Saturday, July 1 through Thursday, July 20, 2023: Geocaching, Pickleball, and Getting Things Fixed

Saturday morning, Tom joined me to go geocaching. I took him out to the location of the Benham Trail cache. We searched high and low. No luck. We then went up the road toward Dogtown Lake. The first cache we found was called "Zapped." A large Ponderosa pine had been zapped by lightning. 

Tom saw the cache hanging from a branch. Good eyes, Tom!

The second cache we found was further up the road. It was called "We Almost got stuck." It was under several rocks. I left a bottle cap "Thanks for the Smiley 😊."

Since we were almost at Dogtown Lake, we drove the extra four miles to the lake. It was surprising --- for Saturday July 1 --- there were still open spots for day use parking. So, we got out of the truck and walked to the shoreline.

I think that this was the first time Tom and I had been to this lake together! Too bad we didn't bring a picnic lunch.

One of Fiona and Greg Carroll's sons had a 30 year birthday. There was a nice Facebook post of all of the Carrolls --- including my sister Carrie and her husband Brent.

Jamie likes to give himself a massage with the clothes in my closet. What a silly boy he is!

On Sunday afternoon, a group of us played pickleball at 4:00 p.m. Jon came back to Williams from Casa Grande. It was nice having him back. It was also fun having Jon on the pickleball courts again. We finally have enough competitive pickleball players!

This was the first time that Diane and Rose played with Jon. They were up for the challenge! I wanted to memorialize the four ladies back in competitive play.

Sunday night in Michigan, Pat and Bill Wheeler enjoyed fireworks over their lake. Pat shared some of the highlights.

Early Monday morning was a full moon --- the Buck moon. Gorgeous!

Happy 4th of July! This year, the 4th of July fell on a Tuesday. Many businesses made it a four day holiday.

Tom and I decided to have a picnic lunch at White Horse Lake. We stopped by Gateway Sandwich Company and picked up sandwiches and sun chips. We went to the Visitor Center for a bathroom stop before we headed up Perkinsville Road. Of course, we had to snap a silly photo!

Tom and I had not been to White Horse Lake in several years. The food truck was tested out the summer of 2020. It was nice seeing that it still was operational.

Our friends, Robbie and Steve Miller, were walking around the lake. They came by to say hello.

We found an empty picnic table. Tom and I brought out our picnic sandwiches and chips. Robbie and Steve ordered pizza and a soft pretzel from the food truck. I noticed that there were several caches in the area. Robbie and I went to find a new cache --- only hidden since June 28. We had no success finding "Welcome to White horse lake" cache.

Robbie and Steve left to go back to their side-by-hide. Tom and I walked to a cache that was about .3 miles away. We found "White horse forest trail" cache.

White Horse is a very pretty lake and home to a campground setting. The lake is full.

Before leaving White Horse Lake, I asked Tom if we could go back and try to find the cache that Robbie and I were unsuccessful in locating. I decided to look at a 30 foot radius of where my cellphone GPS said that the cache was located. The hint was "a large flat rock." Tom found the cache and it was 30 feet away from my GPS coordinates.

For our 4th of July dinner, Tom barbecued two filet Mignon steaks. I found an interesting recipe for "naked" oysters Rockefeller. At Safeway, I bought two bottles of oysters without the shells. I needed a recipe that took into account that there were no shells. "Just a Pinch" Recipes was my savior. And, the oysters Rockefeller were delicious!

Our town of Williams had a 4th of July parade that began at 2:00 p.m. Tom and I have attended prior parades down Historic Route 66. Some of my neighbors posted some highlights on Facebook.

No fireworks this 4th of July. Town budget issues. We will have fireworks for Labor Day.

On Wednesday, I joined the Highland Meadows Ladies for lunch at El Comedor Cardenas. The food was excellent!

Later in the day, a group of us played pickleball. We hadn't seen Kim and Jordana Kelley for many, many months. It was a great reunion!

