TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

CACTUS MAN IS BACK ON HIS FEET:))

VULTURE PEAK APPEARS TO LOOM OVER CONGRESS

So surprised when the Jeep started right up this morning. Figured when I hit the key there would be nothing again. I think last weeks long days with the key in the ignition while being towed put a lot of strain on the battery despite starting it up every day & letting it idle for awhile. We will carry the mobile charger with us from now on just in case. Had to wash all the road grime of the Jeep today too. What a mess it was from being towed behind our rig for the first few days in a Michigan/Indiana rain.

I WASN’T OUT OF MY BED 2 MINUTES & GUESS WHO WAS RIGHT IN MY SPOT

Slowly beginning to shake off our travel lag from last week & make the adjustments to our new 3 hour time zone change from back home in Bayfield. Traveling relatively quickly through time zones does take it’s toll. And if your over 65 just about anything takes it’s toll these days:((

GIZMO COMES RACING AROUND THE CORNER TO SEE PHEEBS THIS MORNING

Spent an enjoyable morning burning accumulated brush & trimming Mesquite & Palo Verde trees. Surprised at how fast & how many sucker branches had grown in just 6 months. Kelly put a call in to a yard maintenance company here in Congress. After our disastrous sheep decision we have decided to do things differently in the future. First thing is to get rid of the weeds professionally. I don’t think mowing them is the answer. They will just be back next year waiting for us when we roll in again.

ANOTHER ONE OF PHEEBS MORNING PALS…ONE OF TWO YAKKY DOODLE DOGS…THEY ARE ALWAYS BARKING

I may have to rent a flashing neon sign saying something to the affect, ‘Stop Here For Free Birdseed’. Feeders have been up for well over 24 hours & not one bird to be seen yet. But how nice to hear the ‘Woot Weet’ of the Curved Bill Thrashers again not far away in the Mesquite trees.

HAD TO TRIM THESE PALO VERDE TREES BACK FROM THE SIDE OF THE WINNIE WAGON

Noticed one of the dumpy junkyard places down the street is for sale. Half an acre with an old tumble down trailer on it. Trailer has to be removed as part of the deal. Asking price on the half acre is $69,900. Real Estate company is promoting the lot as a great place for Snow Birds to park their rig for the winter. Wow, were we ever lucky to get our house & property for the price we did just a year & a half ago.

BURNING UP SOME BACK YARD BRUSH IN THE FIRE PIT

I didn’t block the Skunk out last night. We might go with the Moth Balls & dog poop ideas sent in by readers. I do not like to kill or cause grief to any kind of animal so if we can find a gentler peaceful way to discourage Louie LePew then that is what we’ll do. Our neighbor has several skunks under his house & doesn’t mind them. Said they keep snakes & mice at bay. And maybe that skunk last night was blasting one of those Demon Squirrels for all we know.

I MANAGED TO GET CACTUS MAN BACK UP ON HIS FEET TODAY

Those nice red stone pathways I had in my little front yard Cactus garden last winter are pretty much gone now. The small stones are still there but the hot unrelenting Arizona sun has bleached the color right out of them. Hard to tell the graveled paths from the rest of the ground. So that nice pathway idea is busted & another Arizona landscape lesson learned.

A CRATERS ON THE MOON PHOTO? NOPE JUST ANT HILL DOMES AROUND THE CORNER

Still doing pretty good at staying away from those miserably aggravating morning television so called news programs. Instead of heading out to the living room & habitually snapping on the TV every morning I just remain in my room seated in my comfortable Ikea chair with my Bose Ipod music & laptop. It sometimes takes a location change to break a tough habit. And how nice to sit here each morning & look out at 2 giant Saguaro Cactus right outside my window:))

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

VIC NESHYBA joined our ‘Google Friends Connect’ section today. Thanks for dropping by Vic & nice to have you along:))

Just remembered a reader inquiring as to why I stopped mixing up my SOUNDS YUKKY-TASTES YUMMY daily soy shakes about a year & a half ago. Had been drinking those amazingly wonderful shakes for over 10 years when for no real reason I just got up one morning & decided to have a bowl of porridge instead. Been eating porridge every morning since. But here is one reason I quit the shakes. When traveling in the rig with a smaller refrigerator my soy shake ingredients were taking up a lot of room. Had to deal with big bundles of Romain lettuce, packaged carrots, banana bunches, celery stalks, & a stock of apples. My big messy shakes just got to be a little much in the small kitchen area we had.

