Day One Done

Yesterday was the first day of Brenda's Scrambler (Calmare) Therapy and although it wasn't the instant relief she was hoping for today she says it is better than it was so maybe after a few more sessions next week, she will be good to go as far as the nerve pain is concerned.

Probably part of the issue with the slow start yesterday was the fact that after the treatment we hit an RV spot to pick up a new water pump, ours is on it's last legs and will need a replacement. Then we slipped into Costco in Mesa to pick up a few of life's necessities, before stopping at Basha's in Gold Canyon for some other groceries and the Shell for a little propane to keep Dogpound Anywhere nice and warm during the cool spell we are having right now.

Other than that excitement we have been just chilling here at Picket Post enjoying the every changing scenery and muttering about the cool weather.

Boxing Day, the 26th for our American readers, Max and took a little walkabout up and down some of the surrounding hills and tried to find some different scenery to capture.

Picket Post Mountain and the Saguaro's

Our friends heading out for a ride

Beware of the cuddly cactus or jumping cholla

Picket Post Mountain in the background

The picture above is almost the same as the picture below with a little bit of flash and definition added. No Photoshop though.

Max added in of course

And of course my walkabout partner, enjoying his freedom.

"c'mon let's go"

Tonight we headed into Superior to Hermanos for some Mexican food, it was as good as I remember it and the waitress was delightful. We came away with some homemade tortilla's and a whole Lemon Meringue Pie as well. Score

Just Chillin'

After our headlong rush to southern climes we are just cooling our heels here waiting for Brenda's Scrambler Therapy treatment to begin tomorrow. That usually eradicates her nerve pain, and that means one less thing to cause her discomfort. There are still other symptoms of her CRPS but anytime you can lessen the load that is a good thing.

We were into Gold Canyon to pick up a few groceries the day after we arrived here, so we haven't been going hungry. Christmas Eve some old riding friends, Dave and Linda Modahl put together a dinner, we contributed cheesy potatoes and although all the baking she did, and prepping the spuds wore Brenda out, I went and had a good time visiting and telling stories about the good old days. Mostly true too, but maybe a little better with age.

The view out of our door

Christmas Day we had a relaxing day, a tea fire in the morning and BBQ'ed some chops in the afternoon. The dogs are enjoying staying here where they are not having to be chained up all the time.

The sun is still out there

It's cool at night and the wind has a bad habit of cooling things off in the day time. Christmas Eve it rained most all day, and yesterday there was intermittent downpours interspersed with sunshine so the solar system was cranking all day. Our batteries are on their last legs so even with the solar we are having to run our Honda from time to time.

Sunset Christmas Day

What's Up

A long time ago in a land far, far away we left you hanging after telling you our rig had been in an accident. As I said all living beings were fine but there was a lot of bent iron. Although we did make it home the last 600 or so kilometers, (370 or so miles) once we got there the truck was grounded and loaded on a flatbed for the last 30 miles to the repair shop and Woody's came down and hooked on our trailer and took it up to their facility to begin the process of estimating and finally repairing it all. There was close to $20,000 damage to the trailer and about $12,000 to the truck, mostly running gear, springs, etc, along with a new rear fender and box side. I won't bore you with pictures of bent tin though.

Brenda and the folks at Woody's got everything under way and our trailer was back in our hands by the first week of December rather than the estimated Spring 2020 we started with.

The truck was less of an issue it was back in a month or so.

So our potential winter north of the Medicine Line was averted and after a final doctors appointment for Brenda last Wednesday we hooked up and rolled south.

Southern Alberta sunrise

It was a coin toss whether we should scoot for the coast and enjoy the rain heading south or just go for it and head straight south. We opted for I-15 and the more direct southerly route. That meant we had about 1200 miles of high desert and potential snow to maneuver through but the gods were smiling and other than a little drifting snow coming over the Milk River Ridge and even less on the Monida in southern Montana it was bare and dry, cruise control weather the whole way.

We stopped the first night at the Clark Canyon Reservoir in southern Montana, where it was bitterly cold with a gale force wind blowing and ice fishing shacks set up right next to our spot. We ran the gennie all night with all the heaters roaring just to stave of hypothermia.

