Cold In The Desert

We are usually still in Montana this time of year—one year we headed to Mexico right after Thanksgiving but that’s the earliest we’ve ever headed south.  We’ve been told December is the coldest month of the year in Arizona and if the last few days of November were any indication, December could be cold!  It was 32 degrees this morning and we were very thankful for our warm, snug house!  Sunday a bitter, cold north wind blew all day—when walking Emmi I was bundled up as if I were still in Montana!

We are still puttering—I’m getting ready to teach my first yoga class on Tuesday—loading music onto my iPod and for once iTunes cooperated—amazing!  I’ve also been working on sequences for the class—to say I’m a touch nervous would be an understatement!

Michael is making steady progress with the cabinets—each cabinet must be taken apart, cut to fit the space, re-glued and then hung.  It’s very, very time consuming but so worth it when you consider the cost of new cabinets. 

When I graduated from high school, Mom and Dad gave me a beautiful watch—I’ve worn one since then.  When working as a nurse, of course I wore a watch.  So many people these days depend on their phones for telling time but I still prefer my watch and Thanksgiving Day the battery in it died.  I just wasn’t in the mood to travel to Wickenburg until today—who knew there was a little jewelry store in Wickenburg—they fixed me right up!

At Safeway I gathered a few groceries before stopping at Donna and Barry’s to drop off some mail for them.  Back home I opened the latest Walmart box which contained two huge rolls of contact paper—it’s been a long, long time since I used contact paper.  The shelving in these cabinets has seen some wear and I thought contact paper would make the shelves not only look better but make them easier to keep clean.  Well—by the time I had three shelves lined I had wrapped contact paper around my head, said a few choice words and wondered why in the world I thought this was a good idea! Geez!

Sunset puts a glow on our mountains.

The lemon tree is loaded, as is the orange tree.  The dwarf grapefruit tree only has 3-5 fruits. 

Progressing

Well, we have gone from decorated for Thanksgiving to decorated for Christmas with a few Christmas things we brought from Montana and my bargain Christmas tree.  The tree is tall and skinny which fits into our space nicely and all the lights worked—pretty good for a $20 yard sale tree!!

The previous owners of this house left two early American style dining tables and six chairs—the tables are in tough shape and need refinishing but are structurally good. 

Friday I puttered inside and Michael puttered outside in the garage.  No black Friday shopping for us—it’s probably been 25 years since I’ve been black Friday shopping and that’s a good thing!

Today we were puttering again when Joe called and suggested an ATV ride.  Friends Sandy and Tom have a new RZR and were anxious to get out for a ride—of course, off we went!

As you can see by our attire, it was a little nippy out there today.  I have to keep reminding myself—it is winter, even in Arizona but at least it isn’t minus 7 as its been in Montana!  In that respect, we are really enjoying our house—as all you RVers know, it can be hard to keep one of our “tin tee pees” warm when the temperatures drop—our heat pump keeps us toasty warm in the house and it is very quiet!

Back home some of the ATV gang joined us for leftover pie and ice cream before heading for their respective homes.  Michael had a burst of energy and decided to hang a set of upper cabinets he had finished earlier—the kitchen is really looking great!!!

I will leave you with some photos of the cutest great-grandbaby!

Thanksgiving Day

Michael and I hope all our friends and family had a wonderful day—Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday—it’s the best with family, friends, good food and thankfulness!

We celebrated our holiday with good friends—Tom and Sandy, Barry and Donna, Fred and Nancy, Joe and Kathy plus Larry and Geri.  As usual we had way too much food but it was amazingly good food!!  Turkey and prime rib, stuffing, potatoes—you get the idea!  And the desserts were to die for!!  Leftovers went home with everybody and there still seems to be a lot of food in my refrigerator! 

In our haste to live in the house we have moved out of the motorhome gradually—I bet we each made at least 20 trips over to the motorhome yesterday and today.  Just as I would think we had everything we needed, I would remember one more thing—I guess all that exercise will allow us to finish off the pies????

Michael and I are truly blessed in our lives and we are grateful! 

