Tuesday 2/28
Wildflowers are still appearing more and more every day, they are really tiny in the area of the desert where we walk every morning. Walking along you have to look closely, if you stop and take a look there are tiny, tiny flowers all over the place and buds on a lot of the other green stems.
We both had appointments for hot rock massages from Angel here in the RV Park today. Mine was in the morning and Nancy’s was in the afternoon so we pretty much stuck around home today. Nancy did go and do some shopping while I was getting my massage.
Wednesday 2/29
Nancy had an appointment in Tucson this morning, so after our walk we headed into town. The office is just across the street from Bookman’s Book Store and I am proud to say that I did not make a visit while I was waiting! Of course Nancy threatened me with bodily injury if I did!
We did stop at Beyond Bread for lunch, then make a visit to the Tucson Botanical Garden to see what their wildflowers looked like. Surprisingly it turned out there was not much there! No big deal since the membership we bought through Groupon gets us unlimited admission.
We did indulge another vice by stopping at the See’s Candy Outlet store and stocking up on chocolate candies!
Every time we go over Gates Pass the wildflowers along the road are more and more dramatic. It seems that the ones at the highest altitude are the largest and the water run off from the road appears to have really benefited them.
On this side of the pass there is a Saguaro that we call “Gumby”, here are a couple of pics. Skipped these, better ones in a later post.
Thursday 3/1
Regular Yoga class at Tucson Yoga this morning and then our usual stop at Food Conspiracy.
Nancy had an appointment for some “girly stuff” this afternoon, I basically did nothing all day!
Had a stiff, cool wind blowing all day. A boring, quiet, relaxing day.
Friday 3/2
Morning hike in the desert, more wildflowers showing up, but I am concerned that the wind the last couple of days has started drying them out. They are amazingly delicate and tiny, especially considering the harsh climate they survive in. We talk about the good rains in December, but in reality they were only about an inch and a half, annual rainfall is just around 12”!
We were dog sitting with Margo today, so we once again stuck around home.
Another great show in the rec hall this evening. The Roadrunners are a small group of performers from the Ellington Band (which was here last month), usually a rotating cast of five or six performers that play traditional jazz. The groups consist of students from the Tucson Jazz Institute and their instructors. Tonight there were three students playing piano, trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone, along with two instructors playing bass and banjo. Max Goldschmid, who is a senior this year, was here again. His has been Arizona State Champion in trumpet, trombone, and saxophone. We have also seen him playing the bass and the piano. He plays all of the reed instruments with amazing skill. A young man with a splendid future!
This makes the fourth or fifth very enjoyable show we have had here this winter. All we have to do is walk over to the rec hall and contribute when they pass the hat!
Saturday 3/3
Skipped our walk this morning as Nancy and Karen wanted to check out the craft and bake sales at Copper Crest, a gated over 55 community down the road from the RV park. All they found were some cupcakes, which I enjoyed!
After they returned the three of us went over to H F Coors for their first Saturday of the month seconds sale. What a mob scene! Nancy & I went last month and it was a bit crowded, but not bad. This morning it was ridiculous - there were 40 or 50 people in the checkout line! Since Nancy was actually looking for a gift and not actually interested in the seconds sale, and Karen did not find any treasures, they decided not to brave the horrendous check out lines.
We stopped at GK Sonoran Hot Dogs for an early lunch and then back home in the afternoon.
Sunday 3/4
Pretty much a stay-at-home day today. After our morning walk we watched the morning news shows, then the start of the NASCAR race before we switched over to the Blackhawks game. Got it on TV today and they beat Detroit at home and looked good doing, still a tough climb to get back into a solid playoff picture, but things are looking up.
Mon 3/5
Morning campground meeting, then we went over to H F Coors to pick up the things Nancy picked out on Saturday. Lunch at BK Sonoran Hot Dogs, our second favorite place after Beyond Bread and back home for a relaxing afternoon. Weather is warming up, into the 80s today and tomorrow, then predicted low 60s Wednesday and Thursday.
Nancy has been unhappy with the collapsable clothes drying racks that we have for the laundry she does not want in the dryer. We put one on our bed for socks and things, but like to put one outside for larger items and it keeps blowing over. So looking in the Trailer Life Tech Tips archive she found a pattern for a collapsable rack made of PVC pipe that hangs on our rear ladder.
