OOPS .... It's Dark!!

 I just cannot explain the crazy weather in Arizona.  We have mostly blue skies with lightning directly overhead, followed instantly by thunder that hurts your ears.  I mean SCARY thunder cracks like I've never heard before.  This is my house at the moment, dark because there's no electricity.  It flickered once, then gave up the ghost.  

Perfect timing on that generator, eh??  At least I will be able to run it for maybe ten minutes to charge my phone.  Only ten minutes??  Yeah because Nancy didn't get any gas for it.  It has to ride inside the truck on the way back to Cali and I didn't want Jonathan to die from the fumes.

It was a beautiful morning as I wandered downtown for an oil change on the truck.  Good thing I got there early because within ten minutes the waiting room was full and overflowing.  It took about an hour, but Baby is purring like a kitten and everything else checks out okay.

If you need any mechanical work in Tucson, Ray Scotts Automotive is really awesome.  His son is my neighbor and they are great guys to work with.

I stopped in at Taco Bell for lunch and tried out their frozen lemonade.  Doesn't look like lemonade, nor does it taste like it.  It's very acidic, but cooling on a hot day.

Thankfully they haven't changed their tacos.  I do love them, they just don't like ME all that much.

I forgot to tell you about my favorite around-the-house tool.  The TONGS.  They work overtime for things like picking up dropped screws behind the washing machine and light bulbs from the top shelf.

They work exceptionally well for picking up things like this.  A dead scorpion on his back.  EXCEPT he wasn't so dead after all and went ballistic when I picked him up.  I jumped back and of course dropped him.  It took me five more minutes to catch him again.  Man I hate these guys!!!  All I can say is he's dead now!!

Once he was dispatched, I went out front to tidy up the ditch.  Wasn't I surprised to find a nice geyser watering the plants.  Apparently I nicked the underground drip lines.  More digging and finally a patch took care of that problem.  

Besides knocking the power out, the rains came down in another torrent.  My waterway worked to perfection.  It's going to get a facelift as soon as I can find the right kind of pipe to lay in the bottom.  I found some corrugated metal pipe for $239.00 EACH.  That's a little high for my budget.  In the meantime, this is working right nicely.

This blast came from the opposite direction as the last one and no rain fell inside the house.  Yay!!  Just to be sure however, I'm leaving a big tub directly underneath until a roofing guy can be contacted.

I have to give it up to Tucson Electric Power.  Unlike California where you would have to wait for two days to get power back, the lights came back on in 45 minutes.  Amazing, since they charge only 1/3 the cost of California electricity.

One thing the desert rains bring with them is amazing sunsets.  I could see every color of the rainbow in this one.  In person, the colors are just spectacular ... a sky of purple.  

As for now, I'm back to packing!!  Bingo is calling my name.

Ohhhhh, Moan Groan, Ohhhhh

 You know how it is.  You go out to get a job done and just keep going and going until you finish, no matter the pain, because the gain will be SO worth it.  Well I'm moaning and groaning this morning like a little old crotchety woman!!  Even Cooper looked at me cross-eyed!!

This was the problem, only it was much worse because in this picture most of the water had subsided.  We needed to figure out a way to get water away from the house.  There are more extensive rains expected this week.  I started work at 6:00 am when it was around 80 degrees.  

First up, cut back all the bird of paradise and try to salvage some of the gravel.  Boy am I glad I bought that really cool red wheelbarrow.

I began digging dirt from the low end to fill in here.  Once I got through the gravel on top, it was easy digging because of all the moisture.  Desert dirt is funny though ... it wasn't the least big muddy, but just damp enough.  All that rain and water had already seeped below the 12" mark.  That made digging much easier, although anyone who had wielded a shovel for a few hours knows it's not easy.  More moaning and groaning could be heard.

Just as I was contemplating quitting for the day, Mr. Chance showed up to help out.  I had actually been thinking about a nice long 6 hour break, but back to shoveling I went.  Dan brought this little beauty with him.  A battery operated chainsaw.  How cool is that??  It's a Harbor Freight piece of let's-make-things-easier machinery I HAVE to have.  

