Aren’t We Retired??

We were coming and going again today.  A good walk then we were off to Wickenburg for more plumbing parts and a great lunch at Anita’s.  Back home the little Ms. Emmi voiced her displeasure at being left home alone—what else is new??

Michael went off to install the last of the plumbing parts on Mike’s drip watering system—I played with the spoiled dog and installed a solar reflective piece over the shower skylight.  I had a piece of that silver reflective stuff just shoved up in the skylight and it was starting to bug me, so I purchased some velcro and attached it to the fabric on our ceiling which is some carpet like material—it works and looks much better!

A realtor called and was available to show us a home here in North Ranch.  We also went and looked at a couple pieces of bare ground near Congress.  Time will tell.

After looking at the property we went out to the local boondocking area to make sure Paul and Nina had arrived and were happy in their spot—it was great to see those guys again and we have other plans in the works. 

We stopped at Larry and Geri’s, setting up an ATV ride for later in the week plus we stopped by Mike and Pat’s to make sure the watering system was leak free—good work the cowboy plumber does!

Pretty busy for two retired folks!!

The last of the Crown King photos.

On The Road

I think that’s what Michael and I both did all day it seems—travel the roads.  The cowboy was off to Mike and Pat’s this morning to re-do their automatic watering system which has been leaking.  They made one trip to Wickenburg and another one to Surprise for parts.  One more part is needed to finish the system so it’s back to Wickenburg in the morning.

Just after noon I ran to Congress thinking I was going to put our taxes in the mail—nope—post office is closed from noon to one o’clock!!  It’s a dang good thing operating rooms don’t work with that kind of schedule—“oh, sorry sir, it’s our lunch hour, just stay asleep here on the table while we run down to the cafeteria and get our lunch, if you wake up just try to stay still, we will finish taking out your gallbladder when we get back!!!”   Geez, Louise!!!

When I went back to the post office the guy who waited on me had about as much personality as a dead fish.  I said hello, he grunted, I laid my package on the scale, he printed off postage without saying a word, stuck it to the package and said, “that will be $3.00”  I said, “wait, I want the package sent priority mail.”  In ANY other post office I have visited, the person behind the counter says, “how would you like to ship this package, priority, etc.”  The guy said, “well you didn’t say.”  I said, “well you didn’t ask, I want it shipped priority.”  He grunted again, printed some more postage, I paid and left—all this without another word.  People who are that unhappy in their jobs should seek employment elsewhere!!!  After speaking with other people who have used this post office often, this guy has been there forever and has always behaved this way.  There are some ladies who work in the post office who are quite pleasant—I bet they love working with this dude!!

Back home I made a fresh strawberry pie—we are waiting for it to chill before we indulge in a piece! 

Emmi and I were outside playing ball when the neighbor’s little dog came toward us from the corner lot across from us.  Jodi, the owner called and called, insisting Jackson come home.  Jackson had other ideas.  I don’t attempt to pick up little dogs, I was bitten by an elderly neighbor’s Pomeranian long ago when attempting to keep the dog from going into the street.  So, I herded Jackson home—I stomped my foot and told him to go home in no uncertain terms—he went after several foot stompings.  Jodi strolled over a while later with my “payment”—fresh peas from her garden—can you believe that, fresh peas in March????? 

About the time I was dog herding Bev stopped by to see why we hadn’t responded to their email about another jeep trip—oops—wrong email address.  We have met the greatest people while RVing, Bev and Jim are some of those people!!  Another jeep trip—yippee, we can’t wait!

The sprinkler repair guys stopped in time for happy hour at Mike and Pat’s plus Larry and Geri joined us.  We spent some time solving the problems of the world before heading off to our respective homes.  I grilled a delicious sirloin and served it with green beans and cantaloupe.  Jim Meachum, you would have been proud of my grilling tonight!

See, it was a busy Monday—and we did travel a few miles, just separately.  The cactus here in the park are starting to bloom—gorgeous!

 

A Good Sunday

The taxes are ready for sending to our accountant—YIPPEE!!!  And no blood was shed!  We were bums this morning, did our walk in the desert, accomplished a few chores, had lunch and I went to the grocery store in Wickenburg. 

When the spoiled Ms. Emmi gets too hot or decides she is tired, she jumps up on Michael’s legs, never mine, only Michael’s—“pick me up, pick me up, please!!” And he does!

Al had this photo of Emmi in his blog with the cutest caption, “I SAID, HEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYY WHO’S GONNA CARRY ME ACROSS THIS CATTLE GUARD!!!!!!!!!!!”  Emmi does walk cattle guards at home and did sort of walk this one but got hung up in the middle.  The cattle guards Michael builds have a little wider rails than this one did, making it easier for her to walk.  Pheebs just strolled across as if she had been doing it all her life!

Here’s a little history about Crown King—the community established to support the Crowned King Mine established in 1888.  In 1901 Frank M. Murphy incorporated the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad Company and began building what was later referred to as “Murphy’s impossible railroad” for hauling the ore from the mine.  Impossible due to the 16 mile steep climb from Cleator to Crown King requiring 10 switchbacks, 2 trestles and a 142 foot tunnel.  The railroad was completed in 1904. 

At the end of World War I, mining declined and the railroad service to Crown King ended in 1927.  Crown King is now a community of summer homes (cooler at 6000 feet elevation) and hardy year round residents (it is a LONG way to a grocery store or to anything from Crown King!!).  There is a one room school still in operation with four students this school year.  Some of the Crown King buildings are original to the town’s beginnings—the General Store and the Crown King Saloon.

