'AN ARCHIVE POST' TAKES US HIGH INTO ARIZONA'S BRADSHAW MOUNTAINS IN SEARCH OF A GHOST TOWN

I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE A LARGE ICE BUILD-UP ON BAYFIELD'S NORTH PIER

Noticing the date on my computer this morning I see we are now past the half way point in February.  Every little thing we can find to look forward to at this time of year regarding the coming Spring and warmer weather is a big boost to ones spirit.  Something to look forward to when things to look forward to are scarce is in itself something to look forward to.

BAYFIELD'S TEMPORARY BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION AS SEEN FROM THE NORTH SIDE OF THE RIVER

THIS MAY VERY WELL BE A TYPE OF BAILEY BRIDGE

STEEL READY TO GO INTO THE BRIDGE

Our below 0F temps clawed themselves back up to the 32F freezing mark overnight and although not exactly the middle of July it sure did feel more civilized outside than a day ago.  Pheebs and I did Jeep ourselves around for about an hour and a half before heading home.  With my shovel I moved a little snow around and had to take off my winter jacket before I was finished.  No wind in our Park today so being outside for awhile was doable.  So nice to see and hear dripping water outside as temps nudged our thermometer to 34F and into the melt zone.  Snow was really crunchy underfoot for our afternoon walk and a few bare ground patches appeared along the paths I have been shoveling.  

AWW SHUCKS I FORGOT MY ICE SKATES

LAST WEEK THERE WAS NO ICE ALONG BAYFIELD'S BEACH AND NOW IT'S OUT THERE NEARLY HALF A MILE....AND IN LESS THAN 4 MONTHS PEOPLE WILL BE SWIMMING HERE

GUESS I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WAITING FOR WARMER WEATHER

Thanks to everyone for your comments about my low PSA numbers a few days ago.  I really can't take any credit for those low numbers though.  All the credit goes to Doctor Mendez and his radiation team at London's Cancer Clinic.  He is one of the main Doctors spearheading this new SABR treatment which only requires 5 alternate pain free day treatments lasting about 15 minutes each.  It was Dr. Mendez himself who precisely implanted three gold target points in my prostate.  His highly trained team then pinpointed their laser like radiation beams onto those three targets.  The only input I had into the whole procedure was to get myself there, lay myself down, and don't move!!  Pretty easy stuff even for me and I didn't even have to take off my shirt, pants, shoes or socks:))  So yes, the whole credit for those low numbers goes to Doctor Mendez and his fine team.  

PHEEBS AND I STOCKED UP ON MORE CORN COBS FOR OUR FRONT YARD SQUIRRELS THIS MORNING

If by chance anyone out here is looking for an exceptionally clean and well maintained Class A Tiffin diesel Motorhome be sure to read Caron's latest post...End Of An Era

::An Archive Post::  We sure have had a number of enjoyable Jeep rumbles through the mountains and deserts of America's great Southwest over our 13 Snowbird years.  On Sunday March 8th 2014 we headed out with three other Jeep Wrangler couples and good friends from Congress Arizona on a rough and tumble ride to an old hidden away mining ghost town called Crown King high in the Bradshaw Mountains.  We took back mountain roads and trails to get there.  It was a long day and I'm glad we didn't miss it.  Here's my post.....A Long But Enjoyable Trip To The Ghost Town Of Crown King In Arizona's Bradshaw Mountains.

::Al's Musical Favs:: Bamboo Dance by Shao Rong

AFTER A CLOUDY MORNINGS DRIVE WE CHASED THIS SUNSPLASH FOR THE FINAL FEW MILES HOME

GROANER'S CORNER:(( On a given night, 2 death row inmates are scheduled to be electrocuted on old sparky. While one execution is in progress, the pastor administers to the other condemned man in his cell. "Don't worry my son", says the pastor, "as soon as the high voltage reaches your brain, it numbs all your senses, so you won't feel a thing."  Suddenly some horrible screams are heard throughout the entire cell block.  The pastor immediately asks one of the guards, "What is all this screaming about?" Not to worry pastor, we had a power failure, so we're finishing the first execution "by candles". --------------------------
Teacher to the class: "How can we keep our school clean?"Student: "By staying at home?"
================