I had run into some big tree roots that had to go.  This did the trick in about 30 seconds.  Fingers crossed the tree will live, but I have my doubts.  There was just no way around it.

Another couple of hours and we had the flower bed raised by eight or nine inches, enough to keep the water away from the house.  I was getting so exhausted from the now 90 degree heat, I could hardly stand up.

We dug out a ditch along the other side to channel water around the house and down the hill.  This needs something.  We discussed the problem for another 30 minutes before deciding on a half-pipe to run the length.  Filling the trench with big rock would work, but then I would have to shovel it all out again in a couple of years to clean out all the silt.  Better to have an open pipe if possible.  

After 5-1/2 hours of hard work, I spent the rest of the day on the couch not moving an inch.  I must say that TV is pretty boring this time of year.    

I finally took a couple of aspirin and headed over to the Chance house for dinner.  Patty made her famous chicken taco soup, which was worth all that shoveling.  It made me feel so much better that I actually played with Cooper a few minutes before crashing on the couch.

Moan, groan, uggghhhh ... I'm not as sore as I thought I would be this morning, but my hips aren't exactly happy with me.  Surprisingly, the rest of me is pretty good.  What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

This morning I'm off to have my oil changed in the truck and to ask if they know where I can buy half pipe.  I imagine there will be lots of phone calls while I try to come up with 45 feet of the stuff.  Wish me luck.

Plans Gone Awry!!

As you all are probably aware, I'm not one to enjoy traumatic things happening at my age.  I just want everything to go along smoothly with NO interruptions.  It was going along so well until yesterday, which put an end to all that GOOD stuff so mother nature could throw in a little BAD.

At least I'm not in New Orleans, which is currently being hit with a category 3, possibly 4 hurricane, but we got a very small sample of it.  Crazy rain and extreme winds hit us yesterday afternoon.  In the middle of that the hail came down so hard and loud it sounded like it would break my windows.  It was all going sideways straight into the side of my house.  

I tried to open the patio slider for some pictures, but got soaked through the three inch hole in a matter of seconds.  My patio cover is 15 feet across and the rain was coming inside so much I had to mop the floor after opening the door.

My gutters were overloaded even before the hard rains came down.  The TV went off, then the power went out for a short time about 4:30, but luckily came right back on.  The warnings on my phone went crazy, including a dust storm?  How does that happen in this much rain?

That's when I heard it.  Plop ... plop ... PLOP!!  Instantly I knew what it was.  I've got a leak in my roof!!  I ran to the garage and grabbed a bucket.  The floor was considerably wet before the plop was heard.

You can barely see the crack in the ceiling at the bottom end of the skylight.  Of course I made a panic call to the Chance House.   PATTY .... DAN .... HELP!!!!!  In probably less than 30 minutes, the entire storm was over and the plopping stopped.

I had completely forgotten about how bad the front gets.  When Dan showed up, he waded through three inches of water to unplug my little drainage ditch.  Dan grabbed a shovel and I a rake, to enlarge my ditch and drain the swimming pool.  Most of it is gone in this picture.

Which brought us to this .... the water had been up the sides of the concrete blocks.  Not a good thing at all.  In less than an hour, it had all disappeared.  Now the work begins.  Today I'll be trimming up all these Mexican Bird of Paradise plants so we can get back there with wheelbarrow loads of dirt and rock.  This is a low spot that must be filled in asap.  There's big storms coming all week long, a result of the hurricane weather in New Orleans.  

My heart goes out to those people.  I just got a 30 minute taste of their troubles and I didn't like it one bit.  

So much for my plans of leaving this week.  The roof has to be repaired, although Dan thinks the wind and rain came from the right direction, lifting the comp shingles just enough to let the water in.  As soon as the rain subsided, the plopping stopped completely.  Lucky for me there is a big pile of leftover shingles in the garage.  

Which brings up THIS problem ... I have no food.  I've been completely cleaning out the fridge and freezer so I didn't have to carry much on my way home.  Guess I'll be going to the store today.  I'm hoping to get everything fixed and leave the following week.  We shall see.

As for now, I'll be out front shoving sand and gravel.  Pray for New Orleans.

