August 31, 2011 ~ Wednesday

Good-bye August; I'm sorry to say I can't say I'm sorry to see you leave!

Judy had a "crash and burn" yesterday.  She was talking on the phone with her sister and was in a hurry, stepping over the dog fence, to "rescue" Lucy from ants........and she tripped on the fence and down she went.  She ended up with a horrible bruise behind a knee and up her thigh....I got her onto her chair and on ice for the knee.......she is better this morning than I thought she would be.  She has been hurting pretty badly after helping her Dad most days but this didn't seem to add A LOT to her "usual" pain level now...........I MADE her promise me to use the gate from now on.......long legs or not, it's easy to trip on those darn fences.....since I have very SHORT legs, I ALWAYS use the gate....I think that's what the gates are for!!!!!

This is what I sit in when I'm outside.....I can still rock~

This is the view to the left from Judy's Dad's driveway...even though there are 100s of houses in the community, his house is near the desert so I guess it's not surprising that a Bobcat would come into his backyard......you can hear coyotes howl at night.

I discovered this TREASURE when I visited a second mall last week, much to my delight.  That huge bag of  "just out of the cooker" kettlecorn was ONLY $6.00!!  There was a line to buy it....all women in the line!  (I still have about half of it left and it's still nice and fresh!)

August 30, 2011 ~ Tuesday

The other day, I brought home some Chinese food for dinner......one of the boxes was leaking so Judy sat it in a bowl.  Later on, when I was cleaning up, I picked up the box and this is what the bowl looked like:

Judy's Dad's back yard:

Artifical grass we paid 2 thousand dollars to install when we lived here in 2007...it still looks as good today as it did when it was first installed

Is Ruby coming or going:

August 30, 2011 ~ Tuesday

Another month nearly finished.........I have to admit THIS month hasn't gone by as fast as some have.

Judy is up at her Dad's house; hopefully, it will be ready to list for sale by next week.

I went to Olive Garden and got "lunch to go" yesterday....had my favorite soup and salad...it was so YUMMY!

I was behind a school bus on the way back....decided to stay behind the bus as I was enjoying watching the kids get off the bus.  There were adults waiting for kids at all the stops....the kids would come flying off the bus........took me back in time........only I didn't have to fear for my kid's safety and wait at the bus stop for them to get off the bus.

It's over 100 again today....the weather forecast is for high 90s later this week...not sure we will be able to notice the drop as it's still going to be HOT!

I'm so grateful for TV and the internet....I'd go crazy without them!

August 28, 2011 ~ Sunday

I have had several people contact me today because they were worried about me as I haven't blogged.  I am so sorry to have worried anyone....my days are pretty much the same so I haven't blogged.

I will worry less about boring you and blog more.........

Everyone LOVES a good bargin, right?

Judy has TERRIBLE cramps if she gets dehydrated at all....and they can attack any part of her body......she will wake up screaming with them.  We had discovered that the Gatoraid (G3) really helps to prevent the cramps and naturally, it's the MOST EXPENSIVE one so I try to stock up when I find it on sale.

The other day I was shopping and noticed some on "close-out" at 50 cents a bottle instead of 2.89.  I bought 30 of them for 15.00 instead of 86.70 for a GRAND SAVINGS of....drum roll please......56.70!!!!!!

A couple days later I was back at the store (small refrigerator) and decided to swing down the drink aisle and the rest of the G3 was selling for 2/4.00!!!!!!!!!!  I'm glad I got them when I did! :)

OK......so, I find pleasure where I can down here!  :)

First it was a HAWK...now, it's......

http://desertwildlifeservices.com/beecontrol.htm

BEES!  Judy had the bathroom vent open today while she showered and when she was done...there were several bees IN THE RV and more outside the vent, wanting in.........

"They" (whoever "they" is)  say to consider all bees in the area "Africanized" meaning they are "killer bees"

OH GOOD.....just another reason to NOT love living here in August....I don't know if they are active year around or not............