THESE ARE THE CACTUS PADS I WILL BE RE-PLANTING

We are off to Wickenburg in the morning. Arco has a sale on heaters & with colder weather slowly approaching we want to be prepared. Need a new blade for my Bow Saw as well. Groceries are on the list too. Got a Gravity chair to pick up at Ace hardware so the little Pheebs will be holding the fort in Congress for a few hours.

SUNRISE FROM GHOST TOWN ROAD

GROANER’S CORNER:(( GRANDPARENTS ANSWERING MACHINE
Good morning . . . At present we are not at home but, please Leave your message after you hear the beep. beeeeeppp ...
If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select the option from 1 to 5 in order of "arrival" so we know who it is.
If you need us to stay with the children, press 2
If you want to borrow the car, press 3
If you want us to wash your clothes and ironing, press 4
If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 5
If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 6
If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 7
If you want to come to eat here, press 8
If you need money,press 9
If you are going to invite us to dinner, or, taking us to the theater start talking we are listening !!!!!!!!!!!"

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

A SKUNK JUST SET OFF A BIG STINK BOMB UNDER OUR HOUSE!!!!

HAVE ONLY SEEN ONE YELLOW JACKET SO FAR…LAST YEAR THEY WERE EVERYWHERE

When I took Pheebs out tonight & had a look to the sky I was fortunate to spot the International Space Station going over. Have seen it many times years ago so recognized it’s familiar glow & steady movement across the night sky right away. How nice to see the Milky Way again & all the stars. Oh my, all those wonderful stars I have not seen since leaving here last April. And the pulsating fast moving moving lights darting amongst the stars. Fighter pilots in their F16’s on dog fighting night maneuvers. I could hear them all day & see the white puffs of markers in the sky but never did catch sight of one as they dodged & dashed around & around through white puffy clouds.

THIS WAS CACTUS MAN A YEAR AGO

THIS IS CACTUS MAN TODAY…HOPE TO HAVE HIM BACK UP ON HIS FEET TOMORROW

Gordon in our Shout Box is right about the overall cost of fuel being cheaper traveling from west to east. We have always noticed that as well. Last Spring on our 4 day necessity rocket ship trip home in the 23’ Sunseeker our fuel bill was $900. Of course we took the shortest possible Interstate route as well up through Oklahoma City & St. Louis. I believe Interstate travel is cheaper on fuel in the long run. Cut’s way down on the stopping & starting of secondary roads & small towns. Personally I prefer secondary roads but if one is in a hurry to reach a destination Interstates are the way to go. Heading east one always has a good chance of tail winds. Our trip to Arizona last week was a longer route & put us into some mountain driving over around Trinidad & Santa Fe. I’m sure that attributed to our gas mileage numbers as well. Luckily we never ran into any kind of head wind the whole trip. And, I think Chevy engines are probably better on fuel consumption than Fords. Commenter Camille explained that when she said………….. “I sell RVs at Camping World of Tampa and just want to back up your comment about the V-8 in the Damon having more pep than the Winnie V-10. In your case, it is true, the V-10 in a class C puts out 305hp where your Vortec was rated at 340hp. However, in today's class A's, the newer Fords have a "beefed up" engine and chassis, so your Challenger with today's engines would have 362hp. Class C's have not been changed”.

Commenter Teri had a couple questions as well…..”Just curious, if you are not getting better gas mileage in the new rig - why did you downsize to a smaller rig that is not as comfortable and that you will now have to pay to add solar to the new rig”…….Well that’s a darn good question. Easier to drive & park for Kelly – brings us up to 2011 from 2003 meaning less maintenance in the long run. I have absolutely no interest, skills, or patience for trying to fix older aging vehicles. Tires, exhaust systems, shocks, brakes, etc are less expensive on a Class C chassis as well. Not as high a profile as a Class A. And a smaller unit is easier to keep clean. And I really appreciate having my own easy in & out driver’s door. That’s a biggy. Anyway, those are just a few of the pluses for a C. There are pluses for A’s as well & cons for both.

