dogs – Mermaid on a Raft

The darkest day of the year.

01/10/2023 Oh 2022, what a year you were. I certainly do not want another year like last year. It did us both in with a variety of curveballs we didn’t expect. We managed to get through them, but it wasn’t easy or fun.

Walt, the miserable wretched RV from hell.

01/04/2023 One year ago we were existing in Walt, the RV that nightmares are made of. I honestly don’t know how I did that from September 1 to Feb 17th. At first, it was fun, but after 2 weeks, it was hell on earth. I know, I know, I should be grateful to have a roof over my head, and I was. For a few days. It was really hard with 4 good-sized dogs and the never-ending mud. The dogs were so good and just rolled with whatever was happening. It still was a very long 5 months.

We’re pretty well situated here right now. The weather is changing, below freezing, then 60 degrees. We’ve had some rain and that brings mud, but nothing like last year at all.

We are still walking the dogs every morning. Often Bill wants to wait until it warms up and they have a really hard time being patient. Personally, I would rather get up, get dressed and walk them, then come home and have a cup of tea and breakfast. Not Bill.

I was excited to get ready for Christmas. I had to order a new fake tree because when we left Az, I donated my tree to this guy who helps people who don’t have trees. I gave him all my ornaments too. (I had just bought them for Christmas 2021.) I think I was mentally hoping for a real tree once we got in the house. Needless to say, we didn’t get in the house for Christmas 2021 and we didn’t have a tree while we were in Walt. I was quite optimistic (overly) because I ordered 2 sets of mercury glass ornaments for a tree we never got.

There were no live trees being sold in our “town” this past year so I ordered another fake one from Amazon. We put it up and I decided it was too small so we returned it and I got a larger one that was partially flocked.

This is before we added a ton more lights.

I dug my decorations out of the containers they were stored in (since we left Washington in 2013). It was like Christmas for me, I honestly forgot what I had.

I got my crafty on and made some paper bag snowflakes. They were actually fun and not hard to do at all. I hung them in the 4 dining room windows and then we added lights and garland. It looked really nice, especially at night.

The hardest part was cutting through 7 thicknesses of lunch bags.

No pre-planned design, just cut as you go.

I hung them with clear elastic thread, not the best but it’s all I had.

Bill and I have not purchased gifts for each other for several years. This year he decided to buy me gifts. On a day he wasn’t home, my first gift was delivered. It was not in another box like it was supposed to be. I knew right away that I was getting a new Canon photo printer. YAY! Except now I had to buy him gifts. Bill is really hard to buy for because if he wants something, he buys it. I must have been complaining about what to buy him because he sent me a message with Amazon links in it for what he wanted. I bought him everything on the list except underwear because it wasn’t Amazon Prime and I am not paying for shipping. I did buy him a few other things that I thought of on my own.

I baked way too much over the holidays. I made almond biscotti dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes, molasses cookies, ginger cookies and coconut macaroons. I ate a good portion of everything, it was ridiculous. I made a nice container for the UPS guy and for our neighbor who lives alone. We still had too much.

Christmas was hard. We had to put Gringo down on Dec. 21, the darkest (literally and figuratively) day of the year. Horrible horrible thing to have to do but we decided to do it out of love for Gringo. We both wanted him to be pain-free and that was the only solution. I can’t write anymore about him, it’s still too soon. Our hearts are broken.

We did get an inch or 2 of snow, the dogs were happy playing in it. It was so cold out (below zero) that the ground was frozen and we had no mud, for a change. The temps were crazy cold and with the wind, it was downright bitter, but it didn’t last too long. Pretty soon the temperature was 60 degrees and sunny. I’ve been told that February is the month for winter weather around here. Last year was a blur so I don’t really remember.

Such a pretty view from where we walk the dogs.

I’m currently on the hunt for a new pair of boots. I wear my ugly muck boots daily but I wanted a pair of boots to wear when I go places. Just typing that sounds ridiculous because I rarely go anywhere. Anyhow, through Amazon you can do try before you buy if you’re a Prime member. With try before you buy you can get 6 pairs of boots or bras, tops, swimsuits, whatever, sent to you, keep what you like and return what you don’t want. If you return within 7 days you don’t get charged. Well, I got my first shipment of 6 pairs of boots and didn’t like any so I returned them and ordered 6 more pairs. I liked a pair of Ecco but not enough to spend close to $200 on them. I returned them all. I ordered a pair of boots from Born and I could hardly get them on. I wear an 8, I swear they were a 6.5. Ridiculous, I returned them. Then I ordered 3 pairs from Zappos. The first pair are Cole Haan and they’re really nice but I can feel the stitching inside the boot when I’m wearing them. That’s a no. I’m currently awaiting on UPS for the other 2 pairs. If I don’t like any of them I might as well wait until next fall. This is what buying boots when you live in podunk Burkesville is like. Frustrated.

Update: UPS brought the other 2 pairs of boots today. They both hurt my foot. The left boot is fine, unfortunately, I still have the R foot to deal with. I’ve had 2 surgeries on that foot and it’s been in flip-flops since 2013. It feels very foreign to wear a closed shoe other than my Skecher slip-ons, which are stretchy. I feel doomed. I’d like to keep these boots but I’m afraid to. What if they don’t stretch out and I’m stuck with boots I can’t wear?

Second update: All 3 pairs are being returned to Zappos and I ordered 3 more pairs. The saga continues.

Bill baked some focaccia bread and I made an olive tapenade for it. I can eat that as a meal, it’s that good.

Totally forgot to put rosemary on the bread before we baked it.

This is another Christmas gift Bill got for me. It fits nicely over the tub and holds all kinds of things, especially a wine glass.

With the crazy warm temps my tulip, daffodil, iris and hyacinth bulbs are sprouting through the soil. I hope they’ll survive if we get another cold snap. I’m really looking forward to planting more this year, we got such a late start last summer.

