Sunday, December 25/2016 - Saturday, December 31/2016

Booko out for a run

This week started out with Christmas Day and ended with New Year's Eve.  It has been a busy week.  Christmas Day was quiet around here as it was just John, Kay and I here.  I cooked a Rib Eye roast in the oven and it turned out remarkably well.  It was delicious and tender.
Booko has settled over the week and we have found out a few things about him.  He is very nervous around cans....like beer cans!!  He is very hesitant to come near anyone with a beer can in their hands.  Not sure what that is all about but hopefully he will get over that in the near future.  Beer cans around here are quite common!!
He has met both of the cats and seems to not be bothered by them.  He has made no effort what so ever to chase them so that is a very good thing.  Moglie has been totally ignoring him and has actually stopped coming over for his daily visits.  I think Mogs is mad at us!!  Corinna, on the other hand, joins us by the fire each evening but remains rather wary of Booko and refuses to get too close to him.  Hopefully they will forge a bit of a friendship.  Time will tell!!

Hassayampa river after the rains

It has been raining off and on all week and the river has been running.   We took a trip down into the river bed to the canyon to see what the water run had done.   The ground was quite wet and there was still a few areas that had water and needed to be avoided.  We took Booko with us and let him out for a good run.  His feet have been sore since he arrived so I am sure the cool sand felt good.  He ran for a bit then got back into the Jeep for the trip into the canyon.

River claims another victim 

As we travelled along the wash, we came across a side by side that was stuck in the sand.  Man, he was in good and looked like it would be a bit of a chore to get out.  No one was around when we went by the first time, but on the way home, there were two trucks out there and the quad had been pulled out of the its watery trap!!  We later heard that the quad was brand new (only about 6 hours on it) and when they kids pulled it out of the sand, they somehow managed to rip the front end off it!!  Shit Oh Dear.....One should never underestimate the power of sand, water and Mother Nature!!

Really stuck!!

Lots of water in the canyon

There was plenty of water in the canyon and one must always be aware of "quicksand".  The ever present danger hovers silently. waiting for unsuspecting side by sides or Jeeps!!  John attempted to travel down the canyon a bit further than he should have and I must say that it is a good thing that the jeep is short as we had to make a really quick "360" as we were starting to sink and there were NO TREES in the canyon to winch to if we were to sink like the side by side we had passed earlier!!  I had to call on Jesus, Mary and Joseph to help us out of the situation and I think I may have called on Buddah, Allah and the Gitchi Manitou as well!!  Holy Buckets....... way too much stress for me!!

Old Cottonwood tree

Booko and John

Booko trying out his new seat

This week John constructing a seat for Booko in the side by side.  Hopefully he will be riding "shotgun" when we go for a ride.  Hogan loved to ride and we couldn't keep Cooper out of the damn thing so hopefully Booko gets used to the idea and joins us on our trips.
John finished the seat and took Booko for an inaugural run.  He was not impressed, I'm thinking as John had to hold onto the leash to keep him from jumping out.  Again, we wonder what his life was like before he came to us.  Maybe he had bad memories to deal with!!

He likes his fires

Heading out to ride the Wickenburg mountain loop

We managed to get a quad ride in this week.  We did the Wickenburg Mountain Loop and Booko did come with us.  Initially, John had to use the leash and tie him to the oh shit handle (especially when he was on the highway) but by the end of the 50 mile trip, Booko was much more at ease and actually was lying down on his custom made seat and snoozing!!  Maybe he will be a quadding dog after all.

Chillin in the Arizona sun on Wickenburg Mtn.

Lots of sand since the recent rains

Beverage

The trip was awesome and it was good to get out into the back country again.  There is something about seeing the many majestic saguaro cactus standing along the trail.  There are so many years of growth on each of these stately cacti that it is mind boggling.  We actually go through a stand of saguaro that can only be described as a saguaro forest.  The big cacti cover the hills and it is beautiful.
We made our way along the miles of trail and found ourselves back in the Hassayampa River where we travelled under the train bridge and the highway bridge and accessed San Domingo wash.  This took us to the China Wall where we were surprised to see that there was no water running down it. This is the first time there has not been any water on the wall.
We then headed back to the windmill and started out final leg of the trail.   This would eventually spit us out on the highway about a quarter of a mile from home.  We noted that the  trail was now officially "marked".  There were numbered fiberglas signs along the way and we all noted that the trail actually followed our flags so that was rather interesting.  The markers stopped when the public land stopped and we continued into our "home" wash.  We were less that half a mile from home when we came to an abrupt dead end!!  WHAT.....  Someone had taken a bull dozer and had dozed a wall of brush across the trail stopping all progress.  We got off the machines and took a little walk to see what was the issue.   Well, apparently someone has started some sort of commercial enterprise in our wash and has bulldozed the trail into oblivion.  They even removed the access road into the wash.  Well.....that is just too ugly.   We had travelled 50 miles, and were only a stone's throw away from home and at a dead end!!!   John scouted the area and found a way around the wall of brush and then we ended up climbing a bit of a cliff to access the "old road".   We were then faced with not one, but two locked gates!!  Holy Buckets....these people really did not want quads or anything else in this wash!!   Fortunately, there was enough room beside the locked gates and the hill for both our quads to get past and THAT was a very good thing as we were ready to call it a day.  It was time for a campfire and a few more adult beverages!!

