Sky Fire

No, the sky isn't on fire, it just looks that way.  Our January 10th sunrise is easily the best morning light we've seen since our arrival here almost two months ago.  The light show started shortly before 7 am and just keeps getting better and better as the sun approaches the lip of the Mogollon Rim.  Our tiny little point-and-shoot camera just barely captures such a magnificent vista.

Remember that old saying: "Red sky at morning, sailor's warning?"  Well, the adage is apt today as there's a BIG storm rolling in --big as in a return of C-O-L-D weather along with a dose-o-snow.  This morning's Flagstaff NWS Discussion says: "BITTER COLD IS TO BE EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK."  The whole Phoenix area is all a-twitter with expectations of a hard freeze that could last all weekend.  Lots of tender plants will be lost there during this event.  If the forecast comes true, this will be the hardest, longest freeze they've had in years, dating to well before the housing bubble.  So, we'd expect the botanical "survival of the fittest" to be the rule of the day down there in the next few days.  Three graphics for this storm are below the sunrise photo.  You can easily see we are on the southern tip of a very large storm system affecting most of the US West.

Many Happy Early January Cheers!  jp

Fireopractor

And so it is that a new word was born tonight amid the flame-flickered darkness.

John is a Fireopractor.  When perhaps the light may dim, John makes Fireopractic adjustments to the skeletal embers of his flaming clientele.  Once all the various parts are feng shui, flames flicker.  Fire happens.  Life is Good.

Many Cheers from The Fireopractor!  jp

Maravilloso desayuno y bebidas

Dear Friends Maria Elena and Tim hosted us for breakfast this morning.  What a wonderful and delightful morning event they staged!  Tim, of course, is a world class barrista and started us off with coffee several light years better than Starbucks.  Maria Elena served up a genuine world class tortilla.  You see, in Spain and South America, a tortilla isn't a flat, thin piece of wheat.  Nope, Maria Elena's tortilla is a rich meal of eggs, potatoes, vegetables and more, all blended into a finely done package that delights the eyes as well as the palate.

Maria Elena also served up a memorable medley of pineapple and grapefruit juice while finishing the meal with her special homemade blend of rum and cream.  Tim's Special Scones were served to compliment the fine morning repast.  Tim's Scones are easily the best scones we've ever had.

We four enjoyed fine friendship along with our fine dining.  Maria Elena and Tim regaled us with captivating stories of their three-week trip to Baja.  Thanks Maria Elena & Tim, what a great breakfast on a fun January morning.  Many Happy Trails and Many Cheers!  jp

 A hearty morning "Howdy" from Tim.

 Tim's barrista equipment is equal ot or better than anything you will find in a gourmet coffee shop.

 Here's my espresso.

 Maria's Elena's cheese plate and her special morning citrus juice.

 Maria Elena is all smiles as she served her tortilla.

 It's nothing like a thin, flat piece of flour.  Nope, this tortilla totally redefines the genre.

 What a great plate!

Thanks, Maria Elena & Tim, for a wonderful morning and a fabulous breakfast

Guest Appearance

We had a really fun surprise on Saturday.  Elson & Cindy appeared at the end of our road.  We hadn't seen them for many, many years....so many years none of us could remember when it was.  We think the last time we saw them both was down at Elson's Place in Puerto Lobos on the Mexican Coast.  It sure was great to visit with them and and get caught up on where our lives have been going in, oh, those many years since we last enjoyed each other's company.  

Susun's Sunday Strolls

Susun's Sunday Strolls are becoming quite popular with her girl friends.  This past Sunday saw ten Dear Friends join in the Red Rock Ramble.  Susun says the only problem is that she isn't get a workout, except for her laugh muscles, of course.  Her friends say they welcome Susun's return to Arizona because they know she will get them all together.  You could call the weekly occasion Susun's Sunday Strolls or Susun's Sunday Socials.  Either way works.  Here's some photos from the past two Sunday's (December 30 and January 6th).

The objective of the last hike of Year 2012 was to reach Oak Creek from Susun K's. house.

And what should the adventurers find but a busted up, abandoned Coleman canoe perfect for their repose.

 The objective of the first hike of Year 2013 was roundabout Chimney Road.

 And what should they find but a giant stupa.

 It's a Buddhist Thing.  Can you tell?

Onward, Ladies, ONWARD!

Rube Goldberg Lives!