And that’s a wrap. I have nothing of interest to tell you. We (as in Bill) will start painting the inside of the house, soon as I pick out the colors. I hate doing that because colors are never really what they seem. If I choose a paint color and he paints and I hate it, too bad so sad for me.

Thanks for reading.

RIP my sweet boy. 4-15-2015 to 12-21-2022

RV living is NOT the life for me.

09/06/2021 Well. Here we are, we made it. We left Casa Grande, AZ on Thursday morning at 9:20. We drove amongst 3 zillion semi-trucks and every time they whizzed by Walt, he shook. Sometimes a lot, enough to blow him off to the berm of the road.

We spent 3 nights in campgrounds in Texas. Damn, that’s a BIIIIG state. I foolishly thought we would be through there in a day. I should have paid attention in geography class. Once out of Texas, we drove through the NW corner of Arkansas. Why is it pronounced Arkansaw? That makes absolutely no sense at all. I’m calling it Ar Kansas. That’s correct, in my mind at least. We spent the next night in Hazen, Ar Kansas. It was a very low-budget campground, they offered nothing. From there we drove to Bowling Green Kentucky. We planned to only spend one night in Bowling Green but Ida paid us a visit so we hung out for another night due to the heavy rain. The KOA had a fabulous dog area, the boys had a great time playing on the playground stuff for dogs. The RV next to us was a year older than Walt but very similar and they were from Az also.

Goodbye Arizona house, you will be missed.

Leaving Avalon, headed to the Interstate.

Barrio and Max were excellent travel companions. They didn’t talk, want food, have to pee or ask if we were there yet.

This was at a campground. I think Gringo missed me.

He loves it up there, Highway is giving him the side-eye.

This was at the second campground, it was in a sand dunes park.

This was a nice place but no doggie park area.

Highway joins in on the dashboard dancing.

Yay for doggie play areas, they poop much better off-leash.

Bill is going to build the boys a playground, they loved it.

We got showered Wed. morning, packed up and hit the road, final destination, Kentucky. We made it to our driveway but it was totally grown over with weeds. We blazed a trail with my poor car. It was covered in pollen. We were able to get up so we went back down to the RV and Bill drove that up and I followed in my car. We let the dogs out but didn’t let them wander because the weeds were super high and probably full of ticks.

Walt got stuck at the top of the driveway. Good thing there were a few piles of stone. Bill shoveled them in and Walt crawled right out.

Bill called Aaron, the guy who was going to clear the road and put in the septic for us and he came right over with a brush hog and cleared the driveway and flattened an area for Walt, then he spread the pile of stones around the area. It is a nice level spot for Walt to sit. We got hooked up to electricity and water and have a temporary septic for the RV.

Property, we own through the trees and down to the road.

This is all our field, we want to find someone to farm it. They are burning the thorn trees. These trees have 2″ long hard thorns, nasty things. We want all of these trees removed, the dogs could get hurt, they’ll flatten a tire in a swift heartbeat.

These limestone rocks were here. They will be used for something.

This is a random building in a random round-a-bout that serves no purpose, there is no traffic. I went to the Mennonite store, then to Burkesville to Ace and to IGA. This is in downtown Burkesville.

Max saw his first cow. He was captivated. We walked them on their leashes over to see the cows. We don’t want them over there because of the barbed wire fence. They didn’t see the turkeys, there were at least 5 of them.

I’m not thrilled with the grocery store option we have. I’ll obviously be making trips to Glasgow to get food, once we have a house. Cooking in an RV is not fun at all. Last night we actually had baked potatoes and chicken but the night before I had black licorice, spicy hot pickles and kettle corn. I have absolutely no desire to cook or wash dishes in this contraption.

I know I shouldn’t complain, so I won’t. This life could be a lot worse. We are on our property, the boys have room to run and we have nothing but blue sky and green trees. And no neighbors, the ultimate gift.

Stay tuned, I’m sure this ride will get exciting.

Hit the road Walt.

08/12/2021 I thought I would hop on here and do a quick update since I’m not sure I’ll be able to post when we get to Kentucky, at least until we get internet on the property.

Things are moving right along. Today was the bittersweet closing of our island home, La Casa de las Olas. The wave house. I’ll never regret moving to Roatan and experiencing that kind of life. I honestly thought I would live there forever but it just was not meant to be. While there, I met some fabulous island people, ones I feel blessed to know and call friends. They are the epitome of the island, they showed me and taught me things most gringos don’t get to experience. My week-long trip to La Moskitia was the most impactful week of my whole life. Being with the people in La Moskitia taught me something I could never learn in any school. I am forever grateful to my BFF on the island, Nidia, for taking me along with her. It will always be the highlight of my years living on the island. I also made gringo friends there, friends I will have for a lifetime. It was a good choice to move there, I’m happy we did it. Our house wasn’t fancy schmancy but it had killer views, a 24/7 strong breeze and it was so peaceful being in the jungle. I’ll miss that, and moving to the damn desert was sure a stark contrast to the dense jungle. I knew the desert house was not a permanent move but I enjoyed living here for the most part. I like sunshine and warm temps but 112 degrees for days on end is too much.

La Casa de las Olas. We lived upstairs, the downstairs was for guests, it was a full apartment. The house was purchased by 2 couples from Texas. They have 6 dogs. It’s the perfect house to live if you have 6 (or 11) dogs.

We have been packing for about a month. It’s almost done. It’s so stressful trying to figure out what we’ll need for the month it takes our stuff to arrive. I’ve pretty much got the pantry empty, next will be to clean out the chest freezer, put it in the fridge freezer and pack stuff in the freezer that we are taking. Not having to deal with furniture is a huge bonus but also daunting, because we’ll have to buy all new furniture, ceiling fans, lighting, plus all appliances. UGH. Yes, it’s fun buying new but it’s also a chore. The closest store will be 45 min away. I know that sounds like not much but here in AZ everything is within 30 min. So easy it’s made me incredibly lazy.

