Patio,,,,,,All DONE!!!!!!!

Patio and Landscaping all done and we moved back on our lot. It was worth the wait, we really like it......

There "she" is !!!! This was taken from the top of our Teton across the street where we were parked.

We're back on the lot and I took this from the roof.

It is GREAT stepping out on this instead of the plain ole rock!!!

We like the way it turned out. Victor and his guys did a super job!!

Did you notice the pattern Victor put in? This is a close up of the "diamond" he designed. There are 5 of them. Go back to the picture from the roof and click on it to enlarge and you can see the pattern. Soon we will spray the brick with a sealant that will give it the "wet" look. The pattern will stand out more then.

Nick and Terry Russell

The famous "one and only" NICK RUSSELL, Editor of the RV Publication GYPSY JOURNAL and author of many, many books wanted a PressurePro Tire Monitoring System for their conversion bus. We have gotten to know these fine folks quite well over the years and they were only 85 miles away, so we took advantage of the opportunity to drive over and see them and deliver the system.

Their big bus is a 1976 and in superb condition. Ms Terry has done most of the inside conversion, cabinets, etc. It is a masterpiece.......what a delight to go through it.

Nick is installing one of the Wireless Sensor Transmitters on the valve stem as we were installing the system. That Sensor sends a wireless signal up to a Monitor on the dash and gives the tire pressure. Also, it will send you a signal if your tire develops a leak as you're driving down the road. It went on smooth as silk!!! Nick was impressed, plus he was looking forward to not having to get down on his knees to check the air pressure in his tires before trips etc. AHH, now just "press" a button and there it is!!!!! Nick had 8 tires on his Bus and 4 on his Van that he tows behind. He put a Sensor on all 12 tires. He will soon discover, as so many of our other customers, how comforting it is to have this system as you travel down the highway. Knowing exactly how much air pressure you have in each tire and if you should pick up a nail or develop a problem it will let you know before a catastrophe. It's a great feeling!!! Read more about the system at: http://www.pressureprosystem.com/

Everyone visits Nick's GREAT BLOG,,,,,,,it a great daily read. If you don't already follow Nick and Terry, here is his Blog site: http://www.gypsyjournal.net/NicksBlog.htm Look it over!!!

Hey another NICK!!!!!!! WOW, two Nicks in one week!!!! What a TREAT!!!!!

This is Nick and Joanne Alexakis,,,,,,,,,,Great old friends!!!! Now they are not OLD!!! But Nick and Joanne have been friends for a long time. We worked at Custer State Park with them and first met way back in 1996. They had been full time RV'ing for a year or two at that time and we had been at it for about a year. We have enjoyed some great times together, both in the Black Hills and also met them in Florida and in Arizona. They are originally from Minnesota and have worked all over the country since they started full time RV'ing. They drove over from near Los Angeles, CA. in their truck and spent a little time with us...staying at our little Motel in Congress, AZ. It's known as the "Smallest Motel in Arizona", with only 4 rooms. It's always so nice to see them. They are great people!!

Here they are with Ms Pat in front of our NEW patio!!!

A few other interesting things happened this week, but I don't want to wear you out!!!! I'll save some for later......

Son Scott up in Omaha, Nebr. is still desperately fighting to win his battle with AML. (Leukemia) I'm proud and happy to say he is still winning!!!!! Soon he will be getting a Bone Marrow biopsy. That will be the telling tale to see how the transplant went. Please join us in continuing our prayers for him and Ann. As usual here is his Caringbridge site so you can hear from him how he is doing: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall

It was a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by. See ya next week, Lord willing!!!!!

Mike

Spring has SPRUNG!!!!!!

Doesn't look like Spring, does it?

A week ago today(Mar 16,08) when we came out of Church it was sprinkling a little. By the time we got 12 miles to our place, it was snowing and sleeting. Neighbor, Paul Wilson took this picture of my truck...........This is Arizona,,,,,,and its only 4 days until Spring?????

