Kathy – Rabbits – Stuff

High school chum Kathy Indermuehle Bork came for a visit the first week of November.  We truly had a great time.  She arrived early evening on Saturday the 1^st.  The very next day bright and super early we did a tour of Montezuma’s Castle (an Indian cave dwelling) and the Grand Canyon.  I booked us with a small tour company and it was so worth it.  There was another couple with us from Long Island, New York. 

The weather was far from perfect, but it didn't stop the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon.   It’s just jaw dropping gorgeous.  An occasional snow squall moved through, winds were raw, and we hadn't exactly dress for that weather.  Oy.   

The tour stopped at three, wait, maybe it was four different viewpoints of the canyon.  Had we done this on our own we could never have covered as much ground as with having someone that knows where they are going to and for the best views.

We did some garage sale shopping.  I found my 2-drawer file cabinet at a church sale.  Better quality that the one I had priced new and for only $15.  

Kathy had scoped out a sale about a block from the house and found my flag pole.  Guy gave me the pole, the hooks, and an eagle top piece for $2.  The thingy that is connected to the house that holds the flag pole was too narrow for the pole that I had. 

Because a car doesn't really get dirty, it just gets dusty, all I need is a “California Mop” which is just a 2’ by 4” dust mop with a short handle to dust the car with.  We even found that at a garage sale for a couple of dollars.

Like I said, we had a great time.

I ended up putting new door panels on the garage a few weeks ago.  I had noticed when the door was opening or closing it was making more and more creaking and groaning noises.  One afternoon when I came home I noticed it was sagging a lot after opening the door. I didn't bother pulling the car in knowing that I had to have it serviced.  The metal in the middle of the bottom panel cracked and split about a good 6 to 8” and this then was causing the 2^nd panel from the bottom to start cracking splitting.  Had a very nice service man, he could have just sold me a new door but he said because the track, hinges, and rollers look relatively new it would be cheaper for me to replace just the panels and luckily the panels were in stock so another crew replaced them the next day.

Remember my big savings on petunias?  Well the rabbits have pretty must destroyed most of them.  I've never had any animal bother my petunias back in Michigan.  

It started with just the stupid rabbit standing on its hind legs and eating what it could of the bottom pot.  Then if figured out how to climb up into that bottom pot and start eating nibbling on the 2^nd pot.  As you can see, he/she/them has now dug out the plants and eaten down to nothing the remaining plants.  I’ll have to do some web searching and find what annuals rabbits don’t eat.  Hopefully mums.  This really is mum weather.  Here I thought I was getting such a great deal only to end up spending more in total for flowers.  Augh.

The first photo is the culprit on the left side of the bottom pot with its butt sticking out.  The photo was taken five days ago.  The second photo is from today.  Where is a coyote when ya need one.

This and That

The past two Wednesday mornings at my deep water aerobics class (which is still held in the outdoor pool for another week) a flock of Canadian geese flew over.   Palm trees and Canadian geese, odd pairing, at least to me.

I’ve learned a couple of things from my neighbor, Rita. 

--Save the little containers from the deli.  They can be used to send leftovers home with guests.  You get rid of leftover and the person doesn’t have to feel as though they have to return the container.

--Serve appetizers using small unique plates.  Creates conversation.  For that reason I love Goodwill and the resale shops.

Kathy taught me that Goodwill can be a great place to shop.  She will be here a week from today and is staying for a week.  I’m excited.  We’re going to the Grand Canyon and the Indian cave dwellings.  I’ve never been to either.

I’ve learned that I can be outside on the back patio, have the chair positioned so I could watch the World Series game, and read a book on the IPad.  Life is good…well not exactly since the game didn’t end the way I wanted it to.

I attended a tax class and one person said to another that her grandson turned 8 and she sent him 8 crisp $100 bills.  She had always sent $100 for each year for both grandchildren and planned to continue to.  Wonder if she would consider adopting me?

