HOUSE IS ALL PAINTED & VISITORS FROM BUCKEYE

 

Bear with me folks, in another few days we will be on the road again & that will be the end of all the Arizona house photos until next October.

MOTORMOUSE KEEPS AN EYE ON THE PAINTERS

Can’t tell you enough just how grrrrreat it is having a full size shower with an endless supply of piping hot water again.  It is the number one thing I miss most when we leave Ontario every Fall.  We have both a tub shower & a walk in shower here at the Arizona house.  Haven’t tried the walk in one yet…maybe in the morning:))

Dobie & the Boys were here early this morning with paint cans & brushes in hand & again didn’t waste any time getting on with the task at hand.  With long handled paint rollers they soon began transforming the house’s Battleship Gray to a Colorado Trail Brown.  Groovy:))

DOBIE TAPES UP THE WINDOWS WHILE THE ELECTRIC GUY CHECKS OUR METER

  

PAINTING IS WELL UNDER WAY

Spent a bit more time in the kitchen doing small touch-ups here & there & we put the last piece of colorful wallpaper trim up.  By 10 a.m. it was getting pretty darn warm out so we piled into the Jeep & headed off to run some errands in Wickenburg.

  

Stewart’s Hardware seems to be our most frequent stop these days & today was no exception.  Cleaners, curtain rods, etc.  From there it was up the road to the Vets.  Kelly wanted to pick up little Motormouse’s medical records from last week.  Good thing to have back in Canada in case Motor has a relapse.

Next stop was just up the road to the newly opened Wickenburg used Home & Appliance Store.  Found us a recliner, a cabinet, a stool & an old cushy loveseat.  It’s going to be delivered Thursday around noon.  For now we’ll just have to take turns in the recliner.  And no, having matching furniture is not important to us at all.  From there it was over to the Arco store for some more ‘stuff’.   Safeway was next & then a final stop at the Bank of America to make sure our $1.49 was still in there.  It was:))

I think we were well over 80F today & you could tell it was hot by the haze in the air.  I was kinda wishing for some A/C in the Jeep on the way back to Congress.  Don’t think I would do to well in the hot summer months here.

Last time we saw Joe & Nancy from RVING BEACH BUMS was at Sandy’s Restaurant & RV Park in Cochise County’s Sunizona.  We were just east of the Cochise Stronghold.  My blog from that day is HERE.  Joe has been following my blog for a long time now & they were in the area camped near Buckeye.  Upon returning from Wickenburg J & N were at the Arizona house waiting for us.  Great folks & it was nice to see them again.  Had us a walkabout & a catch-up.  Joe & Pheebs even had some smooches going on:))  Joe’s a very handy guy specializing in electrical engineering & said he would be glad to come back for a couple days & help out with any projects we had going on next winter.  And yep, we’ll sure have us some projects going on alright.  Joe & Nancy headed on back to Buckeye around 3 while Kelly & I talked to Dobie a bit about next getting our roof repaired.

 

  

I THINK JOE MAY VERY WELL BE MY LONGEST TIME READER & HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT ME THAN I DO……

We have two leaks in the old roof with the worst one being being in a corner between the dining room & kitchen.  The other one being in the blue room.  Dobie & the boys are going to scrub down the oxidized metal roof & patch all the seams & any holes they find with roofing tar.  They will then coat the entire roof with white elastomeric paint.  Hopefully this will stop the leaks, but if not, we’ll have to go to option B in the Fall.  Don’t ask me what option B is because I do not have a clue.

WITH THE WINDOWS STILL TAPED UP

The house is looking great with it’s new ‘Colorado Trail’ paint job.  About 3 hours in the morning will finish up the second coat.  The guys even painted the foundation.  In the Fall I will paint the fascia board & front porch.  Haven’t decided on a color for that yet.  Lime green came to mind but quickly left again:))

RV SUE has left the Congress Arizona area & moved on up the road.  Saw her first Joshua Tree & came across her first desert snake, of which she has a picture.  Also a new RV Park that she was very impressed with & one which we will stop by sometime when we are up that way north of Wickenburg & south of Kingman.   HIDDEN OASIS RV PARK 

 

FINISHED PUTTING THE LAST STRIP OF WALLPAPER BORDER ON THIS MORNING & NO, THE CUPBOARDS ARE NOT THAT ORANGE   

A few days ago we had new Blog Followers JERRY & LU LARSON join our Followers list but I couldn’t get their blog site up & running at the time.  Working now:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Joe and Frank were in the office, and noticed that someone had put up a suggestion box with some 3 x 5 cards next to it. Both decided that this was a great idea, and each took a card to fill out.
Joe wrote: "The office workers should all be given raises!"
When he looked at Frank's card, it said: "Can we all have raises, and keys to the executive washroom, and personal secretaries, and new company cars, and new coffee cups, and longer lunch breaks, and an extra three weeks vacation each year, and a holiday on St. Patrick's Day, and Columbus Day and Martin Luther King's Birthday?"
Joe said, "Frank, that isn't the right way of getting things changed around here. You shouldn't put all of your begs in one ask-it."

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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.