JEAN & SKIP’S ROOSTER IS STILL ALIVE & WELL:))

JOHN & JACKY’S PRICKLY PEAR IS LOOKING A BIT STRESSED SO I GAVE IT A DRINK

AND MONICA’S GARDEN NIGHT LIGHT HAS FIT RIGHT IN JUST FINE, JUST HAVE TO REDO THAT WRECKED-UP LITTLE CACTUS GARDEN >>>

Also, wondering about something in an earlier post - your description of the Ford engine gearing down automatically - I have the Ford E450 engine and I change to 3rd, or sometimes 2nd on my own when going downhill - am I missing something?…..Engine only does that when one is driving with their Tow/Haul feature engaged. Otherwise in normal driving mode the engine will not gear itself down. In our Winnie the towing button is in the end of the gearshift. In the Sunseeker & Damon the button was on the dash. When towing something of weight the button should be engaged.

FOR VEHICLES NOT BEING DRIVEN EVERY DAY IN OUR AREA IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO LEAVE ENGINE HOODS UP TO DISCOURAGE PACK RATS FROM CHEWING WIRES & BUILDING NESTS

I might have been a little hasty blaming our neighbors sheep for the total destruction of our cactus plants. Talked to that neighbor this morning & he said yes the Sheep did eat some of the Cactus which surprised him. Said the main culprit in the destruction of our Cactus plants were the large desert squirrels living under our house. Said he saw 3 of them this summer dragging cactus chunks back to their lair there. I now remember friends of ours up the road telling us about all the problems they have with with those Devil Squirrels on their property. They shoot them on sight. Apparently these Squirrels are very nasty customers. And we do know for sure we have critters under the house at the moment because we can hear them. Could be Skunks, Pack Rats, or large Demon Squirrels. We are in the process of trying to figure out right now how to get rid of them.

THIS IS WHERE THE CRITTERS ARE COMING & GOING UNDER OUR HOUSE…HAVE TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE & THEN SEAL THE HOLE

Mathew our Sheep fellow said he is going to do a major cut back on his Cactus plants shortly & would give us all the cuttings we want. It’s not the standard Prickly Pear cactus he has, it’s something different. Much bigger pads & will grow 10 to 12 feet high. Exactly what I want.

WHEN WE LEFT LAST APRIL I HAD THIS ENTIRE FENCE LINE PLANTED

LOOKING KIND OF BLEAK NOW

Realistically we cannot grow anything else here except hardy Cactus plants. Reason we can’t grow other things is simply because we are only here 6 months of the year. To grow things I really like we would have to be here all summer to water & chase critters away. And that just isn’t practical. We don’t want to have to pay someone to just come in & water plants here either. Arizona is a very dry & arid place & here in Congress we pay for every drop of water we use. So we are limited to Cactus plants or anything that is native to the surrounding desert & will survive on it’s own.

DESPITE BEING TRAMPLED I SEE NEW GROWTH HERE FOR THIS CACTUS

ALSO SEE SOME NEW GROWTH HOPE FOR THESE TRODDEN FELLAS AS WELL

FOUND THIS BARREL CACTUS TIPPED OVER IN THE DESERT LAST WINTER SO HAULED IT HOME…I THINK IT IS GOING TO BE OK

I keep a pail in my washroom. It takes exactly 13 glasses of water from my sink’s hot water tap to finally get hot water. I don’t like running water down the drain for nothing so I fill the first 10 glasses of cold water plus 2 glass of warming water & dump them in my pail. Also set the pail in the shower & run the shower head water into it until I have the temperature correctly adjusted before stepping into the shower. I then use that pail of water to water things outside. It’s a win/win situation.

NICE TO SEE THESE YELLOW FLOWERS IN THE DESERT

Jeep wouldn’t start this morning. Stone dead. Jumped it with a 700W portable charger we carry. Let the Jeep run for half an hour. Went to start it a couple hours later & it was stone dead again. Jumped it a second time. We bought the 2006 Jeep in June of 2010 & have no idea how old the battery is. Cables are tight on the posts. If it doesn’t start I’ll jump it in the morning & head for the Congress garage. Do not want to run the serious risk of an old battery not starting way out in the desert somewhere.

