Sunday April 3rd 2022

Sunday morning and if today’s Wordle is any indication of the week to come, I thinking it could be a tough week. This is our last day in the nineties as we return to normal temperatures for a few weeks before climbing back to the nineties about the same time we are preparing to pull out. Miss Laurie has had the window open at night, and we have had the air conditioners running during the day, to help Mr. Sam stay comfortable during his mid day naps.

This is the week we will say goodbye to the Savino’s as they start their summer adventures through the north western states, and we are preparing for our trek to British Columbia which now becomes my top priority. This is our Friday and after a bowl of cereal, a vitamin, and a cup of coffee with a little splash of Irish Cream and we are ready for our shift in the Arboretum. Before we started we walked into the arboretum to see the Puya, this is a plant that only blooms every ten years, and while not in full bloom yet it has opened a lot since Wednesdays walk through the arboretum.

The flower is supposed to be turquoise with orange, and while starting to open it is still a few days away. But we did have a visitor near our admissions booth this morning as a rattle snake make its way up the arboretum entrance path. Because these creatures are just part of the southwest deserts, they are just picked up and moved to a new location, usually within a couple hundred feet from where they are found. All of the staff is trained on how to handle the snakes and there are numerous snake bins located in the arboretum. Because of our unique location, this is a great hunting area for predators such as snakes and coyotes, and much to Miss Laurie’s chagrin it is just the circle of life. Here are a couple our rattler photos.

The admissions booth was not busy today as we were under six hundred visitors, the heat could be part of the issue as we are very warm for the end of March. Seems strange having this kind of heat as our friends in Ontario are hunkering down for a spring snow storm, now I have to admit, that is one of those things that we do not miss at all. I was asked to remove a couple of the stainless steel shelves from the exterior of the admissions booth, in the direst sun they get hot enough to burn some one if they lean on them, and they also seem to be a collection area for too many things. As time goes on it seems that there was little to no thought used in the design of this admissions booth, windows on four walks cause horrific reflections on the screens making the hard to see, let alone the greenhouse effect from the sun, but those issues are way above our pay grade.

After our shift we had a happy hours at Tom & Kathleen’s coach, we were joined by Lincoln and Mary, and enjoyed a variety of beverages, before Tom & Kathleen served us a barbecued salmon dinner, yea this full-timing is a tough lifestyle, being retired and enjoying life to the fullest, here with our RV family and living our best life!

We made it back to the coach to watch the end of the Oscars, apparently just after the Chris Rock / Will Smith thing, one of the benefits to being on the west coast is that we get to see the end of the Oscars for once. As I’m working on the blog it is 8:30 as the Oscar’s is ending, and we prepare to watch something else before bed, not something we are used to doing from the east coast.

Monday and it was a five thirty start for me, and yes I got some kitty lap time following those precious morning treats. Wordle could have been a multitude answers but I got lucky. Today the temperatures will be much cooler than yesterday as we get back to seasonal temperature for this time in March, there is rain in tomorrow’s forecast, and it is so badly needed here in the desert. The lasto rain storm with a measurable amount of rain was back on New Year’s Eve, so to say things are dry is a real understatement, and the fire hazard is way too high to early in the season.

As we catch up on the news this morning, Mr. Sam is pacing as he wants some outdoor time, he loves watching the geckos from his tent. He can spend hours watching them as the scurry by just out of his reach. This game of kitty and gecko goes on for hours each day, hence Mr. Sam’s great desire to get outside to his tent. So after a fried cheese omelet I took Mr. Sam to his tent while I enjoyed my coffee on the patio.

So with rain scheduled for Tuesday, today is fix the skylight day, as I had indicated earlier, I was not happy with the with the thickness of the material used for the new dual pane skylight, it is held in place by 24 screw spread along the flange. When I put it in place and tried to tighten the screws this is what the seal looked like.

As you can see, the skylight mounting flange was not rigid enough to hold its shape, and when I spoke with Ray last week, I explained my concern, and that I suspected that I would have to add another twenty screws to get a better seal. Ray suggested installing metal strips to gain the rigidity that I was looking for, again that second option can be so valuable. So this morning I purchased four metal pieces, drilled holes to match the skylight holes and this was the result.

Now the skylight is sealed properly to the coach roof with butyl, and the butyl is being squeezed out evenly, I did need to use some longer and larger screw to pull it into position. But now I’m happy with the results, and I just needed to seal all the edges oand screws with Dicor, a self levelling sealant made for repairs such as this … finished product.

