Cowtown

Vickie and I got away this weekend to a cool place about an hour from home. Wickenburg is a small town on the way from Phoenix to either Las Vegas (north) or Los Angeles (west). Originally founded as a supply stop to service goldminers during the gold rush, it later became an important place for ranchers to move cattle onto trains to Chicago.

Today it has turned itself into a CUTE cowboy town and much of the shops are reliving that era. We visited the cowboy museum which was WONDERFUL and walked around town to see the lifesize replicas of people from 140 years ago.

 And the place we stayed at had more cowboy stuff than you could imagine. We could never live in this much clutter but it sure was homey and warm. Just perfect for a restfully time.

We also visited the preserve and took a gentle walk around this un-characteristicly wooded area, saw butterflies, a roadrunner and a flowing stream which gave water to the stand of cottonwood trees in this small area. The registration and information building was located in an old main house from a dude ranch that was built to attract visitors from Phoenix who took the train to this small resort of yesterday.

If you need a getaway from the heat of the desert this is a nice place to try. We aren't experiencing as much heat right now, which made the spot even nicer with the warm sun on our walks.

OK, back to the real world.

Wow that was fast!

A week ago we were looking at a foundation frame ready for pouring, and here we have our new house...

Look, I have no idea how they did this so fast, but it sure does give us more to show in pictures.

Ready for Concrete

It may look like a small city, but these pics, taken on Sunday show that the house is ready for the foundation.  The metal cables are all in place so that when the concrete is poured they can be tightened some each day to prevent cracks. 

this little copper pipe is the incoming water feed.

Here is a closeup of a corner.  The wooden frame holds the concrete pour.  And finally the pipes sticking up in the air are the drain pipes.  All laid into the trenches we showed last time.

Now all we need is the concrete, oh yes and the rest of the house too.  maybe next week.

Phili cheese steak gone southwest?

If you have ever been to the Philadelphia area for good eating at lunchtime you know that there is a serious competition for the best Cheese steak sandwich. A foot long roll is stuffed with thin sliced beef steak that is chopped and cooked on a grill with onions, cheese and whatever else you like. The food is deadly but delicious.

Enter the southwest version -- funniest interpretation I've ever seen...




Wouldn't you know we had the opportunity to try one of these puppies via . Niki's Kitchen was offering a $10 bargain Groupon offer my dear wife signed us up for ...we just had to try one! This place was a combination of Indian fry bread, Philadelphia steak sandwich, and a bit of the Polynesian island of Togo thrown in.


V had to try it...


Yep...it actually was really good. Now the truth be told there was little resemblance to the original. But when you are 3,000 miles away, even a fry bred sandwich sounds good.