Walking, Shopping, & Ranger Talks

Wednesday 1/4

After our usual morning walk in the desert we did some house cleaning and then made a run to the grocery store. Instead of going to the Walmart Neighborhood Market as we usually do, we went to a Fry’s Grocery as Nancy needed something they carry. When we got there I commented on the parking lot being more crowded than usual at this store. It was also busy inside. As we were checking out the clerk said “Oh, wait, let me make sure you got your discount.” We asked “what discount”, she said “it’s Senior Wednesday and you get 10% off your purchases.” Who knew!? Seems the first Wednesday of the month is Senior Wednesday and we just stumbled into it.

Thursday 1/5

Off to Tucson Yoga first thing in the morning for our Gentle Yoga class, then a stop at Food Conspiracy. In the afternoon we went to the visitors center at Saguaro National Park for a talk about the Hohokam Indians who lived in this area from around 300 AD to the thirteen hundreds and then vanished. Loosely translated Hohokam is a Pima Indian word meaning “vanished ones” or “those who went away”. A pretty interesting talk. They offer a regular series of talks and short hikes in the National Forest and the are several more that we want to take advantage of in the next couple of months.

Friday 1/6

Friends from the last two winters are arriving today. They left their trailer here at Desert Trails last winter and are not bringing their truck, so they asked if I would move their trailer from the storage area to their site. So when they arrived I took the tire covers off the truck and went to start it - it fired once and died! Well, last week I had decided to drain the water out of the fuel/water separator as I had not done it in a while. So I opened the petcock to drain it and could not get it closed! Drained the whole filter before I could get it shut off. I started it and let it run for a while, but apparently not enough. Fortunately Reed, the guy who’s trailer I am moving, has fairly extensive truck knowledge and he was able to show me where the hand pump is for priming the fuel system and we got it started with a very judicious application of starting fluid. So then I moved their trailer into position.

Needed to refill one of the propane tanks, so I strapped it onto the back of the truck and we went over to Costco with the truck and stopped for propane on the way back home.

Had dinner at Todd’s Restaurant at Ryan Field, the nearby small airport. Just so-so, they are better choice for breakfast and lunch.

Saturday 1/7

In the paper this morning the was an ad from Worldly Soles, a shoe store, promoting a storewide sale and showing so slip-ons that Nancy though would be prefect for me. It is a real pain to keep putting shoes on everytime I need to go outside to get something out of the cooler or one of the compartments, to pick up the newspaper, or whatever. Last year I bought a pair of sandals for that purpose and I can’t even walk in the silly things! The ad said they were located across the street from Beyond Bread, so that was reason enough to stop by.

After a stop at Trader Joe’s we hit the shoe store. Turned out we both found shoes that we liked at 30 and 40 percent off! After that we stopped at Beyond Bread for lunch and, as usual, the sandwiches were big enough to take half home for dinner.

Sunday 1/8

Not much going on today. Other than our usual morning walk in the desert we were pretty much couch potatoes watching football games and the rare Blackhawks game that we get on TV here. Nancy did go over in mid-afternoon and get a dog fix at the dog park and then a hot rocks massage from Angel - she received coupons for five massages in Christmas gifts from her sister Joan and I, so she can be a spendthrift.

After the Hawks game we watched the new episode of Downton Abbey. We had the first series on our DVR so we re-watched those in the last week getting back into the swing of the show.

Monday 1/9

Regular morning meeting at the RV Park, temps have turned a bit cooler, around 60 yesterday and in the 60’s today. Bright sunshine though. After the meeting we ran down to the Home Depot to pick up some light bulbs and look at small grilles. Found the bulbs we wanted and a small rack for shoes beside our door, but no luck on a small grille. We have a small propane grille, but had heard about a nicer one on a great sale at Home Depot, but as I said, no luck.

Tuesday 1/10

After our morning walk in the desert, we took our friend Karen’s dog, Margo, out for a walk since we are puppy sitting today. Later in the morning we went over to the Saguaro National Park for a talk about the life cycle of the Saguaro. Turned out to be an excellent talk about the desert in general as well as the Saguaro, very enjoyable. As usual we ended up spending money in the gift shop. They have the best selection of postcards in the area and one of the best gift shops we have seen in a National Park.

On the way back home we stopped at Coyote Pause for lunch, then a relaxing afternoon at home, along with a romp in the dog play area with Margo.

We have both been getting in plenty of reading time, I just finished my fourth or fifth book since we arrived in December.