TRIMMING UP DRIVEWAY BRANCHES TO MAKE WAY FOR OUR CAMPER VAN

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

A fast moving thunder storm did sweep through our area late Monday leaving us with a much needed rain.  Lots of happy plants but the Summer's hard edge heat is slowly beginning to take it's toll and nudge our greenery along on it's slow journey into Autumn.  Some of our lush Spring ferns are showing touches of yellow.

Pheebs and rolled up through Goderich this morning, slipped down around the harbor, and came home again.  Air was very muggy but luckily for me we had a cloud cover preventing the Sun from heating things up worse than what they were.  By early afternoon skies had cleared and by evening most of the humidity had gone, temps had dropped, and it was great evening walk for Pheebs and I.

A NICE 1956 FORD CROWN VICTORIA IN GODERICH'S ROTARY COVE THIS MORNING

 

ENJOYING A QUIET MORNING BY THE LAKE

SETTING UP FOR A RELAXING TIME AT THE BEACH

Back home again I knew I had to get busy with some branch trimming in our driveway.  With the Leisure Travel coming hopefully Wednesday I had a bunch of low hanging branches to lop off.  I've just let the Cedar and Basswood branches grow as well as our Redbud tree grow so with my plans to back the higher van into it's RV spot using the driveway some of those lower branches had to go.  And go they did.

YOU CAN SEE HOW THE BRANCHES HAVE GROWN OVER THE DRIVEWAY....I HADN'T TRIMMED THEM BEFORE BECAUSE I LIKED THEM HANGING OVER THE DRIVEWAY

 

WE WILL BE USING THIS DRIVEWAY FOR THE CAMPER VAN NOW

MOST OF THOSE RED BUD BRANCHES ABOVE THE LADDER WILL HAVE TO BE TRIMMED BACK

'WALLA' BRANCHES ARE GONE NOW MAKING WAY FOR THE VAN TO BE BACKED INTO THE RV SPOT DOWN THERE BY THOSE TWO CHAIRS AND DIVIDER....WHAT DO YOU THINK MY CHANCES ARE OF KNOCKING THAT CORNER PART OF THE CAR PORT ROOF OFF

YEP I FIGURE WE CAN GET THE VAN IN AND OUT NOW WITHOUT ANY SCRATCHES

OUR FRONT YARD CHANDELIER FLOWER IS DOING WELL

While doing this I noticed neighbor Monica had some low hanging Maple and Magnolia branches in her yard so I slipped over and trimmed them up as well.  I don't know where I was getting all the energy in today's hot muggy weather but no matter, the branch trimming job is done now.

HERE'S PHEEBS CATCHING A FEW AFTERNOON RAYS

GEEEEZZZZZ, DOES LIFE GET ANY BETTER

A buzzing chain saw near our back yard caught our attention about mid afternoon.  A tall dead pine tree was on it's way down.  And it came down with a thump too.  Luckily it was able to be cut up and moved from the street behind us so no disruption to our place.

Might be a late post Wednesday night by the time we get back from Palmerston with the Leisure Van.  I'll probably have some info on what the next step is for my kidney stone(s) problem too.  Thursday we are back to London's University Hospital for Kelly.  All this running around is tiring of course but I don't mind it so much.  Nice to have something to do and somewhere to go even if it is mainly for medical stuff.