Getting Things Done On A Hot Day

 It sure puts a damper on things you want to do when it gets hot outside.   The temperatures soared above 100 again, making me want to spend much more time inside.  Even though we were out walking at 5:00 am, even Cooper didn't last long.  Once he sits down, he's done!  Mom had to carry him half way back.

After the routine of playing ball on the floor, whereupon I get a good case of carpet knees every morning, I  sat down for a marathon session on the computer.  I only paid half of the longarm expense.  I financed the other half through Synchrony, two years at zero interest.

Anyone remember the old GE Bank lending?  They are one in the same.  I called, only to get an Asian sounding lady with a very strong accent.  In other words, I couldn't understand a word she said.  She got very frustrated with me when I kept asking her to repeat that.

In the end, she was no help whatsoever.  Here's the problem.  They are going to send me the payment amount and due date in the mail.  I won't be here, soooooooooo ....... I have to find out what that is going to be ahead of time to set up the payment.  I got nowhere since she couldn't tell me anything!!  I finally hung up and called back again.  This time I got a recorded message telling me their .com name so I could go online.

As with any of these loan sharks ... I mean banks ... if you are late or miss a payment, you pay a whopping 39.99% interest FOR THE ENTIRE TWO YEARS.  If it sounds like a shark, it IS A SHARK!  By the way, here's the second quilt and I still have enough material left over for a third.

I finally got all the info I needed and set up an account so it will be paid automatically on-line.  I sure don't want to miss any of THOSE payments.  

Next it was on to the generator.  I needed to find the serial number for the warranty info.  It was on a paper tag (that I'm sure will fall off) and the writing was so small I had to take a picture with my phone to enlarge it.  Yay ... that's done and all the paperwork is stored in the truck, which is getting rightly full of everything 5th wheel.  

As to my electrical problem ... house plugs not working ... I had an epiphany as I walked into the room where the outlet I needed most was not working.  It's a sign ... not a good sign, but a sign that I'm finally getting old.  I happened to actually LOOK at the switches on the wall.  Yup ... I remember now ... you have to turn on that switch for that outlet to work (which I've been doing every time I'm here).  It's now working just fine.  No electrician needed.  Aren't I glad I didn't call one out and have to pay $95 for him to turn the switch ON.

The monsoons are making one last ditch effort to hatch out every creepy crawly in the desert this week.  I found this on my arm this morning.  Either I taste really good because there are TWO holes, or the vampire bats have figured out how to get in my house.  If it bites, it will find me.

For my last meal with the Chance family, we hit up the bar again for all-you-can-eat fish and chips.  It's okay that these pieces of fish are much smaller than the last ones.  If you keep asking for more, they will bring it.  It was really quite tasty, although I tried to leave most of the fries.  

I'll probably spend a good amount of time today measuring and measuring again.  I'm trying to figure out exactly where the longarm will go and how I can be a little more organized before the trip back to Cali, especially since I'm getting to be more organizationally challenged as I get older.  Kind of like that light switch thing!

At Long Last .... We Hit Paydirt!

Time is getting short again when I wander off to other parts of the country.  It alway seems like I'm playing catchup trying to get everything finished before exit day.  Since the UPS guy ran into my driveway alarm, I've been trying to figure out how to mount it somewhere unaccessible.  

Previously the "eye" part was broken (probably the same way) and I called Guardline to order another one.  They actually sent me an entire unit FREE, which is the one that got smashed this time.  I kept the old one and was actually able to find it.  I took the backing plate off the old and put it on the new (now broken) unit.  Voila ... one entire unit back in working order.  Up on the garage it went this time and seems to be working just fine.  YAY!!  It's the dark brown thing.

You could probably hear me yahooing yesterday when at long last, I have a generator for the fifth wheel.  No, it's not red.  I had my little heart set on a Honda Companion generator after being on the internet and Facebook for days learning more about them than I ever wanted to know.  Watts, amps and all that stuff are hard to put together and understand.  

