Yoga, Hockey, Bike Rides

That about covers it. A little late with this post, but not a lot going on, just enjoying life and the good weather.

Tuesday 1/14

A bit chilly this morning but we did our morning walk anyway as the sun was warm. After breakfast I ran down to the Shell station on Aho Highway to fill a propane tank.

Went in to BK Tacos for lunch and stopped to do some shopping. That pretty much filled up the whole day!

Wednesday 1/15

Nancy had he Spanish class this AM. I went over and picked up Margo as we are puppy sitting today. Took her on a nice walk around the park and came home and did some putzing around. After lunch Nancy spent most of the afternoon on her homework.

Dinner from the Lucky Girl food truck this evening. 

Thursday 1/16

Off to Tucson Yoga this AM, good class. Stops at Food Conspiracy and Walgreens on the way home. This afternoon Nancy did some shopping and a spa visit will I sat on my butt. Otherwise a quiet day.

Friday 1/17

Hung around home all day after our regular walk in the morning. Took a stroll around the RV park in the afternoon.

Blackhawks played Anaheim tonight. We watched the beginning while we were eating dinner and then went to the rec hall for the Ellington Band performance. A lot of new faces in the group this year as they graduated quite a few of the the kids last year. The band comes from the Tucson Jazz Institute and consists of high school kids from the Tucson area, along with a couple who come from as far away as Phoenix. As usual it was a great performance, it would be hard to find any better live jazz or a better jazz/swing band anywhere. A real treat to have them here every year. We try to make a fair contribution when they pass the hat and we will probably make a donation to help with the cost of their European tour coming up next summer. A good place for a donation if you are looking for one.

Back home we watched the rest of the Hawks game on the DVR and they finally came up with a strong consistent game, although they let Anaheim get close towards the end of the second period.

Saturday 1/18

Another fairly quiet day after our morning walk. Did a few maintenance items and Nancy did some laundry. I spend a fair amount of time doing Distributed Proofreading when I can find an interesting project.  I also do some Zoouniverse projects like Operation War Diary, although the interface is clunky on that one. Old Weather is another good one, as is Family Search Indexing.

Beautiful weather continues, they do need some rain here, but it is not going to happen this month. Nights in the 30’s - with amazing starry skies - and blue skies in the 70’s during the day. We sure like Tucson!

Sunday 1/19

Sports Sunday around here. Took our usual walk, then watch CBS Sunday morning while we had breakfast. The Blackhawks game was at 10:30 AM! We recorded it and then chased it on the DVR, a good way to skip commercials. Hawks beat Boston in spite of their continuing sloppiness in their defensive zone thanks to another spectacular performance from Cory Crawford. Wins against Anaheim and Boston in one weekend, doesn’t get any better than that.

Set the DVR to record the Denver/New England game and went to BK Tacos for lunch and then some grocery shopping.

Back home we went through the AFC game by fast forwarding between plays - makes the game a lot shorter!.

Later in the afternoon I loaded the bikes onto the rack on the back of the truck (he world’s largest bike hauler) in preparation for the bike ride tomorrow.

Monday 1/20

Monday AM meeting at the rec hall, then we came home and changed into our biking garb and met the rest of the group. We went to the bike path along the Rialto River on the North side of the city. As with the Santa Cruz, the Rialto is a dry river bed most of the year. In the 19th century these were free flowing rivers, but the growing population of the area resulted in them being dry for most of the year, but when the rains come they are serious rivers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zwvusqczUc  

We rode about 8 miles along the river trail, out and back with a group of 20 plus people. Then the whole group went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. A very enjoyable day with beautiful weather - it was 77 degrees when we got home.

Tuesday 1/21

Morning walk and then we were puppy sitting. I went over to the pool hall to get on-line and pay bills. Do not do financial stuff over the WiFi network. 

Drove into Tucson to Beyond Bread for lunch. On the way over we saw a pickup nose down in the ditch on the East side of Gates Pass. No idea how they managed to get it in that way, with the nose deep into a ravine and the back wheels off the ground! It was still there when we came back by a couple of hours later. The link above talks about the road being dangerous, this was the first accident we have seen there and we go over the pass several times a week. Yes it is steep, twisty and turny, with big drop-offs, but only "dangerous" if you do something stupid. I expect most of the accidents are at night and involve excessive speed - the limit on the whole road is 35! After all it is in Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National Park.

If you look at the map on the link to Tucson Mountain Park our RV park is just to the north of San Joanquin Rd. 

After lunch we stopped at Trader Joe’s and then back home. in spite of two idiots trying to run over our apparently invisible car. Nancy took Margo for another walk. There are some wildflowers starting to bloom along Gates Pass Rd. - about a month early, apparently due to the December rain and the unseasonably warm and dry weather. We should have an inch or two of rain and mid-60's in January. Been dry and in the 70's almost all month.

