Another One Gone....But Not Forgotten!

Retro 2011 - A little reflection. We have been fortunate to have held on to our health for another year.
Brown's Great Adventure reached out across this vast nation of ours from coast to coast. We were able to put our feet in three great bodies of water. The Pacific Ocean at Carlsbad California, the Gulf of Mexico at Crystal Beach Texas. The Atlantic Ocean at Fernandina Beach Florida on Mother's Day.
We spent about 6 weeks in the state of Texas. My oh my that's a big state! The timing was so that we were able to set down and help a friend out that had become ill while working there. We got to visit with another friend that organized a Military Reunion for her Deceased Husbands Special Forces Unit in Savannah Georgia and fell in love with the pure Mistique of that City!

KayCee got to romp on the beaches in Cali and Texas and in the ocean for the very first time in Florida. We took an Airboat Ride and looked at Gators up a river by Titusville Florida, watched the spot where the last shuttle took off and landed after we were gone, and ate some fantastic Shrimp. When the time came to head back across the country, we stopped in several states along the way and while in Tennessee we visited the National Bird Dog Museum and the #2 Cracker Barrel restaurant.
#1 Burnt down!It was in the middle of the summer that we decided to stop through the center of Oklahoma and finally toured the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. We met an old Duffer....Duffy Martin that designed and built 5 golf courses after his stint on the Pro Tour. He is 95 and still a character. Unfortunately, while we were there it was 116 degrees and too hot for golf, or anything else for that matter. That area deserves some more exploration, minus the heat one day! Later in the summer, we headed the nose of our home on wheels to the north. We had one daughter give birth to a new Grandson and the other daughter get remarried, all in the span of a month, so we took a time out to visit with family and friends in the old home state. The fall came and we still had exploring to do! Off we went to the west.

Sat through a 7" rainstorm south of Colorado Springs, and hit the road to see what New Mexico had to offer.



Plenty of time spent learning the customs of several Native American Tribes and drinking in the visions of many red bluffs.

The calm and the colors are awesome. We headed on west and stopped to check out what was behind the song lyrics, "Standin on the Corner in Winslow Arizona." Just fortunate enough to show up there during their annual fall music festival. A great photo opportunity and came away with some pretty cool gifts. While Winslow was a day trip, we actually stayed at the RV Park for the Meteor Crater, which was a good thing to stop and tour also. it's amazing how a piece of meteor and a huge hole in the ground can be so fascinating! Moving right along, Maintenance items to our coach came next when we rolled into Flagstaff, stopping there just for the day and then on to Williams for a couple days.



It is one of my favorite places in Arizona. They are 60 miles from the Grand Canyon, located in the hills, higher in elevation makes it a cooler place too. They also are building a new attraction called "Bearizona" which was a good place for me to get a "Bear" fix. That place is gonna be pure awesome when they are done. It was a great breather after all the extreme heat and humidity that we experienced all summer, and then dropped down into the desert once more, arriving in Quartzsite before heading the nose south one more time into Yuma. It was 106 degrees that afternoon! Welcome home again! Whooowie! Thank god for Airconditioning! They don't call me Foofy for nothing!~ We spent a lot of time trying to avoid the Natural Disasters that occured here this year. Skirted around the fires, floods and tornadoes. Some things we missed due to these events. Hope we will catch them another year. Our lot here in The Palms RV Resort was secured to us and so we decided to set up and drive back to Nebraska for DH and hunting of the Pheasants.



He was about to hunt in Nebraska and two other planned trips to South Dakota and one to Colorado.



A little male bonding time in order.
She really likes this..and works hard. We had family time at Thanksgiving and I was able to celebrate and attend my youngest son's new band "Whiskey Richard" performing in two cities in Nebraska.



That was my great fun. I'm their biggest Groupie!

Our friend has regained his strength after his ilnesses

and we caught up with him and his business of tool auctions

and were able to spend some time helping him out a little late this fall before we came back to the desert for the second time
His crew wouldn't be complete without two of the cutest shih tsus around! Sammy and Sadie

and so.....The adventure continues. Now we hang out, bask in the sun and take advantage of this great desert weather to stay out of the extremes in the other parts of the country. Not bad....I think we'll keep on keepin' on...... I'm looking forward to a great 2012. Already starting to plan next years route! Stay tuned and have a very Blessed New Year.

As always...Dan, Kay, and KayCee

Winter Routine

We are back in Arizona! It has taken me all week to get situated and back into this time zone.
Now we are in Mountain time but my body clock isn't cooperating and I'm getting up mighty early still. We have done quite a bit of driving around the area,watching the produce harvest in full swing.


They are picking Green leaf lettuce, fennel, brocolli and romaine lettuce.



The irrigation process is much different here. The newly worked fields are soaked down before they are planted.

