I LIKE TO HEAR THE PITTER PATTER OF LITTLE PAWS IN THE MORNING

MOODY MOUNTAINS OF BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

I have heard it said that older folks require less sleep.  I wonder why that is & I certainly do not agree with that.  Seems like it should be the other way around.  Lack of sleep is directly related to crankiness & it's rare to hear of young people being cranky.  Definitely an older folks affliction.  It's been about 4 years now since I last had a full night's sleep so you can see it's been awhile that I have been 'cranked!!'  Sometimes I sleep in my bed & sometimes in my recliner but it's usually a combination of both.  Back & forth, back & forth!!  I usually go to bed somewhere around 11 & am generally back up around 4 with a couple of stops in between.  This makes for some very long tiresome days.  Low energy levels & lack of motivation are the nasty side affects but I would rather deal with these than the addictive side affects of sleeping pills.  Just the way it is I guess so I had just better get used it!!

Had a good day yesterday........only did 2 dumb things.  The key to the door of our carport storage area has always been missing so yesterday I decided to round up all our errant keys laying around & go try them all in the door.  Of course while doing this I accidentally locked the door & you know that none of the keys ever ended up working.  There were things inside that I needed so with no other choice I was forced to put a well aimed single kick to the side of the doorknob which of course popped the door right open.......with of course the normal amount of damage.  So, now that's gotta be fixed!!  Second Einstein thing I did was to fire up the rig's generator & then of course get busy with some other things, head off into the house & forget the generator running outside.  Don't even ask how long the generator ran!!!!  Alright, while I'm at it I might as well mention that I forgot my laundry in the dryer so it laid in there all night & now I have another week of walking around looking like a big wrinkled up mess.  There was something else too but fortunately I've already forgot what it was.  Geeeezzzz, hope I didn't leave something running somewhere again!!!!!

RELAXING IN THE DESERT

I have always been kind of a news hound.  Years ago I subscribed to the daily newspaper while living in Stratford, Ontario & liked to stay current with all the local happenings.  We don't have a daily paper in Bayfield so over the past 7 years I've gotten away from local news & more into the habit of worldly television news.  CNN has been my channel of choice & yes, I guess you could say I had become addicted to that as well.  It has always been a love/hate thing with CNN but I am now working on a parting of ways strategy with them.  In fact I am turning the volume down on all my news interests.  I have just simply become tired of all the negative reporting, the repetitive re-hashing, the schlocky announcers, the ever increasing loud & stupid commercials, & just news in general.  I'm beginning to believe in that old saying, 'no news is good news!!'  Instead of cracking on CNN now when I get up around 4 a.m.  I simply put on my favorite soothing ambient music channel, & either just relax in my recliner or pull out the laptop, click it on, & see what the rest of you fellow blogger schmoggers are up to:))   Just seems a nicer & more realistic way to start the day......10-4!!

I love hearing the pitter patter of little paws in the morning.  The rest of the Bayfield Bunch doesn't usually begin to stir until around 6 a.m. & little Cora (Motormouse) is generally the first one up.  She always sleeps on my bed so I can hear her jump down & listen for the patter of little paws coming down the hall as she heads out to where I am in the living room.   She jumps up on my lap & I have to move the laptop off to one side so she can get snuggled in to her little spot.  Next it is Checkers coming down the hall heading for her favorite spot right next to my chair where she knows I will give her a big snuggle a pet her with one hand while trying to type with the other.  Sometimes, like this morning, I pet her in between sentences as I am typing this.  Max stays on his couch across the room until he's ready to go out but stops by my chair first for his big first snuggle of the day too.  Somewhere amidst all this petting & snuggling stuff Kelly gets up, puts the coffee on, & heads for the computer in the sunroom.  It's usually around 7 when the Motormouse starts up with the first game of toys for the day & playtime with the gang just gets more crazy from there.  Barking dogs, flying rubber chickens, bouncing colored balls, & squeaking pink bananas fill the air as we're all racing around in the living room driving Mom bonkers.  And this is only the very first 'toys time' of the day.  It's the same scenario while we're traveling only we have a lot less space for our morning shenanigans & Mom gets a whole lot more madder at us guys.

