Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021 New Year!

 Hello Family & Friends,

I tried to get this posted earlier this week but my only excuse is that the Internet thwarts me .... I am going to figure the right time to work on the computer or a location soon!

So the lights at North Ranch have been awesome -- here's some pics to share -- I drove and Carole snapped the photos -- it wasn't too frosty until we finished up the tour.

Snoopy and Woodstock with friends, row their boat in the ditches that are dry this year!

Many homes and park models add a lot of festive lights for us to enjoy.

Inflatables too, we have one with a spam can mobile trailer.

Here's Santa and Frosty greeting us the holiday cheer

And a Santa Hot Air Balloon with Frosty riding along.

Flagpoles are a great way to add lights to create a tree pattern.

Candy canes and much, much more.

One of the couples helped us make a Shotgun Shell light strand (or two) to string up in our trees -- I was going to put them inside but it isn't the easiest thing to find an available plug-in to light them up.  But I like them in the trees (I just have to remember to unplug before heading to bed).

Here's the strand with red and green shells -- it actually works pretty well when it gets dark.

You can barely see the blue and white ones that I have in the tree front and center -- still to light to get them to shine.

Here's the blue and white -- you can really see the white -- and Darrel managed to capture the moon just to the upper right -- the white glowing orb.

Here's one from a little farther back, we were waiting for the North Ranch Christmas Parade to begin so snapping pictures seemed to be the thing to do!

This one is probably the best showing both strands.

The burn ban was lifted for Yavapai county so we had a small fire while waiting for the parade.

Darrel's catching the moon shining through and admiring the lights.

While shopping for Christmas kisses, found these that have a different look to them.  The paper outside is green with tree lights and the red ones have the white band for Santa hats -- some additional fun -- to add to the Christmas goody trays.

And this dilemma was sent to us by our oldest son, and thought it would put a smile on your face and you prepare for Santa to arrive in your home -- hopefully Covid free and ready for holiday cheer!

We miss you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas and praying for a better 2021 New Year!  We continue to count our blessings and am grateful everyday for each and everyone of you in our lives.

Love and sending blessings your way,

Susan & Darrel

December is Here

 Hello Family & Friends,

It has been a while since I posted (you DON'T even want to hear about the Internet issues I have) but I wanted to try to catch you up since I didn't get a Happy Thanksgiving post out to you (my, bad).

Our friend and dog, Bob and Ruger, moved from North Ranch to a nearby town of Yarnell.  We helped one day to unload the outdoor stuff and personal stuff.  There were several friends to help so we got the cargo trailers and utility trailers unloaded.  I asked if ok to post pictures of his new home and he said yes.

Front of house

Back of house

View from the front porch

He has a raised bed garden -- with strawberries!

He is settling in and was pretty exhausted from the move.  His house here in North Ranch is under contract to sell in January, so that is good news too!

We had a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving here at the RV, just a small turkey breast, a few fixings and a key lime pie for dessert.  It was a nice day, so enjoyed the outdoors.

Here's a pic of the pickle ball ladies -- we have to wear masks to play and to sit on the sidelines.  Now we have a pretty large group so we have lots of players most days.  Of course, we only have access on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (COVID restrictions) but we make it work.

Can you tell where I am?  Yes, we look like the masked bandits!!!  Some are wearing the clear shields but I cannot seem to get them to work with my glasses so I just use the cloth mask.

Took a trip to Salome, AZ, a small community to the northwest.  We know several RV'ers that have stayed in that area and/or have purchased RV lots in parks there.  We love NR but the growth around Wickenburg and along Hwy 89 makes us wonder how busy it will keep getting so we look for other spots to winter.

There were pistachio groves and I snapped pictures of pistachios on the tree -- didn't realize they were reddish in color as they ripen.  There actually are a lot of pistachio groves around, some working and others forgotten.

And now to give you some laughs .... you may have seen some of these before but Darrel's brother can send some pretty good funnies and a few I may have found myself!!!

We are missing our Canadian neighbors as they have decided that COVID restrictions will keep them at home.  I just had to share this one in honor of them!  Canadians Rock!