Another great day

It was a great week and the weather has been good.  It is bitterly cold back home and again we are reminded just how blessed we are to be able to come here each winter.
New Year's Eve wound round out the week.  We had a fire (as usual) and sat around for the evening.  Ray joined us around the fire and started shooting off fireworks around 10:00 as he knew that he would probably not be awake for midnight. Hells Bells, Marie may not be awake for midnight either!!
We found out that Booko was not too happy with the noise so we ended up putting him in the house for a while.
Midnight rolled around and the fireworks were ignited.  Happy New Year and Goodnight!!  LIfe is Good!!

Can I come up?

Sunday, December 18/2016 - Saturday, December 24/2016

Our new family member coming home from the shelter, They called him "Blu"

This week had a few highlights.  John and Kay had been looking for a "rescue" dog for us as it just seems wrong not to have a dog.  After several phone calls and a few disappointments, we finally found one that needed rescuing!!  He was dropped off at a shelter and the owner just never bothered coming back to pick him up!!  They had him in their care for 2 months and he was scheduled to "leave" before Christmas.  He was 10 months old and needed a forever home.  We talked it over and decided to go take a look at him.  Kay and I headed out a few days later and made the trip to the shelter which was on the other side of the city.  It took us and hour and 15 minutes to drive to the shelter.  Once we got there, we were introduced to "Blu".  That was the name he went by in the shelter.  He was a sad, skinny pup who was very nervous of us and used his "big boy" bark to show his discontent.  We soon won him over with treats and decided that this pup "needed" us.  We paid the adoption fees and managed to lift his 53 pound body into the truck.  He was quite nervous and we were a bit unsure as to how he would travel.   As it turned out, he did quite well and even when we left him alone to go into Walmart to shop and then to Petland to get dishes, a collar and some toys, he was cool with that!!  We brought this sad, skinny dog home and introduced him to his new life.  He came to us with a few issues and those included mange, open sores on his feet, ribs, hips and backbone showing and infected ears.....Jeez, did I miss anything??   This pup needed some much needed love and between John, Kay and I, well, I am sure we can provide that!!
He had medication for the infected ears and medicated shampoo and creme rinse for the mange.   Kay and  I headed to get some good quality dog food and we decided to keep his dish full and let him eat as he wished.  He needed a good 15 - 20 pounds on him.
John changed his name to "Booko" (as in booko bucks) as he was pretty damn sure that this dog would end up costing "booko bucks"!!  So far, we had spent over $300.00 dollars on him!!  WTH!!
Booko seemed to settle in pretty darn well so I guess time will tell as to how he acts in different situations.  It will be a learning curve for both him and us for we really have no idea what his life has been like.
We managed to make another trip to the Canyon earlier this week to see what we could see.  IT was a pleasant trip and we got back to the yard just in time to start a campfire and enjoy the rest of the evening.

pretty skinny - but quite interested in his surroundings

Christmas in AZ

With Christmas only a few days away,  I got got Christmas balls out and decorated the agave cactus in the North 40!!  We spent the rest of the week picking up the balls each morning as the Javalina would come every night and knock them off.  It wasn't so bad that they knocked them off, but they also bite them so, several had holes in them from their huge teeth!!  Some were just too mangled to put back on the cactus!!  It was always an adventure to see how many they had destroyed during the night!

This tree has been in "the family" for more than 50 years.
There are a lot of childhood memories associated with it.

He is settling in

Our first scorpion

I see that the picture of the scorpion did not show up but this week marked our "first" of the season!!  Hopefully, it will be the last.   Once Kay spotted him on the wall, it didn't take me but a few minutes to take his picture and then send him to scorpion heaven!!  They carry a nasty little sting and no one here wants to be on the receiving end of it!!

Really settling in

We renamed him Booko

Booko checking out the pigs - He really was not too concerned
about them so that is a good thing.

Fire time

The week ended with Christmas Eve.  We sat around the fire and waited for Santa to appear.  The weather has been great so we really have nothing to complain about.   Apparently, it is quite chilly at home so we will take our temperatures as simply enjoy.  Life is good!!

