Rolling Castle Travels

Jan. 17th to Jan. 21st

2011-01-21T17:11:00.004-07:00

Well here it is Friday and I have not made a post to our blog, cannot believe how the time just slips away. I still do not have the videos transferred from our expiring external hard drive due to the fact my beloved wonderful computer had the hiccups. My first step was to use the restore system and when that did not fix the issue I ran every program I have one by one to try and solve the issue and spent many hours reading online regarding the error message I was getting and the sad part is if the computer has the same issue again I probably won’t remember exactly what I had to do to fix it, but it running smoothly now and I do have a feeling of satisfaction for having solved the issue! Once I got my computer running smoothly I did all the year end financial fun stuff! I have a database set up in Access which tracks all our expenses and I create all the year end reports; it is scary and interesting to see where our money went! I can also see the difference in our spending habits over the years which is cool!

The weather has been beautiful all week, no freezing temps at night with warm sunny days we just cannot ask for more.

We attended a Soup and Sandwich Potluck Tuesday and as usual the food was awesome and we all brought home leftovers! Potlucks are great, you eat food prepared by someone else and at the same time have the opportunity to visit with friends and meet new folks at the park.

The last three mornings we have been serenaded by a wonderful bird that perches on the tree top and sings his heart out and hangs around for about 3 hours, I think it is a Mocking Bird but I am not sure, bought a bird book last year and cannot locate the darn thing, can you believe one can loose stuff in such a small space. The other nature type story is of honey bees eating our songbird seeds. I asked our Activity Directors if they had any idea why bees would be eating seeds and they did not (they have lived in the area for years), so I went online to check it out. Turns out that when the weather is warmer than usual they come out looking for food, there are no flowers, etc., for them to snack on so they find bird feeders, empty most of the seeds on the ground snacking on the pollen that is in the dust when the feed is bagged and also will eat Millet and some other songbird seeds. The hungry little bees can empty a six cup feeder in about 4 hours and the birds will not challenge the bees but they will eat the seed that the busy little bees dump on the ground. We waited a couple of days to refill the feeder (we have other different type feeders that the bees do not bother) and Woody strained the seed to get rid of the dust, well 20 minutes after hanging up the feeder the bees were back, so now we are feeding the birds and the bees!

This is not a good picture, I took it from the wrong angle and you cannot see the bees that are against the tree truck and also the bees that are in the tray of the feeder, this photo was taken at 1:42 pm.

This photo was taken at 3:14 pm and you see it is empty except for a little dust, most of the seeds are on the ground and the bees left a short time later.

We are going to attend the Jam Session this evening so will go and have dinner. Hope you had a great day!

Jan 12th to Jan 16th

2011-01-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

Highlights of the remainder of the week:

Wednesday evening we celebrated the January Birthday’s with home made brownies and ice cream prepared and served by our Activities Directors Jim and Anne and a performance by Johnny Bencomo, always a great time. Friday we attended the Jam Session and Saturday we decided to go the Flea Market in Sierra Vista, didn’t buy anything but Woody met a knife maker who had some gorgeous knives, I was looking for a lady we bought bread from last year but she was not there, after lunch we drove to Elfrida, AZ (about a 45 minute drive) to check out a leather smith that a leather smith from home had mentioned, we didn’t find him but did check out the Art Centre which was cool. Elfrida is a small unincorporated community of about 1000 off Hwy 191.

The rest of the week we spent just doing our thing, Woody working on his projects, I spent time moving a mountain of items from my external hard drive which is acting like it wants to crash, i.e. sometimes it runs and sometimes refuses to run. We have very precious pictures on that drive, examples being family pictures I scanned a few years ago of my family dating back over 80 years plus many years of our family growing up and so many memorable occasions too numerous to mention, I am happy to report I retrieved them all. Next week I hope to retrieve the videos, that involves hours of transfer time and that means that I dare not use my computer while the transfer is happening but I have to monitor as the hard drive keeps shutting down, then I pray I can get it working again, so wish me luck! After I retrieve all the pictures and video’s I will transfer them to another newer hard drive, I thought about burning them to DVD’s but decided that was not feasible, (besides unless I use very expensive DVD’s they crash also) a DVD holds 4.7 GB per DVD and I have well over 100 GB, the other option is to upload each to a online service which is not feasible either and again no guarantee that option would be safe, I will take my chances with the external drive. One thing with an external hard drive, even if it crashes totally I can take the drive to a computer repair shop and pay around $100.00 for retrieval of the data, ah the joys of our digital world eh!

Visit with friends

2011-01-11T22:04:00.002-07:00

Left about 10:30 to visit Gary and Deb who live south of Wilcox, AZ about 1 ½ hours drive from here, Gary is the leader of the Jam Sessions at our winter home and they had invited us for lunch. We took the dogs with us, they were invited, and we knew we would not be home until 5:00 PM or later. We visited a couple of times last year so knew the time would pass quickly as it always does when visiting friends. Unfortunately we have no pictures to share as I forgot to put the card in the camera (left it in my computer). Gary and Deb live out in the desert with a view of the Chirichahua Mountains and on our way home travelling the small dirt road leading to the highway we saw 5 Coues deer, we stopped (we were on travelling about 10 KPH), they crossed the road, and then stood in the desert like they were posing, man did we miss a great photo opportunity. Deer and coyotes are prolific in the area along with some cougar and other desert creatures. We arrived home around 5:30 pm and about 15 minutes later had a visit from an Albertan Gordon who camped at the park for a few days and was the person who had repaired our furnace shortly before we left this fall. He and his wife (Linda) had left Alberta Nov. 20^th travelled through Montana, Idaho and Utah, to Quartzite, AZ and had a horrendous trip, snowed most of the way, said he kept the truck in 4 x 4 most of trip and did a lot of white knuckle driving, that is the very reason we do not travel down I-15, too many high mountain passes through the Rockies but he and his wife wanted to see the Grand Canyon which they did and even though it was cold and snowy it was beautiful. Gordon is a character and we so enjoyed his visit, wow another visitor from home!

For information on the Chirichahua Mountains I have included the links below, as with any area we visit there is some interesting history, great scenery and in this case wonderful friends.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/chiricahua/national_monument.htm

http://statistics.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/habitats/Cave.html

http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/chiricahua/national_monument.html

This and That

2011-01-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Went swimming this morning for the first time since Christmas, the water was cool, the pump had quit and John (owner of the park) forgot to cover the pool. The pool is enclosed but there are screens all around the top which allows heat to escape in the summer but of course allows the cool night air in and it did freeze here last night 23.9F (-4C) so we did our exercises and I hit the showers to warm up, some of the girls headed to the hot tub, oh man we are so spoiled, the water was actually warmer than any lake I swam in at home! Upon returning home I grabbed a bit to eat (always need a snack after swimming) and decided I really needed to take down the Christmas decorations. I always have a hard time putting away our Christmas decorations, I so love our little tree with its lights in the evening and it was the same at home, we left our tree up until after Ukrainian Christmas which is one week after our New Year celebration. Our little home seemed a little bare after packing up the Christmas decorations but it was time.
Woody went shopping while I was at the pool and stopped in to visit Cheri at Blue Opal on the way home to let her know what gems he planned on using and tried to pay her, she would not accept any money, she wanted to gift the gems, such a generous lady. While there Albert, who will be reopening the shop as soon as possible asked Woody if he would like to come in and polish stones and then sell them for a commission of course, he told Albert he would have to discuss the offer with me, he is considering the offer. After lunch Woody continued working on a belt buckle he is creating for himself, so far it is going very well and I cannot wait to see the finished product.

Working together

2011-01-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time working with some of the pictures we have taken to upload to our blog, first job is to choose the pictures, then each picture usually requires some cropping, balancing the levels and all require sizing as we take all pictures at the highest resolution available on the camera. Pictures I use in DVD’s and/or print I use at the high resolution, but to save space and upload time I resize all pictures, blogger has a limit on the space I am allotted and our internet dish company also has a limit of daily usage so I have be careful when uploading or downloading. Besides working on the blog I scanned, sized and printed a design for Woody’s leather craft, if he finds a design he wants to try in any magazine or on the web, I play with it on the computer until it is just the size he needs and I love doing that for him and he is very appreciative, we make a good team!

Woody vists Bill and Barb

2011-01-08T20:29:00.006-07:00

A quiet day today, Woody went to Tombstone to visit Bill & Barb to check out how they are doing selling their business, they were doing very well, had sold most of the goods from the store and had most of the equipment packed up, if you recall he is the 3^rd generation leather smith that Woody had hoped to work for this winter. The building that housed the business was put up for sale and Bill decided to shut down the shop as he sells more on the internet than from the shop so will continue to work from his home. Bill invited Woody to visit their ranch anytime he wished and I am sure Woody will do just that. After returning home Woody did the laundry while I continued to spend time catching up a bit on our blog. I doubt I will get ever be caught up as it is just too far behind. My New Years resolution was regarding our blog, specifically to work on our blog at least for an hour each day. When I include pictures, one post can easily take 3 hours, inserting pictures is very time consuming but without pictures the whole premise of our blog is lost. Not all posts have pictures or need pictures but many do and you know the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” and this is so true when it comes to our blog, it is fun to look back now and will even be more fun in our later years.
Yikes I just checked the weather at home, there is a snow warning with blowing wind, expecting up to 5 inches (15 cm) of snow, feeling so blessed to be here with temps up to about 59F (+15C), oh yeah and with the wind temps at home are -4F (-20C) not nice at all.

Jan 3rd to 7th

2011-01-07T23:04:00.003-07:00

The weather has been nice, a bit of cloud, temps 54F (12C) Monday to 70 (21C) today (Friday).

Monday I delivered our card to Lenore and Mike, Lenore was not home and Mike said he wanted to wait to open the card until Lenore came home which I certainly understood and thought it was very thoughtful of Mike. Other than ordering a couple of knife blanks for Woody, and the usual daily things like walking the dogs, cleaning, etc., there is not much to report.

Tuesday I was very proud of myself, I took the dogs for a walk on the trails in the desert and managed to walk a full mile, that is a first for me in just about a year, (since I have been having issues with my hip), it sure felt good to walk without any major pain. I hope that means that my hip is slowly healing. Other than doing some major cleaning and working on the blog that is about all I accomplished. Woody keeps busy with his leather projects, he is working on a belt for himself which I urged him to do, nothing like wearing your own creation, he is also working on items for Wild TV which is presenting some challenges for him. Leather is not forgiving, one slight wrong move and the project is garbage, he at least can use the scraps of leather to practice on, so not all is lost and it is the only way to learn. I ordered another knife blank for him today so once they arrive he will be a busy boy!

Wednesday the highlight of my day was a visit from Mike and Lenore, they dropped over to thank me for the card, and they are such thoughtful sweet people. Lenore invited me to go “Street Walking” in Tombstone, I laughed saying that did not sound good, but of course what she meant is window shopping with some of the swimming gang, I thanked her but declined, walking is still an issue as I found out on my morning walk with the dogs, it would have been fun otherwise, some of the girls made themselves costumes so they will fit into the 1880’s look. Many people dress up in Tombstone so you fit right in. Woody made a trip to the gun range with his buddy Rolly to do some shooting; they left around 1:30 and got home around 5:00, almost late for “Miller time”! The weather was perfect for shooting, no wind although Woody said it was a little chilly at the range, and he had to put a jacket on. This is the first time they went to the range this winter but I am sure they will go again before the winter is over.

Thursday was a busy day, we dropped the dogs at the groomers at 10:00 am while they were getting all pretty and clean we did some shopping. After picking them up at 1:30 pm we came home took them for a walk and settled them at home then went to visit with Cheri Saunders who had invited us over for snacks, etc. Cheri is the owner of Blue Opal since her business partner and friend Mike passed away about 5 months ago. We met Mike our first year here and became friends and were very sad to hear he had passed away which we found out shortly after our arrival when Woody stopped over at Blue Opal to say “Hello”. We visited until around 5:00 pm and while there Cheri offered Woody some Mother of Pearl for Woody “to play around with to see if he could incorporate it into some of his leather pieces” (in her words). Woody was surprised and pleased with her generous offer and thanked her excitedly. After dinner Woody worked some on designing some leather projects, incorporating the Mother of Pearl, I did a little work on posts for the blog until Cookie started whining and looking so sad, she wanted to sit on my lap, she really hates it when she doesn’t get her lap time, yeah she is spoiled but how can I resist when she looks up at me with her sad brown googly eyes. When she was just a small puppy I really spoiled her by letting her sit on my lap while I worked on the computer, she is too big now to do that but of course she doesn’t know that so I shut down the computer and watched a little TV with her and Muffin in my lap, not a bad way to finish off the day!

Today our friends Dale, Janice and the boys flew back to Alberta from Tucson, hope they had a good trip, will have to email them and see how the rest of their trip went and find out what they had a chance to explore in Phoenix and Tucson.

Friday was a nice day 70F (21C), sunny with some wispy high cloud floating around and some wind. Not much to report, we did not even go to the Jam Session at the park in the evening, this is first time we have chosen to not attend since 2008 and only the second time we missed a Jam Session, we choose to go and see Johnny Bencomo at the Landmark Café a few weeks ago instead. Woody worked on a belt buckle for himself incorporating a few Mother of Pearl gems, it did not turn out as nice as we both anticipated, the design on paper looked good but somehow did not look real attractive on the leather a little disappointing but he is not deterred, will try something different with the Mother of Pearl after giving some more thought to the design. I will post a picture of the buckle after Woody completes one to his satisfaction.

A sad day

2011-01-02T20:24:00.001-07:00

Last night was the coldest night we have experienced here, might have been a record at 13F (-10.5C) but today has turned into a very nice day, sunny 54F (+12C) with little wind. We decided to bath Muffin much to her displeasure; she behaves but does not appreciate a bath. I sit and hold her wrapped in towels for awhile after her bath, and by the time we finish bathing her we have many wet towels so after lunch Woody takes them to the laundry. While at the laundry our friend Lenore comes over to tell Woody that she and Mike had to put down their beloved dog, Danny a beautiful reddish brown dog about the size of a golden retriever, he looks like a retriever except for the colour and is taller. They have had Danny for a long time and of course Lenore and Mike were broken hearted and I cannot blame them, Danny was such a well mannered, even tempered dog that loved life. They took him to the vet today and found out he had liver cancer, and just 13 days ago he had walked 6 miles with Mike on a desert hike. This morning he was visibly sick, didn’t want to eat or drink and was just lying around, he could not jump into the truck and normally he jumps in, loves to go for a ride, by the time they got him to the vet they had to take him in on a stretcher. The vet did some tests right away and found the cancer, what liver cancer does is compact the blood vessels so Danny was hemorraging inside and there was nothing that could be done. I created a sympathy card for them with a small picture of Danny and with the card I printed out a copy of the poem “The Rainbow Bridge”. For those of you who have not heard about Rainbow Bridge I am including the poem here as I think it is very beautiful and healing to read while grieving for a beloved pet.

The Rainbow Bridge

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,

Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.

Where the friends of man and woman do run,

When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,

Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.

On this golden land, they wait and they play,

Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,

For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.

Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,

Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,

Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.

All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,

Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;

Together again, both person and pet.

So they run to each other, these friends from long past,

The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,

Has turned into joy once more in each heart.

They embrace with a love that will last forever,

And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

Author Unknown

This poem surely invokes tears but tears are a large part of the healing process, I believe one should let them flow freely while grieving the loss of a beloved pet that has become a noble, loving faithful friend as well as a wonderful pet. We have lost dogs and know it is not easy and a piece of our heart is always with the dog. I will not deliver the card and poem until tomorrow, giving them their private time today. Our prayers, thoughts and love are with you Lenore and Mike.

New Years Day

2011-01-01T23:28:00.001-07:00

The day dawned cool with clear skies 24F (-4C), high of 42F (+5C) with a bit of a breeze, I did not sleep well last night due to overeating last night so did not rise until around 10:00 am, Woody was up much earlier and of course greeted me with “Good Afternoon”, to which I replied “Happy New Year! I love you too”, he cannot help tease me when I sleep in and if I didn’t retort back he would be disappointed. We spent the first part of day quietly doing what we do everyday and Woody cooked a great brunch then around 2:30 pm or so some friends arrived at our door unexpectedly, what a wonderful surprise, friends from our home in Alberta, Dale, Janice and the two boys Braden and Jason. They had talked about coming down over the Christmas holidays for a visit but we had not heard a word from them regarding the visit so we thought they had changed their mind, in fact we had just talked about it the day before commenting with the unusual cold weather here it was probably good they had not come this year.

