March 17, 2011

The other day Dwight and I joined one of my neighbors at the Casa Grande Trap Club. We shot 2 rounds. We will never win any medals, but we had a good time.

The camp sites here are nice size and easy to back into.

W had gone to Dwight's for a spaghetti dinner one night. Larry had us over for steak another night, so we had everyone over for a sausage dinner. Dot enjoyed the company.

For St. Pat's day the park had a horse race followed by pizza. Some of the finest jockeys in the land were there along with some of the best horses.

Demetri Falloff was there riding Anxious Moments.

One of the big time favorites was Honey Buns on Harley Hot Wheels.

Forgot the name of the rider for this horse but his name is Brand-ee.

Chico was riding Speedy Gonzales. Chico was legal as he was showing his green card.

The last horse was Gypsy Ros-e-ola.

For some reason Honey Buns was our favorite. She looked young and frisky. Unfortunately she also did not win a single race. Six of us were betting and we could not win a single race.

The Race

The floor was marked off in squares and they threw dice as to who moved forward. It was a fun time.

March 14, 2011

Yesterday we went to a Civil War Reenactment. Now why would they have a reenactment in Arizona? There were 3 Civil War battles fought out here. Valverde, New Mexico where 2500 union troops met 2000 Texans. The South won. Picacho Pass, Arizona, 12 union troops met 10 Confederates. It ended up a draw. Glorieta New Mexico, 1000 Confederates met 850 Union troops. The South was winning when 490 Union reinforcements came across the Confederate supply train and destroyed it, The Texans retreated and that ended the Civil war in the west.

Mar. 12, 2011

Dot is disappointed. They said on the news that the weather has warmed up enough that the snakes are now out. I can't let her run loose and chase the quail, burrowing owls and Road Runners. Not that she stands a chance of getting near any of them. This Road Runner was in the Park. I watched it go into a Mesquite tree. It did not fly up into the tree it ran up the tree.

A Burrowing Owl nest. It's below ground.

Went with Dwight and Donna to the Four Peaks Brewery. The building started it's life as a Creamery. It's a hundred year old building. Neat place and great beers.

Gloria and I took a ride to Carefree and Cave Creek. Stopped for lunch at this place. On Wed. and Fri. evenings they have Bull Riding. If it wasn't such a long way I would go back for that.

In the 1920's Chandler, AZ. tried becoming a Ostrich raising area. The market fell out but they still have an Ostrich Festival. It was a good time.

They had a petting Zoo where I made a friend after he tried to eat my shirt.

They have Ostrich races. ESPN was there filming and it will appear in a future Travel Channel episode. Two 2 girls from ESPN tried to ride the ostrich's and fell off before they got to the first turn.

These guys at least got to use a chariot. The girls rode bare back.

They also had Camel Races.

One of the ESPN girls tried her hand on a Mechanical Bull.

They had a good crowd for a Friday.

Dwight bought a feather for his hat and Larry climbed into the race track after the races to retrieve a feather for Carol. They both look snappy.

March 9, 2011

      Got the pictures from Betty taken when we went to the (free) Seafood Buffet at Harrah's on March 4th.

                                                               The Happy Crabber

Some of these guys may have been on the TV show about Crab fishing.

Gordy and Gloria

Larry, Carol, Tim and Nancy

The whole group.

Copied some of Betty's sun sets.

March 8 2011

Saturday 5 of us went to the local airport. They were having their Cactus Fly In. It was antique planes and war birds.  The problem with the antique planes is a whole lot of them were made in 1946. I was born in '46 so they can't be antique. From talking to people the show this year was not as good as last year's or the year before. The price of aviation fuel could be a big factor.

This pilot looked familiar but he was not very talkative.

This plane not only showed how many bomb runs it did but also the 2 movies it was in.

There is no way that I could fit into that belly turret.

The daylight you see is the rear gunner compartment. There is no easy way to get back there.

We went to Dwight and Donna's for a spaghetti dinner. They are camped right on the fence line of the park. This is the area that I run Dot. A lot of people feed the birds so there are a lot of quail and other creatures there. I was not able to get a shot of the Road Runners that hang out there yet. Hope to be successful later.

                                                             Got a shot of a great sun set.