Ms Pat Loves to Line Dance!!

Ms Pat has really gotten into this Line Dancing........and to say she loves it would be an understatement. It was a couple years ago when she got interested in it and started taking lessons from Danielle (of Jack and Danielle).  Danielle is an EXCELLENT instructor and teaches classes at Diamond Campground in Woodland Park, CO where they work and spend their summers.

The Line Dancing group here at North Ranch near Congress, AZ is a large one and they are quite active.  Ms Pat goes up to the Club House every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Then, a few of them get together on Sunday afternoon for a couple hours  to work on some intermediate dances.  I have watched her a few times and she does real good.   She asked me to come up and give it a try.  HA....that would be something to see...you could sell tickets to that!!!  I'm a lot of things, but a dancer is not one of them!

Here is Gina, Danielle and Ms Pat line dancing up in Woodland Park when we visited Jack and Danielle last October on our way south.
















When we were out in the Desert near Bouse, AZ boondocking in January, Ms Pat and Ely got together and turned up the music. Ely had a couple new "step's" she wanted to show Pat.  She dances everywhere....everywhere she gets a chance that is!

Since she is running up to the Club House at least 4 times a week for Line Dancing, I found her this little Golf Cart to make the trip.  It's a neat little Yamaha Golf cart I spotted down in the "Big City" one day when we were there. It was For Sale by a private party and was in excellent condition. It's a 1989.  That's 22 years old but it's had very little use. Now she is protected from the Sun, Wind or Rain and doesn't have to crank up our new pickup for all these short trips. She loves it!!  Just plug it in and it's ready to go....and so quiet.

Right now it's 7am.  We have to get out and do our walk while it's cool and so Ms Pat can head up to Line Dancing at 9:00.  We are getting our walking built back up again after our brief lay off.  We're getting ready for those Hiking Trails up in the Black Hills. It will be about a month and we'll be headed that way.  I sure am getting lonesome for those Hills....and especially lonesome for a spin on my Harley Softtail. I know it is setting up there in the Toy Barn just waiting for me.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.....Travel Safe and God Bless.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Easter Sunday 2011

These Easter Cacti are on our small lot.  We have been waiting patiently for them to bloom. These buds open up for one day only, then they are gone. They don’t all open at the same time, so we have several days of these beautiful large flowers all around the Park. I wanted to share them with you this morning on Easter Sunday…

These are a little different variety and color of Easter cacti on a neighbor’s lot.

And yet another color. Now you have just a small idea of how this Arizona Desert comes to life in the spring. Everywhere you look, flowers are bursting out all over. God's beautiful creation!   

We are off early this morning heading for Easter Sunrise Services at 6:00am in Honor and Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will then go to our Church for breakfast, followed by Church Services at 10:15.  It will be a busy morning and the weather looks like it will be wonderful.  Praise the Lord.

We want to wish all our Friends, Family and Followers a very

HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER !

Thank you all for stopping by.....come on back Wednesday.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday,,

Gina Lands in Grenada….

Yesterday (Tuesday) we headed out at 7:30am to Prescott,AZ. We just love Prescott and when we just go for supplies and a little shopping (I hate that word) we always go to Prescott.  It is a lovely place in the mountains and has about all the stores that Phoenix has and not near all the traffic. It is where we bought almost all our furniture for our new house.  In fact, every time we go up there, I always think of last year about this same time that Gina, Rollie and us were shopping up there and loading it all into Rollie’s truck. In fact I had just mentioned to Ms. Pat that I was thinking of those times as we pulled into the Sam’s Club parking lot and the phone rang………. it was Gina!!! WOW, now that’s exciting. Talk about the power of thought!! With that “Bluetooth” set up in our new truck, all calls come into the Bose stereo system and Gina sounded as if she was sitting right there with us. She was at the Airport waiting for her and her daughter's flight to Grenada. I could feel the excitement in her voice. She and Nicole, Rollie and Gina's oldest daughter, are going there to visit Ashley, the other daughter, and spend a couple weeks. Gina is still recuperating from her surgery so the girls are going to make sure she  behaves herself and follows the doctors orders.  It was so good hearing from her....she made our day!

The above picture is of Gina and I watching Rollie and Ms. Pat play Softball in Custer, SD last summer.

This morning when I started up my computer there was a message from her letting us know that she had safely landed. She made our day again!! Good for you Girl!! Now relax and enjoy yourself!! As you said in your email, "Let the FUN BEGIN!!"