Way, way up in the cold, polar, deep frozen tundra of Idaho Falls there sits a Dear Friend and Loyal Blog Reader, Terry M.  He sits and stares at the cold, blowing snow and thinks of the biting winds and, during those ;long months of winter hibernation, his creative spirit begins to course once again through his veins.  As he peruses this blog, DF & LBR Terry M. spies out yet another post about a camp fire.  Rather than throw up his hands in disgust, Terry diligently deploys his keenest and utmost creativity like a laser beam to the topic at hand.  A little tinkering here, a little tweaking there and, behold, he unveils yet a new wondrous, dazzling camp fire device for all the world to see.  Thank You, Terry, for letting us all know that the Spirit of Rube Goldberg is Alive & Well this winter in Idaho Falls.  Carry on.

Dad's Book is online

Today just called out to be a day when something special gets done.  First, we thought we were going to drive the Copper Canyon portion of The Crook Trail.  But the circumstances changed and we decided to devote our entire day to finding some way, somehow to get Dad's book online.

Frankly, the whole process has been a real bear from the git-go.  We did find a reasonably-priced book scanner and he delivered the scan files late last week.  It didn't take too long to realize that messing with most of those files would require weeks of work to render them into an ebook format.

Meanwhile, we started messing with the POD People.  POD= Print On Demand.  If we thought the eBook world was a jungle, we hadn't seen anything yet.  The POD People make sharks look tame by comparison.
Not only that but just hacking our way through the POD jungle required a lot of skills that seemed beyond our grasp.

As the day wore, we must admit we were becoming exceptionally frustrated, if not deeply perturbed.  For one thing, "they" say it's easy to provide a book for free online.  Well, what "they" don't tell you is that is it NOT easy and you have to jump a lot of hoops because why would they want to help you give a way a book free in the first place?  There's no money in it for them so there are roadblocks aplenty in that seemingly simple picture.  Meanwhile, the POD People scoffed at trying to make the book free.  It's not possible so fuggetaboutit.

All of this weighty reality was weighing me down as the day worn on.  Finally, sitting here in front of this computer, the light bulb went off and I found myself asking questions I've often asked throughout my life, "Why do I have to deal with these people in the first place?  Isn't there some way I can do this myself and bypass all those people?  Isn't there a better way?"

Well, simply asking the questions cheered me up considerably and it wasn't long before the light bulb went off and we had at least an interim solution to the whole thing.  Granted, it's not the most optimal solution but it works and it provided instant gratification and it totally changed my day from one of frustration to one of success.

The book scanner created both a small and large PDF file for the book.  The big file is 150 megs but the small file is 21 megs.  I spent time comparing the two files and realized there was essentially no significant difference between the quality of the two files because of the rather low quality of the original product.  The type face in the original book was light and, sure enough, it shows up light in the scans.  Some of the photos were dark in the original book and, sure enough, those same photos show up dark in the scans.

So, I decided the small PDF file just might offer a window of opportunity.  I placed it on a state-of-the-art cloud-sharing website and, voila, the embed scripts actually produced a version you can read online without even having to download the file!  Amazing but true.  Meanwhile, the cloud sharing outfit makes the download process insanely fast.

Just to be safe, we uploaded the 21 meg PDF to Google's Documents (AKA: Drive) so we have a redundant download source.

What we have here now is that the book is available free online instantly today.  No waiting.  No wondering.  No nothing.  Somebody wants the book--they got it.  Just like that. POOF.  Free.

We want this book to live forever, that's the plan--we want it to live way past our own lifetime.  We think we are "on to something" here and this book now has a fighting chance to survive into the foreseeable future and beyond.  This is a good thing.

OK, trumpet fanfare and drum roll please.  Here is my Dad's book sitting online and free!  YEA!

http://thebestseatinhouse.blogspot.com/

Many Cheers!  jp

Montezuma Marksmen

Here they are: The Montezuma Marksmen, all seven of them.  We put up both photos because some of us look better in one and maybe not the other.  (L-R) Tony, Josh, John, Brad, Al, Tom, Gary.  What a great and fun group of guys.  We have had so much fun together.  We appreciate each and every one and ALL of you so much!

Today, we staged our Montezuma Markmen Monday Match #4. Just as Gary was at the firing line, a Forest Service guy drove up and told us we could no longer shoot there.  Our first pistol match of 2013 also became our last (at least at that location).  Everyone took the news in stride and we had a wonderful Monday Match.  Everyone did really well and everyone was happy with their performance and results.

