TOO HOT FOR US TODAY SO WE HAD TO CHANGE OUR ALTITUDE

I said Altitude not Attitude:))

We’ve been making a point of getting out earlier for our morning walks.  The cooler air is always refreshing before things begin heating up around 8.  Jeeped ourselves a short distance to a different section of desert.  Decided on our walk the best way to beat the heat today was to get out of Dodge.  Congress is fortunately situated in the Sonoran Desert right at the foot of the Weaver Mountains.  In 10 miles or 10 minutes we can drop our temperature 10 degrees by simply driving up the side of the Weaver Mountains to Yarnell atop the Colorado Plateau.  Only this morning we went further & knocked off a few more degrees.

TWO NEW BEST PALS RUSH TOWARDS EACH OTHER THIS MORNING

 

PHEEBS LATER MEETS 2 MORE BEST PALS

Prescott Arizona is an hour’s scenic mountain drive from our house & at an even higher altitude than Yarnell.  We haven’t spent a lot of time in that area over the past couple years so this morning we figured we’d head on up to Prescott’s west side & have us a look around in the Prescott National Forest.  We pass right through here each time we make the trips between Bayfield & Congress & vice versa.  Tall Pine forests remind us of similar forests in Ontario.    

 

COLORFUL AUTUMN VINES IN THE FOREST

We’ve been curious to check out campgrounds in the area case we decide to bring the rig up for a week’s change of pace sometime.  Yavapai Campground was our first look around.  Like the topography & there were some sites we could probably fit into with our 37 feet.  Most sites were small & uneven though.  Dry camping only.  Had we had the rig & decided to stay we would have been the only one’s in the whole campground.  Bonus:))  Continued on up the Granite Basin Road to Granite Basin Lake.  Again very peaceful & scenic & of course it’s off season so very few people around.  A lady there scooping up Dragon Fly larvae for her Granddaughter's school project said it’s unusually hot for this time of year & they generally have their first snowfall around Halloween.  Yes folks it does snow in Arizona.  We’ve been snowed on twice so far in Congress & Congress is in the desert.

  

THIS LADY IS GATHERING DRAGON FLY LARVAE

We toyed with the idea of slipping over to Prescott’s northern edge & checking out the GRANITE DELLS but decided we would save that for another time, possibly one day next week when the temperatures around Congress are to still be in the high 80’s.  Took us for a drive closer into Prescott & over to the Thumb Butte area.  Nice housing area & hiking trails at a Park there but we didn’t stay.  Kelly was feeling even more tired than I was so we headed back out of Prescott on Iron Springs Road for home.  I always like to see populated areas disappear in my rear view mirror:)) 

 

Feeling a bit on the hungry side from our mornings exploring we knew where there was a nice little Café that we had been to a couple winter’s ago with Aunt Jean when she was here.  And it was right on the way home.  The Skull Valley Café is about the only thing in Skull Valley still on it’s feet.  General Store closed last year.  I was surprised at how busy it was for a little place out in the middle of seemingly nowhere.  Hunters, ranchers, & folks just passing though I guess.  Car beside ours was from Alberta.  As we sat at a table I looked across at the 3 stools where Aunt Jean, Kelly, & I had sat for lunch the day we had stopped there.  Nice memories.  Kelly had a pork burrito & I had a BLT with the best bowl of soup I have probably ever had.  I’m not a soup guy but the Chicken & Rice soup came with my BLT.   

LAST TIME IN THE SKULL VALLEY CAFÉ I HAD THAT LEFT STOOL, AUNT JEAN THE CENTER ONE & KELLY THE RIGHT STOOL

 

PROBABLY THE BEST BOWL OF SOUP I’VE EVER HAD

 

Rolling through Peeple’s Valley we noticed an RV pulled over & recognized John & Jackie.  They were taking the rig back to Congress from Prescott where John has been undergoing treatments for prostate cancer.  He has one treatment left Monday morning & he’ll take the car back to Prescott for that one.  John said I could link his Facebook page but not being much of a Facebook guy I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.

 ALWAYS LIKE LOOKING AT THIS RANCH COMING THROUGH PEEPLES VALLEY

 

Sure hadn’t cooled off any by the time we got home so we quickly fired up all our fans.  Luckily we also have big ceiling fans in all all our rooms & they do help some.  John dropped over later saying he had a portable/mobile A/C unit we could borrow.  So we did.  I followed John home & brought the unit back.  We’re still pouring over the manual trying to figure out how to get some cold Arctic air coming out of it. 