We had a super day in Prescott, as the weather was fantastic and I enjoyed looking through the “MY” stuff in all the stores while Ms. Pat did her grocery shopping…

One of the things that Prescott lacked that Phoenix has and we missed was a TRADER JOE”S.  Well LOOK what we noticed right along the main highway right close to Costco…  Hallelujah...........Trader Joes is COMING SOON!!!!   Right on!!

Just as we headed out of town, our Bluetooth cell phone rang again. I can’t seem to get used to that thing and it scares the daylight’s out of me when it rings over the stereo system.  It was our friends Jerry and Suzy that were coming to visit us at North Ranch.   We had emailed them directions to our other lot a couple of days ago so we told them to go ahead and get set up.  We stopped by when we got home to welcome them and invited them down to Happy Hour.  It was so good seeing them again. We hadn't seen them since Mikel’s funeral in Tucson almost a year ago.  Gosh it was already 2:30pm, where had the day gone??

This is Jerry and Suzy just as they were leaving last night after Happy Hour!! We had a great visit with these fine folks.   They are on their way to attend their daughter's College graduation in Carson City, NV.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!! As we continue to Praise the Lord for all he provides to us.

A GREAT BIG welcome to our latest Followers:

K and D in the RV
Astough

So glad to have you stop by and join us.  You can click on their picture in our list of Followers and it will take you to their Blog, if they have one.

Travel safe all you travelers out there!! God Bless. Hope to see you Sunday.

Mike

This Blog is published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Another Exciting Week!

Most of our weeks are exciting, some "planned" excitement and some "not planned". I really prefer the "planned" because sometimes the "not planned" are not much fun. Whichever, we like to stay busy. Depression has never been a problem of mine, until the last few years anyhow. However, it seems if I don’t stay busy, I have a tendency to dwell on the past too much. Memories are great and we all have them. The difficulty lies in my memories of the past affecting my present. Confusing right? YES!

Friday, April 15TH, was Mikel’s Birthday. He would have been 56. As you know, Ms. Pat and I dedicate this Blog to both Scott and Mikel. Their birthdays seem to be the toughest and always bring back a lot of memories. I remember way back in 1955 when Mikel was born. I was but a mere 20 years old but I remember how proud I was of him.  I always said how Mikel and I grew up together.  Back in his beginning years, I was driving a semi-truck hauling Rodeo stock around to rodeos and following the circuit, riding bucking horses and brahma bulls. I took him with me everywhere and showed him to everyone in his cowboy hat and boots. He was a cute little guy and was quite the center of attraction. 

It wasn’t long until I realized that my lifestyle was not that of a responsible Father and I needed to get a real job. We were staying in Motels a lot and Mikel’s bed was many times a “dresser drawer” . I didn’t like that. I enjoyed the great excitement of being around and a part of rodeoing and the competition of being a contestant was very enjoyable for me. I was making good money driving trucks for the O'Conner and Son’s Rodeo Producers and winning some prize money every now and then. But Mikel was my main concern, so I gave it up and found a real job.

Anyhow, what I’m trying to say is, memories are wonderful, even though sometimes sad, but I sure wouldn’t want to be without them. Sometimes, however, they can be overwhelming unless they are controlled. That control is tough and my only defense is “Stay Busy”. Dwelling on those memories too long causes depression. What keeps me going is the fact that I know both Scott and Mikel would not want me to be sad or depressed. So for them and with the Good Lord’s help…… I will not let my memories make me overly saddened to the point of depression. But I sure miss ‘em…………Now, lets get on with it!


Late Thursday afternoon, the FedEx man pulled up into our yard and delivered this beautiful NEW COMPUTER…. WOW, was I excited. I thought he would never get here!! It didn’t take me long to get it unpacked and fired up…  Uh, Oh, now the task of getting everything I “wanted” transferred over from the old one.  It took about 30 seconds for me to get totally confused…  I started hollering “PAT”!!

Ms. Pat knew how excited I was and anxious to get the new DELL set up so I could use it. As busy as she was on her stuff and after hollering at her and asking “what do I do know”, she came in and told me to let her work on it for a minute. As most of you know, it's no easy task changing from an old to a new computer. It was a lot longer than a minute, but it wasn’t long until she had me quiet and happy on my new Laptop!! The old Sony had been a great companion and although it was only a couple years old, it was showing signs of hard use. Believe me, I am HARD on them. I had hammered on the keyboard until 2 keys had totally fell off and recently the “E” key only worked about 50% of the time.  That can be frustrating. I have a new Keyboard ordered, and I will do my best to install it when and if I ever get it. So the old Sony is not totally given up. Plus, like my friend Mark Bruss always says “You need a backup” !  So, I’m here to tell you that this morning I am coming to you from my new DELL INSPIRON !!!    I LOVE IT.....the “e” works and everything!

