Great Granddaughters

This is a picture of  great Granddaughters Cora and Alice during their first Christmas. Aren’t they beautiful? I wish we didn’t live so far away. Both Ms. Pat and I would love to “hold” them for a while.. 




Ms. Pat continues to make progress on her latest project. I certainly never realized how many hours of work went into these quilts. Sewing each and every one of those little tiny squares together takes some time and patience. Here she has the finished top laid out checking to see if she has everything just right and how it will look.  Yesterday after her ladies shooting class we stopped at the quilt store in Wickenburg and she picked up the backing she will use. She really loves doing this and although it looks like a lot of “work” to me, she says “It's fun”!

It was sure a pretty day around here yesterday.  Started the morning off with a cool 39*, but it was clear and sunny and warmed up to nearly 70* before the day was over.


It cools down very quickly when the sun goes down and it sure makes these wonderful soups like this Shrimp and Corn soup that Ms. Pat makes taste REAL GOOD!!!  Gina made this soup for us when we stopped to see them in Louisiana on our way from Florida to Arizona.  YUM YUM....very GOOD!  Thanks Gina!!!!  She gave Ms Pat the recipe and she's made it for us several times.


I want to welcome our latest follower DAVE. Dave has been with us for a while and I want to thank him for signing on.

Thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedule to stop by.

We are counting the days until JRoger and Susan get here to visit us on their very first trip WEST!! They're driving all the way from Florida in their new Motorhome.  I’ll be showing you more of it when they arrive.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

God Bless You All.

Mike


This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

North Ranch Visitors

One of our neighbors had this fellow up in their tree the other morning.  Not someone’s pet pup for sure. He doesn’t look very comfortable up there…..but he sure is a pretty guy!


I stepped out early the other morning and saw this big fellow staring back down at me. It was so dark I could hardly see him, but the camera brought him out pretty good.


His buddy was close by perched on the TV antenna. These guys are BIG! Here again it was so dark I could hardly see him in the camera but when I lighten the picture up a little, you can see him well.


A few days later, when I stepped outside early in the morning before daylight, they were both perched side by side on my cell phone antenna. They were both just “hootin” away at each other.  I slipped in and snuck back out in hopes to get a picture of them sitting there together like that but no such luck. One of them took off but this one stayed and was giving me quite a scary look.


This one is not camera shy.  Although it was really dark and I have lightened the photo up considerably, he sat right there and watched my every move.  They are well over a foot tall….and their “HOOT” is loud!


My wildgame camera doesn’t seem to be getting much wildlife anymore.  I don’t know what is the matter with it.  It sure doesn’t seem to be working right. Here is what looks like the south end of Mr. Coyote as he is going north.  It takes lots and lots of pictures of just the bare ground.   It's warranted for a year and I’ve had it for over that, so maybe that’s the life of it.

We went out to the Wickenburg Sportsmen's Club Saturday Tactical shoot yesterday.  It was 32* when we left North Ranch at 8:00am. I thought to myself, we are going to be the only ones foolish enough to come out in this cold weather and try to hit a target as we are shivering!  As I was going through Wickenburg, I noticed the thermometer on my truck said “23”!   Yikes, it was really cold at the Range but it soon warmed up and low and behold 27 other shooters showed up.  We had a great match!  Some fun shooting and really good practice for tactical shooting.

We were back home shortly after lunch time and Ms. Pat was busy as a bee working on her quilt and I was of course, cleaning guns!!  Seems about all I do is clean our guns.  I clean our guns every time we shoot them, which in most instances is at least 3 times a week. That’s 6 guns a week I need to clean.  The rest of my time I’m loading bullets because we go through an average of 600 bullets a week. That’s a lot of bullets and a lot of cleaning and loading. 

But, as my friend JRoger says, "When a man is cleaning his guns, he is “bonding” with his guns!" So I am bonding and getting mighty close to my guns but I really enjoy working with them.  I can’t think of a better way to spend these cool, wintery days, than out in my shop working on guns and loading bullets.  I have a dremel polisher and I polish the barrels and the feed ramps while I am cleaning them up "spick and span".  I have my Sirius/XM radio on,  listening to Willie Nelson’s Roadhouse channel #56, with all the neat country western  artists serenading me as I “bond” with my guns. :-)  Here's a few of my favorites:  Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller and dozens of others.   Blows my blues away……and time flies by.  

Life is good! Praise the Lord!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and may God take a liken to ya!!


AMEN!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

We Are Off and Running for 2013 !