D'YA NEED SOME HELP THERE DAD??

Just noticed we have some new blog followers so I'd like to welcome Jenni, Mary Ann, William & Karen.  And thanks to all you other followers for tagging along with us as well.  Much appreciated:))

STORMY SKYS WHILE BOONDOCKING NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS, CA.

Had an email from my long time best friend Jim in Stratford last week suggesting we meet for our semi-annual coffee blow-out of the year so we met at a Tim Hortons coffee shop in Mitchell Ontario at 10 this morning.  We left at 1:30 in the afternoon so that was an average blow-out for us.  I have blogged about Jim & our coffee routines years ago in a previous blog.  Jim actually gave up coffee quite a few years ago so I guess we could call it a coffee/orange juice blow out.  But more than one coffee or orange juice??  Nope, we both just have one & make it last for 3 or 4 hours.  That's OK for orange juice but cold coffee sure doesn't do a whole lot for me after a couple of hours!!  Our friendship goes back many years.  Another fellow dropped in but I will blog about the co-incidental significance the 3 of us had sitting there in a later October 19th blog.  Don't know if either one of them thought of it to-day but I sure did.  These two guys & a bunch of other good folks were instrumental in changing the course of my life 30 years ago this month..................!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Get a new car for your spouse. It'll be a great trade!!

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

WHAT'S MORE CONFUSING THAN A COMPUTER?? TWO COMPUTERS!!!!

TOOK THE RAINBOW PHOTOS TO-NIGHT AFTER A SHORT HEAVY RAINSTORM  (Click any photo to enlarge it)

We travel with one computer & that is our Toshiba laptop. That means for nearly half a year most of our correspondence is stored on the laptop's hard drive.  Same thing for files, websites, photos, etc.  Problem with that is the other half of the year we use our desktop so now that means we have 2 separate hard drives & locations for summer time & winter time.  I try to create files & keep things in order to transfer back & forth but it generally doesn't take long for my own internal brain hard drive to mess up.  The computer has the ability to precisely remember things forever & I do not & this is where I sometimes lose track of fellow bloggers & RV'ers.  The past week I have been transferring new summertime desk top people to our laptops wintertime people.....or something like that.  I came across folks in the last few days who I had intended to respond to in the laptop but had totally forgotten about.  When folks are interested enough in the Bayfield Bunch to email us I always try to send them a reply but I know I have missed some folks:((

POTTED GERANIUM FLOWER

I sometimes receive credit for computer smarts via emails or comments where credit isn't always quite due so I had better fess up to that here.  No, my name's not David Letterman.  We have two people here in our computing world.  Yes, I do the blog & photo things plus the creative stuff but it's Kelly who is truly the smart little person with the computer especially if & when we have problems.  She has the patience & smarts to track problems down & solve them. And she has a good memory of how they were solved so is quick to resolve it if it is something solvable.  I'm the one who likes to try out new programs & things but she is the one who bails us out if we run into any serious stuff.  She is very good at figuring out connection problems & doesn't hesitate to get on the phone to Verizon or whatever system we're dealing with at the time.  We kind of work back & forth & sometimes I have the answers to her computing problems & sometimes she has the answers to mine.  To-gether we seem to get through things OK & make a good computer team.  Much easier having two heads working on this stuff that's for sure.   GYPSY is having some computer challenges at the moment & I know  it's so much harder for a single person to figure things out.