I LIKE THIS MOSS GROWING NEAR THE POND'S WATERFALL

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Years ago an old man was relaxing at his hundredth birthday party when a reporter went up to him. "Sir, what is the secret of your long life?"  The man considered this for a moment, then replied, "Every evening at 9 p.m. I have a glass of port. Good for the heart I've heard."  The reporter then asked, "That's ALL?"  The man smiled, "Well, canceling my voyage on the Titanic sure didn't hurt."
-----------------------
“Charles, the future king of England, has released a book of images of cetaceans. It is called 'The Prints of Whales'.”
-------------------------
"Do you believe in life after death?" the boss asked one of his employees. "Yes, Sir." the new recruit replied. "Well, then, that makes everything just fine," the boss went on. "After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother's funeral, she stopped in to see you.
==================
  

A NICE SPRING DAY AND A COUPLE RV RELATED PARAGRAPHS TO BOOT

NOW THIS IS HOW I LIKE TO SEE SPRING LOOKING IN OUR FRONT YARD:))

With our temps dropping down into the 30’s most nights it’s still too cold at 8 in the morning for me to get outside and putter about.  The only 2 warmer environments are in the house or in the warmed up Jeep.  We again selected the 2nd option knowing by the time we get home again in a couple hours temps will be coming up into the comfortable puttering about range.  Well that’s always my theory anyway.

A FEW LEFT OVER PHOTOS FROM SATURDAY MORNING

NOTICED A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT FISHING ALONG THE MAITLAND RIVER

AND NO THEY WERE NOT FISHING FOR POLLYWOGS

SPOTTED THESE LITTLE FELLERS IN A ROADSIDE POND

HAD TO USE MY UNDERWATER CAMERA AND SNORKEL FOR THIS SHOT:)) >>>

How nice to have our second sunny blue sky day in a row.  A real bonus in this cold cloudy and damp Spring weather this year.  Grabbed ourselves a freshly brewed coffee and a still warm Morning Glory muffin just out of the oven at Bayfield’s Charles Street Market & Cafe.   From there we headed first south of town then east for awhile.  Being Sunday morning all roads were quiet and I don’t think we even saw another vehicle on any of the gravel roads we were on.  Again we didn’t go to far and just lolly-gagged along stopping a couple times to get out and enjoy the fresh country air.  Not a cloud in the sky and many of the farmer’s fields are already so green.  Ground is still too wet for them to get on the land yet.  We were back home by 10.

WE ARE PARKED ON GRASS ALONGSIDE THE ROAD BUT I SUSPECT THAT PLANTED VERY GREEN FIELD TO THE RIGHT MAY BE WINTER WHEAT OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

A LONG DISTANCE AWAY I SPOTTED THIS HORSE AND RIDER WITH THEIR DOG

JUST AN OLD ORANGE TRUCK THAT HAS SEEN BETTER DAYS

FROM A DISTANCE I NOTICED THIS GOOSE ATOP A HIGH PILE OF STRAW BALES AND IT WASN’T UNTIL I EDITED THE PHOTO LATER THAT I SAW THE REASON PAPA GOOSE WAS UP THERE…..LOOK TO THE RIGHT AND COULD MAMA GOOSE POSSIBLY BE SITTING ON A NEST ON TOP OF THOSE BALES??

I HAVE THIS THING FOR OLD BARNS AND BARNYARDS

With all our muffinating this past month I figured I’d better haul the shop-vac out and de-crumb the Jeep’s interior while there’s still enough room for Pheebs and I to fit inside.  While at it I cleaned all the windows and shined up the dash etc.  Bruce popped over and finished up a few last little things with the eaves trough and rain barrel and that now raps up that whole deck extension project.  And a big thanks to Bruce of course for all the great work he did and always has done for us:))

WE ARE GRADUALLY GETTING OUR NEW DECK EXTENSION CONFIGURED

I busied myself in the yard with half a dozen little projects here and there.  I like this time of year when things are beginning to poke up through the ground and it’s always a pleasant surprise to see things coming up that I had already forgot I had planted last year.  With the winter’s freezing temperatures behind us and summer’s heat and miserable humidity not here yet it’s a great time to be outside.  Lots of singing birds in the tree tops and no buzzing about bugs yet.  In these northern latitudes it’s always so nice to watch the grays and browns of a seemingly dead land coming back to life and it’s the colors of Spring that really make it all believably real.  We are very fortunate to live in a climate zone with 4 distinct Seasons.  Absolutely totally super.  Well for as long as we can escape the winter’s that is.