Wednesday 1/22

Nancy had he Spanish class this morning. I did some cleaning and applied Liquid Gold to the wood in the bedroom - damn there’s a lot of woodwork in this sucker!

After lunch we relaxed for a while and then went up to the Desert Museum for an hour or so. Got to see the beaver and otters swimming and in their den, something we had not seen before.  We would like to volunteer there, and have looked into it, but most of the things available require a year round or September to May commitment. Guess there are enough retired year round residents and they don't need us snowbirds!

Blackhawks play Detroit tonight - fingers crossed.

Well they blew a 2 goal lead and managed to pull out a tie and lose in a shoot-out. Other than two good games last weekend they have had a lousy month!

Thursday 1/23

Tucson Yoga in the morning then back home. Reed brought over some smoked salmon and later Angel brought us a loaf of home made bread! Great to have nice friend’s!

Nancy’s sister Joan arrived this afternoon and headed right over for a hot rocks massage from Angel. Then we went to Tiny’s for burgers.

Back home to watch the Hawks stink up things in Minnesota. Been a grim January for Hawks fans. Finally scored in the last 30 seconds but lost - however, it is only their second regulation loss in the last 18 games, so I guess slumps are relative. Seems like they have been doing worse than they actually have.

Finally Out on Our Bicycles

Tuesday 1/7 

Warmer this morning, 38 degrees when we arose. Yesterday it was 32. In the short time it took us to dress and head out it had already warmed to 42 degrees. Got up above 70 in the afternoon.

Late last night we went out to see the space station pass over, and although we managed to miss it we did see several “shooting stars”, actually meteorites. Star gazing is rather amazing here do to the dark sky. The City of Tucson has been at the forefront of dark sky regulations due to the close proximity of several observatories. The sky here is more like I remember from childhood than what it looks like in the Chicago suburbs - a lot more visible stars!

We did some house cleaning and hung around home most of the day. We watch the  Chicago midday news on WGN America most days and have watched with interest the reports on the severe weather afflicting the Midwest, while thanking our lucky stars that we do not need to deal with it. Been there, done that, which is one of the reasons we spend our winters in Southern Arizona!

Wednesday 1/8

Nancy had her Spanish class this morning and I sent an hour and a half doing a thorough cleaning inside the truck, been a while since a did the total job and it looks a lot nicer now.

When  Nancy got back we took our morning mini-hike in the desert and then head off to BK Tacos for lunch. Stopped at WalMart to stock up on RV toilet paper. We had stopped at Lowe’s up on Oracle the other day as they usually carry it,  but they had none. Nancy checked and found that WalMart had it and sure enough they had a whole shelf full, which we made a pretty good dent in.

Back home and relaxed. Hawks play Rangers tonight. And the “B” team showed up again! Lost the game on defensive breakdowns in  spite of another great game from Cory Crawford. I guess it’s best they get this slump out of their system before the Olympic break and hope the 10 guys going to Sochi come back healthy.

Thursday 1/9

Tucson Yoga first thing in the AM, stop at Food Conspiracy and Antigone Books to pick up the cruise guide book we ordered last week, and home for lunch.

After lunch we went over to Saguaro National Park West - just 20 mins away from us - and went to a talk on the geology of the Tucson Mountains. The volunteer ranger who gives the talk used to be a geology professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) and he give a really interesting talk. We have heard it before but we always learn (or remember!) something new each time. The geological history of the Tucson Mountains is quite fascinating, they don’t refer to the rock types in the area as “Tucson Mountain Chaos” for nothing!

Dinner at home. Really pretty sky tonight, lots of stars and our local horned owl was hooting up a storm all evening and again early Friday morning. We were also treated to a coyote serenade during the night.

Friday 1/10 

Cold this AM, 34 degrees, so we skipped our desert walk. Headed into town and stopped at the Fox Theatre to purchase tickets for the Paula Poundstone show in February. Saved $11 by picking them up at the box office instead of purchasing on-line!

Of course then we had to stop at Beyond Bread for lunch, then Trader Joe’s for a few things. Then we ran by Tucson Mall to get a new battery for my watch and a new screen protector for my iPod.

Back home Nancy did her Spanish homework and later Karen and Gary stopped by for  cocktails.

Saturday 1/11

Quiet day at home today, took a n ice hike in the desert mid-afternoon and Nancy did some laundry.

Watched the Blackhawks lose again this evening at least it was overtime. Defensive breakdowns in their own end of the ice once again and once again Cory Crawford was spectacular in preventing a blowout. At the end in overtime Patrick Kane took the puck at their own blue line and instead of heading down the ice he lazily turned back into the defensive zone which create the turnover that resulted in the winning goal! What the heck was he thinking?

