User Friendly Friday

Do you remember when the term "user friendly" became part of our cultural lingo? I can't remember when it was. It seems like to came about when we started messing with 8-track tapes or cassettes or maybe early answering machines or VCR's. I'm guessing the term is probably 30 years old.

Why's that relevant to this blog post? It just seems like a nice description of our upcoming day today--real user friendly here at Laid Back Randy's. It's so nice not having to face a seemingly endless array of daunting chores, projects, tasks, "must-do" things and so forth.

As we were sitting around our first campfire last night, we both remarked how nice it is to be able to pick and choose what we wish to do. There's no pressure, no deadlines, no "looking over our shoulder," no waiting for the other show to drop. It's very refreshing and somehow the iconic "user friendly" popped into my blogged mind. That term really sums up the relaxed way we went through our day yesterday and plan to go about our day today. Whew, it's been a long time coming!

We were busy throughout the day yesterday but not in a harried or hurried mode.
Both trucks were unpacked. All the food items were arranged nicely in the pantry.
Everything is pretty much in its place. Susun completely redid the bedding. It's lightyears better than it was before. We have a nice heated mattress pad. If you've never used one, they are a real treat--so much better than an electric blanket.

I did have a fleeting moment of mild paranoia yesterday. I stole some water. Yes, it's true, I am now a broad daylight water thief! I put our four empty water containers in the truck and headed over to Montezuma Well National Monument to obtain our non-culinary water. Opps, the ditch wasn't running and the spigots are still shut because of freezing temps.

What to do? I went back to the house and grabbed a hose and headed off in search of a spigot. I found one on the backside of the C-store near the post office. I debated whether to do inside and ask permission or possibly offer to pay for the 20 gallons. Hum....what if they said no? It was late in the day and my options were slim and none. So, I just hooked up the hose, filled the bottles and hot-footed it out of there. I imagined someone running from the back of the store--"STOP, THIEF, STOP!" Luckily, no such thing happened. I will go in today and (hopefully) make proper arrangements for future water withdrawals.

It was great to get a campfire up and running again. There's really nothing like the smell of juniper smoke wafting over a landscape. It's quintessentially southwest--right up there with Kokopelli, lizards and kerchief-clad coyotes.

As you can tell, there's not a whole heck of a lot going on here at The 2nd Chance Ranch!

One last tidbit: this morning's paper says Flagstaff's 138 inches of snow ranks #11 on the "all time" list. There is speculation that a Top Five finish might be possible. I will probably write a longer post about this on the Arizona Snowbirds blog.

Have a great day! j&s

Today