FIRST FROG IN OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND THIS YEAR

AND HERE’S ONE OF THE SURPRISE FLOWERS I MUST HAVE PLANTED LAST FALL AND TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT >>>

Nice surprise this afternoon when one of my old Tavistock buddies dropped by.  Gary Burton and his wife Avril out for a Sunday drive stopped by to say Hello.  Gary and I as teenagers had a friendly rivalry going on when his Dad owned a Chev and my Stepdad owned a Ford.  Of course we both thought our Dad’s had the best cars so we always had a Chev/Ford rivalry going on.  Imagine my surprise when I saw Gary driving a Ford today.  I think he and I came to our senses many years ago when we realized it doesn’t really matter if a car is a Ford, Chevy, or a Chrysler product, they are all basically the same with each company having their good and sometimes not so good models and years.  I figure we both came to that realistic realization when we gained us a little maturity along the way:))

HEY WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE DRAG MARKS ACROSS OUR FRONT YARD??

As mentioned in several previous posts I like the on-line magazine Desert USA because as often as not they have articles on Southwest places we have been and their latest edition has a story about the wild west mining and ghost town of Crown King, Arizona in the Bradshaw Mountains.  I have great memories of the day we caravanned through the mountains in our Jeep Wranglers with 3 other couples who were good friends of ours.  You can read my post for that day here at A Long But Enjoyable Jeep Trip To Crown King, Arizona.  And a shout-out and big special thanks to Jim and Bev now residing in Idaho for organizing this rough and tumble Jeep ride that day which was one of our best ever. 

  

WELL, THOSE DRAG MARKS ACROSS THE GRASS WERE CAUSED BY ME HUFFING AND PUFFING WHILE DRAGGING THIS HEAVY 8’ TALL BLACK WROUGHT IRON ARBOR ALL THE WAY ROUND FROM OUR BACK YARD TO OUR FRONT YARD THIS AFTERNOON

I AM ANXIOUS TO SEE WHAT POPS UP OUT OF THIS NEW FLOWER BED I PUT IN LATE LAST SUMMER

We have been a lot of great places in our past 10 years of RV travels and every once in awhile something pops up to remind me of the great RV Snow Bird life we have lived.  I have a tendency to sometimes forget about those earlier years in the Southwest when everything was so new and exciting to us.  Every little thing seemed like a huge adventure.  And of course for us it was and sometimes still is.  Maybe I should go through our Archives for the past 10 years and pull out a few of our greatest memories.

OK OK MAYBE I HAD BETTER STAY AWAY FROM THOSE ARCHIVES!!  (APRIL 18TH 2011)

I have a lot of RV folks on my sidebar and most of them have travelled to many places but there is one couple in particular who I’ve noticed really get out there non stop constantly searching out new places wherever they go.  They are full-timers of course and we’ve had the pleasure of meeting them two winters ago.  In fact when they were in our Congress Arizona area I was pleased to be able to lead them out one morning into the desert to locate the sometimes hard to find Wickenburg Massacre Site.  Of course I’m talking the folks from Oh, the Places They Go of course.  If your looking for a couple true adventurers not afraid to go places and skin their knees and get their shoes dusty you will find Pam and John’s adventures worth following.  Like I said Kelly and I have been to a lot of places but these folks have been to way more places than we have.  And their still going to more and more places.  Grab onto their coat tails and tag along, they are really nice folks:))

THERE IS ACTUALLY A BUMBLY BEE IN THIS PHOTO

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?"  "Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological techniques-visualization, association-it made a huge difference for me."  "That's great! What was the name of the clinic?"  Fred went blank He thought and thought, but couldn't remember.  Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?"  "You mean a rose?"  "Yes, that's it!" He turned to his wife. . ."Rose, what was the name of that clinic?"

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

I tried to get Fish and Chips insurance, but the agent said their policy doesn't cover Snacks of Cod.