Janice teased Woody right away about telling them the weather was warm, she said it was warmer in Alberta when they left than when they arrived in Tucson on Thursday. We visited for a time and then Woody took Dale, Janice and boys on a tour of the park, showing them the facilities and introducing them to a few of our friends that happened to be at the clubhouse. I stayed home, I knew walking back to the fifth wheel (a pretty good incline) would be an issue, my hip still does not like me, and I would just slow them down. Being able to share our winter home with some folks from home was such a feeling, no words can describe the feeling or how happy we were to see them. Dale and Janice wanted to take us for dinner and as they had been to Bisbee and Tombstone already we choose to go to the Texas Road House in Sierra Vista. We had not been to the Texas Road House in Sierra Vista previously but had eaten a couple of times at the Texas Road House while in Ohio, we had forgotten how noisy it was but we had a good visit in spite of the noise.

Janice and Dale headed back to Tombstone; we returned feeling blessed to have such good friends that provided us an opportunity to share a bit of our winter home. We tried to talk them into staying a day to visit the Kartchner Caverns but they will head to Phoenix we think, Dale really wants to see as much of the area as possible in their short trip. Safe trip home guys, thank you so much for the visit.

The gang at Texas Road House!

New Years Eve

2010-12-31T23:09:00.001-07:00

Today is cloudy, could not see the mountains at all until late afternoon, we did not get the predicted snow but it sure did cool down, high was 39.9F (4C) and low 23.5F (-5C), which was warmer than predicted and it will start warming up tomorrow climbing back into the normal temps which are 60F to 69F (15 to 20C) next week.

We went out for dinner with a group of friends from the park to Bonanza Pizza House just outside Tombstone, AZ. A neat little restaurant that allows their patrons to bring their own liquor as they do not have a liquor license not a practice that would be allowed in Alberta as far as we know. The restaurant was aptly named, quoted off the menu “Bonanza in the 1800’s meant a rich vein of ore, whether that was gold, silver or copper. At Bonanza Pizza House you can expect that same feeling of discovering the food is rich in flavour and the portions are enough to feed any hungry miner.” The restaurant lived up to its name; the food is hand made from scratch, huge portions and very tasty. All the pizza dishes are created with their unique “Beer crust”, it is very tasty without tasting doughy, we all very much enjoyed the food, the friendly service and of course there is nothing better than enjoying fine food with good friends.

Deciding what to eat, the menu is not large but it all looks good!

The Hughes clan, Jane and Dennis (our friends from Ontario) facing the camera and Mark and Georgane Hughes, they are not related in any way and not from Canada, it just happened that Mark and Georgane are neighbors of Jane and Dennis at the park. Sorry Georgane if I have spelled your name incorrectly.

Our waitress and in the background, Gary and Carol from North Dakata and yours truly. You can get an idea as to the size of the restaurant, there are 4 tables that will seat six and 1 table that seats two.

Visiting while waiting for our food.

Jen and Mike from Ontario, Mike and Lenore from Wisconsin.

Indulging, Woody and I both ordered Pizza Calzone, pizza ingredients wrapped in the beer crust and deep fried, not greasy at all and just enough dough to hold it all together, something different we have never seen on a menu and it was very good.

The gentleman in the hat is the cook whom we asked to meet and thank personally.

Just after returning home we received a phone call from friends we had met here the first year asking where we were, they were at the clubhouse New Years Eve gathering and wondered why we were not there, this was a total surprise as they had arrived late the night before and we had no idea they were at the park. We hurried down to the clubhouse where we were warmly greeted with hugs by Mark, Annette and their son Bret, wow it was so great to see them again as the last time we saw them was in Las Cruces, NM (where they reside) on our trip home in spring of 09. What a wonderful end to 2010!

Two more sleeps until 2011

2010-12-30T19:22:00.002-07:00

The day started out sunny but soon turned to cloud and rain around 9:00 am with temps dropping during the day which was predicted, we even had a snow shower this afternoon, big flakes and did not last long, winds pretty much same as yesterday.

Besides doing the normal daily chores, we decided it was a day to stay indoors, I spent most of the day learning to use some of the features offered on Pinnacle Movie Studio Plus that I have not used with video clips, some are pretty cool and others allow creating a more interesting video and I must say I have only scratched the surface of features that are available on the version I have.

Woody was not happy with the leather project he was working on yesterday (a gun sling) so after giving some thought to how he could create the pattern along with the braiding he wants to incorporate on the gun sling he spent some time working on other projects and started a new gun sling this afternoon. As I type this he just wrapped it up and put it in the fridge (to keep the leather moist) and told me he is not satisfied with this one either, not good enough to sell, I feel his disappointment and I feel bad for him, I know what that feels like, work so hard on a project and then it just doesn’t work out the way you think it should be. On the positive side he received an order for a knife and sheath from his website, the first order generated from the website, now that is exciting! He now has 3 knives and sheaths to make, should keep him busy for a few weeks eh! The day passed very quickly, the second last day of the year, cannot hardly believe another year has passed! Have a safe and happy New Years Eve day tomorrow!

Cooler today

2010-12-29T19:45:00.006-07:00

We are losing our nice warm weather for a few days, it started out sunny today but clouded up and the wind is blowing, gusting to 50 MPH (80 KPH) and is now raining, high today was 59F (15C). Snow is predicted for tomorrow and it will stay cool until after New Year’s in fact New Years Eve the low is supposed to be 18F (-7C) and that is cold for this area, the record low for tonight in this area is 19F in 1988 maybe there will a new record. No frost for tonight but we prepared just in case filling our water tank and unhooking the water hose, you never know as we are at 4000 ft here. Should start warming up again Tuesday so this cold snap will be short lived and it is not a big deal except for the higher elevations, they are expecting about 7 inches of snow accumulation. We had snow here last year three times and it melted by 1l:00 am, the first on December 23^rd so we expect a little snow from now until maybe mid January or early February.

I updated Woody’s website today did some cleaning and did not do much else. Woody worked on a leather project plus did some needed shopping and not much else; yeah you could say we are being lazy!

Here are a couple of items he completed before Christmas, the belt buckle and a picture, both created for gift s. H e neglected to take pictures of the other items he completed and sold. BAD BOY! LOL

The Maple Leaf is hand cut and is mounted on a hand stamped leather piece surrounded by a mat and framed in a Shadow Box frame. The picture does not due this creation justice, it really is beautiful.

Hope you had a great day!

A Challenge with Blogger

2010-12-27T19:46:00.003-07:00

Oh man I am frustrated with the Google blogger that I use to create this blog. I have spent days trying to post our Christmas Eve blog post. As you can see the post is still not correct, the fonts are two different sizes. After trying to fix the post I deleted the whole post, pictures and all, recreated the post and still the font blogger insists on using for the beginning of the post is too large. I changed the font size several times, saved the post and then published it and no difference, so I am giving up and leaving it just the way you see it and basically I am doing this post to see what font size will appear when I publish this post. Oh yeah, I tried the new editor that Google offers and the old editor, no difference except for the picture uploading. Blah!!!!

Okay this post published, no issues, now I will add a picture just for fun to see what happens!

No problem, looks okay, hmmmmm. I don't know what is going on with the Christmas Eve post. Maybe I will get brave and try publishing the Christmas Day post.

Well I just deleted the Christmas Day post, same problem cannot get the format to work properly, the first sentence I typed was underlined, there is no option for underlining, so I tried to remove all formatting, did not work. I uploaded the pictures first and then tried to write the post, not happening! Not sure what I will try next. Hope you have had a great day!

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T23:07:00.010-07:00

As mentioned in our Dec 24^th post, we attended the Christmas Day Pot Luck and Gift Exchange today as always it was fun and the food was fantastic. We spent time visiting before dinner was served, after dinner participated in Carol singing and last but surely not least the gift exchange.

The best dressed man at the dinner!

Right is Pooch and wife Donna, Pooch led the Christmas Carolling after dinner.

Right is Wayne and Robin, Wayne is the gentlemen who introduced Woody to leather craft.

Right - Martha (Santa's Elf) and Anne (Mrs. Santa) directed the gift exchange.

Lenore and Mike enjoying the gift exchange shenanigans.

Right, Roger and Judy, new friends this year, we were so happy to see them as they have down and out with the flu for weeks.

Left Jane opening her gift, a very good adult beverage, which she later lost when someone stole it but at the end of the exchange she ended up with it.

The gift I opened was a cookie can filled with various sizes of batteries, what a clever gift, I lost it before Woody could get a picture!

Woody opened this awesome screw driver set which no one stole, we were surprised but happy to take it home!

Right, Bonnie has a gel seat cover for a bike, which has circulated for 2 years now. She traded it off and eventually the seat ended up with Jen who really wanted it, so guess it won't reappear next year!

After the gift exchange came the "Awards", the park has a contest for decorated sites and some winter residents do a fantastic job decorating their sites. We do put up a few outdoor lights, some bows and garland and received along with other folks in the park a "Participation Award" which we thought was awesome.

Below park Managers are recognizing and thanking the Camp Workers, Volunteers and our Activity Directors, these folks deserve thanks for sure, they all do an awesome job!

Donna surprised us and other friends of she and Pooch with wine glasses that she hand painted with a hand made dish cloth tucked inside, what an awesome gift. Donna and Pooch's daughter (Shannon) and family came down to the park from Illinois this year to spend Christmas here and became part of our swim group, Shanon gave every one in the swim group a hand made little Christmas towel, so very thoughtful, thank you both!

Last I thought I would add a couple of pics of our humble Christmas Tree. We so enjoyed our Christmas Day with friends at our Winter home!
Happy New Year all!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:29:00.002-07:00

During the day we prepared our contribution to the Christmas Pot Luck at the clubhouse tomorrow. The park provides coffee, water, juice, a ham, potatoes and other trimmings, everyone who attends brings their favourite dish and whatever they wish to drink (other than the above mentioned beverages) nothing better and we usually overeat which is a tradition at Christmas eh! After dinner there will be carol singing and a gift exchange, everyone who wishes to participate in the gift exchange brings a wrapped gift for the exchange, then we pick a card from the deck of cards, the activity director at the park then picks a card from another deck and when you card is called you can pick a gift from under the tree or steal someone else’s gift. The gifts can only change hands twice as otherwise the gift exchange could go on all night. The whole evening is a lot of fun, especially the gift exchange, there are always the favourite gifts and the comedy type gifts, and we love it!

In the evening we attended our friend’s (Jane and Dennis from Ontario) Christmas Eve Buffet along with other friends Mike and Lenore from Wisconsin and Mike and Jen from Ontario. The buffet and company were awesome, we had a wonderful evening and we could not have wished for a better Christmas Eve. Jane baked a Tourtiere Meat Pie which is a tradition for their family and is a traditional Quebec dish which many Ontario residents have adopted.

The girls, Lenore, Jane, Patsy and Jen!

The buffet was complete with a delicious French bread, veggies and of course dessert. Before the buffet we were treated to snacks and home baked Christmas cookies along with some adult beverages.

Dennis and Mike

Mike and Mike, Mike on the left is Jen's husband and Mike on the right is Lenore's husband, just so you don't think I made a mistake eh!

Thank you Jane and Dennis for inviting us and hosting a wonderful evening.

Enjoying our winter

2010-12-12T16:37:00.010-07:00

As I type this, my beloved husband is working on a leather project (I am hearing some frustration on his part, muttering and such) but I know he will figure out a way to solve the issues he is encountering, he always does. He has completed and sold a few belt buckles and a cell phone case since we arrived, he is now working on creating a matching set consisting of a belt buckle, belt, knife, knife sheath and gun sling.

I have been keeping busy, creating cards, doing water exercise with some ladies at the park, decorating our little home for Christmas, cleaning out our files, keeping up our daily expense record (blah) and other mundane chores LOL. We both are enjoying our winter of relaxation, visiting, attending park functions and just doing whatever we feel like when the mood hits us. One thing I have not done at all is work on our blog, just cannot seem to get my mind into, not sure why, I know I will be kicking myself later if I don’t get myself in gear. I have checked the blog often for bits and pieces of information, dates etc., from our previous trips. Our idea when I began the blog was to keep our family and friends updated on our activities and for us to enjoy when we are unable to continue living this lifestyle and settle down in a Seniors Apartment.

The puppies are healthy and mischievous at times, the other day while we were shopping they got into the candy dish that was on the table, there were several candy wrappers on the floor and small bits of candy stuck in their face fur, so last night when we went to the Landmark Café, we placed the candy dish on the counter, when we returned they had snagged the beautiful hand embroidered, with tatted edging (hand done by my Great Grandmother) off the table and chewed up the tatting, totally wrecking it, this is the worst thing they have ever done! We had pushed the chairs under the table and thought this would keep them from snagging anything on the table, WRONG! We will tip the chairs over the table after this as we don’t want them snagging our little Christmas tree that sits on the table, decorated with new and some very old decorations that were my Dad’s. Oh yeah and then to add insult to injury they upchucked the lace tatting, the little devils! They do have toys to play with but guess that was too boring!

Muffin above and Cookie below,
can't you just see how sorry they are! LOL

Glad to be settling down

2010-11-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Spent the day getting things set up which entails digging out the items that we pack up while travelling, setting up my computer desk, emptying tanks and filling water tank, setting up the dish and requesting a satellite change via phone, we cannot use the same satellite that we use in Alberta, some cleaning (travelling is a dirty business) the windows on the road side of the rig are so dirty we can hardly see through them from driving on wet roads but will wait until another day, we do not have that much ambition today, dusting and vacuuming will suffice for today. The dogs are great, it will take them a few days to realize that we are staying here, they let me know when I take them for walks that are thinking it is another travel day as they keep an eye on the truck if Woody is not with us, as I always walk them just before we leave a campground while Woody hooks up the rig, so when I start walking they keep looking back to see if the truck is going to move. The campground is not in as good shape as previous years and there are many stickers and such around, the poor puppies get them stuck in their feet and face. The one type of sticker is easy to pull out but the other one is sticky and has to be cut out; these get stuck in their fur. We spoke to Charlie (work camper and friend here) he said they just couldn’t keep up this summer due to the many monsoon rains here and Charlie says if they unable to keep the wild grasses and weeds cut they go to seed and then the only way to rid the ground of these pesky items is to burn them with a torch, raking does not help much. I try to keep the dogs on the road which is clean but of course the dogs seem to find any sticker that found its way onto the road. It is a beautiful warm day and we spent a good part of it just relaxing, well I spent the day mostly at home and Woody ventured out for some visiting, big surprise there eh! LOL. Some of our friends arrived earlier and of course Jim and Anne (Activity Coordinators here) stay the year around. Life is good!

The rest of the trip

2010-11-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I am going to fast forward the rest of the trip, did not take any pictures as we have many pictures along the way from previous trips. From Lewistown we travelled to Hardin, Mt. the shortest day of our trip, from there to Wheatland, WY, seeing snow on the hills and sometimes right up to the highway but lucky we have not had to drive in any snow. There was snow on the ground in the campground at Wheatland and it is very cool but roads are good. From Wheatland we drove to Pueblo West, CO and happy not to see snow in this area as we had hit some snow driving over Monument Pass, lucky it was cold enough so the snow was blowing around and not sticking to the road, we are still wearing our heavy fall coats. We were happy to leave the snow behind and drop into the desert. We planned to stay a couple of nights in Pueblo West to visit Charlie and Dawn, but ended up staying 4 days, had to replace the tires on our fifth wheel. Woody noticed a bulge on one tire so changed all four. The tires had to be ordered and then the Mobile Service came to the campground and took tires off the tire shop to make the change. We have used this Mobile Service previously and know they are reliable and good so not a bad place to have the tires changed. Also gave us more of a chance for visiting and we do love visiting Charlie and Dawn, you just don’t find friends like them everywhere. From Pueblo West we trekked over Raton Pass (no snow at all) to Santé Fe, NM spending the night, dropping into Albuquerque (Santa Fe is at 7000 ft.) on our way to Deming, NM we are seeing trees with some fall colours but still many trees are sporting their summer green leaves, what a beautiful sight, we take the shortcut (Hatch Hwy #26) and arrive at Deming, NM which lies in the wide open desert with the always present mountains in the background, it is warm and windy, we only spend one night, arriving at Tombstone Territories Park November 21^st our 2200+ mile (3600 km) trip at an end. We actually did not require any jacket at Deming and it was beautiful drive albeit quite windy the last 3 days of our trip and I so love travelling through Texas Canyon on I-10, it is such a unique area, awesome formations of rock along with some mountains rising up out of the desert. We are tired but elated and feel so blessed to have arrived safely.