I stuck my head out the door and got this picture. You can see the snow coming down if you look closely. That pile of dark sand over to the right on our lot is "white" with snow. Click on picture to enlarge it.

I took this picture out in the desert a few days later. It was 90 deg. So Spring has definitely sprung!! The entire desert is covered with green foliage and beautiful wild flowers...,,,,Truly an enjoyable site to see!!

OK, back to the work in progress.

I had hoped to show you pictures of the completed Patio and our Teton back on our lot today. Didn't happen!!! It turned into a little more work that we originally planned and of course, it took longer. Like I said, things always take longer and cost more than I think they should. I've almost learned to expect that!!!!

We did more dirt work and grading than we planned. This is the back of our lot, it was plain bare dirt. We decided to move the gray rock that was up front to back here. We also moved a lot of dirt to the back of the lot which gives us a lot more "living area" on the lot.

The Patio begins!!! That's Victor on his knees laying out the pattern. Sand has been spread and packed down so the bricks can be leveled. These are heavy duty Paver Bricks, they can be driven on with a truck and won't break. We don't plan on driving on them, but you never know. We wanted them strong, just in case!!!!

She's lookin' good!!! That's a lot of brick and a lot of leveling.

This curving is tough,,,,,,I think we are going to like it!!!!

Next week, a picture of the completed project!!!!! (I hope,,:-)

That's it for this week. Happy EASTER everybody!!! We're off to Church..........

Our thoughts and prayers continue for Scott, and for Ann. He seems to be progressing nicely. Although I know he is tired of the fight. It's been going on for nearly 6 months. he doesn't have an appetite and can hardly eat. Now that's unusual for any of us McFalls!!! He needs cheering up. It's all your thoughts, prayers and notes that keep him going.......Stop over to his website and leave him a note and check on his progress....

Click here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall

It's a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!

Thanks for visiting my Blog, come back next week.

Safe travels

Mike

North Ranch Lot PATIO Upgrade.

Hello Everybody!!

We are still at NORTH RANCH in Congress, AZ. We are NOT on our lot, but we are CLOSE. We have owned this lot at north Ranch for 7 years this month. For years Pat and I have discussed having a PATIO. This year we decided we had thought and talked about it ENOUGH!!! Time to DO IT. So we roughly decided what we wanted to do and started looking for someone to do it. We found Victor Valadez, Victor and his men do a lot of work around the park and have a good reputation. His work and prices are usually better than anyone around. Many of the people that do this type work around here aren't interested in these "small" jobs.

We walk every morning in the park and we always look at other folks Patio's and brick work in the area. We soon ran into Victor and his men working on another lot nearby. We stopped and ask him to stop by our place and take a look at what we had in mind. That evening Victor stopped by. He looked it over and offered a few good idea's of his own. He took measurements and said he would have us an estimate the next day and would drop it by.

Here we are a few days later and our lot is tore up!!!! Fortunately we were able to move just across the street onto our good friends and neighbors, Paul and Nancy's lot. That really helped as it gave Victor much more access to do the work without us being in the way!!!! Yet, we are close by and can keep a close watch on what they are doing. Victor is very good at this kind of work and has lots of experience, although he is a young guy and a very nice kid I must say.

He has made a lot of great suggestions and we are ending up really changing the appearance and landscaping of out lot. Consequently, it's taking longer than we thought it would. We planned on being finished by now, but we are only about half done. We SHOULD be back on our lot by this time next week!! Stuff always seems to take longer and cost more than I think it should!!! I guess that's life.

Pictures are better than words, so let me "show" you what we have done so far:

This is where the Paver Bricks will be put for the Patio.

I won't have to trim those Bushes any more, their GONE!!!

The extra dirt from the Patio area was put on the end of the lot. Now we have a bigger lot!!

Out from the shed and toward the street will be Patio. It will be right in front of the 5Th Wheel.

It will be NEAT to have this Patio area for our picnic table, etc. We were tired of the Rock!

All of the "grey" rock was removed..

Grey Rock is all gone! We have a truck load of the same rock as the other "red" rock coming. So it will all be the same color all over the lot, except the grey that was moved to the back.