I promised you ice fishing, Max and I are gob smacked that folks actually do that for fun. Brenda not so much, she says it is a blast. I prefer my ice in my drink.

The next morning we were off and across those Idaho flat lands and then into Utah.

Idaho sunrise

Salt Lake City was its usual mess, but we just tucked in behind a semi and motored on through with him clearing the way. The day was uneventful but we did make about 700 miles before it was over in Logandale, Nevada. That meant we had moved over 1300 miles in the last two days but only left us 410 miles to get to our final destination east of Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Sunrise this morning, Picket Post Mountain in the background

Long time readers, and folks on my Facebook page will know that over the last few months at home we weren't just cooling our heels waiting for our southerly migration to begin. We did a little haying, baled some straw, swam most days, and did a whole lot of what my granddaughter calls picturing. I won't subject you to all those photos, there were a lot, of snowy owls, blue jays, moose, and other critters as well as innumerable sunset and landscape shots. But this lady was looking at me like she was saying isn't it time you moved on south and left these northern ranges to us hardier folk. I agreed, hopefully she will be gone back home before we have to. LOL

Snowy Owls end their southern migration about where we begin ours.

A Circle Route Home

We pulled out of the Lewis Ranch on Tuesday morning, Shaunna had already left for work, and Mike was out to wave goodbye as we rolled down their driveway about 8:00AM. The other Mike and Janice were nowhere to be seen so we will have to go back and say goodbye to them next year. We had a great visit, told lots of stories and maybe even a fish story or two.

We stopped in Burns Lake at the free community dump station, emptied what needed emptying filled the fresh water tank, and then picked up fuel and a few groceries to tide us over. When we got back to Prince George we turned right and headed down through the Cariboo to a nice little provincial park, Ten Mile Lake, just north of Quesnel. We actually found a double site and settled in for a couple of nights before heading on south.

Thursday morning we pulled up stakes and continued on south until we hit the Trans-Canada highway at Cache Creek, after fueling up we headed for Ashcroft and the long climb out of the Thompson River valley up towards Logan Lake. The Lions in Logan Lake have a free dump along the highway just west of town with potable water available as well. We turned north there and headed to Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park where rumour had it that the legendary Wandering Willy was known to be a frequent visitor.

Wandering Willy battening down the hatches

We knew he was in residence when the park operator met us at the gate with a personal greeting, I think Willy had spilled the beans that we were coming this way.

It is a nice little spot, quiet and out of the way with two nice lakes there, Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes. There must be fish in both of them as the fishing boats and floats were out there thick as bugs on a bumper.

Tunkwa Lake

We spent four nights there, debating politics with Bill and enjoying three beautiful days, the last one was a little wet but still warm.

Eventually we needed to head home as Brenda had a doctors appointment to attend.

The ride home was certainly eventful as a lady near Blind Bay got herself out of control and ended up slamming into our truck and then into our fifth wheel before flipping herself on her side. Both the truck and the trailer sustained major damage, and will be spending some time in their respective body shops before they are back on the trail. Most importantly though, we, and the other lady survived the incident with just a few stories to tell. Hers might not be nearly as good as mine though as she didn't even recall hitting me. Not that we are hard to miss, we are only about 60 feet long, 14 feet high and weigh about 26,000 lbs when we are loaded. We can fix the tin, although it might affect our southerly migration this year.

Tunkwa Lake Sunset

Lewis Ranch - Road Trip

It was time to get the dust blown off our rig and see a little country and we have some friends who have flown the coop here in Alberta and moved over to the middle of B.C., so we thought we had better check out their new digs.

Lewis Ranch

Not to shabby, Mike and Shaunna, they have a beautiful ranch property along Francois Lake south of Burns Lake, BC.

It is a little long for a drive by visit so we headed out last Wednesday morning, overnighted just east of McBride, BC and arrived at their place, at Colleymount, mid-afternoon on Thursday, and proceeded to chat away the afternoon and evening catching up on things since they left Alberta last spring.

Friday Mike and I wandered the place and that only confirmed for me what a beautiful spot they have found.