After a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, I put all my tools away in preparation for tomorrow’s rain, the we headed off to Costco for a supply run. This was the task that got put off last Thursday, after our last kayaking endurance test. We also needed a few other items so we stopped at Bashas’ in Gold Canyon, it was here that my afternoon went for the perverbial dump. As I was trying to exit the parking lot that I was involved in a collision, the exit from the lot is a high traffic area and the long and short of it I didn’t see a little car going too fast and there was a collission. Damage to the SportTrac was just the tow bar and shouldn’t be too bad to repair, when it gets repaired will depend if I can get the parts before we are ready to pull out.

Further inspection of the tow-bar has me thinking that the ends of the vehicle frame may also be bent, so my thought is that we will tow the SportTrac back to British Columbia before attempting any repairs. The last thing I need is to get held up at a repair shop, before our departure, so I have left it as an open claim with the insurance.

The wind and dust in Mesa was crazy this afternoon, on the news tonight they were talking about 50 mph (80 kmph), the debris flying along with dust clouds blocking out the view of the surrounding mountains, it was crazy, but dust storms are a real thing here in the southwestern desert and just like snow can limit visibility. So tonight was a barbecue night, sausages and salad for dinner, before settling in to watch some YouTube videos and one episode on This is Us, we are actually only a few episodes from being caught up, off to bed shortly after nine thirty. We are getting an occasional sprinkle this evening, but the real rain is forecast for tomorrow with wind.

Tuesday, well I woke this morning to the sound of a torrential down pour at 4 am, the winds were gusty over night, but the rain seems to have lightened to nothing now, it is now six o’clock and the sky is starting to brighten. Mr. Sam is on my lap, he really doesn’t like the rain, I’m not sure just why, but as the rain continues I just thinking about how badly we needed this rain here in the desert. As I look at todays forecast it calls for possible drizzle for most of the day, so I can see a walk in the Arboretum on our agenda this morning. Then there is no rain in the long range fourteen days according to the forecast, and the radar is showing little to no rain for the rest of the day, just a few possible scattered showers.

Well at eight o’clock and the sky has opened to more heavy rain, this time accompanied with lightning, never a good thing in a dry desert, but I have put that walk in the arboretum on the back burner for right now. Our weather app is indicating that we have received more than an inch of rain so far, which should mean that Queen Creek should be flowing when I get to the arboretum.

At eleven o’clock we finally headed to the arboretum, it appeared that we had a couple of hours before the next storm would roll through. It looks like we have received over an inch and a half of rain already and both Queen Creek and the Silver King Wash were flowing, thank goodness that the Benson Bridge over the Silver King Wash has finally re-opened. There has been a lot of damage done in the arboretum by the wind storm that accompanied the rain storm, with a number of broken branches and even a mature Joshua tree broken off.

Then we look past that damage and see so many of the cactus varieties budding, knowing the blooms are just a week or so behind, the Benson Bridge reopened just in time to allow access to the arboretum as the Silver King Wash was obstructing access from the main arboretum trail when we went for a walk today.

We of course stopped by the puya plant to check the bloom, and sadly there is not a big change from Sundays photo, but we will remain diligent to catch the first of the bloom.

At two o’clock and there is another thunder head is rolling through, not a lot of rain this time, but plenty of thunder, and really dark clouds. Queen Creek is running hard enough that we can hear it from the coach, for dinner tonight we are going out to Jalapeños in Superior, an authentic Mexican restaurant, we are meeting up with Rhonda and her granddaughter Olivia for dinner. We had meet Rhonda & Pat at a Beaver coach rally in Quartzsite in January 2020, and had also seen them two years ago in Tucson when the pandemic was just taking hold, sadly Pat passed away a year ago, so it was great to catch-up with Rhonda.

We made it back to the coach near eight o’clock, and watched a couple of YouTube videos, then an episode of This is Us, before heading to bed near ten o’clock, knowing that this day of rain will help the arboretum sustain itself for some time.

Wednesday and it was light when I woke, shortly after six, yesterday’s clouds have given way to Arizona blue skies, Mr. Sam meet me in the galley for his treats, and again I was rewarded with a little lap time. The lap time was short because Miss Laurie was up shortly afterwards and Mr. Sam was headed to the big bed, he will need a really big nap today because he a very stressful day yesterday, he has developed a fear of thunder storms and has even got to the stage off disliking any rain storm. Today’s Wordle was a tough one with multiple choices but I got lucky on the sixth attempt.