We had boxes in the closet, office, and 3 corners of the halls. Bill moved them to one place to see how much of the U-Haul trailer it would take up. The visual difference of them all in one place makes the whole move seem less overwhelming.

Now Bill wishes we had boxes that were all the same size. TOO LATE. I actually have one box that I wrote, I have no clue what is in here.

The house is still a flipping disaster. This too shall pass.

We got the exhaust fixed on Walt, he is so much quieter now. Currently he is getting all new tires. The tires on it had a lot of tread left, but they were 10+ years old, sitting in the AZ sun. I am so thrilled we got new tires, it will be much safer to travel cross country with. A blowout on an RV can cause structural damage to the RV. We do not need that. Plus he’ll be pulling a trailer with tools and his motorcycle {that I hate} on it.

We took the boys for a ride in Walt. They all wanted to sit up front. NO WAY, too unsafe for dog and driver. Bill bought a cargo net to keep the dogs back.

This should work, more than likely Highway will have his nose stuck in it at some point.

Once I told Gringo he could, he got up and laid on the couch. Max insisted on sitting by Bill and I kept pushing him back. Barrio was terrified and panted heavily and Highway. Damn Highway. He howled and cried, a very high-pitched consistent whine. It’s like having 7-grade school teaches right behind your head, scratching chalk on the chalkboard. If I were capable of removing a voice box, his would be long gone and donated to dog science.

Barrio and Gringo, who is being chill. Isn’t the upholstery lovely? It’s already covered with a sheet.

The brothers. This photo pretty accurately depicts them. Max is leaving, Barrio is strung out and Gringo is cool. I love these boys so damn much.

I’ve been cleaning up the mess from my gorgeous cactus. When the flowers die and dry up, they fall off. It was a lot to clean up this year because the flowers were so plentiful. If I don’t clean it up it looks like dog poop on the fake grass, and that’s where they all end up. I just noticed today that it is getting more buds so I imagine another flowering session will occur soon. There was a huge mess, I had to take my vacuum out there again. I’m over cleaning the fake grass.

We’re leaving soon to go visit our friend Nick at the rehab center. He’s still trying to regain muscle after his fall and getting second-degree burns. It’s been a long road for him, he’s been in a wheelchair since 1979 but has always been active and very social. Now he can’t do any of that. Heartwrenching. We go every Thursday to visit with him.

UPDATE:Nick is now home and not doing that well. Physically he is unable to do much of anything for himself, like get in and out of bed, cooking a meal, not sure he can shower alone. Mike goes 3 times a day, gets him up and has breakfast with him, he takes him his dinner and eats with him and he goes back later to get him in bed. I just can’t stop thinking about Nick and how his life has changed and it’s not a welcome change.

Ever since 2012, I have worn sandals. I wear sneakers when I walk the dogs, otherwise, it’s usually flip-flops. I’m pretty sure the pair I’m currently wearing are more than 4 years old. I just bought a pair of boots and I am soooo excited. This is what I got.

I can’t believe how excited I am about these boots. We went to Tractor Supply to see what they had, only one pair in my size and they were knee highs, didn’t want that high.

I had a pair of muck boots in WA. but gave them to Kailey before we left for the island. I look forward to wearing them again, while traipsing through the woods with the dogs.

Today after we walked the dogs and kind of woke up (I swear sometimes I am sleepwalking the dogs) we worked in the RV. I finished cleaning the drawers and lined them with cheap-o contact paper. Remember, we are not keeping Walt. We managed to get 95% of the art in the storage under the bed. The freezer in the RV is Lilliputian. That will be interesting, getting all of my many bags of shredded cheese in the freezer.

UPDATE: 08/20/2021 Walt has new tires and probably will get new batteries this week, Bill has not been successful charging the ones in there. I have a lot of stuff moved into the RV.

The U-Haul crates were delivered this morning and Bill and I completely packed one. I’m dead and I’m sure he is too.

They dropped off 4 crates, we’ll only need 3. They pick the full ones up on the 25th and also take the empty. It will take 3-4 weeks for them to get to Kentucky. By then the shop should be finished and we can unload and store stuff in there.

We packed this clear full, hardly room for a broom.

Of course, he had to buy a trailer to haul it. UGH.

Max has an affinity for tables. Maybe it’s the food.

Our plan is to leave the day after the closing, hopefully, that is the 25th. We should know by now but we don’t. We’ll drive a longer day the first day because it’s fresh and new. By day 2 we should both be tired of driving and will take shorter days. A lot will depend on how the dogs are doing also. We’re allowing 5 days but may make it in 4. I called the Post Office and asked them to hold our mail until we can get a mailbox up. I asked if Ace was right in town. Arlene’s response was, “oh honey, it’s right at the intersection of the only traffic light in town.” I’m thinking I won’t need GPS in Burkesville.

I’m done for the night, going to chill before I crash. Bill has help loading his tools tomorrow so I can try to organize what’s left in the kitchen.

We plan to leave Thursday morning.

Next time you hear from me I’ll be saying “you all” and have a twang to my dialect.

Arizona, it’s a dry heat.

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

I am a Flamingo school drop-out

04/26/21 We had a great start to April, temps were in the high 90’s and we had company arriving Sat., the 3rd. I worked several days getting the spare bedrooms ready and baking. I made 3 doz zucchini muffins and realized I forgot to add the blueberries so I made 3 doz more with blueberries and I made a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread, broccoli salad and some guac.

