JEAN & SKIP ROLLED OUT THIS MORNING, JEEP RIDE FOR PHEEBS & I & MORE INTEREST IN OUR HOUSE

It was under a clear & warm sunny Arizona sky we said good-bye to Jean, Skip, Jake, Sophie, & Louie this morning.  Always a sad time for me bidding good friends farewell for one never knows in this long distance traveling RV lifestyle if friends will ever meet again.  Particularly sad was saying good-bye to big Jake.  He is in his Senior years & his health is failing.

AND I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE FEELING SAD THIS MORNING

ALL THE BEST TO YOU BIG JAKE & WE ARE THINKING OF YOU 

I think it was sometime around 9:30 when the folks finally got hitched up & headed on out our south gate heading first to Quartzsite for a bit then northward beginning their long journey home to British Columbia.  In the same age bracket as Kelly & I Jean & Skip are also in a decision making process working on some significant changes & re-adjustments to their lives as well.

WHEELS ARE JUST ABOUT READY TO ROLL

KELLY WAITS TO WAVE GOOD-BYE

BYE GUYS

Did me a load of laundry then figured Pheebs & I were needing a change of scenery.  Headed off up the big hill to Yarnell stopping at the Cornerstone Bakery for some Cinnamon donuts to take back with us.  Kelly’s fav.  From there we turned around & retraced our steps about a mile & picked up Old Stage Coach road heading the back way down to Stanton.  I usually do this road coming the other way but not wanting to head back home so soon we just poked our way along taking in the mountain scenery & enjoying the morning.  Nice to see trees budding out in their early Spring finery.

On our morning drive I found myself in a reflective mood thinking back to the past 4 winters we have spent in Yavapai Counties Congress Arizona area.  Four great winter seasons in our house plus traveling so many of the areas desert & mountain roads.  Just as I still miss southeastern Arizona’s Cochise County, the Chiricahua, Mule, Dragoon, & Swiss Helm mountains I know I’m going to miss the Weaver, Date Creek, & Wickenburg Mountains in this area as well.  Especially going to miss seeing Harquahala Mountain in the morning haze always steadfast on our southwest horizon.  I have a fondness for Harquahala ever since Kelly & I took our Jeep Wrangler to it’s very peak back in March of 2012.  Just as I still miss Bisbee, Tombstone, Elfrida, Douglas & Sierra Vista I know I will miss Congress, Wickenburg & Yarnell when our house sells & we resume our traveling lifestyle once again as well.

Just have to mention again how nice it feels to finally have warm sunny weather upon us especially after the Southwest’s unusual below average colder winter.  All 4 of Libby’s windows down today as desert winds funneled through the Jeep ruffling up hair & fur alike:))

Thanks to a couple readers for suggesting we use Zillow to advertise our house & property.  Kelly plans to get our ad on there shortly.

While Pheebs & I were out cruising around in the Weaver Mountains this morning an unexpected Wickenburg couple dropped by our place & Kelly showed them around.  They are the second ‘very interested’ party from Wickenburg this week.  Last Tuesday morning an older retired fellow, his sister, & niece fell in love with our house & property as well.  He has been in contact with us since then & we have our fingers crossed he can swing his finances into place. 

IT’S ALWAYS A PRETTY SURE INDICATION OF WATER ANYTIME AN OASIS OF GREEN TREES IS SEEN

HEADING FOR THE OASIS

AHA & THERE’S THE WATER

IN SUMMER MONSOONS THIS TRICKLING CREEK WILL BE A ROARING RIVER THUNDERING THROUGH HERE

On our old Stage Coach Road drive this morning Pheebs & I did finally make our way down to the old mining town of Stanton but instead of turning west for home we continued south along a Jeep road for awhile looking at all the mining claims & ‘no trespassing’ signs everywhere.  It’s no place for a feller to be too nosey but we did snap a few photos along the way & I’ll have those pics in Sunday’s post.

