Thanks and Thanks and Thanks Again

That is the way I felt on the days leading up to Thanksgiving. And that is still the way I feel today. I am thankful that Mike was not seriously injured when he "took his tumble". I am thankful for our life, our health, our loving family, and I am thankful for our many friends. It was with a couple of those friends that we spent turkey day.

Bonnie and Barry opened their home and put the spread on the table for us, Sheri and Denny (family), and Rosemary and Tom (friends of Denny). There was plenty of wine and good food and very pleasant conversation. It was a good day - Thanks to the B's!

After our midnight trip to Walmart to get Bonnie a camera at Black Friday prices, we slept quickly and were up by 8 to enjoy breakfast before taking off to Mt. Lemmon for our day trip. Mt. Lemmon is the beautiful mountain you view from the B's patio.

Since it seemed to be so close, it surprized us that we headed to south Tucson to access the road. It is 21 mile drive to the small village on the top of the mountain and every mile was a delight!With the clouds and intermittent sun, each view changed many times. I took TONS of pictures as usual.
At the foothills, the saguaro were plentiful.

Another couple miles up the road, the cactus faded into the background
and you could see color in the trees way way below.

I'll be darned if we didn't circle down before climbing higher.

We drove into a campground and were greeted by this "bighorn sheep" - ok, so it is a tree but it bears a resemblance, don't you think.

The mountains are magnificent in all kinds of weather I am sure, but the clouds added another dimension.

Then we went higher and we were in the clouds.

The sun made ever so brief appearances.

The clouds and scenery continued to intrigue me.

And close up, the faces...

And then, we were in a frosty wonderland!
The snow really looked like it had been sprayed on the trees. The trees were frosted only in one area.
We took the backroad down the mountain.

We were treated to some great sites.

After a few hairpin turns and a bit of back seat nausea, we enjoyed a late lunch at a place the B's like in Oracle. The waitress' name was "Peggy" and she actually said, "Hi, my name is Peggy" when she came to the table... If you know Mike and Barry, the line was too good for either of them to pass up. It was a fun and delicious end to the day.


When we got to the B's, we packed up and headed home since we did not have any heat going in the MH and the plants were out and it was forecast to dive below freezing.

Thanks and thanks and thanks again, Lord, for all our many blessings!

The Week In Review ...

Last Sunday, we went to a Community Hymm Fest at this picturesque Catholic Church in Sierra Vista. Our church bulletin a couple of weeks back told us of this event and I immediately put it on the calendar. Choirs from 14 different churches in the area participated and there were between 400 and 500 people in attendance. And all of us were singing... at least most of the time. It was an hour and a half of powerful praise. The Sierra Vista Symphony joined a distinguished organist from Tucson in making the walls shake. Many hymms were ones we were familiar with and then there were a few that neither of us had ever heard. Representatives from several churches did brief readings. Overall, it was a joyous community celebration of shared belief in Jesus; it was a real treat!

Sunday night I got my ironing done for the last three weeks!

Monday, I discovered a new website - http://www.golfnow.com/ is a great place to find cheap golf. There is a course right across the street from the Valley Vista RV Park where we are staying and on golfnow I found a deal where we can golf 18 holes for $15 with a cart. So, on Sunday, after watching the weather news for the week, I booked Tee Times for Tuesday and Friday. We have been out on Turquoise Hills Golf Course several times since being in the area, but we were only doing 9 holes as Mike gave his neck time to completely heal.

Tuesday was a great day to be out and about and the course was beautiful.

The ball retriever is now used in sage brush through barbed wire fences rather than in water or deep grass. We both managed a few pars and bogies (Mike had a birdie) and overall, we were satisfied. When we left, we were already looking forward to Friday's game.

Wednesday starts with Water Aerobics; actually it is held three times each week and I try to attend each time. In the afternoon, we headed to a section of the San Pedro River to do a little hiking. There was actually water in the river basin; it was the first time we have seen it flowing as it is usually dry this time of the year.

We were only a short ways along the river when the path switched to the other side; Mike had no problem crossing .... but you know I would never have the balance or confidence to walk across that log.

Eventually, I found a path that didn't require crossing the river and the views were worth the effort.

It was a great way to spend a couple of hours, and, of course, we found a few unique rocks to haul home. Later on Wednesday, I tried out a recipe for cinnamon rolls from my new Amish cookbook I got in PA Dutch country. They came out of the oven at 9:30 pm and of course, we had to sample and then sample again... good thing we exercise once in a while!

