Archives for 2014

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 – Rainy Day

Had some rain come in yesterday, and today it really poured! Stayed inside for most of the day, writing, writing, writing!

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 – Shopping Day

Headed down to Anthem, though we had to go even further to pick up some senior feed for the horses. Got out early, got back early enough to do some more writing today.

Monday, Dec. 1, 2014 – Ride South on Black Canyon Trail

After a couple of days of rest, we saddled up to take another ride today, this time heading south on Black Canyon Trail, which we haven't done since the first ride we took here. Tried to find an alternate route, but our first attempt didn't work out. Looked it up later on Google Earth to learn where we should have gone, so we'll know for next time. Once we reached the pipeline head by the road, instead of crossing, we ran north on the main road for a short distance before picking up a Forest Road that skirted around above the wash, which was lovely. We stopped at a rock outcropping for a quick apple before heading out again. As I suspected, the road ran into the road that takes us up to the mountains on the east side, and we dropped down into the wash and took that back to the ranch. A very nice ride, no drama, thank goodness. Gave the horses a bath when we got back, the dumbest job at any ranch, since it only lasts about one minute once the horses are let back into their paddock, even though we did let them stand around to dry for some time. A lovely ride! Managed to get some writing in when we got back as well, so a productive day as well.

Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 – Soup and Rest Day

Before leaving the dinner last night, I was asked if I wanted the carcass of the turkey for soup, and I said sure, if we could keep it down there overnight (no room in my fridge!). We decided I would make a big pot of soup in the commercial kitchen the next day, so after breakfast and a dump run, I headed over to the Bumble Bee’s well appointed commercial kitchen and started chopping and simmering and otherwise getting the soup going. Several trips back and forth during the day to continue the process, until at 5:00 I had a delicious soup simmering, with a score of little mashed potato dumplings floating on the top. I filled a pan up to bring home, and left it for whoever else wanted to come in and get some. In the evening, I finally came back and turned it off, and later Marilyn put it in the fridge. Everyone seemed to like it (we certainly did), and it was nice to work in a big kitchen again, even if I had to do my own cleaning up afterwards! Finally settled down for a movie and shows before heading off to bed. Gave Hubby some Alka-Seltzer Plus, though, he had acquired a scratchy throat and the symptoms of a beginning of a cold.

Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014 – Thanksgiving

Spent an hour or so in the arena watching some calf-roping practice, and I took Apollo in with me to get him used to the activity. He got pretty excited at first, but eventually he settled down, thankfully. Afterward, I made a nice sweet potato casserole for the pot luck dinner we’re having tonight, and at 4:00, we headed over to our hostess’ house to join in the activities. We chatted for a while with the dozen plus folks, family members and neighbors, then dinner was served, and there was more food than we could possibly eat! Delicious, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Just before 7:00 we headed back to the RV and settled down for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014 – Ride North on Black Canyon Trail Plus Happy Hour

After spending the last two days diligently working on my next book, we took the afternoon off and went for a ride on what quickly became our favorite trail. We had been on Black Canyon Trail heading south, but this was the first time we headed north, and it was a very nice ride. It wasn't as rocky as the other end of the trail, and not as much of a climb, fairly even, twisting through some growth, keeping the horses very engaged. Really nice! We crossed a road, circling around trying to find a way back to that road, but we missed the turned I had pegged out on Google Earth, which was a wash that looked a bit overgrown, but ended up having to go cross country once we determined we had gone too far. I managed to weave a path around the cactus, down into the wash, and back up to the road again, which we then took all the way down to the main road just north of the town of Bumble Bee. We hadn't actually seen the town since we've been here, though it's little more than a collection of small cottages and a row of mailboxes. One of the buildings is apparently the original station along the old stagecoach road from Phoenix to Flagstaff, where customers of the stage line would spend the night on the three-day journey. The road is only marginally better now : -). Weather was perfect, even warm today, so after we put the horses up, I opened a bottle of wine and Hubby and I sat around on the tack room porch with the neighbors and some of the hands, and chatted for several hours, until the sun went down and it started getting chilly again. Another great day here in Arizona!

