Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh MY!

Still smoky today, wind switched so later in the day the smoke thinned out somewhat, certainly better than yesterday.  Weather man says rain tomorrow but unfortunately not up north but the rain will clean the air here.  Woody sighted our bear twice today; the bear is coming very close to the campground and not running off when we spot him which is different than in the 3 previous years.  First sighting was by the compost pile, Woody was dumping some tree limbs and other compostable material, he shut off the tractor, dismounted and was just at the edge of the trees when he spotted the bear, he quickly got back on the tractor, started it up and the bear ran off, the compost pile is just inside the tree line.  Later walking the dogs on the trail he saw the bear standing up and looking at them, he had stopped walking to allow the dogs to sniff around as they love to do, he quickly returned to the our fifth wheel and told me not walk the dogs on the trails anymore.  The trail he was walking was the trail I always walk the dogs on, and I stop and sit on the bench, sometimes taking our Native Flute with me and allowing the dogs to run free while I play the flute so it is a sad that I cannot walk that path anymore.  Walking the dogs in the campground is kinda boring for me although I am not sure the dogs care.  Woody informed all the folk in the park so they were aware the bear is coming close to the campground.  We do not want any bear incidents that is for sure!

Wildfires

Woke up today to a very smoky atmosphere, there are major wildfires burning 900+ Km (560 miles) north of us and the wind has brought the smoke into this area.  The fire area is sparsely populated, two small communities have been evacuated as a precaution, I cannot imagine what the smoke must be like in those areas, it is bad enough here, especially for anyone suffering with respiratory issues.  The fires were started by lightening June 21^st.  The largest has consumed 155,000 hectares and is out of control at this time due to high winds and very dry conditions. We are praying for the wind to calm down and for rain to help the firefighters extinguish the ranging wildfires.

Family Gathering

Our family gathering this past weekend was awesome just a way too short!  We were blessed with sunny warm weather, actually got through the whole weekend without a rain shower, now in Alberta that is just not normal!  Family started arriving Thursday evening, more on Friday then the rest on Saturday.  With immediate family, extended family and a couple of friends we numbered 16, some camped for the weekend and others just visited for the day on Saturday.  Thursday evening we gathered at our site around the campfire then Friday and Saturday we mostly gathered at Tracy and Keith’s campsite, all cooking our own thing and visiting.   We had a potluck Saturday evening and gathered around the big general campfire for the evening and those that camped gathered in the shelter for brunch on Sunday morning.  Sunday comes so fast, just never enough time for visiting but seeing everybody for a short time is better than not seeing them at all.   We will see more of our kids and grandkids that live close but not the case for those who live a greater distance.  We really do have an awesome family even if I do say so myself!  Our second granddaughter will be off  to England in August if all goes according to plan, she plans on spending a couple of years  working and travelling in Europe, part of me says “no you cannot do that” then the other part says “good on ya, go for it”.  We truly do hope all works out as Dani really wants to go, she promised to keep in touch through Skype and email, etc.  I guess we will have to learn how to “Skype”!

From left to right back row granddaughters, Caitlin, Brooklyn, Jennifer, Danielle
Front Row granddaughter Lindsey, and you know who and our only Grandson, Christopher

Mike, Jennifer, Danielle, Kelly

Keith and Chris

Lindsey

Brooklyn, Jennifer and Mike

Christopher

Brooklyn

Chris

Keith

Gordon

Tracy

Caitlin

Gary

Brenda

Bass Family



Our kids with their kids

Pedersen Family

What can I say!

Posting pictures is a pain, I wanted to add more but really it is so frustrating, posting text is no problem.  Blogger has make some changes and I am not convinced it is an improvement.

That aside we enjoyed our weekend with family and look forward to next year!

Woo Hoo Back Online

We have been having issues with our internet dish since before we left AZ and have been completely off line for over a week. We replaced the modem, transmitter and cables and finally we are connected to the outside world once again. We could download email most of the time but uploading anything was almost impossible, anyway I will catch up on my email and enjoy all the cute and interesting emails you sent while we were off line.

Hope you are having a great day. :)

Heading home

 We left our winter home May 2^nd traveling to Deming, NM where we spent 2 nights due to the fact our running lights on the fifth trailer were not working and needed to be fixed.  After spending several hours checking out what the problem could be with a service repair man the issue was not resolved.  Thankfully the signal and brake lights are working so we decided we could travel without running lights as we do not plan to do any driving after dark on our trip home.

