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Thursday, February 12, 2015

360 Degree View

This morning we took off on the ATVs--with Larry and Geri plus Fred and Nancy.  Some of the trails we traveled today were new to us and our lunch spot was spectacular, a 360 degree view!! 

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We traveled about 30 miles round trip with lots of rest stops and conferencing stops! Smile

IMG_0979IMG_0983IMG_0985Not sure what Fred is doing in the bushes!!  Larry was eating liverwurst for lunch!!  Sad smile

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IMG_0986Wickenburg in the distance. 

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None of the riding was terribly challenging today, just lots of fun!  Back at North Ranch we gathered at Larry and Geri’s for happy hour.  They are heading out tomorrow for a few days of riding with Tom and Sandy up around Lake Havasu.  We are off to Flagstaff leaving Fred and Nancy holding down the fort here at North Ranch. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Knitting

Cruising around Facebook I came across a news article about the winter caretakers at Many Glacier Lodge in Glacier National Park—check out their blog—talk about total isolation!  The park is suffering from lack of snow at this time much like the rest of Montana—strange Montana winter this year, warm temperatures and little snow, it was raining today!

Any blog readers out there remember my previous knitting attempts—I tried socks which in hindsight was probably a mistake—and after ripping out so many times the yarn was stretched I gave up.  When packing the motorhome for this winters’ trip south I decided to bring less quilting stuff as I rarely sew and instead pack some hand sewing projects as well as my sock knitting paraphernalia.  When the cowboy heard I was bringing the knitting project he volunteered to leave some of his stuff at home so I could bring more quilting items—seems I swear less when quilting than when knitting! SmileWell, somehow I ended up leaving the partially finished sock at home.

Fast forward to a blog written by Judy of Patchwork Times--Beginning Knitting Advice back in late January.  Judy inspired me that day—I sat down at the computer and ordered yarn, needles and stitch markers.  Judy stressed—make something flat for your first try—so I am knitting something called a “spa cloth”—a glorified washcloth I think! Winking smileIt’s amazing what you can learn on the internet—I could not even begin to read the pattern—I knew how to cast on and knew what the “K” and “P” meant but that was the limit of my knitting lingo knowledge.  Thanks to Mr. Google I now know what “pm” and “sm” mean—those little markers are a life saver!!  I now know what “seed stitch” means, I’m having fun and I haven’t cussed once! SmileThere are mistakes I know—I have two extra stitches on each row but as this is my first real knitting project I am NOT stressing—it’s a washcloth after all, not a sweater!!

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Jim and Ellie had business in Phoenix today and I was the designated dog sitter taking Mr. BoJangles and Jasmine for a couple walks this afternoon.  Michael puttered with the ATVs again making one trip to Wickenburg for parts.

Another easy, sunny but windy day in the Arizona desert. 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Healthy Eating

The cowboy is basically a meat and potato man—he likes many fruits (thank goodness) and will eat asparagus and green beans but can do without most other veggies such as squash or cabbage.  He will also eat a salad which includes vegetables such as cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, etc.  Sometimes he surprises me—I purchased a HUGE bag of organic greens while at Costco—kale, chard and spinach.  Today I sautéed some of those greens in olive oil with a little garlic salt and served the greens with the following recipe which I saw on Facebook.  Michael really, really liked the greens and we both thought the scallops were amazing—I of course used Costco frozen scallops—not many scallops growing among the cactus here in the desert! Smile

AMAZING SCALLOPS!!!

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh bay or sea scallops
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour for dredging
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped shallots (2 large)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup dry white wine ( I didn’t have any white wine and my white wine drinking friend, Ellie, was not at home so I left this out—it might have made a difference in taste but they were delicious without this ingredient!)
1 lemon, cut in half

Directions:
If you're using bay scallops, keep them whole. If you're using sea scallops, cut each one in half horizontally. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss with flour, and shake off the excess.