I’m learning I get up with the sun.  Missed going for a walk a couple mornings the past couple of weeks because I got up too late.  I start work at 7:30am and my walks are generally 35-45 minutes so rolling out of bed at 6:45 is not good.

I’m also finding with this new freedom of just me that I seem to do what I want to do too much like shopping or reading a book and putting off things that I should be doing like dusting and going through the stack of mail that has accumulated.  I’m good about going through the mail when it arrives to toss the junk mail; it’s just the stack with the things that I need to do something with just keeps accumulating.  So as of today the mindset will be do the work first and then reward myself with something I want to do.  Work-then play.  Work-then play.  Wonder if it will help if I keep telling myself that?

Weather is low 90’s during the afternoon.  Mid 60’s at night.  Hit 58 one morning that I came right back into the house and changed from skimmers to pants and put on a long sleeve shirt over the T-shirt.  We move into mid to upper 80’s next week.  I have only turned the air on once the past three weeks and that was because I had people over in the late afternoon.  I shut the windows about 9-10 am and the house doesn’t get about 78.

I’m having problems finding cherry juice for Old Fashions.  There is none in any of the grocery stores.  Tomorrow I’m going to run over to Total Wine and see if they have it.

Wisconsin club has their first gathering of the season the 2^nd week of November.  I put in for a half day of vacation to attend.

Joe, the neighbor across the street, might have been at Fort Pierce, FL about the same time Jack was.  He was in the Navy, but not the Scouts and Raiders.  He knew of them and said they were a tough bunch. 

So…ya remember the work then play from above…already broke the rule.  I’ve been out of the house for 3 hours.  Rita’s daughter from Minneapolis is here.  She called wanting to know if I wanted to buy plants at True Value with her.  If you buy their plants and bring a pot, they will plant them for you.  I ended up with five of the 6 plants-to-a-container of petunias, they potted 4 of the paks for me, and it cost $9.74.  For real.  Under $10. 

The season for planting annual flowers has started.  It’s crazy.  It’s spring all over again!  Who knew?

So now I’m behind on going through that dang to-do pile.  Drat.  I have a load of wash in the wash machine that I put in earlier this morning.  Buzzards.  I probably should just consider the day wasted and go to Total Wine.

Schedule / Tidbits / Weather

Schedule

It’s been a busy past few weeks.  I’m starting to get into a routine and have joined some new clubs.

So my schedule kinda goes like this.

-I walk 2 miles super early in the morning at least 4 days a week

-I work 7 ½ hours on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

-Tuesday is whisper ball at 5:15.  Eileen works every day so it’s after she gets out of work

-Whisper ball practice on my own Monday and/or Thursday after work

-Wednesday is deep water aerobics early in the morning, volunteer at library right after, line dancing early afternoon – yes, line dancing.  It ain’t just country any more.

-Saturday is water Zumba in the morning.  Volunteer as needed at the library

-The 1^st and 3^rd Monday of the month is RummyKub

-The 1^st Thursday of the month is Hand and Foot

-The 3^rd Thursday of the month is Mexican Train

-Once a month is wine tasting

Then there are the social gatherings that the different clubs that I’ve joined have:

-Boomers have happy hour at a bar/restaurant the 1^st Monday of the month.

-They also have happy hour at the club house the 1st Friday of the month.

-Z-Club (Zymurgy) has lady’s night the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday.  On Saturday evenings is when the actual brewing and wine making will start as the snowbirds come back.  Right now it’s just an evening to sit around talking and eating.

I want to give Pickle ball a try.  The racquet ball courts are being resurfaced and walls redone.  During that 2-3 week down time one of the guys said he was going to see if he could put together a Pickle ball group. Otherwise, I’ll check the rec centers if they have beginner lessons.

