Sunday, July 5 through Tuesday, July 21, 2026: Rodeos, Geocaching, Flagstaff Appointments, and Life in Williams

Throughout the summer, the Williams Rodeo grounds hosts a number of Rodeos. There are the Cowpuncher's Annual Reunion Rodeo and the Night Rodeo Series. It is fun having this venue and its activities in our town.

 

My brother Peter and his wife Terry are house sitting for friends who live in Ventura. Their friends are in Europe on an extended vacation.

On Sunday, I took my pipe and cache container up to Benham Trail. There, I placed the cache --- perfectly placed --- by the cement bases. I am really quite pleased with this cache called "Pipe Dreams."

Tom's computer has stopped talking to our printer. He has not been able to print documents. So on Monday, I called Best Buy and I spoke to several folks in the Geek Squad unit. They were given access to his computer and finally solved the problem. It took about 30 minutes of my time.

Tuesday early afternoon, Tom had an appointment in Flagstaff at Barnet, Delaney, and Perkins Eye Center. His first appointment was with Dr. David Felsted for his periodic glaucoma check.

 

Tom's right eye has good pressure, but now his good eye --- his left eye --- has elevated pressure. Dr Felsted recommended that Tom see Dr. Christine Funke again. He needs the procedure she did for his right eye done on his left eye. The second appointment was a three week follow-up on the retina surgery done on Tom's right eye by Dr. Brendan Girschek. Tom saw Dr TJ Johnson. All look good!

 

That evening, Gary and Suzanne Preston hosted a gathering with Kerry Lynn Moede. Kerry Lynn is running for Williams mayor. It was a very good conversation with Kerry Lynn.

 

My next door neighbor, Jim Ramsey, recently had cataract surgery. So, he no longer needs to wear glasses. While he has enjoyed this eye makeover, he decided to shave all of his facial hair as well. I told Jim that he looks at least ten years younger!

July 9 was my grandniece Sophie's 6th birthday.  She and her mother, Molly, celebrated this birthday in Ventura.

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful masseuse in the form of Julie Donbrosky. I am back in schedule to see Julie every three weeks for a ninety minute massage. Lovely!

On Saturday, July 11, I took Preston to look for a CanyonDen cache hidden off Forest Service Road 124. This cache was named "We will rock you!" It took a little bit of time to find this cache. There are SO MANY rocks in this location! But, I finally did it!

 

There was one final cache I needed to find of the 31 geocaches hidden year-to-date by CanyonDen. To avoid the heat of the day, I took Preston out at 7:00 a.m. and we drove up Highway 64. It was at 7:34 a.m. that I found "Songs from the Wood." 

 

While walking to this hidden cache, I saw several mule deer on the hillside. Preston liked the woody area.

While out in this area, I thought that it might be fun to hide a cache nearby. On my way back to Highway 64, I saw a Juniper tree that might be a good hiding place.

At the base of this Juniper tree was a perfect "cradle" for a cache to reside.

Later in the day, I took Preston for a walk in the neighborhood. This is the first time that I have ever taken a dog photo by the Cataract Lake County Park sign.

 

Tom had a 1:00 p.m. appointment for a hair cut at Alie Rico's salon. She had a baby girl on May 15 and is now --- once again --- starting up her cosmetology business.

One of my geocaching friends has a cache hidden near our gym. Somehow, the original cache container disappeared. I decided to be a Good Samaritan and donate a cache container. The old log was water soaked, so I also added a new log. I placed the container as best I could. This replacement container is not magnetic.

On Friday, July 10, I placed a new cache container at across Interstate 40. "Broken Pine" is only one mile away as the crow flies. This is my 9th cache hide.

The cache container is a plastic pine cone. The cache was reviewed and published on July 11.

Preston enjoys our walks on the east end of Cataract Lake. There is always a nice breeze off the water.

On Wednesday, July 15, Tom and I had breakfast at Goldie's Route 66 Diner.

This dinner was originally a Denny's Restaurant. It is a colorful place.

That evening, there was a very fiery sunset.

Preston likes to sit in the sun in the mornings. He enjoys the cement slab in front of the RV barn.

Six of us played pickleball at 10:00 a.m. Craig was the photographer.

In the afternoon, I finished hiding a geocache container at Cureton Park. I placed the magnetic cache behind this sign.

The cache container is a plastic nut and bolt. Very clever!

My girlfriend Chris Peterson is up in Alaska helping a friend who had a stroke. On her recent birthday, Chris took a helicopter ride around Mt. McKinley (aka Mt. Denali).

Another girlfriend, Cathy Kelly, is in her home state of Nebraska. Over the 4th of July weekend, she did her favorite sport --- water skiing!

The monsoons are here in Arizona I took Preston for a walk in town on Friday, July 17. Look at those dark clouds!

On Saturday morning, I went to the Kaibab National Forest off Coconino County Road 124. I decided to place a cache near the walking loop I enjoy making with my Dalmatians. On Forest Service Road 15B, I found a good location for my 10th cache hide. While on this walk, I saw some nearby cattle.

