I Smell Smoke!

I can smell smoke on the breeze today. Not sure if it's something burning or just that the rain has stirred it up. It rained during the night and was raining when I woke up this morning. I'm not sure I want it to rain! We rode up to Eagar where they are cleaning out the ditches, making them deeper and wider. Saw some sandbags around houses and a bunch stored, ready to be picked up.

I've not felt good all day, I think I ate something bad last night.

More Wind

A gentle breeze started while we were walking this morning and blew all day. Thankfully, it wasnt too hard! I was able to get most all of my started plants planted. The tomatoes I planted the other day don't look good, I think something is eating them. That and the wind and the late planting are all conspiring to make it hard this year. My corn is coming up and the cukes and squash are coming up. Don't know if the season left will be long enough, but I'm hoping to get at least some squash!

Odors

The rain yesterday didn't leave the air smelling nice and fresh like it usually does. There was a faint bad odor left in the air. We noticed it again on our morning walk. Maybe wet ash that fell on the town with a faint whiff of dead in it?

The sky was blue this morning, no clouds like yesterday started with, so maybe no rain today. I spotted this heart shaped puddle in the road. Pretty cool!




I got my watering system installed in my gardens today. John helped me by drilling the holes in the tubing for the water to come out. Glad to have it done!

The wind blew all day and we had a hard sudden burst of wind this afternoon, it sounded like someone slammed into the house, it was so hard.

Rain!

We got our first rain of the summer today. It was a nice gentle rain, thank goodness! It did bring out the smell of smoke, not sure where it was coming from, maybe ash on the ground? I have mixed feelings about the monsoons, it's scary to have the threat of flooding hanging over us now. Not good! I hope everyone made it through today okay! Here's what the sky looked like on our walk this morning.



We went out to dinner at Trailriders with the Wilhelm's tonight to celebrate Shirley and Connie's birthday. Harv, Julie and Carl, Chuck and Trent, John and I, Mabel and Shirley and Connie were there.

Floods Predicted For Fire Area

We attended the town meeting tonight to catch up on what's going on. The fire is almost contained, it's active on the south and southeastern flanks, and a few hot spots in the interior, otherwise it's pretty much out. The bad news it that they are bracing for flooding with the monsoons. The burned areas will not soak in the moisture, and debris from the burn will wash down, filling drainages and causing floods. They advised everyone near those areas to purchase flood insurance!


On the bright side, my favorite neighbors are back, I spotted their trailer on the way home from downtown!! Yea, I was afraid maybe Shane would leave them where they were during the fire.

Glad the Weekend Is Over!

This has seemed like the longest weekend ever! I was so glad to see 5 pm come so we could go home! There is more dissention way earlier this year than last. We'll be glad to see the end of the season. So far, it hasn't been a good year for us, June is usually slow, but the festival is good, but this year the Memorial Day Festival was a bust for pretty much everyone, I think. Our walks on the golf course are the highlight of the day! We did have a couple of neat visitors today, two missionaries stopped in, they were so enthusiastic about John's work and made us feel good. They're from Utah and Idaho, kind of cool to compare where they live with were we've visited.

Wow, where has June Gone!

I'm amazed that it's June 23rd already, where has this month gone? It's been a stress filled June, one I wouldn't like to ever repeat! We seem to be pretty safe from the fire now, we can still see smoke in a few spots and probably will until the rains come. I planted a few more seeds today, planted lettuce in my little barrel planter and watered the seeds I planted yesterday. My watering system is mostly gone, it sprung leaks all over, so I had to have the water pressure way low and it never did get it all wet, I had to use the sprinkler on it this morning.

Busy Day!

We had a busy day today. I rode out to the dump with John to get rid of the tree we cut down and some other limbs. We could see an ambulance at the dump, so we stopped in on our way out to see what happened. A man fell into one of the containers! It's about a 10 foot drop if the container is empty and it was. He cut his head pretty badly, one side was cut from in front of his ear all the way across the top and down the back side to his neck! I'm amazed that he lived, he was conscious and asked to be removed from the container, so the operator got his backhoe and put the bucket down for him to sit in. He said one of the EMT's told him that they would probably fly the guy out to Flagstaff for medical care. Scary!

