OH NO!!! .........SNOW!!!!

Oh Yes!! SNOW!!!  Last night when Ms Pat finished cooking on the grill she asked me if I would go cover it up as it was starting to sprinkle. I covered it and noticed it was sprinkling lightly and later we could hear it raining a little harder. Never thought much more about it until this morning when I was looking at my Weather Monitor.  I could see it was 33.5 deg and we had only received 0.12 of rain. So, as I usually do after I pour myself a cup of coffee at about 04:15, I stepped outside to look at the sky and other things. It was super dark, but I soon saw this:

From North Ranch SNOW-Feb2011

SNOW everywhere. Click on the caption link below the picture and it should take you to the album with several other pictures of the snow around our place. Our poor Oleander hedge is bent almost to the ground. I sure hope they come back up.  I have seen a little snow here at North Ranch before once or twice over the last 12 years but I don't think I have ever seen this much, It is a super heavy, wet snow but it was already melting a 0700 when I took these pictures.

So, maybe this is the FINALE. Maybe it will warm up now and become the nice warm, beautiful Spring that we are so used to around here. I sure hope so! I will say this was a good year to have a house. This house is so well built and insulated that this cold winter hasn't bothered us near as much as it would have in an RV.

OK, we do have another "project" going. It's not often we don't have some sort of a project to tell you about. We want to tile our favorite room in the new house....the screened front porch. We got in touch with Rich,  the contractor that built the house and asked him if he would do it for us. He was more than happy to do it and told us where we should go to get the tile and gave us several other pointers. He said this place is his "Pride and Joy" as he and his sons built every bit of it and he is very proud of the way it turned out. Now that's the kind of guy I like to have working for me!! Thursday, when we were in Phoenix, we went to the the Floor and Decor Tile Outlet Rich suggested and after looking at what seemed like a million samples, we decided on this:

We called Rich and he took a look at the 2 Porcelain samples we brought home.  He loved them and thought they would be perfect. He suggested the bigger one since the room is pretty big and said it will look much better than the small one. So Monday we are headed back to the Tile Outlet in Phoenix and get the 23 boxes we need to do the job.  I ask Rich to put it on his schedule as soon as he could get at it. The porch floor is just "bare" concrete now and it is just "begging" for some nice floor covering. We are extremely excited about this choice and anxious to see it all completed. I'll keep you posted.  Thankfully we now have a Pickup truck and can easily haul the 23 boxes of very, heavy 18x18 tile.  AND....most importantly, Rollie and Gina, stopped by on Friday and approved of the tile also. :-) That ment so much to us...

Rollie and Gina were on their way home to Louisiana to be with family after the loss of their Uncle Jim.  They have driven over 1500 miles since we saw them on Friday afternoon and should arrive at their home before Noon today.  It will be a really sad occasion because they were all very close to Uncle Jim.  Please pray for them and their family during these very sad times. 

We continue to Praise the Lord for all he provides us in good times and in bad times. 
I would like to welcome 3 more followers and thank them for adding their names to our great group;

Russ Krecklow
ross
John Kite

Welcome aboard and we're glad to have you......Please comment at any time..

Thanks to all for stopping by and may God Bless you all.  It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!


Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Weather

Weather is always a hot topic, has been for years and probably always will be. What would we talk about all the time if it weren’t  for the weather? Everybody always has something to say about the weather. This has been an exceptionally cool winter this year here at North Ranch in Congress, Arizona. Most other years we have had cold spells but this year it seems like we have had a lot more of those “spells”! I’ll bet it is the same with you where ever you are. Most people we talk to all over the country tell us about the same thing, it's been cold. Most of us are a little tired of it and are ready for some “Warm” weather. I know we sure are.

