Lazy Days in AZ

We have not done much in sight-seeing for the past 2 months, just getting accoustomed to where we are and how we live. The weather is warming up, mid to high 80's during the day, mid 50's at night. We have heard the coyotes a couple of nights, but the stars! Amazing! We did get our park model delivered and we have ownership of it now and for the past 10 days we have been busy with putting up hooks, shelves, little of this, little of that. Re-arranging the living area, taking out everything in the cupboards in the kitchen and redoing it, trying to figure out what is best in terms of dining table (we are using a card table and folding chairs for now), but loving every minute of it. So different in a park model versus an RV - we even have a garbage disposal! Are we spoiled, or what? I asked Dave when he is going to go out and dump - something we don't have to do in this place, but will have to relearn this when we get back into the RV. As for Chip and Grace - they are loving it too. The picture above is from the door of the bedroom looking in as they are laying in the sun, and Grace is doing her weird sense of laying - with her head lower than her butt. Silly cat. Chip is doing okay, I load him up with laxatives in the morning and evening meal and he hates taking it - but there is no choice. He has lost weight but I think he has stabilized. I don't mind feeding him alot of food - he isn't gaining. Chip now weighs about 12 pounts - way down from his 18. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, is quite active and jumps and runs all over. We are happy. However, when we take off to go to Montana sometime around the middle of May - we shall see how he does. If he begins to crash, we will head back here. Will get Chip and Grace to the vet before we go - to make sure they are okay. Getting excited - will have our first official guest here the end of April when my sister flies in for a long weekend while Dave flies to Florida and then drive to Cleveland from there (helping Phyllis home), then staying about 5 to 6 days more to visit with family, home the 7th of May. Then we will pack up and head to Montana, providing Chip is doing okay by May 15th. Starting to get the hitch-itch. Watching folks here pull out to go back to their summer homes - Alaska, Kansas, Montana, British Columbia, Colorado, to name some of the places they depart to. And there are a number of folks who live here all year!

Battle of Picacho Peak

This past Sunday we went to our neighbor's property, the Picacho Peak State Park, and watched the reenactment of the Civil War battles of the Southwest. Three separate battles were reenacted there, the Battle of Valverde, NM; the Battle of Glorieta, NM; and the Battle of Picacho Pass, AZ, all served the purpose of paving the way for the opening of Santa Fe Trail. We got to the state park at 9am when the gates opened and walked around the camps of the Confederate Troops - of Texas, and then wandered through the Federal camp of the Northern States. We were impressed with the 250 plus volunteers - men, women, and children - who put in their time, effort, money and travel time to do reenactments. When the volunteers are not doing these three reenactments, most travel to the eastern states and participate in those. The battle of Picacho Pass, fought on April 15, 1862 - which is the 150th year anniversary this year. Although this battle was a draw when both sides withdrew from the skirmish after an hour with few fatalities and wounded, the historical aspects of being the western most battle of the Civil War lasts. We watched an artillery demonstration which the solders explained each of the jobs of the battery, and then commenced with firing the cannons. These cannons are reproduction but deliver the same extremely loud noise and compression of air! And each of the firearms used by the men are also reproductions but with no ammo loaded. Still, pretty convincing. Women also were at the reenactment as nurses, wives of the men, seamstresses, laundry lady, women who like today's groupies - follow a rock band around - those women followed the troops and their roles were to 'entertain' the men, if you get my drift. We saw children also dressed in period costume, even one little girl who was dressed in period costume and selling lemonade - yes, I was a sucker and bought her lemonade, saw doctor (medic) running around the battlefield, young boys who were with a regiment and were drummers or fifers to keep the spirits up of the fighting men. Mounted cavalry were also present. And the cavalry was from Fort Huachuca (pronounced Who-a-cha-ca....like an Indian chant - who-a-cha-ca, who-a-cha-ca) which is near Tombstone, where the Buffalo Soldiers were first enlisted and to this day, the Fort is home to Buffalo Soldiers and the Mounted Cavalry of the United States. Fort Huachuca is an active Army base today with it's main mission in communications and also active drone missile program. The term Buffalo Soldiers was a nickname of the Black Men who served in the Army during the Civil War, and the Indians said they looked like the buffalo since their hair was short and curly just like the buffalo. I really enjoyed Sunday's experience. We have been near another reenactment in Ohio, the battle of Lakeside-Marblehead, while we were camping at East Harbor State Park in Ohio. We will never forget Abe Lincoln walking around handing out copper pennies to children - something he was known for. How life-like was that? As I look back on the pictures of Sunday, I get a chuckle - you see people sitting on the side of the mountain watching the reenactment while in the same picture you see the battle going on in front of them and further in the distance you see the State Park campground with the RVs.