Sunday 1/12

Leisurely breakfast and then I went for a hot rocks massage from Angel. Nancy took a walk around the park. After lunch we took a short bike ride around the park and the park next door just to make sure everything was working OK if we decide to go on the group bike ride Monday morning.

Monday 1/13

Monday AM meeting and then we joined the bike group for the weekly ride. Bummed a ride with one of the guys that was going alone in his pickup, so he put Nancy’s bike on the rack with his and mine and another fellows in the bed and we went off to the Santa Cruise River Park off Irvington Road.

The park, which will eventually become part of a loop around the metro area, has a bike path that runs along both sides of the Santa Cruz, which is dry this time of year, for two miles between Valencia and Ajo. We rode a total of seven miles, some did more, some less. There were 22 of us altogether.

We then went across to The Olive Garden for lunch. Only fly in the ointment was that we had a group reservation for 1 PM, arrived about 12:40 and they did not have our tables ready until 12:20! Otherwise it was a good lunch with good company. We had a good time and back home about 3:30.

This evening a park resident who is a volunteer ranger at Saguaro National Park gave a talk on National Parks and cacti of area. Interesting, but we slipped out before he was done - an hour and fifteen minutes is about all the butt can take on those folding chairs (unless it is good music!)

Back in Arizona and Late with a Post (Hi Joan)

Thursday 12/26

Man it was cold in Chicago! Four below the morning of the 24th. Also had snow, but not a lot, just a dusting every couple of days. Good thing since we determined that the Z rated tired on the BMW are absolutely worthless in snow!

Took our time closing up the house as our flight was not until late in evening. Took the train into the city and spent a couple of hours at the Art Institute (that's when our membership pays off, since we get in free and can check our bags for free) and then took the L to Midway Airport. Flight left 45 minutes late but arrived in Tucson on time - 11:45 PM.

Friday 12/27

Did some grocery shopping in the AM and then stopped at Beyond Bread for lunch (and dinner!). On the way home we stopped at Central Pet and picked up Margo. Karen and Gary are in Minnesota until the 30th, so we will take care of Margo over the weekend.

Good victory from the Blackhawks to night.

Saturday 12/28

Not a lot going on today, took a walk with Margo and pretty  much relaxed. Late in the afternoon we drove up to Oro Valley north of Tucson to meet friend’s for dinner. A fellow I used to work with and his wife who recently moved to Mirana from the Chicago area. Had dinner at Harvest in Oro Valley, pretty good place, but a bit far away for us.

Sunday 12/29

Finally got out for a short hike in the desert this AM, first since December 14th! Did not get a lot of walking in Geneva due to the cold and ice. Took Margo with us this morning.

Watched last night’s Hawks game on the DVR this morning, good game but they lost in a shoot-out after having 3-0 and 5-3 leads. Going to be pretty tough to get past the Blues in the playoffs, the Hawks are 0-3 against them so far this season.

Another quiet day at home, a couple of walks with the dog. Pizza for dinner and watching TV.

Monday 12/30

Morning meeting in the RV park and then I took a propane tank into Tucson to the Barnett's Propane to have the jammed valve replaced (see 11/27 in Albuquerque for details).

Karen and Gary got back this afternoon and Margo was really happy to see them. We really enjoyed have Margo here, she is such a nice, gentle dog.

After they picked her up we went into town to do some grocery shopping and then stopped at Taco Giro for dinner. Pericles (owner of Desert Trails) had recommended it and he was right, another very good Mexican restaurant, and not too far away.

Back home the Blackhawks played a great game against LA and got Anti Rantta his first NHL shut-out.

Tuesday 12/31

Quick trip up to the Desert Museum this morning. Renewed our membership and spent some time in the hummingbird house and the gift shop. Back home Nancy did laundry and I went across the mountains to pick up the repaired and refilled propane tank. Also stopped at BK and picked up lunch to bring back home.

Nancy spent the afternoon baking a cake and cooking a bag of baked potatoes for the group dinner this evening.

Wednesday 1/1/14

Wow! 2014 already, seems like only yesterday we had our shorts in a knot about Y2K!  

Had a nice dinner in the rec hall last night, enjoyed meeting some new folks here for their first winter.

Year end climatic data for Tucson shows we are still in a drought here: 8.5” of rain compared to the normal amount of just under 12”. The cacti out in the desert around here seem to have appreciated the rain in November though, the saguaros in particular are swollen with water.

Nice walk in the desert this AM, another morning with a cloudless blue sky. Watched the Rose Bowl parade while we were eating breakfast. 