On Thursday, we decided to take a drive down towards the border and check out the mountain passes.

After a brief stop at the visitor center
and a quick check to be sure all was well with the Jeep, we take off for Montezuma Pass with plans to end up over by Sonoita. It was only a mile or two before we hit gravel and started checking out the yucca plants to see if there was a new walking stick to be had. On Monday we had attached six medalions to my stick and realized I was running out of room.
These are what the live yucca plants look like.

And this is what a dead one looks like. When cut and sanded, they make very nice walking sticks. So, Mike stopped the car, grabbed the saw and stepped towards the plant...

The bank was loose gravel and it gave away, Mike lost his footing and grabbed for the plant to hold him. It broke loose; the whole thing came out of the ground and Mike fought to stay upright as he was moving, almost running, farther and farther down the hill. All I could do was watch; there was nothing that could be done. At about 20 - 25 feet, Mike lost the battle to stand up and fell forward. He had momemtum and rolled and scrapped farther down the bank eventually stopping about 50 to 60 feet down from the road. I yelled, "Are You OK?" and there was no answer. "Is Anything Broke?" "Mike, Can You Move?" After what seemed like an eternity, he started to get up. He looked around - kinda dazed. And then started to climb back up! It was only in the last four feet that I could help him by extending his walking stick and still he slipped on the steep hill; the gravel just seemed to roll away under his feet. Finally, he was on solid ground and sat down in the car.

Mike was bleeding from both elbows, had many many scrapes and scratches and his thumb was starting to swell, but he was safe. Since then, we have thanked God so many times; for the first few hours we seemed to think of a new "what if" ever couple of minutes. The steep bank down which Mike plummeted was full of rocks, and cactus and horribly rough desert mountain terrain. It could have been so much worse! After I retrieved the minimal first aide supplies from our backpack, washed off and bandaged the worst of the scrapes and cuts, we headed back down the road to the hospital in Sierra Vista.

As soon as the triage nurse heard that Mike had had neck surgery 3 months ago, she put a neck brace on him and it wasn't long before a CAT Scan and Xrays were scheduled. Samuel was Mike's nurse and he told us right off that if the park patrol had been around and witnessed a 50 foot fall, Mike would have been air lifted out to the hospital in Tucson. That sobering thought brought more "what ifs" and more Thanksgiving to God. Looking back, I think the only way Mike made it out of there with minimal bodily damage was because God carried him part of the way.

After a three hour hospital visit, we were on our way home. Mike's neck was not hurt and there were no broken bones. His thumb was in a brace because it had been severely jammed; we will have to monitor that in the coming days. But, Mike is safe and he is well... considering!

Today, Mike woke up stiff and sore. But, we had a Tee Time at 2:10 and since it was booked online at a reduced rate, there was no refund. So I went golfing and Mike coached, and caddied and drove the cart. I learned a few things and it was nice having someone clean the equipment.

But mainly, Mike looked for lost golf balls. (You know, Doug, how he loves to do that!) Here he is showing off his cache for the day; 21 balls, I think. That scratch on his leg is a new one he got today climbing through that barbed wire fence for ball retrieval... Ah, what the heck, what is one more bandage.

That was our week. We plan to have a quiet, at home, weekend.

Steam Locomotive #844

Earlier this week, I saw a poster in the clubhouse that said historic Steam Locomotive #844 was going to come through Benson, AZ on Thursday around 11 a.m. I told Mike about it and we decided we should probably go and take a look.

If you know us, you know that niether of us would be content to join the masses along the tracks in Benson. So, after consulting an official in town, we headed east a ways. By the old covered tracks looked like a good spot.

Mike climbed up and over to check it out

and eventually I joined him at our private observation area.

It wasn't long before we saw the news helicopter circling...
and then we heard the whistle and saw the lights...

There is just something special about that puff of steam with the mountains in the background.

Our vantage point served us well - we were even able to wave to the conductor and see the number on the engine.

The Steam Locomotive #844 was the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944 and used until 1960 as a high speed passenger engine. At that time, it was retired but saved for special service, like this trip from Texas through Arizona and up the coast of California.
After it had passed our observation point, we talked with a fellow who told us of another spot we may enjoy. So we headed north and west on I10 and then down March Station Road a few miles. What we found were lots of people and a really cool trestle.

By stopping a ways up the hill and going into the brush a bit, I was able to get some good long shots as this train made its way along The Marsh Station track.

It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours... who knows if we will ever see a Steam Lomotive again.