SO NICE TO SEE TREES FINALLY GREENING UP AGAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Upon entering a little country store, the stranger noticed a sign warning, "Danger! Beware of dog!" posted on the glass door. Inside, he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor beside the cash register.  "Is that the dog folks are supposed to beware of?" he asked the owner.  "Yep, that's him," came the reply.  The stranger couldn't help but be amused. "That certainly doesn't look like a dangerous dog to me. Why in the world would you post that sign?"  "Because," the owner explained, "Before I posted that sign, people kept coming in & tripping over him."

THE BOYS HOLD DOWN THE FRONT PORCH WHILE THE GALS GO SHOPPING

DIDN’T HAVE MUCH IN THE WAY OF PHOTOS TONIGHT SO AM INCLUDING SOME OF OUR HOUSE PICS

Cloudy start to our day but we happily finished in sunshine.  It was a nice day for Kelly & Jean to slip on out for a little shopping excursion to the Congress Depot Mercantile & later on down to a few shops in Wickenburg.  While at the Congress Depot they got to see a baby sheep being born.  Skip & I hung out on our front enjoying the warm afternoon breeze.

KELLY’S BEDROOM

DINING ROOM LOOKING LEFT INTO THE KITCHEN & RIGHT INTO THE LIVING ROOM

LIVING ROOM LOOKING DOWN INTO MY BEDROOM AT THE RED IKEA CHAIR WHERE i WRITE MY BLOG

Finished my book The Few & must say I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Probably one of the best accounts written about the Battle Of Britain I have ever read.  I’m already well into my next book Down In Flames.

CLOTHES CLOSET ON LEFT WITH MY BATHROOM ON RIGHT

 

A couple questions about my Thursday post to answer.  No we do not plan to buy another place here in the States when we sell our Congress house.  We feel the time is right for us to re-group our assets back in Canada & we want to do it while we are both still healthy & the economy is still hanging on.  And no we have not listed our house with MLS yet.  We wanted to have a go at selling it ourselves first.  Kelly has listed it on Craigslist, Facebook + 2 on-line buy & sell groups in the Wickenburg & Phoenix areas.  And yes we are receiving inquiries.

HANGING OUT ON THE PORCH THIS AFTERNOON….4 PEOPLE & 4 DOGS:))

BIG JAKE

Kelly whipped up a big mess of spaghetti for supper tonight complete with bowls of ice cream afterwards & like good girls & boys we all ate our supper & cleaned our plates & bowls.  Always nice having Jean, Skip, Jake, Sophie & Louie here.  I love it when all the doggy guys get racing around playing together.  Reminds me so much of how it used to be around our house when we had Max, Checkers, & little Cora (Motormouse)  Ahhhh yes, the original Bayfield Bunch of days gone by:))))

TONIGHT’S MOON

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, "What is this, Father?" The father responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is."  While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of lights with numbers above the walls light up. Then they continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up again and a beautiful 24 year old woman stepped out.  The father leaned over & quietly said to his son, "Go get your Mother."

GOOD FRIENDS JEAN & SKIP, JAKE, SOPHIE & LOUIE ROLLED IN EARLY THIS AFTERNOON

SUNRISE AT OUR HOUSE

Sat on our front porch this morning & watched a brief but fiery Arizona sunrise.  Clouds covered most of the sky & old Sol was soon lost behind them.  Our weather map showed rain Northwest of us but it never did reach Congress.  Ended up with semi-clear skies by late afternoon.

Had it been sunny earlier this morning Pheebs & I would have headed off somewhere in search of a few photos but without sun to bring out the desert colors the landscape wasn’t looking too inspiring.

ENJOYING A MORNING SUNRISE WITH BREAKFAST ON THE PORCH

Spent our morning sorting through things & deciding what we will take back to Bayfield next month.  If the house doesn’t sell before we leave we will have next year to take a second load.

Chinle over at the Spotted Dog Ranch has herself a new 4 legged ranch hand.  Her current ranch crew is busy teaching the new feller the ropes.  Quite a band of desperados there at the Spotted Dog.