- Home is where your pet is:))

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

YABBA DABBA DOOOOOOOOOO…OUR HOUSE DEAL CLOSED TODAY & WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY… ARIZONA LAND OWNERS:)))))))))))

MAKING SOME PROGRESS:))
We received the following email from our Real Estate Agent at 4:20 this afternoon…..
Al and Kelly, Congratulations! We have recorded. I hope you have many nice winters in your new home away from home. We will look forward to hearing from you in the future. Have a safe and pleasant drive home. Thank you for working with me. Sincerely, Randy - Associate Broker - Realty Executives Northern Arizona.
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

 
NICE TO SEE PEOPLE ON HORSEBACK GOING BY OUR HOUSE
I am convinced I live a double life.  Kind of a boring Dude by day who’s life kicks into high gear by night.  I am a climber of great mountains, a swimmer of vast seas.  I can frolic among clouds or journey to the very center of the earth on a whim.  I am talking about dreams of course & I sure have a lot of them every night.  Not that I can vividly recall all the details but am able to remember enough snippets to tell me I have been one very busy guy.  No wonder I sometimes wake up more exhausted than when I went to bed.  Traveling this endless Universe by night does leave me a little bleary eyed some mornings.

 
A FEW NEIGHBOR’S HOUSES ON OUR MORNING WALK
Have to admit, most of my day was spent in the kitchen again.  Not to fear, it had nothing to do with cooking.  Managed to get my ‘paint mojo’ working again & had another go at those darn pesky kitchen cabinets.  Scrapped our Taos Blue trim idea & just left the Peach color.  Filled in the center sections with the darker ‘Burnt Orange’ frame color.  I have yet to do the bottom cupboards & drawers & think I may just save that little job for next winter.

 
CUPBOARDS APPEAR A BIT MORE ORANGY IN THE PICS 
Kelly spent a lot of time in the kitchen as well cleaning the fridge & stove.  Shelf paper into the kitchen cupboards, etc.  Hung up a couple Southwest knickknacks for color.  Happened to have a roll of southwest flavored wallpaper trim in the rig so we up & slapped that on the wall as well.  Tried our luck at hanging a cheap curtain rod.  I don’t have a lot of patience for hanging curtains!!  Too mechanical for me.

 
THAT FRIDGE WAS QUITE A CHALLENGE
We had to slip into Congress & fax another paper first thing this morning that we had initialed in the wrong place.  This fax was sent from the Weaver Mining District office.  Next stop was the Post Office to get ourselves an official mail box.  We sure are beginning to feel like local Arizonians. 

If you blink going through Congress Arizona you are going to miss it.  And, we like that.  We have a small local grocery store, a Pizza shop, Post Office, Nichols West restaurant, a fire station, about 4 Churches of course, a Dollar Store & a new combination gas & convenience store.  A Library, Community Hall & a small Medical Center.  I have missed some places but that gives you an idea.  There ‘s no real down town & things are kind of spread out a bit.  All of the above mentioned places are less than a mile from us & it seems most residents drive ATV’s or Motor bikes into town to get their mail etc.  There is also a mining & old west kinda shoot em up history here & I hope to read up on all that next winter.  In fact, we live on Ghost Town Road which was the main road between the town of Congress years ago & the booming Congress Gold Mine.  Still a couple prospector fellers out there at the mine site working the tailings.

 
LOTS OF CACTUS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD  
Jim from JIMBO'S JOURNEYS has been boondocked in one of our favorite places this last little while.  The Clark Dry Lake Bed just outside of Borrego Springs has brought us many pleasant memories these past 5 years.  Check out Jimbo’s  upcoming summer camp host position in the Ochoco National Forest located in central Oregon.  He found this opportunity on WORKAMPER NEWS.
 
<<< OUR DESERT TROTTER
Fellow Northerner, CHIAOWL from Michigan State joins us today as our latest Blog Follower.  Nice to have you along and welcome to our travels:))

MORNING WALK ON GHOST TOWN ROAD
In words I totally understand, THE GOOD LUCK DUCK has this to say….." It's wild out here! It's the frontier, or something! Nothing much to happen to us back East, except that we get snowed on or die of old age”.

LOVE THE SOUND OF MOURNING DOVES IN OUR YARD...A READER HAS SINCE CORRECTED ME SAYING THIS IS A EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE 
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Martin arrived at Sunday school late. Miss Walter, his teacher, knew that Martin was usually very punctual so she asked him if anything was wrong.
Martin replied no, that he had been going fishing but his dad told him that he needed to go to church.
Miss Walter was very impressed and asked the lad if his dad had explained to him why it was more important to go to church than to go fishing?
Martin replied, 'Yes he did. Dad said he didn't have enough bait for both of us.'
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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

PHEEBS GETS 4 FLAT TIRES, ALL AT ONCE:((

TOOK THIS PHOTO SUNDAY MORNING & IT’S ONE OF THE ONLY CURRANT PHOTOS I HAVE FOR TONIGHT’S BLOG EXCEPT, FOR THE LAST ONE…..

