Rainy day...

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, AZ

 

A very quiet few days, some wind, some errands and today we are having rain. We've been enjoying the quiet, except the wind is never quiet however perhaps it's the angle at which we are parked but we've had very little trouble with the slide toppers. As we are in among some rolling hills the wind sounds very interesting through the grass and the trees here. A lonesome sound, I think would describe it well. It is neither friend nor foe, it is neither welcoming nor off putting, it simply is. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset last night, Saturday, March 7. Sorry, they aren't a bit more clear but it gives you the idea. Fish & Game folks were tented beside us for a few days, trapping and tagging prairie dogs, and this morning the only car (front wheel drive of course) was stuck in the mud, due to the rain we are getting. It took some doing but eventually they have all left now. 

Tomorrow is moving day and it's only a short move, so we are in no hurry to pack up which is good thing as with the rain, the entire area is just slick mud. Rain is to end early afternoon today and hopefully it clears up later before the sun goes down. Tomorrow will be a sunny day. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all are doing well. 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Deb

A very personal post....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

This post is a very personal post for me. As a widow I've had to learn to do a great many things on my own, and have no partner to rely on for those things that couples take for granted. Things other women and men don't actually think about. Most men are much more mechanically inclined than women, they have been around motors, electrical, building stuff for most of their lives, older men will not often talk to a single woman, but will talk to men while taking a whizz at a urinal. Women are often taken advantage of when dealing with any kind of mechanical problem, or trades people, some see it as a license to steal by changing parts that don't need to changed or just saying they changed them, charging more than they normally would and simply being thieves and pricks.  As the mother of a daughter that while doing very well is still very much in need of positive experiences in her life to keep her building the confidence and self esteem she’s gained in the last few years of our travels I find today be a difficult day.

Some dark skies out there in the distance. 

Bullies. We’ve all met some, known some and experienced some. I’m always amazed at how they feel so superior and yet are really very small people, not necessarily in stature and physical presences but in ‘class’ and ‘moral’ being. Friendly folks are out there too of course and they make a lasting impression as well but in a very different way.

 Snow on that mountain peak is a bit more than it was a few days ago.

 A closer view.
 
A very nice young ranger came by today and was very apologetic of the treatment we’ve received while in our designated parking area. He offered to help us find a new spot and to even lead us to a new spot (since we were already hooked up). He explained to all present that we had every right to be in the spot, to stay the limit of 14 days and that no one could make us move, not even him. He also explained to everyone present that he wasn’t here to move us. He was very shocked when he learned not a single person, or ranger had knocked on our door to explain the international hunt soon taking place. Except for an old man that told us we had leave a week ago, not soul has spoken with us regarding the upcoming hunt. Not the hunt of last Saturday, this is a different hunt. Last Saturday was a practice run. When the ranger asked me “No one came by to talk to you?” I explained about the old man of a week ago and told him, no one else, not a single soul had stopped to chat. I could see him eyeing up the bird hunter that had called him and the Ranger didn’t appear to be even a little impressed. He was also shocked that the ranger who had come by yesterday didn’t stop to talk to us. It was the purpose of his visit, to move the folks out of the designated camping area because a permit has been issued some time ago for use of that site by the up coming event. At this point I left them all with a few words that I doubt will make any impression on them except maybe the ranger. I told them if they had come and knocked on the door and nicely explained the situation of international hunt, permits in hand, and asked us to consider moving for many reasons that we would have happily moved. Organizers or rangers would have been a far more legitimate representative than some old man what jumps out of his car and the first words out of his mouth is that we HAVE TO MOVE or some old fella in a truck that hollers out the window each time he drives past. After all you get more bees with honey than you do with sh*t. At this point I just walked away.  Truly if Riley wasn't travelling with me I would have stayed in the spot based on principle and because I dislike being bullied. I believe the movie would be called Grumpy Old Men meets Canadian Bitch.  The Ranger was not impressed with the entire handling of this issue, he apologized again as I was walking away. 