Speaking of Weather, I put my new "weather station" up on top of the house a while back. It sure works slick and I’m enjoying the heck out of it. I’m still learning and getting familiar with it a little more all the time. Those little “cups” on the back of it are, of course, the wind speed indicator. The big black cylinder is the rain gauge, which is self emptying and measures rainfall by the 0.01 of an inch. I got to try it out last Sunday as we had 0.61 rain.  It is all wireless and I have never failed to get a signal from it. The transmitter is that little white box with the small antenna on the back. The black area on the front of the transmitter is a solar panel that keeps the batteries charged.   With just a push of the button it gives me the high temp for the Day, for the Week, and for the Year. It does the same thing for all the other info it provides.  THEN, if you want a record of all these items, you can get a computer program and connect it to your computer for all kinds of records, graph’s, etc. I’ll wait on that.  Right now I’m fascinated with all the info it gives me right at my fingertips.

One of the reasons I know it’s been a rougher winter than usual around here is the damage all the fruit  and palm trees took here in our little town of North Ranch. Ours survived the first little cold spell and we were really enjoying the fresh oranges right off our own little trees (a first for us).  Then this last cold spell hit and a severe wind came with it and blew the protective covers most of us had over them and they got hit Bad!


Most all of the oranges are frozen to the point they aren’t edible and the trees sure look sick. This citrus growing is new to both of us. I sure hope they will come back with a crop for next year.  The experts tell me not to do any trimming for a while and just continue watering them.  We hope nature will take it's course and bring them back next season.  So if you experienced citrus growers have any advice or words of wisdom, we'd love to hear from you.

Rollie and Gina's son, Thomas, deployed for Afghanistan yesterday.  Please keep Thomas and his loving family in your prayers until he returns.   Please say a special prayer for Ashley and little Abigail who will make her appearance before Thomas gets home.  We love you Thomas and Ashley!
 
You can bet, we are looking forward to some warmer weather here in our country.  Meanwhile.....

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  May God Bless you all!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

A Call From Mel!

This is Mel Cordray. Remember Mel? I introduced him to you back in August of last year.  He found  our Motorhome for us.  He did an excellent job of handling all the paperwork and helping us get acquainted with our new Foretravel. Out of the blue, Mel called one morning last week.  He asked “How are you guys doing”? He said he was thinking about us and thought he would give us a call to see if everything was going OK. 

Mel is by far the nicest salesman I have ever met. He is a fine, young, respectable family man....one of those guys it’s a real treat to meet and deal with. Mel went on to tell us that he reads our Blog regularly and wanted to call to make sure we were doing alright and  to let us know that if we ever needed any help or had questions or problems, we could call on him. Isn’t that remarkable? It's been over 6 months and he still treats us like "family".  If you are in the market for an RV, we highly recommend Mel and Motorhomes of Texas .  You won't be sorry.

These are the new Splash Guards I put on the Silverado front and rear the other day at the dealership. They should be a great help and I like the way they look..

The front ones will keep “stuff” from splashing up onto the running board so bad….

Another item that I had installed was the rear wheel inter-panels. The rear wheel housing was wide open and “stuff” could splash way up into the upper inside of the quarter panel. Not good but now this is how it looks inside and above the real wheels. A much cleaner, filled in look and it will do a good job. I felt the truck should have come with these but it seems when you buy anything anymore, you have to add all these items to make it complete. Fortunately, this one came with the running boards but most don’t.

The last item I had Lamb Chevrolet install for me was this deflector on the hood.  The final thing on my list is to Line-X the truck bed.  That will about finalize any and all accessories I want or need for our new Silverado that we are enjoying so much.  

I mentioned in my last Blog that Larry and Geri Gustafson, newly retired and former owners of the Broken Arrow Campground in Custer, South Dakota, are here visiting us. Here is a picture of their new Raptor 5TH wheel Toy hauler on our "guest lot".  Wow!  It is a beautiful 36’ rig and has a 10’ garage in the rear that is totally separate from the living quarters. This garage area,  if needed, can be converted into a nice bedroom, eating area, etc. 

Just lower this big door and you have a nice deck and a ramp to load your toys. Just can’t get any better than that. They carry 2 ATV’s and a motorcycle back there (plus 2 bicycles and many other toys).

