Yeah, I’m still alive

I started a part time job this week driving for a local shuttle.  He calls, I go pick someone up and take them where they are going, usually go pick them up again after awhile.  I couldn’t live off this if I had to, but it keeps me out of trouble.  I’m probably saving more by not spending because I’m bored than I am making in money.  It is almost a service for folks here as there is little or no public transportation here.  Just a couple of these small shuttle services.

I had new tires put on the motor home, so some things are progressing.  I’m still putting things back in place from moving the motor home to get tires.  If I was moving around more I’d have to come up with a better plan for things to not move around while traveling.  Right now I just dismantle the table and move the computers someplace safe.  I’d do built-ins if I had to do this every day.

Trips away are on hold while I take advantage of making some small amount of money.  Mom is doing well.  We have our evacuation plan in place where she drives to the motor home and I drive it while she follows me driving her car in whatever direction we are told to go.  This is important as just this morning I heard bunches of fire trucks headed up the Rim.  It is wildfire season from now until the monsoons come.  I hope those rains do show up.  We didn’t get the winter or spring rains and it is very dry.  This is another reason for not leaving the area right now.  Mom can drive and follow me while I drive the motor home but she doesn’t want to drive outside of town by herself.

Summer up in the pines.

Where was I…

I have no scheduled commitments for the next few weeks.  I have offers out to help folks, but so far haven’t heard if I’m needed.  I have the most pressing maintenance and cleaning done on the RV.  Other than thinking about the next trip out to see my Uncle in MO and other trips I want to take this summer, I’m free to do what I want.  I’m trying to remember what that was.

There is more maintenance on the RV that chould be done (when is there not?)  I need to totally replace the windshield washers, and price and schedule replacing the tires as well as the batteries.  I haven’t replaced the GFI outlet yet as everything works when I parked and plugged in to shore power.  I bought a kit to fix the rock chip in the lower windshield.  In other words I have stuff to do if I just do it.

There is also some hikes I meant to do last year that I could do before it gets hot here.  I have my inflatable kayak that could float in some of the National Forest lakes around here. 

There is the ever present desire to go through the stuff in the storage unit and pare it down.  So far more has been going back into storage than out of it as I clear out the motorhome and clean and organize it.  I could get back to all that.

Ok, guess I have my list of what I was planning to get done this summer.

MIA

I haven’t meant to be quiet for so long.  It just kinda happened.  We had a good trip back to MO.  The Uncle I went back to see is doing well.  The husbands of 2 of Mom’s 1st cousins died during the time we were traveling.  Well, one died right before we left, and we went to his funeral while we were there.  The other died in his sleep the first night we were there.  We couldn’t stay for his funeral.  We ended up seeing most of the remaining family at the funeral.  Mom got most of the things she wanted to do done.  I was mostly along for the ride.  I will probably fly out a few times this summer to spend more time with my Uncle.  Between Southwest points and free nights at the Harrah’s in Kansas City I can do it low budget.

The day we flew back in to Phoenix I drove the motorhome up to Payson.  I’m boondocked at the Lodge, waiting for my spot in the park to be empty.  The GFI in the bathroom that controls the outlets in the front of the motorhome keeps tripping when I run the generator and try to have anything on.  I have the coffeemaker in the bedroom as the outlets there work.  I’ll replace the GFI outlet and see if that fixes it.

I’m in one of those phases that a lot of little things aren’t flowing very well, just enough to keep me annoyed.  I’m trying to chill. 

Why am I so busy again?

I keep thinking that I don’t have much to do until we leave for MO in 3 weeks.  However, when I was thinking about getting out of bed this morning I realized that this was the first Thursday in the month, so we have a meeting tonight up in Payson.  Which means I need to load the car up with the first haul of stuff I want to put into storage to get this place ready to clean.

I also need to officially let the manager know that I will leave at the end of the month.  I already told her, but we decided I’d do it officially on the first.  That is today…

I’m working on baby hats again.  I finished one for Turtle Lady’s new-to-be grandbaby, but I’m not happy with it.  Working on a second, and I’ll probably reknit part of the other one.  Then I’ll start again on the preemie hats to donate to the Elks’ project.

Ok, up and at ‘em.

Nope, didn’t go

Since the main draw of going to Lake Havasu is kayaking in the lake for me, I decided to put the trip off until it warms up again.  I also had forgotten when I made the original plan that I have to be at the Lodge on Friday night.  The schedule got a bit to crowded.  If it warms up even a little next week I’ll go then.  In the meantime, I will get out around here.

A Trip!

It hit me a day or so ago that I have no (well, few) obligations right now.  There are no disasters happening currently.  I am way too wound up over a trip I have completely planned for near the end of next month.  When I started pondering starting to pack for that trip 6 weeks out, I immediately decided that I need a shorter trip to keep me occupied.

In a discussion with friends earlier Lake Havasu came up, and I decided that was a good place to head for a night.  Take the kayak, camp or sleep in the car.  It is the stuff I’ve been saying I’m looking forward to when I have time.  Well, right now I’ve got a lot of time.

I then looked at the weather.  What happened to our sunny 70-80 degree days?  And nights in the 30’s???  I will have the kayak with me, but I’m not sure it will get in the water.  I have 2 down sleeping bags, and a down under quilt for the hammock if I decide to use the hammock and stand.  I have thousands of dollars of camping gear that I have not used in maybe 10 years. 

All of that gear is up in Payson in my storage shed.  I’m heading up there today to get it.  Soon.  After I finish a second cup of coffee and have some breakfast, and load up some stuff to put into storage, and…  This is why my body hurts when I move.  I’m putting off getting out and doing things.  I need to just get up off my redacted and get going.  If not now, when?  I’m running out of time.

I read, therefore I am (an adult?)

I feel like I read a lot.  Most of it the past 15 or more years has been on a computer screen, but the idea is the same.  I think.  I have a friend who doesn’t think it counts if it isn’t a ‘real’ hold it in your hands book.  I am under-educated by his calculation, as I don’t read BOOKS.

Mom reads books.  A lot of them.  She mostly finds them at thrift stores or free ‘take one, leave one’ exchanges.  She mostly like biographies.  She has sent a couple home with me, but I can’t get past the first chapter.  Just not interesting.  She found one, ‘Accordion Man’ by Myron Floren.  He was the smiling accordion player on the Lawrence Welk Show.  I sat down this morning and read it in about 2 hours.  So, I am still a fast reader.  It was light reading, but I enjoyed it.  If you didn’t grow up watching Lawrence Welk it might not be nearly as interesting.

At any rate, I still have ‘it’, when I’m at an age where I’ll take any and all ‘its’ that I can claim.  I am a reader.  I just choose to mostly do my reading on a computer.