 

It's that time of year so I began gathering up the outside summer garden ornaments to-day.  Harsh winter temperatures along with snow & ice are not kind to clay flowerpots & ceramics.  Liquids like paint, fertilizers, & car cleaners, have to come in the house as does the power washer, hose nozzles, water pumps, etc.  Forgot to bring in a lava lamp last year & the cruel winter temperatures shattered it!!  We are leaning to-wards leaving some heat on again this year as opposed to totally shutting the whole place down & letting it freeze like an Arctic tomb.  I know lots of people do shut the water & everything off but that just doesn't seem right to me somehow.  We do have a fellow who comes in a couple times a week & checks things anyway.

I've heard it said the best time to weigh yourself is after you have a shower. I agree with that because I am generally a pound or two lighter afterwards & that is always a feeling good thing.  What's a little disturbing about that is.....where in the heck do I pick up that extra pound or two of dirt everyday!!

Had a comment yesterday about advertising on the site & co-incidentally I had just been mulling that over the past few days.  We've had 3 emails lately from ad agencies wanting to place advertising on our site.  One of the ads alluded to something about a Casino so I hit the delete button on that one.  I do not want to junk our site up with glitzy dumb pop-up ads & all that stuff & I certainly would not put anything on our site that we didn't personally believe in.   We did have a small Google Ad-sense ad on for awhile about a year ago but it seemed to disappear one day.  Like anyone else we could sure use a few extra dollars coming in but at what price!!  I certainly do not want to sign up for something & then lose control of the site by having some company dump in a whole pile of cheap-o crappy ads all over the place.  Anyway, just something that's been rolling around in this sometimes big empty head of mine lately:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And how come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

OH OH….GOT AN EMAIL FROM THE TOWN OF TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO TO-DAY!!

IT’S OUR SPIFFY LOOKING BIG GIRL CHECKERS AFTER HER TRIP TO, ‘ON GOLDEN PAWS’ FRIDAY(Click on any of the photos to enlarge them)

Well, I guess I better start off by doing a bit of back tracking here regarding last night's blog on the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  Some of you may have noticed I had a couple comments in Fridays blog comment section regarding T or C's name.  First & foremost  it was never called Geronimo Springs but I kinda like that name anyway.  JERRY first brought the mistake to my attention after I mis-read his blog a few days ago & then came a note from Gina Kelly, Director of Tourism for Sierra County New Mexico.  When I first saw that I thought, "holy smokes I'm in some big trouble now for sure."  And that was the second time this morning I had that feeling but I'll get to the other happening later.  First I'll copy the part in Gina Kelly’s email that will officially set the record straight on T or C......................................

ME OLD  HIPPIE BROTHER-IN-LAW…GRINGO NORM:)))	TESTING ONE OF THE MANY HOT WATER TUBS AT RIVER BEND HOT SPRINGS……….
THE RIO GRANDE RIVER RUNS THROUGH TRUTH or CONSEQUENCES	ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE WITH ELEPHANT BUTTE IN THE CENTER

 

Greetings from Truth or Consequences! Love your blog & your photos of Sierra County but I feel obligated to comment on the name of our community.
It was never named "Geronimo Springs". The Spanish named it "Ojo Caliente de Las Palomas", which morphed into "Palomas Hot Springs". In 1914 we officially became "Hot Springs". It was a premier destination for the healing arts until pharmaceuticals came along after WWII - and the town's economy died. In 1950 Ralph Edwards of the RADIO show "Truth or Consequences" issued a challenge for a town to change its name for a day to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary & the town took him up on it. "T or C" earned so much free publicity over this that it saw a renewed burst of tourism, so they voted to change the name permanently. There have been votes to change the name back to "Hot Springs" that have failed.  Many towns in America are called "Hot Springs" but there is only one "T or C". People seek us out because of our quirky name. They get here & fall in love with the even quirkier town!
Thanks again! Great blog!!!
Gina Kelley
Director of Tourism
Sierra County Tourism Board
T or C, NM

My personal thanks to Gina for her nice email & letting me down easy.  With inaccurate facts & mistakes like that I just might be very qualified for a job at the National Enquirer. 