May 4^th  we spent the night at Stagecoach Stop RV Park north of Albuquerque, NM, it is clean, well kept park but too expensive for what you get and the sites and roads are very narrow, very difficult to get into the sites, will not stay there again.  The weather has been awesome, sunny, warm (in the 80,s F) with a little SW breeze.  We booked into the Colorado City, Co KAO campground May 5^th for 2 nights allowing us time to visit our friends Charlie and Dawn whom we missed visiting in the fall on our trip south.
 We decided to take a drive around the country side as we had all day before we met Charlie and Dawn for dinner.  We ended up in the San Isabel National Forest, at a beautiful lake elevation about 9000 ft.,  a beautiful drive but it was raining in the mountains, but just had to take some pictures, the temp dropped over 10 degrees as we climbed came close to freezing, driving hack down we hit sunshine again, the clouds were just hanging over the mountains as you can see in the pictures. 

opposite side of the lake

Back at Colorado City

 

We had a great visit meeting at the restaurant for dinner and continuing our visit in the fifth wheel, it was awesome to see Charlie and Dawn they are great people.

 

We planned to head to Cheyenne, WY today but weather dictates that we stay put, snow over the Monument Pass.  Except for the time factor we don’t mind staying another day in this park; it has a wonderful dog exercise area complete with equipment, jumps, teeter totter to walk over plus other neat equipment.  Cookie loved to jump through the hoops, Muffin not so sure, she just wanted to sniff around.  This area has a covered seating area for the dog owners, very nice! There is a pool in the park but is not covered so I did not try it out a little to cool to use today.  Hope we can get back on the road tomorrow!

Pillows done!

Wow I am so excited, the pillows turned out better than I had hoped, I cannot wait to see the reaction of our grandchildren when we get home.  They are always appreciative of anything we bring home for them but I believe these pillows made just for them will be a hit!  We also have some jewellery for all our granddaughters and daughters, we like to bring back items made in AZ and find jewellery is one item we can find made in AZ as well the gems are mined in AZ so it is exceptional.  

Above is a pillow I made for our friend Cheri here in AZ.  Left are Lindsey and Caitlin's pillows.  Not sure why I didn't get a pic of Brooklyn's pillow.  I sure hope they like them!

Scenes from Hwy 82 travelling west

Went to Tombstone and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Longhorns with  friends from the park this morning.  We took the camera so we could capture the views of the park sitting in the desert looking west towards the Whetstone and Huachuca Mountains as well as the Cotton Wood trees along the San Pedro River.  Usually we are returning to the park in the afternoon and the sun is in the wrong position for picture taking. It is a very warm day today, 78F\25.5C on our drive home at 9:45 AM. 

Looking north, Whetstone, AZ in front of Whetstone Mountains

Our winter home,  Tombstone Territories RV Park across the river valley

Dropping down into the San Pedro River Valley, the Cotton Wood trees are so green against the desert landscape

Looking south as we head west on Hwy 82 the Huachuca Mountains in the background

Pillow tops

As I mentioned in the April 2nd post I was excited to try out the new sew on transfers.  Well I certainly had some challenges creating the pillow tops.  I had grand ideas but they did always work and I am still learning what I can do with the pictures once I get them printed and ready to sew on the project.  I choose the pictures then sized them to what I thought would be good sizes for each project, not giving too much thought to the pattern I wanted to use, I then designed the pillow top around the picture.  I had fabric that I wanted to use but designing the pattern is always a challenge for me, again I ask for help from Woody, a second opinion always helps and besides he has a good ideas when it comes to design. 
Anyway here are the first three I made.  The tops are not finished, I need to buy the pillow forms before I add a border so I can size the border to fit the pillow forms

This is my first attempt.

. 

Second attempt, the picture is not square and I am still debating about redoing.

Number 3, getting a little better.

 I had fun creating these and one day I will get the pillow inserts and finish them! I choose the pictures for their action and look of pure pure fun!

Make up my mind eh!

