Sunday March 6th, 2022

Sunday 5:05 am and I’m up, much to Mr. Sam’s delight, a fresh new bag of treats, actually the last bag that made the trip with us, and most likely will not last till the return trip back to Canada. My lap time was limited as we seem to have another uninvited guest, and appears to be getting Mr. Sam’s attention in the drivers area, so right now much of his time is spent looking up under the dash, we will hope this visitor leaves before he becomes Mr. Sam’s play toy. Breakfast this morning was a bowl of cereal, a cup of perked coffee with a wee touch of Irish Cream, along with some old fart vitamins to try and keep me healthy, and then off to help open up for what we hope will be a busy Sunday.

This morning there was a “Bird Walk” one of the many different guided tours offered at the Arboretum, the bird walk starts at 7:30 so it requires staff to be in early to cover their entrance to the park, so the visitor center was open when we got there, and Laurie helped open the store while I maned the admissions booth until around ten o’clock and when Laurie relieved me so that I could water the sale plants which is now over an hour long process. The second shift relived us at noon, so we packed up and headed back to the coach, for some lunch, today was a small  charcuterie with a cold beer.

There is a get together planned this afternoon at the grotto in the Wallace Garden , it is planned for around five this afternoon, as this is the last week for Trish & Peter, as they are leaving at the end of this week and heading back to their sticks and bricks on the east coast, and we try to get all the volunteers together on the last Sunday of each month, and as much as we all live in the same area, we don’t seem to get together, for what ever reasons and there are reasons, but at least everybody seem to play nice once a month. This gathering was not Miss Laurie’s doing, so that was nice that someone else took the initiative to plan it.

So we are going to Tom & Kathleen’s for some snacks and a cold beverage, before going to met up with the gang, just two months left in our commitment here at the Arboretum, and because the volunteers as a group have not been very social, there have been splinter groups, but on the whole, it has not been a close group at all, and that is ok, it was not designed to be a social event, seven couples from across the country brought together for a five month volunteer position, working different tasks throughout the park, we learnt more about Peter & Trish this evening as they prepare to head back to Massachusetts.

We returned to the coach at six thirty, and barbecued some chicken for dinner, as we watched 60 minutes, American Idol, and a YouTube video before turning in. The weather is turning around, and we didn’t turn on the electric heater tonight, we also didn’t open a window either.

Monday a much better 6:30 start to the day, much to Mr. Sam’s chagrin no early treats today and I was punished with no lap time, no, he headed straight to the warm spot on my side of the big bed. But that’s ok, I Finished up the revised “February Windshield View” and set it to publish on March 1st, I knocked off today’s Wordel, and Miss Laurie prepared french toast made with panetone, before we prepared to make a Costco run to Mesa.

The Costco we go to is always busy, and today was no exception, we found most items that we needed, I picked up some new shorts, not as cheap as the last pair but still only $17 per pair, a box of beer (Kilt Lifter) which has become the go to cold beverage this winter, more cereal, some meat and other necessities and we were back to the coach at the Arboretum shortly after noon. Tuna salad on a chobota bun for lunch, and then somehow, we made it over to Tom & Kathleen’s coach for a couple of cold beverages. We decided to head into the arboretum at five o’clock to inspect a hummingbird nest located near the Smith building, then headed to the Wallace Garden to see the Joshua tree that is out in bloom, because of the height of the tree it was almost impossible to get nice photos, so we may try again with the drone on another evening to get a photo.

Burgers on the barbeque for dinner tonight, then catch up in what the Russian idiot has been up to today, then just some regular television, before catching up on a few YouTube videos and turning in near ten o’clock, no heater again tonight but still not warm enough for open bedroom windows yet.

Tuesday and it’s the 1st of March, 5:45 and Mr. Sam and I are both up for totally different reasons, mine nature induced, Mr. Sam’s strictly food motivated. Unlike last week our overnight temperature was 52°F (10°C), again no heater overnight, and I got enough lap time to get through today’s Wordle before Mr. Sam headed to the bedroom as Miss Laurie got up. I decided to head to the arboretum for a walk shortly after seven o’clock, there was a easterly breeze, but not a cloud in the sky, we are still a few weeks early for the start of the cactus bloom.

