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..

Now I remember!!

Oh Ya, now I remember all the little chores owning a HOUSE brings along with it. It’s SPRING cleaning time!
Ms. Pat has been clipping bushes and tree’s and I have been raking and picking up the clippings.

Ms. Pat says, “We are going to wash the windows” ! OH,,,,well I remember I have to go see a guy. “No you don’t” she replied, which is just what I knew she would say!

My job was removing all the screen’s, scrubbing them and hosing them off and reinstalling them. We have a BUNCH of windows! There is 8 stainless steel screws holding these screens in place.

Ms. Pat’s job was to wash the window’s, inside and out. She uses Dri Wash n Guard Ultra Ion on all our windows. Same stuff we polish and protect our cars, trucks and Motorhome with. For those of you that don’t know about or use Dri Wash n Guard, you should really take a look. It is the best protection and easier to use than any polish we have found, by far!  It also works great on “windows”... any windows and you can use it on your windshield and car windows. It’s about like putting on Rain-X, only much easier. Give it a try... thousand’s of RV’ers use it and have for years. We have used it for over 10 years ourselves. Tried a lot of other stuff but liked Dri- Wash a lot better.

That’s about all that is going on around the Ranch, right at the moment. The weather has been outstanding and after a colder winter than usual, we are enjoying these 50* morning's and afternoon temps in the mid 70’s. It seems to me a lot of folks are headed North kinda early this year. Anyhow a lot of our friends are “on the move”.  You all travel safe out there.  We will wait a couple months before we head up that way, unless the “hitch itch” just gets too much to handle. :-)

John and Sandy are here at North Ranch while Sandy is taking the Driving School class. Denny Orr, one of the instructors lives here and gives lessons right here at the Ranch.  They are on our old lot and visited us for Happy Hour Monday.  It was great seeing them again. They visited us last summer at our place in Custer, SD. Hopefully we will get in at least one more Happy Hour with them before they depart. John was a deputy Sherriff in Wisconsin for over 30 years. You get a couple ole' COPs together and the stories really fly…… Again, the good ole times!

Thanks for your email Pam, I know its hard to wait for my Blog Post! LOL,,,,,,The dad bum router wouldn’t work this morning.  A couple hours on line with the 3G store got it up and running. (I hope!) Sorry I'm late but I’m OK. Thanks for caring! Hugs!


It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by………Come on back Sunday.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

"Grand Opening!"

Last night at Happy Hour we had a "Grand Opening"....the opening of the beautiful quilt that Barb made for Ms. Pat. It was a special evening as Barb and Ron Bergquist are leaving us tomorrow and heading on to Las Vegas for the DWG Convention. Barb brought some special creamy "Green Chili" soup and "Chipotle" cornbread, while Ms. Pat cooked hamburgers. We invited some other special friends, Mel and Nina, who are at North Ranch attending the annual Woodcarvers Convention that is held here every year.  Our friends Paul and Nancy were also our special guests and Paul brought some of his homegrown, homemade cucumber and onion pickles.

This is Mel and Nina, special guests at Happy Hour last night. They are leaving North Ranch today, also.  They are good friends that have visited us many times here at North Ranch and have also been up to Custer and spent some time with us there. It's always good to see these fine folks. Mel is retired from the US Air Force and travels the country in a big, beautiful Kountry Star Motorhome, all equipped with a PressurePro Tire Monitoring System and a PowerTank, of course!! 
OK, here goes!!  I know Janna wants to see this quilt opened up and several others have ask for it also, so here is Barb and Ms. Pat getting ready to OPEN IT UP!!

Here it is,,,,,,,,isn’t it a beauty! Those of you that have done this work know just how many long hours Barb spent working on this!   The pattern is called "Log Cabin".  It will really look beautiful on our Brass Bed in the "Cabin" in Custer, SD.  Ms. Pat and I will enjoy it for the rest of our lives and hopefully that will be a LONG TIME!! :-)  Thank you so much Barb!!

I know quilters will want to see the backside, so here Ms. Pat and Barb proudly display the beautiful backside of the quilt…

So it was a great Happy Hour send off of Barb and Ron to their convention is Vegas! Ron and Barb sitting on the left, Nancy and Paul on the right and Ms. Pat and I standing.

Then we all sat down and enjoyed a great meal in our wonderful  “Arizona Room” screened porch with our new tile and all the beautiful decorations and wall hangings done by Gina and Rollie.  Mel and Nina couldn’t join us for supper as they were having a Woodcarvers Banquet at the Activities Center……hope theirs was as good as ours!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!  We are so happy and thankful to our Father and Savior Jesus Christ for what he provides us making all this possible.  We are on our way to Church and Ron and Barb have decided to join us before they take off.

