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dooley
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Recent Entries to this Blog It's Fall already!
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2015 already!
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It's been a great while!
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An anniversary comes but once a year!
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dooley's Blog




Arizona weather?

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:07 am

Mention Arizona and people think of hot and desert. It's true we have hot weather in the summer, sometimes too hot, like 110-115 degs. But, that's at a low altitude, down in the valley. There's some hot over by the Colorado River/Mohave Desert and there's some hot down by Yuma. Arizona also has mountains up to the 12,000 ft San Francisco's north of Flagstaff. Flagstaff is about 7,500 ft in altitude. We are about 4,200 ft. in altitude and Prescott and Prescott Valley are about 5,000 to 5,700 depending on where you are at any given time.
The altitude is what makes our weather so changeable from here to there. Last year we, here in Mayer, had about 5 inches of rain, total for the whole year. In December, we did have a nice amount of rain and we loved it but it was still warm and it was rain here and it was rain up the hill. I say up the hill when I speak of Prescott Valley. That is where we shop and where I work at the library and where dr goes to the flea market.
We had rain a couple of weeks ago that was two or three inches which is good. It made things a little muddy and since the weather was about 10 degs cooler it stayed wet for longer. If you dug with your toe you could still find wet ground.
The forecast for this week was rain for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then, they took the rain out of the forecast for Thursday and Monday.
Then, they took the rain out for Friday. Then, they put rain back in the forecast for Thursday and took it out for Friday. Then, they took it out for Saturday and it was for Thursday, Sunday and Monday.
It was gray and cloudy Thursday and it started to rain about one o'clock. It was a nice steady rain and we acquired a few puddles. But, up the hill it was rain and rain mixed with some snow in the morning and rain in the afternoon. When we went up to the library around 5 pm it was raining but not too much. When we came out at nine pm, it wasn't doing much of anything, but the temperature had gone down to about 30 and the streets and ground was frost covered and icy. I drove home very carefully. We had rain here and there coming home but we made it okay.
Friday is my day off so we went up the hill for breakfast and went to two estate sales. There was SNOW on the ground. Now, mind you the snow level was probably 4,500 ft level because as soon as we reached the highway we could see it on the tops of the mountains (hills) close to us. They had maybe one to three inches up the hill, again depending which altitude level you were at. It was gray and cloudy but no rain or snow and the streets were clean and dry.
Tomorrow, it is supposed to be mostly cloudy and rain in the evening and on into Sunday. That is here in Mayer. Up the hill it will be rain and rain mixed with snow. I'm hoping it doesn't start until we are home after 4 pm. Then, they've put the rain back in the forecast for Monday and taken it out for Tuesday and put it back for Wednesday. Of course, it all depends on where you are at any given time. We drive in and out of it in the twenty miles we go up the hill. It will be snow up there and rain or rain mixed with snow here. In the valley, I think they have snow, maybe once every twenty or thirty years. When my sister lived in Flagstaff and had their truck they loaded it with snow everytime they went to see relatives in Phoenix and emptied it in their yard. Kids came from miles just to look at it and if they were invited to play in it they were joyous.
Now, Flagstaff, at 7,500 ft has snow from November through March or April and one time we drove through six inches of it in June. But, for the last four or five years there wasn't enough snow to open Snowbowl for skiing. That's up in the San Francisco mountains north of Flagstaff.
I'm waiting for spring and summer. Spring will arrive sometime the end of February and we could have frost into April if we have enough moisture to generate frost. We didn't have frost last fall until December because it was too dry. We're all hoping for a wet spring but the paper today said drier than normal through April. So, come on rain, rain mixed with snow or just plain snow. We'd like to see that creek running bank to bank and flooding the road.

dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 1216 times


Traffic Stop

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:14 pm

No, I didn't get stopped. Some drug enforcement agents were investigating a case and ask the Prescott Police Dept. for help. They pulled over a car and the driver was acting strange so they got him out of the car. As they started to pat him down, he slugged one of the officers in the face and took off running into a vacant field. He turned and started shooting at the officers. The officers started shooting back. An alert citizen called 911 to report the shooting. We were at York to get the truck serviced and had just turned onto Hwy 69 when we had to pull over because about a dozen squad cars came up the hill, sirens blaring, lights flashing. We went about a half a block and again had to pull over for squad cars. We couldn't figure what happened to get so many squad cars involved. Traffic was snarled for the rest of the evening. We couldn't find out what happened as they weren't giving out any news. It was yesterday morning that we found out that the officer who didn't get punched in the face was hit in the chest by the suspect. Fortunately he was wearing a bulletproof vest and was just knocked down and bruised. The suspect was wounded in the arm and was tackled and brought down. Officers and suspect were transported to the hospital. All are going to be okay. Suspect was charged with attempted homicide, assault, and multiple drug charges. Two women and a man who remained in the car were taken to jail. It didn't say what their charges were going to be. Thank goodness the officer had on his vest. The officer who was slugged was treated for minor injuries. A policeman never knows what to expect when he does a traffic stop these days. These officers were expecting problems because drug enforcement had ask them to make the stop. It's fortunate it was along the highway not too crowded with buildings and occurred in the vacant lot instead of a residential neighborhood. The suspect was from the valley. It didn't say if drugs were found in the car. Even with all the traffic snarl which we had to go through to get to work we made it on time. Good thing we had decided to go the other way first. We missed the worst of it. There was no good way to go around the mess. Often here there is only one way to get somewhere without going miles out of your way. It's because of mountains and washes and no good way to build roads through them.

dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 501 times


Family History

Category: family history | Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:23 pm

I have been writing a family history from my point of view for my nephew. It isn't all factual because my memory isn't clear on everything that happened 60 years ago so I add a little and make it into a story. But, it's all based on fact as I remember it.
My youngest sister was born about six weeks before I graduated from high school. My older brother was already married and had a daughter about two months old when Ellen was born. Wannabe was also working and going to school. There were six children in the family and she made seven. We girls were pleased because now the girls outnumbered the boys. It wasn't a big thing at this stage in life but if it had happened when we were younger we would have used it to our advantage. Anyway, Ellen knew nothing about our younger life. We were more or less settles in Wisconsin when she was born. I had finished high school in one school though we had moved house several times. As the older children left home finances became such that my parents were able to build their own house and the moving stopped for many years.
Ellen knew I write things so she asked me and Wannabe for information for Brennan. Brennan was born after my parents died and never knew them. Her two older boys were very young and don't remember much from those years.
So, I have been writing a family history of our younger years and also some stories of events that occurred during these years.
Someone started a thread about first, second or third generation gardeners. My family came from country people who always farmed. They didn't own their own farms but mostly rented land and grew what was needed to survive. I remember from very early always having a garden. My grandparents always had a garden.
From when I was four years old we helped in the garden. I remember carrying water from the washing machine and rinse tubs to the garden. I remember hoeing down the middle of the rows at age five. I helped dig potatoes and pick peas and beans. We never lived anywhere that we did not grow something unless we happened to be in an apartment in town. I can only remember living in town twice before I left home. I've always had a garden or at least a few things growing here and there in pots. Now, I'm getting a little discouraged by age, drought, grasshoppers and injuries. But, I guess since I have a few seeds sent to me by kind Stewers I will try again this year and see what happens. It will be all in containers as I cannot dig a garden anymore. Using containers is easier too and will use less water, I think. Flowers and such can be watered with gray water here but not edibles. I'm hoping we will get a little more rain before the dry period arrives. The high country has gotten a bit of snow and it all runs downhill so that helps. Our creek is still running water from snow melt so maybe our water table will come up some. It won't end the drought but it will help. I will try to post some family history stories here from time to time. As I said, they are strictly from my point of view and they are stories based on fact. Some poke fun at myself and some turned out to be more serious.
Have a good day. dooley


This blog entry has been viewed 532 times


The Case of the Missing Gloves

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:16 pm

When we had our large white truck there was a pocket in the door for things. I always kept my gloves in the pocket. I had winter gloves and work gloves for when we went to haul wood. I had brown winter gloves and black winter gloves. When we traded the white truck for the smaller red truck we cleaned out all the various storage spaces. Somewhere along the line one of each pair of winter gloves disappeared. I kept the ones we found and hoped we would find the other two. How far could the go after all? We looked in all the usual places and in places where they weren't likely to be, but we looked anyway. When it got cold we went and bought a new pair of black leather ones for driving. Now, we looked in the exercise room thinking they fell out of the box of stuff but they were not in there. They have been missing since the end of September. I went into the exercise room to water plants stored in there and for various other things during the time they were missing. This morning I went into the exercise room looking for a pair of loppers that I had put away. That's another story. But, there right in front of me so I couldn't miss it was the one brown glove. I know it hadn't been there all this time. So, I brought it inside thinking I would now have two pair of gloves again. Do you think I could find the one that I already had? Nope! Searched high and low, no brown glove, no black glove. Finally, I quit looking and went to do something else and when I turned around, right in plain sight was a bear holding the brown and black glove. How can things be nowhere to be found and then right in plain sight so any three year old could find it.?
Now, another story in the same vein. Monday, I went out to clear up the branches I'd cut off the rose bushes and the apricot trees and the lilac bushes. I looked for my leather gloves. We have several pair especially for outside work like what I was going to do. I couldn't find any of them. So, I had a pair of yellow cotton work gloves and they were light enough that I received some pokes and scratches from the rose thorns. But, we filled three bags with the things. I came inside, hung my hat on the hat rack and there on the shelf under the hat rack was a pair of leather gloves with my initials on them. I put the hat on before I went outside, so where were the gloves then. I went into the laundry room to hang up my coat. There on the shelf at eye level when I turned to come back inside was another pair of leather gloves. Did I miss those, too? What is it with the gloves around this house? All I can say is it must be Chance because I did have my eyes examined in December.

