Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

 

It seems like we are always doing something, but I just can’t get motivated to write about it. So here is a quick recap of our past week.

We went to downtown Flagstaff for the First Friday Art Walk. Lots of interesting looking people, live music (we enjoyed the blues band), and a bad circus. Also went to the farmers market Sunday morning. Nice looking organic produce but very expensive. I did buy some excellent whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread.

On Monday we took another trip to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. 150 miles, mostly interstate, so it wasn’t too bad. I had ordered some new hiking boots from Cabela’s and they were too big, so we made a detour to the store in Glendale, on the other side of Phoenix, to exchange them. Lo and behold, I failed to check the box, and was given the original, too big, pair back. Cabela’s overnighted the correct shoes, though, and we picked them up in Flagstaff yesterday.

The ophthalmologist said Jim’s eye infection has resolved, so he doesn’t have to go back, but he has since developed another superficial blood clot in his leg. Now he has to have an ultrasound tomorrow, see the hematologist again, and possibly get referred to a vein specialist to have something done. If it wasn’t so hot in the Phoenix area at this time of year we would rent a spot in an RV park for a month and get all this taken care of, but that just isn’t appealing, so it looks like we will hang around Flagstaff for a while. We do like it here so that isn’t such a bad thing.

We have yet to run out of new forest roads to hike on. One day we attempted to climb nearby A-1 Mountain, but the trail, actually a closed jeep road, was really steep and rocky. We decided not to risk a fall or twisted ankle so we didn’t quite get to the top. Jim still wants to try the Humphrey’s Peak trail, but we haven’t made it there yet.

We had a rather scary experience yesterday when we hiked along an unmarked road/trail about 2 miles from our site. Debbie was with us and had the dogs off leash. We spotted a tent , so she tried to get Rupert and Elliot to come so she could put them on their leashes to keep them from running into the campsite. Rupert ran ahead, and 2 good sized dogs came running at him. They were barking and growling, so Jim picked up a big stick in case he had to intervene.

It seemed like a couple minutes went by, and finally a guy got out of his car and started yelling at Jim that he would hit him if he hit his dogs. He threatened to call the police, said he was an educator with three masters degrees, and that the EPA would be all over Jim if he hit the dogs. Okay, so we were dealing with a crazy person. I told Jim to just turn around, but the guy still hadn’t restrained his dogs. He kept saying his dogs wouldn’t bite, but they were just a few feet from Jim, with their hackles up, and after his experience with getting bit in Ouray last summer, he was not going to turn his back on them. When Jim told him to go ahead to call the police, he finally held the dogs and told us to go by. Debbie and I and the dogs had already decided we were NOT walking past his campsite, so Jim came back and we returned the way we came.

We debated on calling the sheriff or ranger ourselves, since he was not camped in a designated dispersed area, but we decided against it. We will just stay away from there, and it’s doubtful anyone else will come upon him as he is in a very remote location. Those are the kinds of people we worry about but fortunately we don’t happen upon them very often. Last September near Pagosa Springs, CO, we had a tent camper join us near our boondocking site who turned out also to have some apparent mental problems. He was very friendly, though, but was hard to get away from,  just wanting to engage us in conversation. He told me he and everyone in is family had PHD’s in one thing or another. Who knows if any of it was true.

The mule deer and the pronghorn antelope are still playing around our site.

And the hummingbirds and others keep the cats entertained.

I have been trying to get a good shot of a Steller’s jay, but they don’t sit still for long.

That’s about all the excitement around here. Time to see what’s happening in the news.