AZ winter & Thanksgiving has arrived

Hello Family & Friends,
Well, winter has found us in Arizona (along with our rain clouds we seem to bring with us).  Arizona's monsoon season was kind of a dud, but we are helping them out with wild, rainstorms last week and more rain expected over the Thanksgiving break.

We found out when we tried the furnace that it worked for a day and 1/2 and then wouldn't work, so we spent the weekend pulling out the furnace and cleaning the sail switch (which I guess makes the unit work or not work). It is really a chore because you access if from the front bay and it is cramped quarters for Darrel to work.

We were successful in getting it out, cleaning the switch and have been running since Sunday!  Just in time for the temps to drop below freezing -- I hope the sun cooperates and tells the rain to go away.

After our hard work, we headed out for a quick desert run with Bob & Ruger to get some "retirement" perspective -- when you have the desert and mountains out your back gate, it doesn't take much to find it.  Here's a few pics of the trip.

Bob took us out to Jaxson Hole which is where people have picnics and gatherings.

It is lined with cliffs and well protected in the desert

Of course, you can see the Weaver Mountains in the background.

Ruger found a bone someone had placed in the tree....

and he thought he might want a chew toy....

Bob tried to help him get it down lower but decided it wasn't a good tasting bone anyway!

Interesting desert art adorns the trees.

Ruger decided to check out the woodpile for the bonfires.

He is usually looking for critters that make their homes there.

Now he is on the top of the pile, just sure he will find something interesting.

So next is exploring the cliff side, because SOMETHING just has to be out there.

We are easily entertained when Ruger is exploring.  That dog sure can cover ground but always comes back to Bob's whistle.... he does love desert exploring.

Now we are back in work mode, on Monday with Darrel trying to get the outside chores done before the rains come in.  Flushing tanks, fueling the UTV and getting the flag pole back up and repaired.  We now have a new flag and rope so we are flying the colors high and proud.

My sister, Carol sent a funny Thanksgiving Day card and it made me laugh -- so here's a couple of pics, you probably cannot read the flock sayings, but I have it hanging on my refrigerator to start m day smiling.

We with you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, full of family, friends with many blessings and things to be thankful for.

Sending Hugs and Kisses, plus blessing your way,

Susan & Darrel

Schnebly Hill Vista/Trail

Hello Family & Friends,
With the weather turning cold and wet this week (Nov. 18-22), we moved up our trip to Schnebly Hill Vista/Trail which is near Sedona to Saturday 11/16.  It is a much higher elevation and is cooler in general but with the storm front coming in they are expecting snow at elevations about 7,000 feet so we didn't want to risk cold and wet weather.

Bob and Ruger were our tour guides again, however, this trail was a trailered event, hauling Bob's Honda UTV (he got a new one this summer) 200+ miles to the trailhead.  We got up at 3:45am and left our RV at 4:39am --- stopped for breakfast in Prescott and then traveled on up to the start of the Schenbly Hill Trail -- it is near Munds Park which is one of Bob's favorite camping places.

We had a chilly morning and the clouds were burning off as we unloaded and headed out.  Along the way there are pine trees with bark that looks like alligator skin -- the name Alligator Pine.

This is a closer shot, you can see the mosaic type of small squares.  You can also find these on the back way into Prescott.

The men (Ruger is somewhere in the background) explored the overlook and it is chilly enough to have Darrel's hood up to warm his neck.

Ruger finds something to stare at over the cliff.

Susan and Darrel sitting on the edge, beautiful sky and scenery in the background!

It was about 45 degrees but the sun warmed us up quickly.

Absolutely gorgeous and we had the morning sun helping to illuminate the mountains.

Susan and Ruger walking the trail.

So green, makes a great contrast.

Darrel is giving me a run for my money on the photography snaps.  He was in charge of the camera so we didn't leave it on the trail or drop it in a stream (my bad)

Here is where we are headed down the trail.

The mountain ridges to the left made it look like Christmas with red/green tiers that are much better in person, absolutely gorgeous!

