Sunday, December 7/2014 - Saturday, December 13/2014

Another busy week has come to an end and we are certainly getting stuff done.
John has been busy in the man cave and now the walls are up and the ceiling will be done soon as well. Then, it will be time for paint.
Kay and I scooted into Surprise a few times this week getting supplies for the "build" and also to order a washer and dryer and, we also picked up a little "beer" fridge. We have been busy!!
I am slowly unloading the camper of food stuffs and slowly getting the kitchen into shape here in the trailer. There is nothing more maddening that going to peel a potato and realizing that the potato peeler is still in the camper!! Shit, Oh Dear!! I really need to buy one of those for down here!!
The washer and dryer arrived safe and sound of Friday and I am so excited to use them. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use the dryer until we renovate the bathroom as that is where the plug in cord is and I am NOT about to crawl under the trailer to get it. God only knows what creatures (large and small) live under there!! I will wait until the floor of the bathroom is replaced and the cord is readily available!!
The weather has been great this week however there is a risk of a two day rain coming in on the weekend so we will see what happens. The desert could definitely use a good rain shower.
We got a cord of wood this week and it is now neatly stacked behind the shed. It is pine wood and it crackles and burns like the fires we have back home. It is a good sound.
We finally took the plunge this week and got an I-phone. I am afraid that this phone knows more about me than I know about it but I am learning!!  We now have a new number and I have text it to all the kids and contacts back home. We are no longer SaskTel customers as their international and long distance plans are more expensive than the plan we can have through Verizon and that even includes the exchange!!
So this week comes to an end.... a busy, but good week.  Life is good!!

This guy came to visit Sat night

Another awesome fire

Mary Beth and Marie

Kay in the corner

Tuesday, December 2/2014 - Saturday, December 6/2014

John, Mitch and Hogan watching the javalina

It has been a busy first week here in Wickenburg. John is chomping at the bit to get the "man cave" done and the TV installed so we have made a trip into Surprise for some wood to finish off the inside.
During the summer, Ray bought a recliner love seat from one of the residents that was moving out of the park and we have bought it from him to go into the man cave so now we have that, along with the two chairs Mitch gave us. We now have furniture to sit on in the man cave while we watch the various sports events over the winter season.
Kay and I took Hogan into the vet this week in the hopes that he would be able to have more surgery to control the tumor in his neck. Unfortunately, the tumor has grown much deeper into the "vital tissues and spread further into what would now be an incredibly involved surgery and not one that the vet would recommend. He says that it would cause more trouble and that perhaps we should just let it be. So.... we will now love our sweet Hogan for as long as we can and when it is time for him to go, then we will be strong and do what is best for him. He is and will remain our dear sweet pup.

Pic taken from the front step looking towards the garage and shed

We trimmed the mesquite trees back as there were several branches that had grown wild over the summer and I so enjoyed looking at the flower garden that Kay and I started before leaving for Canada last spring. The flowers have flourished and the bougainvillea has grown so tall that it has intertwined itself in amongst the branches of the tree it was planted under. It looks incredible.

Our first fire here in Wickenburg

So, our first week has come to an end and we still have a lot of plans to get started and done. The weather has been great.  The hummingbird feeder is up and already the little birds are fighting over the nectar. The "sheriff" is back in town and watching over the feeder!!  Life is Good!!

Monday, December 1/2014

Heading out

US 93 South

The sun is shining and the day has begun. It is a travel day today and we will finally be arriving at Wickenburg. Our journey south will come to an end and we can settle in over the next few days and relax for the rest of the season.
Ya, right.....that is a dream. I imagine the dust has settled rather nicely over the inside of the trailer so I will be busy getting the place "livable" again.
We arrived in Wickenburg about 3:30 and it was nice to see the place again. The weather was good and we got busy unloading the trailer so that John could take it up to Mitch's yard where it will sit for the winter. Once that was done, John parked the camper in our driveway and got the dish set up so that we could have TV tonight and of course, internet.
It was good to finally get here and be able to just relax.
Mary Beth came over to say hello and stayed for a few hours. We chatted and caught up on some of the local gossip which is always fun!!
My bath was phenomenal and I just can't wait till tomorrow night when I can have another....maybe I will have two tomorrow......who knows!!  LOL
John and I watched Monday night football then watched a good movie with Liam Niessen in it called Nonstop. I would recommend it to anyone who likes an action movie.
I made the bed for our first night here in the trailer and checked the mattress and the pillows for any "critters".  Kay has already been stung by a scorpion when she gathered her linen off the bed and stuffed it into the wash machine to give it a wash. Apparently there was a nasty little critter in them and it nailed her on the thumb. Now, her thumb is numb!! Welcome to Arizona where everything either stings you, bites you or pokes you!!
Even though I checked our bed and used the sheets I had brought with us, it was with a bit of trepidation that I crawled into bed!! Hopefully I will be able to sleep and not worry about what I may have missed!! Good Night!!