Saturday we took a ride across the Lake on the ferry and slipped down to Takysie Lake and then onto Ootsa Lake, on the Nechako Reservoir and Wisteria for a look around.

Someone's Unfinished Dream near Wisteria

Sunday Brenda wanted to get out on the water and Shaunna needed her fishing fix so we headed out onto the lake for a little piscatorial action. We only took one rod along and that was more than enough with Shaunna landing 5 Rainbows in about 40 minutes, then it was back to fire up the smoker.

Our hosts, Mike and Shaunna Lewis

Later Sunday afternoon, Mike's sister Janice and her husband another Mike arrived for a visit. Great folks and we sure had a lot of common experiences, acquaintances and it seems like Mike Searle and I had traveled a lot of the same trails over the past half century or so, so there was lots of tall tale telling and who know we might have even improved a few of those old stories.

Story telling, "it's the God's honest truth"

Monday was another day of story telling, eating and drinking, and laughing. Mike Squared, the two Mikes, spent a while tuning up Mike Searle's new crossbow so he was ready for the season when it opens.

Only one of three "marksmen" in that group

All in all it was a great visit with great old friends and great new friends, we can hardly wait to get back there again. This morning we pulled up stakes with our fridge stuffed with smoked fish and our hearts fuller and wandered our way down to Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park just out of Quesnel, BC. We are hoping to stumble across another old friend on our way back to Dogpound North over the next week or so.

Sunrise on the Lewis Ranch, Colleymount, BC

A Little Lakeside Lingering

Bovine Beach and our encampment

This past weekend we headed out with Kashton and Everly, and of course their parents for a little lakeside lingering along Koocanusa Lake in South Eastern British Columbia. BC has been off our radar for while, hard to get motivated for a trip over there when they do so much to get in the way of Alberta's economy but we figured we wouldn't need to blow the budget there, we could gas up in Alberta and make it back with that tankful. We did spend a few bucks on breakfast at Mickey D's in Cranbrook but they support Canadian farmers so that was money well spent.

The kids had found a little boondocking spot I am now calling Bovine Beach as every morning the local grazers invaded our site to enjoy a little BBQ and muck around with the recycling, so that kept me busy every day convincing them to vacate the campsite.

The beach was beautiful though, great sand for the kids and a slow drop off with very little current so a great place for the grandkids and their buddies to build sand castles and muck about in the water, I even got in a couple of swims, though not very long, while we were there.

Brenda, Candace and Lana on a cruise around the lake.

A great place to set and ponder the beauty

Brenda on the SUP transporter, well done

Beach Volleyball for the big kids

Taking the plunge

We had a great time this weekend and can't thank all those who attended enough for letting us crash the party, I for one had a great time.

They're Alive

Yesterday afternoon, as ominous as it looks it rolled on by here silently and then trashed High River I guess.

It has been a long time since I fired up Blogger and updated folks on what we are up to. Last time I had just arrived back from the land of the sun in early February. That was a mistake as it was a long time until the furnace quit running up here in the Land just North of Summer. But Brenda was needing a little nursing and the best she could come up with was me. I ain't much good at it, but I do work cheap.

After hiding out from OLD Man Winter for the month of February I started back at the pool doing a little swimming most week days and that seemed to make winter pass a little quicker. Sometime in late March I took the trailer into Woody's in Red Deer to get a few minor things looked at and to get their opinion on what I thought were some pretty flat springs under her. They agreed and Grand Design agreed to replace them with similar 3500# springs, Well it seemed to me that putting the same springs on would just mean the same result so I gave the folks at Grand Design a call and with a little cajoling they agreed to upgrade them to the 4000# models. That may solve the issue, sure can't hurt anyway.

April and May were spent getting all caught up on my Doctor and Dentist appointments, appears that I am good for a while more, at least until I'm not I guess.

Towards the end of May, Brenda and I headed into the city to watch our grandson Luke walk across the stage and graduate from High School. I have no idea how that happened, seems like yesterday he was just starting pre-school. There is a story behind those Red Boots, they are made right in Calgary by an outfit called Alberta Boots and you can almost guarantee that if you have a pair you are a member of the World Champion Calgary Stampede Showband. Luke is all of that and comes by it pretty honestly as both his father and his mother were members of that same group when they were his age.