Today Rhonda and Olivia are coming to the arboretum this morning, for a guided tour by Miss Laurie, it is a beautiful day, with perfect weather, sunny, and the temperatures are in the low seventies (twenties), so Miss Laurie made us a cheese omelet before I retrieved the lawn chairs from the truck where I had put them to keep them dry from the rain. We normally don’t go to the arboretum at this time of day and I now know why we avoid this time of day, as there were people everywhere, but the park is looking better everyday as we prepare for a couple of major events at the arboretum this week.

We spent most of the afternoon on the patio, Mr. Sam watching the geckos, and Laurie and I watching the the birds, Hummingbirds, Orioles, and Laurie had put out some orange slices for the Orioles, but we had Gila Woodpeckers and Cardinals visiting the orange slices as well.

We had a quiet night with some television, before turning in for what we know will be a busy day tomorrow

Thursday and I’m awake early, the problem is I start thinking of all the things I need to accomplish, and then my mind is off and running, processing all sorts of different things, so falling back to sleep can be almost impossible, but Mr. Sam was ok with early treats, he always seems to be. Again today’s Wordle was a tough one, but I pulled it out it together to keep the new streak alive, so today is the last day of March and is going to be a busy day for us. But for now I’m catching up on the blog and enjoying some lap time from Mr. Sam, we are assisting with a donner event today, it happens this afternoon with tours of the refurbished Smith building and ends with a reception in the Taylor garden. I will be tending bar with Tom Anderson, and Laurie is manning the charcuterie table, it starts at at 3:30 and runs till 6:00, todays event is an open bar, and have approximately 75 donners.

A short walk in the arboretum this morning, after a toasted western sandwich, Queen Creek is still flowing, they have started to clean up the downed Joshua tree, lots of work going on in the picnic area, preparing for the spring concert on Saturday, many gardeners in many of the gardens as we prepare for the event this afternoon, and the Puya still has not bloomed.

This afternoon we are working, the donner event that is being held at the Taylor Legume garden, it was to be a tour of the recently refurbished Smith interpretive Center, a building that is over ninety years old and was the original greenhouses at the research center. The afternoon was catered, with an open bar, for the people that had made donations to the refurbishment. The tours started at 4:00 with the reception immediately after through till 6:00, after clean up we made it to the coach by 7:00. Dinner was some Costco barbecued chicken with a salad, before watching a couple episodes of This is Us and turning in just before 10:00.

Friday April the first and again I woke this morning to day light, right around six o’clock, Mr. Sam was glad to receive his treats, and I was feeling a little sore from the clean up last night, I guess I’m not used to slugging chairs, but most of the staff snuck out with out helping at all, leaving it up to very few of us to clean it up. Today is our first day in the admissions booth, so a bowl of cereal, a vitamin, of course a cup of coffee. And out the door around 7:45, today is always a challenge, as it is difficult to get the booth back to a workable condition, finding equipment, removing extra signs, getting terminals back up and running.

It was about an average Friday with a few more than six hundred visitors, and I would say the weather was about perfect, big blue skies, a light breeze and temperatures in the seventies (twenties), a great start to the month of April. We have not spent any time in Arizona in April, as we are usually headed east to Ontario, so we don’t know exactly what to expect from the weather, but if this any indication, I’m thinking it could be very good.

Dinner was barbecued burgers, followed by the most recent episode of This is Us, followed by a episode of a new Prime video series Outlaws, the journey is still out on that one, and we made it to bed before ten o’clock.

Saturday morning and it’s light out again, as I roll out of bed, Mr. Sam greets me in the washroom as I head to the galley, a few treats latter and I’m getting some lap time as I knock off todays Wordle. Today will be another hectic day for me, so some cereal, my coffee, with a vitamin and we had off to the admission booth at 7:45.

I didn’t get to check the Puya plant bloom today, but I was lucky enough to get a photo taken by Lincoln, so you get a glimpse of the partially opened flower. Until I can get back into the arboretum, either tomorrow morning or Monday at the latest.

There is a Spring concert going on today in the picnic area at the arboretum,, and I’m bar-tending again today, so at 10:15, I head back to the coach to get my shirt and tie and report for duty by 10:30. Todays event was to start at 11:00 in the morning, there was to be a food truck from Phoenix, then a single performer to put on a concert, and if the food truck had have arrived on time the day would have worked out much better. So many people ended up standing in line for the food and missed the whole first set of the performance

The problem is that the food truck created the problem but it is the arboretum takes the heat for their failure, the concert ended shortly after 2:00, and I helped clean up and stack chairs, to be put away. Miss Laurie managed the admissions booth on her own until I made it back to close out the second till. We had a happy hour with Tom & Kathleen before returning to the coach for chicken and salad again, before watching Shark Tank and American Idol.