Trekking South, Day Two

2010-11-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

A good day of travel, crossing the border took a little more time than usual (they were very busy) but no issues at all. After travelling through some fairly flat grassland in northern Montana the landscape changes to small mountain ranges, which we know continues for the remainder of the trip. The whole trip is really beautiful driving up, down around the mountains and hills, dropping into valleys with mountains of various sizes, some covered with various vegetation from grasses, bushes and dotted with trees to bare volcanic rock and some are major outcroppings with very interesting rock formations. We travel through Great Falls where we change to Hwy 87 to travel east to Lewistown, MT, finding our way to the Hwy 87 interchange, this has always been a challenge, our GPS wants to take us on the wrong exit and the route is not well marked at all, but we made it, I was smart this trip and I marked on our road map the correct exit number to take or easiest route through Great Falls. We always use a road map as well as the GPS because you cannot always trust the GPS directions. We arrived at Lewistown late afternoon with plenty of time to set up, relax and enjoy our evening.

The Castle is Rolling

2010-11-11T15:45:00.005-07:00

Started our trek south today, weather is nice, cool but sunny with little wind. We drove straight through to Milk River, AB (about 650 Km or 403 mi) and for us with stops for puppy walks and a quick fuel stop about an 8 hour trek. We purchased a small extra fuel tank this summer so we could make this leg of our trip without having to fuel up at a regular gas station as there are not many options to get a big rig like ours into a gas station along this route which means we have to stop unhook the rig then fuel up and hook up again. Pulling the rig on a good day 500 km is about our limit. We also wanted the extra tank so we didn’t have to sweat bullets about fuel as we have done on previous trips wondering if we will be able to make our next stop if we run into windy conditions as there are areas we drive through on the trek south that do not have any services for miles. Milk River is about 20 km (12 miles) from the border so it puts us a good position to cross the border and reach our next destination in good time. We are never sure how much time we might have to spend at the border, depends on how busy they are and if they decide to check the rig, etc. We always like to leave lots of time for border crossing either direction we travel. The campground at Milk River (Under Eight Flags) is a nice clean small campground and reasonably priced. Wi-Fi and cable are not available at this campground so we hope the weather is good tomorrow, it did look good when we checked before we left this morning so if the sun is shinning when we get up we will be on the road early.

Halloween

2010-10-31T17:32:00.005-07:00

The only visitors we had were Chris, Michelle, Caitlin and her friend which is usual for us since being at Imrie Park, it is in a rural area and most people that know we are still here do not have kids that would be out for trick or treats! We always buy some treats in case we have visitors we would not want to be embarrassed besides we can always enjoy the leftovers and/or share them with whomever drops in the next few days, they won’t last long as Woody has a huge sweet tooth eh! The weather was pretty nice for here, no snow, high today was 52F (11C) but it cools off big time at night with a couple of degrees below freezing predicted for tonight.

Caitlin (right) and her friend.

Michelle, you can tell it is a little cool everyone is wearing heavy jackets.

Chris is hiding out behind the girls.

We are very happy that Chris and Michelle make the effort to bring Caitlin over, this will probably be the last year for her to trick and treat, she is getting to that age when she will be considered too old to go out trick and treating!

Hello friends

2010-09-02T14:39:00.003-07:00

Just a quick update to say I am sorry I have not been faithful regarding posting news on our blog. I have several excuses, yeah I know there is not an excuse in the world that is good enough eh! We are enjoying our time here in Alberta for sure visiting family and friends, looking after the park, etc. A couple of major projects have been eating up my time that I would usually spend working on the blog. The first one was my website, the host I am using lost everything even the back up of my website, so I had to start over building it all again, still not finished with that. The second project is building Woody a website to display his knife and leather craft items; that is still an ongoing project and I have made his website a priority as people are asking if he has a website. If you want a sneak peek at the unfinished website check it out here: http://woodysknifeandleathercraft.com. Not sure how much time I will be able to spend over the next month as our friend Dave Rice from Pennsylvania is here for a month visiting, he and Woody will do some bow hunting starting Sept. 8th (season opening day) so wish them Good Luck! Dave arrived August 28th and we are having an awesome visit! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by, it will be no time until we are heading south.
Hope you are all having a great summer and living each day to the fullest!

Woody is busy

2010-08-12T23:15:00.006-07:00

The last post I ended with the question “Why is Woody so busy?” so better answer the question. After the Huntfest ended he had a lot of catching up to do around the park, is working on some leather projects one being a knife sheath for our daughter Deb, she left the knife here while visiting earlier and is waiting patiently for Woody to complete a new sheath and another knife sheath which was ordered via email from a person who saw his work at the Huntfest.

Deb's knife sheath.

Old sheathe with knife and accessories

Front view, old and new.

Back view, note the pockets for the accessories.

I think the finished product is awesome!

Storm

2010-08-11T13:20:00.004-07:00

Couple of weeks ago we had a horrendous thunder storm with strong winds, some hail, heavy rain, loud claps of thunder, and a gorgeous display of lightening, the park had water laying in every low spot and took a couple of days to dissipate. Besides knocking our internet dish off kilter, the park was without power for 4 hours, we were happy we had a generator and felt bad for all the folks in tents, it was the worst storm we have witnessed at the park. The campers in RV's that did not have generators at least had their 12 volt lights, water, etc. There is a hand pump that campers can use if they require water during power outages as our main water system requires power to run the pump as in all rural water system applications. No damage occurred at the park other than some trees falling in the bush and on the hiking trails and all campers were safe. During the next few days the weather was unsettled, with rain showers and because the dish is sensitive to the weather I did not think much of it when I was unable to download email at times, or while trying to access some websites they would time out before successfully loading, this is normal as our signal is not good here at the park, we are on the cusp of the satellite footprint. I decided after a few days that something was not right as I was experiencing these issues on clear days. I restarted the modem as this is always the first thing to try when issues arise with our setup, seemed to help some, but then the next day while trying to download email I watched the modem transmit lights, they were completely blanking out, not normal! Okay dish must be out of whack, we will have to retune. I was also wondering if the trees were causing grief as we had to mount our TV dish higher to get a decent signal earlier this summer due to tree interference. Woody had noticed also that he was having trouble downloading email, etc., and said he could raise the dish about 6 inches and retune it, well it took awhile before he had the time to accomplish the task, in fact we finally got it tuned properly today after trying a couple of days ago but got interrupted before we really had it tuned properly. Why is Woody so busy? Well you will see in another post! EH

Awesome Weekend

2010-08-09T15:06:00.008-07:00

The Huntfest was a success, not just for Wild TV but also for Woody, he received awesome feedback, promising contacts and generally the whole experience was grand. There were some other leather smiths at the Huntfest, one was a saddle maker, and a couple of others with various items, he received very positive feedback from them and receiving positive comments from others in the business is awesome, means a little more than wife and friends telling him he does a great job. He was totally worn out after the three days but very, very happy and excited.

Woody's table at the Huntfest, left you can see 2 of his trophies from Africa. The hides and skull mounts attracted attention plus decorated the table nicely.

Woody did not have many items to display, most items he has created are already in the hands of the person he created it for most were his own items.

Above and right are pictures of the booth beside Woody, these folks had no problem looking after his table when he needed to leave his table.

He hopes to have a table here again next year as well as one at the Cowboy Gathering in Stony Plain and will create some show pieces to display!

Opportunity knocks!

2010-08-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Today is a beautiful day, sunny, warm and a special day it would have been my parents 70th Anniversary, I remember my parents daily, they were both such good people and on this day I remember all the celebrations and special times we were lucky enough to enjoy together.
This weekend Woody is at the Huntfest in Edmonton, a very large trade show sponsored by Wild TV and other companies, (e.g. Cabela’s Canada, Toyota, Alberta Outdoorsmen, Western Sportsmen Magazine to name a few) for hunters, fishers, archers, ATV enthusiasts etc. This show is the biggest one in Canada with shows in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton. Check out http//:www.huntfest.ca for more information, there is so much going on at the show with speakers from some popular hunting shows, target areas set up for archers, an ATV track, and more! Woody is displaying his leather crafts at the show and is receiving very positive comments regarding the leather projects on display which does not surprise me at all; his work is unique and very well done. The great thing is the feedback gives him confirmation that it is not just me, his friends, etc., think his work is good but total strangers are impressed, too cool! I created a DVD (which he will run on his computer) of all the items he has created as he only does custom orders so did not have stock items to display, most were his personal items except for a couple that he has yet to deliver, I also created business cards and order forms using the logo we created, he choose the name, I created the logo with the computer, printed it out then he tooled the letters onto leather, it turned out awesome. Woody took pictures of the logo then it was easy to transfer and size for the business card and order form. I love doing that kind of work and Woody loves doing the leather, so together I think we make a good team. Woody took his hides and skull mounts from Africa to decorate his table and create interest. Lucky for me the park is not full this weekend, one group here for a birthday party and Woody made sure everything was set up for them. He had to be there early yesterday, left at 7:00 AM to get set up, returned around 7:30 pm, long day but he was pleased and excited to be part of the show and had some time to talk to other exhibitors, even a couple of outfitters there from Africa who were impressed with his trophies from Africa. Today he left at 9:00 and will return about the same time as last night; tomorrow the show closes at 5:00 pm so will be home a little earlier. Huntfest is a great opportunity for Woody to gain some exposure and feedback for his knife and leather crafts, maybe even some orders, which would be a huge bonus eh. All in all it has been an exciting time for both of us!

Family Gathering

2010-07-25T17:26:00.031-07:00

We were lucky again this year regarding the weather for our Family Gathering, the weather was nice albeit a little cool in the evenings but we thank God we were able to gather once again with our family, temps from 72.5F (22.5C) to 82F (27.9C). The pictures tell the story.

Tracy and Keith's truck and trailer.

Tracy and Keith love this picture with trees as the backdrop and oh yeah the kids look good too!

Caitlin, Michelle and Christopher, we do not many pictures of them together.

Keith, Gordon and Myrna.

Woody cooking up a storm, everyone brought food for the huge brunch!

Lindsey and Brooklyn playing a game, appears to be a very serious game!

Lori, Myrna's and Gordon daughter enjoying the sun!

Evening spent around the group fire pit.

Sisterly love, Brooklyn and Lindsey, Tracy and Keith's daughters.

The posts you see in this pic, installed as seating when the park was developed are just a pain in the back, after this weekend Woody removed and was thanked by many regular campers of the park.

It was a beautiful summer evening for visiting around a campfire.

Guess you know this guy, I sure do not have many pictures of Woody, he is always taking the pictures.

Keith and daughter Brooklyn.

Lindsey loves to read and tried getting her book up in time to cover her face, she hates pictures, typical teenager eh!

Brenda (Myrna and Gordon's oldest daughter) and husband Gary.

Jennifer our oldest granddaughter (Daughter Deb's oldest daughter).

Lori, Gordon and Mryna's second daughter.

Just hanging out.

Hanging out around our campfire. Yours truly, Michelle, Keith and Tracy

Caitlin and Dad Chris.

Daughter Deb's camping set up.

Oreo was catching a snooze until we interrupted her.

Keith and Woody splitting some wood with a small wood splitter we had borrowed from a friend, worked very well.

Woody, Keith and Chris

Woody dressed up our little deer!

Tracy and Keith's new dog, a Chocolate lab, isn't she cute!

Tracy and Sadie.

Chris and Michelle's set up.

Cookie and Milo, a dog who our granddaughter brought with her, she was babysitting.

Muffin and Milo, Milo is a beautiful, well behaved dog and loved our little dogs, even tolerated Muffin jumping at him.

Scott dropped in the meet the gang.

Mryna and Gordon, Mryna has been my friend since we were kids.

Jennifer and Tracy, time to say goodbye!

I realize as I post this we do not have any pictures of Deb, not sure why, Deb were you hiding?

The whole weekend passed by very quickly, too quickly as usual but we are blessed to have been granted this weekend together!

A new toy

2010-07-17T21:21:00.005-07:00

Woody bought a new inflatable boat to replace the boat he sold to Scott, this boat is a smaller lighter boat that he can use by himself, the larger boat with wooden floor required two people to carry it to the water as well to get it on the truck. The electric motor we have will fit on this new boat which is great!

Getting started and it takes a bit of work to blow it up with the pump provided with the boat.

The boat is blown up in stages, has more than one chamber for safety.

The floor is blown up and the next will be the inner chamber the tan ring you see. The motor mount has to be installed also as well as the rope that is threaded through the black rings and it comes with inflatable seats, pretty cool.
I know he cannot wait to try it out at Salters Lake!

A wonderful day!

2010-07-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Cloudy with showers today, Woody worked on the knife sheath he was making for Dave and completed it just in time to give it to Dave before they headed home, it turned out very nice, Dave was so pleased, he insisted on paying Woody for the sheath and the work Woody had done on the knife, a knife that Dave had made years ago. Woody went to town and I spent time collecting fees from campers one camper brought over a huge portion of cake for us as they were leaving, I tried to say no but she would have no part of no, so I humbly accepted the gift set it on cupboard wondering what we were going to do with so much cake! Sure a good thing we have some freezer space in the parks kitchen fridges, because we sure could not eat it before it went bad, I phoned the kids and let them know we had cake to share but they were not home, decided we would save it our family gathering in a couple of weeks. I spent most of the morning choosing pictures to use on the blog and resizing for uploading to Blogger, I always have to resize as Woody and I both take pictures at the highest resolution possible and they are too large to use for email or on our Blog. Before Woody returned from town 2 nieces arrived for a surprise visit, I have not seen either for a very long time, in fact it has been so long I did not recognize Sandra when I opened the door, although the face was somewhat familiar I thought it was someone wanting information about the park which happens often. The young lady standing before me said “Oh we are so happy you are home!” and I stood there thinking I should know this person’s name she obviously knows who I am, she then said it’s Sandra, Carolyn (her sister) and I come for a visit and she hoped I didn’t mind that they came unannounced but they didn’t have our phone number. I was flabbergasted to see them and so very happy they had taken the time to track us down and come over for a visit! What a wonderful surprise, we visited awhile before Woody came home, and continued for the whole afternoon, time flew by so fast, Sandra and Carolyn came laden with goodies, homemade muffins, chips and dip which they left here for us, I tried sending some cake home with them, Carolyn said no thank you, I just threw some cake out and I couldn’t interest Sandra either! After they left as I wrapping up the cake for the freezer I thought was a terrible hostess I had been, we did share some beverages but I did not put out the muffins on a plate or open the chips, the goodies they brought were on the table where the girls had put when they arrived, I guess I was excited about visiting with them nothing else mattered, sorry girls I was so rude, next time I promise I will be a better hostess. Good thing Woody thought of beverages and taking some pictures as this visit was certainly an occasion to be remembered! Thanks sweetie for taking the pictures and thanks girls for your visit!

Carolyn.

and sister Sandra.

Thanks again girls for looking us up, come again soon eh!

Blogger blah!

2010-07-03T20:07:00.002-07:00

Woody and Dave went fishing for the afternoon today, I thought what a great time to work on our blog, a whole afternoon with little interruption. Campers all settled in the park, a beautiful day, sunny not too warm, the dogs will remind me when they need to go for a walk! Well I spent a frustrating afternoon as well as part of the evening trying to upload pictures. Blogger updated the editor with new features, I read the information and got very excited about the new features, uploading and moving pictures where I want them has always been a pain, takes forever to get them spaced properly, so I updated, whew that turned out to be a mistake, just didn’t want to work well at all. I ended spending all the time trying to upload pictures, kept freezing up and then when I did get some pictures uploaded I was not able to add any captions along side the pictures and this is suppose to be new and improved, I sure didn’t find it easier, faster or improved in anyway. I finally went back to the old editor, I only managed to get 2 posts completed, to state that I am not impressed with Blogger’s update is an understatement, oh well another day tomorrow!
Oh yeah Woody and Dave did not catch any fish!

