Driving, Driving, Laugh For The Day and Great News

First the great news—our granddaughter Laci and her husband John called today to tell us we are expecting our first great-granddaughter in July!!!  We knew about the baby but they found out today it was a girl.  Exciting!!!

Our friend Rollie is confused—he thinks the only time planes leave Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is early, early morning!! Once again, Gina and I were leaving North Ranch way before the crack of dawn so Gina could get on a plane headed home to Louisiana.  I was back home before 8am so that tells you how early we left—it’s a one and a half hour drive to the Phoenix airport from here. 

We took a nice walk in the desert when I got back--we met up with these friendly guys/girls:

making Emmi bark.  We also saw a strange sight in the desert:

you would think it was too dry for mushrooms to grow in the desert!

Back home we had an email from a realtor sending us a map and directions for reaching a property we thought might be nice.  We traveled roads which made the West Boulder Road at home look like a regular freeway.  Up washes, down washes, we came to places where my dear cowboy said, “nope, not going there.”  Our jeep is a JEEP for goodness sakes and is FOUR WHEEL DRIVE but there were places we just thought a little too steep.  And they want you to build a home out there and go to the grocery store from out there—NUTS!!!

The saguaros were everywhere, huge and majestic.

One of the better spots in the road!! These last two photos are the views from this property.  But, in spite of those views they won’t be receiving any offers from this cowboy and his spouse!!! 

Retired Rod has a Roomba vacuum story that will make you laugh so hard you cry or worse.  Michael hasn’t stopped giggling yet—you owe it to yourself to go over and read his story!! 

Bladder Strength

Bet you thought I was going to talk about myself, didn’t you??? It was one of those slow starting days—Emmi has again all of a sudden developed those involuntary urine leaking episodes—of course the medication she used to take was at home in Montana.  Amazon.com Prime to the rescue and we were able to start her on the medication last Thursday.  Almost instantly the urinary leakage stopped—the meds should not work that quickly but they do.

In September, 2012 while we were in Oregon, Emmi developed this problem—she would get totally relaxed in your lap or on our bed and wake up in a puddle of urine, YUK!!  And, it stressed her out too, she didn’t know what was happening.  It seems to be a common problem among spayed female dogs. Our vet gave us a drug called Prion—almost immediately Emmi developed awful side effects—she had no energy and trembled all the time.  The vet suggested compounding estrogen but we decided instead to try these natural supplements called Bladder Strength For Dogs from Vetri-Science.  Emmi took these chewable tablets, the urinary leakage stopped and we decided to try it without the pills and up until now, no problems.

So, with all that said, Emmi will frequently get up in the early morning hours and stand up on the side of our bed wanting to be picked up—in the past we picked her up and let her snuggle down under the quilt.  Well, with this urinary problem one of us has been getting up and taking her out at that time—just to prevent any accidents.  She has been totally dry since we started the meds last Thursday but we just aren’t ready to take any chances if you know what I mean!!!

Our walk in the desert was later, late enough that by the time we got back to the motorhome we decided to go into Wickenburg for lunch.  I also wanted to cruise by the thrift shop, I had heard there was a good one in Wickenburg. 

We stopped and picked up Emmi then headed out to Al and Kelly’s for a nice visit.  We wanted to pick their brains to see if they had ever gone to the Crown King mine via the back roads.  They had not but have a trip planned and invited us along—cool!!! 

Happy hour at Mike and Pat’s, a long walk around the park for Emmi and me—we are now settled in relaxing—what started out as a slow day got busy!! 

Installing Booster and Panel Antenna

Last night it rained and rained making the desert smell so clean while we walked this morning.  The down side to the rain is all that desert sand sticks to our shoes and Emmi’s feet making for a messy RV.  But the sand was nothing compared to the mess Michael made!!

Before we left Montana the first time we ordered from the 3G Store a Wilson signal booster and an inside panel antenna.  We’ve been using the signal booster but not the antenna—so today was the day of the big install.  We’ve had an outside, rooftop Wilson antenna for a long time—it is important for that outside antenna and the inside antenna to be at least 20 feet apart.  To reach this distance entailed Michael drilling holes through the insides of all the cabinets along that side of the motorhome.  The holes are at the top of the cabinets, behind the doors, visible only if you are looking—this allowed him to hide the cable inside the cabinets.  The booster is at one end of the kitchen, the panel antenna along with the router and aircard are at the other end of the rig.  It works, our internet is good!

When he was finished late this afternoon, the motorhome received a thorough cleaning to say the least. 

Emmi and I took several walks around the park—I enjoy looking at all the creative ways people landscape in the desert.  I noticed tonight many of the cactus are about to bloom—one of Pat’s all ready has blossoms. 

Tonight Emmi and I walked up to watch Downton Abbey with Gina—it’s hard to believe season four has ended all ready!!  I love that show, the accents, the clothes, the pomp and circumstance. 

And that’s it for our Sunday in the desert.  The snow finally stopped in Montana and the temps are to be above freezing tomorrow! 

Rain In The Desert

Rollie, Gina and I left North Ranch this morning at the wonderful hour of 4:30am heading for the Phoenix airport and it was raining.  It has rained off and on all day—and I don’t begrudge the desert not one drop!  After dropping Rollie at the airport Gina and I made a stop at Wal Mart (by the way 7am is a good time to shop in Wal Mart) and Albertson’s before arriving back at North Ranch. 

I have been a total couch potato all the rest of the day!!  Just after lunch the bed began calling me and with the rain hitting the motorhome roof, I had a really good nap! I think Michael and Emmi also examined the backs of their eyelids on the couch!

