Wild Burros and Being Stuck Jan 3, 2009

We ventured out today for adventure, little did we know what would come our way. So off we go down the dirt road to Senator Wash Lake. We stopped to get a shot photo of the old home place, the coach is just over my head.

Since we arrived here on Monday we have seen three other wild burros, but we did not have our cameras...but this time we did. This is a zoomed photo, they were not this close. A whistle got their attention.

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Our original thoughts were to drive around Senator Wash Lake, but there was a locked gate across the road that led across the dam. So we turned around and came back partway and took the road heading to Ferguson Lake. As you can see from the next two photos, this road had it ups and downs.

Then when we tried to pull off at an overlook, as least we thought it was an overlook, this is what happened in the matter of just a few seconds. For some unknown reason, when we pushed the button to switch the Explorer into 4x4, it did not engage. Major bummer?@#. Don't think AAA would come to our rescue.

Well, we were going to have to dig ourselves out. First we had to get the jack out. It was neatly stored in the rear side compartment, so after unloading a few pieces of fire wood so we could get to it, there was some difficulty in getting it out. But Bob succeeded in releasing the jack from the car's grip. He then dug out enough sand to set up the jack.

Then he jacked up the car so we could put some 2x4's we had in the Explorer for firewood under the tire.

He finally got it cranked up enough to put several layers of boards under the tire.

So now it is time go, we hope...

And go, WE DID!!

Here is the aftermath. Success!!!

After rescuing the Explorer, we were hungry, so we drove back a short distance to another pull off we had stopped at before and had lunch overlooking Ferguson Lake.

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While we ate lunch we were still puzzled why the 4x4 button did not work, after all the Explorer is only 16 years old! Got out the manual and basically just push the button--it should work. Right!

Before heading out for the drive home, I tried the 4x4 button, then Bob did a couple more times, and finally it did engage. Yea!!

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For this special moment in life...Make some mistakes

Happy Birthday Justin # 13, Jan 2, 2009

Today is our first grandson's 13th birthday. It sure is amazing how fast time flies.

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We LOVE you Justin!!

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, Dec 31, 2008-Jan 1, 2009

While in the Phoenix area we purchased a wooden circle to put on the steering wheel to make a table when we are parked. Wednesday was the day to sand and stain the surface. Today, New Year's Day, Bob sprayed a satin finish on it called Deft. We have used Deft for a long time to refinish furniture and love the surface it leaves.


Late in the afternoon it was time to put out the New Year's Eve luminaries. As you can see I am in shorts, the temps got up to the mid 70's. They burned for over 2 hours.

I did not have to dig very deep to find our New Year's Eve party hats and blowers. We had brought our champaign with us. See the view out of the window.

It is party time, well for about 10 minutes. We celebrated the east coast New Year's and was in bed by 10:00 pm our time. We even got out the Yahtzee game and looking over the score cards saw the last time we played it last New Year's Eve with my sister while we were in Fredericksburg, Tx.

Guess what Bob wears in the desert??? Well, to be honest, he had on shorts under the blanket, it just that during our happy hour the sun went down below the mountain and it got cold. So the blanket was the easiest solution.

While we boondock we save all our paper to burn and this was the first fire we have had since we got here on Monday and the burn paper was piling up.

New Year's Day: This morning we had all kinds of birds at or near the thistleseed feeder. There were finches, cow birds, and red winged black birds. I had also scattered some cracked corn on the ground. Somehow that cow bird thinks its beak will fit in the tiny hole where the thistleseed comes out. He is a optomist!

Yesterday we noticed when we were playing Yahtzee that the table was not as clean and smooth as it should be...so this morning I got out some special cleaner I have and it really cleaned the table. It is now very smooth.

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In this special moment in life...Count your blessings