A Horse Day Bust...

A couple of weeks ago I had requested yesterday off so I could go to the annual Arabian show that was in town.  I don't go every year and have not been going more often than not, but I had decided to go this year.  Picking a day to go was a bit more difficult due to coverage needs in my unit and the class schedule, but decided on Wednesday, even though there really wasn't anything in the class list that interested me.  Anyway, I requested the day off and got it.  And then I hurt my knee.  I don't know how it happened, but it did.  Some days it's difficult to walk and other days it's fine.  When I stand up from my desk at work, I have to just stand there for a few moments while my knee decides if it's going to behave or hurt, but after I walk around a bit, it's fine.

Yesterday morning I got up and did a loop in the Lower Salt River Rec Area looking for my horses and then I stopped to get gas in my car.  That's when I knew I wasn't going to the Arab show.  As soon as I got out of my car and put a little weight on it, it started to hurt.  Well, crap!    Now what?  Errands.  My big horse day turned into errand day.  I went to the post office to mail some packages then did another loop of the Lower Salt and saw some domestic horses heading out for a trail ride, but still no wild horses.  The next stop on my agenda was WalMart for an oil change on my car, which was way overdue.  Of course, everyone and their uncle decided it would be a perfect time to get their oil changed at that very same Walmart so I had to wait more than an hour.  When I finally got finished there, I had to decide where to go next.  I know!  I could go to the show grounds and take pictures of the bazillions of horse trailers and maybe catch a glimpse or two of an Arabian.  It doesn't cost anything to drive within certain areas of the park.  But when I got to WestWorld, I was greeted with this...

What's going on?  Usually this area is PACKED with horse trailers.  It looked very odd to see so much open space.  And then I saw this...

Please tell me this isn't a horse trailer.  Please?  I think it had a couple of windows in the back, but that's it.  Maybe it is used for hauling equipment.  I really hope it's not.  I think it says it's made by Sunlite so I went to their website just to verify it's NOT a horse trailer, but I wasn't going to go through all of the makes and models just to find it.  The Toy Hauler section alone had 1,484 listings!

So, after leaving this area, I went in search of the other parking lot that's usually filled with trailers as well and saw...yet again...

Even fewer trailers in this parking lot.  What's going on?  Is the fear of the HPV virus keeping people away from the show this year?  It's allegedly been contained to Turf Paradise and they say there's no reason to be concerned for show horses coming to Scottsdale or other parts of the valley, but are people choosing to be cautious?   It was a real shame to see so few trailers around.  Now, there were some others within the fenced in stabling areas, but because of the temporary and permanent stalls, there's not much room for big (or small) trailers.

I did get to see some horses, though.  Mostly ones sticking their heads out of the stalls, but I did see someone walking around a rather spirited flea-bitten grey.  I didn't get pictures of that one because I didn't want to call unwanted attention to myself by parking in the middle of the road with a huge camera.  And unfortunately, the stables shot I got didn't include any horses sticking their heads out.  Oh well.  You'll just have to trust me that there was a line of bays, all with their heads sticking out...

After leaving "Horseworld" (what it was called when I went to my first Scottsdale Arabian show), I headed up a bit north to Bartlett Lake.    It's a bit of a ways out there and took me almost 45 minutes to get there from the show grounds, although it only took 30 minutes to get back to my neighborhood.  Of course, much of that was on the freeway, so that probably has something to do with it.  Anyway, I don't know if I've ever been to this lake and if I have, it was a long time ago and I don't remember any of it, but it wasn't all that spectacular or inspiring...

I couldn't really find a way to get much closer to it without worrying about being in the wrong place, plus there was something else I wanted to do back "in town" so I got some pictures and headed back.  I wonder how long the water level has been that low...maybe it's only like that during the winter, like the Salt River.  During the summer the river runs quite nicely, but right now they don't put much water through it so there's hardly anything to it in some spots.

My next destination didn't pan out too well and I still had some time to kill before heading home so I went to the resort I used to work at back in the 90s.  Back then, it was the Pointe Hilton at South Mountain.  Then Hilton pulled out so it was just the Pointe at South Mountain.  Now it's the Arizona Grande.  I didn't recognize ANY of it.  Not one bit.  No, I take that back.  I recognized the fountain when you first drive in and I recognized a side area where they've had events in the past.  When I worked there they, and the other two Pointe Hilton properties (Tapatio Cliffs and Squaw Peak) all had horses available for rent.  I don't know if the other two still have theirs, but South Mountain stopped doing rides years ago.  Possibly when Hilton pulled out.   The building where you signed up and one of the corrals is still there...