Our friend’s Reed and Angel arrived this morning. They had left their fifth wheel here last spring, but then had it sent out for a new paint job. It was delivered back a few days ago and I could see that he was going to want to  move it closer to the building beside their spot when they got here so I had the truck ready to go. Another slick parking job! Put it right where he wanted it first try.

Watched the first half of the Winter classic hockey game from Ann Arbor and then set the DVR for the rest and went down to the Fry’s grocery in Sahuarita for the 10% first day of the month geezer discount. There are closer Fry’s, but the one there is the nicest in the area. It’s 25 miles away, mostly expressway. Since I had the truck running already we took that to give it some exercise - more comfortable than the smart at 75 MPH anyway!

Dinner at home and relaxed.

Thursday 1/2

Off to Tucson Yoga first thing this morning, then a stop at Food Conspiracy and Antigone Books. Ordered Rick Steve's Northern European Cruise Ports book. It was cheaper on Amazon even with shipping, but we like to do our part to keep independent book sellers in business!  Quiet afternoon at home, Blackhawks lost tonight - good game against the Islanders, but not enough enthusiasm in the second period!

Friday 1/3

Morning walk in the desert. Nancy went to the soup and salad luncheon for December & January birthdays. I cleaned out our main storage compartment, took everything out and sorted through it, swept it out and repacked everything. Still looking for the spare brackets for our ceiling fan that broke on the way down here from rough roads. We had picked up some spare blades from an RV scrap yard last year and have not been able to find the brackets! Thought they might be at home, but they were not. not in the main storage either.

Later in the afternoon I cleaned out the overhead cabinets at the back inside and - eureka! - they they were! Knew I had them somewhere, so we have our ceiling fan back in operation.

Dinner at home and the Blackhawks played a much better game tonight ad won.

Saturday 1/4

Morning walk in desert, a bit overcast today. Nancy did some laundry and that was about the extent of what we accomplished today! Watched some football and a movie. We really need to get going and do something to make this blog more interesting!

Sunday 1/5

A bit chilly out in the desert this AM, about 37 degrees, not bad compared to home though! Watched CBS Sunday Morning as usual, then some football. Had dinner from the Serial Grillers food truck right here in the park, and then watched the Blackhawks lose in a shoot-out, which is more than they deserved considering had poorly they played defense! Cory Crawford gets 100% of the credit for the one point they earned.

Hawks game was interrupted by Downton Abby of course and we watched the last period on the DVR.

Monday 1/6

Monday Am meeting, they had a drawing for a meal from Rolling Wok, the food truck coming on Wednesday and Nancy won a combo plate.

We received a Beyond Bread gift card from Margo (actually I think it came from Karen and Gary since I do not think Margo’s hand writing is that good) as a thank you for picking her up from the kennel and dog sitting the weekend between Christmas and New Years. So we headed over there at lunchtime and had a free lunch, stopped at Trader Joe’s and then Penzy’s Spices, and Pep Boys to pick up a new Kozak  for the car since I had left my old ones at home. Probably time for a new one anyway. I have used these since the 60's and they are great for keeping your car clean, especially in a dusty environment like it is around here.

Back home and relaxed the rest of the day, Nancy studied some Spanish for Wednesday’s class.

Weather Getting Warm Here - We're Headed for Chicago!

Friday 12/6

First freeze of the winter last night, 33 degrees when we got up. Cold for here, but a lot better than a wide swath of the country north of us, supposed to be in the fifties today.

Garage sale at the RV park today. Nancy took a walk around and reported that there was a nice small compressor for sale “Too bad we don’t need one since we have the truck.” she said.  Well, we don’t have the truck available when we are at home, so I went and looked. Bought a really nice, like new Husky compressor for $35! It was $110 new. I also picked up a bicycle shirt for $1.  

So we heard about Costco having a special 40 year-old scotch at selected stores. Looked on line and the Costco NW Tucson has some. Not the store we usually go to, a bit farther away but we decided to check it out. They had it - for $699.99 per bottle! No, we did not purchase any.

We did pick up a few things we needed, meds, whiskey, a Tito’s vodka, and a memory foam mattress cover for the trailer.

Back home to cook brats on the grille and watch the Blackhawks tonight. And they lost again, at least this time it was in a shoot-out, but they were outplayed most of the game. That’s three in a row, bad juju!

Saturday 12/7

Off to the monthly H. F. Coors seconds sale first thing in the morning. A much bigger crowd than we have ever seen there. Nancy picked up a few couple of things and a couple gifts.

Stopped at a Mexican meat market on Ajo for sausage to put on our pizza. Nice little market with great meat selection and a bakery. Good place to stop for bread.

Back home at 10 AM. 

Turned into a beautiful day in spite of the slight chill, about 55 and not a cloud in the sky. I know a wide swath of the country is suffering through dismal weather, makes us thankful that we are able to spend the winter here.