I’m working on the blog, but I could be crawling into bed just as easy, a busy day and a few adult beverages I’m feeling very mellow, but I will try to finish tonight to meet the schedule. There is talk that we may be going back to a Thursday shift again, we have told the management that we are OK with what ever they need.

Let’s all hope for peace in Ukraine!

Blog 411

Day 1643

Sunday March 27th 2022

Sunday morning at six o’clock, and Mr. Sam meets me in the hallway, and he is trying to explain with some urgency the need for his morning treats, but it is my Friday Morning and I was more interested in a cup of coffee for me, but Sam got his treats and I got my coffee so all ended well. Miss Laurie was up by six thirty, and we watched Willie Geist, while consuming a bowl of cereal, before heading to the admissions booth. It is a overcast morning, which means it will be warmer than usual first thing, as the clouds trap in the warmth, but we do have rain and some wind in todays forecast.

The morning consisted of broken cloud cover with sunny interval’s, but that deteriorated as the day progressed, it was not as busy as we had hoped but we managed to keep our selves entertained watching the cardinals most of the morning. The afternoon dragged on and I headed to the coach at about three o’clock, leaving Laurie to complete our shift. I was hoping to see the end of the golf tournament, but with the time change on the east coast it was over by the time I got to watch.

We had planned a couple of adult beverages with the Andersons, this afternoon, but the weather was not co-operating with a strong west wind and some dark rain clouds heading our way, so we moved into the staff lunch room, which is in the laundry trailer. Miss Laurie made some chicken taco soup in the slow cooker today, it had been on all day so she brought some soup over for everyone to enjoy for dinner as no one was going to be barbecuing in the rain tonight.

Again let’s just touch on the rain in the desert issue, so far central Arizona has received less than half an inch of rain this year, so it still leaves most of Arizona in a very serious drought condition, and the State has been in that drought condition for twenty two years now. So we are by no means upset by the little sprinkle of rain we are getting this afternoon.

We got to the coach by seven o’clock in time to watch 60 minutes, then American Idol, as well as a couple of YouTube videos before turning in for a well deserved rest around nine thirty.

Monday morning and I was up too early, so I gave Mr. Sam his treats and after completing the Wordle of the day I went back to bed. And didn’t get up till after sunrise, then I grabbed a quick cup of coffee before we headed to the arboretum for a walk, it had been almost a week since my last walk, so lots of things have changed

After we returned to the coach for some breakfast and I have discovered an issue with the program that is the backbone of this blog, which in simple terms is pretty darn important to making this blog happen in a timely manner, this may or may not be the end result, let’s for now, just call it a work in progress.

Next on my agenda is the skylight, let me just say I’m tired of this particular repair, it has been a very long dragged out process, but today the new one is going into place. I’m not real happy with the new dual-pane skylight, it is not nearly as rigid as the original replacement, but seems to be very close to the original dual-pane that was cracked and leaking, I don’t like the position on the screw holes or the quantity of attaching holes available. It will be ok but will take some time to get it sealed properly on the butyl tape, but with some 90°F (32°C) days coming this week I will get it pulled into place and sealed properly.

After lunch, it was back to the battle of the blog program, and it is a battle I will come out on top of, but it may take a while, let me say that I’m still very happy with the program provider, I guess the issue is that because of the quantity of blogs that we have, I’m trying to get the program to do more than it was designed to do, and I may need to design my own blog site to work for me, and if so that will take a lot of my spare time.

We took another walk into the arboretum after closing this afternoon, after it closed with Tom & Kathleen, to see all the Yuccas that are in bloom, we also took a cold beverage and hiked to a high outlook to just sit and admire how beautiful this arboretum is, and as many growing pains as it may be having it is still beautiful and looks great to the visitors, and visitors stop at the admissions booth and tell us how amazing it was or they even upgrade their admissions ticket to a membership, to return again soon.

Dinner was some of the left over chicken taco soup with tortita chips, always a great dish because it eats more like stew than soup, we were too late for the world news but just in time for American Idol, and a couple more YouTube videos before crashing at near ten o’clock.

