Finishing Yesterday’s Garden Cleanup, Bill Finishes Projects, Happy Hour, Travel Plans with Friends

I slept well and woke up on Thursday, Sept. 13^th from more dreams, Bridgette, Bill’s sisters and a bunch of other stuff I can’t recall. It was just a couple of minutes before 7 when I stretched and crept ‘sneakily’ out of bed. Bill was still in deep slumber and I assumed Clemson was too, tucked next to him under the covers. I got dressed and went out for another wonderful country walk.

This walk wasn’t as exciting as yesterdays with all the webs. I enjoyed taking those photos, I hope you enjoyed some of them too. It was a warm morning so I was able to wear capris and no socks today. When I returned just under 2 miles later, Bill was up making coffee and tea. I had to finish my post from yesterday so downloaded pictures with a much better frame of mind than the previous night and got it published.

A very still morning, flag and turbine both motionless

I didn’t even read any other blog posts as I wanted to get out and clean up the mess I left yesterday in the garden. There were 3 huge irises that were the last things I clipped up at the top area near the fence and I had petered out by then so left the clippings for today. I slipped gloves on and loaded the wheelbarrow and then dumped it over the edge into the brush pile. Good thing that stuff composts, however slowly, or it wouldn’t work as a dumping spot.

Good morning, sunshine!

Bill went down to work on the inside latches on his Hangar doors and said he was getting anxious to ‘finish’ a few small projects. Time was running out. I fried up bacon and eggs shortly after 10 and after eating, sent him off to ‘get back at it’ and I did the dishes. I don’t really have much on my agenda today. Bill has been noticing the blue jays making an appearance and I’ve been missing them. This morning, while eating, one flew into the tree right outside the window but I only caught one photo.

Not the perfect capture through the window, but he is posing briefly for me

Later, I noticed a flash of blue on the tail and body of another visitor. I think it must be a female blue jay or bluebird? The picture I took is not too revealing. 

You birders will be able to name this shy one

I wanted to do a sweep through the Suite and put my head around putting another book together. I enjoy doing them, it just takes a commitment on my part and some self-encouragement. I thought today might be the day to start focusing on that. So outside with my laptop, I typed up my written notes, transferring them onto a Word document. I'll work on pictures later.

My shadow partner walked beside me this morning
instead of in front of me

Ellscott is more visible now, showing off a little leg

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was lazy, chair hopping as Bob says. 

I've missed turtle sightings this summer so was pleased to see these guys on the log

This hummer is lost, looking for the feeder

At 3 I fed Clemson his chicken rice meal and we drove into Rob and Pat’s for Happy Hour, trip planning and supper together. 

Oh-oh, something is not right
This black steer is on the road side of the fence
We don't know who has black cattle in the area

We sat outside for a while on their front porch and eventually all trooped inside, Clemson too, to get the note pads, laptops and Google maps working. It went well, all 4 of us with input but Bill and Rob basically mapping the route.

No smoke but a lot of thinking going on here

This makes me feel excited about the upcoming winter, we look forward to travelling with our friends. We ordered fish and chips takeout for supper and the boys picked it up while Pat put a salad together. 

Clemson makes himself at home
in his 2nd home

We shared a bottle of wine and toasted to friends and travel. Before we knew it, it was 8 and we scooted out of there. Rob and Pat have an early morning drive so needed to relax for the remainder of the evening.

Another poser on the wire

this busy Monarch did everything BUT pose

It was a warm night and it was 10 when I went to bed. I hope your day was as pleasant as mine was.

The view behind us through my side mirrow

Goodnight, says the Moon and Jupiter
The red star, Antares, was also visible to the south

Thank you for stopping by. Your comments are always appreciated.

Settling In, Home Projects, Walkabout, Relaxing with Company

I woke up from my dreams around 6 am, at the same time Clemson moved and crawled under the covers with his Daddy. It was still dark out and yet I knew I was done with sleeping for the most part. Today was Monday, Jan. 8^th and we thought of our friend back home who is checking into one of the big London hospitals for some prep tests and then surgery on Wednesday. We are thinking of you, Jim.

At 7:15, I realized that I had dropped off a couple of times and under the blinds I see the sun on the horizon is performing for me. Time to get up! Clemson joined me for his first nature call of the day and then I took my camera out and snapped these shots.  I wanted to walk back our road and see where it took me. I was able to get some close ups of a couple of interesting saguaro cactus.

This greeted me when I crawled out of bed 

And of course it got better

Stretching my legs on this long road

We have one right behind us but he is too young to have any arms yet. Then one so ancient and rotted that he was showing exactly what he was made of! These ribs are what holds them together on the inside. Quite an interesting cactus, really. 

This poor old saguaro still stands
How could it know that I still want to take his picture?

I 'borrowed' this picture from Dave

Walking further along, I found a beautiful one with many arms, short and tall and at the top I was surprised to see a large bird’s nest.