After pickleball, Jon stopped by our house. It is always fun seeing the father/son pair together.

On Thursday, Tom and I tackled some home projects. I ordered a new spray nozzle for the kitchen sink. The Delta Company sent me a nozzle, but it did not fit. So, Amazon stepped up to the challenge. The new spray nozzle fit --- for a mere $200.00! 😜😜😜

The garage door to Tom's side of the garage has not been working properly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I called the Loren Vickers Overhead Door Company. Two technicians arrived at about 11:30 a.m. It was determined that Tom's garage door motor needed a new capacitor. That is one part that is still made. If the problem had been the motor itself, a new motor assembly would have to be installed. I had the technicians also service my garage door.

The wind blew down two of my wind decorations. Fortunately, Tom had the parts to fix the pieces. Both were re-hung on the backyard patio.

 

I bought a wasp/yellow jacket trap from Walmart. My neighbor, Elaine Brady, said that this particular trap was very effective. I placed it near the spa and bedroom door.

On Facebook, an eight-year memory came up on this date --- July 6, 2015. The caption was "a proud Dad with his daughter." I texted the photo to Donna and she responded with 💟💟.

On Friday, I wanted to go geocaching by Sycamore Canyon and the Sycamore Rim Trail. Tom joined me. I made a couple of sandwiches and we took a small cooler. I need two more caches to get to 150 finds. It was a beautiful day at the Sycamore Canyon. A nice couple from Phoenix took our photo.

There was still some water in the canyon.

Nearby, I found the "Sycamore falls" cache.

I left a bottle cap "Find your direction." We then drove and parked at Pomeroy Tanks trailhead. The data service in this part of the Kaibab National Forest is not good. I forgot to download the nearby caches so I could open the navigation in an offline mode. But, I was lucky and found the "Pomeroy Tanks Trailhead" cache. Tom was amazed that I found it --- as it was a camouflaged micro cache hanging in a tree.

One fun thing we saw there at the trailhead was a Osprey nest on top of a dead tree.

I walked closer to the tree. The mother Osprey was sitting on the nest. The father Osprey was to the right of the nest.

Score! I now have 150 cache finds. On our way home from geocaching, Tom and I stopped at Safeway. I wanted to make Paella for dinner. I had a good recipe that I used in December of last year. So, we bought cooked mussel meat, a package of squid seafood medley, and a chicken breast. The prep time for the recipe was 45 minutes. The cook time for the recipe was also 45 minutes.

The Paella was EXCELLENT!!! I made a full batch of the recipe, so we will enjoy the dish again. 

😁😁😁

Carrie and her husband Brent are at their second home in Bend. They went floating down the Deschutes River.

They always are having a fun time. Their two dogs Noah and Dutton love to frolic along the river.

On Saturday, Tom and I went to Parks to find some more caches. There are eleven "Snow Days" caches that were placed in 2013. Each cache hangs from a tree and can be found in the winter. Since we won't be here this coming winter, it was fun finding them along Garland Prairie Road.

The location of the final cache of the afternoon had an interesting billboard describing Garland Prairie in the 1860s. Many settlers and farmers tried to make a living on the prairie with little success. The winters were harsh and water was scarce.

On our way home, a train came through the Parks area near the Interstate 40 on and off ramp.

At 4:00 p.m., five of us played pickleball. Suzanne, Robbie, and I didn't get a picture of us playing pickleball last week in Flagstaff, so I asked Steve to take a make-up photo.

I played about six games before I had to stop. My left butt check began to hurt. It is important that I not overdo on exercise and re-hurt my injury.

On Sunday, I decided to tackle the project of getting a cache hidden on geocaching.com. There is a review process that needs to be completed for the evaluation of someone's first cache. Tom and I went to Cataract Lake and to Cureton Park. We were looking for a good location for my first hidden cache. I decided to put it under a table at the Bluegill Ramada at Cataract Lake. The cache container is a bolt that I bought on etsy.com.