So off to Camping World I went to order a Honda 2200.  Not my favorite place, but they are about the only ones around here with any kind of supply.  Sadly, there was no RED in sight.  They are not only out, but so is every supplier they have, so the nice kid called Honda.  No generators will be forthcoming for over four months, with at least another month shipping time.  Even then, they won't guarantee I would get one.

So much for my 30 amp plug on the front, which was my choice just because it's easier without so many adaptors.  Surprisingly, Camping World actually had my next choice, a Cummins Onan 2500 with a 20 amp plug.  Just a little more bang for the buck, weighs the same and is just as quiet.  The big one in my old rig was a Onan and purred like a kitten.

It being a floor model (the only one left) and with my membership, I got a total of 15% off the price, making it even less than the Champions they had stacked up on the wall.  They are all made or assembled in China, so there's not much choice when it comes to that.  It also ended up being $450 cheaper than the Honda and has a 3 year warranty.  PAYDIRT!!

Of course I went straight to Mr. Chance's house for a test run.  He put a little fuel in it and with 2 or 3 pulls, it started right up.  It has Econo mode (even quieter) if you're not running the microwave and I think even has a shut-it-off-with-your-phone feature, but I haven't read the book yet.  That will be today's pastime.   I was even able to lift it out of the truck and put it back.  The real test will be when I return.  I plan on dry camping in Quartzsite for a day or two.  

In case you were wondering, no I cannot run my AC unit without a second generator.  If it's that hot, I'll be at the nearest RV park with a 50 amp hookup!!

With no more rain and hot days, the water station has had visitors again.  I've learned the coyote family hunts pretty much by themselves at night, gathering back up by howling their position to each other.  When you hear all that yelping, you know the pack is together again, telling tall tales of their exploits before their morning nap.  Wait for it .... you will see a second pair of eyes.

The javelinas are back too, seeking out a nice cool drink.  These guys don't generally have a home base, but three or four bases.  They like big soft sandy sights for their daytime naps.  They must be in heaven with all the grass that's growing like crazy everywhere.  Weeds abound!!!

Upon closer inspection, my water pipe was clogged, as it gets every so often due to the hardness of the water.  That's make the water pretty nasty looking.  I spent about an hour last night cleaning everything out before opening the valve and running it until the water ran clear.  The local kids again have clean water to drink.  

It's time for Cooper and I to hit the road for our morning walk.  It's always fun to see if he catches a whiff of those bunny rabbits!!

Fruitful and Draining

This is what I see every day, many TIMES a day.  This kid!!!  He places the ball on the coffee table, then pushes it towards me with his nose.  If I ignore it, he barks until I bounce the ball off the table so he can catch it mid air, which he's really good at by the way.  Cooper truly keeps me going and going and going.  He's much worse than the Energizer Bunny!  It's pretty draining by the end of the day.

We had another glorious full moon a couple days ago.  It's called the Sturgeon Moon.  Why you ask (or not)?  Because August of every year during the full moon is when the giant sturgeon were readily caught in the Great Lakes.  Others call it the Fledgling Moon since that's when most baby birds leave their nest.  Come to think of it, that's when the baby hummer flew away.

Just for fun, I made it appear over the Cemetery in Tombstone.  It would probably appear a little more natural if I could remember how to do all that stuff in Photoshop ... make entirely new images out of six old ones.  Is it just me or does the moon look exactly like the last one a few months ago?

It was definitely fruitful for the bats last night, as I again forgot to bring in the hummingbird feeder after three days.  It's amazing that they seem to come back every night just to check, because they never miss a meal if I forget to bring it in.

Completely scary in my opinion .... vampire bats and all, or at the very least they all carry rabies, right?  Least that's what my Dad told me when warning I should never EVER touch one.  My parents were so good at scaring us kids.

The critter cam was definitely fruitful after several nights of seeing only moths flying around and an occasional rabbit.  It's weird the light in this one.  The camera couldn't decide how much light there was.

I love how they lay down on their front legs to drink.  There's five seconds between videos, so she had her fill.  What a beauty!!  I'm so blessed to have them around my house.