Will be a busy weekend

2010-07-02T20:42:00.002-07:00

Busy day as campers arrive for the weekend, I had a chiropractic appointment in Spruce Grove in the AM, did some shopping while there while Woody stayed around to direct campers, answer questions and make sure everyone is taken care of, we have a couple of groups along with other campers. One group is the Onoway Fire and Rescue crew gathering for a year end celebration, a family reunion and 4 other campers. Woody made sure that all understand quiet time and to keep their dogs leashed, it is different if one group books the whole park, there is no quiet time as no one bothers us once we close the door but when we have a mix of groups and other campers, the rule has to followed for the pleasure of all campers. The bear or bears are still hanging out in the bush so we make sure all campers are informed in case they do read the caution signs; sure don’t want any bear incidents! During the afternoon Scott and Woody spent some time at the Gun Range enjoying some well deserved relaxation doing something they love, it was a perfect afternoon for shooting, no wind and not too hot. When Woody and Scott returned on the campers informed us that he had been walking the trails and encountered fresh bear sign on the trail to Wildlife Watch Building as well as another trail close to the park. If the bear becomes too brave he or they will have to be removed from the area. We have reported the bear activity to the Barrhead Fish and Wildlife department and are awaiting a call back but if the bears come into the campground Woody can legally shoot them, this park is private property, last year the bears hung out on the trails further southeast, not close to the campground and posed no problem, the park is 216 acres so they have room to wander without bothering anyone.
After dinner Dave and Pat came over to share our campfire, was a little cool with clouds floating around but we had another good visit with the fire keeping us warm! Woody made his last trip around the campground just after 11:00 pm, all was quiet, most campers were visiting around their fire pits so we called it a night, hopeful we would not get any noise complaints!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T15:00:00.029-07:00

A beautiful sunny day, not too warm around 22C (71F) would have been warmer had there not been a cool breeze but a great day just the same! The day started with getting our carpets steamed cleaned by friends Ron and Myrna who have been retired for a few years but kept their unit for their own use and of course to help out friends and family, they were in the cleaning business for 30+ years and had the contract to clean the Onoway Schools for 30 years so are definitely professionals! We had the carpets cleaned in AZ but were not happy with the job at all. I can tell you now for sure that the AZ job was not done well. Our carpets after Ron and Myrna were done are just like new! They even got rid of stains on the bedroom carpet that I know were 4 years old.

We asked Ron why he didn’t sell the unit when they retired and he said the van was so old and rusted he would have to buy a newer van and switch all the equipment and didn’t think it was worth the trouble, well the van might be rusty but the equipment inside runs like a top, they have a generator which runs a flow through hot water heater, vacuum system, etc. the water is heated to the proper temperature for the particular job he is doing, in our case was 200 degrees F, all the stains are pre treated and he uses biodegradable safe cleaning products, after pre treatment, they steam clean then vacuum the moisture from the carpets. After cleaning our carpets he steam cleaned the outhouse using a special antibacterial and odour remover solution. Woody cleans them every week with the pressure washer but cold water does not clean as well as the steam. After both jobs were complete we enjoyed coffee and a visit at the picnic table, Ron and Myrna are super people, very interesting and fun people to spend time with, they have travelled to Egypt, across Canada to Newfoundland, they volunteer for the community and are always ready to lend a helping hand wherever they are needed!

After Ron and Myrna left, Woody finished cutting the grass at the Gun Range and around the horse shoe pits here at the park. I spent the time reading, meeting and greeting campers and entertaining the dogs, or I should say trying to keep them from barking at everyone in the park, we spent the whole day outside waiting until the rugs were dry. I had made sure we had water, snacks, etc. but forgot we would not be able to access the fridge (chairs in the way) but we made out okay. Dave and Pat came over to visit (friends that are camping for the weekend) and spent the evening with us around the campfire. Hope you enjoyed a great Canada Day.

Wild TV

2010-06-30T20:38:00.024-07:00

Scott (friend and co owner of the Wild TV Channel) only 24 hours hunting fishing channel in Canada arranged with Woody to use the Gun Range for a video shoot advertisement of a cross bow and some bullets. The crew arrived around 9:30 am and off they went to the range. Here are some pics that Woody took which kind of shows the process of the taping. The crew said the real work is taking the raw video and making it into an appealing eye catching advertisement for the products; we cannot wait to see the finished product now!

Getting ready! Left is Serena, below Serena and Cory.

Serena and Helgi (not sure if spelled correctly), under the gun is Woody's shooting bag he created for himself.

Shooting different angles.

The cross bow, Woody's antlers holding the arrows.

Helgi talking about the bow.

They then took some footage in the woods creating a hunting atmosphere.

Testing the bow!

A small creek which runs through the Gun Range.

Close up of the flowers seen in the above picture.

Left, cool picture Helgi between the tall grass.

Crossing a small beaver dam on the creek.

Woody really enjoyed spending the morning with the crew, great people and a great opportunity to see how they film an advertisement. Thanks to Scott for the opportunity, now hurry up and get it finished so I can see the ad on Wild TV eh!

A day in the life!

2010-06-29T15:59:00.005-07:00

A warm day today with some rain showers late in the afternoon, Woody spent time mowing grass at the Gun Range, collecting garbage in the park, volunteered his assistance building the garage here at the park which will house some of the equipment used to maintain the park while I spent time doing my usual thing, walking dogs, cleaning, cooking, working with some pictures for the blog as well as some of Woody’s pictures and watching my favourite game shows! During the evening we had a surprise visit from Scott, son James and their beautiful well behaved dog Bosco. Our dogs of course went nuts, barking, growling and jumping all of which Bosco took in his stride and just ignored them, eventually our dogs accepted Bosco and settled down on my lap which is their favourite place to relax. Scott came to pick up our inflatable boat which Woody sold to him, I know he will enjoy many happy days fishing with James and friends! Woody will purchase a smaller one eventually, easier to handle by himself.

Scott and James.

We totally enjoyed their visit awesome friends, thanks for stopping in guys!

Addition to our family!

2010-06-28T15:43:00.001-07:00

Weather wise a decent day, high of 23C (73F) with some showers, Woody and Scott went shopping, we are now proud owners of a White Tail Deer decoy and for now he is a yard ornament. Woody and Scott put him together as soon as they returned and stood the buck in the grass, Woody was going to pack it up the next day but I thought he was too nice to pack away so we moved him beside the trees, his head moves with a little breeze, his tail moves and he sits on a peg so his whole body will turn with some wind, from a distance he looks quite life like. The dogs went nuts barking at the new addition, Cookie even stood up on her hind legs to sniff the deer’s butt, what a hoot! Took Muffin a couple of days to accept that the deer was not going to run off if she barked at it, when she jumped up on it, the buck swung around and freaked Muffin right out it really was funny to see, one of those moments that happen quickly, no time for pictures but every time I think about it I laugh! A couple of people who come to the park to hike said they thought for a minute when they drove into the parking lot and spotted the deer they thought it was real and a few hunting friends thought it would make a great target but I warned them not to put any holes in my pet deer! Will be interesting come hunting season to see if this little guy will attract any attention in the field! I will try and remember to report the results after the September/October hunt!

Isn't he cute?

At School with Caitlin

2010-06-24T17:53:00.008-07:00

Today was nice warm dry day the highlight of today for me was attending the “Celebration of Learning” with Caitlin and Michelle at Onoway Elementary School. I am always impressed with the effort that this school makes to recognize and reward students for their work, not just in the academic fields but also in the areas of respect, helpfulness, organization skills and many other skills that are necessary to be a good citizen of the world. Today the students became the teachers, the students being their invited guests, whether it was parents, grandparents, or other adult. The classroom was set up with each table being a different subject that the child would be involved in during the year at school, e.g., Math, Technology, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, the tables were decked out with all the tools required to complete the project the child/teacher had to explain the project, how to accomplish the goal and help the parent/student complete the project, there was a time limit involved also. When time limit was up, we switched to next work space and started the next project. The whole exercise gave the parents/grandparents, etc. a bit of a glimpse of what the students were learning at school and one of the processes used to teach. Teaching the adults was no easy task for the students and maybe gave them an insight on what teaching was about, a good exercise all the way around I think. It was fun but also a little nerve wracking, it has been a long time since I was in school and the old mind does work as quickly as the kids minds do, Caitlin had her work cut out for her, teaching this old Grandma! After class time was complete all assembled in the Gym for beverages, snacks and the awards ceremony. I totally enjoyed the afternoon, thanks Caitlin for inviting me and thanks to the teachers, students and the school for organizing “Celebration of Learning”! I think if school would have been this interesting when I was a kid I might have enjoyed school a whole lot more. I love the hands on approach to learning way more fun that sitting at a desk all the time, taking notes and listening to the teacher talk, or copy things off a blackboard. I know they still have to do that some of the time but they also have the opportunity to do the hands on “stuff”!

The classroom set up, Caitlin's teacher explaining why, how and what was going to be happening during the afternoon.

Michelle and Caitlin at the Technology table. It was so cool we got to use Ipods to look up star constellations and moon phases, etc.

Grandma Pat with her Grandson, she runs the Laundromat and a Luncheonette where we do laundry in Onoway.

This is serious business, Caitlin explaining the project we needed to complete. We were drawing a floor plan using math, never my best subject!

Just caught Caitlin as she headed back to her seat with her Certificate, there were many students receiving awards and everything moved very quickly.

After the ceremony was complete I captured this picture, a very proud girl and rightfully so! This was only one award, she recieved others earlier this month.

Bear spotted

2010-06-15T11:39:00.001-07:00

Weather is a little cloudy but still warm, Woody cut the grass at the Range and did some tree trimming at the Park, taking off lower branches which makes it easier to mow as well looks much neater, Josie dropped over and complimented Woody on how nice the trees looked as well as the park. After lunch he went out to cut the walking trails while on the furthest south east trail he spotted a brown bear, a boar around 350 pounds, said he was about 40 yards from the trail. We know there are bears in the area (we have erected Caution signs) as he had spotted bear scat earlier this spring but this is the first time he saw one this year (there were three bears here last year), so he called me to contact Fish and Wildlife for permission to shoot the bear if he spots it again. We are still waiting for a call back, not exactly good service in my opinion.

I spent time working on our blog and my To Do list, it is getting shorter!!!
During the evening Woody went over to visit buddy Scott and came home sporting a new set of Camo Clothing, really nice stuff, Scentlock complete with muff! Scott is the co-owner of the Wild TV channel (the only hunting channel in Canada) and has all kinds of hunting goodies of course; he gave Woody a deal he could not pass up. It was funny when he walked in the door wearing the new clothing, Muffin barked at him like she did not recognize him and after he took the outfit off, she kept going over and sniffing at them (he had hung them over a chair) I guess she just could not figure out the scent. Cookie just ignored the whole thing, couldn’t care less, they are so different when it comes to new or different things. We both accomplished many tasks today!

Cleaning up after the BBQ

2010-06-14T19:31:00.005-07:00

Another sunny day, temperatures around 18C (68F) just right for Woody who was busy cleaning up the park, gathering and hauling garbage, power washing the buildings and all the other duties required to keep the park in tip top condition. Aluminum cans plastic and glass bottles in our recycle bins are donated to the Onoway School Recycle Program and were picked up and Josie came with her son-in-law to return the tables to the Education Centre at the Gun Range as well as pick up the last food from the fridges. While here Josie and I went over the campsite schedule to make sure we both had the same information (some people call Josie to reserve instead of calling the park phone) so we must check with each other regularly.

Later Woody took a break and went with a friend shooting at the Range which he really enjoyed, first time this year he has tried out his gun, I was glad he decided to go, he needed the break. Actually there was an incident at the Gun Range earlier today, a person reported to Woody that they saw some fellows crawling over the fence into the Range, so he went down immediately and found the group sitting outside the Range in their car drinking; when they saw Woody approaching they sped off in their car, he called the police and reported the incident, the police take these type incidents very seriously, illegal entry to the Range and drinking while driving, they thanked him, shouldn’t be to difficult to track them down with the license number of their car and 3 witnesses to the incident. Woody is the Range Officer for the Gun Range as he was last year and the police had instructed him how to handle incidents at the Range and the Park, many of the police officers use the range to practice so are very interested in keeping the range open and of course there are those persons that are always trying to get the range shut down. The Park is a short distance from the Range and if anyone is shooting at the range we can hear it so Woody will go down and make sure all the rules are being followed, it is surprising how many members ignore some of the rules and this year the club decided that there would be zero tolerance for infractions, new members must take a Range Safety Course before they receive a key to the Range, both measures were put in place to make sure all members can safely use and enjoy the Range.
Woody visited with Dave at his camper for awhile after returning from the Range and we spent the rest of evening quietly.

Onoway Fish & Game BBQ Weekend Day 3

2010-06-13T17:10:00.034-07:00

Today the highlight of the day is a huge Breakfast, consisting of sausage, pancakes, scrambled eggs and potatoes with all the trimmings! Woody volunteered to cook and was assigned the sausage and potatoes and onions.

Peter who is the vice president using his personal BBQ (same make and Model that was part of the Raffle) worked hard looking after the eggs, and pancakes! Tina (pictured with Woody above and with Peter right) cut up all the potatoes and onions.

Vic, another hard worker for the club mixed batter among other duties.

While waiting for breakfast some were busy playing Crib, a favourite game with club members.

When the Breakfast was over, many members left fairly promptly leaving the worker bees to clean up all the details of the weekend some tasks were, take down the tent, pack it up, do the dishes, clean the BBQ’s, look after left over food, fold up all the extra tables, etc. There are too many tasks to list but after such a gigantic weekend there are many details to take care of for the few who hang around to help. I must admit I was not a lot of help this weekend but I did what I could. I have an issue right now with walking, my legs feel like lead after walking for a short time, but Woody helped out as did some other faithful members. The clean up will actually continue into Monday as it entails hauling tables back to the Education Centre at the gun range, power washing the shelter, picking up left over food from the fridges, etc.

All in all the weekend was a success, the club made some well deserved cash (tons of work involved), and the members enjoyed themselves the weather was fantastic and that is what this whole weekend is about! Oh Yes, I forgot to mention in Saturday’s post that the Silent Auction went well, all winners collected their treasures and we did get the dog bed and fanny pack we bid on.

Onoway Fish & Game BBQ Weekend Day 2

2010-06-12T13:26:00.026-07:00

A beautiful warm sunny day 24C (76F) with a little breeze could not ask for a better day for the BBQ and other activities planned for the day. Woody with some help put up the big tent last evening as there are over 100 persons expected for the dinner this evening and the shelter with all the auction tables and Raffle prizes set up there would not accommodate all the people. We are bidding on a camo dog bed and camo fanny pack, not much else that we could use or give to our kids or grandkids. The campground is buzzing with activity and of course lots of visiting; the pictures will do a better job of showing the activities than I can with words.

Left are Norm (President of OFG), Josie
his wife and major worker for the club and Kim (wife of vice president) another hard worker for the club.

Checking out the Silent Auction items.

Vic and Hazel more hard workers!

Baking potatoes for the feast!

Enjoying a game of Crib waiting for dinner!

Norm and Pat enjoying some shade.

The kids were fishing for some prizes, they loved it!

The fishing rod had a magnet attached for a hook and the kids fished for goodies that would attach to the magnet at the end of the fishing rod, they loved it!

The cooks spent hours at the BBQ baking over 100 potaoes plus streaks and burgers for the kids!

Nap time!

Relaxing by the general fire pit! No fire just too warm.

Dinner is served! BBQ steak, baked potatoes, brown beans, salads, cheese, pickles and buns and desert!

Lining up for the steak and potatoes, we even had a choice of how the steak was done!

Enjoying dinner!

The Tomato plants you see were donated for the Silent Auction.

