I'm still alive

 I'm fine.  I am having connection issues this year, so my time online has been cut down.  I'll try (again) to do better.

I appreciate everyone who  came to Bloggerfest.  One of the things I appreciate about this more or less mobile life is the sense of community.  Between blogs and get togethers I feel connected to folks almost as much as when I lived in a sticks and bricks house and worked and lived in a constant community.  One of the things I'm not good at is doing the front end work of publicizing Bloggerfest.  George always took care of getting the word out about it, and I just showed up with the signs.  I am very much not the first to keenly miss George, for many reasons besides his gift for letting folks know about Bloggerfest.  Hopefully next January our Canadian friends can join us again, and I'm going to ask others to help get the word out.

I have a new puppy named Callie.  She turned 4 mo old this past Monday.  It is a challenge to give her the guidance she needs.  I'll put pictures up soon.  I'm constrained in that by the fact that my phone pictures are too large to post directly to Blogger.  I'm looking for a new laptop as my main machine is having issues staying connected.  Then my 20+ pound cat, Bosley, used the open laptop as a route to stay high and out of the way of the new pup.  The keyboard is now toast.  I now have a separate keyboard hooked up, and I'm slowly moving primary work to my small netbook.  It is all a work in progress.

I am making slow progress on clearing out my stuff.  I'm getting more and more ready to let go of things that I do actually like, and enjoy owning.  Most of it is things that don't work in my current life.  Also, most of my stuff is not high end, expensive things.  I tell myself that I give myself permission to buy a replacement of at least as good a quality, if not better, if I actually need something again once I get rid of it.

An example of what I just said is that my front air conditioner quit working at the end of last summer.  I have put off getting it fixed as I have been getting by on the rare times I've needed it by using the rear air conditioner.  It cools the bedroom off nicely, but the front of the coach stays hot.  Since I'm needing it badly already in February I was about to call in the service tech.  However, I really don't want to put a lot of money into the motorhome any more as it is having issues that show that I will need to replace it in a few years.  My answer is that I just ordered a portable 110V rolling air conditioner/heater that is a heat pump.  I'll need to move things around to make room near a window to vent it, but when I move to a different RV, it can come with me.  The part I could be unhappy about is that Mom had a really nice one that I sold for her a few years ago when she went into her apartment and no longer needed it.  Oh, well, they still make them and my new one will be here Saturday.

My other news is that on Monday, at 3:45 am I received my first of two Covid immunization shots.  I'm scheduled to receive the second on March 15 at 5:30 am.  The stadium in Glendale, AZ runs 24hrs a day giving shots.  Mom received her first shot on February 4, and is scheduled for the second on March 4.  Her shots are at a reasonable time of day, and are up in Payson, where she lives.  Arizona does seem to be doing this right.

Bloggerfest Saturday, January 23

I will be at the shelter house at La Posa South around 1pm on Saturday.  I hope to see some folks there.  George always took care of getting the word out.  I have the signs but am not so good at publicity beforehand.

I have a new puppy, Callie.  She will be with me.  She turns 3 months old tomorrow and I've had her 2 weeks.  She is a small chi-weenie.  Not a lot else is getting done other than keeping her fed and safe and keeping the place puppy proof.

Mom and I have appointments to get the covid vaccine on February 22 early in the morning.  Mom got tested on Monday and it came back negative.  Mostly all is well here.

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.