First Night In House

Monday morning early saw us leaving Ms. Emmi with Larry and Geri—we were headed to Prescott on a counter top fact finding mission plus a Costco run.  Rarely do we go six weeks between Costco trips but we left Montana on October 8 and haven’t been near a Costco since!  We both almost fainted when the guy told us our total and that was one full jeep!!

At North Ranch we retrieved Emmi, unloaded the jeep and put our feet up—whew—whether it’s 60 miles or 100 miles for a shopping trip—it’s exhausting!

Today we hit the ground running—our goal was to spend Tuesday night in our house and that’s what we are doing.  Michael arranged some improvised counter tops using the old cabinet doors plus today he temporarily installed the sink (he only turned the air blue once!).  So, we are all set for Thanksgiving—we have a complete kitchen!

There are still more upper cabinets to install plus both the upper and lower cabinets to the left of the stove.  For now we are keeping the refrigerator but I am going to paint it black when things slow down a little. 

We made a quick run to Wickenburg this morning for plumbing supplies and last minute groceries.  I spent the rest of the day cleaning/vacuuming/moving.  The bed is made and we are sleeping in our new house tonight.

Life is good! 

Whew—We’ve Been Busy Again

Saturday was the bi-annual North Ranch garage sale—lots of North Ranch people participate and tons of people come in to shop from the surrounding areas. 

Photo is from the garage sale last spring but it gives you an idea of how many people turn out for this event!  I was very pleased with my finds—old Pyrex bowls, Corning Ware bowls with lids and the biggest score—a 7.5 foot pre-lit Christmas tree for $20!!!!!—I’ve been searching the internet for a reasonable priced Christmas tree with no success—the prices range from $200 and up, way up!!   The cowboy purchased some tools, a bar stool, wire and who knows what else!  A successful day!

Saturday afternoon Barry was pressed into service helping Michael mount two sets of the upper cabinets.  I painted—again, but today I finished!!  The living room, kitchen and dining/sun room are all painted and look fabulous!  Tonight Michael and I cleaned up, re-installed the switch plates, duct covers, etc., and moved the furniture into the living room—we loved it!!!  A bit more furniture than we needed but it works—when I get everything cleaned I will take some photos. 

So, we’ve been working hard—but it’s all coming together!

Crested Saguaros And An Arch

Thursday saw the cowboy working on our Arizona ATV trailer—we had a ride scheduled and the trailer needed re-working to carry the side by side versus the 4-wheelers we used last year.  I partially painted the living room ceiling.  In the evening we headed over to Larry and Geri’s for happy hour to discuss the ride logistics.

We turned off the highway at Morristown and drove out to a staging area on the Hassayampa River.  Larry and Geri were our leaders and we were joined by Fred, Nancy, Joe, Kathy, Barry and Donna.  Emmi and Parker came along too.  Emmi has her nose a little out of joint since Parker (a tiny one year old male poodle) joined the group—Emmi’s not the only kid on the block now.

It was an absolutely beautiful day—perfect temps and sunny, blue skies.  Saguaros by the thousands dot the red rock hillsides joined by thousands of those nasty cholla cactus.  The trails were nice—not too challenging—just pleasant riding.

We spotted these two crested saguaros just about 100 yards off the trail—spectacular!!!

The above crested saguaro is one of the largest we’ve ever seen.

This one was strange but cool!

Back on the trail heading toward the staging area we spotted an arch off in the distance then discovered a trail leading right to the arch.

I would say we had quite the spectacular day!

Barry and Donna headed home to see after their elderly pooch, Pacer, leaving the rest of us to ride a little longer then head to the Tasty Freeze in Wickenburg for a little supper and ice cream.

Life is good!

Is The Cowboy Ill

Can you believe the cowboy hired a contractor???  I’m thinking I should take his temperature!!  He didn’t think he wanted to learn stuccoing at his age and hired a contractor recommended by the Bayfield Bunch.  Very personable guy, reasonable and is doing what we think is a good job. 

Michael spent the day reconstructing cabinets—the upper cabinets are requiring a lot more demolition and re-making than did the lower ones.  He’s almost ready to hang an upper section. 