In a very large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over high heat until sizzling and add a single layer of scallops. (Do not crowd the scallops in the pan.) Lower the heat to medium and allow scallops to brown lightly on one side without moving them, then turn and brown lightly on the other side. This should take 3 to 4 minutes total.

Melt remaining butter in the pan with scallops; add shallots, garlic, and parsley and sauté for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops. Add the wine and cook for 1 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Yesterday Michael and I went to Prescott—we spent a large portion of the day lost even with the lady in the phone telling us where to go—there is something very confusing to us about Prescott roads.  We made the usual stops—Home Depot, Lowes, Wal Mart and Costco.  We strayed from our usual stop at Five Guys for hamburgers and fries and tried the In and Out—we will go back to Five Guys!

Today we traveled over to Wickenburg where I got a much needed haircut.  I jokingly told the hairdresser, “when you cut my hair last time I don’t think I got my monies worth—it was grown out too quickly.”  Well, she took me at my word and I got my monies worth to say the least—it is short!

The cowboy installed a horn on my ATV this afternoon and Tom—it is louder than yours!  To be street legal you are required to be licensed (we are in the state of Montana), plus you must have both a rear view mirror and a horn.  We don’t often ride on any street but we do ride on some county roads at times. 

I spent the afternoon cleaning—our motorhome needed it and so did the dog—much to Emmi’s dismay she also got a cleaning/bath! SmileIMG_0933

We were sitting outside having an adult beverage when Fred and Nancy drove by in their ATV, I waved them in but they drove on by—only to soon return with beers in hand.  We spent an enjoyable hour visiting—Jim and Ellie also strolled over bringing me the keys to their motorhome—I’m on dog duty tomorrow as they have an appointment in Phoenix. 

This little toot is now six months old—amazing! 

A trip to Flagstaff is in our near future—stay tuned for why!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

We Are Out Of Practice

After our early morning walk I went across and joined the painting party they were having at Jim and Ellie’s Smile--Geri had gone over to help paint—they are close to being finished with all the painting, once that’s finished they can move in! Smile

After lunch Larry and Geri stopped to retrieve us and we were all off on the ATVs—we are out of practice, we only rode 29 miles but both of us are on the couch moaning and groaning.  Your right thumb controls the throttle on these machines and gets very tired by the end of the day—more riding is probably the answer don’t you think! 

Fullscreen capture 282015 63011 PM-001I called this trip River and Dairy Queen

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At dinner Friday night the ATV group talked about a really steep section of trail—Dinosaur Wash—and I overheard Geri say, “I wouldn’t go up it, Larry rode my ATV up.”  Well, Geri is my ATV riding idol—if Geri isn’t riding it, this lady most definitely isn’t going!!”   We did ride up and look at the treacherous trail—just getting to the base of it caused me to dismount and hand the handlebars over to the cowboy—here he is coming down.

It was beautiful, shaded and cool back there in the slot canyon.  The sun was at the wrong angle for my photos to be very good.

IMG_0968IMG_0971Geri went exploring but had to come back down the way she went up.

IMG_0934IMG_0976And our final destination, the Dairy Queen at HWY 93 and Vulture Mine Road—yes, you can get to the DQ on an ATV in the Arizona desert!  The new fancy housing development is putting a crimp in the route we usually use but we managed to wind our way around and find some ice cream! 

A very good day in the Arizona desert!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Feeling Better

We’ve both almost recovered—we took our usual hike into the desert this morning and Michael even made a jeep repair yesterday—some seal or something was leaking.  It took a combination of his and Larry’s tools to get the job done but now it is fixed.

Larry and Geri moved onto their lot today—they were only here a day before purchasing a really nice lot just up from where we are parked—a perimeter lot which looks out over the desert. 

Well, our printer left Montana on Tuesday and arrived at North Ranch today.  We bought a Brother J450DW printer/fax/scanner.  No more HP products for me—I was dreading the wireless set-up—the wireless set-up for the last two printers we have had, a HP and a Canon was a nightmare taking me hours and numerous customer support phone calls.  We plugged this one in, I followed the steps, it immediately recognized our Verizon MiFi device and success—I was printing—amazing!! 