In the afternoon, we rode up to Nutri and Alpine. It looked better than I was imagining, but I don't think we saw the worst places. Escudilla looks bad, just toothpicks sticking up all over the hill. Lots of others were the same. We saw only one burned home, it was on the property Shumway's used to own, not sure if they still do, buildings around the burned one, funny how fire jumps around! Alpine was smoky, and we could see places that were still smoldering in the hills around. It made me so sad to see our destroyed forest, and mad! We need to replace the people who are managing our forests and sue the environmentalists, who sue the forest service to stop any thinning and logging!

Evacuation Day ?

Time is blurred, I can't remember how many days we've been evacuated now, it seems like it's been weeks and weeks! Woke up feeling depressed, I want to go home! Still no return in sight, they had said maybe this afternoon, but it's not looking like it will happen with the high winds predicted. Here's the latest from the info site:

The Apache County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that a total of 9,114 people were evacuated from Springerville, Eagar, Nutrioso, Alpine, Greer and surrounding areas during the past 10 days because of the Wallow Fire.
That number of evacuees also includes part-time residents and campers who were in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in areas most affected by the gigantic blaze.
The fire threatened about 5,200 homes and the evacuees, including about 2,000 people from Springerville, 5,000 people from Eagar, about 150 from Alpine, 25 from Nutrioso and 40 from Greer.
A total of 538 people refused to be evacuated including 324 in the Eagar area, 128 in Springerville, 45 in the Alpine area, 37 in the Nutrioso area and four in Greer.
“We’d like to thank southern Apache County residents for their patience and cooperation and taking the seriousness of the problems presented by the Wallow Fire to heart,” said Apache County Sheriff Joseph Dedman Jr. “I would also like to thank the various agencies who have assisted us, particularly Navajo County Sheriff K.C. Clark and his staff, who coordinated a large response from his deputies and the Navajo County Division of Emergency Management. Their assistance has been invaluable.

And this was posted on our air quality:

Air quality in the Springerville–Eagar area of Arizona is currently considered extremely hazardous. Air quality is defined using Particulate Matter (PM), a measurement of solid and liquid droplets in the air. Concentrations of PM were more than 7 times the national health standard on June 9, 2011, and are expected to be the same or worse today. Excessive, persistent air pollution is a health threat, especially to children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

Wallow Fire update

Wind was down today and we got smoke here in Pinetop, the people that stayed in RV must be really feeling the effects now! John called Boone Hall, who stayed, he's staying inside and says it's okay.

We took Jessie home this evening, the said at the meeting last night that we may be able to go home on Saturday, so we wanted to be ready to start moving things back if they let us in. Ron and Joann Johnson visited us this morning, they called and offered us a place to stay when evacuated, they are such sweet people! Ron reminds me of Uncle Dale, so I liked him immediately!

6-10-11 10:30 AM –
June 10, 2011

Wallow Fire
Incident Command Post Briefing 0600

Size: 408,887 acres (based on infrared flight)
Personnel: 3,137
Cost: $13.9 million to date
Containment: 5%

Weather for Today

Winds light, terrain driven
4-8 mph, 10 to 15 mph on ridge tops in afternoon. Wind is predicted to increase to critical levels Saturday 6/11 and Sunday 6/12.

Specific Area Activity

Alpine – Structure protection in good shape
Nutrioso- Lines in good shape, will be doing burn out operation on east side to reinforce line
• Alpine and Nutrioso still without power.
Springerville – west of town along hwy will be doing additional burnout using aerial ignition.
East side – West of Escudilla Mountain on fire perimeter – are extending fire line south parallel to state line.
Burro Mountain – Burnout operation to protect Burro Mountain
Water Canyon – Will be extending burnout areas to improve protection of Eagar and Springerville.
Greer – Continuing with structure protection and extending fire line east and south in preparation of a burnout operation. Increasing Fire fighting resources.
Greer Structure assessment – 22 homes destroyed, 5 homes damaged, 24 outbuildings destroyed, 1 truck destroyed. Sheriff’s department is tracking and notifying homeowners.

