Hiking With Family

The Hieroglyphic Trail is probably our favorite trail in the nearby Superstition Mountains.  Our niece, Tina, and her husband, Vance, wanted to go on a hike when they visited us earlier in the week, so that is where we went. The mornings have been pretty chilly, so we were all  dressed warmly.

Tina and I talked and talked while we hiked. Here you can see us lagging behind John and Vance. The Phoenix skyline is in the background.

There are beautiful saguaro cactus along the trail.

We encounter a bunch of horse back riders along the way.

When we finished the hike and returned to Superstition Views, we had lunch at the Cactus Grill before Tina and Vance returned to their trailer in Picacho Peak State Park. It was a great visit and a good hike. Come back anytime, Tina and Vance.

Been Phishing Lately?

Or maybe I should say, have you been phished lately? Twice in the past couple of weeks we have received an email with a receipt for a book we supposedly bought from Apple. It contains two links to the order and the document. I knew I hadn't purchased the book. At the bottom, there was a link to iTunes support and one to "manage your password preferences."

The first time I attempted to manage my password, then realized what they wanted was access to my Apple ID.

I then went to my settings and found how to look at our Apple purchases and saw there were none. So, I proceeded to change our Apple ID password--going through the proper place in settings.

This time, I immediately checked our Apple purchases, found none, and junked the phishing email. Wonder how many more times they will try to get me?

Hoping for Good Results

You've all seen the ads, "Just Eat the Food and Loose the Weight."  It was time.  We have each put on at least 5 pounds since we arrived in Arizona in September and even more over the years since our last serious diet.  So we decided to give Nutrisystem  a try.  The food was delivered in November--when we decided on this path we didn't want to change our minds so we ordered food for a month.

Most of the food came in boxes that can be stored about anywhere.  We kept those in the covered bed of our truck while Eric and his family were here.  Then we moved back into our house and put the food in the trailer.  Some of the food is frozen.  That picture is further below.

We are in the first week of the diet. This is one day's food for one person.  Breakfast, morning turbo shake snack, lunch, afternoon Nutricrush snack, and dinner.  We add at least 4 servings of vegetables to round out lunch and dinner.  Our daily allotment of food will increase for the next 3 weeks.

Here is John's scrumptious lunch for today. Actually it is pretty tasty.  Many items are flavored with chocolate which makes us feel we aren't being deprived.  Do you know how long it takes to chew 2 celery sticks?

Here are most of the dinners for the next 3 weeks.

And breakfasts.

Snacks.

Lunches.

We don't know why, but John's food includes frozen items--dinners

lunches,

 breakfasts.

We are hoping for good results by the end of our first month. During "boot camp" we have each lost almost 5 pounds. Hope to keep it up, though at a slower pace.

Family Time

We had visitors to celebrate the new year. On January 1 our son Eric and wife Liz and our grandchildren Kylie and John came for a two-day visit. They were headed to Mexico so they flew to Phoenix, spent time with us then drove to Mexico. On Friday that week they returned to Phoenix and flew back to Colorado.

Since today is Eric's birthday, we celebrated on the night we arrived. We haven't been with them for his birthday for years so it was good to mark the day this year.

The weather was warm enough we could sit outside before dinner, something you can't do in Colorado at this time of the year.

Kylie is on two swim teams, her high school team and a club team. One of the coaches wanted her to keep up her pool workouts while they were on their trip so two days she swam laps in our resort pool--for an hour each day!

John has been spending a lot of time turning pens and he taught grandson John how to do that while they were here. Papa showed John where to hold the turning gouge.

Then he demonstrated how to do the work.

John learned quickly how to change to square piece of wood into a found pen body.

After sanding and putting on a finish and waxing the pen, here he proudly shows it off.  Papa and John and a good time together.

We enjoyed the family visit and were glad they were able to spend some time here.  We just wish it happened more often.