Took a short hike, I hesitate to call it a hike, only a little less than 2 miles, in the desert in mid-afternoon. Quite comfortable in our shirt sleeves.

Nancy made a nice dinner and we stayed home & watched TV.

Sunday 12/8

Clouded over during the night which kept the temp warmer than the last couple of  nights. 44 at 7 AM. The sun was just coming up as we left for our walk, the undersides of the clouds were red and the Tucson Mountains to the Northeast of us were bathed in fiery red light, really pretty.

About a quarter mile into the desert we heard coyotes start to howl, really close. They seemed to be in a wash about 100 yards to our right, maybe four or five of them. They were close enough that we could pick out individual howls. Two packs in opposite directions, way off in the distance, responded to them. We stood there and listened to them for a good five minutes before they settled down. Their howling also set off all the birds in the immediate area.

This afternoon we went to an excellent show with the Original Wildcat Jass Band at the Berger Performing Arts Center (which is just the other side of the Tucson Mountains) called “Let’s Misbehave”. All jazz from the 1920’s.

Dinner at from Serial Griller’s food truck and then the Blackhawks put together a good game tonight ending their three game slump. 

Monday12/9

Regular Monday morning meeting at the rec hall, then I ran down to the Shell station on Ajo Highway and had a propane tank filled. People are always talking about the cheapest place to purchase propane, but the savings are usually not worth the trip for me.

Nancy wanted to run by Bed, Bath & Beyond after lunch, but I said as long as we were going over there BK Tacos was just right across the highway and around the corner! So... we went to BK for lunch after stopping at BB&B. Ran into Karen & Gary there.

Opened up the memory foam mattress cover and let it unfold itself and swell to full size. Looked a bit small at first, but when fully relaxed it fit perfectly. Slept well as well.

Tuesday 12/10

32 degrees this AM and a bit cloudy, so we saved our walk until later in the morning. Nancy did some laundry and then we took a short walk in the desert around 10:30.

Drove over to the East side of town to stop at See’s Candies, then hit the Beyond Bread up on Speedway where along with our sandwiches we bought a couple of delicious looking mini-pies (about four slices each). Stopped for some groceries and then back home. Another great game from the Blackhawk’s tonight, they are on a roll the last two games.

Wednesday 12/11

Nancy had her Spanish class this AM, I took the truck out for a run just to exercise it. Then did some clean up on the truck.

After lunch we took a short walk in the desert, quite warm this afternoon, about 70 degrees, but the sun was hot.

The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area adjacent to the RV park always had a number of signs pointing out items of interest and marking trails. They are not there this year and we looked in a storage area behind the pool hall and found them all. We talked to Pericles (park owner) and asked why they were not out there this year. He was not aware they were not. He said one of the guests usually put them out at the beginning of the season and picked them up in the spring because the harsh summer weather was hard on them. Apparently whoever has been doing it the last few years did not come this year. So we volunteered to put some of them out where we knew where they belonged. Put five of them out today. We will do more over the next few days.

Food trucks here this evening and the Blackhawks play again.  WOW! Blackhawks beat Philadelphia 7-2! That’s 19 goals in the last three games!

Thursday 12/12

Off to Tucson Yoga this AM, then a quick stop at Food Conspiracy to see if they had any good bagels, no luck though.

Back home Nancy did some laundry and we relaxed. Mid-afternoon we went over to the pool hall and sorted through some more of the trail signs. Touched up the paint on a couple of them and then put three more out on the trails and used the GPS to mark the locations for three more signs. I have been marking all of the spots on the GPS so we can find all the signs to put them away in the spring.

Dinner at home tonight.

Friday 12/13

Off to the 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair this AM. Walked the full length of the vendor area, Nancy picked up a few things for gifts. The we went East on Broadway to See’s candy to pick up the free tote bag that they were out of when we stopped there on Tuesday.

Since we were over there anyway (any old excuse will do) we stopped at Beyond Bread for lunch.

Back home we had a note from the fellow who usually puts out the signs in the desert - seems he had not gotten around to doing it yet. Oh well, we’ll let him finish.

Arizona Roadrunners jazz group at the rec hall tonight, as always it was a great show. Max Glodschmidt was with the group and he is an extremely talented young man who plays a wide variety of instruments and is AZ state champion on several of them. About midway through the performance he picked up the tenor saxophone, put a trumpet mouthpiece on it and proceeded to play a beautiful piece with it. Doug Tidaback, who runs the Tucson Jazz Institute and was leading the group this evening, said he had never seen that done before.

Saturday 12/14

Cold this AM, 34 degrees when we got up. Lazy morning, then we ran into town to do some errands, stop at the post office and, since we were nearby stop at BK Tacos for lunch.

