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?"

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

PHEEBS IS DOING FINE & I HAVE A THEORY

A FEW MORE PHOTOS TODAY FROM FRIDAY’S JEEP TRIP TO CROWN KING

Pheebs had 2 Benadryl pills Sunday night about 7 p.m.  They were to prevent the itching in her nose & hopefully stop her from pawing it raw again.  We decided to take a chance & not put the $26 plastic cone on her head.  Happy to say Pheebs did not scratch her nose in the night so the healing continues.  She is on prescribed meds for the next few days.  Here’s what I think happened…..Pheebs has a habit of snapping at Bees & I think a Bee stung her on her upper lip late Saturday afternoon.  Her nose swelled & anyone who has had a Bee sting knows how itchy it gets after awhile.  Pheebs probably rubbed her nose raw with her paw in the night trying to stop the itching.  When I saw her bloody nose Sunday morning I thought she was bleeding from the inside out & right away thought of snake bite or scorpion.  Now in hindsight I think it was a Bee sting.  Some readers had wondered about the Rabbit repellent granules but the container said it was safe for pets.  I only put it around two holes & then with dirt poked the granules in the holes.  The dirt has not been disturbed.    She was perfectly normal all day & is doing fine tonight.  Her nose is scabbed & healing.  And I’ve stopped calling her Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindog:))

Had some remaining brush piles to clean up over at the neighbors so figured I’d get that done this morning before the day heated up.  Some low hanging Mesquite trees needed cleaning up as well but had to be careful because of Bees.  Lot of Bees in the air right now with flowers blooming.  I’ll have to finish those trees up earlier in the morning while it’s cooler & the Bees are not airborne yet.

Nice to see our days getting longer & nights getting warmer.  Of course warmer nights mean hotter days & that may affect any week long get-a-way plans over Borrego Springs way.  No point boondocking in hot desert weather if we don’t have to.  I will save my annual Ghost Mountain hike for when we return to the South-West in the Fall.  With our long homeward journey fast approaching I am now having doubts whether we will be able to fit in another boondocking week away.  Of course I’m keen to go but Kelly not so much.  Kind of floated a Grand Canyon idea out this morning but with no response the idea quickly crashed & burned.

A FOREST FIRE WENT THROUGH THIS AREA

Had myself a lazy afternoon which I think was directly related to my waking & getting up a 4 a.m.  Been a long time since I have had that particular sleeping problem.  After years of insomnia & poor sleeping habits putting me into a Zombie like state some days I reluctantly decided to try the sleeping pill route.  Glad I did.   Thanks to those pills I have had about 20 restful months of good sleep.  However I’m wondering if after nearly 2 years my body is beginning to adjust to the sleeping agent in the pills.  We’ll see how it goes over the next little while.

Just as sometimes I think back & do a little reminiscing I also sometimes think ahead & do a little speculating.  I’m guessing a month from today we will be on the road somewhere between Congress Arizona & Bayfield Ontario.  No hurry to get home this year as there is a huge amount of snow to be melted before we even ever get there.  Last year we had to rush home because my Uncle Harry had died.  This year I’m hoping we can see some new territory on our return & avoid that Oklahoma City, St. Louis interstate route for a change.  Of course it will all depend on weather again.  The month of April is a volatile weather month with warmer air mixing with cold fronts across the Midwest causing all kinds of nastiness.  

The time change over the week-end has thrown us for a loop.  Arizona’s time never changes so after being 2 hours behind our Bayfield Ontario time we are now 3 hours behind.  Luckily I remembered that this afternoon & caught ‘Corner Gas’ at 1 p.m. instead of two.  NBC’s Brian Williams newscast on at 6:30 back East & here at 4:30 is now on at 3:30.  My 9 p.m. ‘Family Guy’ is now at 8 p.m which means must move my blogs ‘Publish’ deadline up an hour as well.  That means I will have to start my daily post an hour earlier sometime during the day.  Of course it was the same thing a year ago at this time & of course neither one of us can remember a darn thing about it.  Oh well………………

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A newly retired couple from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Mildred and Art Stutmeyer, were wrapping up their third month of full-time RVing, driving down a lonely two-lane back road near Yuba City, California. But it wasn't a happy day, because they were steaming mad at each other. Their nerves were really on edge, probably because they had opted for a 24-foot fifth wheel trailer instead of one with more space, and the close quarters were driving them both batty! For example, Art kept getting mad at Mildred for leaving her socks on the dresser. And Mildred was equally bothered by Art's constant belching and the fact that he never even apologized for being so disgusting.

The silence in their Ford pickup truck was deafening. It seemed they had argued for an hour. But now, only silence. "It wasn't supposed to be like this," Mildred said to herself, holding back tears. Art, frowning, was also deep in thought, thinking, "If only we had bought that 38-footer." Yes, it was a very tense time.
As they drove past a huge barnyard packed fence-to-fence with big, fat, ugly pigs including one with tucks, Mildred, who was now about to pop with pent up frustration, just couldn't resist making a sarcastic comment .Pointing to the pigs, she said slyly, "Relatives of yours?"

