We officially retired from the aerospace mill four years ago. We traveled some after the big day, often coming to Arizona to see the sights and to build Damsel’s Dream Home. The banner above contains a slideshow of some of the photos Damsel took while on the road and also two astronomical events; the Great Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012 taken from Page, Arizona and the June 5, 2012 transit of Venus across the solar disc. Click on the banner and images to advance the show.
Damsel and I spent today doing some of the many chores that we have neglected for the past two months. I had a notion to trim the lemon tree by the RV drive, but the wheelbarrow had a flat; I knew about the flat tire, but only remembered it when I needed the wheelbarrow to haul the trimmings to the trash bin. I had a patch kit for the inner tube so I would be able to repair the flat.
But first, Damsel wanted to drain and refill the spa, so I hooked up the hose to the drain spout and got that going. I then attacked the flat tire issue. Lacking tire shop tools, I improvised with a wrench handle to get the tire and tube off the rim. I took the tube and inflated it a bit, immersed it in a tub of water and found the leak. I patched it up and reassembled the wheel. I was so tired after fixing the flat that I abandoned tree trimming for another day.
Damsel finished draining the spa and mopped it out. I then hooked up the hose for her to refill the tub. By the time the spa was filled, I rolled up the hose and started the spa heater. This weekend, we are planning to take a couple of dips now that second spring has arrived. We look forward to that.
The image above is from August 2012. Click on the image to enlarge.
Yesterday, my Mom, Kate, passed from the Earth to her heavenly repose. She was 93½ years old. Ironically, she departed on what would have been my Dad’s and her first husband’s 99th birthday. Damsel and I will miss her charming smile and vibrant personality. Click on the image to enlarge.
Actually, the ONLY Chinese food in town.
Last week, we decided to try some of the other restaurants in town instead of patronizing the same one or two. We have a “junk food” day about once a month when we get Mexican enchiladas or Cheeseburgers with fries.
I took Damsel to lunch yesterday at the Sizzling Wok, a Chinese cuisine restaurant less than a half mile from home. The sampler appetizer we ordered was pretty good. The penalty, of course, is the deep-fried goodies are anything but health food. Once a month, we figure, isn’t going to clog our arteries that much. Next time at this restaurant, we might try the Won Ton Soup, or something a bit less fatty. Click on Damsel’s image to enlarge.
After over a week in rehab, we finally got Mom released back home to her assisted living ranch. We were a little disenchanted with the rehab center since they were not spending much time helping Mom get better. As for Mom, she HATED it. So, after a couple of days of tweaking and pulling chains, they released her. The hospice folks arranged transportation and we fell in behind them while they took her to the ranch. All I can say is that she is back in her element with friends, an excellent caring staff and some actually good food!
Last night, we got a couple of inches of rain in the time span of about a half hour. As usually is the case when we get that intense of a rainfall, the little wash that runs in front of the house flows like a small rapid river. It flowed strongly enough to move most of the rocks we had stacked in front to prevent erosion. Some of them carried downstream some 150 yards before settling in.
Damsel and I have discussed building a retaining wall between the RV driveway and the little wash on the west side of the house. I snapped a picture of the area the other day and, as it turned out, it became the “before” panel in the slideshow above. Click the slideshow image to see the “after” panel. You may also click these links for a large before view and a large after view.
We have been avoiding transplanting a couple of prickly pear cacti because of the hot (107° in the shade) daytime temperatures in August. We finally had a cool cloudy day today, so I grabbed the shovel, loaded up the potted cacti into the wheelbarrow and set about the task.
These two, along with one other (to be transplanted later) were grown from cactus paddles Damsel brought from one of the prickly pear cacti at the California house. They grow very aggressively and had to periodically be cut back in California. Damsel saved some of the cut paddles and planted them in pots in the Arizona house courtyard. Of course, they rapidly outgrew their pots and needed to be taken to Damsel’s rock and cactus garden on the west side. We hope they will be aggressive in their new environment. They should do well since we see cacti like these all over town.
Click on the slideshow image above to see the two transplants after I plunked them into the ground.