This was just "sand" before. Much needed improvement.

So, that's where we are right now. Tune in next week for pictures (hopefully) of the finished product.

Visit Scott's web site at : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall His transplant is still successful, Thank God and his strong faith for that. After 5 and 1/2 months of fighting this thing, he is getting mighty tired and worn out . The complications and discomfort he has had all this time are horrendous. He wants to come home real bad....... Bless Ann's heart, we all know this is very hard on her, too. Scott kinda "plays down" on his web site the complications he is having. They are much worse than he lets on. I don't know how the two of them keep going. But let me tell you, Pat and I are mighty proud of them!!!

Please keep them in your prayers!! Drop him a note if you can.

Thanks for stopping by and we appreciate all the emails and calls asking about Scott.

It was a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya next week!!!

Mike

No TIME CHANGE here!!!!

One of the NEAT things about Arizona is, they don't change TIME. So while the rest of you are fighting with setting your clocks, we don't have to! That seems mighty nice to me, especially since we are so close to the West Coast. So, it's the same time this morning as it was yesterday at this time!!!! But BOY, the rest of you are way ahead of us now......:-)..........Wait until we start heading WEST,,,,,then we will PAY for it......2 hrs ahead in Lincoln, 3 hrs in Tallahassee. :-(

Scott seems to be progressing within his Doctors expectations against this Leukemia that has dealt him such a disastrous blow. It has really set him and Ann back. It seems his Insurance is not what you would expect the State of Nebraska to have for their employee's. It leaves a staggering amount of medical co-pays and living expenses for them to pay out of pocket. I personally think this is a DISGRACE to the state. However, that being said, it doesn't help them pay the bills. Ann is having to take a Leave of Absence from her job to assist as his personal nurse. He couldn't survive without her. Thus, her salary is on hold. Scott has plenty of "sick leave" built up, its all the medical and extra living expense that's killing them.

We had a pretty busy week again, but a lot of it was getting this INCOME TAX info compiled. WHEW,,,we about have it ready to ship off to them. I hate paying the IRS!!! It depresses me!! I probably shouldn't feel that way, but I can't help it. It's now when I wish I was REAL rich or REAL poor. It seems they don't pay any taxes, us middle wage earners pay it all for them!!!

This beautiful DESERT continues to green up and warm up. Wild Flowers are starting to bloom all over the country side and soon every cactus in the place will have a BIG blossom on it. Its a sight to see!!!!

Thanks to you all again for your thoughts and prayers for Scott. Words can't explain how much we all appreciate it..........Again here is his caringbridge web site so you can keep up with his progress. As he gets to feeling better he will be able to keep us all informed more.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall

Glad you stopped by. Hope to see you again next week. Stay SAFE !!!!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mike
http://mpmcfall.tripod.com/

It was a BUSY----WEEK !!!!!!!

Boy, some weeks there is so much to do its hard to get it all done. But we try and do we have a BALL doing it. NEVER a dull moment around here !!!!


Monday we had Dr. appointments in Phoenix and the first one was at 9:30, so we had to get started early. It's 50 miles to Phoenix and you never know what traffic you will run into. We had a million errands to run and we were hopping around like mad. We got it all done and at the same time, made our usual stops at Sam's, Wally's, Home Depot, The Motorcycle Shop, Trader Joe's and most Important this time for Ms Pat was the Lazy Boy Furniture Store. She got to LOOK for her Love Seat to replace the Sofa from the Teton that we put in our Coach House at Retama Village in Texas. ALAS, she found just the one that she wanted.......finally!!! But we had to take a piece of the material home to make sure the color would be OK.





