Thursday, January 26, 2012

Good Music, New Freezer, Visit From Joan

Forgot to mention in the last post that we went over to the Rec Hall Tuesday night for a performance by Mariachi de Atzlan - the 2nd best in the USA. They came in second in a competition at Disney World. Anyway, it was a group of local high school students and they were very good.


Thursday 1/19


Regular class at Tucson Yoga this AM, stopped back home long enough to change clothes and have a snack, then we went back into the city to the El Con theatre to see Hugo. A pretty good movie, if a bit predictable, the visuals were really well done. After the movie, since we were in the area, we stopped by the Tucson Botanical Gardens, took a stroll around and relaxed for a while before dinner.


Late in the afternoon we stopped at El Charro for dinner, our first visit there this winter, and frankly we were a bit disappointed. I ordered their signature dish, the Carne Seca Platter and it arrived cold on a cold plate. After sending it back and getting a second one I was still disappointed as it was only warm, not hot, and the meat was really dry. Maybe we need to try La Fuente again.


Nancy had an appointment for a facial at the Aveda Institute this evening, so we wandered over to 4th Ave and spent some time browsing at Antigone Books. After I dropped her off at the institute I went out to Bookman’s book store and spent an hour and a half just reading.


Friday 1/20


According to their tracking info Fed Ex was supposed to deliver our freezer today, so after our morning walk in the desert we pretty much stuck around waiting for the delivery. As is usually the case with Fed Ex they failed to show up. The tracking website showed all day that the shipment was on the truck for delivery, then at 4:30 they posted that they were unable to find the address!! What a bunch of BS! The RV park has a sign 15 feet high with the address on it. So I called and Fed Ex and the automated system said they would deliver the package tomorrow - how are the going to do that if they can’t find the address? So I talk to a representative, who contacted the distributions center, but when they tried to contact the driver he was not answering his phone - what a surprise! As Nancy said, it is a nice Friday afternoon, he did not feel like driving all the way out here, put in a bogus excuse, turned off his phone and went home.


This is exactly the same thing that happened on our last Fed Ex delivery here, only that time they said there was no one to sign for it. I try to avoid Fed Ex at all costs, but sometimes the shippers give no choice. I let the seller know that I was disappointed in their customer service since they picked the shipper who did not live up to their standards.


Tonight the was an excellent show at the Rec Hall, a group of three young women, The Silverthread Trio, who were outstanding folk singers. A really enjoyable show.


Saturday 1/21


Up early this morning to check the flight tracking to see if Nancy’s sister Joan was able to get out of Chicago on her way here. The snow in Chicago on Friday resulted in a lot of cancelled flights. Turns out she made it, albeit 45 minutes late.


Took our morning walk in the desert then did some puttering around home. We decided that putting the new freezer in the truck was not the most practical solution - visions of one of us falling on our kiester climbing in and out with things in our hands. So after some measuring I determined that it would fit in the front compartment of the trailer. That required doing some shuffling around of stuff we have stared in the various compartments. Finally after owning the trailer for five years we have pretty much filled up all of our available storage space! Time to do some weeding out!


Joan got in a little before noon and we went and met her at the place she is renting for the week in Rincon West. We zipped over to In N’ Out Burger for lunch and then Joan and Nancy went to do some shopping and I came back home and cleaned out our storage compartments and reshuffled everything in order to open up the front for the freezer - which finally arrived around three-thirty this afternoon.


The freezer fits perfectly on the front compartment. I did need to use the boards we put under our jacks on soft ground in order to lift the freezer high enough to allow the door to clear the lip of the compartment. I will need to pick up some 2x8s and redo the setup so it is secure for traveling, but I have more than a month to do that.


We went over to Coyote Pause for dinner and much like a few weeks ago on Friday evening they were way, way understaffed - people waiting to be be seated with numerous empty tables waiting to be cleaned. Unfortunate as they may be shooting themselves in the foot.


