Still Fencing

Yep we are still in the process of getting our fence built around here. The guys from Wagoner Fencing are doing a bang up job and I am thinking we will be ready for stock in here early next week. A little early as we probably won’t bring the ponies down until next November but Meg will like having the place all to herself. She is pretty good about not wandering off although she has gone to visit the neighbours when they are having a campfire in the evening.

Last night we were over to the McNivens, folks who sold us Dogpound South, for dinner last night with a bunch of their friends from back in Canada. Always nice to meet new friends from home.

Today was a Wal-Mart day as we had to reprovision the rig so that I am prepared for Brenda’s departure on Saturday. She is heading home for 2-3 weeks to see her daughters and help Lacey with Ella after her operation. Long time readers will recall that Ella has had an issue with her kidneys since before birth and although they did an operation when she was five months old it appears that another is required. Originally the operation was scheduled for March 1st hence the departure on Saturday but it has been postponed till March 8th so Brenda will get a little longer to visit the girls and Ella before the hospital visit. We are not sure when she will be back but are hoping for a quick recovery so that she has Ella back on her feet soon

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Fencing and Stuff

Today bright and early the crew showed up to get started on our fence. It is a 5 foot no-climb with a top rail so it should keep all but the most determined critters in or out whichever the case may be, but sadly I am thinking the dust will still get through, much to Brenda’s chagrin. Meg is pretty good about not wandering off here but she is still tempted by our neighbour and his friends when they have a campfire at night and all those sticks for her to fetch. Today they got the perimeter laid out and all the fence post holes drilled and the posts set in them. There are still a few posts to put on our interior cross fences and then I am guessing they will go to cementing them all in place.

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While all that work was going on Brenda and I headed into the Phoenix metroplex to do some shopping. We needed to make a Camping World run so that we can park the rig a little farther from the mobile and kind of in the grove of trees we have out back. That means we need a little more cord to bring the power over there. Also had to drop off a pair of riding boots to get some soles replaced. Must have wore them out shopping or something. Then it was off to Mesa to stop in and say “see ya down the road” to our friends Rod and Loyce. They are heading back east towards Kansas City tomorrow and we won’t likely cross trails with them till we all get back here in the fall. And of course while we were there Brenda had to spoil their cute little dog, Biscuit. Now that pup has energy, holding her leash is like trying to keep control of the Tasmanian Devil in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Travel safe good friends and may the Lord be with you till next our trails cross.

After the stop in Mesa it was time to take my girl out for lunch so we stopped by Sam’s, picked up a few things, and then I splurged on the Polish Dog combo’s for both of us. Gotta luv lunch for two for $3.27, and that includes the tax too. Thought I would throw that in as my friend Heather loves to hear how we are getting by on that pension she is working so hard to keep flowing. Enjoy the Fort’s Heather. You’ve taken me and my RV’ing friends on tours of Australia, India and of course lately Baja California with your journeys, how about a trip complete with photo’s of your three Fort’s, McMurray, MacKay and Chip. I know I would like to see where some of that diesel fuel I am burning is coming from.

This morning my Mom began her journey down to join my brother and his young family on the beaches of Costa Rica. Hop over to his journal, Bunch of Brown’s on a Beach, and see what they are up down there in the sun and surf. Here is a picture I ripped off from his blog and I think Dogpound South may need a more southern beachfront branch…lol.

 

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Took a little trip

This morning we got up bright and early and headed to Foothills to visit some of our RV’ing friends. This is the sunrise from our porch this morning.

The weatherman was calling for a little rain and Lord knows we could use it here at Dogpound South. The dust has been driving Brenda to distraction as it is insidious when it comes to sneaking in every crack and cranny of both the motorhome and the mobile here on our southern headquarters. We had to get through a little of it to get out of town. The picture below shows the highway and a power pole and not much of either.

 

But never sleet nor hail nor snow or a dusty road could get in the way of our little run over to visit with our friends. They were gathering at noon at Kevin, Arlene, Donnie and Karen’s place to have an early happy hour and share some appetizers with us.

They have a great spot with a garage they can use if the weather is inclement as well as a patio and the big bonus a washroom and shower complete with washing machine in the place next door owned by the same lady. Perfect spot for a little gathering. Thanks to Bob and Molly, Keith and Donna, Mac and Netters, Donnie and Karen, Kevin and Arlene for having us over for a visit and especially Bob and Phyllis, who is recovering from a dancing accident, for coming by.

