Good-bye Cottonwood, we're gonna miss ya!

After leaving Sedona, Katie and I went back to Cottonwood to camp for another 14 days on Forest Land.  The Rangers have done a great job of policing these free camping areas, and the "homesteaders" who have been staying for months in one spot and leaving all their trash when they leave - well, they're GONE.  The campsites are clean and there are many more available vacant sites than there were before.   But because of all the problems some of these people caused, there is talk of them closing these local dispersed camping sites to RVers in the future.  :(

When I was in Sedona I was talking to a man camped nearby.  I mentioned that I needed to have Katie's teeth cleaned and it was going to cost me around $500 - and that's if she didn't need any x-rays or teeth pulled.  Since she's 11, they won't clean her teeth unless she has an exam and blood testing.  Katie is worth it, but really?  Minimum $500?  I called a number of vets in the Camp Verde and Cottonwood areas, and they were all around the same.

So when I was talking to this guy, he said he has never had his dog's teeth cleaned, and his dog was older, 14 I think.  He said he gives him those marrow bones that are available in the meat section of a lot of grocery stores.  The next time I went to town, I got Katie some at the Cottonwood Fry's grocery store.  Her teeth all looked good except her canines, the two fangs on the top - they were covered with plaque.  A month later, after giving her a new bone every few days, one of the canines is clean, and the other has about half the plaque gone, and hopefully it will all be gone soon.  Obviously I'm going to keep giving her those bones. 😏

Sure saved me a lot of money - and she loves them!

The cattle were grazing around our site again, and there were a bunch of new calves, one looked like it was only a few days old.  They were interested in our site and the fencing I used to put Katie in sometimes.  She watched carefully and barked at them when they got close to her fence.

These three were so funny.  They walked around the fence, looked over at each other, looked down inside, like they couldn't figure out what in the heck this little cattle pen was for and even worse, what's that weird red thing inside?  Obviously something for teeny-tiny cattle.  Look at their faces.  LOL

This little guy was very interested in the pen, and I finally went out and shooed him away when it looked like he was going to knock it down.

So then he walked over to my little chairs and started trying to eat the shoulder strap.  I finally had to shoo him away again.  They're really curious creatures and fun to watch.

Another critter - during a walk, I saw this pretty lizard:

Then one day Diana and I drove up to Jerome and walked around the town.  Below is the Jerome Grand Hotel up on a hill overlooking the old buildings.  Wouldn't it be fun to stay there?

We went into a shop called the Nellie Bly - Kaleidoscopes and Art Glass.  Some really beautiful things!  One of the sales women offered to take our photos with our phones - through a Kaleidoscope.  It made us part of the design.  If you look closely at the photo below, you can see me around the darker spots.  Like petals on a flower.  Just call me Petal, Sir.  LOL

When I'm spending a lot of time in the desert, it's such a gift to see (what I consider) REAL flowers, like in a regular environment.  Don't get me wrong, I love the desert and the yellows, purples, blues, pinks, etc. of the desert blooms, but what can beat a trellis that's covered with fragrant old-fashioned pink roses?  Not much!  They smelled so good, I wanted to eat one.

We walked past a shop that had vinegars and oils and I wanted to get something to dip French bread in, and to use for salad dressings.  The shop's called Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders.  The man behind the counter, Bob, came out and concocted a couple of different combinations for me.  I was expecting a piece of bread to test out the blending of oil and vinegar, but he mixed it up in a small cup and gave it to me to taste.  I cautiously sipped it - and then sipped again, and I ended up DRINKING it.  Wow, it was soooo good.

Then he asked us to look at the different flavors and choose another two, so I did, and he blended the second vinegar and oil.  It was almost as good as the first blend, and I bought all four.  These are the ones I got.  I haven't use them for dipping yet, but the salad dressing has been delicious, and I've even mixed a little of the blend with some other creamy salad dressings, and they were really good.

And that's about it for this area.  I've since moved on and will post about my new adventures soon.

From me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!  😊❤😉❤😎

Hey, I just noticed, this is my 800th blog post.  Happy 800th birthday to Me and My Dog ...and My RV!