Driving the roads Dad drove for five decades.    It’s kind of neat.   It’s kind of eerie.   He loved it up there.    I have chosen to make it home.   Making it a home is taking effort.   A little every day, there is still plenty to do. He drove those roads for those years.   I’m behind but I’m catching up fast.  

 It’s been all me.   None of my friends in Arizona have lifted a finger.   That won’t be that way forever but right now, when things are really happening, it’s just me.

The flies?   Unreal.    Dreadful.   I have killed thousands of them.   It hasn’t made a difference.

That road:  I’ve never used it but I will in the next week.  Used it:  Saw parts of Arizona, first time.

Big Lake, still catching fish but there was algae.   

The Greer lakes, built for irrigation.   Are they more valuable used for recreation??   Up the hill, just scarred from the 2011 fires.     All the way east toward Springerville, up high.   

Crescent Lake, once great.   We went there all the time.   Now, it’s a ghost town.   There is never anyone there.   Ever.  

It is interesting to me, a lot of people just showing up to swim, walk their dog when it used to be “fishing.”  

Leaving Florida.   No more manatees.  Pelicans.   Peacocks.

The Culture of Victimhood, popular in the last Blog.    People relate.   It’s life.   I’m sorry you are unhappy with your own.    Deal with it.   So much anger and why??

 Becker Lake, I visit to drink coffee.    A fish kill.   It’s just that time of year.   Almost Fall, it will improve. 

My realtor went fishing in New Mexico.   Giant brown trout.    

The property, progress daily.   Permits.   The house is ordered.  Putting up the sheds has been a losing battle.   Giant squirrels.   The birds have been plentiful.   A lot of woodpeckers.   Beating the system.   What they know.   What’s going to be done.   I’ve learned when to tell and when to say nothing.   Extra materials, for fixing the road.  

Winter looming.   The goal is to have everything done.   What do I do when it’s really cold?    Return to Florida?    Take fishing charters there?   It’s possible.   My choices and decisions, just haven’t worked out.   It may be back to me.  

The Arizona flies:   Still a major problem.   My father didn’t mind.   He just dealt with it.   Me, I get upset.  

Life without electricity:  Over.    No more camping.   Figuring out the last things, things will get really good soon.   I still haven’t met the next-door neighbor.    I’d like to share water.   I’m going to try to talk to the guy very soon.   It’s a year wait to have a well drilled.  I have been swimming in the creek.   Not the same as a shower but it’s close enough.   I buy cases of water every time I pass by the store.  

I still have not caught an Arizona fish.   I just still haven’t come to that point yet.   I figure:  No hurry.   I’m just not that interested yet.  

I need to step on a scale.   I am definitely shrinking.  Time goes by I hope to continue to shrink.  It I can be back under 200 pounds, probably healthier.   Working on it.  

I sneeze.  What is it in Arizona that makes me sneeze?   One theory:  Dust.

Did two complete weeks camping on my property.    With changes, camping is history and it becomes a more regular life.   I paid for it.   Book 5, finished, it does not publish until life changes.  

The secrets of life.   I have mine.   You probably have your own.   I’m not trying to figure out yours.   Do me the same courtesy.  

The internet, text messages and the phone:  Pretty quiet.   More time to write the Blog?   More time to work on the property.

I got input:  I’m not going to get it done this year.   You’re doing it wrong.   OK.   I am getting it done and it is being done right.   Obstacles:  Getting someone on the phone that will confirm I am doing it right.   It takes time.   And the time I have.   It’s still like three months from winter.   I could drag my feet, stay at Stoney’s for the winter and pick up in the spring.   I don’t want to.   I want to live in the snow.    I want my place done.    Can I score the well connection?   Still trying.   The septic is handled.   The power is being turned on.   The house is on it’s way.   You are wrong.   Sorry but I got it done.    

Safire:  Restaurant in Springerville.   Dad took us there almost every night.   The hotel across the street, the only place I know of my parents stayed:  Where I met Muhammad Ali when I was about six years old.    John Wayne owned a ranch in Eager.   Drive by that almost daily.   Springerville has the Safeway, a solid grocery store.   Show Low has everything but Springerville ten miles versus almost 50 miles to Show Low.   I get the house going, I’ll have the supplies where a trip to the store is rare.    It’s coming. 

Time in the swimming pool:   It’s what I do when I’m in the desert.   Under water, way nicer than the 100-degree air.   I lament coming to the desert.   It struggles to get to 70 at my property.   That’s better.    I have for the most part, escaped summer.   That was part of the goal.  And it has been successful.   But, it’s going to snow up there.   Will I be there for that??    Not sure.    I am changing my thought process.    I’m considering my options.   

Already mentioned- Florida:   Left behind.   The things I thought were going to happen here, some of it didn’t.   Changes made.   A new direction.   All that matters is that I get it set up my way.   Start this life.    Live it right and enjoy it.   I am not going back.  Not permanently.   But I might spend a little of the winter there?    Not sure.    Things are developing.    Time will tell.   What do I miss about Florida?   Nothing.   

I’m doing it wrong?  OK.   Thanks for not giving me any help.   I have done it all.   Myself.    One guy, a guide in Show Low, the only one who jumped in and helped. 

Time moves on.  So do I.   I make my adjustments.   I modify life.   I get by. 

Fishing charters.   Done.  The Captain Mel Classic:  Done.   I wanted a change.   I made a change.   I’m fine with the change.   Moving right along. Donald and Brian are taking over the tournament stuff with assistance.   I agreed to fly in if they want me to.  

The change:   Great in so many ways.   So, I can’t catch the fish I caught the last 28 years.   Oh well.   I will get back to catching a fish when I feel like it.   I’m just still not interested.   All this time:   I haven’t even made a cast.  

I have not made the effort to reconnect with the people out here.   I have been doing my own thing, setting up my new life.   I’ll get to it.   I just have other things to work on first.   I’ll get to it.  

Back to guiding in Florida?  Time will tell.   I’m considering options.   My days in Florida may not be completely over.   If Arizona doesn’t work:  Coastal Texas is the #1 option.    I need to just work on things.     Decisions will come eventually.  

Life in the woods:  It’s enjoyable.   It’s comfortable.   It’s building and getting better all the time.    The wildlife.   The lifestyle.  No people.   It is very good and continues to get better and better.    In a few months, it will be exceptional.  

Neil Taylor
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