It was also a fruitful day at the Vac N Sew.  I've actually been stalking a longarm for some time on the internet.  The good ones go for $30,000-40,000.  Yeah, you read that right.  But since I'm not going into business full time in a renovated 1800's building turned into a fabric shop, I elected to go cheaper.  Believe me, they are STILL not cheap.  Adding in the computer that makes all those gorgeous patterns happen, doubles the price.

I probably would have put it off even longer, but I was told the prices were going up.  Just to double check, I called a supplier near Phoenix, and sure enough the rumors were true.  Buy it now or add $2-3,000 more.  They have become so popular that this store sold EIGHT this month alone.  High sales make the price go up.

Yes I could buy used, but it's like buying a used car.  You never really know what you are getting.  My dad always said to buy the best you could afford ... preferably with a warranty.  I can hear him in my head saying that all the time.

I came home and completely reorganized my sewing room before discovering it won't fit.  It will have to live in the living room.  That's okay because only a small table lives there at the moment.  I knew there was a reason I couldn't figure out what furniture to buy!!

So I'm very excited, but will have to contain it all until December.  My services are required at Bingo for the next couple of months.  Yessirree ... we're almost back to hair-pulling-screaming-fighting-on-the-floor BINGO!!!!

Potpourri or A Lot Of Stuff

Potpourri ... a preponderance of flower petals perfectly positioned in a pretty piece of cloth, a mix of magical music or just a lot of stuff that doesn't fit with anything else.  That's what yesterday was.  

The weather has cooled off a bit, especially at night, making for some nice morning coffee times on the patio.  I do love listening to the sounds of the birds waking up.  It's even better when I remember to take the hummingbird feeder down and don't share company with the bats.

It's getting close to their time however since Halloween is right around the corner.  I think I purchased this quilt about 3 years ago and just finished putting it together.  What was I thinking?  It's bright enough to scare away any Halloween bat, or vampire for that matter.

This particular piece of potpourri went pretty fast as far as sewing quilts goes.  It's made up of scrap fabric I had from a failed project.  Never buy the outside fabric for a panel ahead of time, especially when the panel is on order and you find they sold out.  

In fact this quilt is so simple ... let's call it a quilt-in-a-day kind ... I made TWO.  Rather than shuck out maybe $1800 for the eight quilts I have ready to be quilted, I'm looking at buying my own quilting frame ..... with the computer that gives you all those fabulous patterns.  It's not cheap, but maybe I can go into the quilting business ... kinda sorta ... on a part time basis.  

In the meantime, I challenged my mechanical skills to the max.  So far I'm able to mow the lawn with the electric lawn mower dragging 75 feet of power cord behind me.  Thankfully I have been lucky enough not to electrocute myself.  

This time, it's so bad around the edges that I tried to wrangle the electric weedeater.  These things scare me.  They throw up rocks and dirt everywhere, probably because I never know just how you are supposed to hold the darn thing. 

I admit, I made a mistake by trying to eat the weeds at the bottom of the palm tree where little palm fronds were growing.  Instantly, my weedeater was sucked in and attached to the tree.  I ripped it away with all my strength.  Apparently the frond was a tough one.  It had wound itself completely around the string casing and refused to let go.

Thirty minutes and three pair of pliers later, I finally got it out.  This time I stayed away from the trunk, but wait ..... it's not working now.  Apparently I ran the thing out of string.  Oh boy .... this should be a fun trick replacing it.  

I think I saw something in the garage that might be string.  When I returned to the yard, I found this weird thing hanging on the gate.  I knew immediately it was a stick bug!!  In fact (I looked it up) a walking stick bug.  

When I moved the gate, his long antenna (or so I thought) turned into legs.  How cool is that?  He's well over six inches long.  Apparently they eat leaves and plant material.  I was hoping they dined on moths and flying things.  I quietly closed the gate and left him alone.  Thirty minutes later, he was gone.

I actually found the spool of string stuff for the weedeater and was finally able to put it together, but I didn't have enough nerve to plug it in and hit the start button.  Maybe I'll give it a shot next week!!

Cooper and I went on a nice evening walk.  I have to say I'm pretty proud of him.  There are about ten big dogs in our neighborhood and they all bark like crazy.  Luckily they are behind big fences.  Cooper never makes a sound, although he would love to run over and say hello.  