The cache is magnetic and I placed it under the table top.

I placed the cache under one of the picnic tables.

Before heading home, I asked Tom if we could look for one more cache. I currently have 159 finds. So, we headed ten miles west to Exit 151. The cache I was looking for was at the east end of an old Route 66 road.

The cache, "Dino 1", was placed on September 28, 2003! To get to the cache, I had to climb a hill. It was not tough, but my balance had a challenge. From the cache location, you could see Interstate 40.

The plastic 6"x6" container was in fairly good condition for being 20 years old!!! I left a pink smiley coin purse and gave the cache a favorite.

On our way back to Interstate 40, we happened upon a flock of sheep with two dogs and a Mexican sheep herder.

My lilies are starting to bloom. I have six pots of lilies in the backyard.

There is a process on geocache.com for hiding caches. I followed the guidelines and submitted the cache for review. I was pleasantly surprised that the reviewer published my first cache Monday morning.

I sent a message to several of my Williams cache friends that my first hide was published. Neighbors Candy and John Frankl were the first to find my cache.

I called my Los Angeles girlfriend Barbara Coad. I told her that my first cache hide was published. I sent her a photo of several caches that I recently bought.

Monday afternoon, I drove to Flagstaff for a facial with Amy Aranda. She does an awesome job!

On Tuesday, I decided to find some more locations for hiding caches. Tom and I drove to several locations in the Highland Meadows community and out Road 124 in the Kaibab National Forest. It would be fun to have at least five hidden caches. The first cache I hid was by Babbitt Tank. There is a Ponderosa tree that was damaged by lightning. I placed the brown plastic pine cone in a hole created by the lightning.

The other cache location I decided to use was the Kaibab National Forest Kiosk on Road 124.

The cache I decided to hide was a magnetic hide-a-key container. I used camouflaged duck tape to cover it.  I placed this cache on the back side of the kiosk.

Tuesday afternoon, I started the geocaching.com process of having my two hidden caches reviewed and published. I submitted the two requests early Wednesday morning. The "Thanks to Babbitt Tank" was published several hours later.

Colleen Hatton comes and cleans the house once a month. Wednesday is the day. Yes!!!

At lunchtime, I met the Highland Meadows ladies at Gateway Sandwich Company. We sat on the outdoor patio. It was a large group --- probably a total of 15 ladies. I, of course, enjoyed my Ooh Aah egg sandwich. 😁😁😁

After lunch, I drove to Flagstaff for a sports massage appointment with Mike Hippard. I was a little early, so I stopped at Summit Spa and talked to Heather about a new spa.

My current spa is probably 18 years old. The slow leak is not going away. The design features of new spas have improved significantly. Summit Spa requires 10% down and there is interest free financing available for five years. This monthly payment is around $250. Maybe when my truck is paid off...

The third cache I submitted for review was not published. There is a multi-cache that begins over four miles away, "Getting Out there in Williams." One of the segments of this multi-cache is too close to where I put the magnetic camouflaged cache by the Kaibab National Forest Kiosk. Unfortunately, these segments/way-points don't register on the geocaching.com maps. So, I will need to find another location. Darn!

Etsy.com asked if I would review the pine cone geocache that I bought from shop owner DDDevineDesign. It is a favorite, so I gave this shop owner an excellent review. I also submitted a photo.

Thursday, I took my truck into JJ's Auto Repair. It was due for an oil change, front tire alignment, and a new air filter. 

That evening, the sky was so beautiful over Elephant Rocks Golf Course.

On Saturday, Tom and I went back to Dogtown Lake. I wanted to do some geocaching there. We also made sandwiches for a lakeside lunch. The first cache we found was about .2 miles from our car. It was called "Who Let The Dogs Out." It was a micro cache with a beautiful view of the lake.

The second cache was .2 miles away. It was a clever small cache container. It was named "Dog Treats."