And a word to my fellow bloggers........better get it right guys because you never know who the heck is out here reading these darned bloggy things!!

 

ABOVE RIGHT IS OUR BOONDOCKING RV SITE

CHECKER’S IN THE RIO GRANDE RIVER NEAR OUR RV SITE AT THE RECREATION AREA

With to-day's interest in T or C continuing I've decided to post my other blogs & photos from the week we were there & I should also explain why we were there.  Kelly's sister Becky & husband Norm took on a Workamper job in Truth or Consequences at River Bend Hot Springs for awhile that year so we decided to drop in & see them on our way home to Ontario from Arizona & California.  I will include 4 of the 7+ days we were there because I've already blogged about the other days adventures to Hillsboro, Chloride, & Monticello last week.

THE GANG ROLLS INTO TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES           PHOTOS 1

I KNOW WHERE ALL THE HIPPIES WENT    PHOTOS 2

A RELAXING DAY

HIGH WINDS & ANGRY SKIES     PHOTOS 3

THE GANG ROLLS OUT OF TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES     PHOTOS 4

CHECKERS IS WAITING FOR THE CHANCE TO GRAB HER NEW TOY BACK!!

Now for the other reason I felt I was in trouble this morning.  I was outside beside the motorhome doing some stuff when I was aware of a car pulling up & stopping on the road near me.  Heard a voice so figured it was someone needing directions to somebody's place in the park here.  I walked over to the car & the driver shut the engine off.  Oh Oh!!  A big tall fellow stepped out, looked directly at me & I heard him say the words, "your blog."  Geeeeezzzz, now I knew I had to be in some kind of trouble for sure.  Oh no, was this the mayor of Truth or Consequences come to get me for last night's blog.  But then I heard him say the words, ‘Titanium Travelers’ & that immediately rang a distant RV bell for me.......and besides, he was smiling.  Always a good sign when the other person is smiling!!

His name was Doug & along with his wife Sue they have a Titanium 5th wheel  & live south of Cambridge Ontario.  Said how much he enjoyed my blog & has been following along with us for quite awhile.  Said he had sent me an email last winter so that's why I probably remembered that name plus he has a blog himself.  Doug & Sue were in the area on some business so had taken a drive through our park because he knew from our blog where we lived.  Nice chatting with them.   Co-incidentally, about an hour after they left & while sitting in downtown Bayfield’s Cafe Da Vinci having a coffee, Kelly walked in the door & they recognized her right away from our blog so Kelly got to meet them as well.  Thought that was really nice of them to stop by & say hello to-day.  You can find their blog here.....TITANIUM TRAVELERS

PHOTO AT LOWER RIGHT SHOWS A FLEETING SHADOW PATTERN ON ONE OF OUR KITCHEN CUPBOARD DOORS FRIDAY MORNING

Sure wasn't a nice weather day & I can't help but feel bad for the whole wedding party over at Deerpark Lodge who were there this afternoon for an outdoor wedding.  Cold & raining so the bride & groom are going to be off to a cold wet start.  Kelly's been busy getting things organized this week because it is Deerpark's first wedding ever.

Kind of takes me back to the day Kelly & I got married years ago.  It was a cold windy day in May & we never told anybody about it except our dog Max.  We asked a nearby Senior retired farm couple to stand up for us, grabbed ourselves a minister guy in St. Mary's Ontario & had a little wedding ceremony on the nice grounds of a rambling estate where I did part time grounds work.  The estate owners were still at their winter home in Portugal.   Kelly pretty much organized the whole thing & we had that minister guy in & out of there in under an hour.  No fuss, no muss, no bother, & no people.  Now, that's the way to do a wedding:))..........10-4!!!!