This morning’s walk showed some trees that seem to have burst into leaf almost overnight, and that new growth is almost incandescent in the morning sunshine. A walk filled with the song of many birds, and the glow of the morning sunshine, highlighting plants in the Arboretum.

There is still lots of blooms on multiple different species happening in the arboretum, with most the bloom still being on the aloe in the “South African Exhibit“, that also attracts many of the hummingbirds to that area, we are now seeing different hummingbird species, as the spring migration begins.

I made it back to the coach shortly after eight o’clock, Miss Laurie prepared fried eggs for breakfast and I proceeded to replace the vinyl insert on the gutter that runs the length of the coach, the gutter is an aluminum extrusion that is used to attach the roof and the wall of the coach together, so under the vinyl strip there are pop-rivets and screws, there were signs of rust which would indicate moisture, it is the same vinyl strip used in the extrusions on the side of the coach that make up part of the hinge for the basement doors, so I replaced a couple of shrunken pieces on the left side of that extrusion as well. I should have enough left to replace the vinyl on the right-side gutter as well. But with the temperatures climbing up near 80°F (27°C), I will tackle the right-side another day.

The big news for the day besides being March 1st, or Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gra, is that we have a ferry passage booked to get onto Vancouver Island for May 12th 2022. We decided to go with the Blackball Ferry Lines out of Washington State on the recommendation of RV people that make this journey often, the route to the ferry is much more scenic, and most the traffic is is that of the ferry users coming and going, unlike around Vancouver City in British Columbia, where traffic is often very heavy. It also allows us to load as one connected unit as opposed to having to disconnect the toad to board the Canadian ferry, it’s a few dollars more but will be a lot less aggravation.

Also, on the good news front, as of yesterday we only have to have a negative antigen test one day before our departure from the States as opposed to the more expensive PCR test done 72 hours before travel, there is also a new “ArriveCan” app that we need to use to re-enter Canada now, but I have a little more than two months to figure that out.

Dinner tonight was a Jambalaya with shrimp, sausage, grilled peppers and brussel sprouts, on a bed of rice, it had some heat but was very good, then some television to catch up on the Putin’s un-provoked war, then on to the season ending episode of 1883 before watching the end of the “State of the Union” address by president Biden, then prepared for bed. And it still amazes me just how broken the American society is, so much negativity, so much divide, so very very sad to watch the destruction. Glad we will miss much of the negativity this summer as America prepares for the midterms, and the restrictions being put on the voters in Republican States, kind of like all the voter fraud lies from the last election, so it appears, if we can’t win we’ll just try and restrict the voters until we do.

Wednesday and a very early start to the morning, a nature call at 4:10, and I was greeted by Mr. Sam, with anticipation of his morning treats, and after no lap time yesterday, I thought what the heck, I can knock off today’s Wordle then crawl back into bed. But the Wordle was just a two guess one this morning so I thought just a couple of paragraphs of the blog before returning to bed, but just as I was going to head for the bed Mr. Sam came back for some additional lap time.

Well I never made it back to bed, which is ok, as it is a beautiful sunny day starting and we are expecting the temperatures today to set new record high temperatures around the State today, hard to believe we got snow just a week ago. Toast and eggs for breakfast this morning, catch up Vadiot Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, which will destroy the Russian economy as the world starts to isolate Russia. Yes another egotistical leader that will end up destroying his own country, because he was scared of who knows what … a real “Wack-Job“.

Today I’m going to Gold Canyon to help Ray re-wire the batteries on his fifth wheel trailer, he added three 100 amp lithium batteries some time ago, and he also added a higher amperage converter/charger, the intent was to allow them to boondock a few days at some NHRA race events, but as it appears that they will need to do more boondocking this summer because of the lack of full hook-up on some of their travel routes. Ray has no Solar, but he does have a pair of 2000 watt generators to operate air conditioners and recharge the lithium batteries that are required to operate the residential style refrigerator.