I am very proud to call these guys my Dear Friends.  You Guys Are AWESOME!  THANK YOU!!!! jp

Five Fires

We ended Year 2012 on a slow note with the last camp fire being the Winter Solstice on December 21.  We didn't have another camp fire until the evening of New Year's Day.  Since then, we've enjoyed five fires. We need a "fire-o-meter" that would automatically count how many fires we have.  They are all so photogenic but, yes, we know, even DF & LBRs tire of seeing yet another fire foto.  Hey, we can't help ourselves.  We LOVE our camp fires!  As you know, we've been burning two species of juniper for the last few years.  Our latest stash of wood includes quite a bit of oak.  It's a whole different gig burning oak.  It burns longer, keeps a flame looking better and just generally behaves quite a bit different than the fast burning cedar.  Looking at our wood stash, we can easily project we have enough fuel to keep the home fires burning through April with enough remaining to give us a great head start once again in November 2013.

Crook Trail Exploration

Here we have above a class "Man & His Truck" photo.  DF & LBR Wayne Ranney has had this classic old Toyota since the late Quaternary, when early trucks first emerged from smokey Neanderthal caves.  This trusty truck sat for years collecting pine needles in Flagstaff until it was unearthed to be pressed into service last spring after Wayne's modern Suburu blew a head gasket.

Even though Wayne's truck predates the internet and smartphones, he managed to coax it off The Mogollon Rim into our domain here in The Verde Valley in search of history--specifically, an esoteric portion of the legendary General Crook Trail.  Wayne and we have shared a mutual bucket list item to hike this esoteric section of the Crook Trail for over thirty years.  It seems rather strange that neither of us found our way onto this trail for the past three plus decades but it is true.

The Crook Trail was built in the late 1860's to connect Prescott's Fort Whipple with the famous Fort Apache via Fort Verde along The Mighty Mogollon.  One of the most "iffy" portions of the trail traversed the chock-a-block Copper Canyon as the military's way in and out of The Verde Valley.  Today's I-17 uses the same canyon to carry millions across the face of North Central Arizona.  General Crook used the trail that bears his name as a key piece in the complex equation of subjugating thousands of Native Americans who owned Arizona before the real estate developers came along.

Susie's Shuttle Service dropped Wayne and me off at the top of Copper Canyon where big truck drivers take a deep breath before plunging down the scary steep hill into The Verde Valley beyond.  Wayne and we bushwhacked, tramped, traversed and rambled for over four hours Friday while we pondered and puzzled our way along this fascinating portion of the Crook Trail.  It was a fine first hike with which to begin the New Year 2013.  THANKS, WAYNE!

 Nah, these two characters aren't hitch hikers, they are just off on a typical "All In A Day's Karma" jaunt.

 Susie's Shuttle Service is famous far and wide, no doubt about it!  THANK YOU, SUSUN!

 How apt that a Bubba Boy jerky truck would eddy out as we began out hike.

 This is what the remnants of the upper Copper Canyon Crook Trail look like.  Faint.

 Such a classic juxtaposition of the Old and New.

 The only aertifact we discovered was this horseshoe. Naturally, we left it where we found it.

What a fun four hour walkabout, Wayne!  THANK YOU!

Naturally Wayne's effusive Inner Geologist pointed out all sorts of interesting stuff.

This is a "bomb" that was buried in the ash and goo on the shoulders of a volcanic vent.

The scale shown was Wayne's first gift to us way back in 1980!

There's a pretty good size spring up in the head of Copper Canyon.  Once the old trail reached the canyon floor, it becomes a rather heavily used Forest Road that only roughly follows the historic route.

 These aren't ancient petroglyphs--they are the crude scrawl of Bubba Boyz exclaiming their country love or just making their mark.

Anytime you travel with Wayne, you must be prepared for spontaneous outbursts of outstanding geology.  Here Wayne bursts into "rock talk" to point out the The Verde Fault Line, much the same way Mary Poppins would burst into song in "The Sound of Music."  Thanks, Wayne, you sure make great geology music!

Year 2013 Bucket List

We're sure off to a slow start with the blog this year.  Note that in our busket list below we say we're going to creat 500 blog posts.  HA!  At this rate, we'd be on track to get FIFTY instead of 500.It's impossible to believe it's been a week since we posted here but it's painfully true.

Anyway, on the morning of January 1, we wrote the following snippet to post on Facebook.  Even though we "coulda, shoulda, mighta" put it here at the same time, we didn't.  As you know, we started this blog on 1/1/10.  The first post was short & simple.  It said: " The purpose of this blog is simply to attempt to record the year."  So here is the Bucket List so we can all judge whether what we "record this year" might measure up to our lofty aspirations as Year 2013 unwraps itself.
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People are fond of making resolutions today. We have a New Year's tradition of making a "bucket list" for the upcoming year. It's really not the same as resolving to lose weight and get in shape. A classic bucket list simply includes stuff you really want to do, rather than the self-improvements that typical New Year's Resolutions always address.