And although not the healthiest looking, the arms extend to all lengths

Eagle's nest?

A few more steps found me at a sign indicating I was entering an area called the Magic Circle. Hmm, Bill was reading this on his Google map of this area. We wondered what it was and now I know. There is a solid blue line on the placard showing where the ‘clothing optional’ area begins and ends. Hmm. Time to turn back since I choose to leave my clothes ON and prefer not to see others exercise their choice.

I walked back and veered off onto another hard-packed dirt road. They are so hard that I’m surprised they generate so much dust when traffic goes by. 

I won't walk any further

We are off the road enough and facing the direction where the dust shouldn’t be too much of an issue. The clouds soon moved in and took away a chance of a full sunny day.

I boiled the kettle for my tea before Bill got up around 8:30. Our batteries were low enough that I wasn’t about to drain them further with turning the Keurig on.  Eventually, Bill decided to have his coffee regardless and by the time I cooked our bacon and eggs, the sun was making appearances and our batteries began charging. Yay!

And there we are

Bill went out to begin one of the few things he wanted to putter on today and I went in and placed an order for a DVD/CD case. Now that I know where we are, I can have a parcel delivered here to Quiet Times in Quartzsite for me. Then I can take care of a project of my own. Thank you to Marlene from Marlene and Bennos Odyssey on Land and Water for the suggestion, it is exactly what we need!

 We have a couple of family birthdays coming up, so since I had already purchased cards, readied those for mailing. We won’t be going into town today so I’m hoping I’m not sending them too late. Bottom line is they will get them, just maybe not before their special day. I opened a bag of 15 Bean Soup that I bought at the Arizona Marketplace as I want to get a pot of soup on the go. Today, they will just be soaking in water.

The sky started performing after our Happy Hour and I didn't stop taking pictures

So, I went out at one point, maybe 11:30 and was talking to Bill when I noticed a white pick up had driven by on the road beside us and soon enough was coming towards us. This looks like Deb and Riley from On a Long and Lonesome Highway and soon enough they were waving through the windshield. How nice! We had invited them to pop around so we could meet them if it worked for them, and it did.

Bill, Deb and Riley

Before too long George and Suzie returned with their unit and joined us They’d pulled out by 7:30 this morning for some work in town. After a nice chit chat with someone we feel we already know, they headed out for groceries or lunch or both! I pulled our patio mat away so I could use our metal rake to remove some of the larger stones underneath. It isn’t perfect, but much nicer to sit on now.

Bill, Tom, Deb, George and Deb

Inside I made a sandwich for Bill and had a few crackers with a cheese ball Bill picked up. I wasn’t really hungry but wanted to ward off another headache. Around 1 or so, Deb and Tom from Celebrating the Dance popped in to see us. They are parked at Roadrunner blm land right now, nurturing themselves from the colds like we were. Deb and I went back and forth making the arrangements for them to drop by.

Suzie gets a Clemson fix

Time flies when you’re having fun and soon enough George and Suzie from Our Awesome Travels joined us and before Deb and Tom left, Deb and Riley were out for a walk and came for Happy Hour as well. It was a wonderful day for visiting and even though I didn’t get my fridge cleaned out, I am about as stress-free about that as a pig in you know what. There is always tomorrow.

Suzie, George and Bill

When everyone left, after a great afternoon of fits and giggles, and a few shared experiences, Bill went back to his project. I began making preparations for supper but couldn’t remember the details of Deb and Riley’s Honey Pecan Chicken. I had a large chicken breast out for us to share and that recipe sounded good. I recalled that there were 4 ingredients but could only think of 3 so I did the best I could.

 I prepared my spaghetti squash as I still have a few chunks to use up and once the Weber was heated up, everything went on the grill. Bill started the generator because we didn’t get much help from the sun today at all. With our residential refrigerator, we needed to keep the charge coming. While getting things ready, I had to stop a couple of times to get a picture of the magnificent display to the west. Oh, my goodness!

Bill and I shared the chicken breast

So, I sat outside while Weber did his job and even though I always seem to miscalculate when I do the grilling, our supper was ready by 6:15 and it tasted really good. I discovered ‘after’ we were eating what one ingredient I missed but I don’t know how the taste would be much different. We enjoyed our chicken so thanks Deb!

With dishes cleaned up, we did our own thing. I downloaded pictures and wrote my post and Bill googled a couple of things on line before getting his book opened. He is into Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson and I’m reading Never Go Back by Lee Child. Both of us are always anxious to finish things up so we can sit and read.

Wowsa! Tonight's sky is mind blowing

This has been a wonderful day and I hope you can say the same. So many of our friends have been sick with colds or flu bug so I hope that nonsense is soon behind you. Let’s get on with the good life again.

Good night, I hope this means a nice day tomorrow

Thank you for stopping around today. I always enjoy hearing from you!