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels......

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Friends from Retama and Enjoying Our New Porch.

Last Sunday we had just gotten out of Church and pulled into the Safeway grocery store parking lot when we received a call that Ron and Barb Bergquist were just about to North Ranch. We advised them to stand by for a few minutes and we would be there to show them to our small lot. It was great so see them again....it has been a long time. They came from Mission Texas, our old neighborhood at Retama Village, and are headed for a DWG Conference in Las Vegas. After a few hugs, we took them to our lot and showed them where to park their big beautiful 40’ Monaco Signature Series Motorhome and left them to get set up. We told them Happy Hour was at our place at 4 pm and Ms. Pat announced that she was serving the Gina Special “Taco Soup” for Supper.

Here we are at 4 pm sharp enjoying “Happy Hour” and our newly tiled porch.  We also invited our good friends and neighbors Paul and Nancy Wilson to join us and meet our friends.  Ron and Barb will be staying close to them. 

This is Barb and Ron Bergquist, new full-timers from Dallas, Texas and owners of an RV lot in Retama Village in Mission, TX.  Ron is a retired VP from Cash America and Barb is recently retired from Harley Davidson. Do you see what is setting on the table in front of Ms. Pat?

Barb made this "Beautiful Quilt" for Ms. Pat and presented her with it at Happy Hour. Ms. Pat was totally surprised and I think I even saw a few tears. :-)  Barb remembered Ms. Pat's favorite colors and made the quilt with all these special colors.  It is beautiful!! Thank you Barb for the special gift.  I know Ms Pat will cherish it forever.

Ms Pat can't bring herself to open it up just yet because Barb did such a good job folding it and tying it with a beautiful blue ribbon. Before they leave, we'll open it up and give you a better look.  Janna, I know you are anxious for Ms Pat to spread it out so you can see
it. :-)  Barb is an excellent quilter and this is a very, special quilt as Barb was going through some difficult times when she was quilting it.  Ron and Barb will be with us for a week.  They will be checking out all the sights in the surrounding area and Barb is getting in a little Line Dancing with Ms. Pat and the group up at the Club House.

We got a little of that wind and rain storm that was going across the country Monday  That was a good thing because the desert was getting a little dry, so the 1/4 “ rain was definitetly needed.  We can see the cacti and tree’s around the park getting ready to bloom. A sure sign that spring is right around the corner. Gosh, it’s almost the end of March already! Hard to believe, 1/4 of the year almost gone. It seems like it only started a couple weeks ago.  Only 2 months and we will be closing this place up for the Summer and heading to the Beautiful Black Hills.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to stop buy. God Bless and safe travels to all of you out there on the highways.

Mike

This Blog is published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Trailer is Painted......Finally!!

Remember the trailer I bought about a year ago? I bought it mainly to store our 4 wheeler ATV’s in. It’s a beautiful trailer and especially well made and I got a good deal on it.

Here it is when I brought it home last Winter. It only had ONE problem....all that signage. The trailer was like new and I thought I would be able to remove all that lettering myself, no big deal. I had hoped at first it was decals.  I could have taken a heat gun and removed them in a heartbeat. but no such luck.  It was paint! I still figured I could get it off fairly easy. You know, paint thinner, paint remover, Acetone, something!  Well, I was wrong! The painter that painted the lettering was a Pro and they weren’t coming off....not without a whole lot of work sanding and then repainting.

 Long time Blog readers remember me asking you all about it and for an easy solution. Nobody had one, so I’ve been looking for someone to do it for me. The local auto body shop guy couldn’t get the trailer into his Paint Booth because it was too tall.  He referred me to a guy at the AIRPORT who paints AIRPLANES in an airplane hanger. So off I went to the airport. I love airports.  I used to fly a lot.  I have a pilots license and then I got into Skydiving.  The airport brings back a lot of good memories of very enjoyable days.

Here are the results!

They did one SUPERB job!! They were painting Lear Jets right next to my trailer! I am really pleased with the results. This makes a wonderful place to store both of our Polaris Sportsman 4 Wheelers while we are gone, plus it's handy to have to haul stuff.



Now I am much happier with the way it looks as it sits in our yard here at North Ranch.  All that signage really bugged me and I don’t suppose the neighbors appreciated it either. A lot of folks here have trailers in their yard, both for use and for storage. You sure can’t build a building as cheap as you can buy a nice trailer. Plus all the gyrations you have to go through, building permits, approval from the lot owners assoc, etc. etc. 