Our new view out the door.

Our new view out the window.

While we are still on the ranch we are closer to Sierra Vista and the spot we are in while not our first choice is a good one. A bit rough in places to get to but nothing too bad. 




 Tom, Deb and & Riley. 
Deb, Tom, my selfies all had a shadow of my arm right across my face. Hahaha

Yesterday we had our last visit with Tom & Deb for a while and we look forward to seeing them in the future when our paths cross again. It was a wonderful visit, sitting outside in the sun and enjoying the company. We wish these special folks well on their future travels and adventures and we’ll see you on down the road.

The photo is not crooked, it's the hills that slant.  

A call to my dad this morning to tell him of our once again spotty cell service and not to worry if he can't reach us but so far it seems to be doing well. Hopefully it continues. We have 3 bars, drops to 1, climbs to 4, drops to 1. Haha…you know how it goes. 

 Still windy but not flapping the toppers for some reason. Maybe the angle we're at, I'm not sure.
 
So as I said this post is a personal post, I’m NOT looking for sympathy, OR agreement or any such thing. I'm sure there are many different reactions out there and we each have an opinion and we are all entitled to our opinions. I welcome your comments on each and every blog post but on this post I will not be answering any comments. My temper is short and my tongue is sharp and it's just better for me to be silent no matter how kind your words may be. This is a post  for my own future reference. It is to remind me of how far we have both come and how much we both enjoy the wide open spaces that we seek and yet the joy we have sharing those same spaces with the folks that touch us in such a positive way, folks we call friends. You see it is not that we don’t like neighbours, because we do enjoy folks around us, but NOT the type that makes my daughter feel too nervous to be comfortable in our home or our yard, or too intimidated to even remain in our home while I’m away. Those neighbours we can do without and those neighbours we don’t want. The bullies, I feel sorry for them because they too narrow minded, self centered, egotistical and arrogant  to know they are truly missing out on a great deal of life’s wonder and I guess if scaring the hell out of someone that is easily intimidated makes them big people they must be giants in their own minds. In my world they are simply sad, pathetic people living sad, pathetic lives. I’m happy we moved. 

Until next time.. take care, be safe,

Deb

A photo kind of day....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

 

The bad weather hasn't really happened. A little rain, with a few pellets of snow, and of course the wonderful ever present wind with huge gusts that would rock us a bit. We pulled the slides in about half way for the entire day and night. This morning there is little wind but it will rise as the day goes on. Looking around the neighbourhood. 

 

 Riley noticed this rainbow yesterday. 

 If you look closely to the left you will see it was a double rainbow. The outside rainbow is very dim. 

 

 They moved the big machines in yesterday to continue to remove a lot of scrub trees. 

 Can you see them better now? 

Lots of clouds over there.

 

 

 The rig on the top is at the far edge of the group site and furthest away from us. The two below on the right are friends and friends of the top photo (Air Stream), as well as the rig(another Air Stream) that can't be seen because it is behind the motor home in the left hand photo. The bottom left is the Air Stream directly across the road from us, you can see the Igloo nose in the photo. These folks have 4 kids. The photo on the bottom right shows the final rig on this stretch of road and he is way off in the distance near the kiosk. Earlier before I took these photos there was another motor home in the turning loop by the water tanks which are south of us and van parked between the guy way far off and the first Air Stream.

 

 

 It was an interesting sky off in the distance yesterday in the late afternoon.

 For all that darkness, we didn't get much of anything here. 

This morning it looks much less ominous but still not sunny and bright. 

I snapped this as I looked out the door. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Deb 

Bit of a rant, errands and nicer day than expected....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

 

We seem to be in a suddenly popular spot. Saturday 5 rigs (besides us and the turn around guy) parked on this little roadway. Yesterday around 4:30 pm another one parked literally across the road from us.  One would think it's an Airstream convention as 3 of the 5 near us are Airstreams.

