Catching Up

 I did finally get the header picture to post at the correct size.  I just don't do this stuff much anymore.  It took two different editing programs, but I finally got it.

Let's see.  I own 2 Class A motorhomes, a 1997 and a 1994.  I was using the 1997 one for storage as when the fridge door fell off after I had just put a lot of money into the rig I gave up and bought the other one.  I've been living in the '94 Pace Arrow for a couple of years now and really like it.  It is smaller that the other on in that it is more narrow and isn't as tall.  Those things take away inside space.  It is a better quality motorhome, though.

When I decided to start going to Quartzsite for the winter next winter I really didn't want to tow the car all the way from the summer town to Q, about 5 hours, maybe 6 in the motorhomc.  I decided that I needed to see if I should say last rites over the '97 rig and sell it to salvage it or try to resurrect it.  My friend Mike was able to put the fridge door back on (the fridge works), and so I started cleaning it out and getting it ready to live in.  Original plan was to bring the '94 rig up here, get both rigs set up to live in, and take one or the other to Q and leave the other here.  Issues at the park in AJ made me not want to vacate my lot for the summer there, so I've been running back and forth emptying the one up here, and getting the other one emptied of things that the extreme heat in the Valley would affect.

The last couple of weeks of May my Aunt Carol and I went on a 'free' cruise to Alaska that the casino gave me.  Our 'free' cruise cost around $2K all in, which is ok, I guess.  We had fun.  I flew back to Phoenix on May 30th late, got up on the 31st and loaded the car up.  Original plan was to have the electricity (and air conditioning...) turned off the next day.  I was too tired from everything to get it all loaded that day so I gave myself until yesterday to go back and finish.  I now have everything that NEEDS to be out of the heat brought up here.  Electricity is to be turned off today.  Which reminds me that I haven't gotten the text yet.  I turned off the fridge and air conditioner and shut off the water before I left.  I'll go down over the summer at least once a month, probably more often, and start the motorhome and check on things.

I am not sure at this point which motorhome will stay up here and which will go to Quartzsite.  I knew I needed to get this one handled to either get rid of or live in.  So far it is fine to live in with a few things I want to fix.  That is just part of living in an RV, though.

And that is how I spent last winter.

Needs work

 It's been awhile since I did modifications to this blog page.  I'll work on getting the header picture shrunk down after I walk the dog.

Later...

I'm trying to shrink the size.  I cropped it but it put the cropped image in at the same larger size.  I haven't done this in a long time.  I need to run back down to the Valley.  This 'improvement' may take awhile.

Turn the Page

 I decided that on June 1st I would cross a chasm in my life.  I'm no longer spending my time working out how to get all this stuff done.  For decades I've spent my time figuring out how to move this, clear that, organize everything.  Now, I will still work on those things, but I'm ready to live my life now.

I think one of the reasons I quit writing here was that it was the same thing over and over.  I'm getting rid of stuff.  I'm moving from this place to that place and sorting and organizing.  I'm cleaning out Mom's stuff.  I'm cleaning out my stuff.  Over and over, the same stuff.  Even I was bored.  I declared that I am as finished clearing out Mom's stuff as I'm willing to make that a priority.  A bit like when I got divorced.  About a year after the (amicable) divorce I realized one day that I had gone the entire day and not had a single thought about how I was 'going through a divorce'.  I figured I was finished with that chapter.  I was right.  Now I am finished 'trying to get rid of stuff'.  I'll still get rid of things, still organize, but not at the expense of doing other things.

I'm going to change the header picture as soon as I get the picture off my phone.  It will be a trail head.  I went up and walked a bit on the Highline trail yesterday.  I have a long way to go to feel like I'm in any kind of shape to take long walks, but it is a start.  Breathing is my main issue at this point.  The trail would be at around 5500' elevation, as it is near the top of the Mogollon Rim.  Hopefully acclimation by living here at 5K' elevation for the summer will help that.  I have a goal to be able to walk around Southern Utah in better shape on our trip this year than I was last year.  One method of approaching goals is SMART:  Specific, Measurable, Achievable,  Relatable(?), and Time-sensitive.  I Specifically want to be able to walk for longer distances.  Measurable is a bit hazy, as it now means just further than I can walk now.  Achievable is that I'm hopeful that if I walk on the Highline at least once a week this summer I'll improve.  I think the R is relatable, in that it relates to my current life.  Time-sensitive means I have a deadline.  The middle of September is my first trip.  And so, now I'm accountable here.

For once I actually have more to write, but I'll post what I've been doing the past few (6?  where does time go?) months next time.  And hopefully that won't be months from now.

So, Hi

 I haven't been in a writing mood, obviously.  I seem to have lost my Blogger voice.  

There have been a lot of internal changes, not so many noticeable outside ones.  I'm still in the (second) Class A, still bouncing from the winter spot and the summer spot.  Next winter I plan to move to Quartzsite.  I found a nice RV park, since I have lost hope that this RV will ever be comfortable to boondock in.  Hopefully in the spring when I call to give a deposit they will have an opening for next winter.  Summer spot seems secure at this point.

One reason for the changes is that now that Mom has passed I don't have limits on where I spend my time.  I tried to stay within an hour of her while she was here.  Now, I can move to Q.  I also just experienced my friend and neighbor behind my spot here in the East Valley of Phoenix, AZ pass.  He went quickly from previously undiagnosed (ignored...) leukemia.  His trailer sold, and a different RV is in the spot as of today.  Ultimately all good, but I'm getting a bit rattled with all the change.