  

For 2 nights in a row now I have set up the Critter Cam at 2 different angles trying to determine if Mr. Skunk has truly left the building.  First night the camera picked up the south end of a Pack Rat going north & the second night Miss Pussycat walked by.  Tonight as a final check I am going to place the Critter Cam right inside the hole in our foundation & if it does not detect Skunky tonight I will get to work in the morning sealing up that hole.

I DON’T THINK SHE KNOWS SHE IS GETTING HER PAWS WET

Thanks to Sue Davis Worth for this CORNER GAS trailer on the upcoming movie due to be released on December 3rd.  The gang looks pretty much the same as they did in the series years ago.  Humor seems to treat aging well.

DESCENDING THE YARNELL HILL LOOKING DOWN ON THE ASCENDING LANES & THAT’S HARQUAHALA MOUNTAIN ON THE HORIZON OUT THERE IN THE SONORAN DESERT…OUR HOUSE IS JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE DARKER MOUNTAINS ON THE RIGHT

And this comment in our Shout Box a few days ago…. Guest: “The weather's too cold in Ontario, too hot in Arizona. Complaining about the weather is a bad blogging habit that every blogger seems unable to avoid”.  Well I’m honored to be included with all my fellow ‘bad blogging habit’ Bloggers.  Were it not for we folks keeping weather conditions current we might all end up in some very boring passive weather conditions.  And besides if it wasn’t for the weather what the heck else would we talk about most of the time.  Could it be our ‘Guest’ lives in a ‘no weather zone’ somewhere & is a bit miffed the rest of us get to squawk & squabble about our ever changing weather patterns.  Not only Squawk & Squabble about it but by golly some of us even even express our creative thoughts & feelings about it.  Good & bad I may add.  Keep those weather thoughts coming fellow Bloggers & maybe we can eventually use our bad habits to turn our Guests sour grapes crop into the sweetest grapes on the vine.  D’ya think:))  Oh, & the temperature in Congress Az today??  91F same as Thursday.  And I may add under clear blue skies with no wind.  High 80’s predicted for all of next week.  Your welcome………………:))

KELLY RESTS AT A PICNIC TABLE BESIDE THE LAKE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist:  While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water being half empty or half full, I drank it. Sincerely, The Opportunist

NOT MUCH TO SAY……….

This pretty much sums up our day, not much going on & not much to say………………..

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach a man to fish and he will go out and buy expensive fishing equipment, stupid-looking clothes, a sports utility vehicle, travel 1000 miles to the "hottest" fishing spot and stand waist-deep in cold water so he can try to outsmart a fish.  Average cost per fish: $596.73

COULD THEY BE AMERICAN AVOCETS & NO MORE GARAGE SALES

COULD THIS BE A SMALL FLOCK OF ‘AMERICAN AVOCETS

October’s Big Dipper stood large on it’s handle this morning along a horizon line made up of Arizona’s Weaver Mountains .  Saw 2 meteorites flash through Orion & spotted a slow moving satellite making it’s way from West to East in the Milky Way Tuesday night.  Standing beneath an endless blanket of shimmering jeweled stars is always a mighty fine way to start or end another Arizona day. 

CIRCLING THE POND

 

FINAL APPROACH & THEN IT’S FULL FLAPS & LANDING GEAR DOWN

ONE LATE TOUCH-DOWN

Haven’t been having much luck with the cage in catching Skunky so last night I was determined to outlast him.  My idea was to wait until he had left his den under the house in the night then seal up the hole.  Kept myself awake until 11:30 but didn’t see any tracks leading out from under the house.  Decided to forego my sleeping pill because I knew without it I would for sure wake up some time in the middle of the night & of course I did.  It was 2:15 when I was back outside looking for tracks.  Didn’t see any so I temporarily blocked the hole just in case he was out.  Didn’t want to make it permanent in case he wasn’t.  I have wire mesh set up that Skunky can easily push out if he is still in there & I have the Critter Cam monitoring the hole for any movement.  If that Critter Cam shows no movement tonight I will assume after he went out last night he did not get back in.  I didn’t see any signs this morning of anything moving the temporary blockage I set up about 2:30 this morning.