In the afternoon, Tom and I went to our Results Fitness gym.

My sister Carrie and her husband, Brent, are in England with their son Blake and his wife Nicole. They began the trip in London.

And, they finished their trip in Liverpool.

Saturday afternoon, I went back to Forest Service Road 15B and placed my cache in a Ponderosa Pine tree. The actual cache container is a black bison tube. I placed it in a pocket of an unattached branch.

Then, I placed the branch between two tree limbs.

 

Sunday, July 19, is the 3rd birthday of my first cousin's granddaughter. Steve and Kathy Boggs' son, Jason, is the father of this precious girl named Madison.

Maddie's birthday party in Stockton, California, was a pool party with 50 guests!

Monday, Tom had an appointment with a Flagstaff nurse. Jamie drew blood for Tom's prescription of Vital Tears. Vital Tears then processes drops with his blood to combat the condition of dry eyes.

 

Monday, June 15 through Saturday, July 4, 2026: Tom's Retina Surgery, More Geocachiing, Pickleball, and the 4th of July

Monday morning, I tool Preston for a walk in the neighborhood. Beautiful clouds!

 

My Indiana friends, Sherri and Mike Pea, have been trying to adopt another Dalmatian. They already have seven year old Ares. Sherri finally scored! They adopted Sarge (originally Nitro) from South Carolina. He is about three years old.

That evening, there was a very nice sunset.

The connection hose to our drip system has started to leak again. I texted Troy to see if he could help us. He came by the house to lengthen the hose and to replace the fitting.. Thanks so much, Troy!

In the early afternoon, Tom had an appointment with NAU audiologist Michael Skelton. Tom's hearing devices needed to be adjusted.

Later in the afternoon, I walked Preston to the Elephant Rocks Golf Course entrance.

Home Depot was scheduled to bring our new LG dryer. The truck arrived at 12:30 p.m.

Tom and I had the new dryer delivered and the old dryer taken away.

 

Later in the afternoon, Preston and I went on a walk in the nearby woods near the train tracks. There, we saw more beautiful clouds.

 

I have decided that it is time for me to hide more caches. I scoped out one potential place. 

Tom had his right eye retina surgery today, June 18, in Flagstaff. The procedure only took fifteen minutes, but the entire process was over three hours. Dr. Brendan Girschek is the retina specialist at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center. After the surgery, Tom had to wear a patch for 24 hours.

My truck's odometer reached 87,000 miles. And, of course, two idiot lights showed up: Service Trailer Brake System an Service Electronic Stability Control.

Tom had an early afternoon Flagstaff appointment with Dr. Matthew Bills. This appointment was a follow-up to his retinal surgery from yesterday.

Saturday afternoon, I decide to pick up a cache "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree." It was up the road from the cache I found earlier in the month.

I started a project to inventory all of my jewelry. The first part of this was organizing the earrings I no longer wear.

 

Wednesday morning, my nephew Blake sent me a text. He wanted to know what Shelton relatives lived their whole lives in Europe. I opened up ancestry.com and informed him that his great, grat, grandparents on my Dad's side of the family lived on an island in Norway. Blake had know knowledge that he had Norwegian heritage!

Since it was Wednesday, June 24, I went to lunch with the Highland Meadows ladies at 11:30 a.m. We went to Rulu's Bar & Grill.

Later in the afternoon, I went geocaching by Kaibab Lake. It was there that I found the perfect place for my cache hide #5. It has been three years since I have hidden a cache.

CanyonDen had a cache in the vicinity "Old Pine."

 

Preston liked this forest area.

The next day, five of us played pickleball. I took a photo of Gary, Beverly, Jim, and Roland. Goofy Roland hid his face behind his paddle.

After pickleball, I took Preston to where I was hiding my cache #5. The location was near Kaibab Lake. I had a "hide-a-key" rock as my cache container. I placed the container by a fallen log. I surrounded the "rock" with eight REAL rocks.

Preston stood guard as I took the coordinates for presenting the cache hide for review.

There was a CanyonDen cache close by. So, off Preston and I went to log "Mountain Song." When found, I left a bottle cap: "Keep Calm and Cache ON."

There was another hidden cache option for my hidden cache #6. It was in the Kaibab National Forest by my home. I had a brown plastic pine cone that I wanted to place hanging form the limb of a Ponderosa pine tree.

On an earlier geocaching expedition, I found a cement cluster of two block formations off Benham Trail. I went back to this site and took pictures. I have a rusty pipe in my cache inventory that would work perfectly --- use it to hide a bison micro cache inside. I secured the pipe from some KC Hilites rubble.

That evening, Tom and I met Madison and Thai for dinner at the Grand Canyon Brewing Company. We met them both for the first time in December. Thai's mother, Kim, is married to Tom's nephew, Nate O'Dell. Madison put together a surprise visit to the Grand Canyon for Thai's 30th birthday.

The next morning, Madison and Thai went to the Grand Canyon. It was their first ever visit. Madison brought a special cupcake honoring Thai's June 27th birthday.