Looked pretty simple so we ran over to the Tucson Estates Hardware and bought what we needed. Probably the most time consuming part of making the thing would have been cutting the pipe into the 23 pieces of various lengths needed, but fortunately Desert Trails has a little wood shop (right close to our site) and the power mitre saw made short work of the cutting. After that it was just a matter of fitting the pieces together, drilling some holes, and threading some cord through, and presto!, a ladder clothes rack.
Tues 3/6
After our short hike we drove across to the far east side to visit Colossal Cavern Mountain Park, which is just south of Saguaro National Park East. Went east on I-10 this time, looking for a better route than 22nd Street across the city, a bit out of the way but better. Coming back we went north past the National Park and back west on Valencia. This is probably the best route to the National Park East.
The park at the caverns is a county park and they had a nice little museum about the CCC. There was a ranger there who had just given a presentation to a school group, so he stood and talked with us about the history of the CCC in the area. Good timing and very interesting.
Then we took the tour of the cavern, which was a good tour and interesting, but a bit pricy at $13 each. We’ve been to a number of caverns and caves around the country (and in Ireland) and this one was a bit pedestrian, but interesting. It did give a good feel for what it would be like to have to crawl through there, the walkways (built by the CCC) were pretty narrow and confining.
Since we were on the south side we stopped at BK for lunch again, is there a pattern here?
Back home Nancy worked on income taxes since the SS forms finally showed up and I dumped and rinsed tanks and check the anode rod in the water heater since we changed it a year ago.
Wed 3/7
For our morning hike this morning we waited until after breakfast and went up to the visitors center at Saguaro National Park for their daily wildflower survey. Turns out you really don;t have to register, just hike a trail and come back and put pins in the map matching the colors of the wildflowers you saw, not even keeping track of the names.
Oh well, we had a nice hike up the Hugh Norris trail anyway. It was a beautiful day, cool and breezy. Never got out of the 50s today, even though it was about 82 yesterday! We did see an amazing variety of wildflowers, many of them very, very tiny. Here are some pictures from this morning.
After lunch we went over to Fry’s for their first Wednesday “geezer” sale - 10% for all seniors. Unfortunately it was a strategic error to hike in the morning as a few of the things we were looking for, like fresh rolls and coleslaw were sold out. Oops!
Picked up a copy of “The Help” to watch tonight, first time we’ve used Redbox. Missed it when it was in the theaters.
Thursday 3/8
Usual Thursday morning yoga class, then a stop at Food Conspiracy.
This afternoon Nancy did laundry and tried out the new drying tack that hangs on the ladder on the back of the trailer, worked out great.
Otherwise a quiet day.
Friday 3/9
Usual walk in the desert, some of the flowers are getting a little dried out from all the wind, it was windy yesterday and the day before and it blew pretty good all night long.
The RV park had their monthly “soup, salad, and birthday cake” luncheon. This is the first time we have gone and it was quite good.
I may have mentioned earlier that we seemed to have lost our Escapees Club name tags, they should have been in the door pocket in the truck, but we searched all over and could not find them! Well, last week I decided to look again and there the were, right in the passengers door pocket where we though they should have been! Beats me how we missed them.
Our friend Barbara closed on her new house today and asked us to come over and see it, as I mentioned it is only about five miles from where we are staying. Well the house is beautiful, a nice layout with wonderful woodwork throughout and the most amazing tile floors throughout, along with spectacular tile work in the bathrooms. Really, really nice. They will be flying back to Illinois in a week or so to move her belongings back here.
Saturday 3/10
After our morning walk it was pretty much a case of doing a few things around the trailer. Finished up our income taxes and got them sent off. Nancy did then this year so we saved the considerable expense of hiring an accountant.
Sunday 3/11
Hung around home today, morning news shows and NASCAR race and then a Blackhawks game.
Monday 3/12
Nancy had an appointment on East Speedway this morning, so after the Monday morning park meeting we went into town. Had lunch at Beyond Bread, stopped at Trader Joe’s and then Costco.
Tuesday 3/13
Wildflowers are pretty numerous, but the windy, dry weather we have been having is taking it’s toll, they are starting to look a bit dry. Rain predicted for early next week, so maybe they will perk up a bit. We have no more than a light sprinkle since mid-December.
Several of the folks Nancy has met through their dogs are leaving in the next few days an Thursday is Margo’s 2nd birthday, so Nancy decided to have a “doggie birthday party”. She took invitations around to all of the dogs (telling them they could bring their owners as guests) for a party Tuesday afternoon.