My goal today was to finish my current sewing project so I could start on some items I want to create for my grandchildren or at least 3 of them for now.  I found these cool sew on transfers, they are cloth with a paper backing and made to use in an ink jet printers.  I can choose pictures then print them out on the transfer sheets and sewn to anything I want.  I am going create cushion tops with the picture being the focal point of the cushion.  Well that was my goal, I did not finish my current project, I really was not sure I liked the material that I had chosen for the sashing, I waited until Woody got home so I could have a second opinion, he agreed with me that the colour was not really complimentary to the pillow top I had created.  In the meantime I started the new project, I cannot wait to see how this picture printing on fabric turns out.  I will post some pics when I complete a pillow top.

This and that

Well almost a week has passed since my last post, not doing too well at keeping our blog.  I find it difficult to stop a project whether it is working on a DVD slide show or creating a sewing project or knitting.  I usually knit in the evening while watching TV but sewing is a daytime event and when I get started I find it very hard to stop.  I promise myself I will spend at least an hour on my blog daily  then during the day I think, I will just finish “this” (this being housework or other chores) and then I will sew for an hour or so,  then sit down and write some notes for our blog.  I somehow get sewing and if Woody is gone I do not quit until he returns which is usually late afternoon.  Watching the birds is also a fun pastime, we have many different species of birds that frequent our site and they are such fun to watch, chasing each other and now they are starting the mating rituals, I saw a pair of Pyrrhuloxia the other day the male feeds the females as part of their ritual, it looked like they were kissing!  The male below is a pretty bird; the female lacks the red colouring.

Friday I took the dogs to their grooming appointment in Sierra Vista while Woody drove Cheri to her Doctor's appointment, we met back at Cheri's in Whetstone visited for awhile then Woody and I drove back to Sierra Vista, went out for lunch and did some shopping, we bought some needed items as well as a new keyboard for me.  My old keyboard was on it's last legs, many keys had the letters worn off and some keys were not working well.  I really do love my new keyboard, now that I have taken some time to use it, it has many new features that I appreciate, example a button on the keyboard has a music sign on it, push the button and my library of music pops up, and other cool things like that! Oh yes,  the keyboard and mouse use 1 USB port so now I have all my extra devices plugged in, no more unplugging and plugging in my extra DVD/CD player. We also bought new hinges for our bathroom door, Woody had purchased a new door knob (which was threatening to lock up and not unlock) and some new hinges (the hinges were worn out due to us hanging to many jackets on the hooks on the door) but he decided we needed heavier hinges, so now we have 4 heavy duty hinges on the door.  It is a good thing he is a good handyman, it seems there is always something needing looking after.

Yesterday my dear husband bought another telephoto lens for his camera, with the new lens he can zoom in further than before, it really is cool to be able to zoom in and capture photos like below.

 

This guy looks like he is directing traffic!

We have many of these little finches.

Winkelman, AZ

Woody found the small town of Winkelman, Arizona on a map and above is the Post Office in Winkelman!  Cool eh!

The town is 224 K / 139.2 miles from here, just east of Casa Grande and south east of Phoenix on Hwy 77.  We plan on traveling there to take a look around; the population is 450 so we know it is a very small community. For more information on Winkelman, AZ follow the links below.

http://jeff.scott.tripod.com/winkleman.html

http://www.arizonaguide.com/places-to-visit/tucson-southern-arizona/winkelman

http://www.city-data.com/city/Winkelman-Arizona.html

The weather is great today, warm (79F/26C in the shade) with a very slight breeze as I type this at 2:00 pm, cannot ask for more than that!  Woody left around 10:00 am to take Cher grocery shopping, she is improving but still not great, we are praying everyday that her health improves before we need to leave.

Hummers are late

Well I am not doing well at keeping a daily journal to post on the blog.  I have made some catch up posts though I am happy with myself for that accomplishment. 

This past week we have been enjoying fantastic weather, temps from 79-85F/ 26-29C, not much wind, and absolutely perfect weather for us.  This is about to change, starting tomorrow, temps dropping, predicting rain and possible snow!  We went shopping today for more material for my sewing projects and a few groceries and it does not seem possible that the temps will drop so drastically. The hummingbirds are still not back which is unusual, I asked some folk who live here, their only thoughts on the subject were “maybe they know something we don’t” and then they laughed but agree the hummers are late!  