We are staying busy here at the Ranch in Arizona and enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having.  I have a couple other projects in the making...never a dull moment around here. But we never forget to take the time to thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us the way he has and making this all possible. Praise the Lord!

It was a GREAT WEEK !!!!

I want to welcome our latest followers:

Ronda
Carol Kerr
Mactrailer
Donna K

Thank you and all the others that follow my blog and put up with my jibbering..  I know it can’t be very interesting at times but we try not to bore you too much.  God Bless and you come on back anytime!

We’re off to Church as we await the arrival of our good friends Ron and Barb, coming all the way from down in Mission Texas....part of the Retama Gang!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Porch Tile Completed!

WOW, just in the nick of time, too! A few minutes before Happy Hour last night, we moved all the furniture back onto the porch.

Just as promised Rich and his son Eli showed up early Monday morning to finish up our Porch tile job. Here they are doing the grouting.



Furniture all back in. Wow, what a difference! Just what this place needed to give it a more homey, finished look. This picture is taken looking out towards the street. We are so glad to have this job completed. We wanted Gina to pass approval on the Tile we purchased but she has been extremely busy the last few weeks. She is an excellent color coordinator and decorator.  She had a hand in choosing everything in this place. We think she will like it and can’t wait for her to see it.  Also, our good friend Dale Bruss was visiting us last year when we were purchasing stuff for the new house and she helped us a lot, too.  Dale was an Interior Decorator in her former life.  What do you think, Gina and Dale??

The love seat is back in it's usual place but it looks a lot better than it did on the bare concrete……

This is a replica statue of Ms. Megabyte2 that Gina bought for us…I just love it. She even painted a little black spot on it’s nose just like Megabyte2 has. The poor, real Ms. Megabyte2 was so upset because she couldn’t come out on “her” porch all weekend. She just couldn’t understand that…

But yesterday afternoon she got to come back out and enjoy it. She loves this porch just as much as we do. Last night, even after it got dark, she didn’t want to come back in the house.

So, another “project” completed here at North Ranch.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  God Bless You all and safe travels to our traveling friends.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Home Sweet HOME!!

Gosh!!  It sure is nice to be back home here in North Ranch. I guess I’m really becoming a "homebody"! Maybe it’s because we haven’t had a HOUSE for 15 years but I was sure looking forward to getting back. It was a long, hard, tiring 4 day’s standing in that booth at the Gypsy Journal Rally and by Friday morning Ms. Pat and I were both getting anxious to get back home to the Ranch.  It was a nice, easy trip back.  The hardest part was the fuel stop at Flying J as we were leaving where we took on 100 gal of diesel at a price of $3.879. That $400.00 was more than we made at the rally but we had a great time and enjoyed seeing everybody.

We pulled into North Ranch right after lunch time and stopped at the community dump station so we wouldn’t have to mess with it when we got home. Mike and Janna had been looking after our place while we were gone so we knew it was in good hands. After getting new tires on their "new to them" trailer on Friday,  they moved up to our other lot and told us to plan on Happy Hour and Supper at their place.  Janna is an excellent cook, so needless to say, we had a wonderful meal...charcoal grilled cheeseburgers and potato salad.  YUM!

When we pulled up to our carport, this is what we saw………..A MESS!!  Mike and Janna told us they had started to tile our porch while we were gone, so we weren’t surprised and we were anxious to see how much they had gotten done.

They were cutting and laying tile like crazy.....

As you can see, they were almost done and we were afraid we might not be able to walk on it. If that was the case, we would have had to spend another night in the Motorhome as there is no other entrance into the house except the 2 doors on the porch. However, they assured us that the front half was all dry and could be walked on as they had done it the previous day. BOY, that worked out nice! This young fellow, his brother and father built this place so they are very familiar with it.

It was Friday afternoon so they finished up and told us they would see us Monday and do the grouting.  We LOVE the tile and Ms. Pat is extremely happy with the way it turned out.  What do you think?? 

We quickly unloaded most of our stuff from the motorhome just in time to head up to Mike and Janna’s place for “Happy Hour” and supper.


It was a very enjoyable evening with these wonderful folks.  We have really enjoyed meeting and getting to know them.  They told us they were planning to leave the next morning and we sure hated to see them go.  Hurry back you two and safe travels. 

