WELL!!! ... MAY 12 2012.....

Bossman had to "borrow" the mower from me last night to finish mowing the yard.  It was starting to look like a hayfield. 

I had used the mower all day yesterday, except when meeting Nancy for lunch, hauling and spreading mulch.  My flower beds are starting to look as if some actually cares. 

So since I had no mower to use, took the push mower and mowed along all the flower beds.

So guess what!  Bossman actually told me that if I really wanted to mow, to go ahead, but STAY AWAY FROM THE TREES!!!!!  He should be telling the trees to quit jumping out in front of me, but oh well, he is a man after all.

The way everything has grown so far this spring, he just doesn't have time to use the big tractor with the bush hog, and the mower for the yard at the same time.  He is definitely running behind.  Between that and intermittently traveling for work, the yard work is definitely getting ahead of him.

If all goes well, depending on the weather, the mulch should be all on the flower beds before I go to Morgantown next Friday morning.  As soon as I finish here I'll be outside hauling, as bossman and his friends are turkey hunting this morning.  I get first dibs on the mower.

So enjoy your sunny Saturday, don't work too hard and God Bless.

JUST A NORMAL DAY.... MAY 11 2012

Written in a normal way.  No colored letters.  No colored background.  Pretty boring isn't it.  But I have to pretend to be normal once in a while or I would be committed for sure.

My mulch delivery was delayed from Tuesday until yesterday because of the rain.  Ever since we have lived on our hill-top we (me) have it delivered as we (me) use a lot.  That's what a lot of flower beds can do for you.

And so for the last 6 years Harold (the owner of the landscape supply business I have bought from for years (we used to pick up the mulch in our pickup truck) has made the delivery.  He always calls me Young Lady - no wonder I like him.  As he is an older gentleman, he makes some of the deliveries, and he told me yesterday he always liked coming here because "you have such a nice place and are such a nice young lady".  Too bad he is married - his wife is lovely, and even bought a picture from me at Oglebay last year.

And so the mulching began yesterday.  You don't realize how bad the flower beds really looked until you start putting down the mulch.  I worked until dark last night.

Won't get back to it today until this afternoon as I am meeting Nancy at noon for lunch and to deliver her Ireland information to her.  It is hard to believe that from next Tuesday, May 15, it will only be four weeks until we fly out of Pittsburgh.

Memorial Day will be a memory.  I will have three festivals under my belt, hopefully that will be my spending/fun money on our trip. 

I will be at Morgantown WV May 18-19, Troy Ohio June 1-2-3, and Granville Ohio June 8-9-10.  Also grandson Coleman graduates from high school on June 7th. 

The above will pretty much finish off the month of June.  I plan on having all the mulch where it is supposed to be before I leave for Morgantown.

And you think you are busy.  Today a beautiful calm sunny day.  Who could ask for anything more.  Have a great day and God Bless. 

PART 7 - THE FINAL INSTALLMENT....MAY 10 2012

Beautiful out this morning - will actually get some work done outside.  Hopefully.  If I don't forget what it is that I am supposed to do.  Or in what order they are supposed to be done.

Poor brain - over-worked and under-paid, or some such thing. 

Today is the final (thank goodness) installment of my trip to Arizona.  Just in time to start  getting ready for the next big adventure.

This portion will cover the Japanese Gardens, Chinese Cultural district, and some miscellaneous pics taken here and there.

The Japanese Gardens were a soothing, lovely, calming morning.  You could just sit on a bench and enjoy the solitude, or walk along the paths.  Or take lots of pictures.  Now who would want to do that?

We were hoping to visit the tea room for tea, but it was not open when we were there.  They only open the tea room once a month, or if they are booked for a party or reception or some such thing.  Our timing this year was not the best.

Since we got no tea, and it was too early for lunch we visited the Chinese cultural district, walking the garden and - what else - taking pictures.

By the time we left there we were ready to eat, so went to a Mexican restaurant. 

Then went grocery shopping as the kids were all coming for supper and to say goodbye as I was leaving early the next morning for home.

We bought French bread, had yummy sandwiches, strawberry shortcake, fresh fruit, and other good stuff.  The visiting was the best part.

The final pics are just a couple of misc. things.  The lizard was after a glob of ice cream that fell off Linda's cone.  He was there almost before it hit the ground.

The other pic is a row of phone booths at an Indian Trading Post.  You don't see many of these any more.

