January winding down

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Cloudy sky, pretty moon.  From our seats at the Yuma Jazz series concert tonight.  January 24th.

6 restaurants face the Courtyard where the musicians perform on Thursday evenings

The Theatre provides beautiful colored lights and a good backdrop for the various concerts they have here each week.  All are taped live by the local station of NPR here in Yuma, for broadcasting later in the week.

Sun City West trip

This is the road I want to take with the Dual Sport bike.
From here, after a series of dirt and trails, you can get to the location of the Oatman massacre.  Will get it done either this Spring or next Fall.

First day since late December that we hit 80 degrees! 

Lanny (Biglefti's) house in Sun City West

Cruising down I-8.  Nice day for a ride.

Lanny was out in his shop at 5:30 AM.  He built a metal break out of a heavy duty hinge that he welded to some square stock.  Worked good to bend the Stainless Steel he's using.

I really believe Lanny can fabricate just about anything.  And, he has!

Using the "just made" metal bender.

The Quail Motel.  Metal lined so the Coyotes can't dig them out.  He ran out of grain a few days ago.  He tried oatmeal, but they don't like it.  A small flock had just stopped by to check it out, but they got mad and left before I could get a picture

Dawn in the Biglefti back yard.

500cc Piaggio scooter.  The "errand bike"

Pidgeons on a neighbors TV antenna

Bending, thinking, cutting, grinding, drilling, and more thinking.  It's coming together

Lanny added the workshop on the end of his garage.  Small, but there's been a lot of good work produced from here.

Some of the last cuts with the saw-zall

The T-Dub is back together after Lanny's last pretty serious crash last Fall.  It's ready for more action now.

Large Coyote, across the street. There were 3 of them.  Lanny has seen a pack of 9 here in the neighborhood before.  They cruise the area looking for food.

The large one is in back, this smaller female is headed that way.

Final measurments, adjustments, and assembly

Adjustment with the grinder, and fabricating spacers

New MIG welder Lanny used to make the metal break.

The new tool.  It worked great!

Buffing out the edges.

MUCH better than the one that came with the J&M CB unit.  This is going to look and work good.

When I get back to Yuma I'll remove it and polish out the stainless steel.  Lanny gave me some S/S bolts which I'll buff out and use. Should end up looking like chrome.  A job well done.  Biglefti does it again!!!!

This bunny escaped the Coyote's breakfast hunt

Fisherman on the Gila River just below the old Gilespie Dam.

The Gila still has some water in it up here.  By the time it joins the Colorado in Yuma, the farming and irrigation needs have almost depleted the water flow. 

Gilespie Bridge over the Gila on old Highway 80.  In 2011 the mounting blocks were changed, and the bridge was made safe again for normal traffic

One of the original mounting pads.  For expansion and contraction, they were on rollers as you see underneath.  These rollers were replace with new technology, using sliding pads that will hold up better.

Lanny explaining to me how the mounting pads work

Lanny rode down to Patterson Road, almost to Gila Bend, with me.  Nice warm day, but cloudy.  Was 82 in the shade when I got home around 3:30.  Nice ride, good weather, and the new bracket is PERFECT!!!!

Gadsden ride

Charlie is 7 years old.  Been visiting him  since he was a 2 year old.  Picked up a couple of carrots so Redd and I could treat him today.  As soon as I pulled in, he knew he was going to get a carrot. :-)

Redd in Somerton.  We stopped to fill up the coffee mugs.

We stopped at Elvira's Bakery, Redd was having an Empanada attack, so we fixed him up.

Charlie is in ecstasy!  He loves carrots.

Redd was in ecstasy!  He loves fresh baked Mexican Pineapple Empanadas.

Several acres of Celery growing up.

Red thinks these are melon vines.  I think they are small artichokes.  We'll have to go down there again soon to see who's right :-)

Those Rineharts are pretty mellow....but, you can set off car alarms with them if you're not careful :-)

Happy Sailor! Another good ride today.

Village Jazz

6 places to eat in this courtyard in front of the Theater.  We're at the Mall for the Season kick-off for the Village Jazz on Thursday nights.  Tonight the entertainment will be a "Big Band"

Approximately 18 musicians in the band.  They did an excellent job.  Played mostly all familiar tunes from the 40's.

We had dinner there in the Hawaiian BBQ.  It was good.

Marlys getting settled in.  She has her pajamas on under her clothes. :-)  Expecting a cool evening

Some of the groups are totally professional.  The Yuma Big Band is of professional quality, but made up of local musicians that have other jobs :-)

The programs are recorded by this NPR station, and aired a couple times later in the week

This Red Hat Lady plays a Baritone Sax.  And, a fine job she does.

Nice street lights.  This section of the mall is like a small city.  At 8 PM when the show was over, there were still a lot of shops open around the area.  Bookstores, cafes, clothing, and specialty shops of different kinds.  Fun atmosphere.

Wonder how we ended up with this chair :-)

There were several soloists.  Never a boring moment.  Especially liked the Glenn Miller tunes.

One of our local theaters makes a nice back-drop for the performers

Various shade of color as it gets darker outside

Janet and Marlys are ready for a blizzard.  Turned out to be a beautiful evening, and never did get very cold

Marlys is no "Spring Chicken". But, she's a lot of fun and enjoys going out.

Sparkly eyes...

The "Birthday Girl".  Katie has on her fuzzy gloves.  Only a few more hours and it will be whole year before she has another birthday :-)