Back home I wasn’t the only one glad to be home, Ms. Megabyte2 curled up in her bed and was sound asleep just as I was when Ms. Pat woke me up at 9pm and told me it was time to go to BED!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back Wednesday and maybe the porch will be all done! 

God Bless you all!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Fifth Annual Western Gypsy Gathering Rally, 2011

We are here at the 5TH Annual Western Gypsy Gathering Rally in Yuma, AZ. Nick Russell, editor of the Gypsy Journal RV newspaper, started having this Western Rally 5 years ago in 2007. We have attended them all as Vendors. The first 3 were held at the Fairgrounds in Casa Grande,AZ. The last 2 have been here at the Fairgrounds in Yuma. Since I still don’t have a camera, I will refer you to Nicks Blog. He has lots of pictures of the activities.

Nick puts on a great Rally and one of the things I enjoy most is that we have so many friends and customers that also attend. It's like old homecoming week every year. What really amazes me is the amount of people that say to me “Hey Mike, I read your Blog all the time”. Unbelievable, even the famous well-known DICK REED of the RV Driving School told me he reads it and enjoys it!  Dick is almost as old as I am and he started the RV Driving School way back in 1991.  In 2007 he sold the Driving School to Dennis Hill, another one of our fine friends and customers.

Yesterday, we gave our Seminar presentation on PressurePro Tire Monitoring Systems and PowerTanks. Considering that almost everyone here already has one of our systems, we had a good attendance and great participation.

The Blog will be extra short this morning as we are rushed with all the activities and attending to our Booth. We continue to get several orders to fill from our website and fortunately we found a little Post Office a couple miles away that saves us some time on our daily run. The main PO is way over on the other side of the world.

The Rally will be over Friday morning.  We will head back to North Ranch and probably be there by Friday evening or Saturday morning. Then Ms. Pat and I can sit back and relax with our 5TH Gypsy Journal Rally under our belts.   It’s Ms. Megabyte2’s third year to attend with us and I think she is also in a bigger hurry than we are to get back to “her” house at the Ranch. She doesn’t enjoy these noisy airplanes that rattle the windows and shake the ground at all!!! She looks at me as if to say “Who’s stupid idea was this anyhow”?

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!


God Bless you all and we’ll see you from back at the RANCH Sunday!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Back in the DESERT again!!

We departed North Ranch just before noon yesterday leaving our place in the good hands of Mike and Janna. They are waiting for some tires and wheels for the trailer they just purchased. It has been such a treat to have these folks with us the past few days and has given us a chance to get to know them. They are mighty fine folks and we wish they could stay around much longer but they have other pressing things to do and see. As soon as their tires and wheels get in and they get them installed, they will be on their way towards southeast Arizona to spend a little time looking around.

We made it to our destination over here in the desert near MM#99 about 5 miles south of Quartzite,AZ.  It was only a 100 mile trip for the day but we had stopped off in Aquila, AZ at some friend's house for a short visit.  It was about 3pm when we found our campsite.  It was a beautiful warm afternoon and we prepared for a nice, quite evening in the desert. I went in to get the camera so I could take a couple pictures of this beautiful spot and our new rig for the Blog this morning when I discovered I had forgotten and left my camera back at the house.  What a bummer!  Now I have no camera for the entire Gypsy Journal Rally.  I could SWEAR....but Ms. Pat is trying to break me of doing that, so I’ll just go off somewhere and throw a tantrum. This memory thing is starting to scare me folks! I have never had the best memory in the world but let me tell you, lately its gotten to the point of being right down SCARY!! I remember putting the camera on the couch so I wouldn’t forget it and it must still be laying there…  

Since I don’t have my camera, about all I can do is show you the picture I took last year at this exact same spot, exact same day, just not with our Motorhome.  Seeing this old Rig does bring back some real fond memories though...

Today we will slowly make our way on the 80 miles to the Fairgrounds in Yuma. The Fifth Annual Western Gypsy Journal Rally doesn’t start until tomorrow but today is “Early Bird” day.  We can check in at Noon and get all set up for the registration and big kick off day tomorrow.  We have many, many friends that attend this Rally and we look forward to seeing them all and meeting some new ones. That’s the main reason we come to the Gypsy Journal Rally. Now if we just happen to sell a PressurePro System  and a PowerTank or two, well that’s OK too!!