Since they are newly retired and don't have a house anymore, they are also brand new "Full-Timers".  They purchased this nice, brand new one ton Dodge Dually diesel truck to pull their new home and toy hauler.  We are so happy and proud for them. They started the Broken Arrow Campground from scratch and on a gamble. They worked really hard, doing almost all the work themselves.  In just 4 years, they built a business that was prospering and growing in leaps and bounds. They had a customer base and following that was out of this world. Their Campground was always totally booked for the summer months ahead of time.  They had to keep adding sites every Spring to accomodate their growing customer base.

We sent many of our friends to their campground when they first opened, mainly because it was so close to our place. Each and every one of them were very impressed with the place and with Larry and Geri’s superb “hands on” hospitality.  The word soon spread that it was the BEST campground in the Black Hills. We were surprised how pleased the folks we sent there were and how they praised Larry and Geri. We hadn’t even met them yet so one day we stopped down and introduced ourselves. I could see why our friends liked them so well, they are an extremely friendly couple. I will never forget the first thing Geri said to us was “Do you guys know EVERYBODY”? She said so many people told them that we referred them to their place that she thought we must know everyone. I told her no but we had been RV'ing a long time, long enough to meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends.  I told her we were glad we had a such a wonderful campground to refer them to that is close to Custer State Park and close to us. 

                           Larry and Geri at their Campground back in June of 2009. Hard at work,even during Happy Hour!

Since that first meeting we have become closer and closer and cherish the wonderful friendship we've developed. Their hard work and popularity paid off and it attracted many potential buyers....one of which recently made them an offer they just couldn’t refuse. Larry and Geri have told us that the new owners are from Denver, CO and are great people.  They have promised Larry and Geri that they will continue to run it just as they did. Meanwhile, it is so good to see them having so much fun and enjoying their new lifestyle so much. 

They invited us up for a bowl of Larry’s Chili the other night.  They told us they loved their campground  business very much because they have met so many wonderful people but they feel like a HUGE LOAD has been lifted from their shoulders.  I can imagine!!   The last 3 or 4 winters, Geri’s phone would be ringing like crazy with folks making reservations for the summer. She has happily turned that phone number over to the new owners. :-)  It does Ms. Pat and my hearts good to see two such wonderful, young successful people so happy!!  Good Job Larry and Geri!!! Way to go!!

It started raining early yesterday morning and rained over 1/2 inch before midnight and it's raining again this morning.  We are very glad to see the rain....we really need it.  It has been terribly dry and dusty in the desert.

That’s about it from here at the Ranch.….It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by as we continue to thank the Lord for all he provides for us.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, Oct. 2010

I have always wanted to tell you about our visit to the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We spent several hours there when we were attending the Foretravel Rally last October. Rollie and Gina went with us.  I enjoyed it very much and I think they did, too. Rodeoing was a big part of my life back in the 50's.  I believe you can click on the picture above or the caption under the picture and it will take you to the album.   (Sorry, the above picture is blurry but when you click on the album, the pictures in the album are  clear.)

Last Thursday we had an appointment with the Chevrolet dealer in Prescott where we bought the Silverado. I needed to get the Windshield replaced as it was defective.  I also wanted to get a few accessories installed that I had ordered. We got up early and drove the 50 miles up there. We wanted to get there early and the work was to be done by NOON. WRONG!!!  When they started to install the windshield they found it was damaged in shipment.   Oh just great!  I had been trying to get time to get this done for several weeks.

Luckily, they found another Windshield in Phoenix but it wouldn't be there until NOON. Of course, it would take a couple hours to install it.  Now we're looking at 2 pm as a completion time.  OK, I can live with that, I guess. I had them go ahead and install the rear wheel liners, the splash guards and the bug deflector. They loaned us a real nice late model Chevy Impala to use so Ms Pat was dragging me to store after store shopping. Now I'm OK for some of this but after 5 straight hours of it, I'm fading FAST! At 2 pm they called us and said the glass installer was late.......it would be 5 pm before they could get it completed.  OK....more shopping!!  This is turning into some kind of a long day and I'm getting a little cranky to say the least.  At 5 pm we went to pick it up and I was thinking to myself  "what's next"? But, it was ready to go and they were extremely apologetic about the delay.