Living in the desert means no rain and lots of dust!!!  So I feel better knowing I am a good friend!

To our friend Tom W. (you know who you are) -- because he calls me possum!

OK, I have had enough fun, hope you have too -- I wanted to tell you I have persevered with this post, it has taken me 2 hours to get it uploaded -- Google needs a vaccine, too!

So if you have read this far ---- I have one final one to share because even though we are having FURNACE problems, yet again, we are healthy and in this day and age that is a GREAT thing!

Remember, I live in a "senior" community!

Hope you all are going well, have a blessed and peaceful holiday season --- and I'll really try to get up posts more frequently -- I just need to stay up later or get up earlier -- maybe when we get the furnace going and I have some heat!!!

Sending blessings from the Arizona desert,

Love,

Susan & Darrel

What We've Been Doing

 Hello Family & Friends,

We made a tough decision not to travel back to the Midwest the last part of November and early December.  With the Covid cases increasing and travel restrictions changing daily, we thought it was prudent to stay put and see how things go --- we hope to travel back in the spring if things get better -- so here's my thoughts of coronavirus at this particular moment --

But here's a funny that got me to laughing, because, really, what else can you do but try to get through and hope the other side gets here soon.

But on a lighter note, we have been busy fixing things -- the night LED lights work without blowing the fuse -- it was the light strip touching a screw head that had worked its way out of the wood.  So it was a mostly easy fix.  We are still waiting to work on the hydraulic jacks but need to get to it soon because the trailer is starting to need leveling ---- we'll see how it goes.

We did put the motorcycles and the one UTV out for sale in the annual garage sale and had lots of people remember their motorcycle days .... so we need to update some pictures and get them listed on Wickenburg Market place and Craig's List in Phoenix.  We wanted to wait until we knew what our travel plans were.

Ruger and Bob came for a visit and we got him up in the swing (with a little persuasion) but Ruger posed wonderfully for Darrel taking the pic (sorry for the sun glare but it was coming over the RV)

This is Patricia (far left) and 

her husband dropped by too.

I have been trying to catch pretty sunsets and between Carole helping me and watching the sunset time on my clock app, I have a couple to share.

This was one of Carole's pics she shared with me.

I happen to be running to the front of the park to get the sun behind the big Saguaro.

And one final, amazing pic -- walking one night on the back street was the owl sitting on the flagpole just waiting for dinner (NOT ME!!) and it was an amazing sight.

Carole took the pic with her flash as it was getting dark, and it was an amazing shot and shows up pretty well for the limited light.

Well, I guess I will close for now, the Internet is so slow that it is difficult for me to post somedays.  Thanks for reading even though I am a little tardy in getting an update.  OBTW, Darrel's back is doing better but still tender and we try to rest it whenever possible.  The weather has been awesome with warm days and cool nights.  Thanksgiving temps are forecasted in the 70's.

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and that everyone keep safe and healthy!

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Catching You Up

 Hello Family & Friends,

Guess I had better get to it -- I hope I can catch you up -- the Internet is my biggest enemy right now -- it runs so slow but here goes with all happenings for the last couple of weeks!

Been out walking at sunset before daylight saving time ended (which really doesn't impact AZ as we don't "fall back or spring forward" --

Nice desert view between the palms of Vulture Peak -- look toward the center, lower left corner -- the little blob with the 2 peaks

   

This is the moon on the night before Halloween ---

  

This was after dark, and the bright spot in the center is the moon, a planet in the left picture and I am not sure what the grayish white object is in the upper right of right picture --- just saw it when I uploaded!

Darrel put an AZ flag on the back of the UTV, I pointed out to him that he had it upside down!

  

He wonders why is back hurts, I think he was working on the boards for the swing!

Here's our rides -- he has the UTV and I have the bike!

Here's the swing -- I helped move it from place to place and held a few boards.

  

Chased a road runner (no, I am not Wiley Coyote) but we have one that runs across our lot a few times a week --- I had to be stealth because he was skittish.

  

He found some cactus fruit, I guess and was having a snack.