Tonight we had dinner in Wickenburg at a Mexican restaurant with the ATV gang from North Ranch.  I haven’t laughed that much in forever—these guys are so much fun!  Have you ever seen a guy eat an ice cream cone with a spoon—Joe can! Smile

Yesterday we received a care package from Sarge and Sarah—a thank you present for the good times they had while visiting us last week.  It contained lots of great looking goodies from I would bet one of my favorite stores in Livingston. 

No photos the last couple days—my creativeness has been kind of slow to say the least! 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

I Caught It, BIG Spurs and Sunset

Yesterday I was thinking I’m home free, the cowboy is feeling better and I didn’t catch his bug—wrong!  Went to bed last night feeling not quite right and woke this morning with the crud—dang it!!  We don’t get sick often but it does seem we manage to catch someone’s cold about once a year. 

The cowboy felt well enough yesterday that we took a short desert ride with Larry and Geri—just a putter out through the desert for a couple hours.  Here’s Michael and Geri checking out the weird, mutant barrel cactus we stumbled across:

IMG_0924IMG_0926IMG_0928Geri’s not getting too close to the cowboy—his bug might jump out and get her! Smile

Back home we all wandered over to Jim and Ellie’s for happy hour with their guests from Maine, Mike and Peggy plus Mike and Pat came too.  After happy hour Geri and I decided it was time for Larry and Mike to cook and off we went to the Congress Mercantile for burgers.  Very good food.  Coming out of the restaurant we all noticed the beautiful sunset—all any of us had for a camera was my iPhone—not bad I thought!

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At happy hour Ellie and Ms. Pat mentioned seeing a curious sight on their way back from Wickenburg.  There is a new, huge, high end housing/neighborhood project being developed between North Ranch and Wickenburg called Wickenburg Ranch.  The Arizona highway department has been in the process of building a round-a-bout at the entrance to this development and the fancy, spectacular gates are being constructed.  Ellie and Pat saw a huge crane placing these “spurs” in the middle of the round-a-bout yesterday—I left all the clutter in one photo so you could judge the size of these things—massive!

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Michael and I went to Wickenburg this morning for grocery shopping and to find honey!  Seems the lumber yard sells local honey—thanks Kelly!  I spent the majority of the afternoon in my lounger soaking up some sunshine—maybe it will help, you think???

Monday, February 2, 2015

Well, That Was A Really Dumb Move

I’ve waited impatiently all day for our new printer to arrive and at 6pm I went online, pulled up the tracking information and imagine my surprise when the UPS page stated, “delivered, left on porch.”  Uh,oh!!  This motorhome doesn’t have a porch! SmileI went next door to our neighbor’s who does have a porch, nope, no printer.  Came back inside and on Amazon.com realized my really, really dumb mistake!  I shipped the printer to Montana!!  I’ve been so careful to change my default shipping address every time I order something except this time I didn’t—GRRRR!  We have a wonderful UPS driver in Montana and as he knows our driveway is inaccessible he delivered my printer to Nat’s and left it on his porch!!  Now I have to figure out how to get it back to Arizona! 

One of the reasons I was impatiently awaiting the arrival of the printer was this:

DSCN0295which did come today to Mike and Pat’s post office box in Congress.  I downloaded a free pattern and was waiting for the printer to come so I could print the dang thing—guess I will wait a while!  And oh, yes, we need to print tax forms!

Michael is still under the weather—congested, miserable—both of us have had very little sleep the last couple nights—UGH! 

Were you all pleased with the results of the Super Bowl?? SmileAs you know we don’t have TV and we have very little interest in football but we did stream the last few minutes of the first half and the last heart breaking few minutes of the end.  Oh, well, next year!

One year ago today we lost our LoraLee—it does not seem as if it has been 12 months, time has helped but there is still a big hole where her presence used to be.  We miss you LoraLee—so very much!