 

 

Yesterday was a day for some errands, so we headed into Sierra Vista to accomplish those things. Trash, water and shopping were the order of the day. We accomplished all three. The shopping was two fold, I wanted to look at few items for under the sink storage and also a generator that caught my eye in store, plus of course we needed groceries as well. Lowe's was spot of choice for the under sink cabinet items and that is where the generator caught my eye. (It was not something we were actively looking for at this time but I had a question about one they carry.) I've usually found Lowe's to be good, always someone around to find the right person or to help us find what we seek. This year I've noticed a big change, and not for the better in the quality of service. It reminds me very much of Canadian Tire back in Ontario. You can never find anyone, and if by chance you do, they need to call someone else to help, and that person is either 15 minutes getting to you or perhaps just doesn't show because after that long I leave anyway. Needless to say after waiting for two different people to show up, we left with nothing in our hands and a disappointing experience yet again at Lowe's this year. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Today's forecast was supposed to be very ugly with snow and rain and wind and cold, so far it isn't looking too bad, no snow, no rain, the wind will of course continue to pick up as the day goes on and the temperature is already higher than the predicted high of a few days ago.  We are running the heater though as being at this elevation it is just  naturally cooler in the mornings. 

 

 

 

 

 

All of today's photos are of sunset on Friday, Feb 28. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

Dinner out, friends, no bangs....

Our Location: Empire Ranch, Vail, Arizona

 

We are enjoying our time here at the ranch, despite the wind and the cool temperatures. Although we are battening down the hatches so to speak, as the beginning of the week doesn't look very nice, but after that things improve greatly. So we think we will be hanging out here until a week tomorrow. 

 

All of today's photos were taken with my  phone. 

 

 

 That is us down there.

 A bit of a closer look. Blurry due to cropping a phone photo.

 The sea of grass goes on and on and on. 

 

We waited Friday to see what would happen with the 'bird placing' but we didn't see anyone at all. Late Friday night a truck turned around in the space just in front of the nose of the Igloo and a motorhome once again came back to the turning loop, but nothing else happened. 

 

 

 That is the main road into the ranch, the kiosk I mentioned is behind the tree on the left. 

 I love the natural plants that grow in the desert. 

 

Saturday morning we held off on a few things expecting to see all of these birders come along and tell us to move. One vehicle showed up and parked for about 20 minutes, and before 9 am he left too. The big shoot must have taken place elsewhere on the ranch because there wasn't a single sound here in our neighbourhood. The motor home and the Igloo were the only excitement here. Just before 2 pm our area got really busy with rigs coming from further back in the ranch. I would guess that the shoot was taking place not far from their area and the noise drove them out. That is a guess of course but I'll have to wander up and chat with Brian and Trish (met them on Friday) to see why they came back to this area. 

 

 

 

Riley and I were invited to dinner last night at Deb & Tom's ( Celebrating the Dance ). We had a fantastic time, the meal was excellent but the company is always the highlight. We laughed, we chattered, we had an excellent time. Thanks for dinner folks!! 

 Sometimes those rolling hills end like this, a sudden drop into a wash.

Can you see the pronghorn up there on the ridge? I was out for a walk and he ran across in front of me but at a long distance. Since I only had my phone, this was the best I could do.

Riley and I chatted on the way home about the many times we've driven after dark this year, which is something we very seldom do even at our summer location. A total of 5 times already when normally it's zero. We haven't had trouble finding our way (except one time with Doug, it took us a few minutes to find the correct road) like we did last year at Q.  

 Deb, Tom & Riley

Riley centered between the Debs. 

 

A birthday wish to my future son in law David as he celebrates the big number 30 today. David is a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan (hockey for those that don't know) but wasn't yet born the last time they won the cup. I guess that's what you call a die hard. Happy Birthday David. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful couple of days. 

Until next time.. take care, be safe, 

Deb