 

When we started down off the mountain there were multiple switchbacks, we were meeting jeeps coming and going—Jim and Bev, Simon and Sandy on the road below us.

It had been a long, long day—Al and Kelly headed home once we reached Prescott, Simon and Sandy were rumored to be heading to Costco.  Michael and I elected to join Bev and Jim for dinner before heading down the hill to Congress.  It was truly a great day!!

Crown King Jeep Trip—Joyful

OK, I’m a little recovered this morning and although Michael was outside at 3am pulling in our window awnings we did manage to go back to sleep.  Seems the March wind has decided to make an appearance!

Last week when we were visiting Al and Kelly we were invited along on a jeep trip they were taking with two couples:  Bev and Jim, fulltimers plus Sandy and Simon who are also Canadian.  Jim was our guide and what an awesome guide he made—the trip was just delightful, we ambled along, never getting in a hurry 167 miles, 60 of which was traveled on dirt roads, not awful dirt roads but dirt nonetheless and rough at times.  It was a joyful trip, smiles on our faces, laughter—all eight of us enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

I didn’t take near as many photos as Al but I did take a few—I will spread them out over a few days:

Jim in the lead followed by Simon.  We were third in line all day with Al bringing up the rear.

We were in country at an elevation high enough, there was water, live oak trees and huge pine trees at times.  This is a bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places over the Hassayampa River. 

Our journey started off on pavement through the land  of big, big ranches with gorgeous gates and fences.  At one time we were traveling through a ranch owned by Revlon, the cosmetic company.  The rock/stone/stucco fence posts were a very pretty PINK color—yep, pink!!Time for lunch, I could get used to traveling with these folks!! Out came tables and chairs, tablecloth, wine, glasses for the wine, etc!!  This was no peanut butter and jelly group we were with, Simon and Sandy even enjoyed a beautiful salad which had us all drooling.  Bev had also made some delicious cookies, very, very good!!

Bev with her back to the camera, Kelly and Al

Jim on the left, Sandy and Simon.

Gorgeous scenery, cool temps, sunshine and good friends, old and new—a joyful day!!  More photos and more about Crown King in the next blog!

Too Tired To Write

We had the most wonderful day with friends Al and Kelly who introduced us to our new friends, Jim and Bev plus Sandy and Simon.  Leaving home at 9am and getting back about 9pm, I’m just too tired to sort through photos and write a blog—check back in the morning!

A Day Of Rest

After yesterday’s bumpy journey we decided a day of rest was in order.  After our early morning walk we headed into Congress to drop off the garbage at the transfer station—exciting right??—then drove by a house for sale I had found on the internet.  The house was a “no” and we headed home.

Lunch was delicious—I re-grilled some of the prime rib I froze at Christmas time and made some oven fries and green beans to go with it.  I also did some work on my bear art quilt—that was fun to finally work on it again.  But as usual, when it’s time to make lunch I have to pick everything up and put it away.

Emmi needed a bath and a haircut—both of which she got this afternoon—while the cowboy started our taxes.  Emmi and I thought of heading for the hills but decided to just tread lightly!  So far there have been no melt downs and I’ve been able to provide him with the info he needs—the internet is a wonderful thing!! 

The desert is a dangerous place at times—somehow I managed to bring in a bunch of cactus stickers on the bottom of my flip flips.  We usually remove our shoes at the door but sometimes I don’t take my flip flops off—mistake!!  Twice today I have stepped on one or several of those stickers—the air turns blue and I do a dance!!! 

Larry and Geri stopped by this afternoon to ask us if we wanted to ride ATV’s with them tomorrow but unfortunately we are all ready going on a jeep tour.  Next time guys!

Wow, What A Trip

Pat has been sending us emails from the ATV/Jeep club here at North Ranch—we noticed a trip we would have liked to take but thought we had missed it on Tuesday.  Last night about 6pm Jim and Bev stopped by to introduce themselves—along with the Bayfield Bunch, Jim and Bev are part of the group we are joining up with for our Friday trip.  They mentioned the North Ranch club had an outing we might enjoy on Wednesday—we hadn’t missed it!!  We decided in spite of our weariness from our busy Tuesday to join this outing and are we ever glad we did!!  Wow, what a trip.  We are exhausted and beat to a pulp but so glad we went!! 

This was one of those kinds of groups one of our fellow bloggers loves to avoid !!  There were 2 jeeps and 22 ATV’s with the majority being the two-seater quad type ATV’s.  There were a couple quads which carried 4 people each—there were a LOT of people!! 

It was about 40 miles from North Ranch to the unloading spot—

We drove the jeep as we have no way of hauling our ATV’s except in the huge cargo trailer.  It took a while to get everyone unloaded and organized, then we were off, divided into three groups.  The cowboy and I were in the second group and we bounced, jarred, rocked and rolled up the mountain for 10 miles!!!  But that ten miles was spectacular!!

you can see the road meandering up the mountain.

And back down we go—the trip back was tortuous!!  Downhill is always worse hiking, riding a horse or going down in a jeep—I think every bone in my body was jarred!!  But it was so worth it!!

We enjoyed our lunch while looking around us for miles and miles.  Emmi was the star attraction getting lots of attention—I think she might have been the only dog.  A great trip!!