We were having a great day and as we journeyed down the trail, we had a mechanical issue happen to the Honda and we started overheating -- the steam rolled out and we shut down the UTV to let it cool.  Well, having Bob and Darrel to cipher things, we let it cool, added water from our jugs and decided to head back up the trail since we were about 1/3 of the way down.  Darrel figured the thermostat must have gotten stuck.

After we got it going, it never over heated again but we didn't want to take any chances and didn't even want to think about what a tow would cost!!!!???!!!

I took a snap of some of the really tall pines as the blue sky showed through.

It is an amazing area and we will go back to finish the trail in the spring (winter is probably here and don't want to risk trail closure).

Ruger is such a smart dog and loves the trails, he rides in the back when we are using one UTV.  We wouldn't know how to behave if we didn't have the guard dog enjoying the ride as much as we do.

He is on the hunt for squirrels or other wildlife -- what a nose he has.

Here's Bob's Honda UTV -- he is unhappy with it right now but it is a nice machine and has pick up and go with a little more seat room and leg room.

So we loaded up the Honda, headed back early, stopped at Dairy Queen to cheer up Bob's woes.  Darrel and I both felt we had a great day, beautiful weather and as the Pendergast motto goes, Nobody got hurt (well, Bob did get a little burn from the hot radiator water) and nobody died -- so all in all a successful trip!

We look forward to returning next spring and finish the trail -- I've added a trail pic and a link to the Schnebly Hill Vista website so you can find out more about this are.

Here's the entire trail, we were at the upper right top near I-17 and the trail stretches to Sedona

We made it down to Munds Wagon area before we over heated.

Now we are back in chore mode, Darrel is working on the shed organizing and finally is working on the tool boxes from the truck.  The weather has turned cool (not cold by comparison to places in the nation) so we are working on the loft tubs and rearranging stuff that we want to get to quickly.  I did get everything mostly clean (desert dust is always around) and we have the ants mostly gone, still on the look out for new hills.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving --- we are so thankful to our wonderful family and friends that support us on the road!

Love and blessings,

Susan & Darrel

First Desert Trip

Hello Family and Friends,
WOW, we have been busy since we have been back.  Just a quick snip-it of what all we have been doing-

1. Still trying to kill ants!!
2. Replacing our washer/dryer combo that won't fill in the rinse cycle
3. Moving the RV on the lot to be closer to the sewer drain (and a little more privacy)
4. Garage sale preparations
5. Actual garage sale and picking up from the garage sale
6. To name a few of the things we have been doing.....

But we did finally take a desert ride in the UTV along with Bob and Ruger (on a really warm, if not hot day) to check out a different way to get to the watering hole and wash not to far from here.  So I snapped a few pics to show you our day.

The Ocotillo cactus are changing color, in the spring and early fall they are bright green, but now they are changing to the gold, yellow and rust colors.  Over the winter they look dead until they green up again.

Some are more brilliant in colors than others.  I stopped to snap a few along the trail.

Ruger was checking out the critters under the brush while I saw the orange-y Ocotillo in the background.

Here is Darrel trying to hide but not doing a very good job of it.

He and Ruger (to the left and center, cannot really see him) are hiking back up to the UTVs.

Weaver Mountains in the background, and we still have some greenery this month.

Beautiful blue skies were with us all day, and the temps were in the upper 80's.

Bob, Ruger and Darrel taking a rest break.

Did you notice the Saguaro cactus at the back of the watering hole?

The watering holes are drying up and we didn't see any cattle this trip compared to last year when you usually saw anywhere from 10-20 during a trail ride.

We returned home by the crested Saguaro, the first one we saw last year.

A close up shot revealed that the crested and added some "crests" to its crown.  

These are so amazing to see, I think Bob has shown us 2 or 3 others, but it is a rare find.

It was a beautiful day and we returned worn out and dusty.  Since not having as much rain as last year the desert is very sandy and the trails are not packed down so the driving was tiring.  Much like a dune buggy on the beach.

