Winter has arrived...Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!
  Last we were in Moab and had a great time. Sure do miss the warm weather. Having missed cold winters for the last couple it is trying to acclimate once again. We are in Boise, Idaho, and the temps for the last week have been below zero to the low 20's during the day.  Bitter cold!
  After Moab we stopped in Salt Lake to house sit for family. We arrived a few days early so we had some time to visit before they headed off for Turks/Cachous. And I had just purchased a new [for me] mountain bike. Top quality bike that needed some tuning. Since Chris [John's nephew] is a bike fanatic and mechanic he overhauled everything that needed fixing! It runs great and I am a very grateful rider. It's a huge improvement over my last bike. And thank you Dave and Alice for making it available!  We had a great week of touring around Salt Lake in a Mustang convertible visiting some old haunts of John's. He grew up there and we were able to connect with some old friends from high school that he hasn't seen since. Great bunch of people! Unfortunately an Uncle of his passed away and so we stayed an extra week for the service. More family arrived, and since everyone was there for Halloween, we built a fire out front, passed out candy with Michael Jackson's Thriller playing in the background.

This pic is of the view from our campsite in Horse Canyon. Not a campground but plenty of places to park off the beaten path. As you can see not a town or dwelling in sight.  It is halfway between SLC and Moab so we stayed there on the way to and the way back from Moab.

  From Salt Lake we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed for Boise. The snow was on the peaks and everyone was talking about skiing the following weekend. Meaning it was getting cold.
  We quickly settled into life in Boise at sister Sue's house. Getting the yard/ gardens cleaned up for winter. And with the grand kids next door there is always something going on. Like piano recitals...
 

                                                                                                    Kai

 

                              Mia

 

and hot springs!

 

But it isn't all fun and games. We are working the odd job: painting, plumbing stuff, small carpentry, massage, etc. We need to get enough to head south to warmer climes for a few months. We will be back in Boise March/April.

 

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Season!

The best to you all...

Scott and Johnney

back in red rock country at last! for a while...

A big hello and hugs to all!!!
Lava was a blast as always. It really is a wonderful group of friends we have there.
We were there for about 5 weeks and got the old porch torn down and the new one rebuilt from the ground up. A few design changes along the way, and knowing Kathryn some additions will be upcoming!  First pic is the old porch...roughly 8x12 with a shed roof. New deck is 16x20 with a pitched roof. And a really nice swing!

We visited Chris (John's nephew,) Missy and Ian [and wife and son] in Salt Lake valley, in route to Moab.  We'll be house/pet sitting for them at the end of October while they are traveling so we will return October 17.
Made it to Moab for one night in town and then moved up river [20 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere] to camp at a friends place. It's nice to be back out of town and in the desert again and to be among the WONDERFUL  red rocks again.  Life has a way of helping us along with good invitations and great rendezvous'!
The canyon country has had an unbelievable amount of rain this year and continued with showers last night so the desert is green and flowering again! Some views from our current camp...

til the next time,
Scott and Johnney 

I can't believe how much time has passed since the last entry. If your still reading, sorry for the delay.

Our time on the east coast was not long enough and harried as usual. John's oldest son graduated from the University of West Virginia with his PHD in Sports Psychology. It was a great weekend for him, and we were honored to share it with him! And very proud parents!

 On the way back from West Virginia we stopped in DC to see my new great nephew. He is so cute and the happiest baby I've met in a long time!

While on the east coast we had some time with my two sisters, brother, and my Aunt Sally. I do miss having my family close by. We had several days with my older sister exploring some of the White Mountains. It was so wonderful having a tree canopy overhead again, hiking in the woods! But I do not miss the mosquito's and black flies...

And many thanks to Robert and Liz!
After we got back to Phoenix it took us several days to load up the bus, and shut Dave's house down for the summer. We also finally got a kitchen sink installed!! Running water!!! A dream kitchen at last!
After many hugs and see you agains we headed out one morning. At nine am it was already 90 degrees so we were looking forward to heading north for cooler temps. I don't know how people live in Phoenix year round in temps of 100 - 115 on a daily basis.  It was slow going, even for the bus, since everything north of Phoenix is gaining in altitude. But we did make Flagstaff by early afternoon. Picked up supplies and continued on to Bonita, a campground we stayed in before, not far north of Flag. And it is 5-6000 ft in altitude! For us, it was the first time in weeks it was cool in the evening. Dropped to 47 degrees actually. We fell asleep to the breeze in the pines [ponderosa pines], the "who, who" of an owl and the quiet of a deep forest under a bazillion stars.  NO traffic noise! We could see the stars again! No hum of air conditioning. Wild animal noises. It was a glorious night!
At this point we knew we would head to Boise, Idaho. We had an offer for some work. But we had to stop over in Lava. First was Salt Lake though. Some time there with John's nephew. And Dyl [John's youngest, the rock climber] came to spend time with us. His van broke down in Salt Lake, so he has been working for a few months. We spent one day with him up in Alta [the ski mountain] hiking with him. A warm and beautiful day, with snow still on the mountains.