Truckloads of the harvested produce make their way to the cooling plants along Interstate 8.
Things break in threes! It's hard to believe, you shut everything off and up and things just go bad and break without use, but it happens. For a minute or two, we thought the door latch was broken again like this fall at Oakley Kansas, but come to find out, the neighbor had locked the wrong lock. Whew! The 2 big coach batteries were dead and the living room slide wouldn't go out. That was cured with a trip to Interstate Batteries and $300.00. While unloading the car, the back hatch of the car stayed up, and then closed itself.
Then wouldn't open again. Finally it reset itself. Another Whew! Then when the Dish DVR was reinstalled...it wouldn't work. Either the bedroom would work or the one in the front.. and the message was... Fatal Hard Disk Error. Not good! Afer a couple of calls to Customer Service Tech Support, it was determined that the Receiver was toast! They sent us out a new one and three days later, we have TV in both the front and the bedroom! Lost was all the shows and movies we had saved for a rainy day, but oh well, at least we have the noise box back again. We had to repack the old one and mail it back to them using Fed Ex Return. It took us a couple days to get the coach readjusted and things back in working order. Today we made our way into Michaels Craft Store for me to pick up some beading supplies. Shoppers and parking lots are chaotic, but for the most part people are being patient and curteous. I won't be going out of the Resort now until Monday!
The weather is sunny but not warm and we had quite a bit of wind yesterday and today. Not shorts and sunbathing weather! The greatest part of the staff here got off at noon today, and things are going to quiet down until after Christmas. Our trek across the country happened just in time before a couple of nasty Winter blizzards made their way across where our path would have been and we avoided being miserably stranded or in the way. Glad we left when we did. We drove in some rain and heavy clouds shrouding Picacho Peak between Tucson and Casa Grande. DH's favorite peak!

I will start out the Christmas Eve holiday tomorrow by chopping up some vegetables and putting on a pot of soup. Then we will walk and bask in the sunshine in the afternoon. We have a Christmas Eve service in the Ballroom tomorrow evening. I wish all my Blog readers, friends and family a very Merry Christmas! I wish I could tell you that we are basking in warm sunshine...but it's just not the case. It's down right chilly!

KayCee is being her usual evening stink weed self, and so I am being summoned and need to spend some quality time with my fur kid. She got to experience the wind in her ears for a minute while we were riding around looking at the crops. Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Winter Wonderland on the Plains

The pictures of sunrise and snow are fantastic this time of year.
I have some pretty awesome views at 6 am. We have our first measurable snowfall. It snowed here most of the day Saturday leaving us with about 5 inches total. The wind was minimal and so it fell pretty even.

What I can't handle at this point is the cold that came along with it! As it was coming to an end, DH couldn't hardly contain himself and fired up the snow blower to clear our sidewalks and driveway.

It started right up, even after no use for two years! Sunday morning he loaded up KayCee and took off to meet some buddies in South Dakota for some serious Pheasant Hunting.

I went out to clean off my car and the maintainer came up the street and buried the top of the driveway, so I got my scoop and scooped that out so that it didn't melt a little and become hard.
Better than lifting weights! So was planning on sitting around moping by myself and hibernating to keep warm, when a friend called and needed help with data entry for an auction, so off I went and spent the afternoon doing that! A nice break and diversion from missing my family!

Today I have spent some serious recliner time covered up with my double fleece blanket! It will dip down in the single digits tonight, with not much relief for a few days. The word from the weatherman tonight is temps of -5 for tonight. Brrr. I wanted to share some of these pictures with you all that miss this winter white stuff! ha ha ha ha or to remind ya of why you stay away from it! I know I'm going to appreciate the warm Arizona sunshine a whole lot!

Happy Thanksgiving One and All!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. I don't know where to begin! We have our health and we have our family and friends and they have their health! I'm sincerely grateful that I have a wonderful man and a great German Shorthair to share my life.

We had a great walk yesterday out on our golf course. I am so happy that our weather is wonderful and this fall season in spectacular here in Nebraska.
I'm thankful to have been able to travel many miles this year and to be able to have put my toes in two more major bodies of water.
Thankful for the ability to be wandering from state to state and experiencing all of the local traditions and customs.
Thankful to be going back to the Desert for the winter and the opportunity to make plans for another travel season next summer.

We have made all kinds of new friends along the way, revisited and renewed some cherished friendships from the past. We have been able to participate in favorite old activities and learn a few new ones along the way.I'm especially thankful for the sense of humor when someone is taking pictures of me that I don't want them to!

We have gained some family members and sadly enough have lost a couple too. This time tomorrow we will be cleaning up the bones and diving into the pie! The quality of time we will spend through the day will sustain us until the next gathering.

I just want you all to know that I feel blessed,and thankful...for all of you! Happy Thanksgiving and don't you dare eat too much!hahahaha

First Snow of the Season

We woke up this morning to this scene. The weather words were: Cold and Blustery. I found the description to be a little different than that!
Crisp and Serene is more fitting. The ground is covered and it has stopped, but it came down so nicely with no wind that it was truly beautiful as the sun was coming up. I am glad that it waited to do this today instead of yesterday, because it was my day to go to the Nebraska TV station about 45 minutes away and do a cooking segment on the Good Life Show.

I have done this a few times. When I was still working it was good advertisement for my business. Now they have me on for a bit of variety. They have a couple of working chefs that appear, but many folks around here like to have some down home recipes and basic cooking techniques and tips. While mostly I have done taped segments that can be edited before they are aired, yesterday was live tv, and I am not quite as comfortable.