While at the South Rim, Thai enjoyed his special cupcake right on the rim!

There was a cache that CanyonDen hid several weeks ago. It was named "Earth Song." I had been having difficulty finding the barricade mentioned in the cache description. After two "no go" attempts,  I ended up driving Bill Williams Loop Road about a mile in from Perkinsville Road. There was a closed road sign on the right.  

I parked across from there and walked a dirt road for .2 miles. Then, I made a cross country jaunt to the cache (another .3 miles.) Success! I left a geocache bottle cap.

 

My Italian son, Francesco, grew up in Florence, Italy. One of his childhood friends was Silvia Rutigliano. When visiting Francesco in Italy over the years, I became good friends with Silvia. It is so special that the two of them keep in touch after all these years. Silvia lives in Milan. Francesco lives in London. Both of them are gay.

Later Saturday afternoon, I was in downtown Williams. I thought that it would be fun to place a cache at Railroad Park --- on this Route 66 sign.

My girlfriend, Laura Dillon, was in New York City. Her daughter Amanda lives there. Laura texted me a photo of the two of them. Nice!

My friend and neighbor, Shaula Watson, is a member of the Flagstaff Master Chorale. She and several of her associates were fortunate to perform at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Wow!

My Indiana girlfriend, Sherri Pea, sent me a recent photo of her two Dalmatians, Ares and Sarge. So very cute!

On Sunday, Tom and I went to Devil Dog Road to find a hidden cache. It was fun having BOTH Tom and Preston on a cache hunt with me.

 

Late in the afternoon, I saw that CanyonDen had a newly published cache up Perkinsville Road.

I hopped in my truck and took off. I was able to park .5 miles from the cache location. It was a nice walk in the forest before I secured my FTF designation. I left a geocache bottle cap: "Thanks for the Smiley! 😁"

 

Over the weekend, my Palm Creek friend Cathy Kelly went to Las Vegas for a reunion with her children and her grandchildren. Cathy was ecstatic!

My sister Carrie and her husband Brent hosted mutual friend Betsy Scherr at their home in Bend, Oregon. Betsy used to live in Bend, but she is moving to Cape Cod. I got to know Betsy when she spent the winter in Palm Creek.

Monday afternoon, four of us played pickleball. I was able to get a nice photo of Jim and Beverly from Lake Havasu, me, and Craig.

On Tuesday, June 30, I saw that CanyonDen had another new hidden cache. It was off Highway 64. I decided that I needed another "First to Find." So, Preston and I headed to find "The long and winding road." I was able to open the gate and drive into the area. Another FTF! 

 

Preston liked the Dalmatians on the kiddos stickers.

 

Two of my new hidden caches were published. They were "This Cache Rocks!" located near Kaibab Lake and "Don't Pine Away" near my home. As a Premium Geocache member, the website has a page of recently hidden caches.

It was fun seeing my two caches on the list!

On Wednesday, July 1, I had an 8:00 a.m. service appointment at Planet Chrysler Dodge. The service fellow, James, needed my truck for a full day. It began with a computer diagnostic. 

 

I walked to Safeway for some breakfast and then I walked to the Mall. In the Mall, the Dillards lingerie department staff member fitted me for some new bras. It was now noon. I called Planet Chrysler Dodge and spoke to James. My truck needed a new transfer case and a new actuator-axle. James told me that he needed to order the parts and that my truck would need to stay at the dealership for several days. I called Tom and he picked me up. We would be a "one car" family until my truck was repaired.

On Saturday morning, July 4, I saw that CanyonDen had a new cache. It was across Interstate 40 from my home. At around 11:30 a.m., I drove Preston to the parking area. The cache was about .8 miles up the two dirt roads. I was not the first to arrive at the cache. A geocacher named crwildwood was there with family members. They earned the FTF designation. It was Megan (crwildwood), her husband Michael, her daughter Caitlin and boyfriend John.

It was fun meeting crwildwood and company. Caitlin was kind enough to take a photo of me and Preston.

As it was the 4th of July and the 250th birthday of our nation, I left two items in the cache container. I left an American flag pin and the geocache bottle cap: "Luv to Geocache!"

July 4 is also the birthday of my grandniece Emi Rose. My niece Katelyn was kind to text me a photo of this precious one year old!

My sister Carrie and my sister Wendy were both celebrating the 4th of July in Bend, Oregon. Carrie lives there full-time. Wendy has a second home there. Nothing like floating on the Deschutes River on the 4th of July!

Williams has its annual 4th of July Parade. The theme this year was "Taking It Back In Time." Tom and I went to watch the parade. It was a celebration of America 250.

At the end of the parade, I took a selfie of me and Tom.

  

We then went home to have dinner. There was another opportunity for a selfie of the two of us.

Williams hosted a large display of firework scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Tom and I went to the parking lot of the Ramada Inn to view the celebration. We were not alone. But, it was the perfect location. The fireworks show lasted 30 minutes. It was EXCELLENT!!!