A New Chapter Begins

Gopher Flats

Moab, UT

August  4, 2020

All our hard work paid off...Nicole listed our home on June 24. We accepted a contract on the 27th.  

We closed on July 20th.  We packed and moved the RV to   R Shaefer Heard campground ( just 8 miles from our home) on the 21st. The movers came on the 22nd.  The 23rd was spent buying groceries and doing last minute errands and on the 24th we headed west.   

Our good friends Libby and Corky live in Hot Springs Village, AR so we routed our trip to include a two night stop over at The Village to see them. 

I had never been to Hot Springs so Libby and I masked up and enjoyed a walk on Bathhouse Row.  Corky took Joe to an off road park to play.

 It never ceases to amaze us how months turn into years since you have seen friends, but you always pick right up where you left off as if no time at all had passed.   Their home is beautiful with a stunning view of the mountains from the deck.  




I didn't get any pictures of the pups, but we met their newest addition to the family, a very playful and happy Gracie Mae, and enjoyed snuggles from Rebel.    

Somewhere on 84 N between Santa Fe and Durango...life is good !

We arrived in Moab on July 30th and are still settling in at Gopher Flats. 




 It is rather warm...OK, its hot as blue blazes ( a phrase I heard my grandma say many times) !  No worries though because we are here to chill out.  Having no agenda is the agenda !

It's nice early in the morning and near dusk...the perfect time to play, explore, or just sit in the cool grass and wait for grasshoppers.   

We got WileE out of the storage unit last Friday.  It cranked right up on the first try as if it had only been parked over night and not nine months.  The oil is changed (Joe has it done right before we leave and when we return.), tools packed, tires inspected, fluids checked, and early Monday morning we did a quick run on Steelbender with Dee.  

 And so a new chapter in our lives begins.  Until next time...

HAPPY TRAILS !

Our Version...

LaGrange, GA
May 18, 2020

Remember the movie Caddyshack from way back in 1980?  Ye gads, that was 40 years ago!  Joe and I are starring in our own version of the movie.    Dover, Sally and Jack are co-stars in the not so hilariously funny episodes.  No, we don’t have gophers that have declared war.  Instead, we have the cutest,  little Timber Tigers...better known as eastern chipmunks that are driving us crazy.  Did I mention how cute they are?  

Heads up...

Every morning at breakfast we see them emerging from their burrow to greet the day...first one, then another, and another...each one taking his time and double checking to make sure it is safe before scampering off to the woods, the flower bed, or to eat spilled seeds from the bird feeder.  Did I mention how cute they are?

Heads down...

They are a nuisance eating flower bulbs and roots, digging up the flowers, tormenting the pups, and creating what seems to be miles of underground burrows in the front yard, the back yard and the side yard.   Killing them is not an option for us.

We’ve tried towers of rocks and flagstone over the holes...that doesn’t work.  Our latest attempt is traps with peanut butter to catch them and take them far away to relocate them.  So far, nothing!

For 10 months Joe and I have had no television service.  Televison time at our house is enjoying music that Joe plays from his I Pad thru the tv speakers or a movie from Redbox.  We do keep up with the stock market, the weather, and other current events from reading The Wall Street Journal.   I like to peruse the Life and Arts section in the W S J.  A recent article “Forget the Sourdough” reported that according to Google  banana bread beat out pancakes, brownies, and pizza dough as the number 1 search-for recipe in the U.S. and world wide in the past month.  Growing up, pound cake and banana bread were staples in our home...freshly baked every weekend. 

I haven’t had either in so many years that I couldn’t resist using up some very ripe bananas to make a loaf...always with chopped pecans.  Growing up there was only one way to eat both...a thin piece with slices of “real” butter toasted in the oven until the edges are brown and crispy and served warm.  Joe had never had it toasted.  Of course butter has a way of making anything tase good. but this was breakfast for several days.  Not on the diet and so unhealthy, but oh sooooo good!  

The magnolia trees are in full bloom.  The trees here grow to be 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide, are evergreens and can live more than 100 years.

The white blooms are quite large (up to 12 inches across when open) and fragrant.  I grew up thinking magnolias were a "southern" thing and we can claim Magnolia Grandiflora as native, but reading tells me there are other species in Asia, Central America, South America and South America. 

Magnolias are ancient plants. They have existed on the planet at least 95 million years.  Since they appeared before bees, magnolias slowly changed their flowers to become more attractive to bees.  Instead of nectar, they produce lots of pollen enriched with protein which bees use as food.  

Every week we add more birds to the "first sighting of the year" list.  The feeders and birdbath stay busy as do we to keep them full and clean.  One of this weeks visitors was a pair  Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  

The Mr. and Mrs. look the same and we hope they are here to stay for awhile as they love the suet.  The males have longer, wide-tipped tongues and will visit hummingbird feeders as well, but we haven't seen him drinking any nectar.     

 I'll close for now.  Life is good...hope it is for you as well.

HAPPY TRAILS !