Charlie

This blog entry has been viewed 637 times


A Sunny Day

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:04 am

It was cool here today but it was sunny and bright so I thought I would go outside and do a few things. Last fall I trimmed back the bushes and the roses because between the drought and the grasshoppers they were looking pretty sad. Then, because it was so dry it didn't really frost here until after we had rain in December and the first week of this year so the leaves hung on all of the trees. It looks like they might be on the ground now so I needed to get them bagged up, too. Well, I did get the trimmings from the roses and the apricot trees bagged up and put out for the trash man. I didn't get the leaves raked up. That will be for another day. I did find some grape hyacinth coming up through the ground and a couple of daffodils
peeping through the leaves. It's too early for the daffodils although one year the bloomed through the snow. I'm hoping for no snow this year. It's been cold but not cold enough for snow this year. It was supposed to be 60 today but I'm quite sure it didn't make it. The next three days will be cooler. I probably won't get those leaves raked up until Friday at the earliest.
Everything looks a little gray and scroungy now. It needs a warm spell to spruce things up a bit. I was reading in the gardening section of the paper on Saturday that it's time to prune trees and spray them with a dormant oil. I'm not sure what a dormant oil is but guess I will find out when I go to buy some. I hope the apple trees survived the grasshopper attacks last year. I had to spray them. I know the butterfly bush is kaput. If it's not drought, it's the grasshoppers. Everyone had them, even my sister down in Phoenix was complaining about them. Well, it's time to go off to play library lady for another day. Have a good evening.

dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 498 times


Holidays are over?

Category: Holidays | Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:47 pm

I think the holidays are over for another year. Thursday morning I went out are took down the garland with the bright red bows because the weather forecast predicted rain. I didn't want them to get all wet and straggly. I took down the wreaths and the bells and all the Christmasy stuff outside. I left the baskets of pinecones because they are wintery and look okay. When we went down to my sister's on Sunday she gave me a birthday present that dr is going to put by the front door. It's a Celtic knot and says, "Ceal Mile Failte" with little lines over the e and the i and the a. She said it says, well, I forgot. Something about a million welcomes. Her husband made it. When dr gets it up, I will take a picture of it.
We had a lot of work to do on Wednesday night at work. Tons of it actually. I think no one brought a book back in all of December and then brought every thing back on Monday. But, we went in 1 1/2 hours early to make up for not working on Monday. The library closed at six on Monday and we usually start at 6 so we went early on Wednesday and Thursday so we wouldn't lose time. Anyway, we had two very good volunteers that came in at 5:30 and with Gloria and I, we got everything put away by 8:30. Are we good? YES!!
Thursday night it was dead in the water. Very few people came in at all. We were there early and had one of the volunteers back and we had everything done by 6:30. After I put in my bit at the reference desk, I went and checked shelves and put things in order. I am up to L'Amour. I will get the rest of it done on Saturday, I hope. I won't have to watch the desk and neither will Gloria.
Today, being a day off, we slept late. After I made breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen I tackled removing Christmas from inside. I gathered everything in one place, brought my tubs inside and begin putting things in their proper tubs. We marked the tubs last year as we put it away. I took down the little bear tree and put it away but didn't put all of the little bears away. I put a little log house on one end of the shelf and set all the little bears along the shelf. I'm thinking tomorrow I might move the house to the middle of the shelf and put the bears around it. It won't look so lopsided. I removed all the glass ornaments from the tree. They have their own tub. Then the special ornaments and birds and ones that never made it to the tree this year. Last, the tins and mugs and dishes and wreath materials and all the odds and ends. Now everything is back in storage. dr took the tree apart and put it back in it's box. So, Christmas is back in the storage and the house is to rights again. No, the house isn't to rights again. I will do that on Sunday, after we go to breakfast with Dan, Laurel and family. Laurel's mom's birthday is Jan.9th. Mine was Jan. 2nd. So they are going to treat us to breakfast for our birthdays. They kindly invited dr to come along. I just hope it isn't raining too hard or "Yikes!" snowing when it's time to go. It is supposed to start sometime. But, they keep moving the start date. It's sometime Saturday or Saturday evening. I guess it will be whenever California is finished with it. They tend to keep most of it so they can have mudslides and floods. That's why we are so dry over here. That sounds like a good excuse anyway. So, Happy New Year everyone! Enjoy it to the fullest because before you know it Christmas will be looming around the corner and you won't be ready.

dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 627 times


The Saga of the Jigsaw Puzzle

Category: Holidays | Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 5:16 am


I wrote under a New Year's Eve thread that I usually worked a jigsaw puzzle on New Year's Eve. So, I thought, why not? I told dr going up to work on Saturday that I should stop on the way home and buy one as I didn't think we had any sitting around any more.
Coming down the hill on Saturday, I told dr that we forgot to stop and buy a jigsaw puzzle.
We went to Phoenix on Sunday. Now, there are a lot of stores in Phoenix. We went to my sister's house. We sat and talked with her a couple of hours and we went to lunch with her and her husband. We went back to her house. I am reasonably sure that her bedroom closet has at least a dozen jigsaw puzzles sitting on the shelf. She is a bigger jigsaw puzzle person than I am.
So, about halfway home I told dr that we forgot to stop and buy a puzzle. Then, I said,"I bet Maxine had a lot of puzzles on her closet shelf."
After a bit I said, "I forgot to ask her if she would loan me one."
We stopped at the variety store in Cordes Lakes on the way home. The owner of this variety store used to live in Black Canyon City and he had a variety store there, too. He always had puzzles and at a reasonable price. I know this store is a little smaller. Cordes Lakes is a little smaller so it figures the variety store would be smaller, too. They did have jigsaw puzzles. Not big ones, but five hundred piece puzzles would be okay if you didn't have one at all, but not at five dollars.
We stopped at the dollar store coming home. They only had children's little puzzles. They are no fun at all. Children
can work them in five minutes. We didn't buy one.
I told dr we could go to the thrift shop this morning. They always have puzzles. I know they do, but when we got there they were closed. Now, why would they be closed on New Year's Eve. It's run by volunteers for charity so maybe no one wanted to volunteer on New year's Eve.
We stopped at the hardware store but you know hardware stores don't sell jigsaw puzzles. dr said he would ask them but I told him he didn't have to do that because they wouldn't have one.
We started home and I was going up a small hill and what did I spy? A yard sale sign by the side of the road. I said to dr, "There's a yard sale, do you want to stop?" Do pigs fly?
We turned around and went back. Alas, no jigsaw puzzles. Aren't yard sales required by law to have at least one jigsaw puzzle? We looked everywhere. A man came out of the trailer. He was a little grungy looking and had an earring through his nose. He asked if we found anything we wanted. dr told him,"Actually, we were looking for a jigsaw puzzle."
The man said, "I have a jigsaw puzzle. It's in the house." He turned and went into the trailer. He came out carrying a can. It turned out to be a Coca Cola advertisement puzzle. It has a boy with a bottle of coke and a sandwich. There is a fishing pole and a can of worms sitting by him and of course, a little dog looking up at his sandwich with wishful eyes. You can't really see the eyes but you know how dogs look at sandwiches.
We bought the jigsaw puzzle.
He said that he used to sorta collect Coke things. He had it hanging on the wall but he got tired of it so he put it back in the can.
After dinner tonight, I tipped it out of the can and then I was really puzzled. He had the pieces taped together with this clear medical tape. I spent a good hour carefully undoing the tape. The pieces are a bit sticky from the tape. When dr came, I told him the pieces were all taped together. He said, "Of course, he said he had it hanging on the wall."
So, I put it together, after I had taken it apart. It took about an hour. The pieces are a bit big and it's not a five hundred piece puzzle but it was cheap and it's a Coke advertisement. But the man lied. He said all the pieces were there and there is one piece missing.
Anyway, I have my jigsaw puzzle all finished and there is still several hours left to the evening. Now, what do I do with the rest of it. Maybe, I should take it apart and start over. Or, I could sit and tape all the pieces together with clear tape and hang it on the wall.
Maybe I will start collecting jigsaw puzzles and storing them on my closet shelf so I won't have this same problem next year.
Have a Happy New Year everyone.

dooley

Last edited: Tue Jan 01, 2008 5:18 am

This blog entry has been viewed 782 times




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