Home for the Winter

We've put some miles on the truck and are settling into our winter home in Gold Canyon, Arizona.  It feels good to be here, our winter home since November 2014.  The winter residents are slowly trickling in.  So far, there are only 4 houses occupied on out street.  By Thanksgiving, most of our neighbors will have arrived. 

We made a two-day trip from our Lone Tree apartment to here.  We stopped in Albuquerque at the Days Inn on the east end of town.  We walked across the street to the Owl Cafe for dinner.  We wondered how many of our children and nieces and nephews, let alone our grandchildren, would even know what this device is.  Remember the juke boxes found in many restaurants during our childhood?  Today, they can only be found in retro diners.  We didn't have the necessary coin to play a song.  

 There was a drug store with a soda fountain on the route I walked to grand school.  They had these on the counter.  I only ate there once and don't know if I payed to listen to a song.  The store was the place we stopped for a coke or ice cream cone after school.

I think this year will be more comfortable--and more normal--than last winter was.  The pandemic is waning.  We, and most of our neighbors, I imagine, have been vaccinated.  Masks are only required in the gym and other indoor areas of our resort for those who have not been vaccinated.  The same is true in the businesses we go into.

Arizona had mass vaccination sites early last spring.  We received our first and second Pfizer shots in February and March.  We got our booster shots shortly before returning here for the winter.  It is refreshing--refreshingly normal--to see people's faces and their smiles!  Three cheers for the scientists who developed these vaccines.

Keeping Busy in the Heat

We arrived back to our winter home in Arizona a week ago Sunday. It is good to be back. On the other hand...we usually check the weather and don't come back here until the triple-digit heat ends. But we had done everything in Utah we were interested in. We spent a few days in the campground at the Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell, the a few days in Williams, Arizona. Outdoor activities are the only things available in this Covid-19 world and we didn't find much to do in either place.

We took some pictures of the Grand Canyon train in Williams.

We saw this neat old Chevy.

And this gas pump museum.

Williams in along Route 66. This t-shirt shows the highway route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The young children in our RV park enjoyed riding on this barrel train in the early evenings.

Then we drove south to our winter home. Since we arrived, it has hit over 100 degrees every afternoon and should continue that way for another week!  Oh well.

This is one of the relief carvings John did over the summer.  He was  able to put on a finish in our shop. 

John has asol kept busy in the shop, working on the scroll saw.  He did this depiction of Texas.  He has also done Arizona, Colorado and Montana.  These are the states we have spent the most time in since retirement.

He wasn't the only one working in the shop.  I have cut out these trees on the saw.  I plan to paint them green and use them in front of our home at Christmas.

Here is another one of John's scroll saw projects.

Every year when we return to Arizona, John has to trim our mesquite tree so it won't scratch the Airstream when he parks it in our driveway.  It isn't fun work after driving to get here.  This week we contacted the local landscaping company that works in the park and they gave it a really good haircut.  Next year, we will call them before we get here and have them trim it before we get back.  They also trimmed our pygmy palms and replaced a dead cactus.  We are grateful for their work.  Neither of us enjoys yard work.

  

 

Settling In

We arrived back at our winter home in Gold Canyon last Wednesday and we are about settled. We had been on the road for 5 1/2 months and it takes a long time to bring everything we need from the trailer to the house. We also have to clean up a lot. Leaving a place for that long lets a lot of debris build up. We are fortunate that we don't have to do weed removal like most people do. Even when the temperature gets over 100 degrees numerous times during the summer, there are some weeds that still grow and grow and grow. We have a neighbor who is here year-round and he sprays all the yards on our street so the weeds won't grow and spread to his place. Thanks, Don!

It had been good to shop in familiar stores and begin worshipping at our regular church, Epiphany Episcopal in Tempe. So many in the congregation greeted us with "Welcome back! It's good to see you again."

Our resort is very quiet right now. Most snowbirds don't arrive until at least October. Soon we will be the ones saying "Welcome back!. It's good to see you," to our neighbors as they show up.

Settling In in Arizona

We've now been in our winter home in Arizona since Saturday. We were so glad to get here, but it certainly hasn't been a relaxing few days. When we left at the end of April, the construction of our addition wasn't quite complete. It is so good to see everything finished and the new paint job.

The workshop is on the back side of the carport you can see in this photo.

We love the new brown color (John really didn't like the original pink sandstone color).

It has been years since we ended our summer travels by moving out of the RV and into a house. Last winter when this house was ready, we slowly moved over all we needed from the RV. Today, we think we have almost totally moved into the house for the next six months or so. It is a lot of work! Saturday and Sunday, we were up and down the four steps to the RV, moving food and clothing from one place to the other.

Monday, we started equipping our empty work shop. That included ordering a stack-able washer-dryer, a water softener and a utility sink. The local Lowe's was glad when we came through their front door. We were also looking for some outdoor furniture. I think in years past, they have had lots on display. This year, the Christmas decorations are already on display in Lowe's, Home Depot, Costco and Wal-Mart, so we had very little to choose from--and bought nothing.

In addition to those purchases, I went on-line and ordered a scroll saw and small wood lathe. Next, we have to find a workbench and storage cabinet. Snowbirds like us certainly are good for the local Arizona economy. And we are having a lot of fun getting the workshop and laundry ready to use.