Happy Merry

 Wishing everyone a happy Holidays in whatever is celebrated in your home.

Yesterday was another birthday for me.  I stopped by to see a friend I haven't seen for awhile, then went out to Harrah's.  I walked out with more money in my pocket than I walked in with so I call it a good day.  I had been up to see Mom earlier in the week, and I'll go back early next week.  I try to not head that way when all the partiers are on the roads.

Again, no 'official' Bloggerfest, but I will be at the shelter house/pavilion at La Posa South on Saturday, January 23, 2021.  Stop by for chit chat if you can.  It is always fun to see folks.

Second attempt to post

 I'm having internet connection issues which ate my first post.  Makes sense, I write a post for the first time in, ummm, a few weeks, and the internet eats it.

Basically, everything is fine here.  Just not much going on.  I'm not alone in that, I know.

Bloggerfest.  With the general discouraging of gatherings, and with the Canadian border closed so our Canadian RV's can't join us, I wasn't planning on having a Bloggerfest this year.  I will be at the pavilion at La Posa South on January 23 around 1:00pm with coffee in hand to talk to anyone who shows up.  Stop by if you are in the area.  For the Canadians, I hope we see you next year.

Here's hoping this one posts.  I'll try to update more often.  The past few weeks have been lame even for me.

Clicking down the to do list

 More things are making their way either to storage or to donation.  I checked with the people whose lot I'm taking over this year down in the Valley, and they sold their motorhome so there won't be any overlap in needing the parking spot.  I had told them they could use it in October if they needed to as, even though at that point it is mine, I won't move down until November 1.  They told me about a mobile service that worked well for them to call about my front air conditioner once I move down.  I'll probably do that rather than take it in as with the cat it makes it difficult to find alternative lodging if the repair takes more than one day.  The back air conditioner keeps the place cool enough up here, but it may become more of an issue down where it is hotter, even in November.

I'm heading down today to pay the yearly fee for the lot.  I'll also do some other shopping.  I have gotten one of the guys up here drinking the Costco coffee I buy.  Now I need to be his delivery person for more cans of coffee every time I go to Costco.  I'm also going to get Mom a tablet as she is ready to move back into the internet age.

On Monday the motorhome goes in for service up here in Payson.  I still am not sure where Bosley and I will stay if they need to order parts and we need to find someplace to go overnight.  I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Waking Up

Around the middle of September I seem to wake up from my summer stupor.  I am still slowly getting items checked off my to do list.

 Mom and I had a good trip.  I ordered wheelchair assistance for Mom at the airports for both ends of the trip and that worked well.  She wasn't as tired or beat up after the trip as she has been before.  I did ok, too, but had a few minor missteps as I usually don't check baggage and such.  The wheelchair guys kept us going in the right direction, and the shuttle guys both took the baggage out of the trunk of my car and then put it back at the end.  I park at Blue Sky off site parking and just let them manage the airport traffic while we sit in the shuttle.

We were not as careful as we could have been while visiting.  Around family we didn't mask up.  Some of the extended family doesn't mask up most of the time, but we are past our two week quarantine now and we neither one are sick.  I am very thankful for that.

I'm clearing out the motor home and finding some things.  I take it in a week from tomorrow to be worked on and that is a good excuse to empty it out so I can clean it thoroughly before moving down to the Valley at the end of October.  It was 100* at 5pm when I was down there one day last week.  Still way too hot.

Cleaning like a fiend

 We fly to Kansas City tomorrow.  Multiple face masks and we each have face shields.  I've been in contact with my 1st cousin and offered to help her set up the wedding on Friday.  I'm getting my electronics sorted to take (2 phones, a hot spot and a tablet, along with chargers).  And, I'm cleaning so that my neighbor can easily come in a take care of Bosley while I'm gone.

Mom is, of course, already packed.  I'm most of the way there.  Just a few more details, bills to pay, and a last check I've remembered everything.  See you on the flip side.

Yes, I'm alive

 This is the summer of not doing much.  The rains finally arrived, then we had another stretch of hot, dry weather.  My front air conditioner decided to die in the middle of it.  Luckily I have a rear unit and it works ok.  I put a fan in between to try to blow the cooler air towards the front.  When that doesn't work I take my computer and just lie on the bed below the strongest vent.

Mom is doing fine.  The doctor changed her medicine as the other medicine started giving her issues again.  The new medicine is about the same.  We are supposed to fly to Kansas City to see family in a couple of weeks, but how she feels determines whether we go.  The tickets are refundable to the last minute, almost literally.

Mostly I sit home and knit.  I'm not getting some things done that I actually could be doing, but I'm in a sluggish rut.  That is one reason I haven't been updating here.  I'm not doing much and I am not keeping up with things I could be doing..

Holding Pattern

The lockdown is starting to get to me.  I don't do much of anything.  I do try to walk down the road about a quarter of a mile to the stop sign at least twice a day.  I keep the motorhome more or less clean in case we end up having another fire and it needs to be Mom-ready.  Mostly I watch stupid video clips in my FaceBook feed all day.

The winds are picking up again, and the temperatures are starting to moderate a bit while the humidity comes up.  Understand, by comes up I mean it is it up to 13% and the dew point is 31* rather than 23*.  We aren't even in the desert up here.

Everything is fine, Mom is doing well.  She did lose her phone the other day.  I went over and found it in the seat of her car.  She had taken D, her neighbor, and gone to WalMart shopping.  Both of them are doing better in that even a major shopping trip went well, except for the losing the phone temporarily.