Air Attack

13 helicopters
Air Tankers available from Winslow and Silver City bases
VLAT (Very Large Air Tanker) DC10 available from Phoenix Base
DC10 was used yesterday (6/9) for 3 retardant drops to assist preparation for burnout operations west of Greer. The drops were very effective.

Fire update

6/9/11
Incident: Wallow Wildfire

Apache County Sheriff’s Officials are in the process of notifying residents whom have sustained loss of their homes to fire damage in communities of Alpine and Nutrioso.

A reduction of fire behavior in these communities has enabled Assessment Teams to identify the amount of residential structures damaged (5) and the names of the property owners affected.

Sherriff officials are making personal contact with the residents whom have lost residents.

Property owners who have sustained loss of outbuildings will be notified by certified mail in the next few days or as more information is available by the Assessment Team.

Due to current fire activity and structure protection efforts in the Town of Greer, the Assessment Team has not been able to start the process in structure loss confirmation and identification.

Information on the impacts on the community of Greer is a priority and will be released as it available.

We're Officially Evacuated and The Fire is in Greer!

Greer Update: Inciweb
Fire has gone through Greer. We do not know the extent of the damage at this time. Firefighters are on scene in Greer conducting structure protection.

6/8/11 4:30 pm – Apache County Sheriff’s Office has ordered a full evacuation of Springerville and Eagar effective now.

PreEvacuation Alert!

6/7/11 8:40 pm – For Immediate Release: June 7, 2011 6:00p.m.

Fire Information: 928-333-3412 (Daily from 7:00a.m. to 10:00 p.m.)

Website Info: www.inciweb.org Twitter: www.twitter.com/AS_NF

Flickr (photos): www.flickr.com/apachesitgreavesnf

Attention: www.inciweb.org is currently experiencing technical difficulties and has been down or running slow. Information will continue to be available through the other methods listed above and e-mail updates.

Date Started: 5/29/2011
Number of Personnel: Approximately 2,140

Location: south and west of Alpine, Arizona
Including 27 hotshot crews and 29 handcrews

Cause: Human – under investigation
Equipment: 8 dozers, 141 engines, 46 watertenders

Size: 311,481 acres
Aircraft: 20 helicopters

Percent Contained: 0%
Injuries to Date: none

Structures: 343 threatened; 1 damaged; 10 lost

Current Evacuations
Effective Immediately: Further evacuations have been ordered by the Apache County Sheriff’s Office for all the areas south of Hwy 260 and east of Greer, including South Fork and portions of Eagar. Hwy 260 will remain open for the evacuation and will be closed immediately after the evacuation.
Sunrise, Greer, Blue River, Alpine, Nutrioso, and the following subdivisions along highways 180/191: Escudilla Mountain Estates, Bonita, White Mtn. Acres, and the H-V Ranch. This area includes CR 4000, CR 4001, and CR 4225
The evacuation site is located at; Blue Ridge High School located at 1200 W. White Mtn. Blvd., Pinetop/Lakeside

Pre-Evacuation Alert
Pre-evacuation alert issued by Apache County Sheriff’s Office for Springerville. Pre-evacuation alert issued by Catron County Sheriff’s Office for Luna, New Mexico.
Residents in the communities affected by this fire are asked to remain prepared in the event an order is needed.

Residents with livestock or animals that need care, please contact the Apache County Sheriff’s Office (928) 337-4321or the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office (928) 865-4149.

Pre Evacuation Alert for Springerville

06 Jun 11 Pre-evacuation issued for Springerville and Eagar

Apache County Sheriff’s office has issued a pre-evacuation for Springerville and Eagar.