What he had discovered was that if his 300 amp/hr batteries were at 50% (150 amp/hr) it was taking hours to recharge them, so when he asked me why, I explained that there had to be a voltage drop between the 85 amp converter/charger and the 300 amp/hr batteries. After checking, Ray discovered a 0.8 voltage drop and while that does not sound like very much, that amount, when charging 12 volt batteries it is substantial. Without the voltage drop it should have taken just a little more than an hour and a half for his 85 amp converter/charger to recharge his 150 amp/hr batteries from a 50% charge, in a perfect world an 85 amp charger running for 1.5 hours should put 127.5 amps (85 X 1.5 = 127.5) back into the lithium batteries.

Now you may ask why isn’t that happening? Let me try to explain, the 85 amp/hour converter/charger is what is referred as an “Intelligent” charger, what this means is that the charger itself can detect what type of battery it is connected to, allowing it to determine the proper charge pattern and rate. All of my research has brought me to believe that the charger determines the battery type and therefore the charge rate based only on voltage alone, so here is where that voltage drop comes into effect.

Our task today is to reduce the number of connections in the charging circuit, then also increase the size of the wire in that circuit as well, that technically should reduce the voltage drop allowing the “intelligent” charger to detect the true battery voltage and allow it to recharge the batteries more quickly. One of the main misconceptions when discussing the charge level of a battery is that a 12 volt battery is 12 volt when 100% charged and 6 volts when 50% charged, but the reality is that a 12 volt battery is 12.6 volts when 100% charged and 12.06 volts when 50% charged, that’s what makes that 0.8 voltage drop very important and enough to cause the charger to not charge the batteries properly.

Well we had a few hiccups with todays project, but nothing that we were unable to overcome, and the initial results seem to have proven my theory. There were a few items had to be ordered to complete the the project, so a plan was made to complete the task next Wednesday. With only one battery presently connected to the circuit, Ray has already seen a marked improvement in the recharge amperage produced by the charger, as we are hoping to cut his generator run time in half or more. After some lunch we headed back to the coach and we’re able to get in before the gate closed.

We had a beverage with Tom & Kathleen for happy hour before retiring to the coach, for a chicken sandwich, and just some regular television before turning in at nine o’clock for a well earned rest.

Thursday and again I’m up for a call of nature at 4 am, in fact Mr. Sam didn’t even get up for his treats, I knocked off today’s Wordle on the second guess again, seems to have been a very good week so far, touch wood, I have caught up on the blog as well this morning before heading back to bed, just to wake a couple of hours later to the snoring of one Mr. Sam who was now curled up on Miss Laurie’s side of the bed.

A pepper omelet this morning for breakfast, along with a fresh perked cup of coffee, kind of a day of rest, I seem to have a few aches and pains from yesterday’s fun, it’s a warm sunny day in Arizona 82°F (25°C) so I decided today wasn’t going to be a good roof day, but it is getting warm enough that running the air conditioner is not too far in the future. Some of you may remember that last fall before we left Ontario that I purchased a couple of “SoftStart” units for the air conditioners on the coach, so today I unpacked them and started to do some research on how to install them.

Miss Laurie is painting some Lake Huron stones, while I watched some how to YouTube videos, on the SoftStart units, seems like simple enough operation, most videos say 30 to 60 minutes, I will get more into the specifics of its operation when I install them, seeing the difference on the meter will be the most effective method of showing the benefits of these modules. I heard another truck pull in so I headed up to help unload another truck load of plants for the sale.

It was a bit of a lazy afternoon, Mr. Sam and I sat outside on the patio watching the hummingbirds, making their way around the aloe blooms in the garden beside our coach. We have now got some rufous hummingbirds as well as some black-chin hummingbirds, to add a little competition to the anna’s hummingbirds which have enjoyed the feeders all to themselves over the winter. After a dinner of barbecued chicken, rice and some Swiss Chalet sauce, we went for a short walk through the park

Our walk time was short before another beautiful Arizona sunset, we finished the evening with the next two episodes of the marvelous Mrs. Mazel, before turning in for the evening, no heater, even windows open in the bedroom overnight.

