Look What She Did

Sharon (Autumnforest) thought I should come out from behind pictures of my tattoo and granddaughter and show everyone what I look like.  I was hesitant because I am still struggling with losing weight and not quite at my goal.  She assured me that she could do glamour shots that I would be pleased with.  I needed a good photo for my blog profile and publicity for my future book.

Last night, after spending the day trekking South Mountain and while watching the Academy Awards, she put on the makeup, dressed me in the right clothes, and took several pictures.  Here are some of the ones I liked.  There are others, but those are for my hubby's eyes only.

Through the Looking Glass

The South Mountain Mysteries

Here we go again, another daytrip. Last month Sharon took a trek up South Mountain with her buddy Vinnie. She went to check out the petroglyphs drawn on the many rocks dispersed around the mountain. She also told me about the abandoned castle and many Native American shards that are scatter all over the place. She knew this would be the perfect daytrip and information I can add in my future book.

The South Mountains were named for their geographic location south of Phoenix. The land is managed by the city of Phoenix and considered sacred by the Akimel O’odham as well as the Sierra Estrella Mountains. Many UFO’s have been reported hovering over the mountains and over 20 communication towers are located on its peaks. There are many hiking paths and a mystery castle found in the foothills on the north side of the mountains. This castle was built in 1930 from weird materials and trash and used as a private residence. Also found on the mountain are ancient Indian ruins, petroglyphs, and pieces of pottery all over the grounds.

Of course this Sunday is going to be cold and rainy. When I say cold, it is by Phoenix standards of 50 degrees. I think the rain will add the right type of mood for all the pictures I plan to take. Be looking for videos, photos, and stories of our trek up the mountain.

Saving the Horses

There are many horses that are used to smuggle drugs across our borders.  The sad story is they are usually left out in the desert afterwards to die.  There are wonderful people saving these innocent creatures.  Here is a story I found about those such people:

"The rehabilitation of drug smugglers can be a monumental task, especially when the offenders are biting, kicking beasts.  But volunteers are undeterred.  They take on the mares, stallions and thoroughbreds that once carried multimillion-dollar loads of illicit drugs through rugged canyons on down to parched desert.

These are horses that were at the mercy of drug runners - enslaved and worked nearly to death before being captured and taken to animal rescue organizations."

Read the rest of the story: share

Phoenix Historic Cemetery Walk

(from Debe Branning)

Join us at the old Pioneer Cemetery in downtown PHX for a tour of the cemetery......costumed re enactment players tell their stories.

Read about it here! Save the date!

http://www.examiner.com/arizona-haunted-sites-in-phoenix/historic-cemetery-walk-phoenix-returns-march-20-2011

Root Canal: Crossing the Border

It seems like the past couple of months I have gotten to know my dentist well. Shortly after I got laid off almost three year ago, my dental insurance had to be dropped. My ex-employer did offer me a plan to keep my insurance, but it was going to cost me over $800 a month to do it. WTF, you just laid me off! Where is that extra money going to come from my unemployment? Needless to say, we had to drop both medical and dental insurance coverage. This made me feel vulnerable and worried about getting sick or injured and not being able to cover it. Not only that but I need prescriptions for my cholesterol and thyroid each month. The cholesterol meds alone were over $100 without coverage. I did catch a break on the meds. My doctor found me a generic brand for both that dropped the prices way down and made them affordable. As for the dentist, I couldn’t afford it so I simply didn’t go.

I was able to hold off on any dental work for over two years, but it came at a price. First of all, I have periodontal gum disease which I inherited from my Dad. When he was first diagnosed many years ago, they just simply pulled all his teeth and gave him dentures. These days, they subject your teeth to regular teeth cleaning, deep cleaning, and if needed, surgical cleaning. I have had the deep cleaning where they numb up one side on your mouth and clean under the gums. That usually takes two visits. You can imagine how bad my teeth got without the regular cleaning, but that wasn’t it.

After two years, I finally found a dental office that offers a discount to those without insurance. I decided to get my teeth checked, and then cleaned. As I suspected, I needed four root canals and crowns on my back teeth. They gave me an itemized list of what this was going to cost me and with the discount, it was still too much. I decided to put off the root canals until we could afford it but my tooth had other plans. While eating something rather hard, I broke the tooth. I didn’t just crack it; I did a great job of destroying it. By the time it was done falling apart, they wasn’t a tooth to be saved. The only thing the dentist could do was to remove what was left. Without trying, I just save over $700 on a tooth that once needed a root canal.