Fire Update

Update as of 11:30 pm 6/5/11 – Fire is 192,746 acres with 0% containment. Number of personnel on the fire is approximately 2,315 including 31 hotshot crews and 25 hand crews. Equipment at the fire 12 dozers, 138 engines, 31 watertenders and 22 helicopters. Storm and wind activity caused embers to spot over the US Hwy 191 resulting in a flurry of fire activity around Alpine and Nutrioso to include Escudilla Mountain. Structural protection and perimeter control continue in the evacuated communities. A red flag warning is in effecxt, 10am-8pm with low humidity.

Fire Update

6/4/2011 10:00 pm –

Date Started: 5/29/2011 Number of Personnel: Approximately 1300 personnel
Location: south and west of Alpine, Arizona
Cause: Human – under investigation
Size: 144,100 Aircraft: 12 helicopters
Percent Contained: 0% Injuries to Date: none

Current Evacuation

The evacuation of Blue River residents by Greenlee County officials remains in effect.
Residents in the communities affected by this fire are asked to remain prepared in the event an order is needed.
The evacuation order for the communities of Alpine and Nutrioso by Apache County Emergency Management remain in effect.

Pre-Evacuation Advisories

The pre-evacuation notice by the Apache County Sheriff’s Office to the residents of Greer community and the surrounding areas remains in effect.

North Zone Update

Firefighters completed approximately 30 miles of burnout operations.
Approximately 160 firefighters will be continuing burnout operations overnight along Hwy 191 & 180.
Structural protection continues in the evacuated communities

South Zone Update

The west perimeter of the fire has now burned on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Fire activity has mostly been on the ground with some torching. Burnout operations may occur in this area tomorrow.

Closures:
Due to extreme fire conditions, the Apache National Forest is closed to all public entry. Property owners and their guests will continue to have access to private lands within the Forest. See website for closure order details. Please see the Forest website for more information: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Fire Restrictions: A Temporary Emergency Closure Order for the Apache National Forest was issued effective June 3 at 12:00 p.m. (noon). For more information, please call the Arizona fire restrictions hotline 1-877-864-6985 or visit http://www.wildlandfire.az.gov/.

Scary Times!

Alpine and Nutrioso were evacuated last night, heavy smoke and low visibility here this morning. Just waiting for the web to update with news of the fires advance. Gary was called out last night to Alpine, makes me sad that it may burn! I wonder if this fire was human caused, if the person knows they started it? Wish they'd closed the forest for the holiday weekend! We're packing up important papers, hard drives, photos and getting ready just in case we're next to go. I don't think the fire can get to us here, upper Eagar is close to the forest and in more danger, but you never know!

Wallow Fire is Growing Fast!

This morning when I first checked the fire web site it said 18,000 acres, then a bit later it jumped to over 40,000! This fire isn't laying down at night like the Rodeo fire did, and is advancing fast! We didn't have smoke here in the valley today, but I could see it to the south and east of us, a big plume of it! Alpine was put on a 24 houe pre-evacuation notice that changed to mandatory this afternoon, and then suddenly Nutrioso was added, they said that when it got dark and they could check on the fire with infrared, it showed that the fire was closer than they thought! Gary was called out this evening to Alpine, hope they can save the town!

Picnic and more smoke

We still have smoke around us, but it wasn't as thick here in town. The fire has grown, here's the latest:

Alpine Ranger District Closure Area Effective Immediately
Incident: Wallow Wildfire
Released: 3 hrs. ago

The movement of the Wallow Fire has prompted the Forest to announce an Area Closure on the Alpine Ranger District of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests effective immediately.

Closures/Evacuations/Advisories: The southern boundary of the Closure Area is the Mogollon Rim and goes north to Forest Roads 249 and 116. The western side of the closure is the boundaries of the San Carlos Apache and White Mountain Apache Indian Reservations and goes east to Highway 191.

Highway 191 is closed from Alpine, AZ on the north, to the Strayhorse Campground on the south.

Portions of both Greenlee County and Apache County are affected by the closure.