The dogs were of course terrified of the little people but they chilled because the kids were pretty cool with them and ignored them for the most part. Addison and Bryson were so excited to swim in the pool but had to wait until Sunday when the Easter Bunny brought them new swimsuits! We had dinner the evening when they got here and then sat around the table talking and sipping on some Damiana and Bill’s homemade beer. The kids were playing on the shelf of the pool, the water was barely 70 degrees.

The next morning we walked the dogs, Kailey and the kids came with me and Kev went with Bill. Once we got back to the house the kids checked out their Easter loot and then had an Easter egg hunt. I had a bag of stuff for each of them and of course, Kailey did as well. After breakfast, the kids headed right to the pool and pretty much stayed there most of the day. I forgot how much fun it is to have young kids around, especially these two. They were both so easy and chill, didn’t really matter what was going on, they were cool with it.

This kid is a hoot. He has half of the big plastic egg on his head.

Addison is the dog whisperer. Highway loved her.

Most of the time here was spent around the pool, the kids are fish. I wish the water had been warmer but they didn’t seem to mind.

Addison is a good swimmer, Bryson is getting there.

He is so much like his father, a laugh a minute.

Addison is such a boho chick, she dresses so cute and is very laid back,

I bought them each bubble wands, Bryson had a blast with them.

Kevin, my favorite accomplice in all things bad. We’ve known each other since 2000 when we worked at BofA. We have had some crazy fun together, he’s a great guy. I always knew he would be a good Dad and he is.

Kevin, Kailey, Addison and Bryson the morning they left. It was so great having them visit us!

After the company left we just chilled for a few weeks, anticipating my upcoming foot surgery. I saw the Doc the 14th and we decided on the 23rd for surgery.

The boys celebrated their 6th birthday April 15th. They each got their regular kibble, zucchini and a can of tuna. We count our blessings daily that we have these dogs, they are the best ever!

I started walking Highway and Barrio together, mornings and evenings. They are pretty easy to handle.

All of the flowers we got from the nursery are doing well. The Oleander has been flowering for a few weeks. I did not know that Oleander is poisonous. Luckily the dogs have no interest in dried flowers.

The cactus is going crazy with blooms. Some are pink and others orange and they are FILLED with bees. The bees roll around inside the flower getting as much pollen as they can. Unfortunately, the flowers last just one night.

We invited our friend and neighbor over for dinner the week before my surgery. I met Nick soon after I moved here. He was born in 1942 and in 1979, while working at his landscaping company he fell from a tree. He hit all the branches on the way down. He was taken to the hospital. They could find nothing wrong with him so they sent him home. He woke up the next morning paralyzed from the waist down. He also had a stroke so he is very hard to understand. He is such a nice guy, I’ve been taking him baked goods, lasagna, all kinds of food for a year now. When he came to eat he was unable to spread the tapenade on the foccacia bread. It took me a few minutes to realize why he wasn’t using the tapenade so I put some on his plate for him. Turns out, he is from Philadelphia and he used to be a dancer on American Bandstand.

We made a chicken, pineapple, peppers and onion dish on the grill and I made a large fruit salad for dessert. I gave him dishes of both to take home.

I spent the week before surgery getting stuff done around here, knowing I wouldn’t be dusting or vacuuming for a while. I had to be at the hospital in Mesa by 6 AM. We got there before it opened. Bill just dropped me off and drove home to take care of the dogs. When he got home and the boys realized I wasn’t with him, they searched the house for me. He walked them and fed them and turned around and came back to get me.

When I saw the doc the 14th I had asked him to allow me to stay awake for the surgery, he said ok. They had to put me to sleep for the nerve block, he said it’s quite painful and burns very badly. Once that was over, I woke up and was talking to the nurse and the anesthesiologist. They had Johnny Cash music playing, which was great. I could feel the doc doing something to my heel, it kind of hurt but not enough to scream or anything. Then I felt him sewing me up.

I was taken back to the area I was previously in and got dressed and called Bill. He was almost at the hospital when I called. Once he got there they went over some things with him. The doc stopped by and said, “by the way, your tendon was destroyed.” It had adhered to my heel and he had to extricate it from there (that’s what I felt), plus I had a huge calcification that he removed. The 45-minute surgery ended up taking 90 minutes.

We were home by 11 AM and the dogs were insane. They were so worried that I was gone. They spent most of the day in bed with me. My foot is feeling fine, no pain to speak of. We bought a new wheelchair and crutches so I can motor around the house. Crutches and 4 dogs who are constantly at your feet is not a good combo, plus I really suck on crutches. Our toilet is in a small room, it’s so crazy. I use the crutches to get in there, then stand on one foot (Flamingo), hold onto the doorjamb to sit down, hold onto the doorjamb to get up, rest my bad leg on the toilet seat until I can get my clothes situated, flush, then go for the crutches again. I freaking hate being laid up and would like to moan and whine and complain in general but I won’t because my friend Nick has it much worse than I do and he doesn’t complain at all.

Amazing, state of the art hospital in Mesa, AZ

They also love brussel sprouts, which is what they are begging for.

A long-time friend of ours from PA recently messaged me and said his wife was making soaps and candles and to send my address so they could give me some to try. Check them out on IG, @Mountain_Elk_Soaps_and_Candles. I got black raspberry and vanilla, Blueberry Thyme, Oatmeal honey and Lemongrass. So far I have used the black raspberry and vanilla and it is wonderful soap. It smells so good and makes your skin really soft.

My friend Galina is an artist, you can see some of her work at DrawingBlueberry.com. We worked together at Horizon Bank. I will be forever grateful to that place for introducing me to some of my fav people. I sent Galina a photo of me that my friend Stan took at our last class reunion. Galina did a drawing of me and sent it to me. I LOVE it. Galina’s clients include: Salvatore Ferragamo, David Yurman, Neiman Marcus, Seattle Magazine, Kendra Scott, Nordstrom, Seattle Bride, The Bellevue Collection, JCrew. If you have a special event or a favorite photo, contact her for a drawing to display in your house.