I didn't rehearse and my time was switched to the beginning, but we got through it, and they had calls for my recipes at the end of the show, so I guess it turned out o.k. One of the hosts is a friend of mine, and she thought it was a good time, I'm not so sure! I felt like my brains were scrambled like the eggs! It's amazing how easy they make it look, not so! We have a few friends at that station, and it's always good to see them.

It is truly an inside day for me! I'm going to test out the recipe that I will do for them on the 7th of December. She asked me back for one more visit. I will try to find the link to the segment on their website and share it with you if I can! The snow flakes are falling so quietly. Straight down. Kinda looks like a scene from Currier & Ives. I am getting all of my traveling photos transferred to CDs and soon will have them off of this computer, so I have room for more! Time is ticking away. I have been elected to make the Stuffing for Thanksgiving Dinner. Just a little stuffing....for 45 people!~So next week there's gonna be some bread slingin! around here! It's a good thing I have a program that will convert my amounts - Cause right now I don't wanna know! Hope everyone is stayin nice a cozy warm! My DH is off getting one of my "honey Do's" accomplished. He does much better when I call it his "project" so we'll see how it will end up! I'm sure I will be pleased!

Waiting for a Snow Storm

This afternoon I am taking a break. A break from the kitchen and a break from entertaining. It's been a long ten days! It's a different kind of quiet. Since last Thursday, I have been getting up at 5 am, cooking breakfast, and I have been cooking supper too...By the time I clean up the mess it's 10 pm. This morning, my wonderful hunting Shorthair decided to be sick at 4 am...and so there wasn't anymore sleep after that!

She's tired and sore and needs a break too. I just wish she didn't go out in the field and eat green wheat stalks during the day that upset her stomach! The weather man has been forcasting and threatening us with a major snow and blow for two or three days, and so far it still isn't here.The leaves are still not off of the bushes I planted or all of the trees.

I am so ready, patiently waiting and will be so relieved if it gives up and doesn't arrive at all! Our last group of hunters from Colorado and Arizona left this morning after breakfast. They are headed to DIA to put the one guy on a flight back to Phoenix. I think what storm there is, is out that way and hope they don't have too much of a difficult trip. I got a neat little device the other day that is allowing me to use my little camera again. It's an SD Card reader that downloads pictures on an SD Card with a USB connection. It has been just the ticket for me to get the pictures off my Easy Share. So that was a welcome fix. I happened to see this deer out my back door the other day. I love the fall mornings. They are my favorite. You never know what you'll see on the golf course!
Today I was watching our local information show called "The Good Life" and was asked over the air to come and do an appearance. I have done that in the past, when I was in the Catering Business and a Personal Chef, so now I will need to get busy and create something good to share with everybody. That's after a break. An empty table for a while.
I have a couple of new ideas that I have been working on, and have a special pan ordered for one thing..after I test it out, I may do that. Or I will create something with left overs and either Pheasant or Elk. What ever it turns out to be, it's kinda fun as I have several friends at the TV Station and it's good to see them! Thursday if the weather is good, I will be taking a trip down into Kansas to visit a new Cooking store and a new restaurant for lunch. Friday DH takes my wonderful dog and goes to Colorado hunting with our son and his brother for the weekend. My time for a weekend with a girlfriend, going to another one Whiskey Richard's shows in Kearney NE. Time is going pretty fast. Turkey Day is just around the corner.

Whiskey Richard and the Halloween |Party

Ventured up to Broken Bow Nebraska on Friday to attend a Halloween Dance that featured my son's band...Whiskey Richard.

He is the drummer, and since he has been with that band, I haven't heard them, nor met two of the newest members. They play 70s, 80s, and 90s hits and sound really good!
I thought it would be appropriate and typical to just show up...however, beings it was a costume party, I thought I could use the opportunity to go in costume, and suprise them! I was on a secret mission, and it was fun.It's probably been 15 years since I have donned a costume and went out, I haven't lost the touch. Halloween used to be my favorite holiday! Well, it worked! The look on his face was priceless when he figured out it was me. I got hugs from all of them, finally met the other two guys,we all had a really good time and I stayed up way too late!

Lots of people were dressed up and they judged the costumes at the end of the night. I met some new friends....one of the girls took some good pictures of us and I will share them when I get them.

I posted an album on Facebook this morning too. I stayed in a motel because I have pretty much given up driving on the highway after dark.

The rest of the weekend was spent with family and hunting season opener. Domestic Engineering isn't always an easy job.

I spent the day yesterday shopping to replace some items that have broken or quit working..it's amazing how when one issue presents itself, there will usually be two more! I have a new pan, a new bedroom tv and a new living room chair! That all quit Saturday in 6 hr. period of time. Was a rough weekend on possessions. I'm just thankful it wasn't the refrigerator, washer or dryer!

When I walked out on the deck this morning, I caught this deer munching grass on the golf course just past my back fence Was lucky enough to catch a picture of her. The rest of the day I will spend playing catch up and rest up.