A precautionary evacuation of all residents and visitors within the closure area is also in effect immediately. Private property within the closure area includes Sprucedale, Beaver Creek Ranch, Beaverhead, Brentwood and residents along Forest Road 26. Campgrounds include West Fork, and all of the campgrounds along the East Fork of the Black River. There is no access to the Black River.

Big Lake Recreation Area including all of the surrounding campgrounds remains open. Access to the area is from Highway 261 and Highway 273.

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Fire Restrictions: The A-S National Forests Fire Restrictions went into effect at midnight on May 31. The restrictions prohibit campfires, except in fire grills provided in developed recreation sites, smoking, except in an enclosed vehicle or building, and welding with an open flame. Please see the Forest website for more information: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/

Strong, gusty winds are expected at various times throughout the week.

Check for RED FLAG conditions by dialing 593 or 928-333-3412 or on the website: 593info.org.
Unit Information

We joined Andy's family this morning, where they are camping on the Mineral Creek, for a picnic. The guys went and explored in Harris Cave, while the girls and Anthony stayed in camp and went on a nature hike.

Fire Season is Here!

When I opened our door this morning, the strong scent of smoke hit me and the world was obscured by smoke! Checked and found there is a forest fire burning near Alpine.

Wallow Fire Burning on Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Alpine
Body (Posted May 30, 2011 at 12:20 p.m.) A wildfire called the Wallow Fire is located about 15 miles southwest of Alpine, Ariz. in the Bear Wallow Wilderness area. Updated acreage will be provided later today.

The fire is believed to be human-caused.

A Type II Team will be briefed and transitioned today at noon.

The Reno Fire Lookout and some campers have been evacuated, and Hannagan Lodge residents have been notified. The Forest Service is asking recreationists and travelers to avoid the area at this time.

A road closure is in place from Wildcat Point on Forest Service Road 25 to Highway 191. The public is asked to avoid this area as well.

Windy Day

It's been cold and windy today, made it unpleasant to load up!

Elephant

John made this cute elephant today. He doesn't like him and I do, so guess who gets to keep him!!

Tweet, Tweet

We've been bird watching the last few days. We sit in the sunroom for our breaks and we watch two beautiful tiny yellow birds as they hop around. They don't ever sit still for very long, they are hopping and flying all over the place. I wonder if they are catching bugs?

Cold!

The snow is all melted, but it's so cold and cloudy today! Spring where are you? The locust tree says it's not here yet and it knows!


I found another red chili today. I've picked chili's off the plants I brought inside all winter, so nice!

We Got Snow!

When I got up this morning about 5, it was snowing! We got about 2 inches of snow but it didn't stick around long, by noon it was all gone. Even while it was snowing, it was melting. This has been a cold spring!

Cloudy and Cold!

It was pretty overcast when we got up this morning. It had cleared up a bit by the time we walked, but it was cold!

Hop, Hop

Our bunny was at the cattleguard again this morning. He must live close by.

Discouraged

The other day while I was updating and adding photos to my blog I got a message that blogger was doing maintenance and would be down for a bit. I don't know what happened, but when they were done, a bunch of my photos were missing! I think more than just what I'd uploaded that day. So discouraging! Dumb Blogger!

We drove over to Show Low again this morning to deliver one of John's scratchboards and one of my photos to City Hall for the Art Exhibit. Jan, the lady in charge had gone to the Casbah and seen our exhibit there, where I have my duck photo, and wanted me to put it in the show. She also requested that John bring a scratchboard, so now we have a couple more things in the show. They will have an open house in June and hopefully lots of people will see our stuff!

New Water Heater and a Family Visit

I walked by myself this morning, John wanted to hang around in case Andy called to say they were on the way. I haven't walked in several days, we've been too busy, so I needed to get out and walk! I made it to the cattleguard, our usual stopping place these days.



Andy's family came over today so Andy could help John install the new water heater we got in the attic and clean out the junk from the old water heater that plugged up the faucets. Everytime we've drained the old one and refill it, it has spewed out junk and plugged things up. After the guys got the heater in, we had a BBQ and Andy tried out the scooter John is building. They had a set back, the transmission stopped working after Andy took it out for a ride. John will have to investigate to see why. We had a good visit with the guys. Jessie tried out John's bike, I'm amazed that she can ride it, the seat is so high! And Josh got in some skateboard time in the shop.