Yesterday (Saturday) just after lunch Doug and Jutta arrived here at North Ranch for a visit on their way to Oregon. They are our good friends and former neighbors from Retama Village in Mission, TX. They also came to the Black Hills a couple years ago and visited us several times while they were there. Doug and Jutta are on their way to Washington where they plan on spending the summer.  We are so glad they stopped by. So last night called for a special Happy Hour and "travel day" meal in their honor.   Ms. Pat and Sally prepared some salad and burgers for us all. Tom and Sally own a couple of lots here at North Ranch and also own a lot in Retama Village.  They met Doug and Jutta at Retama a few years ago, so they helped us welcome them to the "Ranch".   Doug told us that his Mom owned a lot here at the Ranch several years ago.  It's a small world.

Here we all are at Happy Hour.  Don’t we look like a HAPPY bunch?  That’s Jutta on the left, then Doug, next is Ms., Pat and "yours truly", then Sally and Tom.  The hat rack on the left is where Ms. Pat always makes me check my Hat and Gun. 

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back Wednesday if ya' can. Until then, God Bless and travel safe.  We're off to Church!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Ah, Now That’s Better!!

Now this is the Arizona I Love! 50’s when we get up and 70’s-80’s during the day. We are even getting back to our walks every day. We leave about 7am while it is still a little cooler and go a tad farther every day. It sure is a lot harder to get back in shape than it is to get out of shape.

Monday as we were walking past our other lot here at North Ranch, I told Ms. Pat I wanted to stop and check out some of the weeds I had sprayed the day before and see if it did any good.  As I was in the back of our lot checking the weeds out, I suddenly heard “Honey....come over here, there is a PROBLEM”! I hurried over to our neighbor Pat Holowell’s place next door where Ms. Pat was. She has a Park Model (little house) on that lot and it was in a "lake" of water and you could hear and see water running out from under the place. I mean it was Pouring! UhOh, yes, we do have a big PROBLEM!!

We knew that the house was vacant, as Pat H. had just recently moved to an Assisted Living place in Wickenburg. I told Ms. Pat that we had to shut the water off at the street and it takes a special tool,.  She knew our neighbor Paul on the other side had one of those tools. It was just a little after 7am,but we know they get up early, so off she ran. Meanwhile, I checked to see if the house was open. It wasn’t but we know that another neighbor Julie has a key. While Paul and I shut off the main water supply with his special tool, Ms. Pat ran to get Julie so we could check inside. Soon we had the back door open and found about 3 inches of water over the entire bathroom, kitchen, hall and bedroom. Paul turned the water back on so I could see where the water was coming from.  I found a split piece of PVC pipe under the bathroom sink.  Water was spraying and gushing everywhere.  Paul quickly shut the water off again and I asked him if he had a water vac.  He said he did, so he ran home to get that. We spent the next hour or so getting all the water we could vacuumed out.

Whew, it was a mess! We opened all the doors and windows, turned on all the ceiling fans and put a couple extra fans on the floor.   With the low humidity in Arizona, things dry out real fast but this place was really soaked, down threw the carpet, linoleum, and the laminate wood flooring into the sub flooring. Julie had called Pat H. (the owner) on the phone and I advised her of the problem and what all we had done. I told her that she needed to report this to her Insurance Company ASAP so they could get an Adjuster out to see the damage and determine what they needed to do.  I knew the flooring and carpet needed to be removed.  Poor Gal.  I felt so sorry for her.  She sure didn’t need this to happen. It was lucky Ms. Pat and I just happened to walk by and see it.  It might have gone on for hours before anybody discovered it since it was at the back of the house.

Other than those exciting things happening, it's pretty much business as usual here at the Ranch. As I work around the place, I remember at this time last year we were just moving into our new home here on Vagabond Trail. As I look at the place now, it’s amazing how different it looks. Here is a picture of the front yard when we moved in.

Below is a picture after Rollie ,Gina, Pat and I worked really hard cleaning it up.

I think it looks a 100% better, don’t you?

Not only does the outside look a lot different but check the Porch out when we moved in (above). Now look at it (below).

Much better, right?  I could go on with each and every room in the entire house.  It is so much more to our liking and we love it. Rollie and Gina, we owe so much to you for all the help, idea’s and hard work.  We can never thank you enough. It is so comfortable and we love it!

I would like to go on and on and show you the changes in all the other rooms but this Blog is too long the way it is. I’ll save that for another time…..

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Praise the Lord and God Bless you all! Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you back this Sunday.

Travel Safe.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

First Baby BUFFALO Born in Custer State Park.