Friday a 5:30 start to the day, Mr.Sam was ready for his morning treats and I got some lap time with Mr. Sam before he moved to the big bed as Miss Laurie got up. Another amazing sun rise, but Miss Laurie thinks she has enough photos of sunrises already (kind of like Lake Huron sunsets). It’s a bowl of cereal and a one cup of coffee morning, as we start at 8 am this morning, there is a weather front rolling in, so windy, with a few scattered showers for today and tomorrow.

Our admissions booth has had another update, the addition of a second terminal to check in members, should help speed up the check-in process during the busy times. Today was not busy with only a few more than 450 visitors today, so Miss Laurie helped label sale plants this morning while I worked admissions, the Laurie worked admissions while I watered all the sale plants.

After a lighter day at work, we made it back to the coach, shortly after four o’clock, to kick back for a while, Miss Laurie made chicken Quesada’s for dinner, we also had some home made salsa, made by Chris one of the fellows we work with at the Arboretum. Then we caught up on Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, now this “Wack-job” is censoring the press in Russia, claiming “Fake News”, it’s been a couple of years since we have heard that line. After all he wouldn’t want the Russian people to know why their country is being even more isolated then ever and as western stores are closing up as the Russian Rouble is now worth less than an American penny now.

Putin is such a tyrant that he is having his army attack residential housing, schools, hospitals, making him one huge piece of human waste! So explain to me if you can why are some Americans still going on about how great Putin is? On the other hand, most seem to be the same republicans that are also support of the white supremist, these are things that make me stop to ponder what the hell are they thinking?

Saturday a little later start this morning than normal, Miss Laurie was already up, so when I gave Mr. Sam his treats, he was off to the recently vacated big bed, so no lap time for me this morning. We had a few showers overnight, not enough rain to even be measurable, and there is a 5% chance for showers today, the winds have laid down, but the temperatures have also went down with a high of 66°F (17°C) forecast for today. A bowl of cereal, a cup of fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish Cream, and out the door for a eight o’clock start again this morning.

We are expecting a very busy day today, with no less that 7 arboretum planned events, as well as a wedding, plus all the regular visitors, this could prove to be a very hectic day. And it did have some hiccups this morning, it is wonderful that all these event are planned, it is just a shame that they don’t bother to tell admissions where the events are happening, or whether the event ticket includes arboretum admission, little things that maybe the admissions booth should know, just a few more growing pains, that will need to be worked out.

All in all it was a good day, our visitor count was just over seven hundred today, the second admissions window is helping relieve some of the line-ups but because the second window doesn’t have a credit card machine, which has caused some issues for members with guests wanting to pay with a credit card. Again there seems to be a bottle neck when it comes to credit card machines with only three being available one in the membership office, one in the store, and one in the admissions booth. There is a need for at least two more machines, again just growing pains.

By four o’clock we were ready to get our feet up, to catch up on the Ukrainian war with the Russian “Wack-job“, before Miss Laurie made some pizzas in the Ninja air fryer, they are so good that there has not been a pizzeria craving for some time. So with our new work schedule we have one more eight hour day to go, so expect this to be an early evening. We just caught up on YouTube videos and Miss Laurie headed for bed by nine o’clock, and I’m just finishing up this weeks blog.

Be well, stay safe, remain strong Ukraine

Blog 407

Day 1615

Sunday February 27th, 2022

Sunday morning and it’s just a few moments after five o’clock, and already Mr. Sam is curled up on my lap after his morning treats, and I’m waiting for something inspirational to hit me so that I can get it typed into the opening line of this weeks blog. And to be honest, I got nothing this morning, there are so many things on the go right now in our world, and it’s kind of like a big game of Tetris and there is still one block that could cause this whole plan to fall apart. Just like right now Miss Laurie has just woken and Mr. Sam has left my lap for a snack and then he is headed to the bedroom, so my lap time is over.

