Springtime in Sedona?

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Thick fog hiding the redrocks.

Sleeping bear covered with snow.

An elk striking a pose.

Beautiful cactus cover with snow.

Statue with a "snowhock" as Sharon called it.

Mr. Snowhocks garden buddies.

Pink Jeep Tours for a cruise around the deserts for the best
view of the wonderful Sedona redrocks.

Sharon's little snowghost.

View from inside Sharon's car (the back window in the morning).

My most delicious spinach/cream cheese chimichanga.

Prescott: Where Was Abby?

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If someone were to ask me where I would like to be living, I would pick Prescott, Arizona. Prescott has that small town feel, but isn’t small. The downtown area around the Court House and the famous Whiskey Row has the old historical buildings and hotels along with small hometown shops and antique stores. There are many bungalows and cottages with historical plaques on them which line the many streets around town. It has the old town look and quaintness, but it still has all the amenities needed that a big city provides. I would never go bored hunting down all the places around town that are haunted and have great story about their ghosts. Oh yeah, the weather is nice too; not as hot as Phoenix or cold as Flagstaff….. just right.

Sharon and I picked Prescott as the place where we wanted to spend the night after visiting a couple of cemeteries and Vulture Mine. She booked room 16 which is known as Abby’s room and to be haunted. The story goes that Abby’s, who was ill, and her cat (Noble), starved to death in that room waiting for her husband to return with medicine. Sharon had an interesting experience in that room the last time she stayed there and couldn’t wait to give it another try. She brought Dale along to see if his presence would entice Abby to come out and play.

We settled in the room and went downstairs to read others experiences while staying in room 16, and then went out to eat. We left Dale on the floor by the closet door to guard it and make sure it stayed shut. That door has been known to open on its own. It’s weird, but the look on his face looked as if it went from happy to scare. That freaked me out.

When we got back to the room, Dale was still sitting by the closet door and appeared to not have moved. After messing around on our computers, we got the room ready for what we hoped would be a ghostly night. I never felt Abby’s presence in the room, but there was a distinct odor of a cat in the closet. Late in the night I felt something lightly walking on the covers. Many of the stories in the book also mentioned the feeling of a phantom cat walking on the bed while they were trying to sleep.

In the morning we checked all the objects we fixed to trap any ghosts that might move something, but none of it looked to be tampered with. We only experienced noises in the closet which sounded like scratching and meowing. Was poor Noble’s spirit still trapped in the closet?

We may not have experienced Abby’s paranormal activity, but we did get to see it snow. That may not sound too exciting for those who experience snowing all the time, but for us Phoenicians, it was a treat. Sharon was a bit worried about the roads being icy, but it quit before we left and the roads were clear.

The creepy dress someone left hanging in the closet for Abby.

Dale guarding the closet door. He wasn't happy about it.

Hotel Vendome lobby.

Sign on the Hotel Vendome.

Sunset in Prescott.

The wicked red light in the hallway.

Room 16, Abby's place.

Closet door with tape was not disturbed when
 we checked it in the morning.

The untuck sheets were not tucked back in this time.

Lightly snowing outside the hotel.

Snowing a bit harder.

Early Morning Fog

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This is an unusual event to occur in AZ, a very foggy morning.  I was driving to my Mother's house and could only see a half a block ahead of me.  It made the drive creepy.  I saw those movies about the fog and know that there could be creatures hiding in the mist.  I kept my guard up and made sure that nothing was going to get me while driving in the fog..... muhahaha!!!

It Was All They Knew

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As I sit watching “Back to the Future III” for the hundredth time, I wonder how this modern woman, would be able to survive traveling back to Arizona’s Wild West. It is simple, I wouldn’t! Let’s not forget all those crazy notorious cowboys and women that might shoot you for looking at them wrong, but no air conditioning, asphalt roads and ice water, how barbaric. I am curious on how in the hell they survived the extreme Arizona heat in the summertime. I know that these dusty hot conditions were all they knew, but if they had a taste of what we have nowadays, they wouldn’t want to go back to the Wild West era.

I can relax on my comfy couch, flipping through the cable channels to find something interesting to watch on TV. Next to me you might find my cell phone, laptop and a glass of iced coffee all while enjoying the central air cooling down the house. The Wild West houses were probably made mostly of wood, stone and mud or stucco, with no air conditioning units on the roof. Some of their homes might have some type of fan blowing, but during the high humid months, those are virtually rendered useless. The windows would be left open so the uncomfortable hot stale air would blow through the house in hope to cool the occupants down. Yeah right, that would never happen, but it was all they knew.

Most houses didn’t have electricity or a fridge with bottled water and iced tea inside to quench your thirst. The drink of choice in most places was whiskey. If you wanted water to drink, you would have to stick your head in a horses’ trough providing that the horse was willing to share. If that wasn’t bad enough, try shitting in an outhouse when the temperature is over 100 degrees. If the smell didn’t get to you, the heat would. I don’t even want to know what they wiped their asses with, maybe sandpaper? But again, it didn’t bother them because it was all they knew.

Our Wild West peeps were living and pooping in sweltering structures, but it didn’t matter because their clothes didn’t keep them cool anyway. The dresses, pants, shirts and blouses were heavy and were layered with a petticoat or long johns underneath. The shoes and boots looked uncomfortable with either a hat or bonnet on their head for protection or just for looks. I am telling you that someone would have made a killing selling sandals, flip flops, cotton tees or tank tops and sun glasses to those Wild West folks. But I’m sure that riding a horse wouldn’t have gone well with flip flops. I also wonder how many of them suffered from heat stoke wearing all that thick clothing during the summer months. I’m sure that it was uncomfortable, but that was all they knew.