A sure sign that Spring is right around the corner is the birth of the “first” baby Buffalo calf in the herd at Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Here is the new baby and it’s VERY protectant Mother. The Mother looks like she is a younger Cow and a beautiful lady. Look at what a perfect set of “hooks” she has.  I believe she has chased me at one time or another in the past.  This picture was taken by my good friend Ron Tietsort.   Ron is the head law enforcement Conservation Officer in the Park and  our x-boss. That Mama cow is saying "OK, that’s close enough!" I wouldn’t want to push her much further.  She will charge in a heartbeat!....especially when she has a young baby. When the calf gets a little older,  she will be fine and easier to deal with. We used to love to sit in and around the herd as the babies were born. They are the cutest little rascals.  This little gal is thought to have been born on April Fool’s Day. She is just 5-6 day’s old. Most of the 350+- calves are born in May but a few are born in April.  Soon she will have lots of playmates.
  
Here is the Press Release and more about this fine, large heard of Buffalo:

First BuffaloCalf of the Season Spotted at Custer State Park

CUSTER STATE PARK – The first buffalo calf of the spring, a heifer, in Custer State Park was spotted on Wednesday (April 6). Ron Tietsort, conservation officer for Custer State Park, saw the buffalo calf in the south end of the park along the Wildlife Loop Road. It is estimated that the calf is one week old.
The park has about 850 bison going into the spring, and 350 calves are expected. The herd size should be around 1,200 at the Annual Buffalo Roundup in September.
“Spring is a perfect time to view wildlife in the park and with the winter moisture, everything is greening up,” said Chad Kremer, buffalo herd manager. “Deer, antelope, turkey and buffalo can be seen throughout the park right now.”
Visitors are advised to leave buffalo calves alone. It can be dangerous to approach young animals, particularly buffalo calves. If a mother buffalo feels she or her calf is threatened, she may charge.
“Occasionally, people will think a buffalo calf has been orphaned and try to rescue it,” said Kremer. “This is rarely true. Buffalo may roam up to one mile from their calves and come back later for them.”
Most buffalo calves are born in May, but about 10 percent to 20 percent arrive in April at Custer State Park.
South Dakota State Parks invites the public to choose a name for the first buffalo calf of the spring. Visit South Dakota State Park’s Facebook page to cast your vote.
For additional information on Custer State Park, contact the park at 605-255-4515 or visit www.custerstatepark.com

I often tell Ron how lucky he is to have such a super job in such a beautiful area and he's always reminding me of how lucky I am that I can sit down here in nice, warm, cozy, sunshiny Arizona all winter.  He continues to furnish me with these beautiful pictures he takes and it sure makes me “homesick” for those Hills!  Here is another:

This Rocky Mountain Big Horn Ram is definitely knee deep in snow. He’s a beauty! Nice pictures Ron.

At the end of May, we will begin our usual northern bound journey and will arrive in those beautiful Black Hills around the first of June.  Even then, we will still probably encounter a snow or two before the 4TH of July arrives. I remember one 4TH of July morning it was 36* when we got up.  Still, it is our favorite place to be in the summer months.  I can’t wait to get up there and fire up my Harley and take a spin around those Hills.

Speaking of Motorcycles, my Son found this beauty a while back in Las Vegas:

It is a 1971 AMF Harley Davidson.  I had a better, close up picture of it but I can’t seem to find it right now.  Here it sits just outside of his office in his home. He loves Motorcycles and always has. I think right now he has about 4 of them. He enjoys rebuilding and restoring older bikes along with some of the later models. He is a few years from retirement but one day when he has more time, this will make a great project and he will restore this 40 year old bike to like new. One of his Bikes he recently restored was on display in Daytona Beach at Bike Week.

Last week's Blog I was complaining about HOT weather. Well, I should have left well enough alone.  The last couple mornings we have gotten out of bed to 34*.  Yesterday (Saturday) it only got up to a high of 48* for the day and it drizzled and sleeted off and on all day long. We did manage to get our walk in but with coats and gloves on and yep, it sleeted on us. I had to laugh at Ms. Pat while we were walking.  She said “It’s too cold to be out here!”  I laughed and said we were just practicing getting ready to go North.  Shucks a little sleet won’t hurt a guy! LOL 

I am glad to see the bright sunshine out this morning and in a day or two it will be right back up there in the 80's+.  I will be glad to see the warmer weather.   I have a few projects planned but this morning we're off to Church.
It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thank you all for stopping by and hope to see you Wednesday.

Travel Safe. God Bless.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

It was a Tough Winter in Arizona.

Yes, it was the toughest Winter we have ever experienced here at North Ranch near Congress, AZ and we have been coming here for about 12 winters. I know that for our friends and family up North, it wasn’t as “rough” as their Winter but for us here, it was Rough! Let me show you.