On the way home we stopped at Rodriguez Seafood and picked up some fresh shrimp. Had them for dinner and they were great.

Blackhawks game tonight and they got their butts whipped in Toronto.

Sunday 12/15

Quiet day, read the papers and relaxed, did some puttering around the trailer, cleaned a couple of compartments while searching for misplaced items again.

Blackhawks made up for their poor appearance in Toronto with a as good a game as they have played all season against the Kings. Go figure. They came within three minutes of getting Antti Ranta his first NHL shutout.

Monday 12/17

Skipped the Monday meeting (we will be gone this week anyway) and went to Tucson Yoga since we will be gone on Thursday.

Dumped the tanks and packed up in the afternoon. Headed home for Christmas early tomorrow morning.  

Cold Snap in the Desert

Friday 11/29

Nice walk in the desert this AM, only a mile and a half, but it was good to get out walking again and good to get out in the desert again. The Palo Verde seem to have grown substantially since sight lines close to the park seem shorter than before.

Stopped in the office and paid for the month, then did a bit of setting things up and reshuffling cabinet contents that had shifted during travel. Nancy did some laundry while I was doing that and that pretty much killed the morning. Beautiful day, high in the 70’s.

Went into Tucson in the early afternoon and had lunch at Beyond Bread, got the car washed and stopped at a big big Ace Hardware too get some mollys to repair some self supports that had come adrift. While there I found a nice Dewalt tool box on sale, a fair amount larger than my current one, but one that will still fit in the truck storage compartment - and it was only 20 bucks! 

Then we stopped at Camping World to pick up a new water filter since I accidentally contaminated the old one with anti-freeze. As usual we picked up a few other things as well.

Back home I repacked my tools in the new box and cleaned out the storage compartment to make room for it. Makes my tools a lot more accessible. Then I replaced the water filter under the sink, a bit of a PIA!

Blackhawks play in Dallas tonight, second half of our Beyond Bread sandwiches for dinner.

Well the Blackhawks pulled out another one tonight, went into the 3rd losing 1-0 and won in the shoot-out - after 11 rounds!

Saturday 11/30

A  bit cloudy this AM when we went for our walk and it clouded over during the day. Still doing things to get settled in - unload bikes, put out bird feeders, etc.

Made a run into town for some grocery shopping. 

Sorted out a couple more scrambled cabinets and repaired a broken drawer, then watched the Blackhawks win again - 6 wins in the 7 game “circus” road trip, not bad!

Pizza at home while we were watching the game.

Sunday 12/1

Quiet day at home, morning walk in the desert as usual. Cleaned out and organized the large storage compartment underneath the trailer as a result of looking for a few things.

New feature at Desert Trails this year is visits from food trucks on Sundays and Wednesdays, today was Serial Grillers. Turned out to be excellent sandwiches and burgers. Apparently there are going to be a variety of foods during the winter. Long wait for the food though, after we placed our order Nancy said we were out of beer, so I ran down to the Shell station nearby for beer, it is 5 miles away so it took about 20 minutes - our order was still not ready when I got back!

Monday 12//2

Park meeting this AM, then we went over to H. F. Coors to look at some holiday plates for Joan. On the way back we stopped at Target to pick up a couple of children's gifts that we selected from the park giving tree.

We also made our first stop (which will be far from our last!) at BK Tacos for lunch.

Back home we relaxed and our neighbor Jim came by and said he was ready to move his trailer. They have been next to us since last winter, but left the trailer here during the summer as they have nothing to tow it with. They had decided to move six spots down the line since the noise from the laundry room, which is the other side of their site, was bothering them in the early morning.

I wanted to fire the truck up anyway to air up the suspension so I could put my tire covers on and I had told him I would move his trailer for him. Too bad I did not have more people watching as I backed it into their new spot the first time without any back and forth jockeying!

Quiet evening at home.

Tuesday 12/3

Another pretty day after some early morning cloudiness, supposed to turn cool on Thursday. After our morning walk we sat around and relaxed then headed over to Beyond Bread for lunch (and brought home dinner!). 

Witnessed a fairly substantial accident right in front of us a few blocks from Beyond Bread. We were eastbound waiting to turn left when a southbound Jeep turned left in front of a northbound pickup - BOOM! Neither of us were watching closely enough to say for sure who had the light (the left arrow trails the green at this intersection) so there was no point in stopping. Did not appear to be any injuries.

After lunch we made a stop at Trader Joe’s to stock up for a couple of weeks, then relaxed back home.

Blackhawks play tonight. And they lost - outshot Dallas 50 to 18 and lost!

Wednesday 12/4

No walk this AM since Nancy was going to a Spanish class here in the park. While she did that I did a thorough inside cleaning, washed windows, etc.