Tuesday morning and I slept in till six thirty, it was actually light when I woke, and Mr. Sam had already got his morning treats from Miss Laurie but now he wanted my spot on the big bed, the coffee was perking and I added a touch of the Irish nectar to my cup and sat down to access the start of of my Tuesday, I’m still working on the blog page, and I’m also adding constantly to try to keep up and avoid those marathon editing nights. Miss Laurie broke into her Cinnabon (the in case of emergency) stash a true sign that we will be getting back on the road soon.

After breakfast we decided to head over to the arboretum again, to walk some of the trails that we have not been on for a while, I also decided to wear my new hiking boots, fresh from Amazon a new pair of Sketcher hiking boots to fit my wide feet, and after what I would suspect to be 3 miles (5 kilometers) all is well, the odd little pinch of a new shoe but no hot spots or blisters, all good for new shoes.

So some might wonder why return day after day to the same place, well the reality is that it changes day to day, we have plants blooming that only bloom every so many years, so to see them change every day is an amazing thing. And almost every day we see a new migratory bird species, and the geckos are out of hibernation now and they are always entertaining as they fight for dominance of a sunning spot. Below are a few of todays photos, hope you enjoy.

A couple of barbecued hot dogs for lunch, then catch up on the blog while enjoying a cold adult beverage on the patio, the wind is a little gusty today so trying to stay under the awning, which we only have out around five feet to avoid wind damage, and it is proving a challenge. I spent most of the afternoon learning what is available in this weeks blog program, and while still not perfect seems to allow me to control much more than the last program did.

This afternoon’s distraction was Johnny & Milla packing up, they apparently have some family issues and have to leave early. And in the world of work-campers this seems to always be an issue, I guess it is not a lot different than regular staff issues, but we have learnt quickly that the reference from your previous position determines how quickly you get your next position. And it doesn’t take much for the prized positions to be out of reach, not fulfilling your contractual commitment is a big one, but I guess I’m just old school that way, “your only as good as your word” so if I commit to something, you can be sure that I will fulfill my commitment.

Speaking of commitments, apparently it’s happy hour at the Andersons and I’m apparently now late, so I pack up the laptop and grab a cold beverage and trek the twenty yards to Tom & Kathleen’s coach to discuss everything that is in need of discussion. Today’s topics varied from the health and safety meeting, which is usually a place for some epic stupid comments to surface, Kathleen is on the committee representing the volunteers, but just like most organizations they can get locked up by items that are likely never to happen. Or fall into the rabbit hole I like to refer to as the “what if” to often simple regular issues never get addressed because someone feel into the “what if” hole from which there is no return.

Oh something amazing happened today, remember last weeks sad credit card story, apparently I must have touched a nerve with my American Express customer service story as I received my new credit card this afternoon by courier. Let’s just leave this by saying, it was a shame that it took a colossal failure before they did the right thing.

Tacos for dinner tonight, followed by lots of YouTube videos, we are still not completely caught up, but we are a lot closer, as spring travel is starting for a number of the channels that we follow. We turned in at about ten o’clock, the overnight temperatures are climbing, but no windows open overnight yet.

Wednesday morning and I’m up at five thirty, Mr. Sam was still asleep in his bed on the dash, but it wasn’t long before he was looking for his treats, and as I settle into my chair I was honored with some lap time from the kitty. And it is right about now that I realize that I never completed yesterday’s Wordle breaking my 24 day streak, which is why my last streak got broke, so now you see what happens when I sleep in and don’t get my lap time with our kitty. It is quite windy again this morning, so I’m thinking it may not be a good day to be on the coach roof.

Ray & Karen are coming to visit again today, we were going to install the second SoftStart on the second air conditioner, as it is something that Ray is looking at possibly installing on his fifth wheel, but this may not be a good day to open up an air conditioner on the roof. But because the of the gusty winds today I decided today was not a good roof day, so we just enjoyed a day of conversation followed by a walk through the Arboretum below are a few photos of the park.

We went for dinner at the Silver King Smokehouse & Saloon, we headed there at around 4:30 to join Tom & Kathleen who went to get a table. Only to discover that a number of items were already sold out, so no brisket for Brian today. But we made the best of it with pork butt, smoked wings, loaded fries, and a wedge salad, and we brought home enough leftovers to make another dinner of pulled pork. Ray & Karen dropped us off at the gate of the arboretum before heading back to their park in Gold Canyon.

We were back at the coach in time to see the end of the news, before watching some more episodes of “This is Us”, we turned in early as we have a big day planned for tomorrow.