The weather was perfect, high seventies and a nice breeze. The area beside our trailer around our picnic table is shaded in the late afternoon, so it was very pleasant. I tried to count, but the dogs were doing a lot of moving around - I think 15 or 16 were there with about 25 people. We had a good time and the dogs were very well behaved, mort of them play with each other at the dog runs in the park. It was fun.
Tuesday evening they had another jazz band at the rec center, Max Mercury and the Monsoons. Actually it was the student jazz band from Tucson High school, a number of whom also attend the Tucson Jazz Institute and Play in the Ellington Band.
They put on a great show and with a full compliment of horns and reeds (17 members) it was really very good. We have really enjoyed the entertainment here this year.
Wednesday 3/14
After our morning walk we drove down to Green Vally to a farmers market in a shopping center. Really more of a French Market with a wide variety of new items, arts & crafts. Nancy bought a nice Mexican rug for yoga, she had been looking for one this year.
Had lunch at a Mexican restaurant there La Palacida. Then back home and relaxed.
Thursday 3/15
Off to Tucson Yoga this morning, then back home to meet Karen. She wanted to take us out to lunch as a thank you for watching Margo, so after a discussion of various options we settled on BK Sonoran Dogs as the place we all liked the most.
It was a beautiful day, very comfortable sitting on the patio there and we sat and chatted for quite a while. Karen is leaving her trailer her this summer rather than towing it home to Wisconsin, so she has been preparing it for storage. One of the things she is doing is getting aluminum foil backed insulation sheets to cover the insides of the windows. Well ... in the position we are parked the large left rear window in our trailer has started getting full afternoon sun and it get HOT. We have been hanging a beach towel inside the shade for the last couple of weeks to deflect some of the radiant heat.
In her research Karen found that Home Depot had rolls two feet wide and ten feet long for about $10! So we stopped at Home Depot on the way home and bought a roll. The width was perfect, I simply cut a piece to length and pressed it into the inside of the window frame behind the shade. What an amazing improvement! The afternoon heat from that window is no longer and issue at all! I also put a piece in the bathroom window that had the same issue.
Friday 3/16 and Saturday 3/17
Not much going on, relaxing and doing some puttering around the trailer. Nancy did some laundry. It has been in the mid-80s the last few days, but turning colder this weekend.
Stayed up late Friday night to watch F1 qualifying from Australia, first race of the season is Saturday night.
Saturday morning we woke to a steady rain, blessed rain for the wild flowers since we have not had a drop since December! It was only in the fifties, windy and off and on rain all day Saturday.
We did get into town to pick up a battery for Nancy watch, stopped at Wine and More on the north side to restock our scotch and whiskey supply - almost as dangerous a thing to do as stopping at the book store for us! Picked up six bottles since they have a good selection and better prices than at home.
A stop at Trader Joe’s and then Beyond Bread for lunch.
Sunday 3/18
Pretty much a sit at home and watch TV day for us. With the time change last week we are now two hours behind home since AZ does not switch to Daylight Saving Time. Thank goodness for the DVR! The noon news on WGN America is now at 10 AM and the evening news at 7 PM!
Sunday morning we watched the F! race that we had recorded during the night while CBS Sunday Morning, Fareed Zakaria, and then the Nascar race were recording. After the F1 race we watched the NASCAR race from Bristol. This is only the second spring race we have missed in the last 18 years! Neither of us are very disappointed about not having renewed our tickets this year. The racing there is just not as exciting as it used to be for a variety of reasons and getting there from Arizona in the spring was a bit of a hassle.
It was nice to watch the race on TV and it appears that a lot of people feel the same way we do. We have never seen those stand as empty as they were today! The reported attendance was 120,000, but up until last spring they had been selling out all 160,000 seats for both races. Tough times for Bristol. Don’t know what they can do to fix it though - the economy is part of it, but we think only a small part. The quality of the show has really suffered the last few years and the middle of March is way to early for that race - it used to be the first weekend in April, much nicer weather in that area then.
After the Bristol race we watched CBS Sunday Morning and by then it was almost time for the Blackhawks game! And they won again, they seem to be picking up a little steam again - hope so anyway. Next one we get on TV is next Sunday.
Monday 3/19
Still cool and off and on rain here. We are anxious to get out in the desert and see what the rain has done for the wild flowers, they were starting to look a bit bedraggled and dried out from the heat and the windy conditions.
It was still a bit chilly after the Monday morning meeting.