Let's Get Caught Up!

We have been kid sitting every Tuesday and Thursday at Jill's, and for the most part on weekends, follow the middle granddaughter, Emi, to where ever her soccer team is playing. We have also made it back to Mount Lemmon which we see to the south. It is snow covered still and last Sunday when we went there, it was their last day of skiing - the snow is melting too fast. Something else that has occupied our time 24/7 - Chip has gotten very ill - almost lost him about three weeks ago. You have to understand - he has been with us for 14 years, has to be one of the most intelligent cats we have owned, and is our baby. We found a great female vet in Tucson and with encouragement and alot of contact with her over the last couple of weeks, we have gotten him back. I give him laxatives two times a day and he's on food that doesn't produce any solid waste - he has a mass that is obstructing his bowel and therefore can't poop. But - he's not in pain, gotten his appetite back after loosing a number of pounds, is quite playful at times, and can't say that he is fine - he's holding his own and is better than he was a month ago. Our poor Chip. Needless to say, we both watch him closely - his every move. Just like an elderly person -we are so happy when there is a 'BM' out of him, we praise him and pet him - but we see it also takes it toll on him. We are not ready to say goodbye to him - will do everything to keep him going as long as there is no pain. On a lighter note - our new 'RV' has arrived at Picacho Peak and we hope by the end of the week we will have the keys and ownership to it. We have purchased very little furniture, have been looking and talking about what would fit, but will wait until we are in it to do any more big purchases. We plan to stay here this spring until we feel that when we come back late fall, we will be comfortable and can move right in. Once we get in this week or so, we have to make arrangements to get the 5th wheel in for service, then the truck in and get new tires on the truck. Cha-ching. Very expensive winter here, but exciting! Today the window treatment guy is coming to give us an estimate on solar outside coverings, then the concrete work begins and the awning to be installed, the HVAC hooked up, the water done, alot to do in a couple short days! But can't wait!!!

Quick Trip to Ohio

I decided to make a quick visit to Ohio to visit my family and friends, Dave said he didn't want to see snow - so have a good time! I also wanted to see snow. I do miss seeing snow, seeing the seasons change, grass, hardwood trees, seeing Lake Erie, wasn't happy with experiencing chuck holes in the road or seeing how I forgot to drive in ice and snow - had to relearn this. And was I lucky or what? Saturday night we had 12 inches of snow and I caught this picture of my brother-in-law Danny using the snowblower. This was taken at my sister's house and she and I were standing in the computer room staring at Danny and making fun of him when he would come back for another swipe at the snow. Was good to see my family and to get caught back up on all their lives. Was especially great to see my niece Christine who had a preemie baby last January - born 3 months early, weighing in at 1 lb 17 oz - and seeing how Little Erich is doing now. He's just a beautiful, happy little boy who just loves musical toys. I saw my father in him - red curly hair, clear blue eyes, and a sunny disposition. No problems from his early birth and the doctors are quite pleased with him. He's below average for height and weight but mentally his progress is exactly where he should be for a 1 year old. Doctors told Christine that he should be at the 'normal' range by the time he's two. Was able to get back to the condo to get some things out and have shipped back to Arizona, lots of my sewing things, some clothes left behind. Stared out at Lake Erie for a very long time, taking in the views and the sounds and the sights. Weird to be back in the condo and knew that this place was not ours anymore. We are having too much fun RVing all over the country that we know we would not go back to the condo. Dennis and Peggy are loving living there and Dave and I are so happy for them. All in all great trip. Spent a day with my sister Loretta shopping and hanging out. When I flew out of Cleveland yesterday, the sky was bright blue, a warm 38 (warm for Ohio's winter) and was a nice send off. Forecast for Cleveland for today was another 3 to 5 inches of snow. However, when I landed in Phoenix last night it was a balmy 68. Today - rain, blessed rain! We last saw rain on the 12th of December and that rain was light but constant. Today's rain is hard, pounding, and things are flooding. We will get an awesome spring with flowers now. Good to be home to start planning our next adventure.