It is La Fiesta weekend here in North Ranch and the weather put a damper on the parade today—it looked as if they had a pretty good turn out for their craft fair and lunch at the activities center.

We did make it to happy hour at Mike and Pat’s—as did Larry and Geri who also brought their Manitoba, Canada friends, Elmer and Henrietta.  We met these friends briefly while we were all in Pahrump, NV.  Elmer reminds me so much of my Uncle Len—he sounds like him, sits like him and looks like him. 

Judging by the food on that table it looks as if we had dinner instead of happy hour!!

Wow is Montana ever getting inundated with snow, mountains and mountains of snow—it is minus 14 degrees at our house and the wind is blowing.  I think we will take a little AZ rain!

North Ranch is a unique Escapees property in that residents actually own their lots and can build homes.  Some of the houses are beautiful and tastefully done, Mike and Pat’s house is very well done and this little one we both like is just down the street from them:

There are also vacant lots on which owners come and park RV’s.  The larger lots usually have hookups for two RV’s.  We are parked on a small lot and there is only one hookup here but we are lucky in that our lot backs up to the desert. 

Another day in the AZ desert.

You Never Know What You Will Find In The Desert

After our early morning walk in the desert we decided to take a drive up Date Creek Road, just north of Congress—it’s a loop road which led us back through Kirkland and Yarnell.  We took some time to drive around the neighborhoods of Yarnell—it made my heart hurt—remembering those 19 young fire fighters who lost their lives this past summer while fighting the fire which came close to eliminating Yarnell.  The businesses along the main street were spared as were many, many of the homes.  The fire pattern was so strange, the houses are grouped tightly together in this quirky little neighborhood, many of the houses are built around the huge, giant rocks this area is known for—the fire destroyed one house and 30 feet away the next house would be spared.  Very sad.

We were out looking for property but didn’t find much of interest but it was a beautiful drive.  We did spot this bird in a nest—help us out Judy!

Back home I baked a cream cheese pound cake to take to the dance Ms. Pat wanted us to attend tonight.  The cake looked beautiful and tasted awful!!!  What the heck happened???  I’ve made this recipe at least 50 times and each time it turns out perfectly.  I think it probably had something to do with using my convection oven and a rack that put the cake too close to the top of the oven. 

The dance was fun, visiting and snacking on the appetizers we all brought, watching the many line dancing ladies and gentlemen (Ms. Pat is the line dancing teacher at North Ranch).  My cowboy even danced with me!  Here is a not very good photo of Mike and Pat—they looked so good out there on the dance floor!  So did Rollie and Gina but the stars were Larry and Geri.  Geri said Larry is one of seven children—his Dad did not dance so his Mom taught all her children to dance so she would always have a dance partner!! 

Rollie has been thinking he is still at work getting up in time to see the sunrise—he has taken some great photos:

Rollie leaves us tomorrow heading back offshore—it’s been so good to see he and Gina.  That’s about it for our day in the desert.  It did rain a touch tonight but back home in Montana they are getting clobbered with another powerful winter storm. 

Happy, Happy birthday Terry—you should be in the desert celebrating this momentous birthday with us!!!

Thirty One Miles

Wow, I think I’m feeling kind of old tonight and Gina says she is feeling the same.  We took the ATV’s out again today leaving about 10:15am and rode 31 miles—it might not have been so bad if it had been 31 smooth, flat miles but instead it was rocky, sandy and rough!  Plus when I got in the shower I swear I had rivulets of sand running off me! The scenery was spectacular and the weather just as great—we took a lunch, having our picnic at what is known as Box Canyon.  Several years ago our friends Jerry and Caryl took us on a jeeping trip to Box Canyon—the Hassayama River had lots of water at that point in time.  Today, the river was sad, barely a trickle.  You can see just puddles of water in the lower edge of both these photos.Taken March, 2011

We enjoyed another happy hour at Mike and Pat’s with Jerry and Caryl plus Larry and Geri joining us.  When we got back to the motorhome Emmi and I took off on a walk—while I was gone my cowboy did the dishes—he’s the best!!

Uh-oh, she’s got that look—she’s spotted a special rock—our Gina is quite the rock hound!

Uh-oh, someone is stuck but the cowboy came prepared!

Stretched across the road, we think this is an Arizona bull snake.

Another great day with great friends in the Arizona desert.

A Busy Day In The Desert

First on our agenda today was a nice 2.5 mile walk with Ms. Emmi—it felt good to get some exercise!  The desert is getting greener and greener.

Michael was then off to Rollie and Gina’s site to assist with fixing an ATV carburetor.  It took all three guys but they had the 4-wheeler going by noon.

Gina and Rollie joined us for a quick lunch of tacos before we all started getting ready to ride the ATV’s out in the desert for a while.  The weather is just perfect, high 70’s and sunny.

I took this photo of Gina and Rollie.  Rollie took the rest of these photos and I just forgot to remove my watermark before exporting the photos from Picasa. 

We usually haul Emmi in a milk crate on the back of Michael’s ATV.  Today I put her on a towel in my lap and she loved it—she sat up looking around until she got tired then laid down.

Four o’clock happy hour at Mike and Pat’s with Larry and Geri who arrived today joining us.  Larry and Geri used to own Broken Arrow campground in Custer, SD but now spend their time fulltiming in a toy hauler with a motorcycle and 2 ATV’s. 

And that’s it for our day in the warm Arizona desert.