The scenery along the way was pretty special also and made the 326 mile round trip well worth it, although all the appy’s and good fellowship needed no help.

Happy Birthday Dad

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and Delivered

Yep, we picked up the papers today so Dogpound South is ours now. We have enjoyed the last week here on the property and Mike and Kathy’s hospitality but it is nice to be able to call it our own now.

A couple of days ago we ran up to Surprise to meet some old friends from another life. It is a far piece up there from our place here in the sun but the supper and great conversation we shared made the long journey worthwhile. We will be looking forward to next time Gary and Dalyce.

As for the rest of the week it has been spent around our new place burning tumbleweeds and killing scorpions.

That is right Brenda has come upon a few of those little critters this week so we are giving our local scorpion patrol below a little pep talk and trying to get them to increase the frequencies of their meals.

Now we don`t have a fancy tire rig like Al over there with the Bayfield Bunch to clear our tumbleweeds but someone had already piled them into big piles, to big to burn, so all I had to do was rip them apart and light `em up and keep them from getting away and burning up the neighbourhood. Kept my hot dogs close just in case anyone needed to see my burning permit….lol.

I have had a lot of questions asking for photo`s, well the trailer is in great shape, clean, and well cared for but other than a small shed there are no other improvements on the place unless you count the 8 trees that are growing around the yard. We are hoping that we can keep those trees alive. It is 3.3 acres so lots of room to bring a few horses down next winter and certainly enough room to have a few of our RV`ìng friends pull in and set a spell. By next year we will probably be able to offer a plug-in bigger than the 15 AMPs we have for company right now.

Starting next week we are going to get going on a fence around the perimeter and then we will need to haul some rock in to spread around to hopefully keep the dust down a little before Brenda goes off the deep end.

4.45+4.33+4.32+4.33/202.57

Signed and Sealed

Got my walk in early today and then Brenda and I hit the garage sale circuit looking for a few things for the new place. There is not a lot of stuff on our place but one thing that needs to go is the pile of tumbleweeds and old orchard trees piled up out back. I have been dragging out the trees big enough to cut up for firewood and the rest we will burn. Like most places there is a restriction on burning rubbish but I am thinking with a package of hot dogs and a wiener stick I can have a good old fashion bonfire and accomplish the same end.

The guys have the plumbing fixed up good as new and a few other things that were outstanding fixed. Today we headed on down to the title company and signed all the papers so once the previous owners sign their stuff the place is ours.

Things move fast in the Real Estate business around here. We will be off early in the morning to hit some other garage sales and then probably back here for the local Swap Meet that runs every weekend just down at the end of our street. Lot’s of deals to be had there too….lol.

We got everything we, well, I, was looking for at the garage sales, I needed a shovel and a rake and we hit the one that mentioned them in their ad moments before they started so I was able to snatch those up right off the bat. I needed something to lean on around here while Brenda is working and organizing everything. She managed to pick up a few things for the new digs and is spending the rest of the day moving that stuff and the furniture already in the house around so she is enjoying herself I guess. Once we got back to the Swap Meet I picked up a few movies and my partner managed to find a few more deals as well as some of the produce that they sell just across the street.

Sunday started off with a walk and then it was time to tackle that pile of Tumbleweeds in the back forty. After dragging all the trees out of the pile it was just a matter of time till those tumbling tumble weeds were set free as smoke to continue their journey across the landscape. Hot work so it is a good job out of the way early in the day. And then it was time to soak up a little sunshine.

Tonight we were over to Mike and Kathy’s, the folks who sold us our place, for supper. They had about 30 folks drop by for dinner and there were enough appetizers on hand that these folks could be RV’ers…..lol.

The shot below was the taken from their place this evening, although I am sure we had a great sunset here at Dogpound South.

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The Joys of Home Ownership

Started the day the same as most days and went on a walkabout around the neighbourhood. Sure gives me a great excuse to see what everyone is up to in the morning and gives me an idea of what we need to do around our place.

The local handyman Ray and the fellow we are buying the property from were over today and are working on the water supply line. Originally the master shut off valve was not working correctly so they started to change that out and as plumbing jobs are apt to do things got a little more complicated. As a result it will probably be tomorrow before the water is back on around here. Luckily for us we are pretty much self contained here and have enough water on hand for days.