Grandson Luke in his fancy Red Boots

I have no idea who the girl in the Red Boots is, but if she is wearing those boots odds are she is good people.

Sometime this spring we got an overnight visit from the Anderson clan, always good to get to spend a little time with them.

Of course July wouldn't be complete without a visit or two to the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede, and if your grandchildren are performing there it is even better. Annika is a part, the most important part in my opinion, of the band front for the Calgary Stetsons Show Band a High School aged band.

I think having Grandpa poking his camera in her face was a little disconcerting but I did get a smile or two, but I missed the money shot, when she stuck her tongue out at me.

I already mentioned that Luke was a part of the Stampede Showband and I don't actually think my paparazzi like stalking bothered him as much, he seemed to be having a blast. He plays the contra, a low, low brass instrument, but if you are part of the band you are part of the show so it is not all about music. This year Calgary was the host city for the World Association of Marching Showbands World Championships and our own Showband stole the show and won it all, their sixth time as Champions, and the Stetson's, Annika's Band, came in a very respectable third.

Having fun you think?

A salute for Grandpa, probably not, but I am taking it anyway.

We were going to try to escape Dogpound North and head to the Buffalo Creek Ranch up Wainwright way and gather some Saskatoons for jam and pies but we had a little truck problem so had to write that trip off, cousin Mike did come down from there and spend a night with us while he visited an old friend in the city though. 

Now we are getting a little bit caught up, last weekend we were into Chestermere to visit with our Tomasir grandkids, and oh yah, their parents as well. Always great to spend time with them and get a chance to visit on a beautiful summer day in their beautiful yard.

Grandma, Everly, and Kash

The Tomasirs

No shortage of sass in this one.

I have not really burnt up the digits on my camera's this year but we have had a few nice skyscapes over the past few months, well more than a few but here are two I captured, three, if I include the first shot in this epistle.

Just a dramatic skyscape that rolled on past DPN

Thunderhead

Decision Made

I left you while I was lounging about in the sunshine waiting on Brenda's next X-Ray results down near Quartzsite, Arizona. I had pulled back into our spot near where the legendary Wandering Willy was hanging his hat so Bill and I had a few fires, told some lies, and debated politics for at least a few minutes every day. For the most part our political leanings are pretty similar but that would be boring, so I had to take a contrarian view on a few occasions just to spice it up a little, but we never did let it decay into watching FOX & Friends or becoming Justin Trudeau fanboys. Somehow all those things are less important when you are enjoying desert sunrises, campfires, good friends and some hummers buzzing the sunsets.

We took a spin into Quartzsite for a look around, the day after the big show, so the crowds were pretty manageable. I really just wanted to see what was up and if K&B had any new stuff, but lo and behold the last time I was actually in the "Q" for the big show was about 10 years back and it looked like time had stood still, everything was right where I left it, the only thing different was a couple of tents selling Trump T-shirts and Hats but the rest of it was just like I left it. Other than the run into Quartzsite, I think I made one quick trip to Parker for a propane hose that needed replacing on the BBQ but for the most part I just chilled in the desert.

View from the top step of the Solitude

A 3 frame Pano with a Hummer crashing the party

Brenda's appointment was on Friday the 1st of February and although the breaks have not displaced there was no way her Doc was letting her fly for the next 6 weeks or so, which had me packing for a little journey back into the land north of summer. I pulled out early in the morning on Saturday and headed north, making about 834 miles and five states that first day, pulling into Idaho Falls just as the sunset. I had slipped by in front of a storm in Southern Utah and the roads were decent so I just kept rolling. Thanks to Brent Ross for his great weather and route watching the entire journey.

There was a major storm expected in Montana so I held up for a day in Idaho Falls, and then when the weather wasn't looking like there was much improvement in the forecast for the next week I headed north. From Idaho Falls to the Montana line it was slick, snow, and fog and right at the freezing point so the climb up the Monida Pass was interesting to say the least.