This morning we talked with "Houn' Dawg," one of our Dear Friends in Idaho. We both reaffirmed the importance of forcing ourselves to write down the bucket list TODAY on New Year's Day. It's kind of a ritual for both of us. Somehow, it gives the bucket list a little more weight if it is actually written on the first day of the year.

In the interest of putting myself "on notice," we are now making our Year 2013 bucket list public here on Facebook. That way, we have to be somewhat accountable a year from now when we look back and measure 2013's reality against our bucket list. Most of the names of stuff you read here relates to our Idaho Season (May-October) but there are some Arizona name's included.

Year 2013 Bucket List

Day Hike More Often w/Susun
Play more cribbage, croquet & darts w/Susun
Improve bowling avg. to 150
Play golf at least 20 times
Camp at least 50 nights
Visit Salmon Country at least four full weeks (28 days)
Camp at Riverside at least three times
Drive The Reclamation Road both ways
Visit Ken & Julie's cabin
Visit Heather's Place at least twice
Write 300 personal blog posts
Write 100 blog posts on the Salmon Thang
Write at least 100 posts on other blogs
Drive the Pass Creek-Double Springs loop
Explore and camp in Sawmill Canyon
Drive the Antelope Pass-Copper Basin-Trail Creek loop
Do at least three overnight backpacking trips
Explore Italian Peaks area.
Journey to the geographical Center of Idaho
Kayak or raft Snake River Canyon
Float South Fork from Palisades to Byington Bridge
Drive the Arco-Minnedoka Road
Explore the area between Kilgore & Rexburg
Visit site of proposed Grand Canyon Escalade
Visit Grand Canyon for a few days
Hike the Wilson & Bear Mtn. Trails
Drive The Young Road both ways
Drive the Perkinsville Road to Williams & back
If you get a Middle Fork or Main Salmon trip, GO!
Explore Tex Creek WMA in much greater detail
Become much more familiar with Pleasant Valley Country
Visit Yellowstone at least twice.
Continue Grand Teton & City of Rocks camping traditions
Spend a 5 nights at Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our Dear Friends from Susun & John! 
May Your Year 2013 be filled with Joy, Happiness, Success, 

Fun, Adventure, Laughter, Delight, Surprise and 

The Warmth of a Loving Family & Dear Friends. 

(The photo was taken by an unknown tourist at Firehole Falls in Yellowstone National Park 5/19/12.

This picture has turned out to be one of our favorite photos of the year.  Many Cheers!  J&S)

Spirited Reunion

We had a really fun Sunday afternoon getting together with Taffy & Peter C. in Jerome.  We haven't been together with these two  Happy Spirits for at least ten years, maybe longer.  None of could remember the exact year we last saw each other.  Taffy & Peter enjoy periodic visits to Jerome's Spirit Room and Paul & Jerry's Saloon.  Peter likes to call The Spirit Room a "Star Wars Bar" and that's actually a pretty good summation of the visual and behavioral aspects of The Spirit Room.  On any given day, all sorts of interplanetary travelers emerge from the shadows to take their places on the bar stools and benches of The Spirit Room.  There is arguably no other bar in the Verde Valley which can rival the "Star Wars Bar" ambiance of The Spirit Room.  Sunday was no exception as a dreadlock-draped band blared unintelligible music at the decibel level of departing jetliners.  Nonetheless, it's fun to peek in on the innards of The Spirit Room once in awhile.

Susun surprised Taffy & Peter by knocking on the window while I captured the moment occupying the middle of the street.

With just some casual Photoshop work, this photo could be easily doctored up to resemble a real Star Wars Bar!

Susun and Taffy are all smiles about our get together.

We've missed the company of our two Dear Friends and it was delightful to reconnect with them.  In this photo, we've shifted from The Spirit Room to the quiet confines of Paul & Jerry's Saloon where the click of pool balls is the only sound to rise about the quiet murmur of the saloon's patrons.

THANKS for a great day, Taffy & Peter!  We are looking forward to seeing you again soon.   Many Cheers, jp

Blog status

Thanks for reading our blog.  As you know, we started this project three years ago on New Year Eve 2009.  On our blog's third birthday, it's worth noting that we've published 1403 posts and as of the last couple of days, our page view total cross the 32,000 mark.

Considering this is an unlisted blog that is unavailable to search engines, that's pretty remarkable and a statistical testimony to YOU, Dear Friend and Loyal Blog Reader!!!  If not for our small group of DF & LBRs, this blog would be nothing.  Thank You for sticking with us through thick and thin.

We did manage to put up an average of 24 blog posts per month in Year 2013.  We're confident we can at least maintain a similar average in Year 2013 but will try to get it back to the "one post per day" average of yesteryear.

