Family Comes to Visit

Sunday, our son Eric, wife Liz and children Kylie and John came for a two-day visit. In the past, they have had to sleep on the floor of our RV, in their tent outside, or in a nearby hotel or resort. This time, they slept in our house and we moved to our RV for a few days. It all worked! This is one of the reasons we bought this house.

We had a busy couple of days. The pool was a favorite place to visit.

We played a little water volleyball. It isn't any easier than the game played on solid ground. I'm still not any good at it.

Kylie and John are both competitive swimmers and they showed us what they are able to do. Really impressive. Such great form and strong strokes.

The weather has been great and we spent a lot of time sitting outside in our "yard," eating and drinking and talking.

Eric did some wash in the resort laundry room.

And grandson John was the first person to try out our hide-a-bed. It gets good reviews from the grandchildren.

There was a lot more crammed into the two days they were here. More of the activity tomorrow.

It's Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring. In Gold Canyon, the prickly pear cactus are showing spring growth.

Birds are nesting. We suspect this dove is sitting on a nest. We didn't disturb her to find out, but she (or he) didn't move as we edged closer to look. Several years ago, a dove built a nest in our RV hitch about this time of year. Unfortunately, we had to move the 5th wheel before the eggs hatched. John carefully carried the nest and eggs to a(relatively) safe place for them. We have no idea what happened.

This bug appeared. I have never seen one like it and have no idea what it is.

I don't know if the weather is related to the beginning of Spring, but just before sunset, the sky turned dark to the east while the setting sun was still shining.

We could tell there was moisture in the air because this rainbow appeared. The very top of the bow was missing.

We did get a brief rain out of those clouds, in addition to lightening and thunder.

Creating New Storage

On the whole, our RV makes very efficient use of the available space with shelves and drawers wherever a small bit of space can be found. One spot there was wasted space was in the cabinet behind the dining room table. There were no shelves in that space, so I had to pile things one on top of another. We also bought a small metal shelving unit that gave me two shelves in one area. It wasn't very stable and wasn't as deep as the space, so things could fall off.

When we were at the factory last summer, they gave us brackets to hold adjustable shelves, as well as some shelving material. We bought a compact jig saw to use in cutting the shelves. Here is John inserting the blade and beginning to make the cuts.

Isn't that nice wood? Unfortunately, it seems I flunked measuring class and the resulting shelf was too small--in both directions! We were off to Home Depot for a piece of plywood.

We both measured this time and the resulting shelf fit.

The factory also gave us the wood to make a lip on the front of the shelf. John attached the lip to a small square dowel, then spread some glue and put it on the front of the shelf. The space under the table is really awkward to work in.

He added clamps to hold everything together till the glue dried.

Here is the finished shelf. It will really make that space more convenient to use. And, like I said in the last blog, it isn't a mistake unless you can't fix it.

Disaster Averted

In late February, I bought this piece of wood from the Woodcraft store in Phoenix.

It is called ambrosia maple. The darker colored areas are caused by an infestation of ambrosia beetles which bring in a fungus that discolors the wood. I thought I could make a pretty bowl from the chunk of wood, using my newly acquired bowl turning skills. I worked several days shaping the wood and doing a lot of sanding (look at all that sawdust).

Then I was ready to remove it from the metal faceplate that is screwed into the bottom of the bowl so it cam be turned on the lathe. Unfortunately, I had cut the inside bottom of the bowl too far into the wood.  Look what happened when I tried to cut off the excess bottom.

This is the piece that broke off.

After a lot of whining on my part and encouragement from John, telling me there had to be a way to repair the bottom, I finally got up the nerve to take it back to the shop and ask the man who had been teaching us turning skills, what I could do.

The first step was to make the hole in the bottom a smooth circle.

Next, we cut a base from another piece of maple, a different kind of maple but pretty close in color.

I brought it home and John and I glued it in place.

Saturday, I finished the turning and sanding. Look at how pretty it is today. Now, all that is left is a protective finish.

I am learning, I hope, that it isn't a mistake until it can't be fixed. The bowl isn't all I had hoped it would be, or what I really thought it was--before the bottom broke. But it  is really pretty good for my second attempt. And I learned SOOO much.

Visit with Friends

We spend our winters in warm and sunny Arizona. Many of our friends from Colorado also like Arizona, but they only come for a short visit. Friday we enjoyed lunch and a good visit with friends Larry and Betty.

This is the second or third time we have seen them here in the winter warmth and sun. They have spent a week or more nearby this year, visiting lots of friends. We also try to get together with them when we are in Colorado during the summer.

John and Larry worked together on the Boulder Police Department even before our older son Doug was born, and that was 47 years ago. So we have lots of history with Larry and Betty. It is always good to see them and catch up on their lives. We'll see them again in June up north, we hope.

On another note, today as we drove back to the resort after church, it took almost 25 minutes to travel the last 3 miles. Not fun. The traffic on US 60 is very heavy in February and March because the Renaissance Festival is held a few miles east of here. To top it off, there was an accident in the west-bound lanes and there were so many looky-loos, we just crept at 1 to 5 mile per hours most of the last 3 miles.

Life is never dull in an RV resort. We were out walking after lunch and watched a motor home back into their site without getting out to see the layout. They created this geyser. Glad we have never done that. Hope we never do!

Really Creative

Today is the date for the Quilters, Carvers & Creative Crafts Showcase at our resort. I fully intended to visit the show and that was reinforced when I saw this line, waiting to get in just minutes after the show began.

This resort we moved to in October is only half the size of the one we stayed in for the past 6 years and it doesn't have nearly the space for numerous workshops and crafts that we had before. But that doesn't mean the folks here aren't just as creative. I was really impressed with what I saw.

The biggest exhibit was the quilts and we were able to vote for our favorite as best in show. So many beautiful quilts to choose from!

Quilts can be works of art, but I grew up with quilts my grandmother made and she usually used scraps of cloth from the leftovers of dresses my mother and she sewed for me and themselves. That is why my vote for best of show was this quilt.

Hopefully you can read this sign that explains the quilt. I was very touched with this creation.

There were many other crafts on display, as well. Here is a very interesting gourd creation and some great turned bowls.

There were leaded glass and melted glass and decorated glass items.

Also pottery and china painting.

When I saw this work, I was sure it was done with a laser. However, it is done with a scroll saw and the piece of wood is at least 1/2 inch thick. Really impressive!

And talk about creative. I found these ducks, dining in some rain runoff covering a walking path here in the resort.