Sunday, December 11/2016 - Saturday, December 17/2016

It is time now to start with weekly posts as we have now arrived at our winter home and daily is no longer required.  After the initial flurry of activity to get things cleaned up and dusted off, life should settle into a bit of a routine.
John has been farting around with the TV satellite signal for the past week and I think he has finally figured out that the one cable is going to have to come off the horn of the dish like last year.  He was hoping that the one satellite outlet on the outside of the RV would work but I wonder if it is even hooked up properly in the new trailer.  There is certainly some shabby work being done at the Jayco Factory where this fancy new trailer was built and it really would not surprise me to find out that the satellite "hookup" isn't even "hooked up"!!   Man, the quality control people at the factory are the shits!!  Kay and I now have to make a trip into Surprise to pick up a piece of coaxial cable so that we can have TV in the house as well as the man cave and still have it in the RV as well.  That may or may not happen before Christmas.  We will have to see.
We took a jeep trip out to the canyon this week and it was good to get back out there to see the sights.  I don't think one could ever get tired of this drive.  The water was running and it had a real chill to it.  There were still lots of green on the leaves down there but there was also some real signs that winter was setting in as well.  There were still a few minnows in the water but I am sure that they will be burrowing down into the sand to hide from the cold in the not too distant future.  On our way home we were lucky enough to see the mountain goats of the  canyon.  This was the first time we have seen them and it was pretty darn cool.  They were frolicking on the cliffs above us and didn't really seem all that concerned with us being there.  They knew I suppose, that there was no way we could get to them!!  I did manage to get a short video of them and that too was pretty cool.
We have been enjoying campfires most nights this week and even managed to sit under the umbrellas during a light rain storm.  It has been a while since we have done that!
The rain stayed for all the following day so it was perfect for a movie night.  Even John joined Kay and I in the "She Shed" (we renamed it!!).  I had purchased a new hot air pop corn popper and I must say, it works awesome.  There really is nothing like a good movie or 2 or 3, and some awesome popcorn!
Being only a week or so before Christmas, I hauled out the Christmas stuff and started decorating.  I even decided to put the Christmas Tree up!!  I have not done that for a few years now and although it was nice to do, I certainly did not miss all the piddly "work" that it involved!!  Good Grief....I must be getting old as I remember when I have 5 trees in the house and the whole house was decorated!! Now, it is like I just couldn't be bothered!!  I think I have become a GRINCH!!
Kay presented us with a gorgeous Christmas Wreath that is actually a Saskatchewan Roughrider wreath.   It is a one of a kind for sure and quite beautiful.  One of the fellows that Kay used to work for has a wife that makes them and actually sends them all over the United States when people order them.  She says that the San Francisco 49ers are very popular this year!!  Of course this was the first Roughrider one she had ever done!!
Kay and I also slipped into Surprise this week to do some much needed shopping.  We were out of staples like toilet paper, laundry detergent and what not so headed into Sam's Club and Wal

Thelma

Feeding time

Headed into the canyon

The old girl is looking good and so is Marie

Mountain goats

Vulture Peak

Another awesome day

Thelma and the pigs

Kay's christmas gift to us

Mogley on the bird block

No birds

mart and got what was needed so now we are set for a while.
Ray had sent Kay a picture of the wild turkey that has been hanging around here for the summer and she made an appearance several times this week.  She is huge and we have decided to call her Thelma.  She struts around in the North 40 like she owns it and I am wondering if now that she knows she has food, if she will stay for the winter.  It will be interesting to see.  She is a bit skittish but Ray says she is much better than what she was.
The Javalina are back in force (not that they ever left) but it was kind of cool to see them again even with their rather musky smell that they have.  There are several smaller ones with this particular herd so am thinking that they must be babies from the Spring.  I have not seen any brand new babies but there are some out there who look to be pregnant so we will have to wait and see.
The Blue Heron flies over the yard darn near everyday and it is cool to see him.  He must stay over at the River Preserve where there is a good sized pond as well as fly to Larry's pond.
There were four mule deer in the park this week as well and although I didn't get to see them, Kay did.  It is so cool to see all the wildlife that passes by.  This I am sure is one advantage to not having several other residents here in the park
A bird block was purchased and that now is sitting on the bird feeder.  There are several birds pecking away at that too.  There are two bright red cardinals that come along with the "not so bright" females and of course the noisy woodpecker is out there as well.  I guess he has to eat too but, I wish he would stick to insects and other bugs!!
Well, this pretty much sums up this week's activities, sights and sounds.
It is good to be here and with the cleanup almost done, it is even better to sit out in the yard at 4:00 o'clock, have an adult beverage and birdwatch.  The hummingbird feeders have been filled for a few days now and although I saw the hummers before the bottles were full, I have not seen them since!!   They will come and soon they too will be adding to our winter pleasures!!  Life is Good.