Once I headed down the other side the temperature started dropping, but cold weather makes the snow covered roads a little nicer to drive so that was an improvement. I left I-15 at Dillon and skipped all the hills and high country north of Butte and rejoined the Interstate at Boulder. There is a long hill down from Boulder to Helena that was an interesting slide, and the piece between Helena and Cascade is always interesting when it is snowy, it is a little windy and the big transports who travel at higher speeds than I do in those conditions leave you driving in a sack of flour with the flying snow everytime they pass. But basically from Cascade on it was good going and not many were passing the big Ford.

From Great Falls to Sweetgrass one lane was bare and dry and we made good time. Once I got to the border I tried to roll down the window but it was frozen shut. I had to jump out to talk to the Canadian Border folks and they asked me two questions, did I have any firearms, and any booze, and then told me to get back in the truck before I froze to death and go home.

The roads from the border to Dogpound North (DPN) were great, bare and dry so with the Ford running like a hound we made good time and were home by 8 after another 750 odd miles.

I spent a couple of days unloading all the freezables out of the rig and now she is waiting for spring. I will use other transportation to head in for supplies while I am here helping Brenda follow her non-weight bearing regimen.

Up to Date

My last entry mentioned that Brenda has headed home to get her ankle looked at. The X-rays back north of the Medicine Line identified a couple more breaks than the ones here in Arizona had, so after consulting with a couple of orthopedic doctors back home she is wearing an air cast and on a no weight bearing regimen. It appears that nothing is dislocated, but they are concerned that things stay in place, and they don't want to cut it open and pin or glue it together so she is grounded in Canada for at least the next couple of weeks until they can do a couple more X-rays to confirm stability.

So that means at least for the next couple of weeks the mutts and I are on our own. As might be expected our culinary selection has been affected negatively, but we have discovered that tortilla's make great hot dog buns, and we have lots of room in our big fridge for ice cream. We ran into town today to do the laundry, re-provision, and gather up some other things like propane. And then our neighbour Wandering Willy and I made a dump run and filled our gasoline jug in downtown Bouse.

It has been an interesting week, at one point Max, Maya, and I were heading north but weather and common sense overcame that so we are still here in SE Arizona, waiting on the next set of X-Rays and the possibility that Brenda will be on her way back below the snow line. We are hopeful for that outcome but then what do I know, I am not a frequenter of Web MD or Dr. Google so I will leave that decision up to the pro's.

Observant folks will notice that there are no tracks on the road, I-15 was shut down,  transport trucks and cars in the ditch everywhere, folks actually don't know when to take it easy so the rest of us got to stop and think about it for awhile.

Once the doctors make their decision we will make ours, as to how long we hang south of the snow line. In any case I have a wedding to attend early in March over in Palm Springs.

Other than that little bit of excitement things are pretty low key here. Not a lot going on except feeding the honey bees and the hummers, and keeping an eye on Max clearing the coyotes out of our wash.

Our Neighbourhood

Ten Years

Ten years is a long time but sometimes it seems like just a blink of an eye, I still remember watching Kelly scale that windmill like it was yesterday, his infectious grin and his irreverent outlook on life. Here is the journal entry I wrote way back then.

Kelly Brown 1958-2009

It has been a few days since my last blog post. Many of our regular readers have certainly wondered what happen to us.
Thursday the 22^nd early in the morning I got a call from my brother, Brent, to let me know that he was on the way to the hospital in Calgary, but that our little brother had passed away.
Shocking doesn't describe it, at first my mind thought "Kelly, who, I only know one Kelly and he is the most unlikely person to have a heart attack I know." Kelly was a fit healthy guy, 50 years old but not any extra weight and always a pretty active guy with a regular workout schedule that is supposed to waylay these kinds of issues. Brent and I both have histories of heart issues, but not Kelly, he seemed to have escaped that part of our genetic make-up. But sadly it was true; he had passed away in same house he came home from the hospital to as a new baby. Dad always said it didn't look like Kelly was going to move away so he finally sold him the house.