Tonight cousin Mike invited us out to dinner as this was his last night in town. We went over to the local watering hole for supper and from all reports everybody's meal was excellent although it did take them a while to get it all prepared.

Our friends Lee, Hazel, Mike and Brenda, the other folks at the table suffered from the photographer ineptness so I won’t put up the pictures of Ruby, Brian, Bill, Bobbi

4.45/167.06

Supercuts, Super Bowl, and Dogpound South

Hard to keep up with what is happening around this place. We have been a little busy what with volunteering to be “chute crew” for some of the roping practices here as well as moving the acreage deal forward. Yesterday I was over at Blaine Peterson’s running the chute and hauling the heel-matic around so the guys could brush up their skills before a jackpot today.

Once we got the roping done with we headed back to Lee and Hazel’s to watch the Super Bowl and get our hair cut. Yep I know a different Super Bowl party than most folks were at but Gay who was a hairdresser in Viking, Alberta for many years is down staying in Lee and Hazel’s yard along with her husband Glenn and she was setting up to give Lee and Glenn a trim so Brenda and I both horned in and got ours sheared also. It was definitely time for me and what a better way to get ‘er done.

After the Super Cuts we chowed down on some of Brenda’s Taco Soup and cornbread, followed up by a fresh baked apple pie and ice cream. Soon after supper was over the Packers had won the game and we headed back to our rig for an early night.

Today started off with a short walk, the real estate agent called and wanted us to meet up this morning as she had a horse to haul later in the day. We met Mike and Kathy, the folks who owned this place, and whom we actually made the deal with so it was no time at all until we had all the papers signed and now it is just up to the title company to do their thing and it is really ours.

Notwithstanding the fact that the closing won’t take place till next week these good Canadian folks are insisting that we move on right away so later in the day we moved our rig out of Lee and Hazel’s place and on down to our soon to be spot, Dogpound South. There is actually only a small mobile home, in good shape, and a tack room/garden shed on the property right now so Brenda and I are free to dream and do it how we like it without a lot of somebody else’s dreams getting in our way. Seems like we have settled, with some compromise on both sides, on about a 50/50 split between horse property (mine) and desert garden showplace (hers). We have also picked a couple of spots for hookups so that our RVing friends will have a spot to stop and visit us when they go by. Right at the moment we certainly have a lot of boondocking spots but that is about the extent of it. We are using all the power and water hookups available.

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We are planning on getting back out to Bouse but with the closing happening pretty quickly we are not sure when that will be.

Here is a shot of Brenda meeting our new neighbours Bernice and Adrian and their pups, one of whom is a 3 month old Rotti female friend for Mack Matt!

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Roping, Ridin’ and ‘rithmetric

Today was a mixed bag day. Started off with a walk over to the new digs and while I was skulking around over there the seller stopped by and gave me the cook’s tour. He has been shutting the water off the last few nights to make sure that nothing untoward happens with the cool weather we have been having. After turning the water on and making sure all was well they headed off on their way and I continued my walk but had to cut it short as I needed to get back to the rig.

Lee and Hazel were taking us over to the local Swap Meet to have a look around. There was a lot of “good” stuff there but other than some great prices on produce which we took advantage of there was nothing else that cried out to come home with us. Interesting collection of stuff though. After that we took our hosts over to have a look through the new place and met our first wild critter on “Dogpound South”.

Later in the day Brenda and Hazel headed off for a little retail therapy and I signed on as “chute crew” for a few guys and their team roping practice. Even got a little ride in while they were warming up.

Sometime over the next couple of days we will be pulling up stakes at Lee’s and moving down onto our own place. Nice to deal with some good folks from Canada, deal is sealed with a handshake, and that is that. Now we’ll see when the paperwork catches up but it seems we have a new place to hang our hats.

3.45/156.06

A Long Ways “Down the Road from Dogpound”

I started off as usual with a walk around the neighbourhood to wear off the effects of all the great food we are consuming here on a daily basis. Not sure it is working, I will either have to walk a lot farther or start exercising a different way, maybe use Grandpa’s exercise plan, you know the one where you put both hands on the table and push….lol. Hard to imagine that happening surrounded by great cooks as I am.

