Arizona Opry

Again, went to Arizona Opry with Win and Bebe Farnsworth. What a bunch of talented folks. The fellow 2nd from the left is George Stearkle, music director. He sang with a group in the 70's called the Tokens (he's the one who sang the high falsetto voice- The lion sleeps tonight) They put on quite a New Years eve performance.

Picacho peak

Win Farnsworth set up a hike from his RV park to Picacho peak (about half way between Tucson Az and Phoenix). It's set for Feb 4th. Supposed to be a moderate climb with spectacular views. This is a pic I snagged off someone else's blog to depict the area. Photos to follow in February. They're going to be kind enough to let me tag along.

Tonto National Forest

Drove up to Peralta trailhead and took a couple pics today, I'm going back thre and take a good hike in a few weeks. Some pretty country up in that area. It's in the Gold Canyon area just south of Apache junction Az. Lots of folks up there hiking and horsebacking today.

How strange

Hmmm, somebody must have been running for Sheriff?? Wonder if he won??

Supposed to hit 62 degrees here today, Got my eye on my neighbor's tangerines, every day they're getting riper and riper!!

Ahhhhh

Santa "chillin" after a hard night's work. He's shown here enjoying the Phoenix weather after that horrid blizzard in the Midwest.

We all survived Christmas down here, had a nice dinner with friends here at Santa Fe RV park, watch some college football today in preperation for NFL tomorrow, life is so complicated...

Huge grapefruits

I walk by these darned things every day, they are grapefruits but are just a bit smaller than a soccer ball. Not sure if it's a genetic thing or??? Biggest grapefruits I've ever seen..

Merry Christmas to all of you out there in blogosphere! I freaked some poor checkout lady at Walmart, she cheerfully told me "Happy Holidays and I responded and "a Happy Holy day" to you too... Oh, by the way, the word holiday comes from the word "holy days". Bet the ACLU doesn't know that.

And a happy new year too!!

Oops

Tried to shrink that picture (below) but couldn't figure out how to do it.... Taken somewhere in Tennessee I think..

Here's the URL of the link.

http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/r/rivertramper/194-800.jpg

Winter somewhere?

"Nanna"

This is our Grand-daughter Deanna (Nanna) down visiting her dad during Christmas break.

Ginger bread house in Prescott

Debi and I traveled up to Prescott and Chino Valley Az today to visit with our grand daughter. Found this Gingerbread house with a train running through it. Lots of fun.

More Christmas

Some more Christmas pics from the other evening, and a picture of "the weaver's needle" amongst the saguaro cacti.

Hey, "How bout them Wyoming Cowboys" That's a team for the future!!

Oh I so hope the Cowboys win this one. Would do so much for the program.

Go WYO!!

As you know the Wyoming Cowboys football team is getting their first bowl bid since 2004. It "aint" the rose bowl but it'll do.

Goooooooooo Wyoooooooo!!!!

Christmas lights (Phoenix style)

Bottom pic in this series is a miscellaneous yard christmas light, the center one is a pile of tumbleweeds that were painted and shaped like a Christmas tree, Debi and I went with a bunch of folks to tour the Christmas lights in the area. I'll post a couple more tomorrow. The biggest display was at the Mormon temple in Tempe Az. There must have been over a million lights there over a couple of acres....WOW

Back from the Dr.

Met the nicest Ortho surgeon this afternoon. Actually he was a very good Dr. He thinks I have a torn rotator cuff and is ordering an MRI. He thinks that another properly placed cortisone shot should do the trick and get me some relief.

Off to see the Ortho Dr.

Off to see the Orthopedic Dr. about my bad shoulder. Hope I can get some relief!!

Another Search and Rescue Operation

This is a dog team that we helicoptered in to the Sand Point lake area about 25 miles southeast of Pinedale. About 2001. This lady and her dog is the ones that found the lost guy. The lost guy was ok, was disoriented and lost his glasses (blinder than a bat). We flew this gal and some others in From Cody Wyoming. They had a very active search dog group up there, we used them several times out of the Sheriff's office. The funny looking clothing is required on the helicopter (nomex) fire retardant clothing. The bloke on the left was with the flight crew.

Backside of Fremont peak

Not sure if I've shown this one before, took it from a helicopter on a search in the Fremont peak area about yr. 2000. Kind of a different angle of the back of Fremont peak showing Fremont glacier on the east side of the peak. That's fascinating country from an aircraft. I'm thinking about talking to my buddy Jim Mclellan this summer and see if he'll take me up for a series of aerial photos of Sublette County. I took a few over the years but only now do I wish I had taken more.

We had a total of about 10 drops of rain today, hmmmm must be the monsoon. Supposed to be bright and sunny beginning tomorrow.

Apache junction Fire rescue truck

Took a pic of this fire rescue truck during the Veteran's day parade. When you reside in an area where there are lots of "seasoned" citizens, this unit rolls a LOT!!, It was in our RV park a couple times last year for various sicknesses. They seem like a very professional organization, haven't heard any complaints. Supposed to rain some tomorrow then warm back up to the 70's next week. Life is good!

I'm going to try to paste this interesting article below this.....if it doesn't show, then at least enjoy the picture of gunsight pass in the Wyoming range...

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were

not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone

during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning

plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each

element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality

which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,

Gentleness, and Self Control..

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.'

The "blowers"

This is a pic I snagged off Win Farnsworth's blog to show the power of the blowers at Organ stop Pizza. That's a lot of hot air.. Why burn all that energy when you could hook a Washington Politician up to it and you'd have all the hot air you needed...

Organ stop Pizza

Last year we went to Organ stop Pizza and enjoyed the music there. Went back last evening with the Farnsworths' and enjoyed it again. Huge organ is in a building. We stepped outisde and looked through a window where the air compressors are at(they generate thousands of foot pounds of air to this massive organ, it's run by 3 generators that put out huge amounts of power. I don't understand all how it works but I do know there's a lot of energy spent there making that sucker play the beautiful music.

Backside of Fremont peak

Took this from the window of a helicopter we were riding in several years back looking for a lost backpacker in the Island lake area. The wind was blowing pretty hard that day and the helicopter was struggling in that altitude. God apparently took the controls and got us safetly out of there.

Had violent rain and winds last evening. Apparently the wind blew some water up under one of the exterior electrical sockets and caused a ground fault interruption (some high tech term for the darned thing is wet and automatically shut off) It will dry out later today and it will be business as usual.

Cool and rainy

Not often you see this much rain in Arizona. They're calling for street flooding and over 2" of rain tonight. Good day to hunker down and read.

Florida Jan. 2006

Our first winter retired we traveled to Florida with Bob and Tib Sutherland, one of our excursions was a day trip to an alligator sanctuary. Here, they let me hold one of the little critters (note the tape over his snout so he didn't extract my arm). That sure doesn't seem like almost 4 years ago. How time flies when you're having so darned much fun.