I have shown you pictures on this Blog of our good friends Dave Brown and Lois Putnam many times. Some of you have met them at our place in Custer, SD or at North Ranch. They even visited us in Tallahassee, Fl before we sold our house there. Here is a picture I took of them sitting with Ms. Pat in our Booth at the Gypsy Journal Rally last year. Since they spend their winters in Yuma, they always came and spent a couple days in the booth with us.  I am so saddened to report that Dave took real sick just a couple months ago with lung cancer and passed away on Feb 28TH. Had I not been so tied up with Dr appointments myself right at that time, both Ms. Pat and I would have been at his bedside.

Dave was from Sturgis, SD. and a true buddy and good friend. A jolly guy he was and always had on his Sailor Cap and Cowboy Boots. He was 85 or 86 years YOUNG and as active as a any man many years younger than him. I admired him so much. Pat and I both fished with him many, many times over the years and had so much fun. We camped and cooked fish with him and Lois at Angostura Lake in South Dakota. He LOVED the southern way Ms Pat cooked fish and her "Hush Puppies" and Cheese Grit's. We loved him like a family member and will truly miss him. It is with tears in my eyes that I dedicate this Blog to him. So long my Friend. I know God has a special place for you and I want you to spot all those fish so one day you can take us out fishing again.  God has another great Angel!! We will get together with Lois as soon as we get to Yuma.  Her family will be taking her back to South Dakota next week.

It’s been a LONG WEEK!!!!  I hope greater ones are to come.  None the less, I continue to Praise the Lord for what he provides us..

Thanks for stopping by.  Drop in on Wednesday and I’ll report on how the Rally is going.   If anyone knows of a GREAT, CHEAP little camera I can pick up at Wal-Mart or Sam’s, please let me know..

God Bless you all……and Safe travels

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Nice Weather and Good Friends!!

Yes....the Weather has really turned out great the last few days and our plans have fallen into place perfectly.   Praise the Lord!!  Don’t you just love it when your plans finally come together and you can sit back, enjoy and appreciate the results? We have owned a small lot here in North Ranch for several years. With a small lot, they don’t allow you to have guests stay on it with you. However, if you have one of the larger lots, you can have as many guests as you can comfortably get on it. Since we bought our little home on this large lot, we can now park our friends right on it and close to us.  We also decided to keep our small lot and have additional space for friends that want to stay around for a while.  

Yesterday all that planning came into reality. Larry and Geri, previous owners of the Broken Arrow Campground in Custer, SD,  are enjoying our small lot.   When we got the word that Mike and Janna were headed this way...Hallelujah....we had a place for them. We met them a couple weeks ago when we were boondocking in the desert near Bouse,AZ with Rollie and Gina. We have known them through our Blogs for a while but were finally able to meet them in person.  Mike and Janna are from Montana and I could tell right from the beginning that they were our kind of people and I hoped we would have the chance to get to know then better.

Since they were headed this way to get new tires and wheels for their new cargo trailer they just bought, Ms. Pat and I invited them to stay with us.   About 2:30 pm yesterday, they called and said they would be at North Ranch in about an hour. We met them at the gate and led them down to our place. They have been boondocking in Bouse and haven't had any hookups of any kind for over 2 months. So we got them all situated on our new big lot with FULL hookups.

We no more than got everything all situated and I looked at my watch and LOW and BEHOLD it was 3:56.  I told Janna, WOW, just perfect....HAPPY HOUR in 4 minutes in our screened-in porch! A few minutes later, Larry and Geri arrived and we were all seated in our favorite Happy Hour spot on our new patio furniture and enjoying a beverage of our choice and some wonderful companionship.  Wow, Life is GOOD!!  How could you beat this?  Again, I love it so much when a plan comes all together. It sure makes it all worth while!!

As the sun went down and evening set in, all were settled  and a beautiful day came to a pleasant end at the Ranch. A good time was had by all. Mike and Janna are all set to head into Phoenix and get their new tires and wheels for their new trailer in a few days and we are starting to load up our Motorhome in preparation for heading over to Yuma next week for the Gypsy Journal Rally.

Thursday we went to the Tile Store in Phoenix and made the first move in our new Project. We now have all the tile for the screened-in Porch. The next move is up to Rich, our contractor, to get started on the job. He will work us into his schedule as soon as he can.  More on this project later. I can hardly wait for the completion, it's gonna be NEAT!!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Our Blog will come to you next Sunday from some where in the desert near Quartzite.   We plan to boondock on our way to Yuma where we will set up our usual  PressurePro and PowerTank booth to service all our many old customers and hopefully help some more RV’ers become safer on the road as they monitor the air pressure in their tires while traveling in their RV's.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you Sunday.

God Bless you all.

Mike

This Blog is published every Wednesday and Sunday..