As we've noted often in recent months, we have a lot more competition for our time on this blog than we did three years ago.  Our newly acquired interest in Facebook eats up a lot of time, as does The Salmon Thang and a few other special interest blogs.  If you were to total the posts from all our blogs, we probably put up close to 500 posts in Year 2012.  Meanwhile, we're guessing we've put up probably another 400 posts on the two Facebooks we manage (Salmon & personal).  So, all-in-all, it's been a productive year.

This morning, we were greeted with a nice Year End Gift--a dusting of powdered sugar snow here at Second Chance Ranch.  As you know, it's rare when we get snow down to our 3500 foot level.  It typically happens once or twice a year but never more than four in our memory.  The snow will probably be gone by lunch.

I Love Susun

Sometimes My Sweetie Susun strikes such a stunning pose that it makes me want to shout out, "I LOVE SUSUN!"  This is one of those places and poses.  It's such a sweet photo, especially if you consider the circumstances.

Our day started out really slowly.  It was really, really cold here, much colder than the 16 degrees that registered on our thermometer.  It felt like BELOW zero.  I wonder sometimes if thermometers get fooled.  If they do, today could have been one of those days.  It was downright COLD!

So, naturally, being that cold and us being lizards we didn't do anything for a long time.  However, we had made this deal that we were going to do SOMETHING today.  Meanwhile, the clock ticked down on the day.  Finally, we made our way out of the house at a few minutes before 3 pm.  That's pretty late if you are remotely thinking of having a viable adventure on a Friday afternoon.

So.  We drove ourselves out on what we call "The 618 Road."  We didn't really know where we were going and, by and by, we saw this road heading off to nowhere and we both thought it would be a good idea to follow it.  We drove through all sorts of semi-extreme terrain following this road until we both spotted this mini mesa and thought it would be a good idea to climb to the top of it.

It wasn't easy and certainly there was no clear route to the top of it but, POOF, suddenly there we were and Sweetie Susun posed on The Rimrocks that rim this mini mesa.  There's actually only one slot in the rimrocks that will let you gain access to the top.  We were lucky and found that slot both going up and coming down.  Good thing.

Anyway, when I see My Sweetie like this it makes me want to shout out, "I LOVE SUSUN!"

SUSUN ROX!

Thank You, Susun, for being My Sweetie!  I appreciate you in so many ways.  You make Every Year a Happy New Year!

PS--We got home by 5:05 pm.

Jolly Good Time

Thanks to The Three Wheelers, Susun and we enjoyed a Jolly Merry Christmas Dinner here at Second Chance Ranch (2CR).  Goat Herder brought over his patented and famous Christmas Roast while Joshua put his years of dough forming experience at Orion Bakery to use making divine dinner rolls.  Meanwhile, Kate supervised the assembly of some beautiful Christmas deserts.  Susun spent the better part of a couple of days putting together an array of side dishes.  We five had a great time.

While Goat Herder, Kate and Susun sat around the table talking, Joshua and I entertained ourselves playing chess, croquet and darts.  We also took time to help him create a brand new Facebook page for himself.  It was a wonderful Christmas.  THANKS, You Three Wonderful Wheelers!  Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!

The stuff under the blue tarp was all we had left!

Meanwhile, what else has been going on around 2CR?  Not a whole heck of a lot.  The biggest news is that we finally found wood.  Not that wood's hard to find.  Wood's everywhere but usually not the wood we wish we would find.  It came right down to the wire.  When we first arrived in early November, fire wood sellers were everywhere.  However, the National Forest closed long ago to wood cutters this season and the number of truckloads of available wood rapidly dwindled.  Meanwhile, none of the trucks full of wood we saw were particularly suitable for campfire wood.  Finally, the day after Christmas we spotted one lone truck in Camp Verde and it just happened to be the wood we were looking for.  Although we paid way too much money, at least we are once again well stocked up for our campfire design & maintenance hobby.  WHEW, it came right down to the wire.  The seller told us it was his last load and he didn't know of anyone else that had wood for sale.  Close call.


It has been downright cold here lately, temps in the mid-teens.  One of our neighbors logged a 12 degree reading this morning.  It's that time of year when cold is common.  The cold season generally lasts through most of January before letting loose its grip usually sometime after January 20th.  That's one of the many reasons we have a big party on the first Saturday in February.  Here, once again are all the reasons:
1) Susun's Birthday
2) Groundhog Day
3) Candlemas (the mid-point of winter)
4) Anti Stupor Bowl Party
5) Release of grip of cold weather

Today once it warms up we hope to go hiking someplace.  Many Cheers, jp