Wordle has become a bit of an annoyance in my life, I’ve always enjoyed puzzles, and this one was started during the pandemic, and while I was waiting for something inspirational to strike me this morning, I knocked off today’s puzzle and still nothing inspirational. Wordle is a guessing game where you try to guess the five letter word, so you have to pick the starting word, which can be any five letter word. But then there is a lot of thought that goes into that opening word, which letters combined to have the best chance of matching some letters in todays word. With 26 letters in the alphabet and only 6 chances to guess the correct word you have to choose carefully.

🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ TEACH
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ TACKY
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ TACOS
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 TACIT

For the those of you that haven’t played this game, congratulations on avoiding the latest craze and the most recent thing to give people something to complain about, as the most recent curflufal is because of Wordle’s use of a letter twice in a word, which has everyone calling foul. As you can see today’s Wordle word had a double letter, and now you know one of my favourite starting words.

So as we are enjoying a cup of coffee with a wee touch of Irish Cream while watching Sunday Morning with Willie Geist, and I’m getting a start on this weeks blog. This mornings sunrise is starting to look like it could be spectacular as there are some unusual Arizona clouds this morning, it’s not photo worthy yet but I will add a photo if it becomes photo worthy.

So this could be our last working Sunday morning, we will have to wait and see what the new schedule brings our way, our time at the arboretum is down to 70 days as of today, leaving me looking ahead with a little sadness, our time here has been amazing, and if anything this will be a wake up call to keep us exploring the arboretum everyday till we head out on May 1st.

Well today was busy to say the least, I was averaging over a visitor a minute until Laurie spelled me off so I could go and water the sale plants and that task took forever because of such low water pressure today. Today will be a high attendance day, that is for sure, and we were glade to escape the booth at noon. Back to the coach for a HCT (Ham, Cheese & Tomato) sandwich, that just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way a BLT does it, but the sandwich was very tasty.

Not sure what exactly will be happening this afternoon, but I am pretty sure it will involve cocktails, and relaxing time in the sunshine. So six hours later and that was pretty much how the afternoon unfolded, beverage’s, snacks, more beverages, and people dropping by has become customary on our patio on Sunday afternoons, and as I look back at the afternoon and evening from the next morning, I’m thinking we missed dinner, as the last visitor left at about 8:30. So this Sunday is coming to an end just a couple of YouTube videos before turning in for the night, and still no real inspirational message.

Monday and Mr. Sam is on my lap after his treats this morning, while I check emails and knock of today’s Wordle, there are a few scattered clouds in this mornings sky, it seems that we are in line for a winter storm here in Arizona. The “SNOW” word has been mentioned on some of the weather reports for our area, if it happens I’ll post a photo, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it could be a bit of a crazy week weather wise. But there is still warm weather being forecast for the upcoming weekend.

As the weather is looking to deteriorate later this week, I’m thinking some time in the arboretum today would be nice, but it is also a holiday today (Presidents Day) so the arboretum could be crazy busy, so maybe a small walk early this morning and again later this afternoon might be the plan. So Miss Laurie and I headed to the arboretum for a stroll through the park, lots of birds this morning and such a peaceful walk, we thought it would have been busier first thing, but we’re thrilled to find it very quiet, I just captured a couple of photos from this mornings walk.

Breakfast this morning was panetone sliced thin enough to be made into French toast, and with a coffee blessed with a little Irish cream, a great start for a Monday. I got back up on to the coach roof to install the new vent covers, I also realize that the skylight that I had ordered is going to be more complex than I had initially expected, so some more research on this repair is needed and I will reveal more on that topic later.

We had planned to try some new green chili sausages with Tom & Kathleen on Sunday evening for dinner, but as things unfolded that just didn’t happen, so for lunch today we enjoyed trying these sausages for lunch today with the Andersons. These were sausages that we had purchased at the “Pork Shop” and we did enjoy the flavour added by the green chilies, and while having some heat they were still mild enough to be very tasty.

After lunch I finished my work on the coach roof for today, and positioned everything to prepare for the higher winds that are forecast for this afternoon. I wandered up to the visitor centre to check on this weeks schedule, which will be the same this week but might change for next month, I was also told that there would be a truckload of plants arriving tomorrow and they could use some help to unload it as it was a major shipment. I agreed to assist with the unload tomorrow and headed back to the coach.

