Wednesday, January 5/2011

Another lovely day has offered itself up for us to enjoy. Larry and Ariane have decided to have a stay-at-home day so Ariane and I have decided to go for a walk. We walked to what remains of the Big Spar Mine. It was an easy trail for Ariane since she hasn't been walking all that much and an easy trail for me to get back into gear on. Man, it is not hard for me to put my walking exercise on the back burner!! I really need to be much more focused with this exercise stuff!!

We picked up a few rocks along the way for later detecting. Who knows, maybe today is the day we will discover "gold, in them there hills"!!

John is still busy with the jeep and Larry relaxed and just hung out for the day. I think he was plotting strategy for tonight's kaiser re match!!

Once we got back from our walk, both Ariane and I got our craft projects out and worked on those for a bit. The table is coming along rather nicely.

With another sunset behind us, John and I finally got the proverbial monkey off our backs and won the Kaiser games tonight. Finally!!

Tuesday, January 4/2011

Awoke to a beautiful sunrise and the promise of yet another glorious day. Larry and Ariane headed to Stanton Ghost Town today for some sightseeing and John once again worked on the jeep. He spent much of the day online ordering parts and pieces.

I decided to start painting the little camping table we use. Jace made it when he was in high school and we have been using it ever since. It is in dire need of some refurbishing and today is the day it gets it!!

Ariane and I had been in town earlier in the week and we had picked up some olive green camouflage paint, so that was my base color. I decided to paint a mid-western motif on it complete with saguaros and howling wolves. It actually turned out quite nice. Now that I have the outline done, I can start on painting in the figures. This, believe it or not has taken my most of the afternoon and thank heavens it is now "happy hour" and I can quit for the day!!

Larry and Ariane came back from their little day trip and unfortunately, missed seeing Stanton ghost town but did see what remains of the towns of Octave and Weaver, so all was not lost. Because Stanton is the star attraction, Larry is determined to return to the site and see it first hand. The next time he goes though, he will zig instead of zag at the turn off!!

Trueman stopped by just for a short visit to say Hi and tell me he has an old metal detector he will loan me if Ariane and I want to go detecting in the washes. Now that sounds like a whole mess of fun!!

The day ended with John and I getting our asses kicked severely by Larry and Ariane in Kaiser. Now, what is with THAT!!

PS and by the way, Canada lost the gold medal to the Russians in the World Junior Hockey. Looks like "next year" country again for our young hockey players.

Monday, January 3/2011

Today, Larry and Ariane headed into Surprise to do up the Walmart. John was once again, busy on the jeep. He figures another month and it should be were it needs to be so, keep your fingers crossed.

I took down all the Xmas decorations and managed to put them away today. I am so busy you know!! I have purchased a few more (cause you know I need more) all on sale by the way, so I should still be "on budget"!! What is a girl to do, when they are 75% off!!

Hogan has managed to irritate the birds and they spend much of their day dodging him and trying to eat at the bird feeder. They even drink out of his water dish and I am not so sure if Hogan appreciates that!! It provides me with some pretty good entertainment. The doves have also found the seeds and they are fun to watch as well. The quails have not made an appearance yet so I am eagerly awaiting them. They are the most fun to watch as they do more running than flying and Hogan actually believes that he has a chance at catching them!! Stupid dog!!

Sunday, January 2/2011

Awoke to sunshine today. The weather is definitely getting better. Larry and Ariane took in the Desert Cabellaros Museum today and did the walking tour of Wickenburg as well. This is a sweet little town and there is plenty to do in and around Wickenburg is one choses to do so. Larry is getting a bit restless and needs to be "doing" something. Me, well I can sit and loose myself in a book for days - months even. With this new Kindle John bought me for Xmas, well, there is no stopping me. Hell, I don't even have to go into town to buy a book now. I can do it all through the Kindle. Technology is a wonderful thing!!

John is working on the Jeep again and has now ripped out all the wiring - there is no turning back now, he says. Like there ever was!!

We watched some of the World Jr Hockey tournament and Canada has finally taken their revenge on the Americans. They have won the game and now advance to the gold medal game against the Russians. The U.S. is in the bronze medal game. That is what they get for taking the gold medal from us last year in our own country!! Sweet payback!!

Kaiser finished off the evening for us then it was off to bed.

Saturday, January 1/2011

Happy New Year everyone. May this year be your best yet. The dogs and I were up early to greet the new year and to my surprise, John followed soon after. Because we had both drank responsibly last night. there were no hangovers or any such nonsense this morning.

We had a cup of coffee and started the bus, preparing for the ride home. We were loaded with fuel, propane and water and the tanks were empty so, we are good for another month!!

We stopped at Safeway and I bought a few groceries then headed back out to the campsite.

Once at the site, we quickly got all set up and then it was time to relax and enjoy the day. Although the weather remained chilly, it was a good day. After supper, we had a few games of Kaiser and headed to bed. Are we getting old or what?

Friday, December 31/2010

New Year's Eve day and the sun is shining although there still is that chill in the air. Ben came out from town and said he had a good night. He was warm and clean and had done his laundry as well. He was meeting the new year rested and squeaky clean!! Because it was going to remain cold again tonight, Ben decided to stay at the motel for another night and I said I would keep Rizzo until he was settled back at camp. He can hang with Hogan while we party tonight in town.

Since the bus needs fuel, propane and the tanks dumped, John has decided to stay in town for the night. Larry and Ariane will drive their little tracker in and then if they want to come home early, they are free to do so. This way, no one has to wait on anyone else and that is better all the way around.

We headed into town around four and were to meet Larry and Ariane around seven at the restaurant. We found the dump station at the Horspitality RV Park and were treated with the sighting of a roadrunner while there. Even John managed to see it!!

John and I finally got our act together and headed to the Seven at 6:30 and were on our first beverage when Larry and Ariane arrived. Supper was good - as usual. Being Friday, it was John's favorite - all you can eat fish and chips and my mouth was watering for one of their totally awesome burgers.

It was great talking to all the girls again and asking about their Xmas. No one had any great plans for the New Year and we all hoped that it would be pretty quiet for Lee (Erika's boyfriend, who is one of Wickenburg's police officers).

Once supper was done, we headed down to the Rancher Bar for Karaoke. This was a new experience for both Larry and Ariane and I so hoped that they would enjoy it. As it turned out, I think that Ariane enjoyed it more than Larry. I did mention that we always clap for the singers - sometimes because they were good and sometimes because the singer was finished and the song was over!! It was good to see Mr Stub again and he sang me one of my favorite country songs of all time - Tumbling Tumbleweeds. It totally made my day and what an incredible way to start the New Year - with my favorite song. We saw many of the friends we met last year and the whole evening turned out well. John even managed to get up on the dance floor with me for a few slow dances and although his knee and ankle cracked and complained, he managed pretty darn well.

Midnight arrived with all the usual noise makers and streamers and a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Years all around. Larry and Ariane left shortly after midnight and John and I stayed for another hour then taxied back to the Seven where the bus was parked. The cab fare was a whooping $2.00!! WOW!! Once out of the cab, John and I walked over to the Mecca where we soon discovered the place was packed to the rafters!! It was standing room only and there was very little of that. We said a quick hello to Sally (the bartender) and after a quick beer, we walked the block to the bus where we had a rousing game of Yahtzee!! Happy New Year everyone. May 2011 be the best year yet.