Here it is the 2nd day of January and we are off and running. On New Year's Eve day, my Dr. wanted to see me. What the heck??  A doctor appointment on New Year's Eve?  What goes here?  He wanted to see me in his office due to the results of some recent blood work. That kind of alarmed me but couldn’t it wait until some other day than New Years eve?  Ms. Pat told the nurse “OK, we will be there."  I hate that long trip way over to the East side of Scottsdale.  It's about 80 miles and seems like going to Texas.  Anyhow, on the morning of Dec 31st, we headed off to Scottsdale, AZ to “visit” with my Oncologist doctor.  We decided to get a bunch of shopping done as long as we were making the trip.


This is the beautiful sight we saw as we got close to Carefree, Az. north of Phoenix. These folks were
having fun and probably making their last flight for 2012.


This one flew right over the highway. What a beautiful balloon! Ms. Pat took this through the windshield with her iPad. Nice job, my Dear!!


We got a kick out of these overhead signs that were all over the highways in the Phoenix and Wickenburg area. “Drive Hammered------Get Nailed” !  I hope they got the message across to the right people.

We made it to the doctor's office and had our little meeting and made a few decisions on how to continue our defensive way of handling this Prostate Cancer thing.  If one thing quits working, as the Lupron shots have, they always have a few other tricks up their sleeve.  I feel like a Guinea pig…as they try all these new meds on me to see if they work.  But that’s OK...I've been biding my time pretty well so far.  I've been hassling with this since before 2000.  Wow...can't believe it's been 13 years.  Let's hope we can keep up a good fight for the next 13+ years.

After the doctor appointment, we took off shopping and getting supplies. We hit almost every store we could find. Costco's, Sam's, WalMart  and oh yeah, I even stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse where I found the last 8 lb. jug of gun powder they had. We hurried as fast as we could because we were anxious to get back to North Ranch.  It was New Year's Eve, you know, and Ms. Pat's line dance class was having their annual New Year's Eve dance.  Yep, I went and didn’t complain or moan and groan one time! (not out loud anyhow).   I had a good time and saw some good friends, and yes...I even danced at least once....with Ms. Pat of course!!   It was a cold night and we about froze riding the golf cart the long 3 blocks home!!

New Year's morning was the coldest morning we have had so far this winter.  I went out before I went to bed and turned the heat on in the Motorhome and in my shop.  When we woke up, it was a chilling 28*.  It managed to get up to a high of 50 and turned out to be a bright sun shiny day.   Ms. Pat even went out to the Pistol Range for her Ladies shooting class.  I stayed home and watched my Corn Huskers get beat by Georgia in the Capitol One Bowl game. It was a good game and Big Red was holding it's own and stayed barely in the lead until the 3rd quarter. Then things went, well you know “where” in a hand basket!!


I had to take a break away from the game on TV and play with Ms. Megabyte2 a few times.  Here she is hiding from me and her mouse behind the curtain. I bet she doesn’t realize her tail is sticking out!!


Ms. Pat made it home just before HAPPY HOUR, in which we had our traditional toast of Champagne as she was completing the preparation of the also traditional New Year's dinner of Greens, Black Eyed Peas and Ham with all the trimmings. It was simply delicious.  WOW, what a GAL!!!

Then at 6:30 the Florida State vs. Northern Illinois Football game started. It was the Orange Bowl in Miami and turned out much better, as FSU won!  It was a great game but I must admit that neither of us made it until the end…… close tho!!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Day and it continues on throughout the year.

Thanks for stopping by and come on back again, any ole' time!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

That Is All She Wrote For 2012!

Yep, “She” is about over. "She" being the year 2012. This will be my last Blog Post until next year..

I don’t need to sit and wonder where it went.  I keep a calendar log and I can look back to see where it went! Day by day, every day I keep track of all kinds of things including the high and low temperatures for the day and anything else that I consider special that happened that day. Why do I do this? I don’t know, habit I guess, but I have done it for years and years. Even way back when I was working for a living.  It really comes in handy more than you think it would.  I can’t count the times we have looked back in those calendar logs when we wanted to remember stuff.



As I look back on 2012, it was a good year for us. We were able to enjoy our home here in North Ranch near Wickenburg, AZ during the Winter, Spring and part of the Fall of 2012.




We completed our place in Custer, South Dakota this Summer by adding on the Shelter for the Motorhome.


As a sort of “Finale”,  we decided our very last project would be a front porch. We wrapped that up in August. We had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy both these places that we had worked so hard for. We are so happy with both of our homes, it is like a dream come true. We thank all of you that had such an important part in making many of these projects come true. I think I can say all our projects are completed and we are now able to relax and enjoy the benefits…. 