Miss Laurie made a stir fry with chicken for dinner, and after the news we caught up on a couple of YouTube videos before watching the most recent episode of 1883, before turning in for the evening.

Tuesday and I’m up before six o’clock again, Mr Sam was thrilled as that meant early treats for him, and again my repayment was some Mr. Sam lap time as I checked emails, then guessed the Wordle word of the day on my second guess, most likely more good luck than good planning on my part, now I’m trying make sense of this weeks blog notes, which right now are just some scattered thoughts like little notes on scraps of paper that I had already gathered. It is becoming very obvious that my mind seems to be a scary place to visit or explore. But I will try to put something together out of all these scattered thoughts.

So on today agenda at this point, is a quick check of the roof in preparation for the rain tomorrow, then help unload a truckload of sale plants, then Ray & Karen are scheduled to be visiting about lunch time for a walk in the arboretum, and then lunch at the smokehouse with both Ray & Karen and Tom & Kathleen. This mornings breakfast was a green chili omelet, with toast, Miss Laurie mixes it up everyday, so breakfast this morning had a little attitude and a cup of fresh perked coffee with a splash of Irish cream, its hard to beat.

I headed up to the visitor centre around 9:30 to help with the first of many trucks that will be delivering plants in the next couple of weeks. All the empty tables will be filled for the plant sale, and we made a good run at filling a few tables today after unloading this tractor trailer, with much of the staff there lending a hand to make it as quick and easy as possible. Every plant had to be moved by hand, some of the future trucks will have the plants on wheeled racks that can be unloaded with a power tailgate, but none of those luxuries today.

I got back to the coach by 11:45 with just enough time for a quick shower before the arrival of the Savino’s, it is a cooler day, but we are still getting sunny intervals between the clouds, so a bit of an unusual day for Arizona. We had planned a late lunch/early dinner at the Silver King Smokehouse, we had planned on hooking up with the Anderson’s for lunch as well, a couple of reasons besides enjoying everyone’s company. The Savino’s are planning an Alaskan trip and the Andersons had done that trip recently, and the Andersons have been full time RV’s almost twice as long as both the Savino’s and ourselves, so there is always lots to be learnt from experience.

Ok first things first, the brisket was excellent, the ribs were very meaty, and the smoked turkey was tender and moist at the Silver King Smokehouse & Saloon in Superior, we had failed to get any of the barbecue on last visit, and that’s why we have returned so quickly to sample these smoked meats that everyone has been craving about. Besides the great smoked meats, it was good to see Kathleen and Karen exchanging information and ideas not only about Alaska but many of the northwestern states that they visited or where they hope to soon explore. You learn quickly in this lifestyle that talking with people that have “been there done that” can save you costly mistakes as well as hours of research weeding through so much of the garbage on the internet. The day could only be described as a success, having spent the afternoon with Ray & Karen and them meeting Tom & Kathleen who have proven to be a wealth of information and helpful as time goes on.

Because of the rain that was forecast for the overnight, I put away our patio chairs and most of the things from the patio away. No need for dinner tonight, as we are still full from that barbecue at lunch, just some snacks as we take in the news, as well as the forecast for the upcoming winter storm before catching up on a couple of YouTubers, and then watching the first couple episodes of “The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel” which is in its fourth season now and always entertaining.

Wednesday morning and we are still waiting for the “WINTER” storm to hit our area of Arizona, it was originally forecast to give us a rain event overnight, but at 7:00 am we have received nothing, so the revised forecast is now calling for rain/snow for late this afternoon, I have put the patio chairs away so we may not get any rain, but either way it is a cold overcast start to the day. This is what makes Arizona such a unique state, with snow ploughs trying to keep I-40 open for travel, as the area around Flagstaff is getting an actual real snow storm, and there is a section of the interstate I-40 highway that is closed right now.

It was a six o’clock when Mr. Sam received his treats and had just settled onto my lap when Miss Laurie woke, cutting my cuddle time down to almost nothing. Mr. Sam has retired to the bedroom for a big nap on the big bed, so most likely won’t see him until around ten, which actually sounds like a good time to rise.