Like I said he was our baby brother so almost every step of his way through life I was watching to see what he would do next (and that was never boring). I remember the day he came home from the hospital and the way Brent and I roared into the house with all our grubby little friends in tow to show off our brand new baby brother. Didn't take Mom long to give us the bums rush as she didn't want her shiny new baby mauled by a lot of grubby kids. I think pretty soon she got used to us as I don't remember not being allowed to paw him for very long.


When Brent and I used to go to school down the road Kelly could always be counted on to accompany us on his tricycle and mom talks about him always asking every kid coming down that street if they had seen "JohnnyBrent".


When we were kids my Mom was quite a seamstress so there are a lot of pictures of the three of us all wearing matching shirts. I was always taller and skinnier (not anymore, the skinny part anyway) and Brent and Kelly were much more alike so they actually look like big and small versions of the same guy. I don't think any of those pictures show Kelly without a big grin on his face.

Kelly Brown was a fearless skier who spent a large part of his time on any mountain going straight down the fall line, long traverses being for lesser mortals. In the tribute at the funeral Brent painted a word picture that will forever stick in my mind of Kelly floating effortlessly down the mountain through chest deep untracked powder and although I was never a good enough skier to accomplish that myself I well remember riding up the chair lift at Sunshine, Goats Eye, for those who know it, one day 25 or so years ago and seeing him doing exactly that directly under the lift. Nobody else had dared to take that run and the guy I was riding with couldn't believe what he was seeing nor when we came close enough that the fearless fellow below us was actually my baby brother.


My father is a pretty good gardener so when Kelly took over the house it already had a great deal of landscaping finished and mature, but I think over the years he owned it the garden got even better. You could always find him working there in his yard any time he had a few spare moments. For the great majority of his life he was a bachelor and I'm not sure whether they are connected or not but he spent a lot of time doing the things that gave him pleasure. He skied most of the great mountains in Western North America in the winter and drove his little Triumph TR-6 all through the west in the summer.


All that said he was always around when you needed someone to help with odd jobs. I don't like heights so when we needed to re-roof the old barn Kelly was pressed into service to do the high work. The same thing when the windmill needed some maintenance, Kelly was the man for the job. I don't know what I am going to do without my high angle go-to guy. Ten years later that windmill is likely to need oiling soon, anyone?


A few years ago though, he was struck by a young lady who caught his fancy, and whom he eventually convinced, that he was the guy for her. He and Christine had a great relationship and were good friends first and lovers second. That certainly made his last two years amongst the happiest of his life. Thanks for that Christine.


His memorial service was a great testament to the number of lives he had impacted in his short time here, there must have been at least 400 hundred, maybe 500 folks in attendance and I am betting almost everyone could have told a story about Kelly Brown and how he had added to their collection of lifetime stories. I know I could go on for days or weeks telling absolutely true tales that most people wouldn't believe had actually happened but that was the kind of guy he was.


All these words describe the Kelly Brown that I knew, Irreverent, Politically Un-correct, Outspoken, Opinionated, Kind, Caring, Loving, Funny, Hard-working, Fun Loving, Courageous, Adventurer, Loyal, and most of all a friend you could depend on.


One of Kelly Brown's lifelong friends, who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, sent us a Tribute to Kelly Brown that characterized him as what the Australians call a Larrikin. I stole the definitions here from Wikipedia and if they don't describe the man I called my baby brother I must have missed the point

Larrikin - "a mischievous or frolicsome youth"

"A person may be classified as a larrikin if he or she meets some of these criteria. A larrikin is not concerned with the opinion of other people and so is not socially intimidated into modifying behaviour and structuring it around social norms. Larrikins are also not at all fazed by authorities of all kinds, including whatever power or authority they may possess themselves, and must not take themselves too seriously." I am assuming that when you meet all the criteria you are a Super Larrikin, well Kelly you make the grade.


That pretty much sums up Kelly Brown and although he is gone, he will never be forgotten, he lives on in the hearts of hundreds of people, those who joined at his wake, his memorial, and those who were unable to. Although I confess at times he infuriated me I can honestly say I was always proud to call him my little brother.

As always in the middle of things with his infectious grin

"Catch you later Bro"