Art, equally frustrated, stared back at her. "Yeh, they're relatives," he said, "In-laws!"

THE NORTH RANCH GARAGE SALE THIS MORNING WAS OUR ONLY EXCITEMENT FOR THE DAY………..

With only about 3 weeks before we arrive home & the amount of snow on the ground & cold temperatures around the Great Lakes area in Canada it is not likely we will get home to a snow free house & property.   Every time temps come up bit snow slides off our roof on the north side & creates a large snow bank along the entire length of our house.  Freezing & thawing turns much of that snow to ice.  Due to that heavy snow load being on the north side plus the fact our Bayfield house is surrounded by tall Pine trees it means that big block of snow & ice will not be totally gone until around the end of April…..maybe even early May sometime this year.  The Sun just cannot get into that area of our yard to melt that hardened snow pack.  We are definitely not looking forward to arriving back to all that cold frozen mess.  Happened to us 3 years ago & I had to use a pick-axe & shovel to break up the frozen snow & ice to clear a safe path to our front door.  Not nice!!  ‘Snow, snow, go away & come back another day when we are once again so very, very, far away’.

 

Had to roust ourselves out a bit on the earlier side this morning.  No way was Kelly going to miss out on being on the front lines at North Ranch’s semi-annual big garage sale.  And no way was I going to get out of driving the Jeep around making about forty three hundred stops at every little table full of goodies.  Had thought about hooking the utility trailer on just in case the Boss came across some stuff we just could not absolutely live without but decided not to.  Would have, could have, & should have……hooked up that trailer!!

THIS IS KIND OF HOW WE DO OUR GARAGE SAILING, KELLY WALKS THE STREET WHILE PHEEBS & I OBEDIENTLY FOLLOW SLOWLY IN THE JEEP

 

SOME DRIVE WHATEVER THEY COULD WHILE OTHERS LIKE OUR FRIENDS CARYL & JERRY PREFER TO JUST GET OUT THERE & HOOF IT FROM SALE TO SALE

Made a lot of stops, waved at people we knew, hollered a few Hello’s while we past by other familiar faces, dodged half a dozen golf carts & twice as many ATV’s.  And we never even spent a penny despite having to return home for the utility trailer to go back & load up a couple free glider chairs.  Only time I got out of the Jeep all morning was to look at those free chairs.  Figured they would be good on our front porch.  And that’s where they are.  By 10 a.m. our excitement for the day was pretty much over so we headed home & just kind of slipped into a dormant state for the rest of the day & that was it. 

 

 

Looks like we have us another desert Jeep trip coming up this Tuesday with the same cast of characters we were out with to Crown King recently.  And that includes Emmi & Pheebs.  This trip will take us to Alamo Lake west of Congress where we will be in search of a certain Slot Canyon out there somewhere.  We will all rumble out of Congress around 8:30 Tuesday morning.  Arizona time that is:))

REALLY LIKED THIS PHOTO TAKEN BY FELLOW RV BLOGGER & FRIEND NINA OF ‘WHEELING IT’ FAME…...SHE ENTITLED IT, ‘A MAN, A CAMERA AND HIS DOG’…THANK YOU NINA:))

We’re cautiously optimistic Pheebs nose this time may be finally healing.  Of course I’ve said this a couple times before this week only to have her scratch it open again half a dozen times.  By my publishing deadline tonight she has not scratched her nose for well over 24 hours.  Our fingers & paws are crossed……………

 

THESE 2 EURO-GLIDERS & ACCOMPANYING OTTOMANS WILL BE JUST FINE ON OUR FRONT PORCH…ASIDE FROM A LITTLE WEAR ON THE MATERIAL THESE CHAIRS ARE AS GOOD AS NEW

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him.
She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So, she had an idea of how to handle it.
She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her. She said that since she was up early with her own two kids anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week. As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.
Finally she said to Timmy, "Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?"
Timmy nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, I know who she is."
The little girl said, "Well, who is she?"
"That's just Shirley Goodnest," Timmy replied, "and her daughter Marcy."
"Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?"
"Well," Timmy explained, "every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!"

A LONG TIME BLOG READER DRIVES UP FROM TUCSON TODAY

SUNRISE AT OUR HOUSE

Long time blog reader & fellow RV Blogger Tom from TOM_KATHY_RETIRED drove up all the way from Tucson this morning just to say hello.  Tom & wife Kathy’s home is Anchorage Alaska but they winter over in their town house on Merritt Island near Cocoa Beach Florida.  They just returned from a side trip to Peru.  Tom flew into Tucson late Tuesday to check on his Class A Winnebago RV that has been in storage for the past couple plus years.  A quick check of the RV then using a paper map Tom set out to find us here in little old Congress.  Said Phoenix was a bit of a challenge but other than that he had little trouble locating us.