OUR ‘CANADIAN TIRE’ MOBILE CHARGER

Got last week’s flat tire out of Winnies storage bin so will see what the fellow has in used spares. Or should we replace that spare with a new Michelin? Three of my bird feeders are now up so we’ll see how long it takes the feathered gang to notice a new food source. Spring on our screen door broke. Fixed it. Fired up my weed whacker & it wore me out in about 10 minutes. Could take me a year trying to deal with the weeds that way. Anybody out there got a good cheap lawnmower that will start every time on the first pull? A lawnmower would be the best way to deal with the type of weeds we have. As much as I hate the noise & unreliable starting ways of small gasoline engines I guess I may have no choice but to use the infernal things!!

A LAWN MOWER WOULD MAKE SHORT WORK OF THESE GUYS

In Bayfield I use our desktop computer to change my header photo periodically with no problem. Not so when I tried it Sunday night with my laptop here. Did all the same things I do with the desk top but could not get the photo to fit the frame. Tried again today but gave up in frustration & eliminated the header photo entirely. Any ideas?

CHAIR ON LEFT IS GOING BACK TO CAMPING WORLD

One of our Camping World Gravity chairs has an assembly mistake & Camping World has agreed to take it back & reimburse us. Going to get another Gravity chair at Wickenburg’s Ace hardware & use the box to return our faulty one to Camping World. Also going to look into either Direct or Dish TV & get rid of our Canadian Shaw provider. Would like to have a dish mounted on the house & be done with this mobile satellite stuff once & for all. We have a dome TracVision set-up in our Winnie Wagon so would like to have the same programing for that as our house. Kelly’s working out the logistics. I’m working on another peanut butter & honey sandwich.

As I sit here tonight just about ready to hit the ‘Publish’ button a strong pungent skunk odor fills the house. Kelly said I smell a skunk. Me too. A couple hours ago she had partially blocked that hole with a cement block. I figure it is a skunk we have been hearing & when he came to go out tonight he found his entry way partially blocked, panicked, & let off a big stink bomb right under our house. I cautiously slipped outside with a flashlight & unblocked the hole so Stinkbomb Louie LaPew can get out. I will go back later & block the hole hoping that he is out somewhere foraging around for some grubs. He’s gonna be really ticked when he comes back & his entryway is blocked. He just might blast a big load of skunk juice all over our whole house.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A young couple drove several miles down a country road, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument, and neither wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules and pigs, the husband sarcastically asked, "Are they relatives of yours?"
"Yes," his wife replied. "I married into the family."

Sunday, October 27, 2013

A NEIGHBOR TOLD US WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CACTUS GARDEN:((

HOW NICE TO BE OUT WALKING UNDER THE WATCHFUL GUISE OF WICKENBURG’S VULTURE PEAK AGAIN…AND WHO SAID DESERT’S CAN’T BE GREEN

It was 5 a.m. & it was warm standing outside in our front yard gazing skyward. Pheebs & I were under a canopy of stars from horizon to horizon. A quarter Moon hung high in the south east. One of my favorite constellations Orion in his westerly travels could be seen slowly beginning to slip westward. Neighbor’s Rooster was a crowin & the hens was a cluckin. A crescendo of Crickets completed an early morning homey feeling I had inside. So nice to be back at our digs in Congress Arizona once again. And it was already nearly 70F. I think we might have eventually got up to around 87 today.

EARLY MORNING LIGHT MAKES FOR LONG SHADOWS

Funny how easily one forgets things that are not part of their daily routine. And so it was with our Roy Rogers coffee mugs this morning. Wasn’t until Kelly made coffee that I was reminded of the mugs she had picked up at a garage sale in Congress last year. When I opened our garden shed yesterday I saw we had things I had totally forgotten about. Looking in my clothes closet I was reminded of shirts & jackets I had. And who knew we had all this neat-o southwest furniture & stuff. Kinda scary how easily some things just kinda slip out of one’s mind when one isn’t seeing or using things on a regular basis. Am I slowly becoming a character of necessary routine & habit……………..

Talking to a neighbor this morning we found out what happened to about 95% of our Cactus plants & it was a poor decision we ourselves made last winter that led to their demise. Another neighbor around the corner suggested a good way to keep our weeds down during the summer was to let him put his sheep on our property. Seemed like a win/win situation. His sheep get fed & our weeds get eaten. We asked if the Sheep would bother our newly planted cactus & he said no the sheep would just eat the weeds. Well call us naïve I guess. Our other neighbor said he put a couple goats on our property for the whole summer & that of course meant the end of our cactus. Neighbor said our cacti were really doing well with blooms appearing but as soon as the goats were put on the property they quickly ate the cactus. And that was that. Will I start all over again? Right now I don’t feel like it but knowing me I probably will. So discouraging but I do like scratching around in the dirt planting things.

