Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Today was the first day that the weather indicated that summer was shifting to fall here in this part of Arizona. High temp today was in the low 70’s and last night it got down to 48. But as you can see in the pictures we had beautiful blue cloud filled skies. Carol has recovered from a bad cold, and our little Daisy Mae continues to amaze us with her ability to behave and learn. We continue to keep busy and enjoy being here. I am spending time each day learning my part in the Christmas play here at the park, this play has 15 scenes and I’m in 5 of them. I play the part of the Sheriff’s Deputy. If I ever had any interest in being an actor, I assure you that after this is over I’ll never set foot on a stage again, and I have a new found respect for all stage performers. I can’t wait to see this curtain drop…. Leroy

Our chow hound, Daisy Mae

She loves to take walks with me.

The view looking out our front window of the bus today.

Every few minutes the sky made some dramatic changes, but no rain. Just a beautiful day.

More of todays clouds and shadows on the local mountains taken here in the park.

It's A Dog's World

It’s been a while since we updated this blog so today I’ll try to catch up. First the weather here in Benson has been great. No wildfires, snow, or rain like some places we see on TV. Up until a few days ago our routine was simple. We go for a walk after breakfast, and then I do odd jobs which usually include some wood carving. Then it’s BBQ time and 3 out of 5 nights Carol goes with the gals to play cards/games. Of course she also goes to Wal-Mart, Safeway, and Red Hat lunches in between. Last week during a brief moment when we had time to talk, I asked Carol what she wanted for Christmas. Big mistake….she said there was only one thing she wanted. So for the next week I spent many hours on line learning more than I ever wanted to know about Chihuahuas. We have a friend here in the park that last year bought a puppy (Chihuahua) and it has a great disposition and not at all like most ankle snapping, barking little brat dogs I associate with all the Chihuahuas had I even seen. So, in our travels looking for the right dog, we finally found “the right dog”. A female, short hair, small (4.2 lbs), 2-1/2 yr old, named Daisy Mae. Would you believe this: Daisy is the mother of our friends Chihuahua. How’s that for luck?
So now that Carol has more to do than I do, I guess I have been elected to build more fencing in the back yard for Daisy. In my spare time I’m learning my lines for the Christmas play I’m in here at the park. And at 2PM on Thursdays I teach wood carving. So you see we are not bored in any way. LR

A little background about this blog posting. As you will see when you connect to the link, it will take you to a very interesting website. Chronicle of the old West, which our friend Dakota Livesay and his wife Sunny, along with their dog Jake, own, operate, and manage. I have listened to their radio stories in Grants Pass on our local country station for years and I subscribe to their paper also. Last year we meet them here at our RV park in Benson AZ and they have decided they need a winter homesite so they have settled in on our second lot. They are full time with a large 5th wheel RV and during the hot summer months reside about 100 mile north of here in Show Low AZ.
Some of you have asked if we did anything for Halloween, and the answer will be found on Dakota's website at: http://www.chronicleoftheoldwest.com/index.html
When you get there, click on " Stampede Tour" and after you check us out and meet our next VP, spend some time on this interesting and informative website. And if you have a problem finding that special person a nice and unusual Christmas present, a subscription to this 20 page newpaper may be just the thing...And no, I'm not on his sales staff.... Enjoy, Leroy

New patio furniture

Our old patio table is a conventional picnic table and is in dire need of sanding and fresh varnish, and that is what I’m doing in the picture above. Then it will go to our other lot so that our renters can use it. And that is how we justified getting the table and chairs shown below.

Our second meal with the new patio furniture. If you look in the background you will see the refinished picnic table that we retired.

For those that read our blog last year will remember the pumpkin tree here in the park. This year they are somewhat larger....... L&C

Halloween in Benson AZ

We are enjoying great weather here in Benson AZ. As you can see we are getting ready for Halloween. Carol has already begun playing a variety of games with the women that are here. Each day more people will be arriving and soon the park will be full and then Carol will have to start scheduling her games and other activities, and our time here will fly by fast.
The owner of the park has asked me to design a wood working shop for the use of residents here. He has in mind something like a high school wood shop would have but without a teacher. Coming up with a layout and list of equipment will be easy. The hard part will be how to manage, maintain, and control the use and miss-use of the facility. When he sees my concerns about safety and liability, this project will become very interesting. In the meantime I’ll be starting up our wood carving class again so you can see I’ll be keeping busy this winter. Also last spring when we were here, a couple of the guys and I talked about starting up a Trap shooting group. So this trip I brought a shotgun, and who knows we may end up shooting in the AZ State champion playoff come spring….In any case we will try not to let boredom to enter our life while we are here. LR

This is my "bad hair day"

Parked for the winter.

Decorated for Halloween.
Carol's little friends.

Carol's Graceland souvenir.

Graceland, well worth the trip

The picture below is a house that is a recorded historical landmark in Horn Lake, MS (just 7 miles south of Graceland. It seems that many years ago a young couple that had 4 children (all under the age of 4) lived in this house. Surely crowed and without A/C the summers were not real comfortable, so the family ended up in Oregon with A/C and a much bigger house.

Today we spent our day a Graceland and it was very nice. Learned a lot about who Elvis was and what he did.

Bret's room (above)

Vicksburg MS tomorrow...

Branson M

We have relocated to our favorite RV Park in Branson MO. I just got back from driving the Honda to town to pick up our week of show tickets. We will be here until Sun. 10/12, and then we head to Graceland. Not much to take pictures of in Branson, but if something pops up I'll try to get it on film.
So far our weather has been great but as I set here typing, it has started to rain. It is not cold or windy so that helps. For those that may be interested in knowing what shows we are seeing, they are: The Presley’s Country Jubilee which was the first show in Branson. Baldknobbers Jamboree, a comedy show. Kirby VanBruch, a great magician that we have seen before and is worth a second visit. “SIX” is a show Carol has heard about and is very unusual in that they make all the music and there are no instruments. And we may add more…
So we should have an enjoyable and relaxing week in Branson. L & C