AND THIS IS WHAT CHECKER’S WAS LOOKING AT IN THE TOP PHOTO…….CORA’S GOT CHECKERS NEW TOY & WON’T GIVE IT BACK:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

SOMETIMES RAINY DAYS MAKE ME GRUMPY

BLACK CAP CHIC-A-DEE

It's a cold wet drizzly damp day here in southwestern Ontario & I think even the birds are too depressed to fly except I did just see 2 Nuthatches & a Downie Woodpecker.  No doubt some of the birdseed in the feeders is a little on the soggy side.

SQUADRON OF GEESE LIFTING OFF THE POND

Our Hyundai Santa Fe passed it's pre-trip inspection & tune-up with flying colors this morning.  That car has turned  out to be one of the best vehicles we have ever had.  It's a used 2003 & I was a bit leery about it because of Hyundai's poor quality control years ago but after a lot of reading & research on the internet a couple of years ago I decided it was a good buy because  Hyundai had really turned things around & ranked right up there with Toyota in the quality control department.  Our Santa Fe is a good example of that & we are very happy with it.

OUR SURE FOOTED LITTLE SANTA FE MOUNTAIN GOAT  TREKKING THROUGH THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS IN ARIZONA…..MARCH 09

JERRY & SUZY are heading out in the morning from Benson, Arizona with their big rig on a two week jaunt over into New Mexico to an area Kelly & I had spent some time in during the spring of 08.  I recently blogged about 2 little ghost towns in the area by the names of Chloride & Monticello.  The other rugged little old west town we stopped in there was Hillsboro on the road between Truth or Consequences & Silver City, New Mexico.  It was a rough & ready mining town with a wild west track record.  Our blog for that day is HERE & our photos are HERE. 

THE ‘BARBER SHOP CAFE’ ABOVE & KELLY CHECKS THE BREAKFAST MENU IN THE ‘STORE CAFE’ ACROSS THE ROAD….BELOW

And I might as well throw in my two cents worth about the name 'Truth or Consequences' as a name for a town because it has always bugged me!!.  This place once had the proud name of Geronimo Springs until some wizenheimer decided to name it after that silly game show on television years ago.  Can't believe the townspeople went for that except I think the host of the show came to town one day & everybody got caught up in the moment & went all ga ga goo goo & then changed the name of their town.  I think if I had to live there I would be leading the charge to change the name back to Geronimo Springs.  Even the name of their State Park, Elephant Butte, is far better than what they have now.  I hope the host of, 'Deal or No Deal' or 'Your Face or Mine,' or 'Beat the Geeks,' or 'Dating Game,' or Wheel of Fortune,' never comes to Bayfield because if they do......I'm gettin outa town!!!!  Can you tell I do not like television game shows!!!!  And thank heavens I'm married to someone who feels the same way about them as I do.....10-4!!  (It's a rainy day so I think I'm kinda on the grumpy side)

NEW MEXICO’S TOWN OF TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES IS KNOWN FOR TURTLE BACK MOUNTAIN JUST ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE RIVER.  I TOOK THIS PHOTO PRIOR TO A STORM & THE LIGHTING SHOWS THE TURTLE WELL.  FLIPPERS ON LEFT, HUMPBACK SHELL IN THE MIDDLE WITH HEAD DROOPED DOWN THE MOUNTAIN TO THE RIGHT

ALIEN SPACSHIP OVER RIVERBEND HOTSPRINGS IN T or C?? …………………. NOPE, JUST A LAMP  REFLECTION IN THE WINDOW:))

We have a very talented woodworking fellow in our park here who specializes in turning, laminating, & segmenting wooden bowls, vases, cheese trays & pepper mills.  In other words Hank finds himself a fine piece of wood & proceeds to turn it on a lathe to a desired shape & then segments or implants other types of wood with it to form a fine finished product.  Some of his bowls can have over a hundred pieces of wood in them.  For anyone in our area looking for an original handcrafted gift you might want to have a look at Hank's Picasa web album site to see these one of a kind works of art.   Just click on RIVER ROAD WOODCRAFTS & for the best product view just press 'Slideshow' when you get there.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  If you think there is good in everybody, you obviously haven't met everybody yet.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

A LOOK BACK TO LAST WINTER’S ‘PAWS & HOOVES’ RANCH

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!!