And so, another adventure has ended, more are looming on the horizon.  Having fun things to look forward to keeps you going, hopefully in the right direction.  I have been blessed that I am able to go and do and enjoy, and have family and friends who put up with my going and doing and enjoying. 

For me, even my yard, flower beds, and garden work are fun.  They are fun because I am still able to do them.  I feel so much better in the summer when I can be out doing, moving around, and seeing the results.

Well, enough for today.  Today May is 1/3 over.  Two weeks from this coming Sunday we will be having our Memorial Day cookout.  The real (in my mind) beginning of summer.

I hope you all out there in technology land have as good a day as I plan on having and God Bless.

PART 6.. MYSTERY CASTLE and OTHER THINGS.......

As promised yesterday - lucky you - I will tell about the "Mystery Castle", the Mining Camp, and the Saguaro cactus in bloom.


The Mystery Castle is not actually a mystery or a castle.  How did it get it's name?  I haven't got a clue.  I'll just tell you what I found and you can use your imagination for the remainder.

This castle was built by Boyce Luther Gulley, who, upon finding he had TB, abandoned his wife and daughter in 1930.  He traveled to Arizona (I did not find where he hailed from) for his health, thinking he only had a short time to live.

I decided to build a "castle" for his daughter, the little girl he left behind.  She was just a toddler at the time.

Mary Lou never saw her dad again.  It took 15 years for him to build his dream castle.

Mystery Castle is located on the North side of South Mountain - go figure - near what was then the town dump.

Gulley used salvaged material from the dump, auto parts, junk, and other artifacts he found in the southwest and Mexico to build his "home".

After Gulley's death the wife and daughter were contacted by an attorney in Phoenix were notified about the house.  They moved to Phoenix.  Mary Lou was a teenager at the time.  They lived together in the castle until her Mother's death in 1970.  Mary Lou continued living in her castle until her passing in 2010.  I found no record of whether or not she ever married, but from was I saw she probably did not.

Mystery Castle is being preserved as a tourist attraction, having 18 rooms and 13 fireplaces.  The castle is open from October until May on Thursday thru Sunday.  Of course, again, we were there on Monday.  Perhaps next year we will return to these castles on a day they are open to see the inside.

On Sunday (I am backing up, again) the entire family and I went to the Mining Camp for lunch, and it also gave me a chance to photo the Saguaro cactus, which were beginning to bloom.  First time I had ever seen them blooming.  Best part of that day was grandson-in-law Mark bought me a souvenir mug, complete with my name.  Mugs and jellies are my souvenirs when traveling.

Tomorrow I will finish up with my week in Arizona, and if you are really, really,  lucky, maybe I will have something else to talk about. 

In the meantime, don't over-do, over-extend, over-eat, over-whatever, and God Bless.

PART 5--SCOTTSDALE IN BLOOM AND OTHER STUFF....MAY 08 2012...

The other stuff first.  Got my corn and first planting of green beans in the garden yesterday.  Started final prepping of flower beds for mulch. Ran the push-mower around the edge of all the flower beds.  Now....waiting for the mulch delivery. And the fun will begin.......


Now back to the Arizona saga.

On this day we drove to Scottsdale to look for the three castles supposedly there.

While looking for said castles, we saw a lot of Scottsdale you don't normally drive through, and, oh my!, the blooming was incredible.

We found all three castles.  Two were really neat, completely different.  The third was in pretty much dis-aray.  Needed a lot of work. 

First we found Copenhaver Castle, built on the side of Camelback Mountain by a Dr. Mort Copenhaver in the mid 1970's.  Some time back Dr. Copenhaver filed for bankruptcy, and the castle is on the auction block. 

If you want a castle on a mountain in Arizona, with a view, check out when the auction will take place.

Secondly was Tovrea Castle, also known as the Wedding Cake Castle.  I don't know what they use as guidelines for structures becoming castles, but this was certainly far and away --- different? --- or something.

This castle is at Carraro Heights outside of Phoenix.  I learned more history about this castle and will share some of it with you.

In 1928 an Italian immigrant, Alessio Carraro, sold his San Francisco metal business and moved to Arizona searching for his American dream.  He bought 277 acres of desert east of Phoenix city limits.  He built his castle on a small rise and named it Carraro Heights. 

In 1930 the cactus gardens were developed. 

In late 1930 adjoining property was purchased to raise sheep and cattle pens to supply a nearby meat packing plant. 