After the removal of my upper tooth, the lower back teeth were causing problems too. There was already a hole where they twice tried to temporarily fill it. I hung in there hoping that the temp filling would last and I could baby it as long as possible. While I was dealing with those teeth, the other upper tooth that needed a root canal lost its filling and now had an exposed hole. Two weeks ago, they removed the back tooth on the bottom because I broke it beyond help. Shortly afterwards, the tooth on top was hurting so much I had to get it fixed. We had money in our savings so got the root canal on that tooth and the pain stopped. The pain in my mouth was gone but not in my wallet. Ouch, that hurt and I have to pay the second half when I pick up my permanent crown on March 7th.

Now I have to make a rather tough decision. I still need at least one more root canal and crown on a tooth that is already broken. If I go through our dentist again, we would have to save up and that could take a few months. The problem is I don’t think this tooth has a few months. I would love to save this tooth and not have to go through another extraction.

There is another choice to cross the border and get it fixed in Mexico. Many people are doing this even several friends of ours. Most of them park their cars in Yuma and walk across the border. They all have dentist they have been going to for many years and never had a problem. The price is extremely affordable. I could get several root canals and crowns for what one cost in America. Our friend is willing to come with us to the dentist and help translate. The problem is all the border wars and violence that are happening in the border towns worry me. I know that those who do this all the time are very comfortable and would rather get their dental care and medications in Mexico than pay the exuberant prices here. They also feel the dentist do a great job and they are getting the best care.

Should I put aside my fears of what is happening on the borders and get my tooth taken care of or should I stay away? If I decide to get the root canal and crown in Mexico, I will definitely blog about my experience.

Highway 89

Between Wickenburg and Prescott, Arizona, is highway 89. If you start in Wickenburg, the scenery looks more like the Sonoran Desert with large saguaro cactus spotting the landscape. Along the way as you drive towards Prescott, you run into the tiny ghost town of Congress. To find their old west cemetery, you have to drive off the highway on to a dirt road and into the desert. We saw a sign pointing towards the Congress ghost town, but we never found it.

Back on highway 89 and on to Prescott, you pass a few small towns. The scenery changes from a desert, to farming country, to breathtaking green as far as the eye can see while driving up the winding road in the mountains. As you get near Prescott, it becomes a wooded area. While we were moving along in the mountains, three deer decide run across the highway in front of us. We didn’t have our cameras ready, so we missed out on a great opportunity. Those deer were hauling ass and would not stop to pose for our cameras. You better believe we were camera ready after that, but of course, it didn’t happen again.

The next day, we felt lucky because it was snowing. With us being from Phoenix, that was a rare sight. We did have some concerns that the highway might be icy, but by the time we left, it had cleared up.

The drive home was even more beautiful, if that was possible. The green mountain scenery was dusted with snow with fog hiding the mountain tops. There were patches of snow along the highway and sadly a couple of memorials.

One of the places we wanted to check out was the “Brand New Dead Things” store in Yarnell. We didn’t see it on the way up, but with my new GPS we found it on our drive home. Unfortunately the place was closed because it was a Monday. Next time we will have to make the trip on a weekend.

My yummy chimichanga.  LOL, it tasted much
better than it looks.

weird print we saw near the Congress cemetery

Hard to tell but it looks like some sort of mine equipment.

on the road again...

Some of the weird things we saw along the way.

Sharon taking pictures.

If you are cruising around Arizona and looking at the sites, take the trek on highway 89 and enjoy the view. Don’t forget to stop in Wickenburg for a Chimichanga to fill your tummies first.

Prescott: Where Was Abby?

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.

What's New in My Etsy Shop?

I have been very busy working on my crafts lately.  I finally have handmade and decorated items for sale at my Etsy Shop. (http://www.etsy.com/shop/adsila99)   I will continue to come up with that unique western and desert item to put together and sell on my "Backroads Treasures" shop.  Most of these feature my photos from the trips I have taken with Sharon, but I also want to incorporate the many found items in projects too.  Look for more to come...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67390506/photographic-wall-hanging-on-wood

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67391700/a-set-of-3-original-photos-on-canvas

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67908162/photographic-wood-and-canvas-wall

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67908749/photographic-wood-and-canvas-wall

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67906675/photographic-wall-hanging

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67980975/photo-covered-wood-tissue-box

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68049884/the-wood-haunted-mine-keepsake-box

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68049039/the-wood-cemetery-keepsake-box