When Nancy was finished we made a quick trip down to the Green Valley Farmers Market as Nancy wanted to get some face cream from the lady she patronizes. We also picked up a pair of leather work gloves for each of us. There is a man there occasionally that has really nice goatskin gloves. I bought a pair a couple of years ago and I love them.

On the was home we stopped at the nice Fry’s Market in Sahuarita to take advantage of the first Wednesday senior discount - always a geezer fest!

Naturally on the way home we stopped at BK Tacos again for lunch.

Food trucks in the park tonight, both right near our site. I had a pulled pork sandwich from Bubba-que, Nancy had a dinner from the Rolling Wok.

Rain this evening, not much, just a sprinkle. It rained off and on throughout the night, stayed warmer than expected. Supposed to have a freeze tomorrow night.

Thursday 12/5

Off to Tucson Yoga this AM for our first yoga class of the season. They have finished construction in the area and the city is trying to kill the few businesses left in the area with parking restrictions. There have always been meters right in front of the studio and resident sticker restrictions in the area around there, but there was a street a block away with open parking. Now that street is no parking on the side we used to use and meters on the other side. Five blocks of meters all around the studio and zero cars parked there!

When we left and headed to Food Conspiracy I said “Now we will see what a vibrant neighborhood there is on Fourth Ave where there are no parking restrictions." How wrong I was! In their infinite wisdom the city has eliminated at least half of the parking spaces on the busiest block as part of the street car construction (which will not begin running until next year!). No place to park within two blocks of the store! We finally found a spot a half block away. What a bunch of idiots! They are going to kill the business on the street before the street car even starts running.

Back home after lunch I emptied out the pantry again and took out the shelves. Replaced the tiny screws that were (not) retaining the shelf brackets with mollies. Now the shelves are secure and solid.

Blackhawks played again tonight and they lost. Bummer!

Back In Tucson

Friday 11/22

Did not get as cold as forecast last night, actually warmed up during the night - up to 22 degrees this AM. We decided to stay over the weekend as there are winter storm warnings and watches from Raton Pass down to Albuquerque Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Now here is the weird part: we are supposed to be limited to 14 days in any 45 day period at Cherry Creek and tonight is our 14th night. Remember the hassle about having to move sites to a different loop the first weekend we were here? Well, as it turns out that restarted the clock on our stay. When they counted up nights at the office this AM they only got to 10! So we’re good through the weekend. The hassle turned out to be a benefit - who knew.

Spent the day at Emily & Gregs watched F1 practice then I sat down and paid the monthly bills. A trip out for some grocery shopping and baby feeding filled up the rest of the day.

The twins had their eight month week check-up yesterday and they are flourishing. Hillary is rapidly catching up with Oliver in weight, she is 7 lbs. 1/2 oz. and he is 7 lbs. 14 oz. He had a couple of pounds on her when they were born.

Had dinner at the Cherry Cricket with Connie and Laurie. Emily’s brother Lawrence flew in from Chicago late this evening for Thanksgiving.

Saturday 11/23

Highway reports show I-25 with snow packed and icy patches all the way fro Colorado Springs to Albuquerque. Good thing we decided to stay put as there is also winter weather farther south into New Mexico.

We watched F1 qualifying at home before we head over to Emily’s. More time spent with the babies today and everyone gathered there for Thai takeout for dinner.

Back home to watch the Blackhawks win over Vancouver in a well played, fast game only marred by blatant “dives” by a few Vancouver players.

Sunday 11/24

Dropped Nancy off at Connie’s to do some laundry and then they went shopping. I went back to the campground to get the truck and took it to a self-service car wash - it was filthy from traveling over to Best Buy in the snow on Thursday. Took $12 worth of quarters, but it looks a lot better. I hate starting out on a trip with dirty equipment.

Still cold here and it is still snowing in Raton Pass, but it still looks good for Tuesday, sunny and in the 40’s most of the way to Albuquerque.

Whole gang assembled to watch the  Broncos - Patriots game in the evening. I joined Greg in rooting for New England since everyone else there were Broncos fans.

Monday 11/25

Went over to Emily’s early to help with the babies so she could get some quiet time to study. Spent the morning watching them while Brittany, Miles’ part time nanny, kept an eye on him - which is a full time job all in itself!  

About lunch time I went back to the campground and loaded the car on the truck, did some cleaning and then went back to Emily’s and picked Nancy up. We said good-by to Emily, Greg and the kids, but only after Miles got to climb into the truck and “drive” it for a few minutes. First thing he says when he gets in is “Put on your seat belt.” He is very firm about it and will not fiddle with anything until we both have our seat belts on!

Stopped at Connie and Laurie’s, had a drink and chatted with them for a while and then headed home to watch the Blackhawks game.

Hitting the road tomorrow, clouds have cleared off this evening and weather looks good for the trip.

