Surprise Visit

Friday, January 6, 2017

This morning I was starved.  Should have, but didn’t fix dinner last night.  By the time I got around to thinking about it, it was already 8:30.  Too late for dinner.

One thing good about not eating.  This past year, I have been eating too much of Dolly’s good cooking and was getting up to 170 pounds.  I know that is not much for some people, but for me, my size 34 waist jeans were getting tight and I don’t own anything bigger.  Now I am down to 158 and can get into my old size 32 jeans again.  Much better.

This morning, I ate a big breakfast of two scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon.  Then for a second course, I had a half grapefruit, tangerine and OJ.  Breakfast hit the spot.  Feel like I am ready for the day.

My plans are to do a lot of resting.  Been tired since arriving to the Southwest, so I am going to sit around and just listen to the desert sounds and take Yuma for a few walks.

Started resting with coffee in hand this morning.

Then I pulled out my zero gravity lounge chair and really got comfy.

Yuma moved around a bit wanting me to stop resting,

Finally, Yuma couldn’t stand the resting anymore so we went for a walk in the large wash south of our camp.

Before we got to the wash, I just had to say hello to the large Saguaro cactus east of the camp.

That was a fast 10 seconds.

Finally, I get a hug.

Continued our walk past the rusty relics near our camp to the very large wash.  I can see four wheeler and Jeep tracks.  They use the large washes like roads.

Yuma leading the way.

What a beautiful dog that Yuma is.

We finally popped out on Darby Well Road.  Sign is not inviting.  Hope the Border Patrol doesn’t think I’m an alien.

On the other side there is an old homestead that is now nothing more than a junkyard. 

Today is Friday, Gold Rush day.  I finally got around to calling Dish this afternoon and getting my Dish receiver turned back on for the winter.  Just as I was getting the Dish Tailgater out of the MH to begin hooking it up, a Jeep with three guests drove up to my desert estate.

Al, Kelly and Pheebs Travel With The Bayfield Bunch were just coming back from a road trip around the area, and seeing the photos in my blog last night, they knew where I was.

They had been gone all day running around, so only stayed about a half hour. We said our hellos and Pheebs and Yuma had a workout running and jumping all over the place.  I think Yuma being younger, wore poor Pheebs out.  Yuma rarely has a chance to play with another dog his size, so he went crazy.

Al talking about world events while Yuma and Pheebs search for gophers in the background.

Kelly setting Al straight.

Al jumping out of the way as Yuma and Pheebs rough house.

Actually, I had thrown out some dog food that Yuma wouldn’t eat.  As soon as Pheebs found it and started eating, of course, Yuma wanted to eat it too.

Great looking couple.

Leaving too soon, but will see them tomorrow.

I had planned to search and find them tomorrow, so I made a date to stop by their place tomorrow morning.  It was great to see them again.  I think the last time we visited was in the Mojave National Preserve back in Feburary, 2015 when I lost my cell phone in the desert and they spent several hours helping me try to find it.  Never did find it.

It was The Bayfield Bunch three years ago that got me excited about coming out to the Southwest.  Dolly, Fergie and I stopped by their place in Congress on our way, and then traveled to many of the places they had blogged about.  So much easier when you have a travel plan, and their blog was very helpful.  Been doing it every winter since.

After they left, I finished hooking up the TV Tailgater and turned the TV and the Dish receiver on and Voila, i have Gold Rush on the TV.  It is great that you can be in the middle of nowhere and have TV and Internet available.

Had a can of Campbell’s CHUNKY Steak and Potato soup for dinner tonight and some chocolate pudding with whip cream for desert.  Much better.  Here I am eating dinner, typing my blog and watching Gold Rush.  I’m a multi-tasker for sure.

I promised myself that when I do grocery shopping next time, I am going to buy a big steak, a potato and a can of green beans and have my first real dinner like Dolly makes.  Been carrying a propane grill around for four years now, but never pulled it out.  You can tell I’m not a great one for grilling out.

See you later.