The third cache was a bison container. It was "Hot Diggity Dog."

The fourth cache "Geo-Dog Tribute Cache" was hidden inside a tree stump.

The final cache for the day was a micro cache "The Old Road." It was hanging in a tree.

I was surprised to find these five caches --- as the data service on my cellphone does not work at Dogtown Lake. These five caches make my total finds number 165.

Tom and I had a nice lunch at a table near the water.

 

It was a hot day --- mid 90s. Tom and I headed home for some rest and relaxation. As we drove by Santa Fe Dam and Reservoir, I thought that that location would be a good place to hide a cache. I had the camouflaged hide-a-key cache ready to be placed somewhere.

After an hour of R&R at home, I decided to drive to Santa Fe Dam and place my third cache hide.

I walked across the dam and made a left turn. I walked about five minutes along the shoreline and I found a trash canister.

Since this cache is magnetic, I needed to find some metal. Hooray! I was successful. 😊😊😊

I returned home to write up the cache description. I called the cache "Trashed by the Dam." I submitted the cache for review. In less than an hour, it was published!!!

Sunday afternoon, I decided to hunt for a couple caches in the Williams area. I noticed that someone found the "What's the FIRE danger?" cache. The cache owner, unicorns4cher, moved the container to a new location. She was going to update the GPS coordinates, but had not. She described the new location --- under a big rock, by a little tree. I walked the area and found the cache.

I brought a pair of garden gloves to find the cache under the rock. Someone mentioned that it was not pleasant using bare hands to find the container.

There was one more cache I wanted to find. It was near the airport. I found the "No Cow Zone" cache.

The afternoon clouds by this cache were gorgeous!

My cache finds now totaled 167 😄😄😄

Later in the day, Robbie and Steve were in my neighborhood. Robbie recently joined geocaching.com. Her name is AZGIRL454590. Their first two finds were my first two hides ---"Bolting Bluegill" and "Thanks to Babbitt Tank."

I think that Robbie and Steve are HOOKED!!!

Monday morning, I took Kelsey to Canyon Pet Hospital for her monthly acupuncture appointment. Dr. Sullivan is the BEST!!!

That afternoon, five of us played pickleball at 4:00 p.m. After about 40 minutes, the skies clouded up and it rained. Even some hail!

We even got some rain at home.

Tuesday, Tom and I had our annual skin cancer screening with Dr. Sarah Risner. I was clear, but Dr. Risner took a biopsy off Tom's face.

After our appointment, we stopped off at Summit Spa to see some of the spas. Heather had recommended that we get in some of the spas to see how they felt.

It was an interesting exercise, but I'm not ready to spend $14,000 for a new spa.

That evening, Tom cooked a marinated flank steak and I made oyster Rockefeller and served them on my new scallop shells.

 

Wednesday morning, I saw that the day lilies are starting to bloom. Very nice! 😊😊😊

The dogs are so cute. They often mirror each other.

The Highland Meadows ladies had lunch at Wild West Junction. It is not an air-conditioned property, but, they had two high powered fans.

Later that afternoon, eight of us played pickleball at 4:00 p.m. It was so nice having two full courts of people. Joining us, was Linda Davison from Bullhead City. Linda comes to Williams once every summer for five days. It was great seeing her!

On Thursday morning, I decided that I wanted to hide another cache. I selected a telephone pole near KC HiLites. I hung a small pill container that was wrapped in black tape at the base of the pole. I called cache "Let Their Be Light." I then submitted the cache to geocaching.com for review.

Unfortunately, the reviewer said that the cache was on private property and could not be published. Tom thought that the cache was on private  property as well. He was correct. Live and learn.

 

Late Thursday afternoon, Tom and I had an appointment with Dr. Figueroa in Flagstaff. It was a one hour 5:00 p.m. appointment. As a reward, we treated ourselves to take-out Panda Express before heading back to Williams.