Pheebs got to meet up with a few of her old Arizona Pals this morning on a short walk. Gizmo, Hatch, Pebbles, & Dally all got to bump noses with their best Canadian buddy Pheebs again. Nice to see all the little wagging tails. Didn’t see the Yakky Doodle dogs though.

DALLY

HATCH & PEBBLES

GIZMO

I no I aren’t too darn good on the Grammar side of things & it are true I never seems to know where to put them there apostrophe thingys. Grammar weren’t a favorite subject of mine in school but I did like English literature & composition. I will try to get a handle on those apostrophes so that I don’t get no more worser. Don’t want to end up bean the worsest of ever. Oh, & I will have to do some thunkin about that Canadian spelling for a bit two. Keep those comments coming folks, it keeps me on my toes & believe me I need all the help I can get some days. And how did I get Trinidad Colorado moved back to New Mexico……’again’!!

PHEEBS WAS JUST SO HAPPY TO BE OUT RUNNING ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

SLAMMIN ON THE BRAKES & GALLOPING RIGHT ALONG

SUPERDOG IS AIRBORNE

John (Sarge) dropped by this morning with a bottle jack & handle crank for the Jeep. We’re good to hit a few desert trails now. He & wife Jackie just moved up to Congress from Elfrida & John is enjoying his recent retirement from Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista.

Despite a week of travel we did get a few more things done this morning before we both began to fade around noon. And fade very fast we did too. I think a weeks hard traveling combined with 3 time zone changes & today’s hot temperatures combined to knock us out of action for the rest of the day. Very hot here at the moment but it will be heading back down into the 70’s & 60’s shortly. I will probably have a go at our yard’s weeds in the cooler weather. Got to get me some gas & oil for my weed whacker. And maybe start hunting me up some new Cactus sources. I am determined to ring this place in greenery despite our Cactus garden set-back. And on closer inspection this morning I did find a few (very few) cactus plants still surviving. I would say we lost about 95% of them though & definitely every single one that I had planted around our front & side fence line. There were well over a hundred cactus plants. And even some of the cactus plants (not prickly pear) that were here when we bought the house are now gone as well:((

SPENCER LIKES SLEEPING IN MY BED & GAVE ME A CROSS LOOK WHEN I WOKE HIM UP THIS AFTERNOON…………:))

Question in the Shout Box wondered if we turn the power off to the house when we leave in the Spring. Answer is yes. Water is also turned off & the Congress Water department puts a lock on our street valve. Kelly phoned them a day before we arrived & the guys went out & removed the lock so all I had to do when we got here was turn the valve lever on. We turn our own electricity on & off as well. Made sure the water heater was full before turning on the electricity to the heater too. We had things powered up & running in about an hour Saturday.

I’M THINKING I REMEMBER THESE FELLOWS AS CACTUS WRENS…GONNA HAVE TO GET MY SOUTH-WEST BIRD BOOK OUT AGAIN

I remember someone asking about our gas mileage on this trip with Winnie’s Ford 10 cylinder engine. Don’t have an answer for that because I have never been one to keep track of miles per gallon gas mileage. Some things are just better left unknown for me. However I can tell you we spent $1,295 for gas to travel 2,361 miles getting here. Judging from other years that was very comparable to our Class A 33’ Damon challenger with it’s 8 cyl Chevy Vortec engine. Must say I do have a preference for the Chevy V-8 engines simply because they seem to have more pep than the Ford V-10. Just my opinion of course.

FILE PHOTO OF THE SETTING MOON TAKEN FROM OUR BACK YARD A YEAR AGO IN NOVEMBER

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I stopped at a friends house the other day and found him stalking around the kitchen with a flyswatter. When I asked if he had gotten any flies he answered, "Yeah, 5 .... 3 males and 2 females." Curious, I inquired as to how he could tell the difference. He answered, "It's easy, 3 were on a beer can and 2 were on the phone.