Check out Galina’s work @ Drawingblueberry.com or on Instagram @drawingblueberry.

One last thing. I know I’ve commented about our love for Brussel Sprouts, well, I just found this recipe on a pinch of yum. Try it, you will love it. https://pinchofyum.com/house-favorite-brussels-sprouts.

I’ll check in again next month, hopefully, I will be walking and no longer doing knee stands on the toilet seat.

The week with the Haboob and Monsoon.

09/02/2020 Here it is September and it’s still over 100 degrees every damn day. I can get Max out in the morning and not again until after dinner, too darn hot for him.

The face I get when I say, “Max, want to go out?”

Barrio and Gringo on the other hand will go out and lay on the sidewalk around the pool, it must be 100, I can barely walk on it. I haven’t been in the pool since Sunday, no reason other than I’ve been busy doing nothing. I am planning on a pool day tomorrow, I have a book I want to finish. I picked up 6 books at Goodwill a few weeks ago, they are much easier to read than my tablet while sitting in the pool. The tablet gets so hot and the sun is so bright, no matter how I adjust the screen, it’s tough reading. Much cheaper if I drop the book in the pool and not the tablet, so there is that.

Last week I noticed my Cereus cactus had over 110 new buds on it. I stopped counting at that point. It’s finally blooming again. I wish they lasted longer than one night.

Covered with buds. I think there are a total of 3 bird nests in this thing. One is used by the creepy bird but there are no eggs.

When we get home from walking, around 6:15 AM the cactus is a buzz with bees pollinating. There is a bee in this flower.

About an hour after the sun has risen in the sky the blooms close up. They last one night only.

Then they turn into these things and fall off and look like small piles of dog poop.

I keep count every morning of the # of blooms. This is the third time she’s bloomed this summer and this is the most flowers ever, so far we are at 102 with a lot of buds left to open.

I noticed this cactus flowering the other day, they lasted a few days.

I didn’t plant this, the previous owner has a few cactus in a terracotta pot.

The other day I was coming home and noticed the neighbors that recently moved in had these huge crates in their yard. My friend Paula was convinced there were wild animals and short necked giraffes in them. In less than a week they were emptied, broken down and gone.

I dug my underwater camera out and snapped a few photos of Barrio swimming. He spends more time in the pool than the other two do.

They are all such strong swimmers. Barrio is the only one of the 3 that is smart enough NOT to drink the water as he goes. The other 2 drink and then get out and gag and cough. They haven’t figured it out yet.

A few weeks ago I got an alert on my phone a dust storm was possible that evening, UGH, my first HABOOB. Just a few days prior I ran to the grocery, I was gone maybe 20 minutes. As I was pulling in the driveway I noticed my blue Agave looked weird. I parked the car and walked out to look again and the thing had exploded, like there was a bomb in the center and it detonated. I have never seen anything like it. I took some photos and posted in the Casa Grande FB pages. Several people had the same thing happen. I guess it’s the extreme heat, they just can’t take it. Seems weird because they are a desert plant.

After pulling all the leaves off this is what the center looked like.

I put on long sleeves and got heavy gloves to clean this mess up.

This piece I couldn’t even lift, Laura was going to come help me with it.

Once I got notice of the dust storm coming I went out to move the trash can and my neighbor was out there cleaning up the rest of my plant. He got the heavy piece in his trash can and took my can down to the curb for morning pick-up. I noticed the sky and he said, yep, a HABOOB is coming.

The whole light area is sand and strong winds.

The house across the street was barely visible.

The wind was howling and stuff was blowing everywhere. I walked out back and had to run back in, you could not breathe the air was so thick. It lasted about 30 minutes. After it was over I went out to look at my sparkling clean pool. I almost cried. I keep this pool spotless, ALL the time.

Tree branches, leaves and dirt, so much dirt.

It was awful. The morning after the storm, I let the dogs out back when we were finished walking. Barrio jumped in the pool before I could stop him. I had to bathe him.

My patio. I cleaned the patio and all the concrete around the pool before Wayne tore the filter apart.

Front entryway, Bougainvillea leaves and I don’t even have a Bougainvillea.

My friend Paula lives three houses away and they used to have a pool business, so her husband Wayne came down the morning after and started helping me clean. The one thing I don’t know how to do is tear the filter apart to clean it. Unfortunately, Wayne was covering his son’s pool business while his son was on vacation and they were inundated with calls. He didn’t have time to do my pool until Friday morning so I vacuumed it in the morning, brushed the walls down and vacuumed it again in the afternoon, every day. Once the filters were clean on Friday, we vacuumed it again and by Sunday it was clean enough to swim in.

I decided to freeze some basil because I am tired of watering it every darn day. I washed the sand off all the leaves, dried them and used the food processor with some olive oil. Once they were mushed up I put them in ice cube trays and froze them. I’m not sure it worked. I’m going to try another way with the basil that is still growing.

They really didn’t freeze well, maybe not enough olive oil?

Once I saw the blueberries at the market, all I could think of was blueberry zucchini muffins. Naturally, I passed them out to the neighbors.

I found this scary thing on my front porch, turns out it’s a Sun Spider and is harmless. Now I know.

My yard was a mess after the HABOOB so I vacuumed it. I can’t believe how nicely it cleaned up.

This is how Barrio sleeps next to me. Butt in my face, feet on my pillow.

A few days after the HABOOB, we had a monsoon. It was awesome, first real rain since I’ve been here. The green spaces in the hood were flooded for a few days. It allowed me to skip adding water to the pool for a day or two.

