Thanksgiving 2024

 This was the third year I spent with Ellen's family.  I'm treated like a long family friend now. 

I walked Gretchen to the mailbox and back  after sunrijse and then putzed around the house until noon, It was another mild day with a high in the upper 60Fs.  

I worried about Hansel as he continued to rest on the sectional couch.  He moved around more, though, and still ate his raw chicken and wagged his tail.

I took a shower and got ready for the 1pm meetup time.  I didn't see Ellen's message that the time was changed to 3pm because her brother Eric had taken a 70-mile bike jride around Vail and didn't leave until 2pm to arrive with his two daughters Celeste and Matilda. It was the first time I met Ellen's brother and his girls.

I was the first one to arrive.  Even Ellen was still napping at her place and didn't get to her parents' place until 2pm.  I helped her mom Rebecca cut veggies for a veggie dip plate, and later peeled the potatoes.  By now I was starved as I saved my appetite for the big holiday meal that was served  after 3pm.

After dinner Ellen, Eric, the girls and I walked a mile arounud her parents' neighborhood to look at some of the Christmas lights.  Not as many homes were lighted up when compared to last year.  Most homes will decorate their yards this weekend.  We walked slowly as Ellen had another surgery just last Monday and couldn't walk fast.  I counted five brightly-lighted homes.

I left after the walk to go back to my place at 7:30pm.  My belly was full and I had a good time but I wanted to give Ellen personal time with her family. I needed to get back to Hansel and the other dogs as I kept them all inside.

To my great surprise, Hansel was walking around the living room when I arrived, wagging his tail with joy.  Seeing him up and about was the best gift for today.  He was almost his old self except for the limp which I now think will take a few weeks to heal.  The good news is that he will be ok and by the end of the year, he will be my hiking buddy again.

 

Visiting Eric in Tempe with Hansel as my co-pilot

Eric and I had originally agreed to get together on Wednesday for dinner at Spokes on Southern (a bicycle-themed beer pub) in Tempe, but then on Monday he asked me if we could get together on Tuesday instead.  I'm off all week so that was fine with me.  That simply meant I had less time to clean out my CR-V.  Cleaning out that car was one chore I had on my desperately-to-do list for this week.

And boy, did that car need cleaning! I immediately started removing the excess dog stuff and canned goods  I kept in that car Monday afternoon, clearing out the back hatch.  Having my own property now allows me to do long, deep car cleanings without scrutiny from neighbors. I got most of the back finished before sunset.

Early Tuesday I finished the rest of the CR-V. finding more lost items from earlier this year.  Yes, I know, I should be cleaning out my vehicle more often.  The doggie blankets in the back seat had hidden quite a few things that needed to be thrown out.  I need to work on keeping my vehicles clean going forward.

I finally took off for Tempe at 11:20am with Hansel as my co-pilot.  He is a quiet rider who just likes to chils  in the passenger seat. It was an unseasonably warm day but perfect for a three-hour drive to see Eric. Weather was 77F with cloudy skies that turned smokey once I hit Picacho Peak.  Tucson was actually warmer than Phoenix. While the Great Lake States are expecting freezing temperatures from a massive storm coming down from Siberia, we are very mild even for Arizona standards.

Traffic was minimal until 2pm when I hit my first slow-go on I-10 due to an accident with just 32 miles to go.  ADOT was already clearing the scene that involved a black Mustang with front-end damage and a black BMW X-5 with minimal rear damage hoisted on a flat-bed tow truck.  A second slow-go was from rubberneckers looking at another accident in the southbound lane of I-10.

I still managed to get to our meet-up place at 2:50pm, next  to the Arizona Garage on S Priest Drive.  Eric and I then drove to the Hundred Mile Brewpub for two bears as we waited for Margaret, Eric's wife, to get off work at 4:30pm  I was getting hungry now and ordered a pretzel appetizer. When she was off work, we all left to our destination: Spokes on Southern.  We drove in separate cars.

I arrived early with an eager Hansel wanting to run around and explore the scents. He had been in the car for over three hours and needed to run for a bit.

 He was on leash due to the business environment, but  I also wanted to walk around the area for as long as possible before Eric and Margaret arrived.

The small duck pond behind Spokes was the boundary, but I took Hansel around a bank high-rise next to Spokes with an elevated path over a parking garage not visible from the street. All I saw was a 4-foot wall that Hansel immediately wanted to jump over.  He was determined to run and jump and I knew that if I did not let go of the leash, that he would hang himself.

He jumped 30 feet to a grassy area below.  He let out a painful yelp.  When I rushed to the scene, he was alive and prostate, raising his head to look at me.  He then slowly got up to stand and then continue our walk.  Thank God he had no head or spinal injury! He walked with a limp to his front left leg but was able to continue the walk back to the car.  I knew he needed to rest now.  Any after-dinner walk in the neighborhood was cancelled.  I later took him out of the car to sit with us on the patio.

He stayed in the car the rest of the day.  He wasn't whimpering or panting.  His chest was sore and he yelped when I massaged him to feel for broken bones but he didn't have any visible injuries.  What a relief!  The drive back to Sierra Vista was very quiet as he lay behind me quietly.

I ended up resting in Eloy, AZ and continued my drive when my alarm woke me up at 4:30am.  I finally got back home shortly after sunrise.  Hansel slowly jumped out of the car, walked up the stairs to the front door, drank some water and then hopped on the sectional couch where he has been laying ever since. He has his appetite.

I will see if I can get him an appointment after the holidays.

 

Sheelite Canyon in autumnal show

This was a hike I had posted on MeetUp.  The destination was the overlook but I lost my track.  We ended up going three miles one/way before turning around.  That was still six miles and long enough for everyone, so all was good.

I had five people sign up:  SteveD, KatheyB, KathyC, Craig and Travis.  KathyB was the last one to show up and she was angry at first because directions to the trailhead for first-time users was unclear and she didn't mention that she was unclear of where to go.  Once she arrived at 9:10am, her anger subsideed.  

I've hiked with Steve and Travis before and both are good hikers.  Steve always brings his bordercollieX Morgan with him.  I brought Hansel but he didn't seem to want to socialize with Morgan.  Hansel preferred to stay near me.  Morgan stayed near her dad but showed uneasiness with some of the rock-hopping that was needed.  Hansel didn't seem interested in showing her the ropes.

Colors were beautiful as we entered the narrow canyon as the 10am sun poked through.  There were a lot of "oohs" and "aaahs" and many stops to take photographs.  Red maples and yellow ash the primary colors, but a few cottonwoods showed off their orange. The trail  was easy to follow the first half mile, but the higher we got, the more difficult it was to follow it.  The canyon is constanly eroded with rain and landslides and fallen trees, but a few rockscapes make it easily identifyable. It truly is a canyon worth exploring!

I made three hours my turn-around.  Both Karens were on the slow side, but Travis kept them company while I stayed in the middle with Craig and Steve ahead of me.  It was a five-hour hike as planned.  We got back to our cars by 1:30pm and I was home an hour later.  

Steve said during the hike that the sign by the trailhead said no dogs were allowed in the canyon due to the canyon being a special habitat for a certain owl.  I had not seen that and I do read all signs.  I read the sign again as we exited the canyon. Sure enough, there was no mention of a no dog rule in Sheelite.  "Maybe I read it on All trails" he later added as we walked the last half mile to our cars.