 I was a mini bar attendant when I worked there so I was responsible for refilling the mini bars and charging the missing items to the guests.  Back then it was done by phone.  Now it's done by weights within the fridge so even if you move something to put your own stuff in there, it charges you for that item.  It wasn't too bad of a job.  I worked mostly alone.  The only thing I didn't like was you had to do the "check out" rooms first so you had to go knocking on people's doors at 8.30am even though check out wasn't until 11.  I hated that.  And any money left behind, it was automatically for the housekeepers, but every now and then we were allowed to take it, but ONLY if there was a note specifying it was for the mini bar people.  That didn't happen too much, though.  What we were allowed to take, after a guest had checked out, was anything left in the refrigerator.  Not our stuff we put in there, although we were allowed to help ourselves to the snacks and such, but if a guest brought their own food and put it in the refer but didn't take it with them we were allowed to take that and not the housekeepers.   The only exception was any liquor left behind had to be put in the "cage" in our office, but once a year they'd have a party with the booze.  I wasn't there long enough to enjoy that because an ambulance company called and wanted to hire me.   I was allowed to wear shorts in the summer, too, which is good in Arizona.    Another good thing about this place was how generous they were.  When I worked at a Marriott resort, we weren't allowed on the property if we weren't on the clock.  I'll have to do a post later on about my adventures at that place.  But like I said, we weren't allowed there if we weren't on the clock.  Some of the people in my department went one afternoon to play basketball and got caught.  They weren't fired or anything, but they did get a lecture.  Anyway, the Pointe Hilton WANTED us there.  They WANTED us to use the swimming pools and spas and rental stables and they gave us decent discounts to entice us to do so.  Why?  Because they said that guests will ask us for recommendations on what to do on the property and how could we do that if we didn't know firsthand what the activities were like?  How, indeed.  I never got a chance to try the facilities, though, which was a bummer.

Anyway, that's how my busted Horse Day went.  Until next time...

Breeding Cats...

No, not me.  I would never do that.  But there's someone on a message board I'm on whose cat just had a kitten.  She said it was her first.  So I asked if the kitten was an "oops" or if she intends on breeding them.  I also asked if they were Ragdolls because the female has Ragdoll characteristics, but the male looks like a long-haired Siamese.  She told me the kitten was intentional and that she's been "toying" with the idea of becoming a cat breeder.  Toying?  You don't "toy" with breeding animals.  It sounds more like she's going to end up being a backyard breeder and that just makes me sick.  The whole thing makes me ill.  In regards to what breed the cats are, she says both are purebred Siamese, but they don't have papers because she couldn't afford the registration at the time of their birth.  So, she's going to start breeding "alleged" purebred Siamese...and why?  If the parents aren't papered she can only sell them as pets.  At least, that's my understanding.  And she doesn't even know what breed they are with 100%.  She said the female had Ragdoll coloring so she "supposed" it was a Balinese.  If you aren't certain what the breeds are of your cats, WHY ARE YOU GOING TO BREED THEM?

Ragdoll courtesy of Wikipedia

Balinese courtesy of Wikipedia

  The Balinese is the long-haired version of a Siamese and her male cat resembles one, but the female has short hair and Ragdolls don't have short hair, they have long.  There's just so many things wrong with this situation, but all anyone is doing is going ga-ga over the baby kitten.  Why does nobody else see the ignorance in this whole thing?  No, it's not my business what she does, but considering how many homeless cats there are out there, why perpetuate the problem?  She said this kitten already has a home when he's old enough, but what happens when the female has a larger litter?  Then what?  <sigh>  I can't voice my opinion on the message board without getting attacked, so that's why I'm putting it here because I really needed to get it off my chest.         

Thank you.                             

From Wild Horses to Payson --- Or...

How the heck did THAT happen?

I started my Monday like any other Monday I have off. I went and got my "traveling breakfast" of Six-Cheese (they're called 6 Cheese, I didn't order a quantity of 6) bagels and soda, going to a different Einstein Brothers Bagels because the manager from the one closest to my house moved to a different location and I decided to go see him. He's a nice guy and I miss seeing him on a regular basis. And he even gave me my food for free. Can't beat that with a stick.

From there I went up to start my loop along the Lower Salt River. Initially I didn't see anything, but then I spotted a singleton on the side of the road and got some pictures of him. Then I saw what initially I thought was 3 horses at one of the recreation areas, but it turned out there were at least 6 there, the others were in some brush so I stopped my car in the middle of the road to take pictures. Nobody was at the picnic area so I knew nobody would come up behind me, although it didn't stop me from looking. hahaha. And I'd be able to see anyone coming my way. Anyway, I was only in the middle of my own lane on a two lane road, not in the middle of the entire road. So, I was taking pictures and this dude in a van stopped right in front of where the horses were (they were behind a fence) and came over and started talking to me. Kind of creepy, but eventually the horses moved on and so did he. My car was running the entire time so I wasn't too worried about him. I could just hit the gas pedal and be off. But it's situations like this that keep me from venturing too far from my car when there's others around. I don't know if I've ever seen this group before. There was a chestnut that was a really light color that made him stand out so I figured I would remember seeing him, but I couldn't. But then it occurred to me that maybe I'd seen him as a yearling or a little older. I'll have to check my other pictures so see if I can tell.