  

PHEEBS & CLEM HEAD FOR HOME

We were out early while the air was still cool & took our usual walking route out into the desert.  We knew where there was a pond (they call them ‘Tanks’ here) & I was curious to see how much water remained after Arizona’s summer rains.  The ‘tank’ was fuller than the last couple years & we were surprised by a flock of what I am guessing might be AMERICAN AVOCETS lifting off the still waters.  That was the closest match I found in my National Audubon Society Field Guide To The Southwestern States.  Maybe JUDY can correct me if I’m wrong.

 

LOOK CLOSELY……. ARE THEY REALLY FLYING UPSIDE DOWN??  NOPE, JUST THEIR REFLECTION IN THE POND’S SMOOTH SURFACE AS THEY PASS LOW OVER THE WATER

We are staying inside & sticking pretty close to our 3 fans this week.  Talked briefly about an A/C window unit for our living room but decided against it.  We had not expected to arrive here as early as we did & besides the weather will be cooling off soon.  We have everything we need in the house now & have decided not to invest any more money in it.  Also agreed ‘no more garage sales’!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((   The new bride went crying to her mother. "Momma, I can't get my husband to do anything. I want him to fix up the house, but he keeps putting it off."  "Honey," her mother replied, "after being married to your father for thirty-eight years, I've found the only way to get him to do anything is to tell him he's too old."

FAIRIES ON MY KINDLE

OUR MORNING WALK AREA
Each night when I turn out the light & climb into my bed I soon have little Fairies in my room.  They come through my screenless open window unseen & I’m not aware of them until I open my Kindle.  Only a few lines into my reading I may feel a slight bump on my forehead, a quiet flutter by my ear, or something softly alight on my hand.  And then there it is.  A little Ballerina figure on my Kindle’s cover. A couple more daintily touch down on my open screen.  I don’t shush them away, I just smilingly read around them.  They have tiny wings & dainty bodies.  To me they are wee Fairies but in true reality they are tiny Moths.  I read for 15 minutes as the Fairy Moths flit about my screen attracted by my Kindles brightness.  When I finally close the cover I am careful no tiny figurines are on the screen.   Again in the darkness my little friends quickly disappear once again into the night.  I’ve always liked Fairies ever since meeting Tinkerbell oh so many years ago.  I think we have all met Tinkerbell at some point in our childhood.  Maybe, just maybe one of these nights if I keep my window open Peter Pan himself may slip through into my room, gently arouse me from a deep sleep, take my hand & through the open window we will all merrily fly off to Never-Never Land……………..Pheebs too.
 
I WAITED & TRIED TO GET A PICTURE OF THE FAIRY MOTHS ON MY KINDLE BUT ALAS THEY DIDN’T COME…I DID GET A PICTURE EARLIER OF ONE ON MY BEDROOM WALL THOUGH
The Choice Auto Glass (917 Yaqui Dr Wickenburg, AZ 85390-3113 (928) 684-0994) fellas from Wickenburg showed up right on time this morning.  Didn’t say too much & went quickly to work on replacing Jeepers windshield.  These two fellas worked well together.  I helped by sitting on the porch & staying out of their way.  Half hour later job was done, new windshield in & they were off to their next job.  Turns out I did get talking to the older guy for a couple minutes after they finished & he told me he was originally from Toledo Ohio & was familiar with our neck of the Woods having been in London, Toronto, & Detroit.  New windshield looked a bit naked though.  Our bayfieldbunch.com logo was gone & I already miss our small Canadian flag.   $175 cash & we’re good for driving in the dark again.

PREPPING THE NEW WINDSHIELD
 
WINDSHIELD DONE, NEW HEADLIGHTS DONE & JUST WAITING FOR A COUPLE FOG LIGHT COVERS
And a few numbers from our trip which I of course forgot to include in Monday’s post trip blog.  We traveled 3,618 miles & spent $2,062 of gas.  5 fuel stops in Canada & 5 fuel stops in the States..  $1,237 spent in Canada & $825 spent south of the border.  The heavy head winds heading West in Canada really beat up our gas mileage.  No idea how many miles we got to the gallon.  I have never been interested in that number because it is something I do not need or want to know.  RV’s that size average about 8 miles to the gallon.  See why I don’t track it…… 
  
Can’t tell you much about the rest of the day because there didn’t seem to be too much to the rest of the day.  Nothing memorable anyway.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( "Hello, is this the Sheriff's Office?" "Yes. What can I do for you?"
"I'm calling to report 'bout my neighbor Virgil Smith. He's hidin' marijuana inside his firewood! Don't quite know how he gets it inside them logs, but he's hidin' it there."
"Thank you very much for the call, sir."
The next day, the Sheriff's Deputies descend on Virgil's house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they bust open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They sneer at Virgil and leave.
Shortly, the phone rings at Virgil's house.
"Hey, Virgil! This here's Floyd. Did the Sheriff come?"
"Yeah!"
"Did they chop your firewood?"
"Yep!"
"Happy Birthday, buddy!"

