Fan Girl Idiots - Part Two of Day Three at the Ponderosa II

The answer to the subject line is - a DANG big one.  The good news was, we had a lot of company!  There were 38 other people just as nuts as us about Bonanza and the Cartwrights.

So, we returned to our room and gussied up a bit for the dance, donning our 19th century duds...er...dresses.  I actually had to pay for a checked bag JUST to bring the costumes.  I think they weighed about 20 lbs by themselves.  Of course, being an historical interpreter, I had to bring along the underpinnings including pantalettes, two slips, a corset and corset cover and my corded petticoat. No partridge in a pear tree though.  

Once at the house we all settled in for the night's activities.  This started with the meal and a cake dedicated to the event and then it was on to the show.  And yes, sadly, we had our own Elvis (LOL, just kidding about the sad part!)

So, you are thinking - cute photos, but where does the fan-girl part come in.  WELL......that evening there was an auction.  There were a few neat items, but the only one I wanted to bid on wasn't about to fit in my suitcase.  It was Little Joe!  Yes, Joe Cartwright was on the auction block and, well, Sonya was just  SO excited.  (You know me, I was quietly elated.)

By the time the auction began, I was pretty wiped out.  Having decided I could not - or should not - bid on the handsome youngest Cartwright, since he no doubt would have complained about being stuffed in my suitcase, I went to the sun room to watch an episode.  The bidding was hot and heavy.  Sonya was standing to the back, near me but watching the auction proceedings.  And then I heard it - next up for auction is Little Joe.  Oh, my heart be still.  

If only.....

A few minutes later I heard the gavel come down (figuratively) and Little Joe had been sold.  Ooh, that sounds bad, doesn't it?  Then, to my surprise (and just ask Sonya about my face!) I heard the name of the winner was Sonya.

Some OTHER Sonya I'm thinking.  

But no, it was the Sonya I knew, the nut.  She couldn't let Little Joe go to anyone else.  I was happy for her, of course, and REALLY jealous.  I wanted to own that boy!  And then - second surprise - she told me that Joe would have to reside at my house because her ferocious Chihuahuas would eat him.  

Now wasn't that too just too bad.....

Before heading out for the last time from the Ponderosa II, the owners wanted a photo shoot with the Cartwrights they were parting with and the women who had paid for them.  (For the Wild West that sounds kind of backwards, doesn't it?  Women paying for men....)  So, here we are on the porch with the other winners.  Is it worse, you think, for two women to share one young man, than for there to be just one owner??????

Sonya and Marla with their man.

Look at that arched eyebrow.  

All the auction winners.  The lady who won Adam had two more at home!!!! 

The boys on the last day at the Ponderosa II.  

We had supper with Joe when we got back to the resort.  The waitresses were quite impressed with his stolid, strong silent presence (and the gun....)

Okay.  Quite an adventure, you say.  This was NOTHING compared to getting Joe back to Troy. Remember?  The reason I was not going to bid was that the boy refused to get in my suitcase.  

Sonya did not think of this. 

Now, many of you know I pack items for a living due to handling our online store.  Shipping a 5' 9" man to Troy OH from Arizona is not an easy thing to do, even folded.  (Ouch!)  So a day later, when we had time, we went to the UPS store.  I walked in and asked what it would cost to ship a 5' 9" man to OH.  

At least I got a good laugh out of the clerk.

The kid was really very sweet - and actually he was laughing pretty hard.  (Fan-girls, remember?)  He puzzled for a moment about how to state the contents.  Finally, he put down 'cardboard man'.  I had a suggestion, but kept it to myself.  

How about 'cardboard Greek god.....?????

So, to skip ahead a week, Little Joe arrived on my doorstep seven days after I got home.  I freed him (well, from the box, but not from being owned) and he took up residence in my living room where he has remained until this day.  I just look up from time to time and sigh. 

Next time: Sonya and Marla Get Saddle-sore

Day Three at the Ponderosa II - Part One

Day three at the Bonanza reunion was a little different in that we left the Ponderosa behind for half a day and spent it exploring the Superstition Mountain Museum.  You know me - I work at a museum - so I had a great time soaking in the history and looking at the artifacts in the museum itself.

Once we got outside, it got a little...well...less serious.

On the bus.  Good thing we have these things these days, otherwise we would have had to use a wagon and it would have taken a half day is not more to get there! 

The dock.  This is Lake Saguaro. 

Heading for the paddle-wheeler, the Desert Belle.  