Some times I wonder what in the world I did in a day—today was one of those days.  I seemed to be going in circles all day—I made a pot of chili and a recipe from Facebook that was a dud—Apple Cinnamon Bread.  The coffeecake type bread was kind of blah. 

I did a little touchup painting in the house and prepped another section, the living room—removing switch plates and taping.  Mid-afternoon I went up to the clubhouse to speak with the activities director—we are going to start a yoga group and wonder of wonders—I am going to be the teacher!  I try to make myself practice yoga at home but I need the incentive and encouragement of a group—so I am starting one.

So—I guess I was productive!

Sunrise in Arizona Wednesday morning.

Updates

OK, let’s look at this photo again—no, it has nothing to do with the cowboy’s ugly hat—it’s still ugly.  Sharon from the Odd Essay got it on the first try—Emmi is sitting in Michael’s lap—in a restaurant!!  When the gang headed out for an ATV ride, this crew didn’t get the message we would be dining in Yarnell—we packed a lunch as usual and took Emmi as usual—when we realized dining in a restaurant was on the agenda, we had a dilemma.  We were afraid to leave Emmi leashed to the rig (something we’ve never done)—the street running through Yarnell is way too busy for that.  So—I thought, what the heck, I will just ask if Emmi can come in with us—they said yes—you gotta love small town USA!  They tucked us away in a back room and we were good to go. 

The kitchen is taking shape and I’ve started painting—I just may have a working kitchen by Thanksgiving??? Help arrived today in the form of Barry and Geri—Barry came to help Michael with cabinets and Geri came to help me paint—now those are good friends!!!  I painted the kitchen/sunroom ceilings yesterday and today Geri and I quickly had all the kitchen/sunroom walls painted with the exception of the accent wall—need to buy paint for that one.  I used an off white on the ceilings and a mushroom risotto (who comes up with these names??)—a light taupe color on the walls—it looks great. 

Tonight all the lower cabinets are installed with the exception of the one which goes to the left of the range—tomorrow.  The dishwasher is washing away as I type—we are making sure it works before we attempt to sell the old one at the North Ranch garage sale on Saturday. 

Our friend John posted this on Facebook:  “I think I found the guy who originally owned that Stetson you got Mike”  Yep, John, I think you are correct!

A Day Off

We both worked so hard Thursday we had to take a day off today—Michael worked inside the house, he is almost finished with the drywall work.  I worked outside all day—I dug holes to China!  There were two Bougainvillea plants in the front yard next to the porch—they have major thorns—we are talking daggers and they have a major root system!  I moved those to the back yard.  There was a tiny/sickly palm tree on the north side of the house which never saw sunshine—I moved him to the front yard.  Plus I finished burying all the watering system pipe—whew—I could hardly put one foot in the front of the other by dinner time.

Barry and Donna purchased a CanAm and today we along with Larry and Geri plus Fred and Nancy took them on an inaugural ride.  And it was a new ride for Michael and me, too.  We went to the top of Round Mountain.  Three hundred and sixty degree views!!  The ATV gang had always told us Round Mountain was a tough trip due to the “steps” near the top—rocky ledges which can make for difficult riding.  The cowboy wanted to go so Larry tells him, “put it in low range, four wheel drive and go.”  Thanks Larry!! When we reached the top my first words were, “that wasn’t bad at all.”  We phoned down to the rest of the gang (yep, we travel high tech!) and told them, “piece of cake.”  Larry and Geri plus Fred and Nancy had been to the top in the past and said the road was in much better shape this year—lucky us!

Even though it was only 11am we decided to have lunch—lunch with a view for sure!

Back down the hill and off to the river—the Hassayampa River flows above ground then disappears underground—resurfacing at different spots.  We were going to go up river to see how much water was flowing but after watching a young couple almost bury a 4-wheeler in the mud and water we decided maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.  Larry had thoughts of trying to make it through but-----

changed his mind!

It was a great day of riding.  We all gathered later at the Biltmore tent for pizza, conversation and laughter.  Life is good!