Catalina State Park, Arizona

One of the hikes we did a day before I left for Ohio was to go to Catalina State Park which is about a twenty minute drive from Picacho. We both agreed that we need to make this park one that we go to alot. Biking, hiking trails, camping if we wanted to move the RV there, historical ruins are there. One trail we saw goes up to Mount Lemmon where we went to the previous week. However, the trail is rated extreme - don't think we will do that one. One of the trails is a birding trail and was told that March and April are the best times to go along this trail for watching birds and to take pictures of flowers. Since we are in winter mode now, everything is kinda dull and not much life. However, we could hear birds all around us, even caught a lizard sleeping on a rock. If you zoom in on the picture above, you will see the lizard with it's eyes closed. The ruins we walked reminded us of the hike we did to the Presidio near Tombstone. Informative, but had to use your imagination as to what you were looking at. Definitely will go back there soon.

Mount Lemmon

Since last post we have been to Chandler (where Jill and family are) more than we thought we would. One of the girls had strep throat, another wasn't doing good either, and so had to stay home from school - which meant could we help out? Spent a couple of days there keeping the kiddos comfortable and doing what comes naturally in a home - laundry, straightening up house, errands, cooking, dishes, etc. Was fun - but we both felt once we left that we like our little RV - not as much to do or pick up. We were still looking around and seeing best fit for next winter and have found that Picacho Peak RV Resort is our best of the best, we will be back here next winter for sure - have already talked to the folks about it. And an exciting thing will happen in about 5 weeks - a Civil War reenactment will take place and we plan to be there to watch the activities. We witnessed a reenactment at East Harbor State Park in Ohio and that was really cool. We hope this one coming up will be just as interesting and educational. Did we tell you that this is Arizona's 100th year anniversary? So - not only will there be things going on at the Peak but also celebrations for the statehood. Yesterday after running some errands in Tucson we drove up to Mount Lemmon, over 9,127 feet tall and the neatest thing - we can see this mountain from our campsite. And it's snow covered to boot and we can also see the snow from our campground. We went too late in the day and didn't make it to the top but knew that when we go back, there will be an entire day looking around, hiking, seeing the town. We found out that the ski resort at the top is the southern most ski destination in the continental US. Amazing! We saw a rapeller on one of the hoodoos (look closely - you can see him on top of that hoodoo) and were amazed that he could get up there. As he laid down to rest after climbing up, we saw 2 turkey vultures flying over him and I think he got a bit miffed and decided to then repel down. No lunch for those vultures! This mountain will definitely be on our list of things to do when guests come in. There are two towns at the top of the mountain and they say there are ski lifts and some restaurants and stores - looking forward to going up there again. Very pretty, waterfalls, lots of hiking and camping, although I don't think we would ever take the RV up there - too scary and steep. In one of the pictures above you can make out the road which snakes back and forth at very steep inclines. We did see at one of the campgrounds a number of RVs - bet it gets pretty cold at night! But to hear the coyotes again - would be worth it in the spring/early fall.

Lazy Days in AZ

I survived the bachlorette week in Picacho last week, Dave was in Oshkosh, Wisconsin conducting training for a company. I felt sorry for him because he was not used to working long hours and the snow and cold really got him. He said he thought he was retired, and now he says - he really is done this time. Enough. When you spend the last 6 months dodging snow and cold and then you spend a rough week in it, you will get your butt kicked big time. He's still recouping today, will take at least a week to get warmed up and caught up with his sleep. While he was gone I made good use of the time to do some quilting, reading, sitting in the sunshine, and visiting with the girls in Chandler. It is fun being this close to the girls. I spent this past weekend living at Jill's house with the oldest, Lia, while the rest were in Tucson for a soccer tournament. Lia and I had fun, even took in a cute movie. Good times.

Last Thursday I wanted to do some grocery shopping and decided to head in the other direction (east on I 10) towards Tucson to find a different store. I got off on the wrong exit and decided to just kept driving, keeping Picacho Peak always in view, knowing I wouldn't get lost as long as I could see it. I found some interesting campgrounds and lots of hiking and biking trails just east of here. And I got closer to Mount Lemon which we can see to the east of us. That day was 69 degrees and there was lots of snow on that mountain. We had rain two days ago and there is even more snow on it. We have been told there are ski lifts/trails on the mountain and also a restaurant there - will have to look into that further. So - yes, we can get to snow if we want - but right now - NO!

We are really enjoying our time here in Picacho, lots of sun, and no given time frame to get going again. Our tentative plans are to leave sometime the beginning of April heading towards Montana for the summer. I don't have the hitch-itch yet even tho we have been here now 6 weeks and in Arizona 9 weeks total. As we looked back at this time last year we were just heading to McAllen Texas from Sinton, near Corpus Christie. Ah, what memories!