Day 2333

Thursday February 22nd 2024

Dear Journal:

Honestly part of todays blog is based on the day number, but after getting up at 5:45 and being greeted by Mister Sam in the galley for his morning treats I settled into my recliner as the first light of dawn is showing over the Apache Leap mountain range, and Mister Sam rewards me with some of that valuable lap time. In fact I was granted nearly ¾ of an hour of lap time, but as Miss Laurie stirs my lap time comes to an end, it is now 6:30 and the dawn sky is orange, but with such a clear sky my expectations are minimal.

Today the first MLB spring training games of the Cactus League take place, so that is a major news item on the local stations. The nice thing about the Cactus League over the Grapefruit League in Florida is that all the teams spring training camps are all within the Phoenix valley area as opposed to being spread all across the State of Florida. It had dipped to 58°F (14.4°C) in the coach so I have turned on the electric heater when I got up, just to take the chill off until the sun hits the side of the coach and we have to open windows. We are expecting a high of only 65°F (18.3°C), but with no clouds and the sun angle improving daily it should be a near perfect day in the desert.

I now have a cup of coffee, and yes it has been blessed, just as the local station has switched to National news, and now we get to see just how screwed up the world is. At 7:23 the sun has just peaked over the ridge and I can already feel the warmth, or at least I think it feels warmer, by now Mister Sam is sound asleep on the queen size bed and I could becoming numb to the election propaganda for the American election already and the election is not till November!

Breakfast was a toasted blueberry bagel from the Costco bakery, always a nice change, Miss Laurie is working in the gift shop at the Arboretum this morning to cover for the staff that have an “all staff meeting” this morning at 9;00. This is not our normal volunteering day, but since Miss Laurie has been trained on most aspects of the visitor center she is the one that gets called on to cover the gift shop and the membership office. It is not usually too busy this early in the morning, and it is normally only a couple of hours of Laurie’s day and I personally think she enjoys being the go to person.

As Miss Laurie heads off to I’m moving on to the patio, this is our Sunday as tomorrow is our first day of volunteering this week, as you can see the view from our patio is pretty nice and as I enjoy a beverage under the awning. My beverage of choice today is the Electric Orange straight over a few ice cubes it is a wonderful sipping drink as I enjoy the scenery. Miss Laurie joined me as we spent the afternoon watching birds, and taking in the beauty of the Arboretum, while Mister Sam enjoyed some bird watching of his own. This hummingbird feeder sticks to the RV window and provides hours of entertainment for all of us as we get a steady stream of birds consisting of hummingbirds and Gila woodpeckers that frequent the feeder.

The photo shows Mister Sam watching the hummingbird, but look past the humming bird to the rock outcropping that is being light by the setting sun, sometimes the best sunset pictures are the “reverse sunset“.