PRODUCTIVE MORNING & A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR RECENT TRIP TO CONGRESS AZ.

Awake early I sat quietly in my Ikea chair beside my bed.  Cool air gently fluffing my open bedroom window curtain.  Soft music on my Satellite radio.  Pheebs asleep on my bed.  It was mornings pre-dawn hours as I reflected back on our trip from Bayfield Ontario to Congress Arizona just a few weeks ago.  A long tedious journey & a route we are likely not to travel again.

FIRST TIME WE’VE SEEN BURGUNDY MESQUITE BEANS

Thinking back there were definitely some good parts.  We did not have to go through or around any large cities & we traveled very few Interstates.  Our best day was our first day & that mainly had to do with the fine Autumn weather we had as we made the drive from Bayfield to Tobermory Ontario.  Enjoyed the CHI-CHEEMAUN experience despite the cold foggy morning.  Our long drive from rainy cold Manitoulin Island way up over the top of Lake Superior was marred by bad weather most of the way.  We found this very tiring & disappointing.  We had hopped for sunny weather highlighting Autumn’s beautiful array of colors in a drive second to none.  I did enjoy touching base with a few old memories in Oxdrift Ontario. 

  

MY LITTLE GREEN FAN I CARRY AROUND TO KEEP COOL & THIS IS WHERE I HANG MY HATS & CAMERAS

Cold Manitoba winds made our week-end stay in Winkler Manitoba not memorable.  Highlight of our stay there was the Triple E plant tour & meeting a couple blog readers.  We were relieved to find out our water problem first encountered in Wawa Ontario was not serious & had nothing to do with the coach & everything to do with us over-filling it.  Leaving Winkler it was the constant & seemingly endless Prairie winds that wore us down over the next few days.  Nice meeting a couple more long time blog readers in Brandon Manitoba.  We pushed on West knowing the sooner we reached our second destination in Rouleau Saskatchewan the sooner we could point the rig’s nose South out of the battering North-Westerly winds.

Corner Gas was of course a disappoint for me on a cold sullen & very flat southern Saskatchewan morning.  I had told myself not to expect anything but I sometimes have a hard time listening to myself.  And then we discovered the damage to the Jeep.  High point of the day was our no problem border crossing at Regway.  Low point of the trip was Williston North Dakota when we found out we had some kind of power problem in the coach.  Engine battery was dead & the water pump wouldn’t work meaning no hot water.  And then there was the nightmare drive in heavy predawn traffic through what seemed a never ending construction zone.

AUTUMN COLORS IN CONGRESS

It was a another low point in our travels when an RV garage in Sturgis South Dakota told us our inverter was fried & it would cost $2600 plus labor to fix it.  High point of Sturgis was sunny weather combined with a quiet & picturesque RV Park for a couple days.  Mount Rushmore was a nice break for us.  Our second best day occurred on our drive from Sturgis South Dakota to Rawlins Wyoming.  Sunny skies, great scenery & lite winds all the way.  But our original plans were already in the dumpster as health problems had set in to change our main original destination for the whole trip which had been Capital Reef Utah.

Kelly had picked up a cold which worsened.  Tiredness & fatigue had set in for both of us.  Stress over the coach problems brought on the decision back in Sturgis to simply head straight away for our house in Congress.  We needed time to recuperate & re-access our situation.  Hate to think we are not as young as we used to be.  We may return to the Custer area next Fall.

With the exception of the inverter problem we are both pleased at how well the Big EEE performed.  Never once did our bottoms get tired in the comfy Captains chairs.  The rig is easy to handle & we were able to maneuver ourselves around OK in a few relatively small spots.  So nice to have ‘space’ to get up & walk around & how nice to have a dining room table & chairs again.  And a comfy couch bed for me & the Pheebs.  Two solid thumbs up for our 11 year old Triple E Commander coach.