Thursday morning and I rolled out of bed at five thirty, Mr. Sam who is always glad to get his morning treats repaid me with that very valuable lap time. The Wordle, some email, and then to work on the blog, every day as I sit to review the previous day I realize just how lucky we are to live this lifestyle, and have such great friends. Breakfast today was a grilled cheese omelet, I remember the grilled cheese omelet being mentioned in conversation yesterday.

Today is a kayaking day, we are headed back to the Salt River, for another journey down the river, we are meeting Ray & Karen this morning, as this is the two vehicle adventure that had so much wildlife last time. This will be our last kayaking adventure with the Savino’s as they are heading out for their summer adventures the first of April.

The plan was to launch in the Salt River further upstream than the previous trip, our thought was that the current had been so much stronger the last trip that it should lengthen our journey. Well we totally succeeded in lengthening our adventure, and we took it from a journey to an endurance test, so let me explain. We packed up and headed out to meet the Savino’s in Gold Canyon at ten, the we drove to the new launch site, it was here that I realized that I had picked up the wrong set of keys to unlock our kayaks … looking back this was sign #2 that this was not a good idea, the #1 sign was our launch area, we had never launched here before and while there was current it didn’t seem as strong as the week before.

After some debate as to calling the adventure off, we decided that I would drive back to the coach and get the correct keys, so back to the coach I went, I returned around 12:30, we quickly carried the kayaks to the launch site, then Ray and I staged my truck at the exit point before returning to launch and start this adventure. So by the time we hit the water it was just after one o’clock, and that is when the adventure took a turn for the worst. We had not ventured far when we found ourselves walking in the river, dragging the kayaks, not what we had hoped or expected but some of the joys of the adventure.

At this point we seemed to gain an audience, there had to be fifty wild horses on the shore and at least a dozen people on the other shore with cameras, now we are back in deeper water but our path is blocked by the horses, but at least everyone is enjoying the horses for the time being, because the adventure just went downhill from there. We were in and out of the kayaks at least a dozen times before we made it to the previous weeks entry point. We now know that it is at this point that the Salt and the Verde rivers meet, and it was obvious the Verda river that had been supplying the big current the week before. So at least from here to the exit point there was good water, of course it was late afternoon so there was also some wind now as we paddled across open water to our exit point.

After we got out of the water and got our equipment packed up we went back to the entry point to get the other truck, and it’s now we are after five o’clock, we had planned on shopping for this week’s supplies but a cocktail and some dinner were now more important than supplies. So dinner at Red White and Brew was decided on so we ventured there to wait for a table, dinner was very good, but we all exhausted. We stopped at Bashas’ to pick up a few items to tide us over than headed for the coach, a shower and crawl into bed was all that was on my agenda tonight.

Friday morning just before six o’clock when I rolled out of bed, and I must admit I felt better that I expected, my shoulders were the most tender, with my calves being a close second. Let’s just say I’m glad to have a sit down job for the today, the temperatures are well above normal for March with today forecast to be above 90°F (30°C), so windows closed and the air conditioner turned on for Mr. Sam in the coach today as we head off to the admissions booth.

It was a slow day at the Arboretum today, just under six hundred visitors today, there was a wedding in the afternoon, a couple of school bus loads of students, but generally just an average day with lots of first time visitors, many of which are now members.

Saturday morning and I woke too early, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how I hadn’t done any thing on the blog since early Thursday morning. So I had to get up and start trying to piece the last couple of days together. A bowl of cereal, a vitamin, and a cup of coffee with a touch of Irish cream and we are headed off to the admissions booth.

Crazy busy at eight o’clock and by a quarter after eight I had checked in over fifty visitors, it appears that everyone is trying to beat the heat, as the forecast high for today is 94°F (31°C) which is well over the the normal temperatures for March in Arizona. As the day rolled along our day turned in to a regular day, but we had a strange encounter with one of the other volunteers, I guess strange and inappropriate would be the best description. First and foremost, we have one supervisor, and we do as we are asked, when we are asked, we volunteer for extra shifts when the center is short staffed, so it was very awkward when someone with no interest in the admissions booth stopped to explain how we should be doing our job. But it happened, and in retrospect I most likely should have told that person to just to move on and have the preverbal nice day, but I just listened as the suggestions rolled in, and what little respect I had for that individual disappeared in the verbal diarrhea.

Our day ended with our usual balanced tills, so I guess what we do is working, I watched a little golf, the world news, Miss Laurie made pizza for dinner, and we are settled in watching more episodes of “This is Us” as I plug away at this blog before turning in at the end of our hump day.

Be well, stay strong, & live your best life

Blog 410

Day 1636