When we picked up our truck, we still had to go and pick up the frozen food we needed. Man it was after 7 pm when we finally arrived back at the Ranch.  Whew...what a day!  But it was worth it and it sure is nice to have a CLEAR windshield to look through. The original was really distorted.  When I first noticed it, I thought my eyesight had suddenly gone bad and I was about to schedule an eye exam. It was a relief to find out it was the windshield...:-)  It seems the center substance in the windshield was wavy.  It was tough to look through and really annoyed us. I had never heard of a defective windshield but after looking through it themselves, the service guys agreed it was definitely defective.  It was fully replaced under warranty and my insurance company did not have to get involved.  

Monday, Larry and Geri, x-owners of the Broken Arrow Campground in Custer, SD came to visit us. It is sure great to see them and see their New 5TH wheel Toy Hauler and Dodge Dually truck. It's a
beautiful outfit!  I'll get some pictures of it soon. We got them all set up on our other lot just in time for Happy Hour and a "travel day" dinner!!  They are officially "Full-Timers" now.....retired and enjoying every minute of it. 
Yesterday, without wasting any time, we all took off for the desert and another 30+ mile 4-wheeling trip. It was a gorgeous day but this OLD guy is Wore Out!!  I need some rest.....a couple hours at least!! :-)

It is a GREAT WEEK!!

Thank you all for stopping by.

Mike

Thai Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Yet Another Exciting Day in the Desert.

First off, I’d like to say how happy I am that the Donkey’s Al of the Bayfield Bunch  reported missing, and thought stolen, HAVE RETURNED!!! Hallelujah !! I was sure worried about them. If you don’t read Al’s Blog, you should. Al, in my opinion has one of the best Blogs there is! Plus, his pictures are OUTSTANDING!!  He is a neat guy that I really understand and enjoy. I think he and I are a lot alike in several ways.. His "Groaner's Corner" is also a HOOT!

Yesterday, we had another wonderful 30 mile ride in the desert out behind our place here at North Ranch, AZ.  Son Pat and his wife Michele stopped by Friday evening and dropped off their Polaris RZR 4 wheeler. They were headed to Scottsdale to see Michelle’s father who lives there and is celebrating his 80th Birthday. OP (my son) then came back yesterday with a friend and co-worker so we could do some riding.

This is Pat on the left and John on the right. John is from New York (upper state) and is in Phoenix doing some work. He is also a Federal Agent, same as Pat. They arrived at 10:30 and were ready to ride!

Here they are getting prepared to go out. The two pup’s, Rocky and Dudditz are my son’s and as bad as they wanted to, they didn’t get to go and had to stay home. OP loves dogs and they love him. He is seldom ever without them. They are good, well-trained dogs and never a bother. We were so pleased that OP and John came out to ride with us and the weather was perfect!

It wasn’t long until we were way out in the vast hundreds of acres of BLM property we have right here in our back yard.

Soon we found the Hassayampa River and were headed for BOX CANYON!  The river was quite low and we could easily ride across it when ever we need to. Those of you that were out here last year remember that the river was so high we didn’t  feel safe crossing it and had to walk into the Canyon.

It wasn’t long until we came upon the famous and fabulous Box Canyon..

Looking out of Box Canyon,

OP made it way up into the top of the Canyon and here he is coming down. Note the “N” on his cap, that is his Trademark. “N” of course for NEBRASKA and Big Red. He makes a point of wearing that cap everywhere he goes, coast to coast and border to border.  Although we are both glad to be “from” Nebraska, we are quite proud of our Heritage.

Now he’s about down. Rollie and Gina will remember that we had a piece of black plastic pipe to climb up and down with last year.  That has since broken and been replaced by these logs.