I got my hair seriously chopped off and it feels so good, I love it. I should have done this a long time ago, it’s so much easier with the pool and all, no more pony tails.

Tomorrow I am going to get the orthotic that I had made for my ankle. I’m hoping it reduces the pain in my ankle until I can get the surgery I need.

About 6 weeks ago I started having bad pains in my stomach, had no clue what it was but I was sure it would go away. After a week I was still in pain so I went to the Dr. She sent me for an Xray, that was fine so she had me get a CT scan and then she referred me to a gastroenterologist. When I saw him he checked me out and looked at the CT scan and said I had diverticulosis. Great. He said cut back on dairy, ugh, I live on cheese. He wanted me to get a colonoscopy since it had been 8 years + since I had one. I started the prep for the procedure on a Monday, so Sunday I ate a second dinner at 8PM, just because I am stupid enough to think that would help hold me over until Tuesday afternoon. From Sunday night until after the procedure I could eat nothing but clear broth and jello and was allowed to drink water until midnight Monday. On Monday afternoon I took the laxative pills, they did nothing. At 3 I started drinking the Golytle poison. I was to drink an 8 oz glass every 10-15 minutes. Yeah, right. I was also supposed to drink a lot of water. Once the poison kicked in I was running back and forth between the living room and the bathroom, dodging 3 seventy pound dogs that thought this was a new game. After a few near misses I decided to take a zero gravity chair from the patio into the bathroom and set up shop there. The dogs were so confused. I had my computer and some magazines and the poison plus my water. I was going to watch some movies but decided to Google colonoscopies. Oh boy, that was a mistake.

The dogs were so confused. Barrio slept beside me in the bathroom, the other 2 were in bed but kept checking in to see what was going on.

By 10 PM I still had about 5 glasses to drink but said screw it, I’m done. After all, I read so much about colonoscopies that I was now ready for the gastroenterologist final exam and was convinced I had cleansed myself thoroughly. I was only interrupted once after I got in bed for a speedy jaunt to the bathroom, after that I laid in bed worrying that maybe I didn’t drink enough poison and would have TO DO THIS OVER AGAIN.

The next morning I woke feeling nasty, hungry and thirsty as hell. I got up and walked all 3 dogs separately, came home and laid down again. My appointment was at 11. I showered and then my friend Laura came to get me, she was the designated driver. I don’t know what was going on at the Dr office but they didn’t take me until 1PM. I had not eaten since 8 PM Sunday night. I was famished. I was out of there by 2. I noticed on the paper they gave me that it says, “The quality of the bowel preparation was excellent.” NO SHIT. I already knew that.

At what point does a gastro Doc realize he’s made the wrong career choice? How many colonoscopies does he do before he says, “shit, I should have been a plastic surgeon?” I had the procedure done, all is well, but honestly, you could have tied a string around my ankles and flown me in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I’ve said this so many times, but will say it again, I don’t know what I would do without my dogs. Talk about being alone, I am totally alone. I go for 5-7 days without talking to another soul except for saying good morning to the people I see while walking the boys. These dogs are so in tune with my life and me with theirs. When I leave the house I tell them how long I’ll be gone, like they can tell time. I worry if I’m gone too long and will skip doing things just so I can get home to be with their slobbering barking faces. They give me a reason to get my butt out of bed before the sun comes up, they have contributed to me getting the exercise that I so badly needed. I love walking when it’s still dark out and the moon is full in the sky, it’s so quiet and usually about 10 degrees cooler than when the sun rises. We start and end our days together, my best friends.

I’m looking forward to October, Trace and his girlfriend are going to drive down to visit. They will stop and climb some mountains on the way, then come spend a week with me. Chance was going to come in October also but he tore his Achilles tendon and just had surgery on it. He will be laid up for 2 months, hopefully he’ll heal and still be able to come visit. I really am bummed I didn’t get to spend time with my granddaughters, I was so excited for it to happen. One of the reasons I wanted to move back to the states was to see the boys more, then Covid screwed up everything. Speaking of, oh, never mind.

Off to the foot doc, have a great September everyone.

Half a year bites the dust.

06/25/2020 By the time I get this posted it will be 6 months that I’ve lived in Arizona. I never thought I would feel stranded in my new hometown, but I do. Not to the extent that Bill and my friends on the island are feeling, only allowed out one day every 2 weeks, but stranded nonetheless. I can go to the stores when I want to, mask-wearing is required, but I am allowed out.

The idyllic, previously non-covid infected island of Roatan has more cases than they can currently handle, Honduras as a country, is a shit show. The country is/was very unprepared for a virus like this to hit an already besieged, impoverished place. My heart aches for everyone there, ex-pats and islanders alike, they’re all living in a strange new time, cut off from the rest of the world. The Governor and the congressman, Dino and Ron, have been working nonstop dealing with a very unstable main government, very trying times.

Nobody knew in January that mid-March would become a house of horrors for the world. Bill was here visiting for a week and left the 12th of March, the island, and the world as we knew it shut down soon after his return to Roatan. We are all hoping and praying that the virus can be contained and that the people living there can soon start making some money. Remember, there is no unemployment or welfare. If you’re out of money, you’re out of money. Nidia (BECAUSE WE CARE, SOL, ROARESCUE, LIVE AGAIN MINISTRIES) and MANY MANY other organizations have been supplying food as fast as they can get money to buy it. Food is a continual need, it’s gone in 5 days. If anyone is interested in donating please email me at ledfutt@gmail.com.

So, it’s been the boys, me and my sucky injured ankle. My ankle has not healed so I went to a new foot doc. He took Xrays, nothing broken (good) but he thinks I may have torn a tendon(s) so I had an MRI on Saturday. I see the doc again on Thursday. I’m still walking the dogs 3 miles a day and many days end up with 5 or 6 miles a day after cleaning or going shopping.