Frost warning for our area to-night so old man winter's icy tentacles are beginning their first slow probing reaches into our area of southern Ontario.  Furnace has been coming on a few times & we've had our gas fireplace toasting up the cozy sunroom.  Only birds left at the feeders in the front yard now are Blue Jays, Black Cap Chic-a-Dee's & some Morning Doves.  The squirrels & chipmunks are still active & I'm still catching a few remaining frogs in the pond.

HI, MY NAME’S FRED…..DIDN’T MEAN TO SCARE YA

Kelly had most of the day off so we ran around doing a few errands in Goderich.  This afternoon she spent time working the phones getting things organized for our trip south soon.  She made arrangements for our Cable TV to be put on hold while we are away as well as our Bell Telephone account.  She is still phoning around gathering quotes for our medical coverage while in the States.  That alone will cost us over a thousand dollars.  Our ERS (emergency road service) comes up for re-newal shortly & that's another $200 gone.  She got us signed up with Ontario Hydro our electricity company so we can monitor our monthly bills on-line while away.  Hopefully this will prevent them from ripping us off again this winter.

MY NAME’S PAL & I AM THE BIG NIGHT TIME YARD BOSS!!

And what did I do to-day you ask.  Well, raked up a bunch of pine needles outside & cleaned the interior of our Hyundai Santa Fe.  Didn't want to take that Ontario dust all the way to Arizona with us.  They have enough of their own!!  The Santa Fe goes into the Bayfield Garage to-morrow morning for a tune-up & pre trip inspection & Checkers, our black & white border collie goes in for her semi-annual tune up at the local doggy groomers place in Varna called, ON GOLDEN PAWS.  The Motorhome was at the Bayfield Garage yesterday & everything checked out A-OK.  It always seems to cost us more money before we ever leave home than the whole 6 months away does.  This snowbird RV lifestyle is not for the cheap & faint hearted I can assure you!!

THESE LITTLE FELLOWS SPEAK WITH ENGLISH ACCENTS

While ranch sitting near Douglas, Arizona this past winter we were fortunate to not only see a lot of the surrounding territory but we did get to meet some mighty fine people as well.  Just east of a little place called Sunizona & just west of the mighty Chiricahua Mountains sits a small ranch by the name of, 'Paws and Hooves.'  I think this charming little place may have been the inspiration for the term, 'Animal Farm' because the Mother & Daughter team who run this wayward home for lost animals look after & care for quite a collection of critters.  In total they have a 106 legged family (give or take a few legs here & there) & one member (Fred) who doesn't have any legs at all.  Kelly & I dropped into see the Paws & Hooves gang on March 1rst of this year & you can read my blog for that day HERE & see the photos HERE.  We will be spending the American Thanksgiving in November with Rosanna & Carol at our friend's Jeanie & Ray's ranch near McNeal, Arizona.  In fact, about a month from right now we will be somewhere between here & there on our way down.  Probably closer to there though. 

AL CAN’T REMEMBER MY NAME BUT THAT’S OK…..I HEAR HE’S ONLY WEEKS AWAY FROM 65 NOW

Between phone calls this afternoon Kelly was loading more stuff in the motorhome so things are slowly coming to-gether at last but it won't be until we get down to the last week before we leave that things really get revved up & exciting.  I always like that final week before departure because the countdown is on, the rocket is fueled, checklists are complete, & the rig is waiting for the pilot, co-pilot & 3 furry crew members to board, ignition on, shift lever into gear, pedal down, & with a whir & a roar the big wagon wheels begin to roll.   "Westward Ho:))"

BRING YOUR FACE OVER HERE MISTER & I’LL PUT A BIG SLURPY ON YOUR NOSE

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.