Sunday Summary

Greetings!  In case you haven't realized it, we've been on a Blog Break.  We probably still ARE on a Blog Break but it's time for at least a Sunday Summary.

Susun arrived back in Arizona via Southwest airlines yesterday afternoon.  We enjoyed another fine evening at her brother's house in Mesa.  We will be driving up to Second Chance Ranch later today.

The Road Trip went great.  Susun really bonded with her Grand Sons during the trip.  As she said, "When they were great, they were great and when they weren't great, they were really grouchy".  Even us adults can get grouchy on a road trip so Susun and Mom Sarah cut the boys a lot of slack and everybody returned to the coast in happy spirits.  We are very proud of Susun and her Family for venturing forth on a Road Trip of this complexity and magnitude.  Way to GO!

Wednesday afternoon, Susun took the boys and Sarah for a walk down the wash to Wet Beaver Creek.  Thanks, Sarah, for making and sending the iPhone mosaic photo above.  They are Beautiful Boys and we look forward to our times together in the future.

 Susun's going to return for Gage's 4th birthday in mid-April.  On that trip, she will return to Arizona April 17 and then we will head north two or three days later.

Susun came back from California infused with a new jingle in her head.  It's the lyrics from one of the iconic songs of The Lion King.  (Click here to read more about the words.) We suspect we will be hearing these words quite a few times as our future unfolds.

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata?

Yeah. It's our motto!

Susan Kliewer is going to do another April party up in Marble Canyon so we will be leaving Rimrock to go there probably on April 19th or 20th.  As we learned last year, it's a great way to spend our last few days in Arizona soaking up the geologic splendor of the Vermilion and Echo Cliffs as well as historic Lees Ferry, et al.

This past Thursday as Susun and her entourage were driving back to the coast I spent six hours working on the Salmon River Guide Project and made a lot of progress.  Our Supervisor Jeff feels we are now back on track and have a "plan" for potential completion of this project by late spring this year. Meanwhile, it's time to get back to work on the Verde River Guide Project.  We hope to make some significant project on that project this coming week.

Friday was spent driving down to Mesa and running a bunch of errands in The Valley.  Since Susun came in after 5 pm, we also had all day Saturday to get caught up on shopping in The Really Big City.  Cottonwood is our local "Big City" but the four million people who call The Valley home qualify that place as The Really Big City.

Spring must be right around the corner here.  Why's that?  Well, it's time for baseball's Spring Training to begin.  The coaches and the players have been here for quite some time.  Actual games will begin in about two weeks.  Once baseball spring training is underway, the Arizona winter is a distant memory and people begin slathering on the sunscreen.

For all practical porpoises, we have only two months together remaining here.  A couple of months from today, we will be driving up to Susan Kliewer's Place.  Naturally, the scant eight weeks ahead will go quickly, as they always do.  There's lots of projects to complete and it always seems time runs short during the last two months.  Due mostly to being back in Indiana for what seemed like forever, this winter season has really flown by in a blink.  It's time to get busy and start working on this season's bucket list.

Tomorrow, we are staging an informal IDPA-style pistol match for some of our shooting buddies.  If time allows, we hope to stage one weekly but we suspect it will be more like every other week.  As I sit here writing this "thinking out loud" blog post, I realize we are already short-timers down here in Ol' Airy Zonie.

Well, time to rustle some breakfast and get started on our day.  Have a Happy Sunday & Many Cheers, jp

PS--We took the photo below in August 2010 on our last day on the Salmon River doing field work for the guide project.  I think we published this photo in a blog post back then but it's worth publishing it a second time.  It's our favorite photo taken during that project.  The small herd of elk was just in front of our kayak and the thundering sounds from their hoofs hitting rocks and water was really awesome.  We sure look forward to getting back on The Salmon this summer.  We miss that river....a LOT!