Discouraged Carraro sold the castle and surrounding land to Della Tovrea in 1931.  Della's husband passed away shortly after,
in 1932, but Della Retained the castle as her Phoenix residence.

Upon her death in 1969 the Tovrea Family Trust assumed control of the property.  The property remained unused with little upkeep until in 1993 the city of Phoenix purchased the castle and 7-1/2 acres immediately surrounding the building.  In 2003 the city purchased an additional 36 acres and is preserving it for future enjoyment and use.

Tomorrow I'll share the story of the Mystery Castle.  Enjoy the rain, just remember, sunshine will follow, and God Bless.

PART 4 - LAKE POWELL CRUISE.....MAY 07 2012

Can you believe - the first week of May is over, done, nada.  What happened?

Also running early today - bossman tilled up more of my garden over the weekend and I want to get the first planting of corn and green beans in before the rains move in this afternoon.  So am running early, as said above.  What happened?

I'm sure bossman will be upset if it rains before the seeds are in the ground.  Also have 5 phone calls to make later this morning re 5 different things.  Will keep you guessing for now.

So, on to another  portion of my Arizona trip.

We did the Lake Powell late afternoon cruise into another part of Antelope Canyon after our slot tour.  This was relaxing, got to ride on a boat, not hike through ankle deep real fine sand.

Did I mention that on the slot tour, we could feel some of the real fine sand blowing down through the crevices, hitting us in the face.  Felt like I had a head full of sand when we left.

Again, will show pictures of the canyon tour.  The colors are ever changing, never knew what would be around the next bend.

Also had a couple of guys in a small motor-boat riding along side of us at one time.  Guess we were going too slow for them, as after a few minutes they went on by.  Didn't see them again.

Upon returning to Page, had a late supper, and called it a day.  And what a day it was!  The next morning we would check out of our motel, and head back to Phoenix.  All too soon.  Never enough time.

However there would be things to do and places to go for the remainder of my visit.  By the way, have my editing done.  Ended up with the following:

Pictures taken - 1374
Pictures after editing - 1051
Pictures for slide show - 493
Pictures for business - 38

Not all 38 pictures will be printed at one time.  I will do possibly 4-5 - if and when they sell, will replace them with ones not yet printed. 

And, so it is off to the garden and seed planting time.  After that - time will tell.

Have a good day and God Bless.

PART 3...ANTELOPE CANYON SLOT TOUR....MAY 06 2012....

Antelope Canyon is just that - a canyon.  We drove down a sandy wash to reach the slot - which is a crevice in the mountain itself, a narrow passage through the mountain to the wash on the other side.

We entered the slot, and another world.  Most of my blog today will be pics, as there is no way to describe this.  No flash photography is allowed.  All pics were done by natural light, coming through crevices in the ceiling of the slot.  Some crevices were very large, others just a slit, but there was no other lighting needed to walk through the mountain.  The following are some of what we saw.

Upon exiting the slot there was a native American playing ancient tunes on his flute.  He told us a little about the music, and the canyon.  We saw the changing landscape of the wash at this exit.

The above is Linda, her husband Dave, and guess who?  We returned through the slot to reach our vehicle parked out in the wash. As time has passed, the sun had moved, the lighting upon leaving had changed, and this is what we saw:

Notice the sun's rays coming through the top of the slot, shining all the way down.

We proceded back-tracking, and this was a view of the wash from just inside the entrance.

Our driver and guide was native American.  This is the only way you can approach and enter the slot, is on a tour.

Our tour was the photo tour, total time 3 hours from the time we left Page until we returned.  I would do it again in a heart-beat.

So, enjoy the pics, have a great Sunday, and God Bless.

PART 2 - THE PUEBLO RUINS.....MAY 05 2012

By the time we left the Volcanic part of the Monument, the rain had stopped, the sun was shining, but the wind was blowing like crazy.

We followed the map driving on through the National Monument and were fortunate enough to see 4 of the 5 ruins.

So many of the ruins, when abandoned for some unknown reason, belongings (pottery, personal items, primitive tools and weapons) were left behind, as if they intended to return.

What happened?  I guess we will never know.

The first we arrived at were the WUKOKI ruins.  This was part of an ancient pueblo community within the Wupatki National Monument.  These ruins were inhabited by the SINAQUA Indians from about 1100 AD until 1250 AD.  Amazing the ruins are still standing, and some in as good a condition as they are.