I played with 3 well-seasoned players (both in actual playing and in age) this past Monday.  Playing with 4 on a court sure is different than with just 2.  I’m a decent player, but these guys are good.  One guy has such control and can put spin on the ball that it will come off the back wall and hit the side wall a foot over the line then the ball just drops straight down just in the line of play.  Just as I got the hang of what the ball does when he hits it this way, he changed it up.  It hits the back wall, then the side wall, but this time it spins up and outward.  So as I’m diving towards that line where the ball had been going, now it’s all but going up and over me or right at my head.  All in all it was good practice for me.  Intimidating, but good.

Tidbits

--I’ve conquered another disadvantage of being on my own.  Where the heck did I park the car?  Before between Jack and me, one of us remembered where the car was parked.  So after once at Walmart and once at the mall of not knowing really where the car was thus walking around clicking the door lock button on the key-fob to make the horn beep I found my answer - Park in the same row every time.  So I have my specific row for Walmart, Kohls, Lowes, the mall, Fry’s Foods, Bashes Foods, Office Depot/Michael (they are right next to each other), and the two rec centers that I go to most often.  That just leaves the not so often places and those I just make sure I am super aware of where I am parked as I get out of the car.

--It took a good 3-4 months after moving into this house before I got into a good bill paying and budget posting routine.  I do have auto pay on the utilities, but I have to make sure to look at the on-line bill so that I can make sure there is money in checking to cover them.

--I was watching “History Detectives” on PBS.  The program was on Jimmy Hoffa.  One of the “former mobster” said he feels Jimmy has gone to Australia.  The interview said “Australia?”.  Guy replies, “Yeah, gone down under, gone 6’ under, buried.”  My but what ya can learn on TV.

Weather

We had a huge storm move through last week.  It dropped 5.6” of rain in the Chandler/Mesa area within a few hours.  Blocks and blocks and blocks of homes and businesses around Mesa were flooded.  Aerial views looked like views after a hurricane. 

People have their cell phones set to receive dust storm warnings.  I was at a gathering one night and four or five cell phones went off at once.  There was a dust storm warning posted.  It was coming from the south.  It fizzled out by the time it got as far north as we are, but I saw the photos of it on the news.  They are amazing.  This one was estimated to be five miles long.  What they didn’t say or at least I didn’t catch it was how high it was.  They are incredibly high.

It was explained to me that dust storms are created by the force of sudden downward bursts of rain that the air radiates out and the out flow pushes the dust out and up.

Late one afternoon a dust storm was moving in and the news on all channels were following it just like the news in the Midwest follows a tornado.  They have the little tracking thing that says it will hit such and such an area in so many minutes.  Too bad I don’t remember how fast they said it was moving.  But they do clip right along from the videos I’ve seen.  That one too didn't make up this far north.

The storm clouds move so slowly too.  To move just 7-10 mph is not unusual.  I’m used to if it’s raining around Chicago it will be in Kalamazoo within 2 hours.  So not only is there a lot of rain from the clouds, the clouds just sit there and dump it on.

Arizona has a Stupid Driver law.  It basically states you will be ticketed, fined, and will have to reimburse the city or county for the cost of rescuing you and the vehicle if you drive into a flooded street or river bed.  The TV was all over it saying the law hadn’t been used often, but sure to be with a guy in a Mercedes who witnesses said drove around a barricade and ended up in water half way up the doors of the car.

The other thing to get used to here is dew point.  The humidity may be between 15 and 25, but the dew point can be 55 and 65.  I’ve gone out for an early morning walk and noticed it being kinda humid but not bad; certainly nothing like the oppressive humidity in Wisc/Mich.  I worked up a good sweat by the time I got back.  That day the humidity was 16 but the dew point was 56.

There is also Monsoon Season Awareness week in June.  Monsoon season is mid-June to mid/late September.  I think of Monsoon as days of endless rain.  Here it’s because of the amount of rain storms create.  It doesn’t rain often, but there is a lot of water that comes down when it does.  One station had a 30 minute special on it in early June.  I watched it and it was very interesting and informative.  

Hazmat and Coyotes

Hazmat.

First.  No.  This has nothing to do with my cooking.