Ice Cream Parlor

Andy bought the equipment from an Ice Cream Parlor that closed and John and I rode over to Pinetop with our trailer so they could load it on there to get it home. Wow, we had a truckload and a trailerload!

Show Low City Hall Art Exhibit

We took John's bear and little horse Rosie to ShowLow today where they will be living at City Hall for the next 6 months. They are having an artist exhibit there and invited area artists to display their work. Unfortunately, while unloading the bear John wrenched his shoulder and it has been pretty painful ever since.

I rode out to the dump with John this afternoon and on the way home we saw a herd of elk grazing in a field just outside of town! Not sure how many there were, we couldn't get a good count because they were so bunched up, but there were more than 20!

Summer Splash

They are irrigating now, one of the fields we walk past was getting flooded, should be getting green before long! We happened upon a rabbit, I think he thought he was invisible if he sat still, he gave me time to get a good shot of him!

I rode out to the dump with John this morning, they are sweeping and washing the road, there were soap bubbles on it! Wonder what they are up to?

The poor treeless DQ.

This evening we went to a show at Jessie's school put on by the kids. It was called Summer Splash and was really good. We enjoyed it. I was amazed again at how talented the kids are, the classes are small, only 7 students in the 8th grade, but they sure can put on a good show! The songs were all familiar golden oldies and it was great! Here's the 4th and 5th graders, Jessie is on the back row, 3rd from the right.

Ode To A Fallen Tree

They cut down the tree in front of Dairy Queen! I'm not sure when they did it John said there was a sign on DQ when he went by earlier that said "Town of Eagar, you stink!" I gather from that they didn't want the tree cut down and the city did it against their objections. Dumb city anyway, it was a beautiful shade tree!

Historic Greer Lodge burned this morning!

Fire Destroys Historic Greer Lodge
Updated: Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 10:49 AM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 7:33 AM MDT

Photo from the web

Adapted for the Web by
myFOXPhoenix.com Staff
GREER, Ariz. - The historic Greer Lodge has burned to the ground.

The fire started after 4:00 a.m. Tuesday and destroyed the building.

John Raven was staying at the Greer Lodge and said they were given a five minute warning to evacuate.

Barbara Keehn, who is staying at the nearby Molly Butler Lodge, said it was a scary sight - "it looked like the forest was on fire." Looking out of her window around 6:30 a.m., she said the fire appeared to be contained, but you could still see a lot of smoke.

Caitlin Sandhal, the daughter of the Greer Lodge owner Doug Sandhal, said her father recently had some renovations done to the building. She adds that they're all in shock, but she wouldn't put it past him to rebuild the lodge because Greer means a lot to him.

Doug Sandhal said there was no damage done to the 70 cabins surrounding the lodge.

The Lodge's restaurant and cabins remain open.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is unknown.

The Greer Lodge was built in 1948 and contained 10 rooms and a restaurant. It's a popular eastern Arizona getaway spot in the White Mountains. Sandhal says he will rebuild the lodge.

As we were walking this morning, we noticed smoke on the horizon in the direction of Greer. We thought it was a control burn, but I wonder if it was the lodge? The smoke is just to the left of the tower.


A rabbit we saw on our walk. We're seeing lots of them now.

Wind

The wind has been horrible today! A good day to stay inside!! I missed going for a walk, but didn't want to get blown away!

NOAA says:

WINDS: SOUTHWEST FROM 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 55 MPH...WINDS PEAKING ESPECIALLY BY MID AFTERNOON TO LATE AFTERNOON.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 39 MPH...OR GUSTS FROM 40 TO 57 MPH...ARE EXPECTED. CONSIDER SECURING LOOSE BELONGINGS ON YOUR PROPERTY. (Good advise, our table and chairs are trying to blow away! The wind blew the stone we had on top of the table off and the legs and top were blowing away! John gathered them up and put the stone on them.)

