Sunday, February 4/2018 - Saturday, February 10/2018

This week found us engrossed in the Superbowl.  We all had money riding on the score and Mitch was the lucky winner.  He won 70 dollars!!  Now, I was hoping for the win but I guess we will have to wait for the upcoming season!!

Going up Yarnell Hill

We took a short jeep ride on Sunday before the big game.  It was such a nice day and so we headed up to Yarnell to do the back way over to Stanton Ghost Town and home.  We took the jeep and the dog and away we went.   We stopped along Antelope Creek (it was very dry) and have a "two beer stop" while Booko checked out the area.  At one point he came back to the jeep on three feet as he had a "sticker" in one of his paws!!  He is learning though that this country likes to poke you at every opportunity!!

Vulture Peak in the distance

The back way to Stanton

Meeting a car on the rather dubious "road"

Stopped at Antelope Creek - which was very dry!!

Booko is ready to head home

What remains of an old stone struncture along the road

Miles and miles of desert with lots of mountains in the background

A rare crested cactus also called a "crowned" cactus

Crown cactus

Checking out more trails on Saturday

This week found John busy making repairs to the deck at the apartment.  For some reason it has decided to not sit flat so he dealt with that before someone tripped and hurt themselves.
Mitch arrived back from Utah and brought us some meat we had ordered from a butcher shop in Spanish Fork, Utah.  He has been fighting this cold and flu that has been going around and looked tired.  It wasn't too long before he headed for home so that he could get into his sweats and just sit and rest.
This week was also the week that we had to do some yard cleaning as well.  The weeds were getting out of control along the fence so I decided that they needed to be dealt with.  Kay was busy doing general clean up and John was busy moving the woodpile.
I decided to tackly the cat claw bush by the fence and came out bleeding on only 6 spots!!  It grabbed me a few times and certainly did not want to let go.  Now that bloody thing is just EVIL and it is truly in one's best interest to just leave it alone!!
Kay and I checked out the local Congress dump this week and realized that it really was a bit pricey to use it.  They charged a buck for each bag of garbage!!  WHAT!!  Im thinking that I like the price of hauling our garbage into the big community bins in Wickenburg.......it is free!!
We also took the time to check out the town itself.  There are some nice yards and a few landscaping ideas to be had by just cruising the roads of town.
I took the time this week to water the oleanders.  They were looking rather sad so a little water certainly made them look happier.  Of curse there are so many down the one fence line that I take a chair with me so that I can sit while I water.  Booko hangs with me, checking out all the nooks and crannies around the big pine trees.  Sky, Kay's kitten often joins us as well.  It really is a "family affair"!!
Gold Rush Days started this week in Wickenburg and Kay and I scooted in on Friday to check out all the vending booths.   It is quite an adventure and this year was as good as any.  The craftsmanship of the various artists is incredible and both Kay and I dropped a few dollars at a few of the kiosks.

On Saturday, we went to pick up two recliners from a couple who wanted to sell them as they were moving to a smaller place.  They were "like new", had never really been sat in as they were in the family room downstairs so not really ever used!!  For 50 bucks we had a couple of awesome recliners!!

When we arrived back at home and had the chairs unloaded and into the house, we hopped into the side by sides and scooted off into the desert for a ride.
We wanted to check out the trail to Stanton and the Canyon.  We have more company arriving in the upcoming week and wanted to make sure we could get from point A to point B without too much difficulty.  We took a rather circuitous route but did manage to find our way through the desert.  Of course this will NOT be the way we will take the company as it was a bit rough in areas and took quite a while to navigate to the "good" trail.  There is a much easier way to travel but today's ride was interesting and we did see a lot of scenery!!

Old mine shaft we found

We got back to the yard in good time, started the fire and enjoyed the evening.  Booko decided that he wanted to sleep in the side by side for part of the evening and did just that!!  I guess he didn't have enough fun today!!
Being Saturday, it was steak night so the tradition continued and once again....it was awesome.   It was a great way to finish off an awesome week and a great day's ride.
Life is Good!!