories but I do on occassion enjoy writing a short story or two.  My own of course & just little things I can remember happening now & again over the years.  There is a reason I prefer to write a story as opposed to verbally telling a story.  When I write a story & hit my publish button my post whisks away into the night & I can go ahead & get on with other things & anyone coming across my story does not have to read it & can likewise get on with other things as well.  They do not find themselves ‘stuck’ in an uncomfortable situation having to be polite & listen to my story.  As many may know it is not always easy to get away from an aggressive story teller & I have learned through experience that quite often verbally telling a story or even just making a comment to someone can set off a chain reaction of story telling from the other side.  Now if your a story teller & you like listening to other story tellers & enjoy that ‘story for story’ back & forth then your right at home in that particular situation.  I have to be honest here & tell you I am not one much for listening to people telling tall tale stories unless of course the story is of particular interest to me.  Too often though I have been button holed by a persistent story teller who's stories are of great obvious interest to themselves of course but of little or no interest to me.   I find it difficult to have a meaningful conversation with a story teller for the simple reason a story teller wants to do all the talking & is never too interested in the listening end of things.  I think sometimes there is a very thin line between story telling & bragging.  I'm afraid I am not a story teller's best listener but nor can I be rude & walk away.  But what I can do is next time I see that story teller coming down the street I can quickly slip myself behind a post or building until the teller of those long tedious tall tales sometimes thinly disguised as stories has walked themselves on by……10-4:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( "I'm sorry" and "I apologize" mean the same thing, except when you're at a funeral & a recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.