Sunday 1/22


Had to cut our morning walk a bit short today as I seem to have developed tendonitis in my foot again. May have been walking around without my orthopedic shoe inserts to much!


Joan came over this afternoon for a hot rocks massage from Angel, a lady here in the park who is a massage therapist. Nancy, Joan, and I gave each other hand made gift certificates for the massages since we all enjoyed them so much last year.


Tried a new place for dinner, recommended by a lady here in the RV park - Fred’s Arena and Steakhouse. Out west of the city on Ajo Highway the other side of Ryan Field, a mile off the highway on a paved road and then another mile on a dirt road brings you to Fred’s Arena. A big pole barn with the atmosphere limited to beer signs and televisions, with a fire pit in the middle and and some of the biggest and best steaks we had ever see! My NY Strip was probably 6” by 4” and a full inch thick, cooked to perfection. That, along with a big baked potato, salad, and garlic toast for $14.95! Nancy and Joan each had top sirloins that were equally large and equally good. We will definitely be going back!


Monday 1/23


Skipped the Monday AM meeting today and took a short walk, foot is improving. Then we went over and picked up Joan and went to H F Coors, a company that makes pottery style dish ware primarily for the restaurant industry. The dishes are handmade here in Tucson and they have an outlet store. Really interesting products and we picked up a few things, will probably go back the first Saturday in February when they have their seconds and rejects sale.


After H F Coors we went way across on West Broadway to See’s Candy - a place Joan always needs to visit when she is here. Then up to Beyond Bread on North Campbell for lunch. Nancy and Joan had appointments at the Aveda institute for make-up lessons. I stopped at Trader Joe’s and Walmart to pick up a few things and then back home.


Leftovers from Beyond Bread for dinner and a quiet evening at home tonight.


Tuesday 1/24


Off to the Desert Museum first thing in the morning. This was the coolest day of the week with a high in the low 60‘s, but sunny. Lunch at Ocotillo Grille at the Desert Museum, then back to Desert Trails where Joan and Nancy had massages scheduled. We went to Perfecto’s for dinner this evening.


Wednesday 1/25


Nancy and Joan drove up to Casa Grande to meet a couple of friend’s who drove down from Phoenix to meet them. I took the truck up to Casa Grande as well and stopped at Speedco for an oil change and lube, a local CB shop to have the broken antenna wire on the CB fixed, and also bought a couple of “stinger” antennas. They look more like an automobile antenna rather than the fiberglass antennas I had before. The guy at the CB shop said part of my CB issue was mismatched antennas and the spring-mount bases I was using. These antennas should avoid the breakage issues I had encountered with the fiberglass ones. On the way back I stopped at the Flying J in Eloy to top off the tanks - 150 gallons! So between the maintenance and the fuel it was a pretty pricey trip!


After we all got back we drove up to Thunder Canyon Brewery in Foothills Mall, which was a fair drive away, but pretty good. We would go back if we found ourselves in the area at mealtime, but more of a hike from here than it is worth.


Thursday 1/26


Our regular class at Tucson Yoga this morning, along with a stop at the Food Conspiracy, which is right down the street on Fourth Ave. Joan went to take a look at Old Tucson. We had told her it should not be to crowded during the week - turns out this was Ted Walker Youth Day at Old Tucson! That means there were 3,000 third, fourth, and fifth graders! On the bright side she got in for a discounted price and all of the shows and demonstrations were in full swing.


We met at Coyote Pause for lunch and then went over to the Saguaro National Park visitors center for a couple of ranger talks. The first one was the talk on the geology of the Tucson Mountains, which Nancy & I had been to before, but it was well worth hearing again. Nancy and Joan went to another talk, which was a short walk in the desert to look for evidence of animal life. I skipped that one as slow walking and standing around is real hard on my sore foot, which is improving. After cocktails at home we drove back out to Fred’s Arena & Steakhouse to try their pizza which had been highly touted. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either.

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