As I was backing out of the garage, I noticed in the rear view mirror a police SUV directly across the street with all the flashing lights on.  As I pull parallel with him, he is getting out of his vehicle and signaling me to stop.  He came around to my window and asked me if that was my large metal briefcase sitting by the light pole that is between my driveway and the neighbor’s drive way.  “Ahhh, no.” was my reply, “But I did have a guy giving me a quote on sun screen today for the back patio and he did have a case”.  The cop pushes the button on the microphone that is hooked on his shoulder and says in his low tone serious cop voice “Put that on standby”.  I told the cop that I did have man’s cell phone number and would call to verify that it was his.  The cop says make it quick as the Hazmat is just on standby and they won’t standby long. 

I rush back into the house.  The guy had emailed me the quote.  Luckily, I had just printed it out otherwise it would have been time lost waiting for the computer to fire up.  I call – get voice mail.  As I’m walking out of the garage with the phone, I leave the message to call me quick as the cops are here and very briefly explained the situation.  Cop asked how sure I was that it was his metal case.  I was 70-80% sure.  I didn’t really look that close at it but I knew it was the aluminum type.  It’s the black front panel that was throwing me off.  Cop said if hazmat comes they evacuate people around a perimeter and foam down the case.  I changed that I was 95% sure and hit re-dial.  Voice-mail.  The cop turns and walks back towards his SUV talking into the shoulder microphone again. 

He moves the SUV so that it is on the same side of the street as me and the metal case but down one more house so he is sitting in front of second house down from mine.  Holie schmoe, has the dude called the hazmat team in?  I hit re-dial again, this time he answers.  Yes, it’s his.  I flagged the cop.  All is well.

Sun City West has volunteer deputies that work with the county sheriff.  They are retired cops from other cities now living in SCW.  It’s another way of keeping costs down yet having more patrols in the area than the county could provide.  This dude was the epitome of a southern officer of the law - short, lots of dun-lap (belly dun lapped over the belt), slight southern drawl, stands feet apart, thumbs in belt, never smiled until he was saying goodbye.   

Coyotes

The first coyote I saw was in early April at the duplex in Sun City.  Dad, Mom, and I watch one trot across the green-space in back.

My second sighting was also at the duplex when I was out for a walk.  I came up to an intersection, looked to my left and out he comes about a half a block down.  He never looked at me, just trotted out and headed in the opposite direction of me staying close to the houses and then cut back in between two other houses.

Third was at the new house in the back yard.  One came trotting from the east headed west through everyone’s back yard.  Maybe three seconds later, here comes another one, and another three seconds a third.  Oy. 

Those were all during daylight hours.  The first time I heard them in the middle of the night I thought it was a child crying.  Suddenly it was a bunch of sad sounding yelps and it all sounded like it was right in the neighbor’s back yard.

Couple weeks ago I heard them calling each other.  This was like somone say Woo as in Woo-Hoo but a real long Wooooooo.  One starts and then there is another and another and it starts to get spooky when the sound starts coming from all directions...like you’re surrounded.

By this time I’ve talked to people about them in general conversations and someone had said that they have two sounds used most often; a general communication between them (the Woooo) and an after a kill to keep others away.

I heard the after the kill last week.  A rain storm had moved through so I had gone out on the back patio with a glass of wine to watch the lightening in the distance and listen to the soft rain.  That was ruined by the sound a dog makes when it’s keeping someone or another dog away from their food dish.  And just that quick it was a couple others joining in the fight to what I assume was the attempt to snatch the kill for themselves.  That’s when I headed inside. 

Again, I thought it was just a house or two away.   At a whisper-ball demonstration coyotes somehow came up in conversation and I told them about the fight and how close they must have been.  There was an agreement that while they may sound 2 or 3 houses down, they really are more like 3 or 4 blocks away.  I’m 3 or 4 blocks away to the north and to the south of golf courses.  Coyotes tend to hang out around golf courses - shade and better meal choices.