***BIG SIGH***

Tuesday ~ August 16, 2011

We had a "near miss" here yesterday.  Judy had the dogs out in their pen about 8 am when a hawk came right down by the pick-up and grabbed a dove...Judy ran toward them, he dropped the dove, it ran under the truck and when it came out the other side of the truck, the hawk grabbed him again....Judy was right there so he let it go and flew up into the tree....the dove went under our 5th wheel and Judy had to run back to the dogs to protect them, especially little Ruby.  She put the dogs inside, chased the hawk around awhile until it got tired of it and left.  The dove was under the RV next to us...it's vacant....so she put some water out for it and it's not there now so I have no idea what happened to it.

I've always said the food chain can break your heart!

I bought a new "pocket" camera today since my old one died a final death a couple weeks ago.  I've missed it so much so broke down and bought a new Cannon PowerShot SX230 HS....I charged the battery tonight so I can start learning to use it tomorrow.

Judy's sister is coming to visit her Dad from NC Sept 13th and returning home on the 20th.  I'm going to use that same time to fly to Eugene for a visit.  I was able to get a fairly cheap flight out of Phoenix  into Eugene.

I don't know why I torture myself by looking at the weather for Tucson.......more over 100 degree days coming up....all I can say is "UGH"

It looks like we will be leaving Tucson on Oct. 1st for WI.  It will be a pretty time of year to visit there.  We plan to go down through NC to see her sister, Patti, and family and then go to Sanibel Island, FL so we can pick up seashells.....FINALLY!  I'm REALLY looking forward to that...it's been on my bucket list for a long time.

Friday ~ August 12, 2011

I spent the day in the RV and then took Bailey across the road (yes, across the road) to the vet to get her ear checked out.  No mites or anything scary....just needs some special shampoo 3x week for a couple weeks or so and it should clear up.  I already forgot what he said it was and you would think for 101.00 I would remember!!

This afternoon we went up to Judy's Dad's house and took the dogs with us.  Her sister that lives here and her husband joined us for Chinese food.  Judy's Dad slept most of the time we were there.

Bailey's ear.....

Judy's Dad, sister Mary (AZ), Judy with Lucy and sister Sara (PA)



Judy's Dad, sister Mary and her husband Jack, Judy and I



Thursday ~ August 11, 2011

Another day in paradise!  I spent the day being a 50s housewife, doing laundry and hanging it outside to dry.  GOOD THING I LOVE to hang out the laundry to dry or it would have been a CHORE and NOT fun!  Tonight, I'm laying in the BEST smelling bed ever!

Judy spent the day at her Dad's house, helping him with some small chores.  Her sister, Sara, returns to PA on Saturday after being here for a week.  She has been cooking up a storm and freezing things for her Dad to heat up for dinner after she leaves.

Tomorrow a Real Estate agent is coming to the house to talk about what needs done, if anything, to get the house listed for sale.

Jose's home...notice our RV steps in the background....



Lots of pretty rocks here.....



Novel use for our "outdoor" carpet!

The fancy entrance sign......



Judy found this guy in a book but I've forgotten what it is......



It's still Monday....

Judy has gone up to her Dad's house for the day.....While I was outside with the dogs, I got to watching all the various ants working hard.  I crushed up a piece of OREO for them......WOW...did that ever produce a flurry of action!

I have the OREO...you grab the milk!

Monday ~ August 8, 2011

Jose has a friend!  Meet Manny, a Regal Horned Lizard.........he was basking in the shade of our RV ......I think it's even hot for the desert critters! If they feel threatened enough, they will squirt blood from the corner of their eye.....if you pick them up, they play dead...and if you sit them down, they will flop onto their backs and lay still.....we didn't try any of this out of course.  We just read about it in our critter book.  Judy was very careful NOT to scare him.