KELLY & PHEEBS ON THE FRONT PORCH

Our good RVing friends Jean & Skip rolled in about 1:30 this afternoon & will be staying with us a few days.  J & S along with their furry kids Jake, Louie, & Sophie are Canadians from Vancouver Island who we first met in Borrego Springs about 5 years ago.  They are beginning their long journey home now.  For supper tonight we all enjoyed another great Pizza from the Congress Depot Mercantile:))

PHEEBS IS WAITING FOR SOPHIE, LOUIE, & BIG JAKE TO COME OUT & PLAY

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Ever Wonder??

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

How is it possible to have a civil war?

If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?

What do gardeners do after they retire?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing soap made with real lemons?

Why is “abbreviated” such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do “practice

NEITHER KELLY OR I ARE RODEO ENTHUSIASTS

WICKENBURG RODEO GROUNDS ON CONSTELLATION ROAD

Thanks to readers for their input regarding an alternative photo editing program to Picasa.  If push comes to shove regarding Picasa’s future I am leaning towards Adobe’s Lightroom.  I see they have a ‘free trial’ version so I will keep that in mind.   For right now I will continue to use Picasa & keep my fingers crossed.

Had us some running around to do in Wickenburg this morning so all three of us were off again in the Jeep.  First stop was the Pioneer Title Company where we had to pick up some forms having to do with our house should we sell it ourselves.  Next was the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to renew my Arizona citizen card which had expired in 2013.  From there it was a short hop to McDonalds for coffee & a couple Egg McMuffins for which we had a ‘buy one & get one free’ coupon.  Drove a short distance out to the rodeo grounds on Constellation Road & ate our breakfast.  Last stop for the morning was Wickenburg’s TSC store for a few things.  We were back in Congress about 11:30.

Neither Kelly or I are rodeo supporters for obvious reasons but we did watch some cattle roping for a few minutes this morning that appeared to be more humane than some of the cattle roping I’ve seen on TV.  The Cowboys weren’t roping & jerking the young calves to an abrupt halt then jumping off their horses grabbing the animal by it’s horns & throwing it to the ground quickly tying all it’s legs together.  The Cowboys this morning rode up alongside the young animal tossing a rope loosely around it’s neck & didn’t jerk it tight.  Both horse & rider came to a slow stop & the rope was removed.  The calf or steer or whatever you call those little fellers seemed to know the routine then calmly trotted off towards a corner of the corral to a pen where they seemed to know they were expected.  Both Kelly & I were at least glad to see they were not being wrestled to the ground & their legs all tied up.

With a nice breeze blowing up from the south I think it was one of the nicest mornings we’ve had so far this year.  I’m guessing temps may have rolled up over the 80F mark today.

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Suzie was all alone. It was two months since her dear Herbie had passed, and she just couldn’t seem to move on. “Listen here Suzie”, said her good friend Barbara, “maybe you should go see a psychic? One of my friends did it after her husband died and it made her feel so much better knowing that her dearest was happy.” So that’s how, on the next Tuesday, Suzie found herself in a dim room with a crystal ball and a psychic talking in a calm voice. “Is he here?” Suzie asked. “Yes, I sense him,” was her reply. “Can you ask him if he’s happy?” Suzie hesitantly asked. “He’s putting his hand to his mouth like he wants to smoke” said the psychic.  “Oh, of course” said Suzie, “he needs a cigar. Herbie can never last more then a few hours without a cigar. I guess they don’t have cigars up there. Did he say where he is or how I could get one to him?” Questioned Suzie urgently. “Hmm”, said the psychic. “I can’t seem to get that question across to him. But then again,” said the psychic after a brief pause, “he didn’t say anything about needing a lighter!”

THOUGHTS ON POSSIBLY LOSING GOOGLE’S PICASA PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM

Yep, we watched the Grammies Monday night.  Not sure why unless it’s just an old habit we haven’t been able to dump yet.  Of course with each passing year the whole newer music scene seems to become more bizarre a whole lot less interesting to us.  We did like the Eagles tribute so I guess that tells you something about our approaching Dinosauric age.  Good thing Dinosaurs eons ago didn’t have all that rap crap in their lives or they may well have disappeared a lot sooner than they did.