Just having some fun!

Taking tickets and handing out plates as people streamed in for dinner.

After dinner the door prizes were drawn, think he is happy with his prize!

The kids were not left out either!

We know Pat well, she runs the laundromat in Onoway where we do our laundry and also has a small cafe attached!

More door prizes!

She is Cookie's Grandma proudly holding her door prize!

Having too much fun for the camera!

Picking out the Raffle Prizes, no one at the BBQ won any of the prizes but when contacted most came later that evening to pick up their prize!

Awards were also handed out, pictured here is the lady who was Treasurer for OFG for 17 years and retired this past year!

There were hunting/fishing trophy's awarded as well as an award for most valuable member!

There were also winners of the 50/50 draw and the Poker Walk were awarded.

There are many members who help out but I do not think any worked as hard as Norm and Josie to make this weekend happen.

Onoway Fish & Game BBQ Weekend Day 1

2010-06-11T16:12:00.001-07:00

A beautiful day, more campers pulled in today and the members (well at least some) are working hard to get ready for the big BBQ tomorrow, they hung up some banners and decorated the shelter with some triangle coloured little banners, looks quite festive. The BBQ is the big year end gathering and they are expecting a large group to attend (100+ people) so it will be a busy weekend. They also set up tables for the Silent Auction of donated items from members and businesses in the area; the Silent Auction is fun and a good fund raiser for the Association. The Raffle tickets are drawn at the BBQ so all the prizes are arranged in the shelter which allows for viewing (drooling) over the prize you hope to win. This year 1st prize is a quad with tub trailer, 2nd prize $1000.00, 3rd prize, Expedition Camp stove ($600.00 value), 4th prize coolers ($400.00) value and 5th prize 2 Camping chairs (value $80.00) and the tickets are just $10.00 each so very good value. Woody sold some tickets as well as we purchased some tickets, wouldn’t mind winning one of the prizes, last year we won a GPS which we have made good use of in our travels. All in all it is major work to set up everything and of course Woody helped out wherever he could. It will be a busy but fun weekend.

The campers or at least some of them. The campsites create a semicircle around the center area.

One banner and the streamer!

The kitchen and shelter area.

Gotta get Organized!

2010-06-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing spectacular to report, pretty ordinary day at Imrie Park a few people pulled in today for the big weekend (Onoway Fish and Game Barbecue here this weekend) I had an appointment in Spruce Grove after which I shopped for some flowers for the park, think it is safe to put flowers out now, no more snow or freezing temps usually at this time. A couple of folks stopped by checking out the park and had some questions; Woody graded the roads using the bucket on the tractor and mowed some grass. It will be a busy weekend but should be fun. The dogs are doing great, learning more each day regarding greeting folks that drop in, not barking when the doorbell rings, just run excitedly to us but still are learning how to greet people calmly! Some people are not happy to have our little dogs jump on them and our dogs need to learn to respect that at least until invited. The weather was good, better than predicted actually, no rain, still a little cool for this time of year at 15C (59F) for a high but suppose to be real nice for the weekend, YEAH! I decided I really need to organize my time more efficiently and made a huge To Do List for myself in hopes that I can organize tasks accomplish all the tasks and have lots of time for the things I just want to do! It really amazes me when I think what I accomplished while working full time and that is what got me to thinking that I am not organizing my day well and prompted me to create the To Do List. Wish me luck eh! Hope you have a great day tomorrow and remember never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly.

Visit with Tracy and Family

2010-06-06T18:01:00.064-07:00

We finally got together with daughter Tracy and family today, they have been very busy with a new puppy, ordinary everyday life, Keith hunting and waiting for a nice day when we could barbecue and be outdoors. We had an awesome visit, catching up on news, sharing pictures and generally just yakking about stuff that makes up our lives and theirs. The afternoon flew by as it usually does when we visit and we made a date to visit them on Wednesday to meet their new puppy (a Chocolate Lab) and continue the visit. Tracy and I have talked on the phone for more than a few hours on the phone since our return but it sure was great to chat with Tracy, Keith and girls in person. Cannot believe how the girls have grown!

Keith and Lindsey, Lindsey is 14 and becoming a wonderful young lady!

We barbecued some burgers, hot dogs, side of brown beans and fresh veggies!

Brooklyn who is always smiling and a delight to have around!

We always bring small gifts home for the family and it really warmed our hearts to see the enthusiasm shown for each item. I had also knit some items and was not sure how they would be received but to my delight the kids loved them and each picked what they wanted. We try and find items made in Arizona and prefer items made in the area where we stay, something unique as opposed to the usual tourist stuff made wherever! We brought them some small boxes handmade of Pine Needles, when the lid is open there is a definite scent of Pine.

I made each granddaughter a Fun Fur Scarf and Lindsey noticed that it had a "hole" in it, I am showing her how to tuck one end through the hole! The hole has a purpose and it is not a mistake!

Lindsey choose the blue and black one, Brooklyn the pink and blue, which was perfect as I had chosen those colours for them. I am wearing a red one which will go to Dani or Jen when we see them in July.

Kieth enjoying and Tracy ready to capture the moment!

We had a wonderful visit and look so forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

Onoway Heritage Days

2010-06-05T11:44:00.002-07:00

This weekend is Onoway Heritage Days, we attended the Pancake Breakfast (sponsored by Onoway Fish and Game), wandered around viewing the different booths set up on Main Street, checked out the new Bakery, Woody found a good deal on blades he can use for this leather work in the Mini Mart Store. The owner of the store created a huge western/agriculture scene using pull tabs from aluminum cans named “Awesome Millions” he used over 2.5 million pull tabs which many were donated by people from the Onoway area. I wish we had thought to take our camera, you cannot imagine it and I sure cannot create a picture for you with words. The whole scene which has a horse and rider, a tractor, front parts of buildings, trees, and I cannot remember what else and is housed in a 40 foot fifth wheel trailer which he has taken to California to show and he has been offered over a Million Dollars for it, but would not sell it. I have never seen anything like it and he did a great job, if you ever have an opportunity to view his work I would recommend it, very unique and impressive, the items are life size. I did not ask how long it took him to finish such a huge project, but he did say he is going to redo the horse and rider, he is not satisfied, said the horse is not proportioned correctly, looked okay to me though, but then an artist is never satisfied with his own work! Woody had seen it before in his store where it was set up originally and mentioned it to me but I never went and looked at, sure happy I had the opportunity today. We hung around to watch the parade which was typical of a small town parade but the coolest thing was the town organized Sky Divers to land on the street just before the parade started, there was about nine divers and all landed safely, it was so awesome to watch them float down and land right in front of us, we have never seen Sky Divers land so close up previously, we used to watch them float down from our yard at the acreage regularly as there is a Sky Diving Club at a small airport just a few km from here.
We returned to the park, the campers were busy playing horseshoes and other games they had set up, we had a quick lunch then Woody went to cut grass at the gun range which is just down the road, Woody volunteers his time to keep the grass mowed, plus does any small repairs required and is a Range Officer for the Range. The weather was nice today, high around 20C (68F) with a couple of light showers in the evening. The Fire Ban is still in effect even with previous snow and rain we have had no campfires are allowed in the park so the rain is welcomed. Life rolls along and we enjoyed our day!

2009 White Tail Antlers

2010-05-16T14:29:00.002-07:00

Woody finally has the antlers from the deer he harvested in 2009. Last fall he shot a nice white tail deer which he searched for along with Ron, they tracked the deer to a neighbouring property but Woody was not allowed on the property to retrieve the deer, before we left last fall for AZ another hunter had reported that he had seen the deer in the slew, and then this summer someone had dropped off the antlers on Ron’s front porch. Woody has since found out that he could have called a Fish and Wildlife officer to escort him onto the property to retrieve the deer, in this area a landowner must allow a hunter to retrieve an animal that was shot on another property that he has permission to hunt. Live and learn eh! Ron called Woody immediately after finding the antlers on his door step for Woody to come over and confirm that it was his antlers, Woody had pictures of the buck so no question they were his! The antlers scored out at 160 which is nice size for a White tail shot with a bow! Needless say Woody is a happy camper that the antlers finally found their way home. Thanks Ron!

Time rolls ON!

2010-05-13T16:58:00.001-07:00

A little cooler today but still nice for this time of year in Alberta, almost 19C (65F), we are just happy to not have snow! The first camper’s are arriving today and things are ready, Woody found trees down on the trails but has not had time to cut them up, many people frequent the trails in this park on a daily basis but most are okay with stepping over trees, but will take the time to report any fallen trees they come across which we are appreciate as whenever there is a wind you can bet there are trees that have fallen. The rule is if it crosses a trail buck it up and throw aside or gather it up for firewood, if it falls in the bush leave it there for nature to process naturally back to soil. Josie dropped in today with the summer schedule and a quick visit, Norm will be over later for a meeting with Woody regarding new guidelines for volunteers, etc, that have been set up by Alberta Parks and Recreation who oversee this park, the money donated by the person who donated the land for this park and also fund projects, etc. for this park (Onoway Fish and Game Association Manage the Park) meaning they do all the work as well as fund raise for this park but are bound by Alberta Parks and Recreation. Not sure I have made that clear but at any rate Onoway Fish and Game Association are our boss and Parks and Recreation are their bosses in a sense. Onoway Fish and Game have secured some funds to build a garage this season and that is exciting news, we will be able to store the tractors and other items here at the park which will be so much easier than always having to drive them down to the Gun Range, thank you Onoway Fish and Game. The trees that will be needed to take down are already marked and the contractors to get the area ready are all set to go! The garage will be completed by July 31st for sure as that is a requirement of the funding it is special chunk of money from another Alberta Government Department. AWESOME!

Sun is shinning, gotta love it!

2010-05-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Another nice day, sunny and 21C (70F) decided we would set up the Internet dish up first, had to request change back to our Northern satellite, informed it would take at least two days to process the change, we are not impressed but have no choice but to wait, we did manage to get our Shaw TV dish set up after calling Shaw for a refresh, nice to have TV available again. We continued getting things ready for weekend, Woody pressure washed toilets, mowed some grass, checked the trails, did some shopping and I caught up on email and other chores. The day passed very quickly and we noticed in just a day the trees are almost fully leafed, surprising how fast they leaf out in the warm weather. Oh yeah saw some dandelions popping up in the lawn as well as the farmer neighbour’s cows have been in the park over winter and left all kinds of deposits in the grassy field, NICE!

A Welcome Home!

2010-05-11T15:59:00.001-07:00

We are feeling a little weary today after our trip, getting our heads wrapped around having some responsibility again, checking the park to see what needs to be done right away as the campground is completely booked for the weekend, some campers arriving Thursday. The Onoway Fish and Game members Ron Johnson, Norm and Josie had everything ready for us to hook up the rig, new pressure tank, water lines ready (remember it froze up last fall before we left) and of course power on, they look after us so well. We had let them know earlier that we would be arriving today and called them while on the road yesterday to advise them that we would be arriving last night so they were aware in case someone reported a camper in the park! A nice day today, sunny and around 17C (63F) with some wind, the dogs are very happy to be back, they ran and chased each other in the open grassy field until their tongues were hanging out, it was so much fun to watch them. Tired puppies are good puppies and they slept for a long time after that! Woody has to get the two tractors, they are stored at the Gun Range in a Sea Can, get the power washer going to clean up the toilets, mow grass, at least some of it needs cutting, get our Star Choice dish hooked up and our Internet Hughes dish set up and I need to clean up the Rolling Castle, travelling is a dirty business, everything is dusty and dirty, plus put out the nick knacks that we store while travelling, untie items that we keep tied down while travelling and set up my little office. I do clean up our little house along the way, but the dust gets in while on the road as well as the dogs track a lot of dirt in every day! Along about 3:30 PM or so daughter Michelle and her daughter Caitlin arrive to welcome us home, Michelle works at the school in Onoway about 5 miles from the campground, what a wonderful surprise! She had run home to pick up Oreo and told us Chris (husband) was coming later with pizza for supper if that was alright with us, we were thrilled with the plan, it was awesome to see, hug and chat with them, we could not have been more pleased! Their son Christopher arrived a little later with his new girlfriend Katie, what an awesome welcome home! What a feeling, hugging, chatting and seeing some of our kids, just cannot describe the happy warm fuzzy feelings we experienced today! Needless to say we put our work aside and enjoyed our visit. Woody had to leave a little early to attend an Onoway Fish and Game club meeting at 7:00 pm to catch up on all the news.

Daughter Michelle!

Granddaughter Caitlin

Grandson Christopher.

And last but not least his girlfriend Katie!

Good travel day!

2010-05-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Decided to lollygag at Milk River today, we did not want to arrive at our destination campground, Whispering Spruce, by Balzac, just north of Calgary, too early as it is not pretty, not very clean, not much gravel or grass, just not a very appealing place to be, we stop there because we can visit with our granddaughter, it is open, is on our route and have no other choice. Under Eight Flags has grass, is along side the Milk River, is clean, reasonable price and even though it is under construction (adding cable and Wi-Fi) to some sites it is much better than Whispering Spruce. I called our granddaughter and unfortunately we will not be able to meet, she will be working and cannot change her shift, but she assures us that she will visit this summer for sure! Woody heads out to fuel up the truck and pick up some bread at the bakery in Milk River, our daughter Tracy said they have yummy bread. I had everything ready to go inside when Woody returned so we grabbed a bit to eat, packed up our unit and headed out. The sun was shinning, not much wind, good travel day until we got closer to Calgary, rain showers, gusty winds and foreboding clouds hanging over Calgary. As we are driving through Calgary Woody asked if I would be okay with heading straight home instead of stopping, he did not want to stop at Whispering Spruce, it would be muddy for sure, last year we had to put the truck in 4 x4 to get our unit out of the campground (it had big soggy mud holes) I said sure, I was ready to just head home also. We stopped to fuel up the truck, walk dogs, and stretch our legs at a service station along the highway near Crossfield. The drive was good, and the best thing is we drove into sunshine, leaving the rain behind, it was cool though with a cold wind when we arrived home (Imrie Park) just after 9:00 pm. I called Michelle and Chris as we drove by the road to their acreage to let them know we were almost home. By the time we parked the rig and set up it was 10:00 pm, longest travel day we have had since 2006 but worth it, we were both happy to be home and settled! Interesting fact the trees and grass are actually further ahead in the greening process than down south, usually southern Alberta is ahead of this area, it is so nice to see! We settled down with an adult beverage, late travel sure cuts into Happy Hour! LOL. We decided that when we leave in the fall, we will drive straight through to Milk River, it is doable!

Crossed the border today!

2010-05-09T12:20:00.001-07:00

As we were preparing to leave this morning the Manager (I can’t remember his name) dropped over and asked if Woody would like to come with him as he has many hides and he would give him one, excitedly Woody accepted his offer and off they went. A short time later he came home with beautiful fully tanned Elk and Deer hides, Deer was a gift and the Elk he purchased for a very reasonable price. We were invited to stop here again in the fall and pick up more hides; we will take him up on his offer for sure. Experiences like that are so cool and part of the fun of travelling. We left a little later than planned but knew we would still make Milk River, AB in decent time.
The drive to Great Falls via Hwy 87 is pretty, winding around hills through grassy valleys, alongside the Little Belt Mountains and Judith Mountains, there are some awesome views as we crested hills, some fairly steep climbs where the view is nothing but sky until we crest the hill (small mountain) and then drop down into a valley. There is one I really love, as we come atop the mountain we see mountains spread out before us across a long valley like a painting, the camera just cannot capture the scene the way the eye views the picture, lacks the depth and breadth. This is Ranch country; the hills and valleys are dotted with cattle, horses and antelope lazily grazing on the new green sprouts of grass we also see the odd house but mostly you just see rows of mailboxes on the roadside indicating there are more people living in this area than one expect until of course we get close to Great Falls, then we see many acreages. As we approach Great Falls the road becomes 4 lane which makes driving a bit more relaxing, even if it is busy and we connect with I 15 after driving through Great Falls, they do not have a good bypass going north, driving through the city is the easiest way to connect to I 15, we tried the so called bypass route last spring and it is terrible, through Industrial areas, along the Missouri River and actually longer, going south is not a problem but north is a little more challenging. The remainder of the trip to the border is clear sailing, the border crossing was busy but we moved along quickly, had our paper work ready and had no issues crossing back into Alberta, whew, we are always somewhat relieved once across the border. We arrived a short time later in Milk River, pulled into our favourite spot at Under Eight Flags Campground and settled down for the evening, another safe day of travel!

The campground was named Under Eight Flags and flies all eight flags beside the office as the Milk River area has been governed by different countries through history. Below is the history if you are interested.

In 1803 President Jefferson of the United States authorized the Louisiana Purchase, the land on which the town of Milk River was later to rise became American territory. But this was not the first claim to the yet unexplored region; in fact lying north of the 49th Parallel and within the area of the Mississippi-Missouri river systems, Milk River is unique in Canada. There could have flown over this land at various times no less than eight flags representing six governments and one great company.

In 1682 the French explorer La Salle claimed the whole Mississippi system and the land which it drained for King Louis XIV of France and named the area Louisiana.

In 1762 by the secret Treaty of San Ildefenso France abandoned the still largely unexplored region to the Spanish Empire.

In 1800 Spain ceded the region to Napoleon who intended to establish French rule firmly but was unable to do so.

In 1803 the territory was acquired by the United States for a payment which eventually totaled $27 million.

In 1818 a Convention signed between the United Kingdom and the United States established the boundary of British North America as far as the Rocky Mountains along the 49th Parallel, cutting of the extreme northern area of the Mississippi-Missouri system. By previously granted license the newly-acquired territory came under the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1869, following the formation of the new Dominion of Canada in 1867, jurisdiction over the western territories previously administered by the Hudson's Bay Company was transferred to the government in Ottawa.

In 1945 by Order-in-Council the Canadian government declared the Red Ensign to be the distinctive Canadian flag.

In 1965, by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Maple Leaf flag was declared the official flag of the Dominion of Canada.

Snow, Snow go away!

2010-05-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Weather continued to be nasty, windy, cool and wet so we stayed put no sense taking any chances especially since we would be travelling north to Lewistown where the weather is even worse at this time. We whiled our time away, walking dogs, watching TV and working on projects. Good thing we leave lots of time to travel home although we are both getting a little antsy to be settled at home. I find it a challenge to deal with these unexpected weather stops, yet I know that one cannot predict the weather and therefore any trip planning is always just a tentative plan. Ah well I am very thankful that we are in a very nice campground, warm, dry, safe and sound, life is really good and we are blessed with good health!

Snow Day

2010-05-06T20:58:00.001-07:00

Woke up to about 6 inches of snow on the ground, with blowing snow coming down, not that we were surprised that is what the weatherman said would happen. We just hoped the prediction would be wrong!!! The dogs love the snow, romping, jumping and eating it as we took them on their morning walk. We were not as enthusiastic as the dogs, with temps below the freezing point and a brisk wind from the west, the walk was shorter than usual. We do enjoy watching the dogs play, but we were not dressed for a dawdling, playful, investigative walk, the snow was wet and stuck to the dogs so they were covered with little snowballs when we got back inside. We towelled them off as best we could which of course they don’t appreciate and I got a Sham Wow to put on my lap, covered it with a large towel, knowing the first thing they want to do is sit on my lap and the snowballs would melt! Oh yeah, I got wet anyway, and it took about 4 hours for the dogs to totally dry off, ah just in time for another outing, you just have to love their excitement over playing in the snow! We dug out warmer jackets and gloves for our walk this time, have not had to wear them since leaving Alberta last fall!Peter, the owner of the park came (just after lunch) to inform us that he would have to turn the water off for a couple of days as the predicted lows were to be in the 20’s F (-7c) and the water pipes in the park would freeze, so Woody had the pleasant job of filling our water tank, we always carry some water but not enough for 2 or more days, at least the fill valve is on the lee side of the fifth, but he came in looking like a snowman, the wet snow sticking to his clothes and beard! I am just happy he does these chores without grumbling, to him it just one of the things that goes along with the RV lifestyle. We spent time working on our projects, Woody working with leather, me working on the computer trying to figure out why it refuses to perform back ups and has lost all the restore points, I ended up after doing all the checks and running all the clean up tools getting out the recovery discs, finally got the back ups working again. In the meantime, Woody needed more leather so I checked the Yellow Pages online and found a leather shop, such luck; Sheridan has a leather shop that sells leather supplies. After cleaning the snow off the truck with a broom, we don’t carry a snow brush anymore, off he went, returning a while later with a nice chunk of leather and another pattern to practice, that will keep busy for awhile. He also picked up some groceries and a black tank valve; he is going to install a second valve as every time he connects or disconnects the sewer hose it runs a little sewer onto the ground that is nasty! Hopeful the weather is a little better tomorrow!

Wow finally a travel day

2010-05-05T13:09:00.001-07:00

May 4th-Did not sleep too well last night, the wind was really blowing, the Rolling Castle was creaking and rocking, the dogs would even bark at the noise the wind created whistling around the bedroom slide, we have never experienced such wild winds, the winds died down early morning then started again late morning and blew hard until around 8:00 pm. The day was not cold but sure started to cool off during the evening as was predicted. We are so happy that we did not choose to travel today, the winds blew harder than first predicted, we would have to get off the road, cannot pull the Rolling Castle safely in high wind.

May 5th- Well finally we can travel safely today, a beautiful sunny day with little wind, rain showers predicted toward Sheridan but we can deal with that. Woody talked to a person while filling up the truck this morning, he had driven up from the south yesterday via car and saw five vehicles in the ditch, 1 Motorhome on it’s roof, 4 fifth wheels smashed to smithereens and a semi trailer truck, we cannot believe people choose to travel in wild gusty winds, life is too precious to take chances, better be late than take a chance ending up in a accident. I am sure the trucker thought he was okay; they are so heavy, and more stable in the wind than RV’s. Praying no one was killed.Travelling from Wheatland to Sheridan was a beautiful drive through hills along side the Big Horn Mountains with landscape changes along the way, crossing the Powder River and Crazy Women rivers several times, dropping into valleys and viewing valleys from atop the hills. We saw many Antelope along with horses and cattle grazing the green hills and valleys. There is water in most creeks and the rivers are running full, this is the greenest we have seen this area, usually it is just brown but then they have had more snow and rain than usual, in fact there is snow still hanging around on some of the hills, and lots of snow left on the mountain tops. Once we travel past Casper, WY there is little traffic, just wide open space, dotted with ranch homes and some small communities but then Wyoming is the least populated State at around 522,000 people and the two largest cities Cheyenne and Casper have a population of approximately 55,000 and 53,000; ranks 9th in land area, 97,100 square miles equalling 5.3 persons per square mile. In comparison to Alberta, population 3,290,350 land area 248,000 square miles which equals 13.2 persons per square mile. The two largest cities, Calgary and Edmonton, population just around the 1 million mark each comprise almost one third of the entire population. Alberta ranks 6th in land area of the 10 provinces, 4th in population. Okay enough statistics, we enjoyed our drive today and happy to arrive in Sheridan, settle at Peter D’s RV Park and relax for the evening, the park is a nice clean, easy off/easy on of I25, we stayed here previously in 2006 and the owner remembered us, he loves dogs so had treats for the dogs in his pockets and gave them more treats when I was walking the dogs while Woody was getting the 5th wheel set up, this park has everything one needs while travelling, full hook-ups, excellent Wi-Fi, clean laundry, showers (not that we use them), cable TV, all pull thru sites, reasonable cost and just on the edge of town, PERFECT! We checked in for 3 nights, knowing we could not leave until at least Saturday due to weather and will see what the weather has is store for us over the next few days.

Wind, Wind, go away

2010-05-03T13:07:00.001-07:00

The wind is howling, sustained winds in the 30’s mph (50's kph) with gusts to 44 mph (72 kph), and predicted to blow until tomorrow night with gusts to 64 mph (104 kph) overnight. We are rocking for sure, the winds are from the west which hits the full living room side of the fifth, and saving grace is we have a camper on truck and a trailer beside us which breaks the wind for us a bit. It is not cold but supposes to cool off big time on Wednesday, like down to 46F (8c0 as a high but that we can deal with that as long as the wind slows down so we can get on the road. There is nothing much of interest to see around Wheatland, checked the tourism site, museum not open until mid May and the only other thing that was listed was a reservoir so we drove around town, some nice old buildings, stopped at a "Antique/Used/Consignment store" lots of stuff, some nice stuff, but nothing that we wanted, have no room anyway, only bought a couple of Louis L'Amour books to add the collection. Well that is about all, Woody is watching hunting on the Outdoor Channel and I knit while half watching, take care all and hope you had a great day!

No Travelling today

2010-05-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well still in Wheatland, weather going north is bad, problem with NW winds, brings everything towards us, so bad up north then bad down here, BAH!!!! I really have to remind myself that bad weather is not a huge thing in the big picture of life, especially when one can be safe in a decent campground with the ability to keep a look out ahead, and we do not have to go out when we don't want to, well except to walk the dogs, eh! Sure would be worse to be driving in snow and wind, etc. Watched a TV show today about a young adult who was born blind, no legs and has done marvellous things with his life, makes me feel ashamed that I am depressed, frustrated and feeling put upon because the weather is not working in our favour, Woody and I looked at each other and said, "so what are we complaining about"!!!!! We will get home at some point, just have to be patient and enjoy each day. We drove around Wheatland today, nice little town, well kept homes, some neat old buildings and a city park, population 3500, did some shopping, staff in stores very helpful and friendly, not much open being Sunday except Safeway, the hardware store, dollar store, etc. Woody is busy creating his new cell phone case, I did some knitting and tried to figure out why my computer takes 5 minutes to completely start up, cannot figure it out, oh well maybe someone that knows more than I do can figure it out. I shut down everything I could without messing up the computer totally.

Travel Day

2010-05-01T16:33:00.001-07:00

We made it to Wheatland, WY today, trip was good until northern Colorado, then NW gusty winds to Wheatland, wide open hilly land, looks pretty similar to southern Alberta. Sure sucked up the fuel once we were pushing wind! Not sure if we are leaving tomorrow or not, weather ahead not looking good, snow showers and wind, but will check in the morning. At least we have cable TV and Wi-Fi here. The campground is full, we got the last spot, good thing I always call ahead. This campground is more than full, workers here doing maintenance on the power plant, there are many sites with 2 campers crammed in but a decent campground, we have stayed here previously so knew it was okay, right on the edge of Wheatland. Sure am glad we don't have to deal with all the tornados further east in the States, wind, rain and snow is not as bad. Anyway we are hopeful the weather will change for the better! We are good as are the puppies.

And they say Chicago is the Windy City!

2010-04-30T15:14:00.006-07:00

Well we are still sitting in Pueblo West, CO, wind is howling, not gusting to (75 mph) 120 kph like it was on Wednesday (the fifth wheel was rocking) but still gusting to (35 mph) 56 kph with some gusts reaching (62 mph) 100 kph. Got up this morning and the wind was still blowing! We were a little depressed after checking the weather, anxious to get going again but even if we could have left here today weather up the road was even worse, snow showers and wind in Wheatland, WY area. Suppose to be better tomorrow and we are praying that this time the forecast is correct, still cold and rainy up ahead but the wind is suppose to settle down. With no TV and cannot go shooting with Charlie, Woody was getting antsy, he was out of leather, so couldn't do any projects, luckily we found a leather shop here (checked online yellow pages) and off we went, a good leather shop that sold pieces of leather and had lots of tools, books, etc. to look at, so now he is happily constructing a new cell case for himself. I am very impressed with his work, soon he will be able to make me a real nice purse!

The dogs do not like the wind either, they will sit down with their backs to it when we are out for a walk! They are both going to need a good trimming at the groomers by the time we arrive home.

Gotta Love the horses!

2010-04-29T17:24:00.010-07:00

There are many horses boarded here, some real pretty ones and some are so friendly. One Palomino coloured one always comes to the fence looking for some petting, which of course we have been doing each time we walk the dogs. Today we decided we should take him a carrot, well did he love that, Woody fed him large pieces which he munched up quickly, he is a nice well behaved horse and of course wanted more. On our way back he followed us along his fence and kept looking at us, we knew what he was asking but he will have to wait until our next walk this evening. Horses are such beautiful animals and if treated well are great companions as well as gentle, one of God’s marvellous creations in our mind. Muffin is still a little afraid of these strange large creatures, she stands back at the end of her leash but does not bark at them anymore, Cookie can take them or leave them, just another animal to her.

Woody went back out to take some pictures of the horse and he came running!

Okay here I am, where is my carrot!!

I will smile for ya!

Isn't he pretty with his mane blowing.

A couple of other horses enjoying the feed trough.

Lady who owns these horses told Woody that her 3 year old grandson can ride this horse no problem.

Every day here we see people out looking after their horses, some actually live here at the park. Sadly some horses are not well attended and were reported. This lady said that there is 0 tolerance for not looking after animals in this area, that is good news! Pueblo area was at one time known as the 'Saddle-Making capital of the World' as well as the steel capital of the USA until the bottom fell out of the steel industry in the 1980's.

Pueblo's newest event is the Wild West Fest sponsored by the Professional Bull Riders. It will be held in Pueblo during the spring and the main event will be a PBR rodeo held at the state fair events center and shown all over the world. Also, Pueblo is home to the PBR team finals held at the state fair events center during the Colorado state fair and shown all over the world. In 2008 the PBR moved their corporate headquarters to Pueblo. Just some information regarding Pueblo, it has an interesting history as most places in North America do!

For more information click the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo,_Colorado

Well hopeful we can leave tomorrow, we need to heading north!

Elephant Butte, NM

2010-04-25T18:36:00.006-07:00

Arrived in Elephant Butte, NM April 21st, good drive, it is an interesting drive from Deming over Highway 26 (Hatch Hwy as it is known, all newly paved), shorter than driving to Las Cruces then North to Elephant Butte, also more interesting scenery. Lots of irrigated (from the Rio Grande River) crops, walnuts, pecans, and of course chilies, Hatch is known as the “Chile Capitol of the World”.
Post pic of hatch
We planned on spending 3 nights in Elephant Butte, wanted to check out the area, especially the reservoir as well as what is interesting in the area, thought we might stay here next winter. Checked into Lakeside RV Park, a Passport America campground, it is meticulously kept with many winter residents, situated on 2 levels, very friendly helpful staff but the park is surrounded by an industrial park with no views of the beautiful mountains. We attended the “Happy Hour” a couple in evenings to meet some of the residents, good group and always interesting to meet other Snowbirds and/or fulltime RVer’s and hear their stories of travel, etc.

Our site was curb side site, you can see we do not have any area for sitting outside, right on the road and behind us a rock wall, no view at all. Notice the rocks along side of the RV that is the front edge of our site.

Looking another direction, not from the RV, you can see industrial area. Think that was south, and north there was a boat storage area, in fact most of Elephant Butte town is storage facilities, gas stations and restaurants. Truth or Consequences is the town south for any actual shopping, groceries included.

The park was here before the Industrial Area was developed and it is a very nice park, just the sites are too small and none have any privacy at all.

The office and club house area, very nicely done and super clean.

This the pathway up to the second level, wonderful garden area on the hill.

We checked out other RV parks in the area as possible winter home next year and there are a couple of nice ones, but decided we would keep our reservation at TTRV. We drove 20 miles (32 km) back down the highway to check out Caballo Lake, nice small RV Park there but nothing much around except the reservoir which is only accessible via a walking path (nice) from the park but to get the boat in the lake one has to go through the State Park. The Elephant Butte reservoir is only accessible via the State Park also, which means paying an entrance fee each time we would want to fish or just paddle around the huge lake, not much else to see or do in the area, just not for us.
Elephant Butte Lake is 40 miles long and has about 200 miles of beautiful sand beach, average depth is 660 ft., was built between 1911 and 1916, and they actually started filling the reservoir in 1915. There is concrete boat ramp to the lake 10 lanes wide and 1000` down to the lake. There are approximately 100,000 people at the park on weekends throughout the summer. The water is used to irrigate and generate power. For more information on the dam and the State Park click the links below.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Elephant_Butte_Dike
http://www.truthorconsequenceschamberofcommerce.com/area_eb_lake.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Butte_Reservoir

The attendant at the park gave us a 15 minute free pass so we could drive around and take a look, it is a huge park, and we stopped to take some pictures of the lake.

Think the item you see in the picture is meant to be protections for the marina.

WE were very surprised to see campers right on one of the beach areas, and we found out they are allowed.

The marina, there are huge boats here, many house boats and large boats with cabins.

We did enjoy our stay here and happy we took time to look around, but the day we planned to leave we had to wait due to high wind! OH well such is life when one travels through these windy areas in April, we are told April is the windiest month of the year here!

Leaving our Winter Home

2010-04-20T15:39:00.002-07:00

Began our trek north, weather was beautiful, have mixed feelings, hard to leave but looking forward to seeing family and friends at home and praying the weather will be kind to us, so many storms floating around all over world the weather has been unpredictable to say the least. No wind to speak of which is good as parts of I10 in AZ and New Mexico can be real ugly if windy. We were planning to stop in Elephant Butte, NM tonight but Woody wanted to stop in Deming, NM instead, good idea I thought, keep the first day short and we have never stopped in Deming. We booked a night at Deming Road Runner Park, reviews were good, clean and the staff was friendly, they had a covered pool, hot tub, etc. It was nice to arrive early and have a nice relaxing evening. The pool didn’t have any water in it, did not ask why, but probably would not have used it anyway. A good day!

short trip south

2010-04-18T14:27:00.010-07:00

We made a trip to Naco, Mexico today to renew Woody’s I94 permit (his permission to be in the States), we just needed to walk across the border into Mexico, purchase something and walk back, same as last year. The weather was beautiful and the trip is interesting, driving into the Mule Mountains to Bisbee and south. Bisbee and Naco, AZ are close, except for the signage; one can not tell where Bisbee ends and Naco begins. Naco sits in a huge valley and the mountains in view are in Mexico, can also see the huge wall running along the border.

The wall runs for miles and the Border Guards say all it really did was create good business for the ladder companies. The vehicle you see is a Border Guard, in some areas they patrol the fence with armoured Hummers.

The white line you see is the fence going over the mountains.

This crossing was closed, only opened for certain traffic.

When we walked across the border there were Mexicans being brought back to Mexico and again when we left they were dropping another group of illegals at the border. There are about a 1000 illegals coming into AZ everyday!

A couple of curious people peeking through a small hole in the fence.

A view of leftovers from the Bisbee Copper mine that can only be seen as you drive towards Bisbee from the south, this complex is huge as was the mine.

Thanks to my dear husband, he drove onto a side road and climbed through some bush so we could get these pictures, saw this last year but too late to stop, this time I had the camera ready but just couldn't get a good shot from the highway. It really is awesome to see!

Kartchner Caverns

2010-01-19T16:12:00.008-07:00

We visited the caverns with friends Jim and Shirley, touring the largest cavern on the 13th, “The Big Room” and the smaller one “The Throne Room or Rotunda” on the 19th. The tours are fairly costly but well worth the price. Kartchner Caverns is a State Park so a fee for entrance to the park has to be paid then the cost of the tour, smaller cavern is 18.95, large cavern 22.95 per person. The tour begins at the Discovery Centre where a short video is shown in a lovely theatre, explaining how the caves were discovered, some pictures and information regarding the care and preservation practices that were undertaken while the caverns were prepared for public viewing. After viewing the video there are many interpretive displays to investigate as well as a very nice little store and a small café named “The Bat Cave”. We did not make reservations for the tour of “The Big Room” until we arrived at the park so we had time to wander, grab a bite to eat at the café, food was very good, all freshly prepared and of course Shirley and I had to check out the store. The proceeds from sales at the store help support the park so we were pleasantly surprised to find reasonably priced good quality unique items, eco friendly items, example t-shirts made from fibres of old t-shirts along with samples of “how they create new fibre from old t-shirts”, many gems, books, DVD’s, CD’s relating to caving and the Caverns along with the usual mugs, hats, calendars etc. I purchased a book with some nice pictures and information after our tour of the second cavern.

A catus with interesting growth, the area around the Discovery Centre is very nicely landscaped, many plants are named, there are many species of sage growing in the gardens.

Shirley and I along with Jim and Woody wandered around the gardens, it was a very nice day.

There are benches placed along the paths as well a large covered picnic area.

Entrance to the caverns photographed from the garden area with telephoto lens.

The tours are booked every 20 or 30 minutes all day (depending on which cavern) and led by a knowledgeable, informative volunteer guide as well a volunteer who follows the group. The tour begins with the guide explaining the rules, and how careful we must be while in the cavern to not damage the cavern, we then take a ride on a tram passing the original sink hole where the 2 cavers crawled though and found the caverns and up to the parking area close to the cavern. After disembarking from the tram the guide explained that we would be entering through several sets of sealed doors to keep the inside air out, as we entered the second tunnel the guide explained how to fold our jackets so the jacket would not flap and create more lint than necessary as well so that our coat sleeves would not accidentally touch any of the formations or rock walls. The caverns are very warm and moist; we also walk through an area where we are misted with water which is done so our very dry bodies and cloths will not suck any moisture from the caverns and it also assists with keeping lint from floating around. We were very impressed by the care that is taken to preserve these caverns, they are living caverns, which is very unique, from the beginning to end these caverns are awesome and one just cannot explain the jaw dropping effect that happens when viewing the formations in the caverns. For more information and a few pictures click on the links below. No cameras are allowed in the caverns as well as any other loose items, as in food, water bottles, etc. There is a good reason for that, as people dropped their cameras over the rail, set up tripods on the rocks, dropped sunglasses, etc. when the first tourists were allowed to bring in such items.
There are a couple of videos on this site, they are good but cannot compare to visiting in person.
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/science.html
http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_kartchner.html
http://tourcochisecounty.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/kartchner-caverns/

We enjoy the company of Jim and Shirley very much, they are fun, easy going, interesting people to spend time with. We will miss them very much, they are leaving on Thursday and said they will not be back in AZ next year but invited us to come and visit them in MN which we would love to do hopefully next year on our trip home.

Patagonia State Park and other stops

2010-01-01T16:53:00.019-07:00

Today we took the scenic route (HWY 82) to Nogales and see what we could see. A couple of Coues deer crossed the road in front of us but they darted into the thick bush along side the highway quickly and Woody could not get any pictures. It is a beautiful drive with views of grassy plains with mountains in the background then up into the mountains where the landscape changes dramatically from grassy plains to hillsides covered with various bushes, trees and cacti with views of valleys as we drove south winding our way up over and around the mountains.

Close up of the rock formation in the above picture, I love all the colour and different formations.

We decided a visit to Patagonia Lake State Park would be our first stop, one of three lakes in the area, a small park with a fairly large marina, small campground, visitor centre, store and of course the 265 acre man made lake that is home to many species of fish; provides the opportunity for water skiing and other water sports, although there are restrictions on weekends due to the number of people the lake attracts. Lake Patagonia sits in a valley surrounded by small mountains. The lake was created by the damming of Sonoita Creek in 1968 and The State Park was officially opened April 1, 1975. For more information on the park click on the link.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/PALA/index.html

A view of the arch bridge as we walk towards the lake.

The lake is bigger than it first appears in this picture.

Looking the opposite way.

From another view of the lake.

There were a few ducks floating around enjoying the nice day.

A boat coming out of the marina onto the main body of the lake. The arch bridge in the background.

Prickly Pear catus with a hint of pink.

The park sits in a large valley, can only view a small portion of the lake from the road on the way back to the main road. This picture is zoomed in on the camera.

Another view of the valley.

Not sure where the gravel road ends up, we didn't check it out.

We continued south to Nogales, AZ just to take a look, of course it was New Years Day; we had the dogs with us so did not stop anywhere interesting in the city and plan to go back to visit this historic city. As with the rest of southern Arizona the Spanish were among the first non natives to inhabit this area as early as 1539 and there are many ghost towns in the area due to mines running out of gold and other precious metals. Nogales was named by the Spanish for the groves of walnut trees that grew abundantly on the mountain sides and was eventually split when the Gladsen Purchase was completed, creating the border between Mexico and Arizona, and splitting Nogales; Nogales, AZ was incorporated in 1893.
http://www.arizona-leisure.com/nogales-arizona.html

On the way home we drove down the main street in Patagonia, a small town of around 800 people and as with most of these little towns, after the mines shut down and the railroads discontinued trips through the town the town almost disappeared. Patagonia became a town for artists, bird watchers has some great restaurants and a theatre, it is a nicely kept little town. For more information click on the link:
http://www.patagoniaaz.com/history.html

A view of main shopping area of Patagonia.

This building was right across from where we parked, a couple of the stores were open but we did not do any shopping.

A look down the street in the opposite direction.

The whole trip was around 200 km (127 miles) and we plan on going back to visit again.

Birds & Sunset

2009-12-30T16:47:00.008-07:00

A beautiful sunset taken at Tombstone Territories RV Park December 29th, our RV is parked with windows facing west at the end of a row so we always a wonderful view of all the sunsets, some are spectacular like this one. This is one reason we love staying at this park in the desert with views of the mountains in every direction.

Another plus of having the site we have is we have 2 trees, one just outside our windows so we can enjoy the birds every day, and another at the back of our site, there are tons of birds in the park, many different species, we put feeders up on the front tree and our neighbour hung many feeders on the tree at the back.

These pictures were taken through our window, Woody says he is going to sit outside to catch some more photos, it is amazing at how many birds hang out at the feeders and in the trees.

The humming birds should be back in February as they were last year they are many species that hang out at the park so hopefully we can catch some photos of them. .

Johnny Bencomo

2009-12-26T17:10:00.002-07:00

Highlight of today, Johnny Bencomo playing at the clubhouse, tickets for this wonderful event, same as last year, a measly $3.00 per person and he plays for at least 4 hours if not longer, he is booked for 2 hours but loves to entertain his audience, and that he does very well. If you do not remember him from last year, he sings and plays an 18 string guitar, only one in the world, also plays a 12 string and 6 string. Johnny has a unique style of playing and singing, can sing almost in any octave, we love listening to him. He plays at a café in Sierra Vista every Thursday (as well as other places) and we take every opportunity we can to enjoy his music while here. The clubhouse is the best as all folks are quiet while he is performing a song unlike a café where people chat while they eat, but still we enjoy a meal out and his music.

Sorry the pictures are not great, as you see the window was not covered, so light is a problem, he performed from 4:00 until after 8:00 pm, we left around 7, had to walk the dogs, cannot trust Muffin for more than 3 hours.

Tried to capture the emotion he puts into his singing.

Johnny is very knowledgeable and usually shares stories about the songs he sings as well as when written, by whom and who made them famous if they are songs he did not write or if he wrote the song, the story that led him to write the song.

Overall we had a relaxing day, warmer than yesterday with little wind!

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T15:50:00.015-07:00

Ah there were no gifts to open under our tree this year as we opened each as we received them like we were little kids no one to tell us NO wait till Christmas! One part of me wanted to wait but the kid side took over and glad it did! There is something to be said for spreading out the excitement of gift opening over a few days! We bought ourselves gifts at the Gem Show as well as gifts for our kids and grandkids, special gifts that can only be bought at such places, especially since all were Arizona created and most gems mined right here is this area we are staying at. We love to acquire items from the local area when we can. We received some awesome pictures of our grandchildren and families, as well as some great items from the HR Gift Exchange, a web forum we belong to and members who choose to, sign up for a gift exchange. There are members from the States and Canada and you never know who has your name until you receive the gift, it is always fun. One member looks after the list, picks the names and then emails everyone with the pertinent information, i.e. name of member, address and their hobbies, so it works well! We spent a relaxing day, walking dogs, cooking our contribution to the park Christmas Dinner and we shared a glass of wine with our friends Jane and Dennis. We attempted to call our kids (cell service is terrible here) and managed to chat with Michelle and Chris for a short time, they were enjoying a quiet Christmas and will drive to Calgary to spend time with Chris’s parents on the 27th. Dinner at the clubhouse and the gift exchange rounded out our Christmas Day. The gift exchange is such fun, everyone gets a number, chooses a gift, then can steal someone else’s gift if they choose to, lots of laughter, teasing and always fun to see what the hot items are, last year it was a set of Christmas Dolls that a lady in the park had made, they were beautiful. The rule is that one gift can only move twice after it has been chosen; otherwise the exchanging could carry on for days!!! Woody video taped the gift exchange this year so we could enjoy it over and over and of course we will share it with any of our friends if they would like a copy once I get the DVD created. Speaking of the DVD, I should post this now and get on with creating the DVD.
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Our friends Jane and Dennis from Ontario, Canada.

Left at the table, Georgina, Anne, Jim Activity Coordinators here and friends, Sylvia, Ken (hiding) park staff, right is Erica and Jerry friends from last year..

Facing the camera Jen and Mike.

Lenore and Mike friends from last year.

You can see the marvelous variety of food, myself checking out the desert table and others enjoying the food and friendship.

To the right is Kim, park staff and our neighbors Mary and Jake.

This couple really got into the Christmas spirit, sorry I do not know their names.

Jim and Shirley were here last year also, did not mange to grab a photo of Shirley though.

We meet Carol and her husband walking in the park every morning while we walk the dogs!

This little penguin was created by Jen, I just had to have a picture of him, he is too cute to eat!

He is made of nougat, jelly beans, dried fruit, liquorish and gummies. I ate the rice crispy bar but still have the little penguin!

We feel blessed to have such great friends to share Christmas with!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T15:25:00.008-07:00

A wonderful relaxing day, the day was sunny with temperature of 50F 10C, a little cooler than last year but still very nice. We wrapped our gifts for the exchange tomorrow, delivered the cards I created for our friends and staff at the park, visiting as we went, we were invited to return to Jim and Shirley’s for freshly baked Pumpkin Pie with real whipped cream later that afternoon, and sure could not turn down that invitation! Lenore and Mike delivered homemade Christmas Cookies, wow what a treat, thanks guys so much! We returned to Jim and Shirley's around 3:00 pm to enjoy the pie and was it ever delicious, thank you Shirley for the pie and thanks to both for a wonderful visit! We topped off the evening at the clubhouse singing Christmas Carols and socializing with friends, Woody was invited by our leader of the carol singing (Jane) to sing a verse of Silent Night in German as he did last year but graciously declined! A truly great day!

Jane leading the carol singing.

Jane's husband and beside him Mike, good friends we met here last year!

Jim providing the music for the carol sing. Jim and his wife Anne are the Activity coordinators and good friends!

We both had a fantastic time singing and visiting!

Snow!

2009-12-23T14:03:00.009-07:00

Woke up to snow this morning, makes it feel more like Christmas and is very pretty with the sun shinning on the wet snow. Taking the dogs for their morning walk, Muffin stood in the door, barked and did not know if she wanted to go out, she notices all changes and does not like changes, Cookie just scampered out and started eating the snow! Once Muffin decided it was okay to walk down the steps, she started playing with Cookie in the snow and decided snow was good! After returning from the walk Woody snapped some pictures before the snow melted, the desert looked gorgeous with snow covering all the bushes and trees unfortunately Woody did not get any pictures of the desert only a few of our little yard.

I am sure the birds were wondering what happened, there are hundreds of beautifully coloured birds that hang out here.

You can see it was not much snow, but it was wet and clung to everything.

Our winter home looking somewhat like winter!

The day was cool 46F (8C) with winds gusting from 13-25 mph (20-40 kph) but sunny, the snow was all gone before 11:00 am except for the mountain tops. We made a shopping trip to Sierra Vista after lunch and it was surprising how much snow has accumulated on the higher mountains around Sierra Vista. We were told snow on those mountains usually hangs around until March unless there is unusually warm weather, which we doubt will happen as it is cooler than normal most days here this year. Not complaining though, much warmer than home!

Windy Day

2009-12-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

Woody made a trip to Tucson with a friend (Jim) whom we met last year, to look at a fifth wheel, the weather started out nice but it has become a very windy day, although not cold (61F 16c) with a few clouds floating around. Winds gusting to around 50 mph according to the weather website, I believe some gusts are blowing harder that that, I can feel the fifth rock when a gust hits it and the large slide is bouncing in at the top a little, at first the dogs would bark, but now they have calmed down, cuddled up and are asleep. There is a wind advisory for this area until 3:00 am tomorrow as well there is some chance of rain. A rain would be good to settle the dust which is blowing around pretty good right now. I am taking the opportunity to update our blog and catch up a little bit! Life here is great, we find our days flying by and some days we spend doing next to nothing except visiting with our friends, shopping, walking dogs, attending park functions or watching TV. Woody returned home around 4:00 pm and reported they enjoyed their day even though Jim could not make a deal on the fifth wheel he was looking at, no big deal though, Jim thought he might be able to make as cracking good deal on it and resell it. The wind is still howling as I expected it would and tomorrow the temps are going to dump to around a high of 49F about 9C which is chilly for here but still better than home.

Scenic drive

2009-12-20T19:07:00.006-07:00

Went for a Sunday drive today, including Cookie and Muffin, taking the scenic route to visit a couple of campgrounds close to Tucson, thought it would be nice to stay in a little different area next year. The trip was awesome and interesting, we had driven part of the route last year and we love how the vegetation changes along the route. Travelling down highway 82 west to Sonita into wine country, west of the Whetstone Mountains, the area is open grass, turn north on 83 and into the mountains lots of green bushes, cactus and soon you see the large Saguaro which does not grow at all in the area of AZ around Tombstone and Sierra Vista. I was disappointed last year when we arrived here as I expected to see the majestic Saguaro but found out they do not survive in areas with any frost, or at least very heavy frost. Travelling to Tucson along I10 you see very few also, but along highway 83 and I19 as you get closer to Tucson, there are hundreds, they dot the mountain sides like huge tall sticks, can take up to 75 years to grown arms and some survive for 150 years! I tried to take a picture but the distance was too great. The blossom of the Saguaro is Arizona’s state flower. Follow this link for information and view pictures of this magnificent plant, there is a picture of the forest of Saguaro Cacti - Tucson, Arizona, that we saw but couldn’t get a decent picture. : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saguaro_Forest_-_Tucson_Arizona_-_Relic38.JPG
We also saw pink Prickly Pear Cactus, which we have never seen before! Green Prickly Pear cactus grow like weeds in the Tucson area, we have not seen any in the wild in this area only planted one and then only green. We do have them in Southern Alberta but again only green. One area along our drive the hills of the mountains were covered with them, very beautiful. I looked up information on the Internet but only found pictures of green Prickly Pear, but was told by Jim that Prickly Pear cactus are in many colours in parts of Texas. We did take a picture of the pink variety at one of the parks we visited; sure glad we took the picture. For more information on the Prickly Pear click the links below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia

http://www.billcasselman.com/unpublished_works/pricklypear_cactus_nopalitos.htm
We saw miles and miles of old mines, some for sure appeared to be copper mines, and of course SW AZ is or should I say was a huge mining area. I tried to find more information on the web, mostly found technical geology information and the fact the area is a combination of many mines owned by many different companies, at least 13 different mines in the area.

The mines are terraced, in the picture to the right what you are seeing is not a mountain but what was left from mining.

This is a small pink Prickly Pear compared to some we saw growing in the wild.

Oh yes, the parks we checked out just cannot compete with Tombstone Territories RV Park, the first one we checked out was Desert Trails and looked good on the web, but campers are crammed in like sardines in a can! The second one Diamond J had wider spaces and was nicely landscaped but the sites were way to short.
The parks were a disappointed but the scenic drive was awesome.

Arrive at our winter home

2009-11-21T15:00:00.001-07:00

Arrived at Tombstone Territories RV Park yesterday around 3:30 pm, good trip from Elephant Butte, NM, little wind and that was great since the area we drove through is an area that has many warnings of high winds, dust storms and gusty winds as you drive through small mountain ranges and large open deserts with sparse vegetation. We did not go through Las Cruces this year as we could not get in touch with our friends Mark and Annette, so decided to take a shortcut (Hwy 26) which is known as the Hatch Hwy and is the scenic route. Very happy we decided to take the road less travelled, good paved 2 lane road, scenic and joins I10 at Deming, NM and cuts about 50 miles off the trip to our park in AZ. After driving the scenic route, the interstate runs through the desert for miles it is exciting to be driving through small mountain ranges, the rock formations all through New Mexico and Arizona never cease to intrigue us!

To me this looks like a castle sitting on top of the hill.

From this angle the castle is not so apparent. It is unfortunate that the picture did not capture the different colours of the rock, they are striking to the eye!

Santa Fe, to Elephant Butte, NM

2009-11-20T14:43:00.001-07:00

We drove from Santé Fe, NM accidentally taking HWY 14 (wrong turn leaving the park) known as the Turquoise Trail, the road was paved, okay but narrow and windy through the Sandia and I think San Pedro Mountains we drove through Madrid on the only road that goes directly through the middle of town and only wide enough for 2 vehicles, with the buildings set right on the edge of the road, we met one car and he had to move over as far as possible as we did to go by each other. We could not stop not a place to park the rig, but what an interesting looking little town. I had left the camera in the fifth wheel thinking I had enough pictures taken from the Interstates, sure wish I had packed it in the truck! Of course I had to look up its history on the Internet which proved to be very interesting. An old coal mining town which also had a gold rush, some silver mining and is reported to be haunted. The town has become a haven for artists and craftsmen. The natives actually mined Turquoise there 1500 years ago.
Check the links below.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NM-Madrid.html
You can also check out information on the Turquoise Trail at the above link.
http://www.visitmadridnm.com/
Highway 14 connects to I40 east of Albuquerque and added some miles to our trip but worth the views, wish we could travel it again with just the truck!

We stayed at Cozy Cove RV Park close the Elephant Butte Dam, nearest town Truth or Consequences, NM.
Nice clean park built on five levels, the area we stayed was brand new, all gravel but very level large sites. The area is known for good fishing, hiking and hot springs. Truth and Consequences was named after the radio program, you can read the story at the link below along with other information regarding the area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico
We only spent the night there as were anxious to arrive at our winter home.

As you can see, nothing but gravel but a HUGE area to pull into your spot!

Some brand new landscaping, all the trees and other plants they have planted are irrigated, this area will be beautiful in a few years time.

Pueblo West, CO to Santa Fe, NM

2009-11-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Today we travelled from Pueblo West, CO to Santa Fe, NM. We only spent one night at the Pueblo West Campground and Horse Arena (same place we stayed last year on our way home.) Our friends Charlie and Dawn were both working so did not get a chance to visit. Today was pretty much an uphill trip all the way; elevation at Pueblo West, Co is 4750 ft. then climbing through the Raton Pass at 7834 ft. then downhill to Santa Fe, NM at 7260 ft. A beautiful drive through the pass as it follows the old Santé Fe Trail. Very interesting area, the pass is designated as a National Historic Landmark read the history and other facts here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raton_Pass

Longmont, to Pueblo West, CO

2009-11-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Short trip today, stopping in Pueblo West, CO. We did plan on staying a couple of days to visit with Charlie and Dawn but now due to all the weather stops we are only staying overnight. The snow along the edge of the highways was melting which created lots of spray from vehicles, especially the big trucks, now our truck and fifth is really filthy, ah well we will wash it once we reach our winter home! One good thing the spray cleaned all the mud stuck around the wheels, etc. The snow disappeared as we travelled south and the campground at Pueblo West was pretty much dry with some puddles left in the low spots. No TV in this campground but they do have WiFi so we could chat online with friends! All in all it was a good day!

Casper, WY to Longmont, CO

2009-11-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

The weather man was correct, the wind calmed down about 50 miles down the road, we drove in and out of areas where we could see the remainder of the snow. Every time we drove out of a snow covered area we thought, good there should be no snow in Longmont, but as we came towards Cheyenne, WY we could see the snow covered mountains and when we arrived at Longmont, there was snow along the sides of the roads. We stayed at St. Vrains State Park, same as last year, easy to find, with many walking trails, fishing ponds and many birds. The last mile or so into the park is not paved and this trip due to snow, the gravel road was a huge mess of mud, as well as the walking trails and roads within the park were muddy! Yikes, the rig, the dogs and our shoes were a muddy mess when we left the next day, although the dogs loved the snow, they romped, rolled, ate the snow and tried to chase the geese which were everywhere! This park has very nice level sites with little shelters over the picnic tables, is a very popular fishing spot, even this time of year we saw many fishermen trying their luck. The road into the park is supposed to upgraded next year according the park attendant but with all the budget cuts who knows if that will happen, if not we may have to make a different choice on the trip home, sure hope not though, this is a great place to stop!
I didn’t take any pictures this year, but you can see what a nice park it is here:
http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/StVrain

Hardin, MT to Casper, WY

2009-11-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Good trip, saw many antelope in Wyoming, Sheridan, WY was buried in snow, everything was white but highway was clear and dry, we drove out the snow area thankfully before we hit Casper, WY, although the mountains were covered in snow and still lots of snow around where the sun had not had a chance to melt it, the Campground was mostly dry with a little snow here and there. We camped again at Ft. Casper on the North Platte River. The park has a large area to walk the dogs, which is important to us, although getting into the park is a little tricky as they landscaped the entrance with huge boulders on both sides and down the middle at the entrance road, creating a one way only, but they should have left the large boulders out! The park is home to many species of wildlife and tons of rabbits, we saw many deer tracks, no deer though, but when we walked the dogs the rabbits were every where! The wind kicked up the next day so we hung out Monday, hopeful the wind would die down. The Ft. Casper Museum is within walking distance but it was closed on Monday so we did a little driving around and shopping. Tuesday, still windy with gusts, not a strong as yesterday, after checking the weather down the road, we decided to leave, the wind was predicted to calm down as we headed south and there more bad weather on the way.
You can read the history and other information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casper,_Wyoming

Hardin, MT

2009-11-14T16:19:00.004-07:00

Today is a bit warmer than yesterday, partly cloudy, no rain or snow, we figured we would not be able to travel until Monday but looks like we can leave tomorrow as the nasty weather is moving a little faster south than predicted.

Our campsite in Grandview Campground in Hardin. All sites have a little shed for the people that are staying long term. This is a nice campground, in town, clean, well kept and managed by three ladies they do have a laundry, showers and games room, the games room is only open in the summer, very good stop.

Cannot see the mountains today due to cloud but they are visible on a clear day.

While hanging out I thought I would look up some information on the town of Hardin, if you care to read here is a link. http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-Hardin.html
Basically a small town of around 3000, surrounded by ranches, farms and sits on the banks of the Bighorn River. In the distance are the Bighorn and Pryor Mountains which are actually on the Crow Indian Reservation that is right on the edge of town. The town celebrates Custer’s Last Stand and the battle that took place June, 1876 in this area with a huge celebration and re-enactment. You can read more here: http://www.custerslaststand.org/
For the past six years, the Re-enactment has been listed in the top 100 events in the nation in Destinations magazine, so obviously the town does a fabulous job, too bad we can’t be here in June to enjoy it! Well if all goes well, we will off to Casper, WY tomorrow.

In Lewistown, MT

2009-11-13T12:42:00.001-07:00

The trip so far has been pretty good, stopped at Whispering Spruce Campground in Balzac the first night, not a campground we like nor would I recommend it to anyone but it is open all year, easy on and off the highway so suits our purpose. We were unable to connect with our granddaughter, Jennifer other than via a phone call, she had previous plans for the evening, but hopefully we can meet on the way home. I talked to our friend Floss and she was suffering from a nasty cold, so again maybe a visit will happen on our way home.

Our second night was spent at Under 8 Flags campground in Milk River, they are doing some major renovations there, and hopeful all will be ready by spring. This campground is a major stopover for Snowbirds every spring and fall due to it’s proximity to the border.
We got off to late start due to Woody helping a fellow camper with a hitch problem he had with the tow behind car, with some assistance from the guys that were working on the construction project this issue was solved, gotta love it when you meet people so willing to lend a hand. We crossed the border with no problem, just took a long time because they were so busy. There was a SW west blowing which killed our fuel economy and this trip was longer than the previous days, I was very tense wondering if we would make our destination before we ran out of fuel although Woody kept assuring me that we would be okay and he did have a jerry can in the back of the truck in case we needed it. The highway we take to Lewistown is quite desolate, no cell coverage most of the way and we ran into construction. Well needless to say we made it but later than we have ever arrived at the campsite; set up in the dark is not the best even though the fifth does have lights to accommodate such happenings. We were both happy to be set up and settled in the fifth that evening. The campground has Wi-Fi but very poor speed and it keeps dropping so almost useless but it is a decent campground and on our route. Next morning we decided we needed to do some laundry and replenish the larder. We do not carry much fresh food when crossing the border, you cannot take fresh fruit at all and the list always changes when it comes to eggs, cheese, veggies etc., so we find it easier to load up after crossing. Meat other than any lamb product is okay, we found out on a previous trip that even dog food with lamb is not allowed and always keep the container of any dog food in case the guards want confirmation of contents.

We have a nice view of the mountains while walking the dogs at Mountain Acres Campground in Lewistown. As you can see the weather is beautiful and we feel very blessed as we walk the dogs.

We got off to a good start as check out time at Mountain Acres Campground is 10:30 am, no exceptions made, we made good time, weather was nice, partly cloudy, little wind, so were set up early at Grandview Campground in Hardin and able to enjoy the nice weather the day we arrived it was 54F (12c). Excellent Wi-Fi here and cable TV, even with the Outdoor Channel so Woody was very happy that he could watch hunting shows and I could watch a few game shows! We checked the weather and not a good report, temps dropping, snow and rain predicted here as well as down the road so we decided we would stay put for at least a couple of days. Good decision, next morning was raining which turned to snow later in the day, cool, foggy and wet until today around noon. The sun is shinning now and it is about 41F (5c) as I write this. The weather moved south towards Casper, WY and all the way down our route to Santa Fe, NM so we think we may be able to leave tomorrow and just stay behind the nasty stuff, once we get to Las Cruces, NM the weather is warm, no worries of snow usually. We are very thankful that we have a safe journey thus far and pray for a continued safe journey to AZ. Will see what tomorrow brings!

Fall is here

2009-09-28T13:19:00.011-07:00

The summer has flown by so quickly I cannot believe it is now the end of September. We have had a wonderful summer visiting with friends, family and looking after the park. Woody kept very busy, doing a couple of renos for friends along with park duties. Over the summer and fall I have captured some photos of wild flowers that bloom in the fields and along the trails and also caught a great picture of a moth hanging out on the tree right in front of our little deck.

Above you can see how well he blends in with this colouring and below he is clinging to the tree, he stayed there until the dogs bothered him. .

The bush area was alive with many flowers, Saskatoon bushes, wild Raspberries, Currents and Bunchberry plants. There were also tons of wild Strawberries which did not produce well this year at all. Cookie and Muffin loved the Raspberries and would eat the berries as we walked the path. When they had cleaned up berries off the low branches they would stand on their hind legs to get the berries from the higher branches, they looked so cute but I was not able to capture any pictures.

Bunchberries in bloom, they cover the ground in areas of the bush.

Later in summer, each plant has at least 3 berries in the center that last until the snow flies.

Tiger Lilies bloom throughout July along trails and in the bush.

These little Asters bloomed in abundance throughout the summer.

Part of the field of Asters, they don’t look like much but were actually very pretty, I just did not capture the beauty.

I took this a few days ago this Aster was still surviving in the bush.

I liked the variety of colours and shapes all intermingling.

I love the way the sun is shinning on these plants.

These plants have bright pink blossoms and bloom most of the summer, when they go to seed they produce the fluffy white seed pods with very pretty curled tendrils wrapping around the stem, very pretty and interesting, I just did not take a close up picture of the tendrils but will next year!

There are coyotes galore every year here which serenaded us many evenings and this year for the first time we had a couple of bears hanging out in the bush. Woody and other hikers saw lots of bear scat along the trails, Woody spotted one Black bear and we had reports of a Cinnamon coloured black bear as well. We posted Caution signs so all users of the park would be aware of the bears presence. I always stuck to the one trail that did not have any bear scat present or walked the field when walking the dogs, I had no desire to see the bears, not that there was much chance of that, the dogs and I make too much noise!