I do plan on being at La Posa South on the proper day for Bloggerfest.  I'll check my past blogs to get that right this year.  I've already been over to visit friends who are camping there so it is an excuse to see them as well.

Hopefully I'll find my voice again and post more.  

PS:  Does January 28 sound right?

Waiting

I'm at the first rock concert I've been to in decades.  Free ticket, free room at Harrah's outside Phoenix.  Band is Counting Crows.  I'm pushing my comfort zone.

Chapter Closed

 Mom's memorial was yesterday.  It was a beautiful day after days of rain here in Missouri.  The chairs tended to sink into the ground during the graveside service.  The younger cousins kept hold of the older cousins to keep them from toppling out of their chairs as the back legs sunk further into the ground on the sloped area around the grave.  Jack, the funeral director, is a family friend and he did a wonderful service, possibly shortened from his usual as folks kept sinking in front of him.  Mom would have loved it.

I'll head back after the weekend.  Callie dog and I drove out in the Mazda.  It has been fun catching up with the cousins.  I'm pondering what I want to do now.  I have a lot of stuff to sort and get rid of now.  That will be the primary focus for the rest of the summer.

 

Continuing on

 Later today I'll again go back up to Mom's RV to continue clearing it out.  I'm giving myself 2 months.  If it doesn't take that long, great.  It is for sale.  The primary thing that I think will sell it is the lot it is on.  It is the cheapest place to live in the area, as well as being a nice park.

There is a park wide patio sale here in my park in the Valley next Saturday.  My original plan was to get rid of much of my own excess stuff in the sale, but first losing Jim Dixon, then my Mom put my plans in disarray.  I decided yesterday that I'm not going to deal with the stress.  I wouldn't get that much money from it, and I'll just donate the vast majority of both of our possessions.  Yesterday one of the guys here mentioned he is looking for a counter top oven.  Happens that I have one to get rid of, just needs a new cord.  I even had the cord to put on it.  Callie chewed the original one when I set the oven down while moving between motorhomes last summer, while it wasn't plugged in.  This has bothered me since that happened, one of the many background 'things to do'.  I offered the oven to him.  When he picked it up, along with the new cord, he looked it over and handed me $10, knowing he didn't have to.  Universe saying I made the right decision to not sweat trying to optimize this process for money.

My name was already on Mom's accounts, the funeral home in MO is taking care of Mom's ashes till I get out there, probably Memorial Day weekend, so all I need to do is this clearing out of her RV and selling it.  Selling the car is already taken care of once I clean it out.  She made it as easy on me as possible.

One thing I do have to do is change my permanent address.  As a snowbird/nomad I don't really have a permanent home.  I have used her address since I retired.  I'll change it hopefully next week.  I have an option to move my address to the Flagstaff area.  I go up there on a semi-regular basis to see friends, and for just money a forwarding service will forward my mail to me the rest of the time.  Probably.  That is what I did when I lived in WA and then moved to Honduras.  I just need to find a mail forwarding service up there.  A popular saying that I believe is that if money will solve it, it isn't really a problem.

Nearing the end

 Up until a week ago my almost 91 yo Mom was still driving.  Last Thursday I went up and took her shopping at Walmart.  Her legs were weak getting into and out of the car and I was hoping she would decide that it it time to give up the car.  I do almost all the driving now anyway.  She used the cart as a backup walker while we shopped but still walked on her own.

A friend talked to her on the phone Sunday night.  She didn't feel well and had a headache.  I went back up Monday, but when I tried to call to say I was coming she didn't answer her phone.  The door was still locked when I got there.  I let myself in and I processed she was on the floor in the bedroom as she said she thought she'd had a stroke.

Ambulance rides and ER and finding a bed for her down here in the Valley (Phoenix metro) and I got a call from the doctor at Banner Heart she had arrived.  When I went in next morning she was moving still and talking some.  By afternoon she wasn't responding to me or the nurses.

Heart attack, not stroke.  No course of action except hospice.  Today with the drugs to relax her she is just laying there brearhing.

While typing this I realized I no longer heard her breathing.  She's gone.

Staying home

I have learned that someone I was around on Tuesday has tested positive for COVID.  I'm still not feeling well from my ordeal yesterday, although I don't have any COVID symptoms.  I don't want to bring any germs out to you folks who are living away from us city folks.  I also don't want to get on the road and realize I'm too lightheaded to finish the trip.

I really wish I wasn't missing visiting with some friends who are in the area the area, as well as missing Bloggerfest.  It seems the responsible thing to do.  Sometimes adulting isn't fun.

I may not be there tomorrow

Bloggerfest is tomorrow at 1pm at the shelter house at La Posa South.  That said, I may not be able to be there.  I collapsed during my biopsy yesterday and spent a couple of hours in ER.  I am ok, it was a fainting spell due to pain when he hit a nerve, which I had warned them I do.  It was one of my more dramatic spells, and I'm a bit lightheaded still.

That said, I'm still going to try to drive over for the day if I feel like I can do it safely.  I hope to see whoever shows up.  If I'm not there I hope some folks who do show up have fun.  I'll post here tomorrow morning what I decide.