A check of the cage first thing this morning showed we had indeed caught ourselves a Critter.  But it wasn’t the Critter we had hoped to catch.  We had caught ourselves a cute little Pack Rat.  Our Critter Cam later showed us the Pack Rat had gone into the cage first & that prevented the Skunk from entering.  Below is Critter Cam pics of both.

 

SKUNKY POSES FOR A PHOTO & PACKY THE PACK RAT BEATS SKUNKY TO THE SNACKS IN THE CAGE

We avoided the yelping dogs this morning by Jeeping ourselves to a different gate down the road & driving out into the desert for about half a mile.  We had a passenger to drop off.  I don’t have the heart to kill anything so we drove little Packy the Pack Rat out to a spot where we saw a pile of brambly brush.  Pack Rat’s love these kind of habitats.  Carried the cage over, opened the door, & off he went with nary a look back.  I wished him well.

A CUTE LITTLE FELLOW & YES I AM AWARE OF THE DAMAGE THEY CAN DO TO A CAR’S WIRING

Took ourselves for a wee walk & I said to Kelly, “this is the first morning I have felt like I almost have my Arizona head back on straight”.  Although we are both glad to be here it has taken us a full week to get over our journey this year.  First time that has ever happened.

 

THIS DESERT GROUND IS ALL HARD PACKED & MAKES FOR EASY WALKING, BICYCLING, OR DRIVING & HOW NICE TO HAVE SUCH A PRETTY GATE OPENER THIS MORNING

Sharp at 8 o’clock I had the Jeep at the B&B Congress garage.  Less than half an hour later I rolled out of there with 2 brand spanking new Jeep headlights.  Lights & installation were only $30.  Tuesday morning a fellow arrives to put a new windshield in the Jeep.

 

THE B&B CONGRESS GARAGE CAN BE SEEN RIGHT BESIDE THIS WELL KNOWN 4 STAR EATERY CALLED NICHOL’S WEST…DESPITE BEING ON A CELL PHONE IT DIDN’T TAKE DAVE LONG TO GET THE LIGHTS IN & WHILE TAKING THIS PHOTO IN FRONT OF NICHOLS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE FEELING GOOD TUNES CAME ROLLING OUT OF AN OUTSIDE SPEAKER…JOE JACKSON’S ‘STEPPIN OUT’:))

After a totally lethargic Sunday I was on a roll this morning.  Soon as I got the Jeep home I took off the front protective bra for the first time in over 4 years.  Washed the Jeep’s front end plus the bra of all the accumulated dust, dirt, & gravel & put it back on again.  It was this black bra that protected the front end of our Jeep as well as the radiator a couple weeks ago when all our lights were smashed & windshield cracked.  Finishing that I scooted back up onto our house roof & painted a piece of roofing that was needing some paint.  Also finished trimming Palo Verde branches which were hanging down making contact with our roof.  Re-located our Wilson Sleek antennae as well.  Also finished cleaning & re-organizing our garden shed despite the sun heating it’s metal sides up like an oven.  Hey, maybe we’re finally becoming acclimatized.  All & all a productive morning all way round.  We’re gradually getting back on our feet as Kelly’s cold lessens & our overall tiredness lifts.  I like when that happens.

Fulltime RV’ers Bev & Jim dropped in this afternoon.  They just made it down from Oregon via California & are currently at North Ranch.  Readers will remember them from our Jeep rumbles in the desert the past couple years.  Jim, a former Helicopter mechanic was interested in the electrical & inverter problems we have been having.  He did a lot of wire testing with his voltage meter & did find one loose nut on a ground fixture.  His suggestion to us is to first have a load test done on the 4 coach batteries which are all hooked up in unison.  He suspects one of the batteries could be causing a problem.  We will take it down to the B&B Congress garage & have those batteries load tested this week.

 

GOT THE FRONT END OF THE JEEP CLEANED UP & TRIMMING SOME BRANCHES AWAY FROM OUR ROOF

For 35 years now October 19th has marked a special day for me & for the last few years I have included this LINK to why that is. I wrote this post in 2011 so as you read it you will notice some of the numbers have changed.  Had meant to include this with Sunday’s post but you know how these aging memories work……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Old Sam Johnson goes to his doctor complaining of aches and pains all over his body. After a thorough examination, the doctor gives him a clean bill of health.  "Sam, you're in excellent shape for an 85 year old man. But I'm not a magician - I can't make you any younger," says the doctor.  "Who asked you to make me younger?" says Sam. "You just make sure I keep getting older!"