Toasted bacon sandwiches for breakfast this morning, one of my favourites, actually anything with bacon is good, so after a couple of cups of coffee, we decided that we should go for a walk in the arboretum before the rain started, and we did wander around a little bit, but it was cold and quite breezy, so it was a short walk. And on the way back to the coach, Miss Laurie got asked to help unload a truck load of cactus and succulents, and not wanting me to miss out on the fun, she offered my services as well. It was just a partial truck load and many hands made the work light, so it was only around a half an hour of actual unloading after a half an hour of waiting for the truck.

We just made it back to the coach when the rain started, and while not a heavy rain it was fairly steady, a small chuqutery for lunch and I decided to get the bedroom television switched over to our America streaming service and as it was downloading the apps we noticed a few snow flakes floating by the window. And by 2:30 we were in a full blown winter storm Arizona style, enough snow to accumulate on the plant life and with the temperature dropping to 36°F (2°C) it should stick around long enough to allow a couple of photos a little latter.

Not you average Arizona afternoon, but one that will be a topic of conversation for a few weeks to come, so here is the deal, it’s all about elevation, and while the snow was supposed to hit from 3000 feet of elevation and up, we are at 2400 feet and we’re just lucky enough to get snow. Lots of staff members out and about taking videos, and photos, as snow at this elevation is not real common, and may only happen every few years.

This afternoon was more of a hibernate in the coach and stay warm kind of afternoon, and while I did venture out for a couple of photos, the sky is so overcast that I couldn’t see the mountains beside us, and as I look at the future radar forecast it look like we could be on the edge of the rain/snow mix line for three or four hours yet, a good evening for the spaghetti that Miss Laurie has cooking in the slow cooker, and if this keeps up I may have to find some pants to wear, jus’saying.

Spaghetti always a good cold weather comfort food and was tonight’s dinner, followed by some YouTube videos, and a new series on Prime Video “Coyote” while not an outstanding series, it has been a reasonably good watch, all about the Mexican border a retired border control officer. Then I snuggled into bed with the mattress warmer turned on, to keep me warm and toasty.

Thursday morning and I woke to the sound of the coach boiler running, which meant that the coach basement thermostat must have triggered it to fire up, that was about 6:30 and Mr. Sam was on a mission to get us up. I believe his efforts were two fold first he wanted his morning treats and he also wanted my warm spot on the bed for his nap, it was cold in the coach this morning at only 52°F (10°C), and that was with the electric space heater on all night. By 7:25 the sun was hitting the side of the coach and we are starting to feel the warmth of that Arizona sunshine.

It has been entertaining this morning watching the locals trying to clear a heavy frost off of vehicle windows, ice scrapers and snow brushes are not normally required equipment here in Arizona’s low lands. Another thing we have noticed travelling around the States are how each State describes their areas differently. Because the largest population is in the Phoenix area we get all their terms. High country is basically the north Arizona area above 4000 feet, east and west valleys are the areas either side of Phoenix it self, low lands are the areas above the valleys but under that 4000 foot level, then the Colorado River valley which is the western edge of the State and always gets very strong winds from the north.

So Miss Laurie wants to try and gather more Apache tears today, her theory is that after a rain they will be easier to find, and my thinking was to go to the caves where everyone else is mining for them. Either way she is trying to decide if the weather is going to cooperate, my thoughts are that if the sun is out it will be more than warm enough, but it will be her choice. Coffee, fried eggs and toast, and the decision has been made, we are heading out for more Apache tears at eleven o’clock, the hike up the Perlite Road was just as long of grade as I remembered and we found the caves where everyone mines for the tears, it was quite a large area, but I picked my little spot and proceeded to mine for tears. I found patience was a virtue and I was able to extract a number of large tears without ever leaving the one area, I now know what tools would make the process quicker and easier, so maybe next time.