Home Again

We visited with Charles, Nikki and Patrick for a bit this morning, hitched up the boat and headed out for home. We had a good visit, except for the hot temperatures, LOL, they probably didn't think it was hot, but we did! My arms even got sunburned! We had an uneventful trip home, it was too long, but we stopped several times to stretch our legs and work out the cramps. We stopped in Show Low at Lowes and picked up a water heater for the attic. Everything John drains the one that we have and fills it up again, it gives off rust that plug up all the faucets. No fun taking them apart to clean them all the time!! It was windy when we got home, I didn't notice the wind in Tucson, not sure if it's been blowing all the time we were gone or not.

Saturday

ate bfast, toured old town, saw the elephant sculpture, ate at golden corral

friday

travel day

Nice Day

It's warming up now and was nice this morning for our walk. John's ankle was bothering him and I felt hammered from not sleeping well last night, so we only went to the windmill and back, about 1.88 miles total

Mother's Day visit

We took Mother's Day flowers and cards to our Mom's today since we'll be gone on Mother's Day. Had a short visit with Mom, she was heading out with Carleen to go to Carleen's Doc appointment. Her computer is acting up and I stayed and tried to fix it, updated windows hoping that would fix the glitch, but it didn't. John visited his Mom while I was working on Mom's computer.

Nice weather today, we walked to the cattle guard again, and had an easy time making it, yea!

It's Freezing!

We started out on our walk this morning and it was so cold that we didn't even make it to the end of our street! The breeze felt like it was coming from Siberia! Burr! Did someone forget to tell the weatherman that it's May today?

What The Easter Bunny Does After Easter

We were walking along this morning when we spotted a bunny hiding in the weeds. I wonder if he was looking for lost eggs?

Wind Again

Windy again today. We walked earlier, but it was still pretty windy by the time we got back. John is working on his bike again, he's remodeling it, he is oging to move the engine.

Dentist and walks

John had an appointment with Dr. Tenney for crown preps on two teeth. It took them 3 hours! I went for a walk while he was gone. It was pretty nice out, just a bit windy. Later, I went for another walk along the river and it was very windy by then!

wednesday

John took a trailer he built several years ago down to St. Johns this morning to license it. While he was gone, I went for a walk, I'm making it to the bottom of the hill easily, as soon as the weather is better, I think I'll try going up the hill.

Wind

We braved the wind and took some sculptures over to Pintop and Little Shops at the Casbah today. The owners picked all 5 that we took, 4 of them are on the patio and one, the computer dude, is at the entrance. Ordered a microwave at Home Depot, hope we have better luck than ordering online! Shopped at WalMart and came home.

Monday

John and I walked this morning, it was windy and cool. John is remodeling the goat again, LOL, this time he's adding some "skin" to him. The dino is almost finished, he is going to add a few more finishing touches. But, most things aren't finished until they get sold, LOL. John is always remodeling.

Easter is Here!

Easter dawned cloudy and breezy. We had a quiet day. John worked on his dinosaur until his welder died, then he ran down to visit his mom and borrow their old welder. I stayed home and walked.

Easter Picnic

We met Andy's family and Mom and Carleen at the Midway and went up to Bucklelew Spring for a picnic. The day was overcast and windy when we left, but the trees dropped the wind to a breeze and the sun came out and it ended up being a nice day.

Jess visit

Jessie asked if she could come over and spend the night, so after her family colored their eggs, they brought her over. We colored a few eggs here, it would have seemed so strange not to, she's been spending a few days with us around Easter time since she was about 3 and we've celebrated Easter with her for the last eight years.

John challenged Jessie to a dogfight and she ended up beating him most of the time! LOL, he usually wins when I play him, so it was fun to see Jessie winning!!

Walks, Blooms and a Set Back

John and I walked this morning. We went past the end of the pavement a bit so a little over 2 miles. It was a bit windy and cold, but not too bad. John said I walked his legs off, LOL. I was going fast to keep up with him and he says he was walking fast to keep up with me! I think we probably set a time record. John spotted this little guy plugging along the road. Love his colors!



