Arrival!

 

here comes Angel!

First thing Friday morning, we opened the garage door and prepared to receive Angel and his moving crew.     He's a real gem.  After loading the truck and driving it across the country in three days, he was still smiling and laughing.

Angel and one of the local helpers (Chris or Dave)

He and his crew ( local helpers and his brother, Jose) were competent, friendly, polite and oh so efficient!  The moving truck was packed like a giant jigsaw puzzle and was completely unloaded by 10:30 a.m.!   All boxes had been carefully labeled before loading at the lake, and the guys made sure they were all properly replaced at the new house.

Chris or Dave, Chris or Dave, Angel and Jose

Now for the unpacking.....We spent half of Saturday and Sunday organizing the garage.   We started there because we were looking for the painting drop cloths Dave knew were there, somewhere......

boxes in the foreground are empty and awaiting recycling

We have to paint the master bedroom and bath before placing our furniture, so those drop cloths were important (sure, we could have just bought new ones....too easy, right?).    We finally found his own, personal drop cloths in THE VERY LAST BOX!   but, now we have them and the painting can begin.

I'm working on unearthing my kitchen, so much packing paper!

At the end of the day, it's nice to enjoy a gin and tonic sitting in our old, familiar Adirondack chairs.    They are slightly confused by their new views....where's the lake they ask?

We're still living in Beluga at Desert Cypress RV.   It was a good decision not to try and move right into the house.    Coming back to our calm, quiet "home on wheels" with a fully stocked refrigerator, clean bed, and cable tv is more than wonderful after the chaos that is 1055!

Catching up

 When we last spoke, Dave was still suffering considerable pain from his recent back surgery.   That time has passed, his recheck appointment went well, the Surgeon was very pleased with his progress, pain medications have been discontinued and he's well on the mend.

We ventured out to a few restaurants during the healing process, testing Dave's ability to drive comfortably again.    After lunch at our favorite, Nicols West, Dave discovered a lovely rose garden around back.....

  

 Hans and Lisa came down from the Prescott home to hike with MonaLiza and Steve one day.    They all met us for a surprise lunch at El Ranchero.   It was good to see them again.

One afternoon MonaLiza and Steve invited us to their home for a mutual celebraton.   In honor of Dave's successful surgery, the closing of our "new" house and the completed sale of their motorhome, Betsy, we shared a bottle of bubbly and MonaLiza's version of Pam's delicious Shrimp and Feta Pasta Bake.  

She took a picture of us, with bubbly in hand, and sent it to me.....I can't find it.   Sorry.

As I mentioned above, we finally closed on our "new" winter home base in Wickenburg.   A few minor problems cropped up the day after our final walk around and official closing which sent Dave racing off to the hardware store to buy a wet/dry vacuum.  I was left behind mopping and wringing with the two towels we had with us.    During our Real Estate Agent's demonstration of how to change the refrigerator's ice maker filter he evidently neglected to properly seat said filter.   The entire kitchen floor and all the refrigerator drawers were flooded by the time we returned the next day.   Ugh.

We spent a bit of time removing a few pieces of bedroom molding that was driving Dave insane and securing a large doggy door in the living room wall.   The next day we  had a wonderful cleaning crew come in to scrub the house top to bottom.  

looking from the livingroom, through the kitchen to the eating area

That's better.....now the whole place shines.    We brought back a small thermos of gin and tonics to enjoy in our new back yard.    We haven't had one since probably November, since Dave started taking pain medication.    It tasted exceptionally good!  

gin and tonic views out back

 This will be a good place for us to spend winters.   We can't wait to dig in and make it our own (next fall that is....first a visit with Jesse and Erin at their new home in Spokane!)

Here are a couple quick photos, stolen from the internet, for those of you who have been asking to see what we bought!

Beluga's new winter home

Now, in real time, Dave is back at the lake working with Jesse and Angel to pack up our belongings in preparation for their long ride across the country and into their new home.    Dave and Jesse will be back in their respective homes early next week.    I can't wait, and neither can Erin!

They're doing a stellar job....I can't believe how much progress they've made in just a few days.    They must be exhausted....sigh.      

Cindy P brought them lunch yesterday and I think they enjoyed the break almost as much as they enjoyed the food and conversation!     Robin and Tom are also there to help with whatever is needed.   We have such wonderful friends.

I'm taking care of details on this end.   I stayed back with Lewis, he's uncomfortable wearing a mask and the airlines won't let anyone fly without one - wink wink.     It's not all work on this end, however.

I explored the Desert National Wildlife Refuge yesterday.   The visitor's center was still closed (Covid, ya know) but there were several short trails in the area with lovely green riparian areas to explore.  Lots more to see for another day (or two).

    

native American mortars along the trail

pomegranate blossom

I thought it was interesting to see the pomegranate forming from the flower

It's been an exciting few months.   I'm sort of done with exciting now.   Boring sounds good to me.

Friends and hot dogs

 Well, the honeymoon is over for Dave.    He's now taking all the medication provided, at exactly the correct times.   He knows when that is without even looking at the little chart we've created.     This phase of recovery shall pass,  people tell us.   Sooner than later we hope.

Thanks to the kindness of friends, however, he DID manage to get that much awaited Sonoran Hot Dog.

And, it was good.  nom nom nom    Since Dave was having such a difficult time with pain management I cancelled our lunch date with Steve and MonaLiza.    MonaLiza knew how disappointed he was to miss his hot dog date so she (and Steve) picked up the lusted after meal and surprised Dave with it here.   He was so happy to see them and what they were carrying!      They stayed and we all ate together.

When our lunch was over, Dave downed a very necessary Percocet and I turned the nursing duties over to sweet Lewis.    When I left for the post office he had tucked Dave into bed and was keeping him quiet by virtue of his close attendance.  

So Far, So Good!

 We were at Banner University Hospital at 7 a.m. yesterday morning.    We left Beluga at 5:30 a.m to be able to deal with the beginning of rush hour traffic into downtown Phoenix.   

Steve Lowe graciously agreed to come over mid-day to take Lewis out for a bit of relief in case we were away longer than planned.    We left at 5:30 and didn't return until 4:45 - a long day for us all.   Poor Lewis was confused by Steve's arrival and wouldn't get off the bed to greet him.   It took a speaker phone call from me to convince Lew that Steve was a safe person to listen to.    All went well after that and we are eternally grateful to Steve for his kindness.  

Dave's surgery went well, the Dr. said there was more inflamation than he expected, and he was able to come home relatively soon after the surgery.    We drove back on surface roads (rt. 60) instead of I-10 and experienced little traffic.   He enjoyed a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a slice of lemon cake, watched a little televison and had a good night's sleep, sans the prescribed opiods.    This morning he woke bright eyed and bushy tailed with some pain but nothing near what he had the day before.   We're hoping that gabapentin and muscle relaxants will keep doing their jobs.  This may be a honeymoon period, we're prepared for that, but he's happier than I've seen him in a while - a good thing.     

Thank you all for your emails and texts filled with kind words, positive thoughts.    We are truly grateful for your concern. 

p.s.  And....he's out walking again, oh Dave......

Holding pattern

We're still here in Wickenburg, in our nice green site beside the Hassayampa River bed.  

 insert picture here.....I've managed to lose an entire "camera roll" of photos on this laptop somewhere, including one of Beluga and the leafy green trees beside our sitting area.

Some of those leafy green trees are Cottonwoods, however, and the little white fuzzies often drift into our coffee or wine and they seem to make a bee line for poor Lew's nose.    Another lost picture.....

There have been some major changes since we last talked.     Dave had  bilateral epidural steroid injections on April 2.     This treatment did not work, made absolutely no change in his pain or pain level.     We weren't surprised but were very disappointed.        On to the next step, surgery.     Yesterday we met with the Neurosurgeon and discussed various options.    He suggested one that he felt would do the trick and would work within our timetable (more on that later).      He left us alone to talk and Dave decided it was the way to go so, after getting a chest xray, a Covid test and various blood work done, he scheduled the hemilaminectomy for this Monday, April 19!     The procedure should take about an hour and Dave will be able to come home the same day.    He's planning on feeling good enough to go out for a Sonoran Hot Dog on Wednesday - cross your fingers, he's pretty serious about his hot dogs!

Now about our timetable......We've found a house here that we think will make a good winter home base and the owners have accepted our offer.    We'll close on the property on April 30!  It's a small home, about 1700 sq. feet, sitting on a hilly 1 3/4 acre lot with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.   The bonus is that they recently built a very nice 24x40 building just perfect for Beluga!    It's definitely a country property on an unpaved, dead end road.    There are homes in the area but, other than the one directly across the road from it, they are spread out on similar sized and not next to us.  I'll  see horses from my front windows and will have mountain views dotted with Saguaro for second cup, happy hour in the back yard.   

There are a few complications.   Dave will need to fly back to the lake, (Jesse will be fully vaccinated and join him there) organize and prepare for movers to load our belongings onto their truck for the long ride across the country, and then fly back here to meet them at the new house.    All this while recovering from surgery.     The surgeon assures us this will work.     Without the love and assistance of our friends it most assuredly would not work.    We have faith in Dr. Baaj and our friends so - here we go!      Once Angel (yes, that's the mover's name....) wonderful Angel delivers and unloads our stuff we may or may not get back on the road and head up to the Pacific Northwest for the summer.     Can' let any grass grow under our feet now can we!

So, that's the news from Wickenburg!    There have been too many moving parts to get a blog out before today, I'll try to be better in the future.    One of our Canadian readers said that just because we don't think things are interesting enough to blog about, it doesn't mean that others aren't waiting to read those blogs to keep them sane during their imposed shut downs.....I never thought about things that way, but I'm guilty of comulsively reading friends blogs to keep my spirits up during this difficult year too.

   

In addition to  filling out papers, talking with realtors, insurance people, inspectors, etc., we've managed enjoyed a few lunches out.   Now that we're fully vaccinated I can't tell you how  freeing it is to be able to sit in (outside actually) in a restaurant, share a meal and wine with friends, laugh  and feel normal again!

Our first was at tiny Nichols West in Congress.   We had the entire patio to ourselves (after a reservation mix-up and half hour wait).   We shared a lovely cool bottle of French white wine, shrimp tacos and chicken with waffles.   Time flew by as we ate and watched the birds in the trees surrounding our umbrella table.

The next week (we're trying to spread our fun out....) Dave and I discovered another small, relatively new place in "downtown" Wickenburg named European Kitchen,   The chef/owner is English and runs the little restaurant with the aid of only one waitress.   The effect is intimate and the food eclectic.

Once again we picked a slow day and time so we had the patio to ourselves.   I originally ordered the Konigsberg Klopse (german meatballs) but Dianna, our waitress, told us that Clair, the chef/owner, was still making them and they wouldn't be done for an hour or so!    Instead I chose chicken/spinach lasagna with watermelon radish salad while Dave had a lucious chicken pot pie with puff pastry top.  

Neither of us was disappointed and vowed to return for those meatballs.    

Easter came and went with nothing of note here except the end of our carefully metered out jelly beans.

Mr. David's A-1 Mobile RV Repair and Grooming Salon, LLC came twice.    Once to continue the work he started on a perplexing situation involving Beluga's aging emergency brake dashboard surround. 

 The next time he didn't come himself, but instead, sent one of his newer holiday crew to mow the poodle.   It didn't begin well - he forgot to put a comb on the clipper before he cut the first strip and the resulting crooked  "landing strip" is finally beginning to grow out.    We didn't point it out to Lewis because he is very sensitive about his looks and would have been mortified.

Luckily, hair grows back and we can barely see the mistake now.   Needless to say he comped the entire grooming job and we were happy.  

That's all I have for now.    I just tried, unsuccessfully, to fnd those lost pictures.   I know there is one of a huge and stunning cactus flower that I really wanted to show you.    Perhaps I'll find them another time.    Sorry.

  

Still Wickenburg

 We're happy to say that we both had our second Moderna Covid shots and experienced relatively little side affect from it.    We felt a little tired the next day and used that excuse to take a lovely mid-day snooze but nothing else happened.     We ate a normal dinner and slept through the night.    It's in the rear view mirror now and we're happy campers.

Dave did not have the epidural injection scheduled for the same day, as was originally planned.    The doctors both said they didn't know if it would compromise the Covid immunization so we decided to not take that chance.   One thing at a time.   He's scheduled for the steroid injection on April 2 now....finger's crossed that it works for him.

Life has been relatively quiet and slow here.   No explorations or visits with anyone.   The weather has been lovely and we've done a lot of reading in the sun.    The trees next to us have leafed out and are now home to lots of bird activity, which we always enjoy.  

binoculars poised

 

There is some news, however.     We have accepted a great offer on our sweet lakeside cottage and will close on the sale very soon.   

  Keeping or selling, keeping or selling....that has been the subject of  second cup and happy hour conversations between us for some time now.    We both love the cottage and the lake.    We love the beautiful New York summers and our dear friends there.      What we don't love, however, is the long stressful drive across the country twice a year.    We love the west, have loved it since our first cross country trip in 1971.     If it was up to Dave, we would have moved to Arizona many years ago.     The "crossings" are always during the worst weather months for traveling the way we do.   I can't say how many times we've danced between fronts that were throwing tornados in our path, or halted in our tracks in order to stay put during an early spring/early fall ice storm instead of meeting it on the road.      Making sure we stopped for the night at a campground with a storm shelter had become the norm.  Exhausting.

We're absolutely NOT finished with traveling though.    We feel that the time is right to move our "home base" from the east to the west.     We hope to find a place in Arizona to spend most of the winter (with a few MH visits to favorite places nearby) and then travel for the late spring, summer and early fall.    We aren't done with the Pacific Northwest area and since Jesse and Erin have recently moved up there, our timing seems perfect.      

Lots of balls in the air for us right now.    Did I say "quiet and slow"?    Perhaps not.

gratuitous Lewis photo for his friends

 

  

Wickenburg, AZ

We left Catalina State Park and arrived in Wickenburg, Arizona about 2 weeks ago.    Time flies when you're having fun!     I haven't taken many pictures here, we haven't done much since we arrived.    Covid and Dave's leg/back problems have kept us relatively static, with a few notable exceptions.

We usually stay in a pretty small site near the entrance because we back into a copse of trees that gives us some visual relief from all the fifth wheels, pick up trucks and the noisy off road vehicles zooming in and out.     When we sit outside we can turn our back to it all and gaze into the trees.    Our neighbor on one side was a very nice man, famous to many NASCAR fans.    Ron is a retired Winston Cup Truck Champion so Dave had lots of fun conversations.     He and his wife couldn't have been more pleasant.

On our other side, however, was the absolute opposite type of person.    When we first arrived we found that his truck was parked over the line and impeded our entrance.   He and his wife were not home at the time, but the Manager of the RV Park called him to ask if he would mind moving his vehicle back completely into his spot when he got home.   I was there, she was pleasant and courteous to him on the phone.    He screamed and swore so loudly at her, I could hear him all the way across the room!  He most certainly would NOT!   He was here first and he needed that space......

We could have shoe-horned Beluga in tight to his truck to claim our rightful space, we could be as obnoxious and self righteous as he was,  but what would that accomplish?    A rude, cocky, entitled ass as a next door neighbor.   Oops, his truck door just accidently bashed into Beluga, oops, our sewer hose accidently sprung a leak, oops his grill accidently fell over into Beluga's side......Nope, we pick our battles.    So we ignored him, looked into the trees and waited for another spot to open up. 

view from my window

 A few days later a great, large and private spot opened and the Mgr. moved us into it immediately with her apologies.    We're so happy here.....we have lots of birds visiting and unobstructed sunset views over the river bed (if there are clouds that is....and there are few clouds lately).   Our neighbors (only one one side) here are great, even bringing Lewis steak cut offs for his dinner! 

When we sit out for happy hour or second cup, there is no one in view, just the wide open sky.   Nice.

Sometimes we are entertained by a small Cooper Hawk that flies in and perches in our nearby Fremont Cottonwood tree.   I guess he's looking for his own second cup goodie.

What really gets us laughing though is the tiny Kamikaze hummingbird that dive bombs the hawk, with no concern for his own safety!   It's quite entertaining and the little guy never gets a rise out of Mr. Cooper, no matter how annoying he becomes.

We had an overnight of rain last week.   It was a real blessing as the summer monsoons didn't arrive this year and everything is tinder dry.

our chairs dry in the warm sun

We've used the services of Mr. David's A-1 RV Repair and Mobile Beauty Shop here a few times lately.   Beluga's rear furnace was beginning to squeal like a little piggy when we turned it on so Mr. David's best technician replaced the blower motor, both fans, the burner head and ignitor and all is peaceful and quiet and warm here in the mornings now.

this particular tech works best with a mouthful of screws

His Number 1 mobile TV technician installed Chromecast on the bedroom tv so I could watch whatever I want when I retire in the evenings and Dave can focus on whatever he wants in the living room.    Check that one off the list.

He is brainstorming a tricky fix on Beluga's parking brake surround.   It's beginning to show it's age and needs some reinforcement and strengthening.   This particular problem has been the subject of much consternation.    Mr. David's tech may or may not need to use some of Steve's tools to accomplish his plan.    Stay tuned. 

Occasionally this company's techs get so involved in their work that they forget how to answer the phone when we call.    They do such good work that we forgive these little confusions.

One of the main reasons we're here is for Dave to visit his doctor in Phoenix.   His leg pains (which we now realize are back problems manifesting themselves in the thigh) have gotten worse to the point where sitting is difficult, and driving is very painful.    Last week he had an MRI in Sun City and, as a result of that imaging, he is proceeding with treatment.     Our second Covid vaccination appointment falls on the same day as the prescribed bilateral epidural steroid injection, so Dave will be needled in a number of places that day!

We both ascribe to the theory that "a little sugar helps the medicine go down", or in this case, a little grease helps the medicine go down so after the MRI we stopped at Five Guys for a wonderful burger and some lovely, greasy french fries.   All better now.

Lest you think that our stay has been all unpleasant, we've had the pleasure of visiting with friends and new residents of Wickenburg, Steve and MonaLiza!   Their new home is perfect and we've been able to enjoy it with them a few times.    Two nights in a row they fed us dinner.    Actually it was supposed to be one dinner, but due to a slow delivery it turned into two.    MonaLiza ordered PEI Mussels for dinner, she knows Dave loves them, and they were to arrive on Wednesday.    We all sat and enjoyed glasses of wine and a little appetizer while we waited....and waited.    They never arrived so Steve quickly improvised by pulling  a really delicious pizza direct from their freezer!   (it was really good!)   Afterward they treated us with a knock-out drink.....Screwball!

where to they make this stuff?

Who knew peanut butter and whiskey could taste so d amn good together?

A phone call yesterday had us heading back to their home - the mussels have arrived!   Dave orders them whenever they're on a menu and they are some of Steve and MonaLiza's favorites.    I was the only one who had never eaten a mussel (or clam or oyster)    My verdict?     Wonderful!    I've joined the ranks of the rest of the world now.   Good girl.

That's all I've got for now.   Hopefully it won't be so long between posts next time,  but who knows?