Another Great ATV Ride

Do you ever just go ahead and plan something fun although you know you have way too much to do?  Such was my case Saturday—by the time you read this blog we will be back in Montana for the Christmas holiday—we had lots to do in preparation for our Montana trip but chose to join the gang for an ATV ride on Saturday—and a great one it was!  Update—I had pre-scheduled this blog to post for Sunday evening and we headed to the Mesa Gateway airport where Allegiant Air and the Bozeman weather put a hitch in our plans!  Our flight was canceled and we are tucked into a gorgeous, new Courtyard Marriott near the airport—going to try again in the morning.  Such is travel this time of year!

We trailered the ATVs to a OHV staging area off Highway 74 near Lake Pleasant—huge staging area and camping is allowed.  Any size RV (even ours) would fit if you can tolerate the dust and noise—it was a weekend day so the area was probably busier than it would be during the week.  There are miles and miles of trails for dirt bikes, ATVs and jeeps.  The riding was challenging at times!

This is Tom and Sandy coming up one particularly steep/rutted spot.

We rode in the washes and across the ridges with beautiful views—we could even see Lake Pleasant at a distance.

Last year Geri and Larry introduced us to “muffler cooking.”  Wrap food in aluminum foil and place it on the muffler—by lunch time you have a toasted sandwich or a warm hot dog, etc.  Today I made a little aluminum foil trail for some of the tasty leftovers left from Friday night—what a treat to have a warm lunch on a chilly day!!

Brisket, calico beans, wild rice/sausage and tater/tot casserole. 

We will be in Montana for several days—Christmas is coming!

I’ve finally resolved my Live Writer issues but am still not convinced I will continue with this program.  When life settles again after the holidays I am going to explore Word Press a little more.

Another Test

Christmas Gathering

Yippee, Live Writer is back!  I uninstalled my previous version and used the link Al provided to download the new Open Live Writer—success!  I tried a test post with a Picasa photo and it worked, so here goes the regular post. And as you can see from the way this blog looks--it didn't work.  I hit publish and received an error message--frustrating--why did it work the first time and not tonight??

Mostly puttering going on around here—Michael in the garage, me in the house.  We’ve taken some nice desert walks and I taught yoga on Thursday.  We went to Wickenburg yesterday and again today as I had an appointment for a hair cut.

The ATV gang gathered tonight at our house for a little Chirstmas gathering—a potluck and wow!!—what great food we had!  

Emmi loves Geri and Larry—the feeling is reciprocated—Emmi even got her own Christmas card tonight!  I think Emmi was hiding from in Larry’s lap from Parker the poodle!

Nancy’s cake was beautiful and delicious!  It was such an enjoyable evening spent with great friends—we missed you Joe and Kathy!

In addition to the fact Live Writer won't publish the blog I also discovered it doesn't alert you to misspelled words as it did before???  

Test Post

Well, let’s see if this works!

Home Again

Well, I see there is nothing new on the Live Writer home front--I've been away for a couple days and wrote my last blog in advance of leaving using Blogger.  I attempted a Live Writer "test post" tonight and got the same error message.  I'm investigating Word Press as I've decided I do still want to continue the blog if for nothing but my own documentation--and I'm not crazy about Blogger after using Live Writer for so long.

Gosh, where did December go???  I just spent a couple days in California--holy, moly--I could not live and commute to a job in all that traffic.  It seemed as if we spent more time sitting in traffic than we did anything else!  We did eat some spectacular food--if you ever find yourself in Burlingame, California have dinner at Cafe Figdro Italian Restaurant--one of the best meals I've ever had and not expensive!  Did a little Christmas shopping and was taken aback by the clerks saying, "would you like a bag for an extra $0.10?"  WHAT, HUH????  Yep, if you want a bag to contain your purchases, you will pay $0.10 for it--sure was glad I was carrying a large handbag!!

My cowboy and little Emmi were sure glad to see me this afternoon--they've been working on a few projects, doing a little walking and enduring some not so Arizona like temperatures.

Christmas will be here before we know it!

Sunset photos taken over last weekend:

Exploring

ATVers who must wear snowmobile pants, heavy jackets, wool caps, etc. should have better sense than to go ATV riding but that's what we did Saturday morning under cloudy, very chilly skies!  Two  unnamed Larry and Tom guys decided we needed to go exploring north of Yarnell.  I think they forgot the elevation gain when you travel up the big hill--there was snow on the surrounding mountains!! (Blogger doesn't have the emotion option like Live Writer so imagine a smiley face!)

The topography certainly changes when you travel north above Yarnell--lots of live oak trees, less cactus and rocks.  

We unloaded the ATVs and spent the day exploring the trails and roads just off the highway.  Some of the trails were questionable--as in, "is this really a trail???"

You can just barely see the rigs hidden in the brush out in front of us. 

By mid afternoon we had all had enough of fighting sticker bushes and dead ends--plus it was still cold and we headed for home--still a great day being outside!

The last cabinet went up Sunday afternoon--and the microwave.  I am so lucky to have such a handy husband--we saved a tremendous amount of money by utilizing these used cabinets and I think they look great!!

We went from a U-Haul truck full of used cabinets

to this

Lighted Christmas Parade

After our Wednesday ride to Black Canyon and arriving back at North Ranch in the dark--we all needed some recovery time!  

Thursday was yoga morning for me--we continue to have a big group in the class, 15-16 people for each session.  Fifteen to sixteen enthusiastic, eager participants!

After yoga the cowboy and I headed to Wickenburg and indulged in some Mexican food before running errands.  At just after 3pm when coming out of Safeway, I remembered the 1:45pm appointment I had at the Congress Clinic--dang it!!!  Back in Congress I called the clinic and was glad to hear them say, "oh, just come on over, we can still get you in."  

Friday morning saw me heading to the Congress Clinic again for a fasting blood draw--I continue to be impressed with that little clinic staffed by two nurse practitioners.  My blood was drawn at 9am and by 2pm, Matt, one of the nurse practitioners was calling me with the results!

Whew, who turned off our heat???  Friday morning dawned cloudy and chilly--it stayed that way all day and the forecast is for more of the same for another week or so.  

Friday evening the ATV gang gathered at the Bar7 for dinner before the Wickenburg lighted Christmas parade.  After dinner we found a spot to watch the parade--or so we thought--the organization of that parade could use some help!  The parade has been happening every year for a long time but last night it seemed as if it was a first time happening--confusing and dangerous!

But--it was still a beautiful parade and little downtown Wickenburg was hopping!!

The last two photos show the Congress Volunteer Fire Department float--it was massive--first the fire engine, then three other lighted floats pulled behind the engine--notice the lighted helicopter--the helicopter pad is located right beside the fire department building in Congress.

Saturday was a very chilly and windy day--we had another adventure--more on that one in the next blog!