We had the bus that day, and it was very slow going. We had to get to the trailhead at 8000 feet. No problem. The bus engine is not fast but a real workhorse. The problem was coming down. Even though we were going real slow, I could smell the brakes overheating badly. We pulled off right away and got out. There were flames coming out of the front wheels from the brakes! They were easily put out and we had to wait on the side of the road for an hour til they were cool enough to make it the rest of the way down.
As I said earlier, from there we headed of to Lava. Somehow people knew we were coming and a short while later we were sitting down to dinner with 10 or so friends. Word got out and they just kept coming in. It was really great to see everyone again! As one thing lead to another we ended up staying for almost a week instead of a few days. After all, we couldn't miss Milan's birthday party!

After a week of festivities we headed of to Boise. We had a house to paint, with some stone work, and a fence to put in. The owner was getting anxious to get started! So back to work we went. Long days and achy backs but it is now finished - 4 weeks later. In the meantime Sue, John's sister, the owner of said house, has been telling her friends about the work on her house. We now have more work than we can handle! No complaints there! We are in the middle of our last house paint in Boise for this year as we need to be in Lava on September 3rd for a construction project there. Then it's off to Salt Lake to house sit for John's nephew in October. 3 dogs and a cat...

So the question is: where do we spend the winter???
We miss you all,
    John and Scott

Time for a new chapter

The end of winter here in Phoenix, and spring has sprung. Hard to tell except the temps have already hit the 100 degree mark. It's already too hot for us.
John's sister Sue was here for a few weeks!!! And Rob from Boston too!!! So we went exploring the places we still wanted to see before we leave. Places like Deer Valley Rock Art...

The Phoenix Museum of Art which had an installation called "Order, Chaos, and the Space between". This included 30,000 butterflies winding their way around...

Southeast of Phoenix, in a town called Florence, is St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. They have six different chapels in various styles and many acres of gardens, fountains, and statues. All very beautiful.

From there we headed a little farther south towards Tucson to the Bioshere 2. It is a huge series of buildings where everything is enclosed and self sufficent. The first experiment had 8 people living there for 2 years without any thing from the outside world.  It's called a window to the future. Hmmm...

Recently we went to this "house" called Mystery Castle with our friend Bern. A large stone house with quite a history! All hand built, recycled materials, for his daughter. She lived in it until she passed in 2010.

second floor

With Spring come the flowers. And the desert is blooming!

 

It is now May... the winter has gone by and it's time to think of our next chapter. The next few actually.

First, we are headed to the east coast. On May 14th we will fly with Dave to Portland where his son will pick him up to go to New Hampshire for the summer. John and I will be staying in Scarborough for a few days before heading south towards West Virginia. John's oldest son, Ian, will be graduating again, this time with his PhD in Sports Psychology. He has worked so hard for this! What a great day!

Then it's back to Portland with a stop in DC to see my new great nephew. Then to New Hampshire to see my sister for several days. The next week will be all around the state [Boston, Rhode Island too] for various people before heading back to Phoenix on June 4th.

The chapter after that will be... hmmm....left or right at the next stop sign...?

Scott and johnney

Winter in Phoenix so far

Hello everyone!
We hope the colder season has treated you well so far. According to some weather reports the east coast has had some warmer temps than we have had here in Phoenix. Temps have been down in the low 30's some nights, with a few frosts. We don't miss the shovelling though...
The fall and holiday season turned into a whirlwind of activities. We had quite an adjustment with Dave getting meds regulated and getting to know his needs, as they change weekly. He is doing well.
Some friends from Boston came to visit (YA!!!) and we had a great time. Went to the Japanese Gardens which were quite beautiful. And so many Koi!!!

Christmas brought us to Lake Havasu City for the annual "Parade of Lights". The city sports a "London Bridge" that was actually dismantled in London and shipped here and rebuilt. It crosses over a canal from the lake and this is where the parade was. Lots of boats of all kinds all decorated for the holiday!
We also went to the Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix for the annual Luminaries display. With 3-4 hundred thousand candles in bags, and many trees lit up with the tiny white lights (electric of course), and about 8 different groups playing music it was a magical evening!

We have been to a few museums, the Heard Museum being a wonderful experience. We had a whole afternoon to wander around all the Native American artifacts. Amazing stuff! Another museum we went to was out in Wickenburg, about 1 hour northwest of Phoenix. It is all western art, whether it is paintings, clothing, or saddles. Some of the art work on the saddle's were pretty cool. My horse never had anything so fancy!
Last weekend was the beginning of the Barrett-Jackson car auction. A free car show was happening down in the Scottsdale area so we headed down there for an afternoon of gawking at some wonderful cars and trucks.

Other stuff we have made time for has been some hiking in the local area. North Mountain and South Mountain Preserves have provided some great hikes close by.
Phoenix has alot of great stuff to offer, but it's a huge city and we are looking forward to the day when we can hit the road again!
Be well!
Scott and Johnney