As I said, we have a lot of great friends to be thankful to for all of this. So many that I can’t even name them all in fear of missing someone. But you know who you are and so do we.  However, it was our Heavenly Father that put you all in our lives and made all these blessings happen.   We continue to praise Him for his presence.



I don’t have room to mention all the events that took place this year but one of the most meaningful and pleasant for me and Ms Pat was the birth of Granddaughter Shala’s twin girls, Alice and Cora. They are so beautiful. What a gift from God!!

When we left South Dakota in September, we had a wonderful trip on to Florida where we spent time with friends and family. It was hard to leave them as there is never enough time. We continued on home to North Ranch where we have been comfortably enjoying the winter and staying unbelievably busy.

It was a GREAT WEEK and it was a GREAT YEAR!!!!

We want to wish everyone;

A Happy and Safe New Year…….

Thanks for stopping by………come on back again when you can.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Santa Stopped By

Christmas was a quiet day around here but Ms. Pat informed me early that Santa had stopped. Terri, our daughter, surprised us with this beautiful glassware.


Ms. Megabyte2 didn’t want to get up, so she just stayed on her kitty quilt that Ms. Pat made for her.


Later she ventured out to Ms. Pat's chair with her lap quilt in it. She really loves all these quilts that Ms Pat is making.  I was in the chair next to her with my computer on my lap and the TV blaring away. With all the bad weather they were showing, I was glad we were all at home with no plans to go anywhere.


Ms. Megabyte2 gets tired of watching TV but she loves to sit on my chair at the dining table and watch out the window.


Ms. Pat spent most of her day in her sewing room. She was looking for a table for her sewing machine and found this one in Wickenburg. Just what she wanted but it had this sewing machine with it. Well she talked me into going and hauling it home for her. WOW, was it ever heavy. I asked her why she needed another sewing machine, as she already had a really nice one. She answered “Why do you need more than one gun”?.................Hmmmm, the defense rests!


The new machine is a Pfaff and is all set up for “small jobs” on this little table.  Ms Pat says she can take this machine to her sewing classes and not have to take the other machine out of the sewing table.


Here she has her favorite machine, a Bernina, set up in the new sewing table behind a “new” project she has been working on. I asked her what the project was and who it was for but I didn’t get much of an answer. Hmmmm, looks interesting.


Wow, all these parts and pieces, all sewn together one by one. Gee....this quilting is a LOT of work but Ms Pat loves it.     


I don’t know what this is or who it is for, but it sure has lots of Cowboys, Horses, Spurs, Boots and Sheriff’s Badges on it!  Very interesting.......


Now the big pieces and the little pieces start coming to together……


These corners are complicated.   Good thing Ms. Pat has lots of patience!


It's still on the "drafting board" and Ms Pat says it will be a real challenge to get all those little squares to match up but she is getting there.  It's shaping up and I think it's beautiful!!  Boy, I sure hope I know who this is for!!

In between all this work on the quilt, Ms. Pat cooked a beautiful Christmas “HAM” dinner and all the trimmings.   She knows I love Ham and Man-O-Man, she cooked a beautiful one!! Plus, we still have a bunch left over!!  I don’t get much Ham, so it was a special treat from my “special” lady.



It is a GREAT WEEK!!!! 

We are so thankful for all the many blessings we have as we paid tribute to our Lord Jesus Christ on His Birthday.

Thank you for stopping by and we hope your Christmas was as “blessed” as ours.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Merry Christmas !

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS.....wherever you may be!! 

 JOY TO THE NEWBORN KING...because that's what Christmas is all about!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!


God Bless you all!!


Mike and Pat......and of course Megabyte2

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

My Brothers Birthday.

I only had one sibling, that was my brother Richard. Richard was born on December 22, 1943. Saturday will be his 69th Birthday.


This family picture was taken in about 1953. Richard would have been 9 or 10.   I was always told that I looked like Mom and he looked like Dad. I never noticed before, but you can see in this picture  how that resemblance holds true.


This is a picture of my brother and me with Mom and Dad at their 50th Anniversary celebration. I don’t have many pictures of Richard and these are two of the few. It would have been in 1983 when this picture was taken.

Unfortunately we lost Richard and he went home to Heaven October 12, 1997. I remember the day he died as if it was yesterday. We were full timing in our RV and were parked in an RV Park in Livingston, Texas. We were with our good friends Louis and Janette and were watching the Atlanta Braves play baseball on TV.  We were all avid Braves fans and watched nearly every game. I remember we were all sitting in our RV and I happened to look out the window and see a Sheriff’s car patrolling up and down the streets in the Escapee’s RV park. I remember how odd I thought that was, something I had never seen before, patrolling the streets of an Escapee's RV Park.  I mentioned to everyone about that and that this sure wasn’t a high crime area. But the game had our attention and we went right back to watching it.