I got my sewing machine out to do some alterations to the waterproof covers I got for the chairs the dogs sleep on and the tension was all screwed up. I posted online and was given a name so I called and got their address and took my machine over.

I figured I was at the right place when I saw this by the mailbox. The man was so sweet, he fixed my machine and got it running great again.

The day after I got it back, I decided to fix my swim skirt and the chair covers. I did the swim skirt, tried it on, it was ok, then started on the chair covers but ran out of elastic. I put the dogs in their kennels and ran to Joann’s and then to Michaels to get elastic and some other stuff. I also stopped at the grocery store. After I got home I realized I had gone all of those places in my SWIM SKIRT. OMG.

The last time I took the dogs to the vet my A/C stopped working on the way home. I called a local garage and scheduled an appointment. They said my condenser had a leak and I needed it replaced, $500.00. I knew we got an extended warranty on my car so I called the dealer and they said it if was indeed a bad condenser, it was covered. I drove it up there and dropped it off. They gave me a 2020 Honda Civic loaner car. Nice car but it was so low I practically had to get on my hands and knees to get out of it.

That was a Tuesday. They called the same day and said it was covered. PHEW!! The following Monday they called and said the car was ready. I was so grateful to have my car back. For Honda to do the work it was double what the local shop would have charged. When the warranty expires, I will not be going to the Honda dealer for repairs.

I’ve been cooking/baking a lot more than I did the last 7 years. I made 2 pans of 5 cheese lasagna (no meat), almond biscotti dipped in chocolate, blueberry zucchini muffins. Problem is, I’m eating it too.

My friend Laura gave me 2 pork sirloin roasts so I cooked them and made pulled pork. I have a lot of it in the freezer, it will last for awhile and is so good. Yes, I eat pork, it’s white meat.

I’ve also been cooking for the dogs. Beef liver is cooked in the crock pot in the garage because I can’t stomach the smell. Then I cook spinach, peas and carrots, beans, lentils and zucchini in a huge pot and add the liver when it’s cooked. They love it and all of their skin issues are clearing up.

Olivia thought it was Italian wedding soup, whatever the hell that is. This will last 3 weeks maybe. I made it June 14th and I only have the big container left in the freezer.

I have a huge cactus in front of my bedroom window. I was not particularly fond of it until it did this:

It’s a Cereus hildmannianus QUEEN OF THE NIGHT. Below the flower you can see the bird nest that has been there for several months. No eggs, no babies. However, it has a resident evil bird.

This bird sat there while I took flash photos.

I get all Alfred Hitchcockish with this bird and it’s spooky eyes. I make sure to have glasses of some sort on so this bird doesn’t peck my eyeballs out.

Then last night there were two, just glaring at me. They’re ganging up, I know one night there will be a flock of Angry Birds attacking me.

This only bloomed once, no birds either.

Beautiful sky, too bad I’m way too lazy to use my real camera.

The deserts’ answer to bubble wrap. I have so much fun cracking all of the seed pods on the sidewalks and roads. I’m 7 years old again. This is Max on his morning walk.

Max is so obnoxious. When he wants something, he wants it NOW. He wanted inside and I was ignoring him. He hits me too, full-on hauls off and cracks me with his paw. He is so spoiled, I’ve started grabbing his paw and telling him no but he’s persistent.

My friend Lowanna saw this card and sent it to me, I love it, can’t wait until she can come visit!

Another friend Paula made these 2 bracelets and sent them to me. I love them because the colors resemble the desert colors. I don’t know how she can do something so intricate. I love them.

They like the ledge on the pool. We’re having a guy come and run the pool water through a reverse osmosis system to get some of the calcium out and make the water better. The water here is so hard and so much calcium in it that everything gets marked. Especially my skin.

The photo isn’t hung crooked, I was too lame to stand up to take the photo. I ordered this “Pulp Fiction” print off of Red Bubble. I love it!! (I listen to a radio station broadcast from a prison here in AZ, KCDX. Best station I’ve ever listened to, NO talking, just music. They just played the song John Travolta and Uma Thurman danced to in the scene in my picture ^^^, The song is You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry.)

I want to give a special shout out to my friend Cole. Cole was working at Blue Island Divers on Roatan when I did my refresher course. I got to dive with him several times, he is an absolute fish and has a great love for the ocean. He is now in Boca Raton, Florida running a camp for kids called Bubble Blowers Kids Camp. They are learning all about snorkeling, diving and caring for the underwater environment and making sure the beaches are kept in a pristine condition. If you’re in the area and have kids, this is a great thing for them to do. Cole is a PADI certified dive instructor and will instill in your kids his love for the ocean. Check him out HERE

So, here we are 6 months out, not a damn thing has changed. I have done nothing really exciting at all and I’m bored. My only guilty pleasure is Amazon and I have really cut down on that because I don’t NEED anything. I’m hoping Chance and his girls will be able to come visit this month, that will at least be some company. Things aren’t looking good for Bill getting off the island anytime soon, which really sucks, especially for him. One day out every two weeks is pretty damn sucky and there is nothing he can do about it. Keeping fingers crossed the island can get a grip on this virus and figure things out so the people can get back to their lives and welcome visitors again.

Stay safe everyone.

Social distancing is my uber skill

03/20/2020 I am not going to say I’m practicing social distancing because I have it mastered already. I do not like crowds or large groups of people. This is not new, it’s my normal. The older I get the more I realize I don’t have a need to be with a lot of people, I chose who I want to be with rather than be thrust in a group of 20-30 or more people that I really don’t know or care to know. I have a few years left in my life and only want to spend it with the people I like, not once a week or once a month friends. I have no need for that.

