Goodbye Winter

Last December 15, we had our first significant snowstorm of the season. The following morning I went out to get the paper, but it was no where to be found. It being buried somewhere under mounds of snow.



I'd been trying for about a year to get the newspaper person to put my newspaper by by back step, but apparently, that's too much effort for them. Their preferred delivery method is to toss my paper out their car window as they drive past. There was also no consistency to where the paper happened to land each morning. So much for customer service. This particular morning, I didn't even try to find it. I Just called and made them bring me another one. I did ask the lady when she brought me the new paper if I could "PLEASE" have my newspaper delivered onto the dry cement under the carport. (She was a new carrier). She was more than happy to tell me she could do that, and that was where she put it for two days. Since then it's just been thrown out on the end of the driveway. I give up! I delivered the Post Register for several years when I was a teenager, and can tell you story after story about how nasty & ornery people can be to newspaper carriers. I prefer not to be like one of those kind of people.

Early one morning this past week, I ventured out to gather up the paper and found that the last of the snow had finally melted and the long-lost missing paper was laying in plain sight out on the dead grass. I brought it in the house & took it out of the plastic bag. The date on the newspaper was December 16, 2008. Yep! that was the missing paper all right.

The past couple days have been warmer, so today I went out looking for spring in my yard. I found some very early signs!

Crocus blooming


Rhubarb poking up


Lilac bud's (thanks again Gary & Jenny for the Lilac bush hand-me-down)

And Lastly...

Here we are, to the last couple of days in Arizona. Thursday, our travels took us just south of Sedona, to Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well.


"NO PAT NO... DON'T SIT ON THAT"


Montezuma Castle stands in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley. A short walk loops around and takes you past Montezuma Castle. This picture is at the beginning of the trail.


Early settlers marveled at the structure and assumed that it was Aztec in origin hence the name Montezuma Castle.


Southern Sinagua farmers began building the 5 story structure, 20-room dwelling early in the 1100's AD




Montezuma Well is a limestone sink that was formed long ago by the collapse of an immense underground cavern. The springs that feed it flow continuously. The southern Sinagua irrigated crops with its waters.


Another view of the well, showing some ancient cliff dwellings.



The irrigation ditches built by the Sinagua, coming out from the bottom of the well.

FRIDAY-
On our way home, we visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon

Yavapai Observation Station


"Do nothing to mar its grandeur for the ages have
been at work on it and man cannot improve it.
Keep it for your children, your children's children,
and all who come after you."
Theodore Roosevelt
-etched into the glass at Yavapai Observation Station

It's a Superior Thread Give Away!

This is the brand of thread I love to use in machine quilting - so I am posting this today..maybe I will be a lucky winner.


Superior Threads is having a GIVE AWAY!
In honor of VALENTINES DAY, we are offering a $50 (retail value) gift certificate.
Here are the rules:
You have an opportunity to receive 3 votes in your name by leaving a comment with the following information:
1.) Receive 1 vote for telling about our give away on your blog.
2.) Receive 1 vote for placing MOTHER SUPERIOR'S BLOG on your side bar.
3.) Receive 1 vote for either(a) signing up for our newsletter, or (b) if you subscribe already letting us know you've read the latest issue.
Leave your comment before Saturday February 14th @ midnight, mountain time.
Let us know in the comment box how many votes to place in your name.
*Make sure we have a e-mail address to reach you.
We will announce the winner on Monday February 16th. The coupon can be redeemed by ordering online through our web site http://www.superiorthreads.com/

What an IMPACT!

Today we drove north to Flagstaff, then east to visit a couple of places. First stop was Meteor Crater. This is a cool place, one of those places on my "I sure would like to go here someday" list.



It's hard to imagine just how gi-normous this hole in the earth really is. This is what we learned:
The floor of the crater is 550 feet deep. If the Washington Monument were placed on the floor of the crater, it's top would be at eye level.
The crater is over 4,000 feet feet across and 2.4 miles in circumference. To give you a better idea of the crater's size, imagine twenty football games being played simultaneously on its floor, while more than two million spectators observe from its sloping sides!


Some of us even hiked down to the bottom for a photo-op:


(Just kidding - this was a picture we stood in front of at the visitor's center)

Back on the road, we joined up with Route 66 and followed it into Winslow, AZ


This picture makes the town look good. It's actually a very run down place.


Are you listening to the song I have playing on my blog? Pay attention to the 2nd verse.


Change the words to "sitting on a corner in Winslow, AZ" for this picture.

Unique to Sedona

I read the following on Wikipedia:

The McDonald's in Sedona, Arizona is the only one in the world with teal arches. They are not yellow because the city thought they would mesh poorly with the surrounding red rocks. The first color McDonalds offered was teal which the city accepted.

We drove into Sedona today and when we passed McDonalds, we had to stop for a Kodak moment. (We also took advantage of the $1.00 menu)



Later, we drove past another unique place so we stopped here too:





I'd show you pictures of the gorgeous scenery that surrounds Sedona, but for the majority of the day the clouds were so low you couldn't see anything. Maybe tomorrow.

Mom Jeans

Have you heard of Hulu.com? It's one of my new favorite sites to visit. I went there last nite to watch last week's episode of "The Office", and clicked on this clip from SNL. It cracked me up. Cheryl was wondering why I was laughing, so I had her watch it. We were laughing so hard we were crying. Then Donnetta wanted to know what was so funny. So we had to watch it again.

Strike That

Strike the title of the last blog. Where are we again? Oh yes. Sedona, AZ. Actually, the condo we are staying at is a little south of Sedona, in an area called the Village of Oak Creek. The elevation here is around 4300 feet. 29 miles to the north is Flagstaff, elevation 7000 feet. Flagstaff is a real pretty town, Nestled at the top of a mountain with lots of ponderosa pine trees. There are two ways to get to Flagstaff from Sedona. The shorter and most scenic route takes you thru Oak Creek canyon. This is a fair weather route only. We have yet to take this route because the weather hasn't been cooperating. The other route on I-17 is longer, but the best route for days like today.

A storm rolled in last nite. This morning we thought we would take a drive over to Flagstaff. Here is a picture as we headed up into mountains on I-17. Just a little skiff of snow.


The higher in elevation we traveled, the more snow we encountered


This picture looks back down into the valley:


The weather update calls for more of the same thru at least tomorrow. We won't be traveling north again. Probably will stay in the area around here tomorrow.

This is the view on our way back - heading south again




Then we got back to the lower elevation once again - you would never know that there was such a storm brewing in the mountains above.


Another picture of the condo we are staying in:

Sedona Sunshine

If you are part of my blogging fan base, you probably already know that I am spending the week in Sedona, AZ. After a day of traveling, we (Donnetta, Cheryl and I) arrived here last nite. Grandpa & grandma arrived at the condo a day earlier. Here are a few of the scenes from the day:


This is looking over at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Breathtaking views!


This is an overlook we stopped at. All along the road there are little wooden shelters where the Native American's set up their wares to sale. This was the only place we we actually saw people selling jewelry. We looked, but didn't buy. We stopped to take pictures, not shop.

Another view, same spot. Location is south of Page, Arizona.


This is the view from the patio of the condo. Today it is overcast, but still a beautiful view.


This is how my dad entertains himself.