I groggily wondered what Kelly was doing in the kitchen turning lights on.  A quick check of my clock told me it was 1:30 in the morning.  “What’s going on I ask.”  “I think it’s raining,” she said.   Well, that got me out of bed real fast because our MiFi unit is on the roof of the Motorhome.  “Are you sure,” I said.  “Yes,” she said with the door open looking out.  Strange, because raindrops can easily be heard on the roof, & I didn’t hear any.  She was already outside with the flashlight as I donned my housecoat & headed down the steps.  First thing I did was look to the sky.  Stars everywhere with not a cloud in sight.  And, no raindrops falling on my head.  But wait, it did sound like clumps of large rain drops falling over near the house.  What the heck!!!!  Stood there for about 10 seconds listening to what sounded like something definitely falling from the sky at both ends of the house.  My mind raced trying to put a logical answer to these totally illogical sounds in the darkness.  There was no logic for what I was hearing but not seeing or feeling!!  Took the flashlight, opened the gate to the house and cautiously walked towards the sounds coming from the North side of the house.  Had only walked about 30 feet when the beam of my flashlight picked up a dark movement on the ground.  And then another.  Javelinas!!!!!!  Counted 4 of them on the other side of the fence.  They were all busy grazing on something near a Palo Verde tree.  It was their ‘chomping’ sounds that had been causing the mysterious sound.  They were not aware of my presence at all but I was glad we had a secure fence between us.  I walked around to the south side of the house & sure enough, there were 3 more Javelina’s outside the fence there chomping on something along the ground as well.  Mystery solved.  I was glad none of the Javelina’s were inside the fence line.  Still a mystery to me about what they could have been eating because I was close enough to see nothing on the ground but gravel & stones.  Did I go back to bed?  Nope, hauled out the laptop & wrote this long paragraph:))

 

FILE PHOTOS OF JAVELINA’S AT INGRID & TOM’S NEAR ELFRIDA ARIZONA LAST YEAR

One thing is clear about that Javelina encounter plus the close call the night before with the Skunk.  I will not be taking Pheebe outside for a walk after dark anymore.  Although probably not warm enough for Rattlesnakes to be out at night yet, it won’t be long.  It’s when they are most active.  Yes, we are definitely continuing to learn the ways of the West.

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Watered the house stucco for the last time this morning & the boys will be here to paint everything on Wednesday.  Got myself up enough nerve to tackle those kitchen cupboards again & managed to splash me some more paint on the cupboard doors.  Thinking now we might paint the door trim a Taos Blue.  I’ll hold off taking any more photos until I have the final coats of colorful paint on.  Taos Blue is a popular color here in the Southwest.  Don’t think I am going to get that dining room painted before we leave.  Lots of hours in the day but just not lots of energy left by the time I hit early afternoon.  Especially today for some reason:((

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Some readers have wondered if we could maybe take a few weeks to come back to Arizona in the summer but this is cost prohibitive for us plus it is just too far to drive.  Neither one of us has any interest in flying down so we will just bite the bullet until we can get on the road again in October.  And, as planned for last year, I want to come through southern Colorado & Arizona’s Monument Valley on the way down.

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Kelly still can’t drive the Jeep with her black & blue sprained ankle so I drove her over to the Laundromat this afternoon.  Of course I offered to do the laundry but she declined.  You may remember my laundry post from a few weeks ago.  So what if white stuff turns a little gray…right!!

 

WELL HEY, HERE’S A COUPLE SUNDAY MORNING PICS OF MUD DRYING IN THE DESERT…THINK CHOCOLATE:))

On Sunday mornings desert walk Kelly had just taken a thorn out of Pheebs paw when a few minutes later a Bunny Wabbit raced across our path.  Well, the chase was on & Pheebs disappeared into the desert landscape in hot pursuit.  Nearly a minute went by without her return so I started whistling her return command.  But, no Pheebs.  Whistled a few more times then headed off in the direction she ran.  Whistled again & there she came ever so slowly.  What a sad sight.  She was hardly moving & in obvious distress.  She had run right over top a dead Cholla Cactus.  Barbs in all paws.  Four totally flat tires:((  Set my cameras on the ground & got to work very delicately pulling cactus barbs out of doggy paws.  Pheebs is such a trooper about all that.  She sits quietly despite the pain, unlike me who hollers & swears at the slightest prick.  Took us a couple minutes & we once again had air back in all 4 tires.  Pheebs was up & running again.  Those cactus barbs are sure a nasty bit of business!!  Say, did I tell you about the kitchen cupboard paint on both Pheebs ears….oh well, another time.

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The Motormouse is totally back to her old self, barking for her breakfast & following me all over the place again whenever I’m walking around with a piece of food in my hand.  One positive thing out of her being sick last week….she got her waistline back:))

TONIGHT’S CRESCENT MOON & PLANET VENUS

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Sven couldn’t pronounce ‘th’. One day he displayed an old car and a bicycle in his yard, stood near the gate and started to shout: “Boat for sale…….. Listen everyone…….. Boat for sale……”
Sven’s neighbor asked: “Hey Sven, where the hell is your boat? I can see only your car and your bicycle.”
Sven: “Yes, they boat are for sale.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.

- Home is where your pet is:))

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com