January 24th - 30th

Another week gone by with lots happening and nothing happening.  I had a couple of days where I could ride and rope a little.  The ol’ bod sure needs some flexing exercises.  I have some muscles that I didn’t even know existed.

Bob’s focus is on horsemanship so I am learning a lot about how to balance on a horse and know where each foot of the horse is at all times.  If I live to be a hundred, I may get it or not!  There is so much happening at one time it is hard to concentrate on any one of them.

On Monday, Arda’s cousins, Willie & Vickie and Gerry & Arda from Petawawa arrived at Goldminers… what a fiasco that was as there was no “room at the inn” or so we were told.  After lots of haranguing, etc. there were 2 spots available – one with no sewer but with electricity & water and one with sewer and water but no electricity.  We ran an electrical cord from Willie’s rig to our so at least he has electricity.  Unfortunately this may be our last year here as the owner is not putting any money into the park and it is going downhill fast.

Arda has also been biking on my new bike as hers has a flat and she played a little on the leather sewing machine… there is hope for the Armitas yet!  Arda also went with Bob’s wife and a couple of other ladies to sew quilts for Haiti.

Today it is beautiful with lots of sunshine and clear skies so we will kick around the trailer and do some of the small chores that come up.

I hope to have pictures nest time but take care and keep your loops open until next time.   

January 19th - 23nd

Finally got to Bob and Betty’s yesterday and they are doing well.  I also was back in the saddle again yesterday and it felt great but I know I will pay for it tomorrow.  This year the focus is on horsemanship.  Getting the feel of the horse so you know where his feet are and what they are doing.  By placing their feet in the correct position and asking the horse to do something at the right time is the objective as this helps the horse perform.  Bob is not only a tremendous student of horsemanship, he is also an extremely patient and good teacher.

The weather was a little strange last night… for here anyway.  We had winds of 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph along with about 1” of rain.  They are forecasting higher winds and a lot more rain over the next 3 days so we will see.  The old trailer was a rockin’ and a rollin’ last night but I can’t say it was a motion that puts one to sleep.

Wednesday was another beautiful day… mid-fifties with a light wind, just perfect for riding.  It never ceases to amaze me how much I don’t know.  Working on horsemanship really does bring a whole new dimension into “cowboying” for me.  Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance, Buck Brannaman, and others have talked about getting a “feel for the horse” for years but Bob King is bringing a whole new meaning of this to me.  Being able to sense/feel what the horse is doing and where my energies are going (right or wrong for the horse) really is helping me focus.  What is amazing is that also carries over to everyday life.  Being aware and sensitive to others and what they are doing, what message through your energies you are transmitting, and how your respond to the actions of others.  COOL!  Weather forecast includes 60 mph winds so we will see… might have to batten down the hatches.

Thursday dawned cloudy and windy (60 mph gusts).  Fortunately the area we are in did not receive the drowning rains (up to 8.5” in some place) or the snow (Flagstaff has receive 68”, yes you read that right, 68” of snow in the past 5 days and 41” inches predicted over the weekend).  We did have the winds though which were not fun.  I did manage to rope for a couple of hours in the AM and do a little, and I mean very little, ground work in the PM and then I called it a day.  That evening the winds picked up even more and the trailer was rockin’ so much that along with the news casts about potential tornados (west of Tuscan), Arda slept in her evacuation clothes.  What a sight but I am not going to divulge what they are so you will have to ask her.  J

Friday morning found us with the wind gone but we had rain, which is a welcome site for this area at this time of the year.  We are under a “winter blizzard warning” as they are forecasting 1 – 3” of snow tonight.  I must have made a wrong turn somewhere on the interstate and would up back in Michigan with all this kind of weather.  Due to the lousy weather, we went to Benson to do some shopping.  I guess that is better than having to do it on a sunny day when I could be horsing around.  We had a busy afternoon… Arda exercised on the Wii (shook the trailer almost as bad as the wind) and I took a nap to conserve energy for Arda J

Saturday morning and the sun is shining although it is a little cool.  We are not going to do much but we will set up Arda’s sewing machine in the back of Cowboy Tom’s trailer… no more excuses for the Armitas – at least I hope not.

Well that is it for this week… keep your loops open until next time.