Bill was here for 10 days, I told the dogs he was coming but all they heard was blah blah blah. I took Max to pick him up in Phoenix. Max was super excited. When we got home I had Bill let the other two out of their crates and they went batshit crazy. He sat down on the chair and was totally mauled. Gringo even added the special loving touch and humped his shoe.

Bill is the tan pants under 200# of dogs.

He got all of the Honey-Do list done which was fabulous. He: put the dresser together, put the trundle bed together, fixed the lights, took down the saltwater pool box, hung 2 huge Cool-a-roo curtains, figured out the accent night lights in the yard, added new timers to them and to the filter. Moved the desk which weighs 11 tons, hooked up the batteries for the electric couch since we have no outlet close by. He moved the washer and dryer out so I could scrub under them and replaced the guts in the master bath toilet and added some RAM to my slow laptop.

This made my computer so much better, it was booting up so slow I hardly used it.

I found a local nursery online that wasn’t far from the house so we went one afternoon. It was huge but it was also a mess. There was trash everywhere, broken pots floating in with the koi, totally overgrown with weeds, buildings falling down, I was not impressed. Most of the cactus looked good but the other stuff was pretty much dead. They did have some interesting things laying around but I didn’t buy anything. Doubt I will return, I can’t stand places like that.

This was the cleanest building that we saw.

Cholla, these things can stick in a dog so easily.

This is the same type of cactus we have. Ours is huge and a bird is nesting in it.

I almost bought some Rosemary but didn’t feel like dealing with it.

While he was here I decided I needed some houseplants so I bought 2 nice pottery pots at Lowe’s and got a Dracena and a Sansevieria (snake plant). Bill helped me pot them and bring them inside. I would like a few more indoor plants. At one time when I lived in a cabin on the Loyalsock Creek in PA, I had over 80 indoor plants. I spent all my time at greenhouses, I was obsessed.

Bill took a LYFT back to the Phoenix airport. His flight was at 12:40AM and I detest driving in the dark. He got home just in time to be on a small island that has shut down. Many tourists are stranded there, the Canadian flights came empty to take the Canadians home but the US carriers haven’t done that yet, I read that they will soon begin to pick up US travelers that are stranded. People think being stranded on a tropical island would be the shits. Well, it’s not. Granted they have not run out of toilet paper and eggs like in the US but they have the island on lockdown right now. People are to stay at home. It amazes me how many people don’t pay attention to the rules and have their own little pool parties. Stupid. The craziest thing to me is the government saying there are no reported cases on the island. REPORTED is the keyword here. A few weeks ago, when this was just getting to the US but was all over Europe, 20,000 people (from all over the world) came on cruise ships in one day. They shopped in local stores, they were picked up by locals who do tours, they went to the beach and bought from locals working there. You tell me none of those 20000 people were asymptomatic. HAH. The virus was more than likely passed on to a local and then taken back to the colonias where the majority of the homes have no running water and rarely have soap and never have hot water or hand sanitizer. These are the people who don’t have rolls of toilet paper stacked in their pantry. The colonias are where many elderly people live and Roatan also has a very high number of diabetics on the island, they are more prone to this disease. The Corona Virus is there and anyone who thinks it isn’t is just kidding themselves. No cases and no reported cases are two entirely different things. I hope for the best for the island, I have many gringo and island friends there and Bill is there too. I am constantly telling him to stay home as I watch on FB the gringos having parties and ignoring the orders to close their businesses down. I hope I’m wrong about the virus but realistically, I find it so hard to believe it’s not on the island.

I’m still walking the dogs daily, my tendinitis is pretty much healed. I swear using the kinesiology tape helped me, YouTube videos showed me how to apply it. YouTube is amazing. I couldn’t get the front mats out of my car (kind of dark in the garage) so I YouTubed how to get them out, duh. It was so easy, even in the semi-dark when I realized what to do.

I alternate which dog goes first on our walks and figured out the easiest way to remember. When I walk one, the other 2 go in their crates. When I return I put the leash in the front, middle or back of the crate so the next morning I can figure out the order.

Gringos crate, he was first this morning. He’ll be last tomorrow.

Max was second, he’ll be first tomorrow. He always poops on his walk, just love carrying that steaming bag around.

Barrio was last today. He’ll be second tomorrow. See, there is a method to my madness.

Being my OCD self, I decided to change from all the colored scrapbooks I have to plain black binders. This was more of a task than I thought it would be as I had to punch holes in all of the page protectors so they would fit in the new 3 ring albums.

I had 17 12X12 scrapbooks full of memories.

Now I have them in 7 new books. I just ordered one more because one is overly full. I also ordered some binders for my 8.5X11 books and my 8X8 scrapbooks. All black, all the same except the 8X8 isn’t available in a 3 ring so I just ordered black. I posted on one of the local pages that I had 17 scrapbooks free for the taking. They were gone in 15 minutes.

I saw my first Arizona scorpion on the wall above the dog food dishes. It was dead as soon as I squashed it. I called the pest control right away and they came and sprayed.

Things are beginning to bloom, spring is on the way. I can’t wait to be able to get into the pool, it’s still 64 degrees.

Growth all the way up the tree, can’t wait to see what it looks like in a month.

My oldest granddaughter Alexah was to come and stay with me for 2 weeks but I doubt that is going to happen. She was coming on April 1st. I had all sorts of things planned to do with her, even bought tickets for an event in Scottsdale but I’m pretty sure it will all be canceled.

The boys were all in dog training classes. Max went Saturday, Gringo Friday eve and Barrio on Not helping much at all. The classes have been postponed but at the last class, Max sat with his back to the room and stared at the wall for the full hour. The teacher cracked up every time she looked over at him. Maybe he was social distancing, who knows?

And there you have it. I’m going to take the dogs outside for a while then curl up and read.

If you know anyone interested, here’s a link to our house. It’s a really crappy time to be trying to sell a house! https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mx1HH2FLC3I