His favorite thing is to water all the weeds along the road, which he's really good at.  What he missed was the rabbit sitting stock still just ten feet away.  I'm glad he didn't see or smell it, or I'm sure he would have drug me down the hillside.

Today I'm off to the quilting machine store.  I'm excited but hesitant.  I've looked at many used machines, but there's the problem of having to go get it, tear it down, haul it here, then put it all back together when I know absolutely nothing about setting them up.  The other thing is warranty.  For the price, I definitely want to know that if it breaks, someone will fix it.  It's a big ticket item, and will I get good use out of it?  

I suppose I have nothing else to spend my money on and basically no one to leave it to.  Might as well enjoy it while I can.  Instead of sitting on the porch rocking away in my favorite chair, I'll be trying to remember how to program the computer!!  I better take good notes!

You're Going To LOVE This!

Honestly, what could be better than watching a baby elephant play in the mud??  In spite of the heat, my trip to the Tucson Zoo was pretty fun.  

The elephant enclosures take up the entire back lot.  I was pretty disappointed when I saw no movement whatsoever in their normal big paddock.  By the way, if you live in this area and have any big dead trees, the zoo would be happy to come take them out for you.  They become play toys for the big kids.

I finally spotted the baby a long ways away.  What is he doing?  Oh yeah .... that's muddy water he's splashing around with his front feet and trunk (above picture).  How cute is that?

He used his head to bulldoze the hole bigger around the outside edges, then PLOP!  He laid down in the muddy mess.

Oh this feels soooooooo good!!  He rolled back and forth flinging muddy water over his back, his trunk moving the entire time.

Hey cousin Joey ..... come on over, the mud is just FINE!  

It didn't take Joey long, with his newly appearing tusks, to join in the fun.  More trunk swinging splashed more muddy water everywhere.

Isn't this just the best time ever Joey?  Mud .. mud .. everywhere!  It's so much cooler and those flies ..... we'll show them!!   They got up, sat down, rolled around, got up again and switched sides to do it all over.

Hey hey Joey ... throw some more water on my head, will ya???

Yeehawwwww this is SO much fun!!!  They splashed around for maybe twenty minutes and I snapped over 200 images.  I just couldn't help it .... they were so darn cute!

Uh oh ... look out Joey ... Mom's coming!!!  Ix-nay with the trunk-nay.

ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES OF ME?????  

Well rats, yup that's Mom.  We're in trouble NOW!  Get UP ... and act normal ... and shake off that mud!

Right place ... right time.  Probably the best time I've ever had at a zoo was watching these babies play in the mud puddle.

Coming up, how NOT to use a weedeater!

Wyatt and Josie Move On ....

Backtracking slightly, meet Urilla.  This was Wyatt Earp's first wife when he was 20 years old.  Sadly, just before she was due to have a baby, she died of typhoid fever.  Wyatt's sense of a happy life went down the drain.

Here he is with Bat Masterson in Colorado after they left Tombstone.

As to Josephine Sarah Marcus, she said she came to Tombstone with the Pauline Markham theatre troupe, but nothing can be found to substantiate that fact.  In fact, Tombstone Sheriff Behan owned a saloon in Tip Top Arizona, where he kept a prostitute named Sadie Mansfield.  He moved her to Tombstone in 1880.  "Sadie" was a popular nickname for Sarah among the prostitutes.  

It is rather suspicious that the stories told reveal both traveled to Prescott by stagecoach with a black woman named Julia.  Both were 19 years old, had parents that came from Prussia and both slept with Behan.  Everyone speculates they are one and the same.

Although they had parted ways, Wyatt saw Doc Holiday again in 1882 in Gunnison Colorado.  Josephine said he was unsteady on his feet, coughing constantly and looked like a skeleton.  Doc had not long to live.  He died in November of 1887 in Glenwood Colorado at age 36.

In 1884, Wyatt, his brothers James and Warren, along with Warren's wife Bessie, arrived in Eagle City Idaho where the latest gold rush was happening.  For $2,250 they purchased a white tent basically, and set up a saloon called the White Elephant.