Let’s talk about their modes of transportation. They either bounced around on a horse for miles or rode in a wagon with wood wheels over the rough terrain being tossed around like rag dolls all while traveling. They didn’t have paved roads to drive on with their factory made cars with rubber wheels. There was no air conditioning cooling them off or listening to their favorite tunes on the radio. Their way of traveling may have been a bit crude by modern standards, but they didn’t complain because that was all they knew.

Would I want to go back in time to Arizona’s Wild West period and miss out on all the things that I need to get me through the day…..hell no! (This is all I know.)

Monsoon: But It's a Dry Heat

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Well here it is again, monsoon season. This time of year brings mixed emotions for me. On one hand, we get rain and the temperatures are lower, but on the other hand, the rains bring up the humidity to this usually dry climate. I can usually handle the dry heat (feels like an oven), but the humidity makes it hard to breathe sometimes and makes me feel like I constantly need a shower.

The definition for a monsoon is “a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. It is also referred to as the rainy phase of a seasonally-changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase.” Whatever, the weather is uncomfortable and the skeeters are out in droves. The only thing I like is the rain. We don’t get enough of that here.

Warning: Heat Advisory!

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"I'm melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Oooooh! Ooooooh!"

Could someone please turn off the oven!!!

Wish You Were Here?

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I took this picture from my cell phone of the temperature in my car after work yesterday.

 I bet you wish you  were here...

Yep, It's Summer

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It is definitely summer around here. If the over 100 degree temperatures and feeling like you are living in an oven didn't clue us in, it's the crazy stuff that comes with the heat.  You turn on the news and along with the usual murders, robberies, and illegals jumping the border, there are other stories either tragic or bizarre.  The tragic is the many child drownings that tug at your heart strings, people being hurt or killed because of road rage, or the wildfires that are destroying our deserts and forests.  The road rage stories seem to escalate more in the summer during the hottest days. As for the forest fires, those seem to occur every year either caused by Mother Nature or an idiot human not thinking straight.

Right now a wildfire is burning over 1,000 acres northeast of Williams, Arizona.  The Eagle Rock fire has about 300 firefighters battling the raging fires, and over 50 homes in the Spring Valley area had to be evacuated.  Many of the residence fear losing their homes.  This type of news report is common every year and effects the Fourth of July celebrations all over the state. Fireworks are usually banned and a "no burn" warning is issued throughout the state especially in the high countries.

With all the wildfires, where do the animals go?  Apparently they head out to the suburbs for food, water and a dip in the pool.  This black bear wandered into the Sun Lakes retirement community just recently which took some of the residence by surprise.  They think he was abandoned by his mother, but where he came from, they couldn't say.  He is back in the forest and enjoying the rest of his summer.

Many places have strange traditions, and we have them too.  I'm not sure if this one is strange or smart.  Every year in June, Scottsdale put on an event called "Mighty Mud Mania".  You have a series of obstacles to go through, all having mud in them.  You start out rather clean and end up looking like a muddy pile of goo.  People love it and it is a fun way to cool off in these rather hot temperatures.

Here is the bizarre.  A naked man was harassing a woman in Scottsdale.  She pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture to show authorities.  Of course the news media got hold of the picture and showed it with certain areas blurred out.  They still are not sure who he was and why he was walking around in his birthday suit.  At least he had the presents of mind to wear shoes because the sidewalks and asphalt streets will burn your feet.  He is also wearing a hat to keep the sun off his face, why? Your entire naked ass is showing, why bother with the hat and shoes. I hope the hell he was wearing sun screen.

Ghost Adventures & Arizona's Crazy Weather

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Here is a picture of Zak, Nick and Aaron (the Ghost Adventures boys) trying to do an investigation in Arizona.  Our weather the past couple of days has been rainy, snowy and very windy as you can see by the picture.  We are also experiencing a tornado warning which is very rare for our state.

The Dreaded Dust Storm: It's Back!

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Every year during the monsoon season in Arizona, a massive dust storm moves through the state and swallows up every city in its path. Tonight, it has returned. These dust storms devourer whole cities like Tucson, Phoenix and all their surrounding cities. I have seen them on the TV news slowly making a meal of people, homes, vehicles and anything else in their disruptive path. You watch as a huge wall of dust makes its way slowly towards the city you live in knowing what is about to come. The sky turns from blue to a dusty brown and you feel the wind pick up in a rapid movement. For a few minutes, your eyes water and you can’t breath. It is a person suffering with allergies worst nightmare. (That would be me). You watch as your lawn furniture topples over and flies into your neighbors yard.  You are better off being home or safely in a building and not in your car on the road because the visibility will disappear quickly as it moves over your vehicle.

One time after picking up my kids from a water park, we got caught in one. The visibility quickly went from clear to zero. I put on my low beams and moved over to the right as far as I could. The car in front of me disappeared which made it pretty scary. We sat there hoping that other cars would see us if they were stupid enough to continue driving. After a few minutes, the dust and wind went by and I was able to see the road and other cars again.

I realize that a dust storm is not a bad as a tornado or hurricane, but for us Zonies its something we live with every year and causes lots of damage. But, considering what lives in the Fog and Mist, we wonder what type of creepy creature is living in the Duststorm. Muahahahaha!

~Julie~