Yesterday, Judy's sister went out to the patio to have a 6 am cigarette.....she heard what she thought was a bird flopping around...she was thinking it probably hit a window which does happen from time to time.  She was going over to check it out, when, suddenly, from around the corner of the house, came a BOBCAT at full speed!  She RAN into the house, the Bobcat grabbed  his prey and off he went!

OMG....it's not like they live in the center of the desert and there is a 5 foot wall around the backyard that he had to go over!   They live in a golf community, surrounded by houses, BUT, the entire thing of hundreds of houses IS surrounded by desert.

What a start to HER day!  Unfortunately, the bird's day was worse!!

Friday ~ August 5, 2011

I plan to take some photos of our "spot" so you can see where and how we are living.  The "park" is scary looking but the two "sisters" (NOT) seem pretty nice.  There are only a couple other people living here right now....no one in their RIGHT mind would be here in August is they didn't have to be.

Judy has been going to her Dad's house daily since we arrived.  She has been doing little chores for him and keeping him company and making him lunch.  I drop her off and then go back up and pick her up and stay here in the RV with the girls to make sure they stay safe and cool.  If the A/C went off, they would die of the heat in here so it's really not safe to leave them here alone for too long.

Judy's sister arrives from PA tomorrow and is staying for a week. 

I named the tarantula Jose..he comes out every night and sits in the same spot.

Tuesday ~ August 2, 2011

We made it to Tucson, safe and sound with prayers of gratitude sent up.  We have witnessed several "near misses" as far as wrecks are concerned and one wreck that happened just before we passed by.

We got our RV set up under a nice shade tree and then discovered our satellite didn't work.....shade or TV.....TV won, hands down....so, we moved to another site where we still have some nice shade and the TV works........whew!

There is a hardware store next to the RV park and I got some insulated stuff for the windows.  It's so darn hot that even DUCT TAPE won't keep it up.....just melts the adhesive and down it comes..........**insert BIG SIGH here**

We took Papa Murphy's pizza up to Judy's Dad's house and he ate a little of it.  He hasn't felt like eating much and his cupboards and refrigerator show it....they are BARE......we are going back up tomorrow and I'm going to make him some custard....he thought that might taste good and he said he's been "thinking" about my Apple Pie! 

It was hot today....dripping wet hot BUT not as hot as we were yesterday.  It's supposed to drop to the mid-90s next week.....won't be a minute too soon for me.

OK, so you know I don't like the heat here....tonight, we found another reason to not like being here with the girls.  We were going to take them outside to go potty and right in front of our steps was a HUGE Desert TRANANTULA!!!!!!!!!! 

There is a little grass in the back of the "park" (and I use that word VERY loosely) but the two gals who run this place BOTH had pistols strapped to their hips and they said "but just be aware there are lots of snakes back there."  OMG!!!!!!!!

Poor dogs; not sure where we will be able to take them that is safe for them!!!!!!!

Mom, it's too hot and that trantula was bigger than me!

Monday ~ August 1, 2011--we will arrive in Tucson tomorrow

We found Palm Springs to be a really beautiful city with all the tree lined streets and flowers in bloom....but, you no sooner leave the city limits and the highway edges are FULL of litter of all kinds.......  what is even MORE odd is a few miles out of Palm Springs, the litter decreases and it's not bad at all.......what's up with THAT Palm Springs?

TOO DARN HOT!  THAT is the verdict from all 5 of us..........

We had a short, two hour, drive today and landed in a KOA in Blythe, CA.  OMG, it's HOT!

We are in a beautiful site and if it wasn't 107 outside, we would probably be loving it! 

We just covered all the windows, etc. in a attempt to drive the inside temp below 90!  The A/C had been wonderful up until today and it just can't keep up...or, should I say, "catch up!"  Looks like we will have to invest in a second A/C in Tucson....this is just MISERABLE, to say the least!

At least Judy and I understand what's going on...the poor dogs look at us like we are stupid!

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