Back to the chores, but the time off was well deserved.  This week brings a few more chores but a trip to Sedona and the rock formations is on for next week??  Weather has cooled off a little (mid-70's) and a little to no rain predicted.  Perfect Arizona weather in November.

Blessings to all,

Love, 

Susan & Darrel

We're Back...in Arizona!

Hello Family & Friends,
Bet you wondered what happened to me, and of course, Darrel, too (those of you that read these updates 😉) -- well, after a visit to Kansas, Iowa and OOOOOOklahoma (I always have to sing that word), we are back in Arizona for the winter months.

We had a great time visiting Kansas family and catching up with friends (although we wished we had so much more time since we didn't get to see everyone we had hoped to) and then traveled on to Iowa to see Jeremy and family (believe it or not, it SNOWED on us) and then on to OOOOOOklahoma to visit Ryan and family.  It is close to 1200 miles to Topeka, with the trips to IA and OK, and then back to AZ, we traveled 3500 miles!!!  Yikes, we were road weary when we reached AZ winter home.

Since we have been back, we are on our new lot in North Ranch.  We are still unpacking, pretty much everything -- storage shed, RV and truck but I took sometime to snap some pics of the progress.

The Fuzion has plenty of room on the new lot, we miss the concrete and pavers, but it is nice to have a big shed and extra room to move about.

This is a view from the other direction, the wooden steps you see were left by the previous owners so they come in handy as the garage steps for added sturdiness.

Here's the inside of the shed, actually it looks much better as Darrel has been "emptying" it --we had 2 motorcycles, the UTV and SO much more jammed in there when we left for the Midwest.

Handyman Darrel setup a drain from the washer (you can see from the left side of the picture) so that the washer can remain in the shed and not in the garage.  We can hook and unhook when not in use!

We now have a small dining table in the garage where we can actual set at a table and eat! Plus we have a couple extra chairs for company??

We also have a couple of recliners and the big black thing is a swamp cooler for cooling vs. AC -- takes less electricity and works pretty well when the humidity is less than 50% which only seems to happen in Monsoon season.  It will get moved to the storage shed when temps cool off (soon)

I also added ghosts to the door between the garage and livingroom/kitchen area -- remember when I went head first into the closed door and thought I broke my nose?? and had a nasty bump on my forehead?? They may stay there for quite awhile!!!

We have ANTS -- at least they are harvester ants and not fire ants --- we tried the "natural way" with potato buds that are suppose to blow them up when they eat them.... the little buggers just hauled the potato buds out of the mounds --- so we had to go the ORTHO bug b gone way.... but still struggling to eradicate them all (is it ok to say, kill them all).

UTV, aka RD, sits next to the corner of the lot -- yes, you can see the yellow house in the background.  If anyone asks where we live in park, we just say corner lot next to the yellow house!

On to other things, here's the view from our stairs of the Weaver Mountains, not as high up as we were on the lot on Wind Spirit but we can see the mountains for now -- the neighbors are putting up a modular unit so I don't know how that will impact our view soon.

Sun sets early here in AZ since we don't have DST in this state, but it still looks pretty awesome.

Another project on our winter agenda, is to take down the letter "M" from our shed as the previous owners last name started with that letter -- not sure if we will put up a "P" or not, we have bent aluminum to cover trim to avoid painting it --- the horse above will stay as we live on 

Running Horse - hence, the "running horse" LOL

Oh, got new Oofos sandals -- I didn't realize how old and how many miles my other pair had on them until I put on a new pair -- always remember to buy new shoes occasionally, as you don't realize how much better they feel

One last thing before I close, I guess we brought the Midwest temps with us -- we had two days of upper 80's and now here's the weekly forecast for Congress --- I cannot believe it is cooling off this much so soon, but then last year, we had snow 3 times so what do I know??

Actually weekend temps look pretty awesome in the 70's

So I will try to do my weekly postings starting now and hope you all enjoy our settling back into Arizona post.  

Keep in touch, sending our love and blessings,

Susan & Darrel