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014 – Ride Day to Antelope Falls

The good news is that Billy was moving much better today, though he's still unsure about jumping on things, which is understandable, but he raced down the stairs this morning, and ran around greeting everyone in the barnyard, his usually squiggly self! After breakfast we saddled up and headed to Antelope Falls again, taking a couple of alternative routes along the wash now that we knew where we were going. This time when we arrived, I hiked up the trail to where the actual "falls" were, thinking it was a ways up, but it turned out to be just around the corner, less than 100 feet around. It was a pretty sheer cliff-face with a good-size pool of water at the bottom, but there was no waterfall, not even a trickle anymore, though you could tell where water would have usually run. A very pretty spot, with a campfire ring which was obviously built by the locals, no doubt a great party spot for ATVers, though someone had left a big tire in one little pool of water for some reason. We rested for a while and shared some apples with the horses. Just as we were getting ready to leave, a couple of ATV's with some older guys showed up, we chatted for a few minutes before heading back off to the ranch. A very nice day, warm temps but a nice breeze that was actually a bit blustery at times. Got back around 4:00, bedded everyone down, putting blankets on the horses because it's going to be cold the next couple of nights, and settled down for the evening.

Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 – Shopping and Vet Day

After a week of hanging around the ranch, doing two audio conferences and otherwise doing business, we finally took a trip out to Prescott. Our little dog Billy wrenched his back last week, and though he’s been getting progressively better, we decided to go ahead and keep our appointment for acupuncture, which frankly, worked a miracle when he had a back problem a couple of years ago, and we wanted to help him out. He didn’t like this girl as much as the other one, however. Last time, the vet put one needle in the back of his neck and he practically dozed off immediately. This time, he got all snappy and upset, even barking through his muzzle, which was a necessity this time. He really misbehaved worse than I’ve seen him in a long time, even growling when the girl first came in, which is unusual. Despite that, we managed to get him through it, including using electro-stimulation. We just hope it helps, because it was pretty traumatic.

Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 – Another Ride Day toward Indian Fort

After a week of writing, we finally decided it was time to get out of the bungalow and give the horses some exercise. Beforehand, we borrowed on of the employees little tank tote and emptied three tanks of black water to a nearby dump We received our new Cavallo Trek boots for the horses yesterday, but unfortunately, they sizes apparently run smaller than their simple boots, because even though they were both Size Ones, Hubby's new boots just wouldn't fit on Clio, so we had to resort to using his old boots, which he had to put duct tape around just to make sure they stayed on, they're in such bad shape. Apollo's Size Threes fit just fine, so we got a chance to try them out today. These boots are much lighter, and have a single velcro keeper strap in front, which is a significant improvement in the design. Plus, they're sold as singles, so if we ever do lose one, I only need to buy them one at a time. Off we went, out the road toward the south, endeavoring to get near what's been called the Spanish fort, or the Indian fort, a three foot high wall on top of a hill. We headed in that direction, and probably passed it, not realizing we couldn't get there with the horses, it required a hike up some serious grade. We just rode out for about 1:15 or so, until Hubby had said he was ready, and then we headed back again along mostly the same trail, though we did do a slight diversion to come in by The Big House rather than along the wash, just for variety. Apollo seemed to lift his feet much more readily at the jog, which I attribute to the lighter boots, and it was a pretty good ride, though much of the trails were pretty rocky. Never did quite pin down the location of the fort, but good exercise all around. About halfway on the return, we heard a siren, and eventually saw a paramedic van approaching on the road. When we arrived back at the ranch, we found that it had arrived there, apparently a girl training a green broke horse (using a halter, no bridle!) was in the arena when they brought in a small herd of cows as entertainment for a saddle club that's here this weekend, and, not surprising, the horse went nuts and threw her off. She had some lower back pain (which of us doesn't when we fall off a horse!), and I guess they took her away, though I'm not sure. In any event, we headed back, put the horses away in the small corral which they had been moved to (to make room for the saddle club), fed them and relaxed for the evening.

Monday, Nov. 10, 2014 – Shopping Day

Having decided to stay for another month, Hubby and I had to go shopping, and because of the roughness of the road out of the ranch, we only want to do it once, so we headed out after breakfast to Anthem where the nearest Walmart is, with stops first at a feed store, an auto parts store, a mall for lunch, then on to Walmart. We were a bit delayed because of having to wait for Hubby’s prescriptions, so we got back at dusk, but managed to get the horses fed before it got too dark. Settled down for the evening shortly thereafter.