And the, it was an hour and a half of beauty!!!!  No wonder Pa loved the sea so much! 

When we got back from the Paddle-wheeler ride, we headed for the museum.  Here are a few shots of some of the cool stuff there.  My photos, as you can probably tell, were for research purpose.

After the museum we went outside to explore.  Yikes!  We didn't see any fortunately.  These are not your standard garden snakes, you know?  They have rattles!!

Outside there was lots to explore including giant one-hundred-plus year old cactus plants.

A machine for  extracting gold from ore. 

The jail, and no, Little Joe wasn't there.  Nor was Roy Coffee sitting on the porch.  I checked.  

The stage to Virginia City. 

And the Elvis chapel.  Yes, really.  This building was once part of a movie set and was moved to the Superstition MT Museum area after a fire where most of the buildings were destroyed.  The movie posters on the wall are of all the films made there.  And yes, really, it is a wedding chapel with its own Elvis! 

And then it was time for the bus ride home.  Time too to get ready for the BBQ and dance at the Cartwrights! 

Continued in Part Two: Just How Big of an Idiot Can a fan-girl make of Herself?  

Also, for you Little Joe fan-girls, check out my other: blog http://michaellandonbonanzalittlehouse.blogspot.com/

Scroll down past the artwork for Marla's adventures in 'Being Little Joe'.

Day Two at the Ponderosa II - BBQ and Hoe-down!

Little Joe (who is residing with me now.  That's him looking out of my front window at the snow) reminded me that I need to do another post on the Arizona trip Sonya and I took.  This one is about the second day at the Bonanza Reunion, which took place in Lorne Greene's Mesa, AZ reproduction of the Cartwrights' home.

                                Strong, silent, and ever vigilant - what more could you ask for?

Since I was sick, day two at the Ponderosa (and three of the trip) started at little late.  We missed the quick draw contest (and dang it, too!  I was so looking forward to drawing a gun out of a holster and listening to everyone laugh as I tossed it across the back court....),   By the time we arrived lunch was being served in Lorne Greene and the Swann's backyard.    

Later on, Tom Swann gave a presentation on the stone well out back.  It is the original one Lorne had built and Tom told us how they had found the original bucket in ruins at the bottom of it when they bought the home.  Tom found a comparable one on eBay and rebuilt it, so the bucket hanging on the well is Lorne Greene's only reconstructed.  Tom built the sofa table and gun rack as well in the house as well.  A VERY talented man!  

Lorne Greene at the well in the 1960s. 

The Swanns also brought in one of the vintage Chevy cars that used to be advertised on the Bonanza show.  We watched a number of commercials from back in the day when the stars of the show hawked the sponsors' products.  It was something I had forgotten about and was fun to see.

After lunch it was time to return to the hotel and 'gussy up' for that evening's BBQ and dance.  Sonya and I actually had to pay for a piece of checked luggage just to bring the appropriate clothing, which included two 19th century dresses, slips, pantaloons, a corded petticoat, and corset!  If only the airline had known what they were totting - fashion deadly enough to lay any handsome cowboy low! 

Before the dance, there was an afternoon of presentations.  One was made about the Bonanza Caravan, which I will detail in another post.  Here I am with the man who carted the caravan all over the USA in the 1960s (in the middle) and Andy Klyde, lawyer for and chief promoter of Bonanza in this day and age.  Andy showed us clips and bloopers from the show that are not normally available.  He also had some dynamite 8" x10" photos of the show and the actors, of which I bought three!

Of course, there had to be a cake.  It was yummy! 

Some images from the evening event.  Sonya and I sitting out the insanity on Ben's settee.  ;-)

Eating supper inside. 

Supper outside.  

(By the way, this is chief Runamuck and his lovely wife, Pocahontas.  They were our supper companions (and might fine ones they were!)

Of course, the Cartwright boys showed up for the dance.  When have you known them to turn down a turn on the floor with a pretty girl (or mature woman, for that fact!  In season one Little Joe had three dalliances with women old enough to be his mother.  I was just following canon!)  Sonya and I chose our partners and dosey-doed.  

      Unfortunately, there was one moment where were both vying for the same man....

After the dance it was time for the gentlemen to take the ladies home.  Little Joe gallantly offered, but it seems Cochise had...well...shrunk!  So Louise offered to drive us back to our little hacienda.  (Cochise was actually a moving, singing and swinging horse.  You got to gallop in place (Joe would have hated that!) to the Bonanza theme song.  

Really.  LOL

Next time: Our last day at the Ponderosa.