I'm thinking while the temperatures are to be in the 80's tomorrow I'll drive over to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest.  It is about 2 hours away and could be a day trip.  I just need to get out.  I thought about asking Mom if she wants to go, but I think I need the time away by myself.  In a normal year I'd make a run somewhere for several days and camp and sight see, but not much is open.  Not even sure the Painted Desert area is open, but it is drive through if it is so fairly safe.

The fires are coming back up, being smoky.  Luckily for us here the smoke tends to go East.  There is a rumor on FaceBook that Tonto National Forest will close on Friday.  Most of us who live up here are hoping it will happen.  There is already another fire from yesterday at the recreation area around the Salt River near Phoenix, human caused by a UAV wreck.  The winds made it more difficult to suppress, but I believe they were successful.  The Tonto Basin fire is burning in the center in an area that the fires originally surrounded, and it is causing a lot of smoke but so far no evacuations.

There is a small chance of some rain at the end of the week.  Maybe.  Hopefully.

Back to Ready! mode

The large Bush fire is now in mop up stage. There is still a lot of work for the firefighters to do, but the perimeters are secured, at least as far as public safety and infrastructure are concerned.  The people living along Hwy 188 will be allowed to go back home today.  Sunflower, over on Hwy 87 is still in Evacuation mode. 

I am really happy that we didn't have to evacuate.  Mom is in recovery mode from the stress, as am I.  Our preparations will remain until we get some major rain.  There is a fire, the Central fire, over by Interstate 17.  That is an issue for us as that has potential to close one of our 2 remaining routes to Phoenix.  The fire is East of the interstate and moving North East, but isn't close to us.  Yet.  We could still head north or east if we need to evacuate.  For me, this means that Flagstaff is probably easier to get to than Phoenix, even though mileage wise it is usually about 30 miles further away.

So, back to knitting and cleaning and petting Bosley.

Why I Haven't Left... yet

I am thinking a bit more logically now.  I am definitely in a Set! frame of mind, as is Mom.  We could be on the road in about a half hour.  The reasons I haven't left yet are below.

The area that has burned between Phoenix and Hwy 188 is all open recreation land belonging to the Tonto National Forest.  Don't be confused by the 'Forest'.  It is pretty much all desert.  There are grasses, and as it moves north and up in elevation, some shrubs.  There are no buildings or people.  The firefighters have said that their 'Values' are Firefighters and people, structures, and then everything else.  The fire has been kept in a triangle bounded by Hwy 87 on the West, Salt River and associated lakes to the South, and Hwy 188 to the North East, the direction the fire has been moving.  The only town within that triangle is Sunflower on Hwy 87, which was evacuated.  They evacuated the small towns along Hwy 188 yesterday.  If the fire does cross 188, then as it goes north it starts to get high enough in elevation that there is more fuel in the form of trees.  There is also a lot of infrastructure between here and there.  There are high tension power lines with the poles, approximately 100 of them from the report, needing to be defended and at least 2 large power stations, one new. 

The upshot is, as long as the fires stays in desert landscape and the winds have died down, the fire lines they have been building for the past few days should hold.  There firefighters were reinforced yesterday with more people as well.  It is only if it jumps those fire lines and heads up into the timber land that I'll turn the key and go.

Cons of going is how much of a strain it will be for Mom to drive the 100-150 miles to get to my friend's place.  Her neighbor who would go with us is going blind and can no longer drive.  If we take my car and I drive, taking care of my cat is an issue as far as room during the drive and lodgings on the other end.  If we leave the cars and take the motorhome, we have no transportation on the other end.  Mom can't drive my car as it is a stick shift, the only other accommodation would be to put her car on the dolly and both of them ride with Bosley and I in the motorhome, which would be on the table as a possibility if Mom doesn't feel comfortable driving at any time.  There would still be the issue of very little braking power while towing a car with the motorhome.  I can't emphasize how much this stress on Mom plays into the decision. 

It comes down to, I don't think the firefighters will allow the fire to destroy the infrastructure between here and there.  There is a major dividing line that the firefighters have been reinforcing for a few days and should be able to hold.  IF the fire jumps that line, we will go.

What my neighbors here in the RV park are also looking at is we are surrounded by gated communities with multi-million dollar houses and golf courses in the center.  Those will be protected for sure.  Truly, I seem to be the only one worried about evacuating.

View from the casino. UPDATED

Looking south from the point where highway 87 is closed.  Seems like the bigger the fire gets, the less news is put out.  Or, maybe I'm obsessing about it.

Edited to add:. Ok, I'm a little stressed.  This is looking at the smoke from the Bush fire raging down in Tonto basin, probably 20 miles away.  Once the fire crosses the basin, if it does, it is an uphill sweep to where I am.  The casino is on the south edge of town and the main highway south is closed at the casino.

The information page has gone back to the fire map from yesterday.  This morning there was a map showing the fire had made it to the basin and to Highway 188 that traverses the length of the basin more or less in the middle.  I'm frustrated in that I will be slow in the motorhome and I don't want to wait until we get the evacuation notice.

AZ uses the Ready! Set! Go! model for the notices.  Communities about 12 miles south of me have been moved to Set! status.

If any of be this (all of this?) is gibberish, basically send prayers for good decisions to be made by all parties involved.