In no time, he was Sheriff, but ended up in a claim jumping real estate fraud scheme.  That pretty much tarnished his reputation, so he left Idaho for California.

In 1887 Wyatt and Josie moved to San Diego, living in the Brooklyn Hotel for about four years as he invested in real estate deals.  He bought four saloons and gambling halls, raking in over $1,000 a night.  One of his more popular buildings housed the Golden Poppy Brothel.

Being the gambler capitalist he was, he became interested in boxing, even refereeing many matches.  When he won a race horse on a bet, he began edging into that pastime also.  By 1891, the boom of San Diego real estate went bust and Wyatt moved back to San Francisco.  Having lost much of his real estate fortune, they moved from house to house.

Finally, in 1896 the big Sharkey Fitzsimmons boxing match came about with Wyatt being the last minute referee.  After he saw a bad punch, he stopped the fight and called Sharkey the winner, even though he had received a bad beating the entire bout.  That was not a favorable decision and Wyatt was in the hot seat with his reputation demolished again.

So ... what better than to get out of town and head to the gold rush in Dawson, Yukon Territory!!  They ended up in Nome, building the Dexter Saloon with his partner Charles Hoxie.  It was the first two story building, with 12 rooms upstairs, built as luxurious as possible with carpets, draperies and mirrors.

The hotel (and upstairs) drew men like Jack London, Wilson Mizner and boxing promoter Tex Rickard.  By the way, Josie and Wyatt didn't get along well at all.  She had a gambling problem, causing Wyatt to be pretty perturbed when she lost the money he gave her to invest in oil in California, which later hit big time.  In November of 1899, after many public fights, he and Josie finally left for Seattle Washington because she was supposedly pregnant.  Apparently this happened several times and she had miscarriages every time they arrived back in civilization.  Sounds suspicious.  

Washington didn't work out so great either, so back to Nome they went, eventually selling out their share of the Dexter for $80,000, about $2.5 million today.  Hearing about more silver and gold in Tonopah Nevada, Wyatt and Josie moved there and opened the Northern Saloon and dabbled in mines around the area.

When that went bust, back to Los Angeles they went where at 62 years of age, Wyatt was hired at $10.00 a day to work outside the law catching criminals that escaped or fled to Mexico.    He was arrested for a time, being involved in the Potash Wars of the Mohave Desert and attempting to fleece a real estate broker in a fake faro game.  No one ever said Wyatt Earp was honest.

Wyatt finally moved Josie to Vidal near Parker Arizona on the Colorado River.  This was his favorite place to be, although it is reported Josie hated it.  This is the only image of them together.  He stayed here, she stayed in town most of the time.  Wyatt loved the peace and quiet of the desert.

As hard times hit the cattle industry, cowboys were drawn to Hollywood and silent films.  Due to his reputation, Wyatt became involved in western movies as an unpaid consultant.  It was also the perfect place to find a poker game, smoke a cigar and get away from the ever unhappy Josie.

Wyatt tried to get William Hart to make a movie about his life, but instead Hart suggested he have someone write a book.  In 1925, former mining engineer John Flood was set to write the book, but his writing was so bad, it was rejected.  Stuart Lake worked on another book, but Josephine made up such ridiculous stories about their life, that no one believed any of it.

Wyatt lived to the ripe old age of 80 and on January 13, 1929 died of cystitis.  Apparently Josephine wasn't all that sad, since she didn't even attend his funeral after having him cremated and she didn't even show up for that.

As late as 1936, Josephine went to court to try and conceal the facts regarding Wyatt's second wife Mattie, rewriting history in her favor.   She died on December 19, 1944 in the same bungalow that she and Wyatt lived in.  Since she died penniless, Sid Grauman (Grauman's Theater) and William Hart paid for her funeral and burial.

Her book "I Married Wyatt Earp" by Glen Boyer is discredited as largely fictional.  It seems Josie just couldn't tell the truth.

There are a lot more stories and tales of the renown Wyatt Earp, some good and some bad, but too many to lay them all out here.  That's probably what makes him so fascinating almost 100 years after his death.