The day was sunny and seemed warm enough, and shortly after three o’clock we headed back down the trail to find the truck and make it back to the coach just before the entrance gate closed at four o’clock. As we made our way back we noticed that most of the snow covered peaks of the morning were now just peaks the snow was gone just as fast as it came. I had been feeling achy all day, just not my normal self so on our return I tried the community shower so I could soak in the hot water for some relief, and then just settled into my recliner for the evening. Some television before settling for the night, another cold evening made bearable by our mattress warmer

Friday and I’m up way too early, 3;30 and I’m just awake for some reason and couldn’t get back to sleep, and today’s Wordle will have a lot of people cranked up today, with two letters being used twice, the inhumanity of it all, it wasn’t until my third guess that I got one letter, but I managed to guess the word on my fifth attempt, I hope this is not an indication of the day to come. Today is an nine hour day, a sunny but maybe a little bit of a cool start for an Arizona days, but I have given up on trying to forecast how busy we will be or not be.

Coffee and cereal this morning, and catch up on who the Russian Dictator has bombed and killed today, it seems like it’s about time to isolate him and his Chinese friends, which again brings to light our dependence on Chinese imports, and as much as the Americans talk about buying American, they are crippled when that offshore pipeline meant empty shelves, why are we buying groceries supplied by China?

Wow that almost turned into a rant, and this early on a Friday morning, sorry about that. today is going to be a long day, we are having a members twilight evening at the park, so the Arboretum will be cleared of visitors and then we reopen for members and their guests who must be accompanied by a member. So what that means is we are on shift till five o’clock instead of four o’clock, not a big deal but still an extra hour on the end of an eight hour day, and while we think these events are wonderful, and makes a great membership perk. The downside is that there is little to no communication between departments, so when we were asked what was being planned for the evening we had no answers, just one more growing pain to get resolved.

After arriving back at the coach close to 5:30, and Miss Laurie is preparing spagetti leftovers for tonight’s dinner, tonight will be feet up till bed time, the news. the shark tank for Laurie, while I plug away on the blog, it seems to have been a hectic week, with some crazy weather thrown into the mix.

Saturday and Mr. Sam met me in the hallway at 5:45 this morning to guide me to the galley where his treats are stored, after which I was allowed to continue my original task. A few moments latter I was awarded with some ever valuable lap time with Mr. Sam, another cold morning in the desert but not a cloud in the sky as dawn breaks. Today’s Wordle gave me a little issue but I managed to get it on the fifth attempt, and as we start at 8 o’clock this morning, no time left to work on this weeks blog before work. It’s a few minutes after nine and I’m busy typing on my phone between visitors as I man the admissions booth, hoping to get caught up before tonignt.

My method of trying to put together the weekly blog is to add key items to each day as it happens and depending on what is happening on that day the entry could be as short as one word, or a couple of complete paragraphs, then at days end or the next morning I attempt to make it readable. Some days and weeks that works better than others, and this week seems to be falling into the other category. But I have committed to publish this blog by midnight so I figured I better get to work, and it is not busy yet so I’m making good progress.

Then we got slammed, lots of visitors, lots of projects to complete in preparation for the plant sale, which is less than two weeks away, plants being moved, priced, and moved again, and then the watering that it takes everyday over two hours today alone, and that was after watering yesterday as well. It’s dry here in Arizona, and potted plants sitting in the sun and the low humidity, it’s amazing how they dry out so fast, I will be whooped tonight when we get back to the coach. So we now have our new work schedule, Starting in March we will work 24 hours a week, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, each day from 8 am to 4 pm, they just think we handle stress of the busy times better, and it was just four hours more a week so its no big deal.

Tonight’s dinner was whisky cherry smoked sausage, some more from the Pork Shop, with fried rice, very tasty, mild heat, with big chunks of cherry, excellent smoke flavour, and worth a do over, we were both pretty well beat tonight so catching up on the latest on Russian war, followed by a couple of YouTube videos before the latest two episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel. Miss Laurie has headed off to bed and I’m finishing off this blog, and as I look back on the week I’m still looking for something inspirational, maybe for next week at this point.

Stay safe & warm. Spring is only 22 days away.

Blog 406

Day 1608