Woody has been very busy helping out a friend in the area, who is having some health issues and really has no one around to help her out.  Her husband passed away years ago and her business partner passed away 2 years ago, she has no children and her relatives live in other states.  He is a sweetie, he checks on her almost everyday, takes her grocery shopping, to appointments and such.  She is improving and we are praying that she will be okay by the time we leave. 

I have just been doing my normal stuff, pool, sewing, knitting, computer stuff, nothing too exciting but I do enjoy having lots of time to mess around on the computer and trying to be creative with my sewing machine.  My projects don’t always turn out the way I want but I do have fun doing them, none are good enough to give away as yet but maybe the next project will look a little more professional. 

Birds

 

We really enjoy all the birds that frequent the area and have 5 bird feeders hung in the trees beside our site.  The Finches are here year around as well as Sparrows, Doves, Quail and many other bird species that I cannot remember the names of at this moment and I am too lazy to look them up in our bird book.  The Finches are here every day dawn to dusk and such fun to watch, they are very active, and constantly vie for a space on the thistle bag and a very vocal as they sit in the trees and bushes waiting there turn to eat.  I can glance our the windows and see the birds while doing dishes, sewing or knitting and of course while watching TV, we have one of best spots in the park for bird watching and other campers come with camera in hand to take pictures.  We both are looking forward the hummingbirds returning which should be anytime now.  We hung up the feeder but so far no hummingbirds. 

We put the same seed in both bags but the Finches prefer the small bag

The mesh is finer in the small bag, maybe that is the reason

When it very windy the birds take shelter in the cactus.

A Sunday drive

Sulphur Springs Valley in the distance.

A beautiful day, sunny and warm 72 F/ 22 C with a light breeze, I am still feeling really punk with the cold but Woody asked if I would like to go for a drive and I accepted, I can feel crappy at home or in the truck and thought going out and about would be a good idea, so we loaded up the dogs, took some water and snacks, the camera, a box of Kleenex and headed out.  Woody wanted to show me the route that he and Charlie had taken so I could enjoy the spectacular views on the drive through the Dragoon Mountains.  We followed Middlemarch Rd. off State Hwy 80 just north of Tombstone and traveled along the desert floor through the mountains to Pearce, AZ  The road is all gravel with many washes and varies in width from two lane to barely one lane, in surface texture from not too bad gravel to rocky and of course the landscapes changes as one climbs from the desert up into the mountains.  I always find it very interesting to note the changes in the flora and fauna.  From Pearce, we traveled down the Ghost Town Trail to Gleeson Rd, made a detour to the Rattlesnake Man on the N Double U Ranch road, back to Tombstone, AZ then home.  The trip was about 69 miles/109 km, the travel over the mountains was only 19 miles/29km and at the top of the pass we were at 6000 ft. which is not very high but we had a beautiful view of Sulphur Springs Valley.  Traveling that short distance through the mountain pass took us almost 2 hours, travelling between 2 and 10 mph.  I don’t mind travelling mountain roads but did get a little nervous while crawling up to the pass, I could not see any road beside me when I looked out my window, it made me feel a little dizzy as I looked down into the valley, like straight down, no guard rail, I prefer to see a little bit of road on my right side when I look down, it was beautiful though.   We travelled through a small part of the Coronado National Forest, for more details follow the links.

Unfortunately the camera cannot portray the depth.

http://www.arizonabeautiful.com/tucson-southern/the-coronado-national-forest-cochise-county-arizona.html

http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/coronado-national-forest-outdoor-pp2-guide-cid8927.html

One of the many washes we drove through

The Coronado National Forest covers 1,780,000 acres of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Elevations range from 3000 feet to 10,720 feet in twelve widely scattered mountain ranges or "sky islands" that rise dramatically from the desert floor, supporting plant communities as biologically diverse as those encountered on a trip from Mexico to Canada.

Beautiful little road but so narrow the bushes were scrapping the truck on one side as we drove through.

The sky islands of the Coronado National Forest are unique, in our travels we have driven through many parts of the forest
. 
It was a good day!  
 
Some pictures of the Rattlesnake Man's desert store,

"The Blacksmith Shop"

So many rocks, with natural plants growing among the shelves.

You can see he is out in the middle of the desert

Toys, some very old toys

Can you see the doll buggy and little girls sewing machines, did not ask if these were for sale

Thought the metal "Cowboy" was cool!

Laundry stuff, he did have organization to all his "stuff".