January 5th - 18th

It has been a long time since I wrote anything in my Tally Book so it has been really hard to get started but finally here I am. This adventure must start out with Sydney… as a new granddaughter, I just can’t resist. Ain't she cute!  Here are a couple of pictures of Sydney's Baptism...

On to our travels, the first 2 days/nights were spent travelling south trying to get out of the cold weather. We ran into snow and freezing rain going around the south end of Lake Michigan. We ran out of it just south of Chicago but it was still cold – around 9 o which was not good. Stayed 2 nights at our favorite campground – Wally Mart in Benton Il and New Boston TX respectively.

We arrived in Texas at our good friends the Hunters (1/7/2010) and it was still only around 9 o but we were toasty warm in our home on wheels. After spending a night and part of the next day with the Hunters (we had a great time and really enjoyed meeting Kathleen and Leslie) it was time to head to Arlington (still cold).

Arlington (1-8 – 1/14/2010) wasn’t much warmer, at least for several days when it did start to get up above freezing and into the 50’s during the day. We arrived on Friday and on Saturday Linda & Dale Niedbalski (they used to be neighbors of ours with Linda hanging over the fence watching Arda and I in the pool… she said she just wanted to make sure we were safe but…) picked us up at the campground. We went to Pat and Buck’s place for a reunion of sorts with a number of friends whom we hadn’t seen in over 22 years. The McCormicks, Bachs, Weeklys, and Reeds were all there. What a neat time we had reminiscing and re-living the “good ole days”. Of course, the food was also great! We (Arda and I) are extremely grateful to Pat and Buck for hosting this.

On Sunday, Marguerite came over from Mesquite to have dinner with us. She is such a neat person! We had a lot of laughs especially when Arda and Marguerite were playing on the Wii game… it would have made a good movie for America’s Funniest Home Movies.

On Monday, I took my truck into a GM Dealer to have an oil change and have them look at why the “low coolant light” was coming on. Well 4 hours later I had the oil changed and they found that the transmission coolant hoses were leaking. They didn’t have these in stock so they ordered them and when they came in, it took another day and half to install them. Guess which dealer I won’t go back to! In the meantime, Arda went biking (yes the weather had started to warm up by then) and that evening we took Lynda and Fred Weekly out to dinner that night for Chicken Fried Steak… we owed Fred a dinner for his birthday. It was the best CFS I have ever had!

Tuesday we had a wonderful dinner with Jeanice and Don King. Jeanice lived with us for a while when we were in Arlington so it was great to see her again and catch up. In addition to being a beautiful young woman, she is also a great cook! Arda and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Un fortunately we (Arda that is) didn't take any pictures...

Wednesday Bachs came to dinner. We had purchased their home on Wembley Rd where spent 4 years of our lives. I didn’t realize there was so much to catch up on even after we had just seen them the previous Saturday but there was. We enjoyed a great meal that Arda put together… she is really adapting to our mobile lifestyle by cooking up a storm.

Thursday was a double whammy day - as in good. The Astons came for lunch and Mary brought fresh baked oatmeal cookies for us… needless to say they didn’t last long. Al and I both worked at S/C and came down to Vecta in TX at the same time. He left Vecta and went on his own for a number of years so it was good to catch up. Mary recently retired from UTA (college) and they stay in TX part of the year and in Canada the rest of the year.  The second whammy came when we went to dinner for BBQ with the Niedbalskis and Weekly.  Below are the Niedbalskis...

Friday was moving day. We headed south to Crockett TX. Yes, it got its name from Davey Crockett who travelled through that area on the way to the Alamo in San Antonio. We visited with Chuck and Genie Lindberg. Arda and Genie rode across the US together when Arda did her Bike for Cancer trip. They are an extremely nice couple who live on a lake in a very beautiful home… a slice of paradise. They are also great hosts so we will have to plan to spend more time with them the next time we travel their way.

Saturday we headed to Sun Sites AZ. We had originally planned to take 2 days but we decided we didn’t want to push it so we took 3 days in total to reach Sun Sites. In addition, Arda wanted to backtrack on the bike route she took so it took a little longer. We stayed in Kerrville at Wally-Mart, TX and then at a truck stop (another first for Arda) in Van Horn TX. Monday we arrived in Sun Sites where we will be for a couple of months.

That is all for now. The next update will be in a week or so but right now I am heading off to Bob King’s to do some riding.

Keep your loops open.