For many of we Blogger/Live Writer/Picasa folks having just agonizingly worked our way through the big Live Writer debacle a couple months ago it looks like we are now in for another headache inducing hair ripping go around with Google’s non support of our beloved Picasa photo editing program.  I’m already weary just thinking about this.  Kelly did read up about Google’s latest in a series of changes & thinks Picasa will still remain useable but will not be supported or upgraded by Google any longer.  If that’s the case I’m alright with that because Google hasn’t updated Picasa for years anyway & it works just fine the way it is.   However the more Kelly read aloud about Googles latest photo changes the more complicated it all sounded & especially anything dealing with photo albums.  I’m still totally confused from the time Google last shuffled all the albums & photo stuff around a few years back. 

I did go have a look at the ‘Google Photos’ editing program awhile back & in my mind it doesn’t hold a candle to Picasa.  I base my opinion on the fact I know Picasa well & what it will do.  No way does Google’s Photo editing program even come close to Picasa’s creativity.  If your a ‘snap-snap-send-send’ cell phone picture taker your probably not familiar with Picasa anyway & have no interest in having your photos looking the best they can & I do understand that.  In this age of instant everything who wants to spend time editing digital photos besides me & a growing minority of other photo buffs.  Snapping quick pictures & getting them out to all your friends & family instantly doesn’t matter if horizons art tilted, colors off, too light or too dark, etc. etc etc. & another etc.  And you might as well throw another etc in there too.  Nothing wrong with that of course & for sure that is where the market is now for younger movers & shakers with mobile this & instant that.  And it’s where the market will stay.  And for sure Google’s new photo editing program is geared for the ‘snap-snap-send-send’ cell phone point & shoot crowd.  So where does that leave those of us who do still care about how our photos look??

I will continue to use Picasa for as long as I can.  In the meantime I have to either learn myself a whole new photo editing program or simply end my blog & be done with it.  Writing with no photos holds no interest for me just as posting photos with no writing holds no interest for me.  Photos & writing are an inseparable & integral part of my whole enjoyable blogging experience so here’s another question……what kind of a new photo editing program will I look for?? 

Well, I don’t know & maybe some readers out here could help me with this.  There’s a whole raft of photo editing programs on-line with some being free & some not.  I have tried to sift through some of them these past couple days but of course it’s a muddled mine field of commercial hype.  Every software company naturally says their photo editing program is the best but we all know how shallow & false those advertisements can be.    I’m wondering if there is another easy to learn program similar to Picas out there.  I’m interested in what photo editing programs some of you folks may be using & what you think of it.  I’m open to suggestions………

Now having just written all of the above a fellow Blogger emailed a few minutes ago & suggested I read Rick Doyle’s latest post explaining much of what exactly is going on with all this Google Picasa stuff.  I did & suggest you read his post as well.  BITS N BYTES   Rick’s post may clear up some of the confusion I expressed…………..

Not much I can tell you about our day here in Bayfield Bunchville.  Warm & sunny again & that was about it.  We didn’t even go off the property.  Reading, computering, & televisioning…………..

THE LOOK ON THIS CURVED BILL THRASHER’S FACE IS ABOUT THE SAME AS i FEEL REGARDING GOOGLE ENDING IT’S SUPPORT FOR PICASA

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A very cranky old woman was arrested for shoplifting at a grocery store.  She gave everyone a hard time, from the store manager to the security guard to the arresting officer who took her away.  She complained and criticized everything and everyone throughout the process.  When she appeared before the judge, the judge asked her what she had stolen from the store.   The lady defiantly replied, "Just a stupid can of peaches."
The judge then asked why she had done it.
She replied, "I was hungry and forgot to bring any cash to the store."   The judge asked how many peaches were in the can.  She replied in a nasty tone, "Nine! But why do you care about that?"
The judge answered patiently, "Well, ma'am, because I'm going to give you nine days in jail -- one day for each peach."  As the judge was about to drop his gavel, the lady's long-suffering husband raised his hand slowly and asked if he might speak.  The judge said, "Yes sir, what do you have to add?"  The husband said meekly, "Your Honor, she also stole a can of peas."