Tuesday 11/26

Off to an interesting start this morning. I was about to hook up and Nancy was closing the slides when the living room slide jammed halfway closed! Investigation showed that the slide cover (awning) was frozen to the top of the slide! Oh joy! I attempted to loosen it with my extendable wash brush (breaking it in the process), but that did not work. The snow and ice was too heavy and the brush pole not long enough (or strong enough!).

Got out my long tank flushing hose and nozzle and tried spraying it off, but that did not work either. Finally I got out our collapsable ladder and climbed up where I could spray and poke at the snow and ice until I got it all off. The slide closed fine then. Not the first time we have used the ladder, but the first time it has proven to be indispensable. 

Finally got on the road at 9:30, only a half hour behind our goal, so not too bad. Our decision to wait out the weather proved to be a good one, as the roads were clear and dry all the way to Albuquerque. Uneventful trip, lunch and dinner at Cracker Barrel and arrived at American RV Park at 7:15 PM, 15 minutes behind my original estimate.

Wednesday 11/27

OK this is getting weird - second morning in a row with a strange problem delaying our start. American RV Park has propane and we had an empty tank, so lets fill it up. They filled the tank, I put it back in and could not open the valve! The guys at the park looked at it, tried several things and could not do anything with it. “There’s a guy across the highway that replaces these valves, I’ll take it over there.” Great! In the meantime we went down the road and dropped $697 at Flying J to top off the tanks and got back to the park just as the guy was returning with our tank.

Result? It is not stuck closed - it is stuck OPEN! Seems gas will not flow if it is not connected and they did not close it after they filled it. So when we tried to open it we were jamming it OPEN. The repair guy suggested hooking it up and using the gas before trying to close it.

So ... we finally got on the road at 10:30 AM. Good weather and good roads again. Stopped in Truth or Consequences for lunch, cut across from I-25 to I-10 on highway 26 and got to Ft Wilcox RV Park at 6 PM.

Blackhawks game tonight - not happy with Dish Center Ice: 1st another game that I have to watch the Canadian feed in non-HD, and 2cd - I turn it on and there is nothing there! Called tech support, they try to sell me a line that the game does not start until 10 PM Mountain time!!! Went to “special tech support” got the same BS. Asked for a supervisor and got a permanent hold.

Left the TV on the station and ... lo & behold, the game comes on a half hour late and 12 minutes into the game! What a crock!

At least the Blackhawks won, went into the third period behind 0 - 2  and won 3 - 2.

Thursday 11/28

No oddball issues this morning. Stopped in Wilcox and washed the truck and trailer, got to Desert Trails just about noon. Office closed but we knew where we were going. Got parked and set ip and relaxed. Karen and Gary stopped by, they have been here for three weeks. Seems like a number of people came in early this year to avoid the bad weather early in November.

The shelves in our pantry fell down during traveling, so we had to empty it out and do a temporary fix. I need to do a permanent fix before we leave. Light dinner at home and just relaxed.

COLD, COLD, COLD!

Oh, and did I mention snow?

Tuesday 11/19

I was a bit under the weather today, thought it was a cold so I stayed home to keep away from the babies. Turns out it was just sinus, felt fine later in the day, Nancy went over and helped with the children for the day.

I did a few things on the trailer and the truck, dug through the drawers in the truck and found the radio receipt! Yeah! Best thing is - I paid for a two year warranty!

Quiet evening and dinner at home. The Blackhawks B team apparently showed up here in Denver tonight. They played a good game, but gave up too many turnovers and got beaten bad. 

Wednesday 11/20

Went over to Emily’s to help Greg as she had some errands to run. After lunch we went over to The Tattered Cover to browse. I bought three books - yes, I know, I have a bunch of unread books on my Kindle and we have books in the trailer. What can I say!

Whole family had dinner at Connie’s tonight.

Thursday 11/21

As predicted it snowed last night, looks like a couple of inches at most. They also said it was going to get cold and it did with a vengeance! It was 45 when we went to bed last night - 16 degrees this AM! That makes it the coldest night we have spent in the trailer. but everything seems fine.

High today was 18! 

Got out and had the truck radio fixed, no charge since I had located my receipts. For some reason that we could not determine it had lost it’s power source, so the tech wired in a new one.

Nancy spent the day doing laundry at Connie's house and then baby sitting with Miles while Emily & Greg took the twins to the doctor for their eight week check up.

After getting the truck fixed - and VERY dirty - I went back out and had a propane tank filled, so we have two full tanks to get us through this cold snap, supposed to be single digits tonight! Weather south to Albuquerque is also starting to look iffy, we may have to wait a few days to get on the road. Not sure if they will try to throw us out of here as it is supposed to be a 14 day maximum stay. We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.