Ms. Pat, the thoughtful one, brought us all some lunch which really hit the spot. We have been to Box Canyon many, many times and enjoy it each time. It seems to change every year, evidently by the high waters that hit sometime during the summer when we are gone. I will never forget the first time several years ago when our good friends Paul and Nancy brought us here.

As you can see, I am so happy to spend this wonderful and enjoyable time with OP.  I am so proud of him and I know it shows! I enjoyed meeting John....he is a neat guy and I really like him.

Gina, this one is for you!! God Bless you my Girl!

After some real enjoyable conversing…..

and some more steep trails into the washes, our ride came to an end. Just in time for OP to take his dogs for a nice run and then….Yep, you guesses it.....Happy Hour!!

Again, I Praise the Lord for days like this and thank Him so much for all he provides for us.  We are off to Church.  This afternoon, OP and Michelle will stop by and pick up there Polaris RZR 4x4 on their way home.

Tomorrow we are expecting our good Friends Larry and Geri, x-owners of the Broken Arrow RV Park and Horse Camp in Custer, SD.  They'll be spending some time with us and we know there'll be lots more trail riding days ahead with them.

Thank you all for stopping by and riding along with us on our beautiful ride. We sure enjoyed having you along!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

Travel safe and God Bless!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Pat’s New Desk.

Ms. Pat looked and looked for a desk to make an office here in our new house. We looked all over Prescott and Phoenix and she couldn't find exactly what she wanted. She started looking online, when one day she said "I found it"! I looked it over and we agreed that this one should work great. Plus, there was FREE shipping. It wasn't long until UPS was backing up to our front door and the driver jumped out and said "I have two BIG-HEAVY boxes for you",

It always amazes me the way they can pack so much into these shipping boxes. Imagine, a complete DESK in these two boxes.

Soon we had parts and pieces, bolts and screw’s everywhere! Carefully, trying to follow the directions that were laid out in some other language than I learned in school, we started putting it together. Ms. Pat says “I think this leg goes here”. You sure that’s the right one, are they both the same or is there a left and right?

Humm, lets see now. It says part B fits into part C and you tighten up the H screws. OK, that sounds simple enough.”????”

Ms. Pat laughs as I cut up trying to calm my Irish temper from making me throw this thing out in the back yard. Now I know we can do this…..as Gina would say “Don’t get stressed Pops”!

It begins to take shape as Ms. Pat checks the directions ONE more time..

FINALLY with Ms. Pat’s perseverance and patience and my skill (LOL), we got it..CPU caddy and all!!

She LIKES IT!!  This will work perfect and not take up a lot of room…….

Here it is all set up with her computer and printer from the Motorhome. She is HAPPY! Now she doesn’t have to go out and work in the RV. Next, she says she will replace that red box with a nice File Cabinet. OK, we gotta keep the President/CEO of our PressurePro company HAPPY!!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

WELCOME to three new FOLLOWERS:

Erik’s RV Blog
Muffy’s Marks
Jeff and Sheryl Bright

That brings our total up to 166. WOW!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will return often.

On a much sadder note,  we just received word that Mike Nielsen, our friend and fellow Church member in Custer, SD, went to be with the Lord early this morning.  We first told you about him in our Blog post a month or so ago.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bonnie and his family during this very, sad time in their lives.  We pray that God will wrap his loving arms around them and give them comfort in knowing that Mike is with Him in Heaven and is no longer suffering from this terrible disease.

God Bless you all!!  And remember to tell your family and friends you love them...they may not be around forever.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

16 degree’s......You gotta be KIDDING !!

Nope, I'm not kidding. We got home from Boondocking last Tuesday and Wednesday morning it was 22* when we got up……I thought that was pretty chilly. Then Thursday morning it was 16.   WOW, that’s COLD! I’m sure glad we had all the pipes protected around the place. I had an electric heater going in the Motorhome all night and a light bulb under the belly near the water pump. I opened all the cabinet doors inside so heat could get into them. But, to be on the safe side,  I went out at 4am and fired up the diesel and electric Aqua Heater furnaces. Now when that big diesel burner fires up, it gets hot fast both upstairs and in the belly. I let it run for about 3 hours until the sun came up. What’s a couple gallons of fuel compared to some broken pipes, right?  Friday morning it was 20*, Saturday it was 30* and HOT DOG!, this morning it is 45!!!  So things are looking up…..Hallelujah!!