After he realized I was watching he gulped and ran the other direction.  They can be pretty mean and I guess they will go into trees after baby birds!

This is a firestick cactus and we are watering since we have been so dry -- they are pretty when it turns cold the tips get orangey red and look like a match head.

I watched Ruger one day when Bob had a doctor appointment, he was watching for Bob to come back -- he never gives me any problems but you can tell he is anxious -- we took a walk, a ride in the UTV and then he just watched out the door.

Talk about joy when Bob returns~

These are our watch animals -- a funny story, the dog was left by a friend (anonymously) at the shed's garage door while we were in Colorado -- then Bob got involved and put the cat on the "pet door" that goes into the walk thru door to the shed --- LOL, so now they are under the RV and guard the entry.

So my days seem pretty exciting huh?  We will be headed back to the midwest soon to see family and friends -- we have cooled off from highs in 80s to today 55, yikes, we don't really know what to wear each day.

Sending love and blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

Arizona has been HOT!

 Hello Family & Friends,

It has been awhile since I've put up a post -- we headed back to Arizona on October 1 and made the trip in one day --- we did take a different route, through the Navajo reservation -- we left early at 32 degrees and arrived back in Arizona to 105 degrees and 102 degrees in Congress!  Any Hoo, we had quite the journey and found ourselves experiencing Year 1 with problems to fix on the RV!

So I am going to just do a bullet list as to what we have been doing for the last 17 days!

• Sweltering in the heat -- yep, we left 72 degree days in CO and have been surviving 90-101 degree days in Arizona
• replacing a trailer block jack (one of the buckets we put under the outriggers that cracked)
• fixing the water softener (needed new parts as we have a cracked water filter and the housing cap) the washer actually hooked up and has been running well (YAY)
• starting up the refrigerator in the shed (which ran well) but work up the next morning and head this fan squealing sound -- so had to turn off and oil the fan -- but it is back to working!
• fixing the ceiling fan that has shook loose from the motor arm to run it up and down
• Did I mention surviving the heat???  -- yes, 10 days into excessive heat and I was ready to brave the snow in Colorado!!
• spending a few hours trying to track down a lighting issue that blows the fuse when you turn on that particular bank of lights -- which are the night lights --- still haven't tracked that one down.
• looking under the RV and seeing fluid which Darrel thought was either water or sewer but it turned out to be hydraulic fluid which means tracking down a leak (hoping it is loose connector but figuring it will be a split hose or in some place we cannot get to easily --- which is already difficult because it is under the RV and Darrel will need to be on his hurting back under the RV!?!?!?!
• Oh, and trying to do all of this with Darrel's back hurting and he can barely move?!?!?!?
• going to the dentist and chiropractor (for Darrel's back and had a gum bothering him) -- which means a drive into Peoria, AZ -- near Surprise to the offices and spending a day shopping.
• Did I mention surviving the heat???? Yes, I believe I have mentioned it 3 times -- next year I will not repeat returning to AZ with such high temps
• ......I am sure there are more tasks like, cleaning the RV from traveling, emptying out all that we haul to Colorado, reorganizing the shed (since everything was packed in there), paying bills, catching up with North Ranch residents, etc.

I think we are finally settling in --- and maybe can see the light at the end of the tunnel -- still many things to fix but will deal with them one by one.

While out driving the UTV we noticed smoke and behind us near a town call Crown King is the "Horse wildfire" which is quite a ways away but still can see and smell the smoke.

It was blowing towards Phoenix and we only got a slight smell.

And after talking to Darrel's brother in Colorado (which we had wildfires there as well but not near us) he sent a really scary looking photo of their skies from the Cameron fire still burning and threatening lots of home and buildings.

He deals with lots of smoke and ashes to clean up on their porch, deck and driveway.  I guess we are lucky that ours is not so intense and a further distance away.

Guess that is all I know -- we are safe and sound, staying healthy and hopefully will be visiting family in the Midwest soon --

Sending blessings from the road,

Susan & Darrel

PS  Send rain and cool -- the temps are dropping this week which is better but we NEED RAIN!!!!