After completing my 2nd loop, I noticed it looked like it was snowing to the north so I headed back to the Beeline Highway and started up north. I figured I'd go as far as Sunflower and if I didn't see any snow by then, I'd just turn around and head back. Except that's not what happened. When I reached Sunflower, which is only about 30 or so minutes from where I was at the moment, it was snowing pretty good, although some might call it "Grapple" because it was more like ice pellets and not snow, but it was still pretty neat considering it'd been more than a year since I'd seen ANY snow other than on TV

I even got some video, but I don't know how to embed it into Blogger so it can be watched.  Bummer.

While still in Sunflower, I decided to go down this one road and I discovered it was the old part of the Beeline that you took to get to Payson and other points north. There were houses and farms on that road and I always wondered what happened when they built the wider part of the Beeline and now I know.

After leaving Sunflower, I decided to go "just a little" further and before I knew it, I was seeing signs telling me Rye was only 9 miles away. Well, if Rye is only 9 miles then Payson is only another 11 miles after that so I may as well just continue on to Payson. So, I ignored the "Snow chains or 4 Wheel Drive Mandatory" sign and kept going. I thought it was funny when I passed one area where there were a bunch of snow plows parked. Huh. Snow Plows here?" but then I discovered they were needed. The Beeline is a 2 lane in each direction road and the outer lane had been plowed northbound, but the inner lane hadn't been. Guess which one I chose? Yup. The inner, unplowed lane. I wasn't there very long, though, when my car started to fishtail a little so I quickly got into the plowed lane. hahaha. I won't be doing THAT again anytime soon. Anyway, before long I was seeing the telltale signs that Payson was "just around the corner". When going northbound in Rye, you see signs advertising businesses in Payson. When going southbound, it's for Mesa and Scottsdale, but mostly Mesa. It's how you "know" you're either getting close to Payson or leaving it. At least, that's how I saw it during the many trips there and back over the years my parents lived there or when we went there for vacation.

Once I arrived in Payson, my main intent was to go see what my parents' house looked like. We'd been told by a neighbor that the new owners had made quite a few changes to the inside, like new carpet, fix the floor that was already drooping when my parents moved in, and improve the heating. I wish I could've gone and knocked on the door to ask to see the inside, but I'm not that daring.   They also made a couple of exterior changes such as the fence into the backyard was improved and they added a shed or something.  The sign on the left with their name is new and it looks like they may have graded the driveway so it was all one level.  I want to say a tree is missing, too, but I wouldn't swear to it...

It was a little weird seeing it. I haven't been to Payson since helping my mom move back to the valley in 2010 and it made me feel a little down. I miss my dad. But I'm glad I finally made it up there, plus I got to see snow!

I drove around a bit and took some more pictures. I've always liked this house. There's two parts to it, the garage apartment and the main house, but I liked the garage apartment and if my parents had gotten that one, I probably would've moved to Payson with them. hahaha. Probably not, but still...

Next stop was Green Valley Park. My mom used to take her dog Ebbie there to walk around the lake, but then the dog park was built so she started going there instead

The little black birds were crazy. They started crossing the road so I stopped to wait. And I waited. And I waited. It seemed like just when I thought there were no more, a few more would run across the street. They were cute, though.

Finally, it was time to head back down the mountain, but first a stop at the rodeo grounds for the snow.

I couldn't go very far because the road wasn't plowed all the way yet

There's nothing to see there right now anyway because there's no events going on.  I remember during the Rodeo-Chediski Fire back in 2002, they used the rodeo grounds to house the larger animals that had been evacuated from the fire area.  The dogs were housed at the dog park and the cats were at the humane society.  The people were housed at the high school.  It was a crazy couple of weeks for sure.  Living in the mountains, you learn to be prepared for forest fires and while my parents weren't on evacuation alert for that fire, they were for a couple of others.  They had suitcases packed and by the door and the plan that if evacuation was only going to be a day or two they'd go to the high school, but if it was going to be longer, they'd bring the dogs down to our house.

It was still early when I got back into town so I did my loop again (the highway to Payson intersects with the one for where the horses are) and didn't see any, but as I was coming back out towards Beeline I noticed a couple of cars on the side of the road and saw there were some horses in a bit of a ravine. Nice way to end a day.