I decided while I had my  Polaris 4-wheeler loaded in the back of my pickup, I would take it in for a little professional TLC. So Wednesday afternoon, I took it into town and unloaded it at the repair shop. What a good time to be without it, during this cold weather. I knew I wouldn't be riding it for a few days but I thought I was going to freeze to death before I got it unloaded. The wind was blowing a "gillion" miles an hour! I bought this Polaris about 6-7 years ago and it runs like a sewing machine, starts fantastically even after sitting in storage every summer while we are up in South Dakota. 

I change the oil and filter regularly and I've greased it a couple times but that’s all. You know how it goes,
"Don’t fix something if it ain’t broke"! Well, when we loaded it on the pickup to take it boondocking with us, I noticed I had a torn boot on one of the drive axles. So I taped it up with good ole Duct Tape until I got a chance to fix it.  So while I had it in getting that repaired, I told them to go over it good and fix whatever needs fixin'.  I'm scared it may never run so good again.  I’ve had that happen before, take something in and let the “pro’s” work on it and it's never the same.  I’ve got my fingers crossed...it sure has been a good dependable machine.


My good friend and former boss is a wildlife conservation officer in Custer State Park.  He sent me this picture of these Golden Eagles fighting over a deer carcass.  It was taken by his unmanned trail camera.  Gee....what big, beautiful birds! Outstanding picture Ron!

I have always wanted one of these Weather Stations. I finally got lucky with a bid on eBay and purchased one. It is quite impressive and I have been putting it together and trying to learn how to set it up.

Ms. Pat wasn’t too crazy about me putting it together on her dining room table, but it was COLD out in my shop, so she put up with me.(as usual)

It has a neat console, if I can just figure out all the buttons. Sometimes you have to push 3 different buttons in certain succession to get a reading. I’ve kept a record of the highs and lows everyday for years and years. Don’t ask me why, I just do it. As my buddy says “that’s just me”! I keep a record of a LOT of things, some of which would amaze you, I am sure! “That’s Just Me”!

It’s wireless, so I set it up in the back yard to make sure I get a good reception. When it warms up a little I’ll put it up on the roof.  So far it’s working great but I still have a lot to learn.

My son Pat gave me several big boxes of old pictures and documents to look through and see if I wanted any.  Now that we have a house and a "Cabin" in the Black Hills, we have more places to hang and put a few pictures.  Let me tell you, going through all those pictures has been some kind of an experience.  Gosh, stuff I had forgotten even existed or happened.  Man!  I was on an emotional roller coaster.....up and down!  Sometimes I was laughing and other times I was crying.

I sure found some neat old pictures.  The most prized one was one of my Father holding me when I was a mere baby of 6 months, taken way out on our Ranch about 75 years ago.  I think I kinda remember it……Yeah right....Ha Ha.  I can’t even remember a month ago. But, as they say, a lot of those long term things are coming back to me. Some good, some not so good. I found lots of other pictures, most of them of the boy’s when they were young and my parents. So much of my family is gone and that makes me sad. My Dad always told me”you can’t look back son, just forward”. He was so right, in so many things! I never realized at the time how smart he was……he was one GREAT MAN.

Friday, I about shocked Ms. Pats socks off.  I was tired of hanging around the house so much and I called her during her line dancing class and ask her if she would like to go to the Chili Supper that night. There was silence on the phone and I’m sure she was wondering if it was really me calling. Then she replied “Sure, do you”?  Well, I even shocked myself.  I said,  "It’s good chili weather, let's go. You can get the tickets while you're at the Office if they have any left."   So, at 5pm, we took off for the Activities Center and had a super Chili supper with cheese, onions, jalapeno peppers and the works.  Over 150 other folks were there and we sat with our old neighbors Dale and Julie along with 3 couples from the city of Congress.  Afterward they had a Cowgirl Poet and a local gal that sang Country Western songs. Both were quite good and it was an enjoyable time.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thank you all for stopping by.