This is our back yard on Feb 27TH. These Oleanders usually stand up straight but they are bent to the ground with the heavy snow. This and the extreme cold weather killed some of them and nipped others.

Several of our trees took a hard hit. The one on the right is about 50% dead. Our Orange trees all froze and oranges were ruined.

We cut all the dead fruit and branches from the Orange trees and they look as if they may come back. Several have told us that once they freeze real hard like that, the fruit in the future will all be sour. So right now, as with a lot of folks around North Ranch, it’s a game of “wait and see”.

However, time marches on and it's Spring Time in the Desert and things are blooming. Easter Cacti are busting out all over the Park. Here is a little Cactus in the Rock Garden Gina worked so hard on in our front yard last year.  It sure is letting us know that it is live and well.  This is for you Gina, isn’t it beautiful?  And speaking of Gina, she had surgery on Monday morning and came through it with flying colors.  The doctor said she did remarkably well.  When we talked to her yesterday morning, she was hoping to be released from the hospital in the afternoon.  You can read more about it on Rollie and Gina's Blog.  We love you Gina, so follow the doctor's orders and you will be back to full speed before you know it.  Rollie, you have your hands full keeping her under control for a couple of weeks. :-)

I’m having computer problems and have an “E” key that is malfunctioning.  It doesn’t work about 75% of the time and a couple other keys are off and loose, so I've been thinking of buying and installing a new keyboard.  I have found a keyboard for $70.00, but can’t seem to locate an installation manual on how to install a new keyboard on the Sony Vaio Model VGN-NS 130E. I understand it’s not too hard a job but you must have those instructions as there is always a little trick to getting one of these laptops open. If I took it in to someone, I’m sure it would cost more than the thing is worth. I'm just not quite ready for a new one quite yet……but maybe it’s time.   We'll see.

It’s a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  For those of you out there on the roads, Travel Safe and God Bless you ALL.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Hey, it’s not SUMMER yet, is it?

What is this, some kind of an April “FOOL’s Joke? It was just the 1st day of SPRING a couple week’s ago on March 20th.

John and Sandy completed with Sandy’s driving school and she passed with “flying colors” . They were planning to leave the next day (Friday) so we decided to have a little Happy Hour celebration followed by a quick bite to eat at our place.  Congratulation’s Sandy!!!!!  John says he picked up quite a few pointers in driving a 40’ Motorhome also, so it was a GREAT experience for both of them. John and I continued to sit around and tell old war stories about our old job’s in Law enforcement. During our conversations, they told us they are in the process of building a "sticks & bricks" home in Casa Grande.  It's going to be a nice one.  Check it out on their Blog. 

We enjoyed having them with us and look forward to seeing them again in the not too distant future. They wanted to go North a ways where it is a little cooler.  It was a whopping “91”* her at North Ranch that day. We gave them directions on how to get North to Prescott from here. They departed on Friday, April 1st and it got up to 95* that afternoon.  Holy Cow!   That’s the hottest it’s ever gotten here since we have been coming here for over 12 years. It went over 100 in Phoenix breaking a record there, also. Wow, That’s HOT!!  Fortunately, it’s only about 8% humidity, so if you get in the shade it's not so bad.  
Yesterday was “Garage Sale” Saturday here at North Ranch and the entire place was covered with folks out front selling there “junk” and lots of others going up and down all the streets finding their “Treasures”. It was a beautiful day and fortunately there were a few clouds that kept the sun from making it so warm.

Here is Ms. Pat in our front yard with our “junk” making a sale. We did pretty good and sold a bunch. The good thing about having stuff out to sell ourselves, it keeps us home and not out buying more “JUNK”.  It never ceases to amaze me.  The stuff we put out that is “junk” usually sells right away. The stuff we put out that we feel is nice, doesn’t sell. :-)

That’s about the extent of the excitement this week here at the Ranch. Our good friends and old neighbors Paul and Nancy invited us up to their house for a very enjoyable “Happy Hour”  last night. Nancy made some delicious "stuffed" Jalapenos.  Wow...they were so good we didn't even need any dinner. Thanks for the treat, Nancy. We sure miss being closer neighbors to these fine folks.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Let's hope it’s not QUITE Summer yet, as I’m not QUITE ready for those 90’s!

Welcome to our latest Followers:
Phil and Debi Olson
John and Linda
Glad to have you guy’s follow us.

Well, we're off to Church.  Thanks to all for stopping by.  God Bless and remember to tell your loved ones that you love them, they may not be around forever.

Travel Safe!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..