Secondly, were the CITADEL Ruins, not a lot left of this particular area.  At one time the Citadel housed 30 rooms and resembled a fortress at the top of a hill.  

Third, were the NALAKIHU PUEBLO ruins.  The only information I could find on this particular ruins was that the word Nalakihu was Hopi for House Standing Outside of the Village.

Last were the LOMAKI PUEBLO ruins, located about half a mile beyond the Citadel.  How different the architecture and stones used were.  It is too bad there is not more history concerning these ruins. 

From there we drove on to Page, checked in to our motel, and went out for dinner, - we were definitely hungry. 

Spent the evening driving around Page, out to Lake Powell and the dam.

The saga will continue, hope you are enjoying your history lesson, and will tune in for the next episode.  In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and God Bless.

IT WAS ALL MY FAULT....MAY 04 2012......

Thursday we left Gilbert heading north to Page, where we would spend the night.  It was 70 degrees.

As we drove north the temp dropped, by the time we were an hour out of Flagstaff it was raining (in the desert yet), upon arriving at Flagstaff for lunch guess what - IT WAS SNOWING.  Yes, there was snow mixed with the rain, temp 37 degrees.

The game plan was after eating we would visit Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki Pueblos.  If we had to do it in the snow, so be it.

Just as we arrived at the park entrance, the rain/snow finally stopped.  Just for us!  But the wind started blowing, really blowing.  So as we did our walking tour of the park, it was really cold.  Luckily we all had jackets with us, just in case.

Today I will share Sunset Crater with you.

Roughly 900 years ago, not really all that long, the eruption of this volcano reshaped the surrunding landscape, forever changing the lives of people, plants, and animals.

Walking trough the park we discovered the colorful ruggedly dramatic geological features, co-existing with twisted Ponderosa Pines.

Sunset Crater National Monument was established by President Herbert Hoover on May 26 1930 to protect its geologic formations. In 1990 the name was changed to SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT.  It covers 3,040 acres of ground, surrounded by the Coconini National Forest.

This was an awesome day.  We walked on the volcanic ash, (just like in Hawaii), photographed the mountains in the background covered with snow (just like in Alaska), we weren't sure just what state we were in.

Upom completing our tour of the crater, we proceeded to the Wupatki area to visit the pueblos.  I will go into that part of our day tomorrow, hopefully.

Now you can see why Linda called home to bossman informing him that he had better be at the airport first thing in the morning as they were shipping me home - the weather was all my fault!

Now, places to go and things to do.  Hope your day is good and God Bless.

HIGHLIGHTS...MAY 03 2012.....

I'm back, and there is a lot to cover, so today is just hitting the highlights.

I shot 1374 pictures in 6 days.  I spent 2 plus hours downloading said pics last night, after I got home.  Will take several days to edit, label and prepare the pics to share.  But what an absolutely awesome trip.

Wednesday April 25 - bossman got me to the airport on time, landed in Phoenix on time, kids picked me up, went to breakfast (9 a.m. Phoenix time).  All three grandkids with their spouses and the great grandkids gathered at Linda's house Wed. evening for supper and saying hello.  What a welcome!!!!

Thursday left for Page Arizona.  Friday did the Antelope Canyon Slot tour, and the evening boat tour.  Saturday arrived back home.

Sunday saw Mark and Rachels current house, and the remodeling.  Also saw the model home that David and Ginger are having built.  Supper at David's house, with everyone in residence.  Quite a noisy group.

Monday, did something, will remember later, then ended up at Dustin and Tiffanies for a visit and supper. 

Tuesday did the Japanese Gardens, the Chinese cultural district, ate at a Mexican restaurant and returned to Linda's for supper (with all the gang in residence) and ate French.  Talk about diversity. 

Wednesday flew home, bossman was at the airport to bring me home.  This vacation over.
Trying to catch up with myself.  Will go into more detail down the road, and share pics along the way.  All-in-all it was quite a whirlwind week, full of fun and laughter and good company.  Lots of laughter.

I am going to leave you with a small tid-bit to whet your appetite for future blogs.  One day Linda called home to Jerry and told him to be at the airport the next morning, they were shipping me home early because it was "all Martha's fault".

And so with that have to sign off, as am expected at the travel agency to pick up my Ireland documents for the next biggie. 

Hope you all had a great week and I will continue the saga beginning, hopefully, tomorrow.  In the meantime have a good day and God Bless.