Sunday, November 30/2014

It is Grey Cup Sunday today so it is a stay at home day. This is our final day here as tomorrow we will be in Wickenburg. Yeah!! My bathtub awaits!!
Kay and I are going to slip into Kingman today to pick up a couple of scrumptious steaks for tonight's supper.
We did our shopping then headed back to camp where it was time to get a few things straightened out and prepare for our departure tomorrow.
There were a few NFL games on TV before the Grey Cup started so they were watched while John got busy uploading pictures to the blog. He is soooo far behind that it will take a few days for him to actually catch up to my entries!!
The Grey Cup started and we sat in the trailer cheering on Hamilton. There was no way that we were ever going to cheer for Calgary. It was a pretty good game despite the fact that the Calgary Stampeders were the winners. It looks like it will be "next year country" for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
Of course there were still NFL games on but John got supper started and before too long, it was awesome steak, baked potatoes, fried mushrooms and caesar salad. A feast fit for a king and two queens!!
We finished off the evening watching The Walking Dead. Then it was into bed as we have a busy day tomorrow packing up camp and heading to Wickenburg. Woo Hoo!!

Saturday, November 29/2014

The sun is shining again today and it looks like it is going to be another nice day.
My nose is still a bit stuffed up but I have my echinacea on board and some decongestant. I am sure they will kick in before too long.
We headed out for our final quad ride of our stay here.Today's trail was by far the most user friendly as there were no real big rocky areas to traverse so that was good. We travelled about 35 kms today and once back at camp had our final fire. We managed to find some wood along the trail today and so we were good to go tonight.
Supper was nothing to write home about but it was good. One just has to love Kraft Dinner!!

Beverage

One of the few watering holes

Windmill actually pumping water

Our last fire here

Add a pork chop and a salad and presto......gourmet camping!!

Friday, November 28/2014

The sun is shining again this morning and another great day is upon us.
It is Black Friday today here in the States and that triggers the Christmas shopping rush. I will be staying away from the stores today as I have no desire to fight with a million people to purchase something I don't need!!
It was a road trip day today and we started off by heading back to I-40 and into Kingman where we dumped our garbage and took on some water. I think we have plenty of water for the remaining two days we are going to be camping but it never hurts to have extra either!!.. From the Flying J we headed over to Walmart. Yes, I said I would not go near the stores but we needed beer so thought we would just slip in there quietly and be out before anyone saw us!!
The store was pretty busy but we did manage to get in and out within 30 minutes!! We did good!!
On our way back to the camper, we headed up to check out a nearby campground and actually found it to be a whole little community unto itself. There were many, many houses around and even a little store and restaurant. We pulled into the parking lot and Kay was the first to see an elk standing along side the road. She certainly was not scared and I suspect that she is a common site here. She wandered up to several vehicles before wandering over to us. Both Kay and I got out of the truck to get pictures of her and while she was checking out what we had in the bed of the truck, I tried feeding her a few potatoes from the bags we had.  She loved them!! Gee, it is not everyday one gets to feed an elk potatoes from their hand!! It was pretty darn cool.
We then continued on our way. We took another back road and ended back up on the road we needed to take to return to the camper.
Once back at the camper, we dug into the KFC hotwings we had bought in Kingman and we soon made quick work out of those. They were delicious.
I have been fighting a cold all day and so took some more echinacea and anti histamine and headed to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow is a less "stuffed up" day!!

Cow elk

Checking out the bed of the truck - she was smelling the potatoes.

Marie feeding the Elk potatos

Thursday, November 27/2014

It is the American Thanksgiving today so we must say Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends.
Well, there will not be any turkey for us today but John will be barbequing some moose steak. We promised Kay a feed of moose and today seems like a good day for that.
We are also supposed to be headed out on the quads later on to explore some more trails around here. The sun is shining and it looks like it is going to be another warm, nice day.
John started his sun tan yesterday!!
We took off on the quads and accessed a trail just down the road from the truck. It quickly climbed up into the upper elevations and became quite rocky. Again today, it was a lot of shelf trail. I really, really hate shelf trail!! We travelled about 30 kms today and at one point had to winch ourselves around a fallen tree. It took us about an hour but we managed to get around it and back to the trail.  Of course with all the climbing we did today, there is always a descent and I was certainly glad to get back to the valley floor!!
The sunset was awesome today and I managed to get a few good shots.
Back at the camper, we let Hogan out and he acted like we had been gone for a month!!
We watched NFL football tonight and then John cooked our supper. It was awesome!!

Our trail for the day

Trail we came up

Continuing the climb

At the top

Had to winch around this fallen tree

It was steep

Winched up

Then backwards down

Thats one

Now John's

Made it!

Another awesome sunset on the way home