Boomer's Club Wine Tasting

I now belong to the Boomers Club (Baby Boomers).  They had a July wine tasting event that I had signed up for.  This was my second step into socializing with the club.  The first step has been going to the RummyKub game that is held twice a month. 

I was assigned to a group of four couples and one single female and it was held this past Thursday evening at the home of one of the couples.  We brought a bottle of white wine that was to be under $10.  Naturally, I brought the Fetzer Gewurztraminer – best white wine out there and my thanks to Dar and Thom for enlightening me about it. 

We had finger food with the host opening a new bottle every so often.   When we had sampled everything, the two with the most positive comments was Skinny Girl Chardonnay and Great America Chardonnay.  No one brought a Pinot Grigio.  AND no one commented on my Gewurztraminer!  Bummed.  The couple from Buffalo New York swears by Lake Niagra wine produced by Weideminer Winery somewhere in New York.  They said they have found it here, but couldn’t remember where.

Wine tip:  Although Fetzer makes a great Gewurztraminer, forget about their Pinot Grigio.  I’m making a light dinner for the neighbor tomorrow night who is returning from a week in San Francisco and bought a bottle of Fetzer Pinot.  I’m smart in my old age to know to sample before serving.  I did so last night.  The bottle wasn’t “corked”/gone bad, it just wasn’t good.  So I went to Trader Joes after work today and picked up a Charles Shaw Chardonnay.  There was a very nice gentle man filling a case box with the Chardonnay and said he and his wife prefer that over any other Two Buck Chuck.  He said, “Two Buck Chuck”.  Ah memories.

Back to the wine tasting group; it was a very very nice evening.  Of course the conversation started with where everyone was from.  I’m finally meeting the Wisc people.  One couple was from the Milwaukee area.  Which lead into Polish food and where to get the best Polish cuisine and Mexican in the area.   Somehow we ended up going around the table saying how we met our spouses.  Then it was best shopping districts in Phoenix, somehow onto a short discussion about the plane that was shot down over the Ukraine - topics all over the place.  The event started at 6:30 and just before 10pm someone looked at their watch and noticed the time, it was approaching 10 pm so we all headed home.

I got an email yesterday announcing the August wine tasting.  This sounds like it might be a monthly event.  I’m signing up!  I don’t think it will beat my first experience, but it still will be fun.

Speaking of finally meeting the Wisc residence, Rita took me across the street to introduce me to Becky and Joe.  Becky is from Ireland and Joe grew up in Milwaukee.  Both of their hearing isn’t the best so they didn’t hear me ask how they met.  I’m assuming military since they go to the Luke Air Force base commissary.

It's Not Like He Was Lost

The trip from Phoenix to Madison was uneventful.   Note to self, consider which direction the plane is going and which direction the sun will be shining onto the airplane when choosing the seat assignments.  

That evening Mom and Dad took me out for “fine dining” which turned out to be a bar on Fox Lake that serves burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, or cup of soup all at $1 each.  Food was surprisingly good.

Thursday Mom and I had lunch with an old family friend, Shirley.  We talked so much we didn't realize we had been there for two hours.  I think it had to be pushing four or five years since the last time I had seen her.

Friday it was off to younger brother Steve’s for a grill-out.  I got to see all the nieces, nephews, and pooches with the exception of Holly.  It was good food and good conversation.

Saturday was grilling out at Uncle Ralph and Aunt Eunice’s cottage along the Wisc River near the Dells.  Again, it was good food and good conversation.

Sunday was leaving day.  My flight didn’t leave until 3:30, but I wasn’t able to print out a boarding pass in advance and since the flight coming over was overbooked I was thinking arriving the earlier the better, figuring 1:30-1:45 would be a good time.

We went to breakfast and then stopped at East Towne Mall to bra shop for Mom at JC Penny’s.  We arrived 10:45-11am-ish.  Dad said he would go sit out in the mall in front of Penny’s and do some people watching.   Somewhere along the line he changed his mind and ended up at Sears in the Big-Boy Toy department.