Suddenly Ms. Pat said “Well, that Sheriff’s car is parked right out in front of our RV and the officer is coming to the door”!  I thought Good Lord”, what did I do? My first instinct was to run and hide.  I laughingly told Ms. Pat to tell him I'm not home!  Sure enough, the deputy asked if this was the home of Mike McFall.  I was always one that knew it was best to meet problems head on, so I decided to “give up” peacefully.  I immediately ran to the door and the officer said “Are you Mike”? I told him "Yes sir!   He went on to say that he had a message that my brother had just had a massive heart attack and that I should call my parents immediately. Wow, I was stunned.

Back in those days we didn’t have cell phones and Internet anything like we do today.   Most of the time hardly no one knew where we were.  Except my son Scott in Lincoln, Nebraska. Scott kept pretty close contact of our whereabouts. He worked for the Nebraska Highway Patrol and kept a description or our RV and the license number just in case of an emergency such as this. My mother knew to call him first if they ever needed to locate us. He knew we were in the vicinity of Livingston, Texas in an RV park. He wasn’t exactly sure which one, so he called the Sheriff’s office and had them check all RV Parks in the area. Well the Escapee’s headquarters RV Park is quite large and well known, so I’m sure it didn’t take the deputy long to figure out where we were.

So we immediately ran to the office and got on the pay phone and called Mom. She was extremely upset and told us that Richard had a massive heart attack and did not survive.  That was a terrible shock and set back to us all.  He was only 53 years old. We told Mom that we would be there ASAP. We immediately left our RV in the park and drove non stop to Alliance, NE to be with family.  This was an extremely hard time for my parents as it was for my brothers family. Richard was a superb family man and had 3 beautiful girls.  We drove straight through for over 24 hrs to get there.

I want to dedicate this Blog to my brother Richard today in his honor. He was a great guy, my one and only sibling. I remember at the time thinking how difficult it must be for my parents to lose their youngest child. They never ever got over it, and I now see, many years later why. You just don’t get over it. You go on with life, but you never get over it.  How well I now understand.

I have missed Richard more than anyone will ever know. It is the honest truth when they say you miss things more when they are gone. I can attest to that with my own two boys.  First was my Brother, then Dad and Mom have both since departed this life and moved on to that great life in Heaven.  I’m still here holding down the Fort, so to speak. But I know they are all up there above smiling in that “better place”. Praise the Lord!

Richards Birthday was so close to Christmas, I always felt sorry for him because his Birthday wasn’t given much attention since it was so close to Christmas.    He used to tell me “You're lucky your birthday is in June”!  I always told him that he was “special” since he was born so close to Jesus’s birthday.

So Richard, ole Buddy, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  You are missed BIG TIME!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by….

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town !

Hey, it's Christmas here at North Ranch in Arizona. This is the front of our house and we have added a few more lights this year. Those lights around the window on the right are little Harley Davidson emblems, They are compliments of good friend Gregg. He also gave us a string of lights that were shotgun shells with lights in them. Neat!


There are also lots of signs that Christmas is in the air inside the house. Ms. Pat has the place all decorated up. Here is her beautiful table setting.


The refrigerator reflects this time of the year, and the Christmas cheer rack is decorated with Christmas bows and Ms. Megabyte2’s hanging stockings.


The window sill above the kitchen sink looks neat as Santa skates on the “Ice”!


The front door which is inside the screened porch is decorated with a neat little Christmas tree we obtained several years ago from our good friend Dale. It is especially pretty as it changes colors constantly.


Here is our “SPECIAL” Christmas Tree. Special because my Mom made it at a ceramics class in an RV park in Apache Junction, AZ, where they spent their winters for over 10 years. Ms. Pat always adored the tree and Mom made sure she got it when she left us.  So the presence of this little tree is special, because as I look at it, I see Mom. We sure miss her, as we do all the other members of our family that aren’t here with us anymore. However, we know that the Christmas celebration they are having up in Heaven has to be one of the greatest of all….


All this Holiday excitement just wears Ms. Megabyte2 out, so she crawls into her bed and curls up with her buddy.

We hope you all are enjoying all the holiday decorations as that big date gets closer and closer. The King is Coming, The King is coming!!


It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and we hope your Christmas shopping is done. The stores are packed down this way.

God Bless you all, as we say a prayer for all those involved in that terrible tragety at the school in Newtown, CT.  We are all so saddened by this horrible event.

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday..