Birds & Sunset

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

New Look

We had new carpet installed in the living area and the garage which is now a combo office, storage area and Woody's work area.

After saying goodby to Will and Sean we got busy and moved all the furniture, cupboards and other stuff out of the fifth wheel. We were just about finished when Norm arrived at 10:00 am and lucky for us it was a nice day as everything had to be outside during the installation. Woody opend the large drop door at the back of the fifth, propped it up so we could move my desk, chairs, cupboards, and othe stuff onto the door. The other items had to sit on the ground, wished I would have taken some pictures but we were so busy, did not think of it. Anyway the carpet was installed, good quality berber with industrial underlay so should last awhile. We had to hurry and move all the stuff back in as it had started to sprimkle, lucky for us it was just a shower and not a downpour. It took several days to get everything back in place again, as we have to secure all items so they do not bounce around while travelling. Here are a couple of pics of the new look!

The new carpet is extended to the cupboards which creates the look and feel of a larger living space.

We also got rid of the dinette bench, we had tossed one out while in AZ and bought the two chairs and now decided we like the extra space, so did not reinstall the bench and will stick with just 2 chairs. We will pick up some small folding chairs for extra seating for company though.

The carpet is so nice in what was the garage, this space is warmer and feels more like part of our home now.

My desk on the right and Woody's bench on the left, sorry couldn't get a better pic of his area due to small area.

I really do like my space now, better organized and feels so much warmer and brighter.

Thought we would be finished with renovations when we sold the house but I guess we are addicted eh! LOL

Sure worth it though, better use of space and suits our needs much better!

My dear husband has more plans to improve our living space but that will wait until next year or maybe happen while we are in AZ this winter!