Friends and refrigerators

 It's been three and a half weeks since Dave's knee replacement surgery and he's pretty much back to normal.   He's tossed aside the walker and regularly forgets to use the cane he's been given.    PT folks are very happy with his progress, and he continues to work hard on the at home exercises.  

Last week Pam and John came down for a few days to visit and help Dave with a project that required more manpower.    

Long story, sort of short.... Beluga's refrigerator died and we've been going round and round with Best Buy, Spencer's, Lowes, etc., trying to get a replacement.     One is promised, paid for and scheduled for delivery.    As that date approaches and arrangements are made on this end, the store emails that the delivery will be delayed - often by MONTHS.    We cancel the order, place another somewhere else and the same thing happens again.   

 We can't leave for the summer with no refrigerator, so we settle on a different brand, open box one that will fit well enough, and drive into Phoenix to pick it up (using Steve's truck.....).      This story has gone on long enough so suffice it to say Home Depot finally came up with the original exact match unit and delivered it immediately!     Now we have two new refrigerators sitting inside Beluga's garage, an out of order one inside Beluga and a man with a fresh knee replacement!   

This is where friends come in, dear friends.   John and Pam arrived on Wednesday with the traditional delicious Chinese dinner from Boulder City's China Bistro.   Steve and MonaLiza came over and we all enjoyed the nice weather and company outside on the patio.  We ate and talked until the moon rose.....

 Taos is as happy as he can be, all his favorite people were here and one of them had a pocket full of treats.....

The next morning Dave and John loaded the "just in case" refrigerator into the Jeep and drove it back into Phoenix for a return.     One down, three to go.   Pam and I prepped the evenings dinner while they were gone.   

Later in the day Steve and MonaLiza came back over, but before dinner was served, they helped take the dead refrigerator out of Beluga and put the nice new one in!    

In addition to her physical help, MonaLiza brought over a colorful veggie salad to eat with our Pork Tenderloin and cheesy potatoes.

Once again I say, these four are such good friends.

I didn't take any photos at dinner, we all just ate and laughed and enjoyed the company and a job well done.  

After Pam and John left our luxurious, campground on Friday, Dave and I loaded the "dead" refrigerator and took it to the salvage yard!     All done......

the site is tight but the owners are nice....

Now we're set to leave as soon as he gets the all clear from Dr. Campbell on June 2.  Dave says it will be his best birthday present!

Meanwhile, here's Annie!

    

March and April....where does the time go?

Spring has sprung in the desert.  The weather has been just beautiful, sunny warm days and cool nights.   Dramatic sunsets and sunrises...... Sheets drying in the sun......Sorry, you folks in the East, I feel your pain.

sunset

sunrise lighting our blooming Argentine Cactus

 

the sound of bees in this PaloVerde is so loud it sounds like a motor running!

Birds have been busy building and filling nests in the palm trees.   Some do a better job than others, unfortunately.  

spring wind knocked this poor baby and his nest right out of the tree

One day Taos found a very dry, almost skeletal body of a baby bird and two large, recently removed Pidgeon wings in one corner of the yard.   He was horrified but couldn't keep himself from creeping slowly up to the murder scene, every time he went outside......even after the area was cleaned up.......just in case.

 The out-of-town ropers and cow people (is that the correct word for cowboys and cowgirls?) have loaded their horses in various trailers and left for home.

Dave has been helping Steve with his recent Tam project.    They've made some good progress.

I've been busy making arrangements and rearranging the house to facilitate safer and easier ambulation......

We've had some nice visits with friends.   Mona Liza and Steve had us over to enjoy her fabulous Pancit one evening.

Taos photobombs

mmmmm

Gay and Joe drove their motorhome up from Tucson for a first time visit to Wickenburg in March.    They came over for dinner on their first evening in town. Their sweet pup,  Lucy, was taken aback by Taos size, and she rebuffed all his invitations to play by screaming and jumping into Gay or Joe's lap.    Taos was confused; he'd learned to play with another little dog (Kayce) and didn't understand this dog's reticence.   Taos being Taos however, he accepted her feelings and left her alone for the rest of the evening.     She warmed up eventually once she realized he was no threat.   (I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!)   You'll have to check out Gay's blog, I guess.    good-times-rollin: March 2026

Another day we all (Taos and Lucy too) piled into our Jeep and headed for lunch at Scorpion Bay Marina on Lake Pleasant and then a desert drive back to Wickenburg.

There is always at least one feral Burro working the parking lot there.   People must feed them from their cars because one unusual looking young man made a pest of himself as Dave tried to get Taos out of the Jeep.

To get down to the floating restaurant from the parking lot we had to ride a rather steep funicular (or take a long staircase) to the docks below.   Taos had done this before, but it was a first for Lucy.   She was a good girl!       

We snagged a great waterside table, our meals were good and the dogs behaved like the well-traveled canines they are.

After lunch we continued home via Castle Hot Springs Road, a graded dirt road through the desert, the dry Hassayampa riverbed, through the mountains, across small arroyos and past lots of wild burros.   Again, I've shown you this route many times and you've seen those burros more than once.

The rest of March and April have been a blur for me.     Dave had a total knee replacement on April 9 and Taos and I spent the day with him and stayed overnight in Phoenix to be nearby and to bring him home.     Things went well; he's recovering nicely with relatively minimal pain (although I think the honeymoon may have ended last night......)  Taos and I are taking good care of him as are the prescribed drugs.    He's taking PT here at a wonderful place (Champion PT) in Wickenburg three times a week.   Hard work, but he's never shied away from that so we're looking forward to the end of brain fog inducing medication, fingernail shredding compression stockings, ten million staples, walkers, canes etc. and to getting back on the road!

ewwww

 

 

exercises at the kitchen table

 

ski installation, sans tools...

 Using a hint from a dear friend, Dave made a few adjustments to his sturdy steed, and it made motoring round with a walker so much easier!  

Always under the watchful eye of you know who....

Just in case he needs to use his newly learned "brace" skill ya know...

It's hard work taking good care of someone you love....but he's worth it!

And....here's Annie giving Papa their special greeting.....

    

 

February

 

Nothing exciting to report this month.   The weather has been unusually cold and then unusually hot.

We enjoy sitting outside in the warm sun when the air is cold and then sitting in front of the fireplace when the sun goes down.

Taos watches me read, it's a little distracting but.....

happy hour in the waning afternoon sun

fireplace fun

A couple weeks ago it was so cold in the morning that the bird bath gave us a beautiful and interesting growth of ice.

I'm glad I covered up or brought in a few cold sensitive plants.....

As soon as the morning sun hit the outside table, a large white lined sphinx moth started work on the petunias.    Second cup entertainment!

This week, however, the temperature was well above normal.   Way too hot to sit in the sun.....sometimes even too warm to enjoy the shade.    Puzzling, reading and second cup/happy hour inside. 

 

post prandial snooze

Dave had a minor surgical procedure on his ankle Thursday, so sitting inside wasn't a real hardship.   Besides he had a good book and a very attentive nurse by his side - at all times......

February wasn't just filled with around the house, boring activities......Dave did a few more upgrades and tweaks to Beluga.   He likes to keep her in top shape.

The refrigerator has been bedeviling him, taking way too long (in his opinion) to restart after driving and then plugging into shore power.     He removed it in preparation for replacement (ugh) and then thought that perhaps it was the (relatively new) modified sine wave inverter that was causing the problem, not the refrigerator itself.    

He bought a new pure sine wave inverter, installed it and - Bob's your uncle!     The refrigerator now restarts in a timely manner.    No new refrigerator needed, so back inside it went.

Beluga's tires were nearing their end of useful life so, before we take off again, he decided to take her to the new Wickenburg Tire shop for 6 new ones.

off they go, without me!

I'm sure there are lots of other little things he's worked on, or changed, or redone also.   Sometimes my eyes just glaze over when he fills me in......

Rocky has taken us on a few short desert drives, looking for Crested Saguaros.  Looking is half the fun, right?   The google gods will not allow me to post a picture of the small, crested arm we eventually found.......

Poppies are beginning

he relaxes in the shade while we explore

multi use trail?

We've also had fun with friends.    Janna and Mike have a sweet little miniature Schnauzer named Kayce.    She just turned 2 and Janna threw a party to celebrate!    Lots of friends, two four footed friends for Kayce, and a yummy brisket dinner served outside in their nice, grassy backyard.   She got lots of presents, Taos insisted we bring her his favorite toy - Audrey!  

Audrey

  We all enjoyed ourselves, but I think Taos had the best time of all.  Running and playing with two friends, in the grass!     Sorry, no pictures. 

  Early in February we joined MonaLiza and Steve at Rancho de los Caballeros to celebrate her birthday.

Last week we celebrated Steve's birthday at the same spot only this time Rod and Lisa joined us.   Huge table, good food and wine, lots of great conversation and laughs.    Our waitress was from Verona, Italy and we really enjoyed her banter and recommendations.

Last but definitely not least, Pam and John drove down from Boulder City for a few days.    The first night we (the Wrights, the Banks, and the Lowes) enjoyed what has become our traditional first night dinner from Boulder City's China Bistro.   Pam and John graciously provide this luscious meal for us, and we all eat like little piggies.    Again, no photos - nom nom nom

The next morning, we sat outside with guava cheese pastries and solved all the country's problems. 

  That taken care of, we piled in the Jeep and set off into the desert with a very loose destination.   A natural arch!  

Taos enjoys the ride in his own way.   Sound asleep in the back of the Jeep.   He reappears when we stop to explore then returns to snore city as soon as the Jeep gets moving again.    An easy traveling companion.

We had two methods of navigations with us.   A chamber of commerce book and my OnX off road online phone map.     Dave and I had used the book once before to look for this arch (alternately named Natural Arch and Escondido Arch) with no luck.    We decided we'd use both methods and see which arch we came to first.   We weren't exactly sure if there were two or just one with two names.....

Needless to say, it took quite a while but in the end the book was abandoned with disgust, and the arch was located using the OnX map. (Although we did have to send Pam out on foot finally!)

TA DA!

She sent John up - for scale you know......

After our successful find and drive back through the beautiful desert, we shared a bbq dinner, taken out from the Hassayampa BBQ restaurant, and retired for the night.     They left in the morning.   A short but sweet visit!

 That's what we've been up to.

I love these Arizona skies

Here's Annie....