We’re off to Church this bright and sunshiny morning, praising God for all the many things he provides for us.

Mike

PS. Tomorrow is our 25TH Wedding Anniversary!!! Some more to praise the Lord for!

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

A Wonderful Day in the Desert with Pat and Michelle.

Sunday, my Son Patrick and his wife Michelle came down from Lake Havasu City where they live and we spent a few fun hours riding with them out in the Hills.

Pat and Pop’s out in the Hill’s where we paused for a little snack. That’s Michelle in the background…….



Pop’s, Ms. Pat and Michelle.


Michelle checks out an old Mine Cave we came upon………


Ms. Pat and I were dying to try out his RZR, so we switched 4X4’s about the middle of our ride. We were impressed and loved it!! Gee it rides nice and smooth and it's real comfortable. I love the steering wheel and the way 2 people ride side by side. Plus, it had POWER!!!  It was HOT!!  WOW! I would like to have one of these.  I had no idea they rode so smooth. Neat.   Thanks OP. ( We call my Son "OP" for Old Pat.   He has a Son who is called "LP" for Little Pat.)



Way too soon, it was time for them to load up and head back home. Our time went so fast but we are so thankful they came down and we got to spend some time together. We did talk them into staying for Happy Hour at Rollie and Gina’s……with all our friends.  Then Gina gave us all a bowl of her wonderful Louisiana Gumbo…….Man was it delicious and hit the spot!!

OP snugged down their Polaris RZR and headed back North to Lake Havasu City where they have lived for the last 4-5 years. Before that, they spent almost all their life in Nebraska. It was the coldest and windiest day we have had since we came but it didn’t bother him any. He wore his short pants anyhow.   He is a true native Nebraskan but he loves Arizona!! It’s great to have them so close in the Winter and although they are both quite busy with work, I sure hope we can spend more time together.  It was a SUPER day and I Praise God for our time together.  You can bet your bottom dollar that I told him I loved him more than once !!


This is our Campsite out here in the Desert near Bouse, AZ. It has been a lot of fun and we enjoyed it very much. We got more familiar with our motorhome and spending time in it with no power. It works wonderful and is quite comfortable.

Monday, we shipped out several PressurePro systems and later experienced a "Buttermilk Margarita" Happy Hour at Mike and Janna’s. Yes, you read it right, "Buttermilk Margaritas"!!  I thought I had heard of and tried everything but I never heard of putting Buttermilk  in Margaritas.  I couldn’t imagine it……BUT, to my surprise, they were VERY GOOD!!! Believe it or not!!  Thanks Janna for the delicious Margaritas.

Later that night when we were watching the news and weather, we found out another BIG COLD SPELL was headed our way and that the temps were going to get in the 20’s at home in North Ranch . WOW, we had hydrants and water that would freeze for sure! We decided we better cut our stay short, get home and get stuff protected.  Tuesday morning we loaded up, said our goodbye’s and got our goodbye hug’s. It was a beautiful morning and we sure hated to leave, as we wanted to get in a few more days of 4 wheeling. 

We decided to trust the weatherman and go on home. Better safe than sorry. We are sure glad we did.  About half way home the wind really came up and by the time we got home it was miserable. It was getting colder and colder. We got all parked and started protecting things with covers and heat bulbs.  We should be all set if it really does get cold as they say it will..   WELL, here we sit this morning and the tempeature right now  is 22* and the wind is still blowing. Needless to say, we are all buttoned up and snug as a bug in a rug.  I can say we made the right decision and I’m glad we came home. The first thing I did was take a NICE LONG, very HOT shower.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m sorry the Blog is so long but I guess it makes up for the very short one last Wednesday.

God Bless you all and remember don’t forget to tell your kid’s you love them... they may not be around forever..

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..