Tom comes from a military background.  He is a pilot, aircraft mechanic, & an electronic avionics guru amongst other highly prized technical skills.   An interesting down to earth fellow.  Really enjoyed having Tom here today & maybe the next time we see him it may be in Bayfield.  Kathy’s home town is near Detroit Michigan which is about a 3 hour drive south of Bayfield.  Really appreciated you driving all the way up here today through 2 major cities Tom.   Hope that traffic didn’t swallow you up on your way back. 

TOM, A PILOT WHO KNOWS HIS WAY AROUND AIRCRAFT SOLOED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A GRAVITY CHAIR THIS MORNING…TOOK A LITTLE INSTRUCTION BUT HE GOT ER OFF THE GROUND

OK CAPTAIN TOM WE ARE CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF…YOU HAVE THE CONTROLS

   

ALL THE BEST TOM & MAY OUR TRAILS CROSS AGAIN:))

Took a short drive in Congress earlier this morning to have a look at a house for sale.  No, not for us.  An interested blog reader had emailed about it.  Wow, what a nice place for sure with it’s solid quality construction & mature landscaping.  Vacant at the moment.  We always like to walk around & look at places like that.  Gives us some great ideas we can’t afford………….

  

What could RETIRED ROD, a ROOMBA VAC, Biscuit the dog, & a pile of dog poop in front of a patio door have in common?  EVERYTHING!!  Your gonna have to hold your sides when you read what happened here.  Don’t miss this one:))

A COUPLE NEW NEIGHBORS AROUND THE CORNER

And we have it on good authority a very well known fellow RV Blogger & her husband are headed our way next week.  Looking forward to that:))  We just missed Ivan last week when he came by so maybe next year.  Another friend of ours who winters in Bisbee will also be dropping by around the end of the month as she heads north for the summer.  Hope to still fit one more Winnie Wagon trip in this month sometime as well so March is shaping up to be a busy time.  Still want to drop over John & Jackies place & Pat & Mike McFalls too.  We’ll be seeing Jim & Bev, JANNA & MIKE along with Simon & Sandy early this Friday as we head out in an all day 4 Jeep caravan through some rough & tumble Cowboy country none of us has ever seen before.  Our destination will be a place called CROWN KING somewhere in the Bradshaw Mountains.  An old Arizona gold mining town that we hear still has an active Saloon.  Should be another downright dusty bone jarring rocky road day for sure….:))

 

STRUCK OUT ACROSS THE GREEN DESERT THIS MORNING BUT PHEEBS GOT A STICKER

Few if any of us have probably ever done this.  We have heard or read about daring people taking rafting trips down the Colorado River lasting a few hours.  But how about those true outdoor enthusiasts riding the rivers swirls & rapids for weeks at a time camping their way along.  John from FINDING OUR WAY with a group of like minded daring adventurists embarked from Lee’s Ferry just downstream from the Glen Canyon dam today on just such a perilous but exciting journey.  Might want to don your life jacket, grab a paddle, click onto John’s blog site & try to keep yourself dry for the next couple weeks as you weave & bob your way down the Colorado River through the towering majestic heights of Arizona’s Grand Canyon:))

HERE’S A FILE PHOTO FROM MARCH 6TH 2012 SHOWING RV SUE CAMPED JUST SOUTH OF NORTH RANCH NEAR CONGRESS AZ.

Back in the late to mid 80’s I took an interest in old black & white English Classic movies.  ‘Tale Of Two Cities,’ ‘David Copperfield,’ ‘ Les Miserable,’ ‘Great Expectations’, etc.  I lived in Stratford Ontario at the time & the CD’s were free from the library.  Loved that older style of acting & story telling.  Easy to understand & easy to follow.  Those old black & white movies remind me of a simpler time, a different era.  They remind me of my early childhood.  And I was reminded of those long ago days Tuesday night when Kelly brought home another old black & white move.  ‘The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.’  I always slide into a very nostalgic mood watching movies like that.  Don’t know exactly what it is but it’s just something that brings that little boy’s wide eyed imagination alive in me……………. 

AWWW COME ON DAD SHUT THAT COMPUTER OFF & TURN OUT THE LIGHTS WILL YA…..

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Imagine three of the nastiest outlaw bikers you've ever seen or heard of, all riding shiny chromed-chopped Harleys with dinky gas tanks. These are the kind of guys that give motorcycling a bad name. They stink, their hair is unkempt, their clothes are greasy, and they're rude.
Anyway, three such desperados pull into a roadside cafe where there's no one there except a RVer and a waitress. They decide to have some fun with the RVer, so they put on their most obnoxious sneers and walk up to his table.
The first one dips his finger into the man's coffee, stirs it a bit and puts the finger in his mouth and pronounces "This is lousy coffee".
The next one picks up the RVer's soup bowl, sniffs it, spits into it and says, "This is lousy soup".
The last one picks up the RVer's hamburger, squeezes it to a pulp and announces "This is a lousy hamburger".
The RVer quietly gets up, politely pays his bill and walks out. The lead desperado turns to the waitress and says "That guy ain't much of a man, is he?"
The waitress pauses and deadpans "He ain't much of a driver either ... he just backed over three motorcycles on his way out of here."