About noon Brenda I jumped in the truck and took a tour around the neighbourhood looking for places to park our rig on a more permanent basis. We had gotten a tip from one of the girls at last nights party that a friend of theirs was looking to get out of small clean mobile home sitting on a little over three acres of ground. After looking at all the other offerings and inspecting this one in a more detailed way we went on our way. I conscripted our host here who is active in the local real estate market to come and have a look at the place as I value his opinion on what is the right spot and price.

We came back to his place and he got his horse and steers ready for a little practise. He and Hazel have a pretty good routine where Hazel drags the dummy and Lee can get a little warm-up.

Before we turned the steers out to add a little reality to the exercise.

After roping practise we headed over for another of Brenda’s great meals, this time with Lee, Hazel, Glenn, Gaye and a special guest appearance from my cousin Mike who is down here enjoying the below average temperatures and doing a little roping of his own.

While dinner was cooking I was talking to the owner of the property and just before supper was served we made an offer on the place and although we haven’t done the paperwork the offer was accepted verbally so I am thinking that in due course we will have a southern base (Dogpound South…way south) here in Thunderbird Farms south of Maricopa.

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Wonder whose home looking after the ranch?

Seems like everyone in Canada is hanging around down here in Maricopa. We have met a bunch of folks here and by far the majority are Canadian’s hiding out from the cold weather. And Brenda says that no one is laughing at the way she says aboat so she is liking all these Canucks too. uesday night we went to bed with the wind howling and the slide toppers flapping and it never let up all night. All day Wednesday the wind blew and the temps dropped down so most of these Canadians were wondering why it was warmer back home than down here in the sunny south.

We thought with the wind howling it would be a good day to hit Costco and Fry’s and restock our larder. Not much shopping out there in the Bouse neighbourhood so it was looking pretty bare. Now that we have that resupplied we are ready for whatever happens next. It is looking like we will be hanging out here at Papago Butte at least through the weekend and then maybe off to Yuma for a day or two, on our way back to the desert.

Notionally we are looking around at some places here that might make a winter base for us also and there are certainly lots to chose from. We’ll see how that goes though, we really like our desert lifestyle too. Hard to beat the prices that things are going for here though.

In the evening yesterday the wind dropped off a little so it was a quieter night but the temps dropped off with the wind and it was down to about 20F, so a lot of these places were having problems with their water freezing. Our rig weather the freeze like a champ though and we had no problems although I think for the first time ever we left the back furnace, that heats our tanks, on all night so it was cycling on and off pretty regular and after about 4:00AM there was not much cycling off.

Today our host here, Lee, took me and some other folks over to a local dairy to have a look around. Pretty amazing operation, 28,000 head of cattle and about 7,000 being milked on a three times per day schedule.

I actually have a video of this operation but we are not getting the speediest internet on our aircard so it will have to wait for a better time to get loaded.

While we were off doing all this Brenda had joined Hazel and a bunch of her friends were having a girls day in the house. Lot of laughter and sounds of fun coming out of their all afternoon and into the evening.

Late in the afternoon Lee and Glenn, who also has some horses here, asked if I wanted to take a ride up the wash behind here. I could hardly get myself in gear fast enough to get saddled up and go. When we leave the farm back in the fall of the year I know that is likely I will not get in the saddle until we return with the geese in the spring. So today was a great time, and we rode off into the sunset.

Just in case you are reading this from time to time Wayne that Yellow Horse is a son of your Poco Nugents Tab stud.

5.50/147.4

Down the Road

Today after my walk we finished prepping the rig for travel and headed off down the road towards Maricopa. Enroute we took a little detour down to Gila Bend to drop in at our favourite Shell station. Cheap fuel, propane and a free dump along with fresh water and we were on the road again. The winds we had all day yesterday were so far absent so the travelling was great. We are going to spend a few days here at our friends Lee and Hazel beautiful spot place visiting with them and having a look around the area.

As luck would have it we stumbled into town just in time to join in on Hazel’s birthday celebration. The plan was to head over to Casa Grande for some Mexican food. The restaurant was Eva's Fine Mexican Food and I am thinking it was about the best Mexican food I have eaten in a long time. They had great chips and salsa and the Chimichanga I and almost everyone else had was excellent.

So Happy Birthday Hazel and just in case anyone is wondering the wind did find us tonight.

4.46/141.9