Unwalked territory, the road ahead. One day we'll venture farther and see what's at the top!



My amaryllis is booming! And I bought an Easter Lily the other day. They brighten up the place and the lily smells so, umm, strong? It smelled good at first, but it's kind of overpowering now. But it's beautiful!



John had a set back with his dino, one of the welds broke and the head fell to the floor and broke the weld holding it on! So he spent today fixing and making it stronger. Bummer!

Dinosaur

John worked on his dino today, he decided to go with the chain for the backbone and tail. Tony gave him a piece the other day that was enough to make his backbone but not tail and he offered John another piece to do the tail, so it can all be the same, thanks Tony! Here's the dino progress today. Those teeth look wicked!


The air around has been hazy lately and John found an article in the paper about a fire up near double cattleguards, so we went up to check it out. I don't think the haze today was from that fire, looked like it was out, but it was still hazy. We saw a field of horses and geese grazing together in Alpine, cool sight! The geese are the tiny things in the forground, you can barely see them.

Still Breezy

John and I went for a walk this morning. It was breezy and a bit cool. I was glad I took my hat along with me, I ended up with it on to keep my ears warm. We didn't go as far today, the wind was picking up and we didn't want to fight a strong headwind on the way home.


John has been trying to track down the source of the cold air that he and Andy felt when they were diagnosing the studio water pipes to see how many froze last winter. They could feel cold air coming out of the wall the shower is on, so that's probably why it froze the pipes. John got some insulation and has been pouring it into the wall and he caulked up some spots where we could see light coming through from outside, in the bath closet and he caulked up a spot where the siding has started pulling away from the building. Hopefully, this will save us from freeze damage next winter!

Breezy Monday

Another breezy spring day! Not as bad as it's been though. While John went out running errands and going to see Dr. Heap to see if he has metal in his eye, (luckily it was just a scratch) I went for a walk. I made it to the end of the pavement and a bit beyond, a little over 2 miles total. John called while I was walking, he'd gotten home, so he met me at the corrals on my way back and we walked home from there together. I met Joaquin out walking his dog on my way back, sad that he's alone now.

Eric came up and spent the afternoon working on a project for himself and John worked on his new sculpture, a dinosaur. Wow, it's going to be huge! It looks pretty scary to me right now, with only the feet and legs done! Can you imagine meeting this guy somewhere!

Here's a look at what his head will be made of.

ADSR Sunday

Sunday midnight is the deadline for the weeks ADSR challenges and it seems like lots of racers like to leave it to the last second and beyond to post their layouts! Then they don't do them right, I don't think they read the directions well, just skim them and go do a layout, never checking to see if they followed the rules, like post in your credits what you used where to fill the requirements! This week I checked in my teams, the teams of a checker who is at a Big Losers Camp and the teams of an ill checker. I was pretty burned out by the end of the day!

John has started on a new sculpture. This one is a dinosaur and it is going to be pretty big! Here's John standing by its feel and legs. WOW!

The world is blooming now! These blooms are on a tree at Basha's.

Chrome In The Dome

Today was the annual Chrome In The Dome day. John and I spent a couple hours looking and wandering and drooling over the vehicles! There were some beautiful ones there. I saw several that I would love to have!




Andy's family came over so he could help John take a look inside the wall in the Studio bathroom with his little camera to see what froze and broke last winter. Luckily, they didn't see any pipes broken, just the faucet! Whew, they got the parts ordered and on the way. Hope that fixes it. They could feel a breeze coming out of the wall and so we need to find out where the cold air is getting in, so we don't have freezing problems next winter! We ate BBQ burgers for lunch and then Jessie, Susan and I went down to the Thrift Store to shop, Jessie got watered down when her bottle full of pop went pop when she opened it and she needed a change of clothes. We all found some good bargains! I got a cool jacket, and Jessie and Susan found clothes. Had a good visit with them all.