This is the one she chose. Both sides recline and it is a wall hugger. I have to admit, it's pretty nice. Pretty nice PRICE tag too!!! :-(


Tuesday, our neighbors, Paul and Nancy Wilson asked us if we wanted to take a day trip out into the desert on the 4 wheelers. We enjoy that so much, we were really looking forward to it and the weather has been out of this world. Paul and Nancy even have an extra 4 wheeler for Pat to ride. Now you can't ask for anything better than that. So at 9 am we took off. The BLM property surrounding North Ranch RV park is VAST ! It goes for miles and miles in all directions. That's one of the reasons we love this place so much. Paul and Nancy have lived here for a long time and now stay here year around. They have made a million trips into this desert and know it like they know the back of their hand. That makes it GREAT !!!!,,,,,,its like having a private personal guide each time we go out. We spent most of the day enjoying the spring desert and had a super time.


Here we all stopped to stretch our legs and enjoy a little "chat" and a snack. It's about the only time we have to visit and I enjoy finding out about the area and stopping to smell the CLEAN---CLEAR air.....



This land just goes on and on forever. This shot is looking back towards North Ranch. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, I think you will see the RVs at North Ranch just at the base of the mountain on the left,,,,,,,way back there.




It has been an unusually wet fall here and the rains have brightened up the Desert like nothing you have ever seen!!! It's really GREEN and soon everything will BURST into bloom. It's a pretty sight.




That's Round Mountain in the background on the top. We are on the far side of it and on the bottom we're on the other "near" side of it.....The picture on the right is a place that is Paul and Nancy's favorite. It is high up and has a GREAT view in all directions. They enjoy it so much "someone" erected this BENCH that you can see in the lower right of the picture just for them. Looking the other way, you have a superb view of the sunsets........Now if we could just get out here at sunset sometime and watch it,,,,,,,I'll bet it is GREAT!!!! At sunset, I'm played out!!!!! Now how 'bout sunrise ? !!!!!!

We made it home just about in time for "happy hour", tired, a little stiff from driving the Polaris all day,,,,,,,but HAPPY!!!!! Another GREAT DAY!!!!

Wednesday Pat had a Dr apt in Wickenburg and I spent a lot of the day doing what I enjoy. Working on my truck!!! I put a new fuel filter and housing with new check valves and fuel sensor. We will see if that helps my problem with the engine stopping after it starts the first couple times.........Hope so!! Then about "happy hour" (i.e. 4pm) Pats daughter Terri and Grandson Jeremy arrived. They were on their way from Calif to Florida and were able to stop and see us. What a delight to see them.



They had to continue on the next morning, but we are so happy they got to stop by......Terri is a travelling medical professional working for the CDC and she only had a few days between "stands". She travels back and forth across the USA with a medical team doing research for the CDC. They furnish her a company car, pay for her lodging and food and pay her a salary to boot. Needless to say, she LOVES her job!!! Jeremy flew out to California from Tallahassee to keep her company on the drive back across country. She will spend a few days in Tallahasse taking care of some business and then be on her way to her next stand in Charlotte, NC.

Thursday I went in and got a haircut after seeing Terri and Jeremy off and shortly after I got home,,,,,,,,,,,,,our old Custer State Park friends Kay and Loretta Schwedhelm stopped and visited us. Man,,don't you just love this life? Its so good to see friends that you worked with and got to know along the way!!!!!

After a few other projects, it was time to get ready for the upcoming annual North Ranch RV Park Garage Sale....SATURDAY

On Thursday afternoon at 2pm, I like to go up to the Clubhouse and listen to the local "Jammers".............They play all kinds of instruments and sing.......Some GREAT talent....

Then home for HAPPY HOUR,,,,,,,at 4pm.



What a HARD life!!!!!!!! :-)



We demonstrated the PressurePro Tire Monitoring System to a lot of local lot owners that were interested and several said they would come back and get a system. Sold some Dri-Wash Auto and RV Polish and visited with many of our friends and neighbors.........



The weather has been just SUPER!!!!! 5o deg nights and 70-77 deg days with no wind or humidity are the reason we come to this wonderful place in the spring!!!! You can't beat it!!!!!

Now it's off to Church...................

Hope you all had a good week. See ya all next week. Take care and remember ENJOY LIFE!!!!

Its a ONE time deal!!!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!

Mike


You can check on Scotts condition here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall