June 2021 – Mermaid on a Raft

Just in case you are so inclined, you can sing along with Neil. Click HERE

June 27, 2021 I’m sitting here thinking of everything I have to get done in the next 60 days. August 27th is the last day in the Arizona house. I’ll more than likely begin making to-do lists for the next several weeks.

Let me first say, it’s not that I don’t like neighbors, I just don’t like the fact that they live next to my house, on both sides, in front, and in back. I never feel alone at my pool because there are 3~ 2 story homes towering over me. I can see them, so they’re close. I prefer to not see another house, I just want to see woods and green and sky. Our neighbors are very nice as are the friends we have made here, we will miss them. It was a great easy place for me to live alone for a few months, that turned into a year. It just was not the best for the dogs, not at all.

I am looking forward to being able to walk the dogs in the woods. They won’t know what to think. I am so excited for them to see snow too, Barrio will probably be afraid of it. Change is good. It helps that these dogs are so chill when it comes to change, it will all be for the best.

Land starts to the left of the white route sign at the top and follows the road and goes west. Burkesville, KY.

Almost 40X60. Close enough to the size the shop was in Everson.

I can not wait to be in the woods again. We left 28 acres in Everson for the jungle in Roatan. The jungle was gorgeous, simply an amazing place to live. If you have not seen the video of our island house, click HERE. It was a very secluded home, despite the fact there was a house down the hill from the entrance to our driveway, we couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see us. Leaving there and moving here, I feel like I’m in a fishbowl. I don’t like it. Nor do I like the fact that my dogs can’t bark here, I try to keep them quiet because “neighbors.”

We really lucked out with the selling of the AZ house. Bill met a lady at the gym and after a few weeks they started talking. She’s a realtor and he mentioned that we were hoping to sell our place. She was interested in knowing more so Bill asked if she would give us a suggested selling price for the house. She said sure, she was happy to do it. In 2 days she came back with a price and we were shocked. THEN, she messaged Bill and said she had a buyer for our place. Her husband is a broker and he is working with the guy who will be managing the Texas Roadhouse restaurant here in Casa Grande. He’s been trying to buy and kept getting in a bidding war with all of the properties. The market here is on fire. He was excited to get the opportunity to make an offer and have it accepted without it getting on the market. We were thrilled because we didn’t have to deal with making the dogs vanish when people were viewing the house. He came and looked, (after he made the offer that we accepted) and 2 hours after he left we had the full price offer and he bought ALL of our furniture. I just bought all of the furniture new in Jan 2020. This will be the 3rd time since Oct 2013 that I have moved to a different house with zero furniture. I’m sort of looking forward to buying ALL new furniture again, sort of. Not really.

Finding the land in Kentucky was a fluke. I was haphazardly looking on Realtor.com and came across this land in Kentucky. Originally we were looking in Tennesee but as soon as we saw something we liked, it was already sold. I decided to see what Ky. had to offer. I saw this listing and thought it was too good to be true. I called Bill in to look, he was very interested and called the listing agent immediately. Even though we have never been to Kentucky, we made an offer on the property and the next morning found out it was accepted. It’s out in the boonies, sort of, not nearly as many conveniences as there are here, but it’s also not 110+ degrees every damn day. The dogs will be much happier.

The land has a newly built concrete foundation that was going to be for a house. It’s almost 40X60. It needs a concrete floor poured, the walls made higher and a roof, it will make a great shop for Bill. There is already water and electricity there, we have to put in a septic system, it’s been perk tested and approved for one. There is a gravel road also. The land is heavily wooded, lightly wooded and cleared, a little bit of everything. The dogs will not know what to do with no fences around them. Next spring we will put in a pool.

So, now the plan is to buy a motorhome here and Bill will drive it and I’ll drive my car, each with 2 dogs. We’ll go to the property and get the shop done and the house built. And, we’ll live in the motorhome. We initially planned to buy a camper to pull with my car; however, the weight limit really made it a no-go. The trailer would be the size of a postage stamp and if it were just 2 people it would be fine, maybe, but add in 4 big dogs and it’s guaranteed to make me insane.

Blame ALL OF THIS on these guys. We could have bought 5 acres but we wanted more for their running pleasure.

They don’t appreciate me taking their photos.

I took some evening photos for the buyer. The pool lights are on in this shot.

So peaceful. Except for the houses all around.

This is on a type of prickly pear cactus (I think), second time it’s bloomed this season.

I went to get my teeth cleaned the other week. The hygenist started talking about the Water Pik flosser and how great it is. Of course, she had a captive audience, before I left the chair I had one ordered. She gave me one significant tip, lean over. Probably the 2 most important words ever spoken when having a water pik conversation. It came the next day and I was eager to try it. O M G. Seriously, O M G. And I thought the Sonic Care toothbrush was tricky to use. [I learned quickly that you can not set the Sonic Care on the counter and position your teeth over the brush (that is vibrating at 30K cycles per minute) while using your hands to apply mascara]. It doesn’t freaking work, don’t even waste your time trying it to see if you can do it. It’s a no for sure. The WaterPik is a similar challenge. The first time using it I thought I was going to drown. I had, what was surely 11 gallons of water in my mouth, drowning for sure. Then I realized I could open my mouth and just let the water run out. That seems so uncouth though. There must be a proper way to use this thing. Another thing, do not use the flosser pik on a high speed. This is important if you wish to retain the gums that are on your teeth. Do you know how hard it is to aim that damn thing at the gum line when you can’t look up because your mirror and sink area will look like they made a trip over Niagara Falls. It’s not easy, but my teeth do feel well cleansed after using it and each time is getting easier.

Gringo likes to lay next to my pillow when I’m reading in bed. If another dog gets that position before Gringo does, he sleeps alongside the bed, squashed in against the wall.

He may as well talk, he is the bossiest dog we have ever had. Max rules.

The grocery store sent free coupons, one was for this ice cream. It was excellent but $4.99 a PINT.

Right hand side of display, by green box. 107 degrees. That’s a normal here, that was at 10AM also.

We cleaned for 2 days before the buyer came to see the house he was buying. Bill is using the floor steamer. The dogs aren’t fond of any floor tools.

The sky actually dripped for less than 5 minutes. It smells so weird here when it rains, a real wet dust smell.

Every bag of dog food must be inspected by Max before we throw it away.

I did a foot doc and Costco run the other day. Bill is cutting one of their rotisserie chickens up and the boys are drooling.

My handsome lawn ornaments. Just wish they pooped in the toilet.

I have been spending my mornings in the pool. I sit on a chair on the shelf and read for 30-45 min, then I get in the pool with my hand weights and do water aerobics for 30 minutes, then I swim a few laps and get out and lay on a chaise until I’m dried off. I try to be back inside by 11:30-12. After that, it’s just too darn hot.

I am going to start packing my heavier winter clothes, things I won’t need until the end of October. We’ll probably have our stuff shipped to us, except Bill will trailer his tools that he will need with the motorhome. The motorhome we still don’t have. We’ll get one, no super hurry, we can’t park it here anyhow and will just have to pay for storage.

I think I will go in my closet and box some winter things. It will feel good to actually start packing, make it seem like it really is happening. And it is.

06/04/21 How is it June already? May went by as a blur, more than likely attributed to the fact that I was stationary and staring at the same damn walls for almost 6 weeks. Actually, May 19th the doc gave me the go-ahead to walk with the boot. When my ankle was broken in 2013 I spent 6+ weeks in the boot, but it was my left ankle so I could drive. I saw my doc 6/2 and he said I could start walking the dogs and could drive, which means BOOT free. Finally. I don’t know where I needed to go but just knowing I could not drive there myself was irritating as hell.

I started physical therapy the 25th of May and went again on June 1st. That was it. Our insurance only accepts certain providers and it looks like they scraped the bottom of the barrel when choosing. The guy was great the first time, second time he spent 15 min with me, said to continue doing the exercises from the first visit and then he walked away. I was not a happy camper, they also made me wear a mask. I did not the first time and refuse to do so any longer. I talked to my doc and he said as long as I stay active and do the exercises my great-niece sent me, (she just got her doctorate in physical therapy) I would be fine.

We left the doc and dropped off lug nut things that were supposed to go with the old car when we traded it in. In my haste, I took them in error. (We traded in my CR-V, story to follow)

Last Saturday we drove north to look at some cars but only saw one we liked. We came home and started looking online and found one at the Honda dealer in Chandler. Bill drove up on Monday and came home with a Honda Pilot. We seriously just bought a bigger car for the dogs. It’s not new but is the limited edition, full leather, sunroof, all the goodies and only 60K miles. I would love to have a new one but it’s ridiculous when we’re going to use it to haul the dogs cross country. Next up is to buy a small camper then we’ll head east to look for property.

My new ride, Honda Pilot. The color is Black Forest Green. And the dogs will be very comfy. I took this pic while we were at Joann’s buying pleather to cover the back to attempt to keep the dog hair from embedding in the carpet. HAH!

This was my ride from Apr 23 to May 19th. It served me well. My friend crashed on her bicycle and is pretty banged up so she is buying it from me.

I was so excited last night that I could walk the dogs. It was at least 100 freaking degrees at 7 PM so we just went for a short walk. When I got home my ankle was dying and my right knee, which is my good knee, felt broken. I iced my ankle last night and this morning I felt a lot better.

I’m in the pool daily and loving every minute of it. I exercise my foot and swim some laps. The first few days when I was diving in I could really feel it in my shoulders and arms but it’s all good now. Water is so soothing to me.

My neighbor that brought me tulips last month brought me roses this month. So sweet of her to do that, I really must buy a vase or two. I cut off the top of a plastic water jug and used it. Lame, I know.

My friend Nick who is disabled had an accident a week after I had my surgery. He was on his motorized scooter in his backyard doing some work. I don’t know for a fact he was shirtless but I’m 95% sure he was. He backed up and hit a rock and his scooter tipped. He could not get back up and laid on the hot pavers wearing only his shorts and shoes for almost 3.5 hours. It was in the high 90’s that day. When the neighbor found him he was having seizures. The ambulance rushed him to the hospital and they life flighted him to the burn center in Tucson. He had 2nd degree burns on his legs, arms, back and chest. He was in the hospital in Tucson for several weeks and is now up here at a rehab center. I guess his burns are still not totally healed and he lost so much muscle strength from laying in a bed and being so severely dehydrated, that they are keeping him a few weeks longer. I have been sending him cards that I make with photos of the dogs and my cactus. He loves the dogs, he calls them his babies. (shout out to Sue Morrow for sending me a card for Nick, that was so thoughtful) We look forward to him coming back home, I plan on baking and cooking things for him.

The boys are doing great except Barrio and Gringo are having allergy issues. Barrio has a sore under his armpit, Gringo has one under the opposite arm pit. We have spent over $400.00 dollars just trying different dog foods. After dealing with this for a few years we took Barrio to the vet to get blood drawn. They sent it to a lab for dogs and cats. They came back with his being allergic to these foods: pork, tomato, flax, chicken, peas, corn, pumpkin, oats and rice. The list of environmental things is insane, I think he’s allergic to every grass or tree ever grown. I’m concentrating on the food. Once again we cooked liver and added veggies like broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes and zucchini. Yesterday I bought a vat of coconut oil at Costco and am giving that to all of them along with a fish oil pill daily. The allergy place recommended food for him, the cheapest was $109.00 for a 24# bag, all Royal Canin. HELLO? Are they out of their minds? I searched online for hours yesterday and found decent dry food with no allergy-inducing ingredients and it was half the price of the Royal Canin. I went back and checked the allergy site and this food was on the 2nd page, of course. So it is on the way. Since we’re feeding 2 the special diet, liver and veggies will still be cooked. I just peeled 7 huge sweet potatoes and cooked them. I’ll throw them in the next batch of dog food.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I will again. I started giving the boys Pedigree denta chews after Maxs’ expensive dental bill. The last time they were to the vet Dr. Bob said Gringo’s teeth were the cleanest teeth he has ever seen on a 6 year old dog. His teeth were nasty also. Huge huge difference, they will not need dental work in the near future, that’s for sure. Maybe I should eat them too.

I just saw my dentist for a cleaning and he recommended the Water Pick, it’s in my cart to purchase.

The boys are still not liking the heat here, it’s just too much. They go for a swim and then want right back inside to bask in the A/C. And you know what, I don’t blame them at all.

This is how they chill. Highway is always an upside down sleeper.

However, Max wins the total chill prize. He’s ALWAYS like this.

Barrio likes to curl up by my pillow, but Gringo thinks that is his spot. No matter how small of an area is between Barrio and the headboard, Gringo lays there. These boys.

My Cereus is starting to bloom. This one bud opened and closed before I got a photo of it. There are tons of other buds now.

Sorry I’ve been such a lousy blogger but I’ve not done anything exciting for quite some time now. Hopefully things will pick up over the next few months.

Enjoy your summer anyway you possibly can. XO

Month: June 2021

The time we bought land for the dogs.

Arizona, it’s a dry heat.