After trying on 47 different bras…okay, maybe it was 7 or 8, we were done shopping within a half an hour and went to find Dad who we discovered wasn’t at the designated spot.  No problem, he may have moved up to the middle area where there was more people to watch.  Nope.  Maybe he went over by Dick’s Sporting Goods and was sitting there.  Nope.  Maybe he went back to the truck.  Nope.

I had Mom sit in front of Penny’s in case he wandered back and I took a quick walk around the mall.  Maybe he was by the food court.  Nope.  I finished the complete circle around the mall and came back to Mom.  We decided I should find the mall security and see if they have a paging system.  Nope.  Security guy did say he would alert the other two on duty, thus the posse was sent out.

I finished the second walk around the mall returning to Mom who was talking to the same security guy and I did another check of the truck.

I did a third walk around the mall even meeting/passing the security guy just outside of Sears.  It’s now getting close to 1 o'clock.  Where on earth did he go?  He doesn't have a habit of just wondering away.

Mom said I should check upstairs at Penny’s.  No sooner than I got upstairs she calls my phone and says she could see Dad headed towards her with the security guy.

The security guy caught up to him outside of Sears and asked him if he was looking for his wife and daughter.  Dad replies, “Nope.  But, they’re probably looking for me.”  

So it's not like he was lost.

We got to the airport shortly before 1:30.  Nothing like keeping life interesting.

It’s Not Like We Were Lost

The front of the house has a covered patio/porch that is the length of the house with the front door in the middle.  I had purchased two wicker chairs and a short table for one side and wanted a metal bench for the other side.  Next door neighbor, Rita, had said I should go to The Dump at Cave Creek, about 45 minutes away, and she would gladly go with me.

We set out Wednesday afternoon.  We had been onto I17 for a good 30 minutes when Rita mentioned we should have come to the Cave Creek exit and hoped that she wasn’t getting me lost since it had been several years since she had been there.  Just as she mentioned this, we came to an intersection that had a restaurant known for its pies.  She remembered having stopped there many times after having gone to The Dump so we were on track, but she would call them to be sure.  They told her it was the Carefree Rd exit that we needed and yes it was after the town with the restaurant with the great pies.

We just kept talking away and finally she said that it just can’t be this far.  I had a map in the back seat so we took the next exit, Camp Verde, to check the map.  Yep, we missed the exit…by about 65 miles.  The person Rita spoke to must have thought we were coming from the north.

After we stopped laughing and Rita stopped feeling guilty we got ourselves turned around.  It was a nice scenic drive on a nice day, no harm no foul.  Gave me a little practice with mountain driving and it’s not like we were lost. 

 We finally got to The Dump at Cave Creek, but they only had metal benches with the seat made with ceramic tile.  I didn't care for those.  We were told to try another place on the other side of the town. 

That place had a really nice metal bench.  It had some character, not just straight lines or an ornate design, but it was over my budget.  Rita spotted a guy that look like he worked there and ask what their best price was.  He calls someone and tells us $225.  I was about to say $200 and Rita pipes in, “One seventy five; most she can spend is $175”.  He calls the person again and comes back with $180.  We stuck to the $175; he just turns and walks away.  Okay.  Whatever.  We leave to check the place next door. 

The place next door only had wooden and I didn't want wood.  Rita strikes up a conversation with the guy behind the counter telling him we came all this way with $175 cash and the guy next door wouldn't sell us a metal bench.  I start to look around while they keep talking.  Next thing I hear is her asking him if he also owned the place next door that had the metal bench.  He did!  I finally got a word in and said I have cash, not paying by check or credit card, cash.  He picks up a calculator, punches around on it, and finally says he’ll sell it for the $175.  Rita says, $175 out the door, nothing added.  He smiles and says $175 out the door.  Take a peek below for a picture of my perfect bench.

Below too is a map that shows were we should have turned off (way down by the 303 and Hwy 74) and where we turned around (up by Hwy 260).