We took a trip downtown to the Southern Arizona VA Hospital to see what they could do for me because I can’t count very well. Yes, I have a math deficiency. You see, we had a plan in place to have our meds mailed to us from home but, one of my main pills runs out tomorrow. We checked the cost of overnight shipping and it’s prohibitive. So, in an attempt to delay my pending demise, we decided to take a chance and see what the Tucson VA Pharmacy could do for me.

We got there shortly before noon. Upon arrival, Diane luckily found a parking spot near the entrance, in the shade, so she and Max stayed in the car with the A/C running while I did all the leg work. In the heat of the day.

The first thing I learned from the first person I talked to was that my VA card expired in September. How handy is that? I had no idea, but I hadn’t used it for a few months. I had to register and get a new card ordered.

I was directed down the hall, past the coffee shop, to the registration area. I took my number and joined the Conga Line of people waiting for help. I think there were two people ahead of me, so it went quickly. They took the photo and everything. It will be mailed to our home in St. Helens. I should receive it in 2-5 weeks, just in time for my next projected visit.

Once that was done, I returned to the helpful lady in the pharmacy who confirmed I was indeed in their system. She ordered my missing pills, and they were delivered to me in about 10 minutes. I was amazed. I think I was in the hospital for about an hour, but I remembered where the car was and found my way back. They were both happy to see me.

When we got back to the base I cooked lunch. That’s my job. I cook stuff. We had stir-fried dead chicken and veggies with rice. It was pretty good. Diane said so.

The temp was still running around 100 degrees, so we locked ourselves in the RV, turned up the A/C. After I figured out how to get the Dish wi-fi to work we watched one episode of our favorite show, “White Collar”, then all the sudden, it quit working. Diane said, “huh” and tipped her head to the left to think about it. It was only a couple of minutes before she figured out that they must have changed the password for some reason. Probably one of those unadvertised planned events.

It was getting dark, and the temp was finally dropping so we piled into the car and took a ride to the office to see if there was some information about her suspicion. There was, indeed, a note on the door reporting that the password had been changed. Good job Diane! The new password was included on the note. Later I learned that there were notes posted all over the campground with this information. So, I guess the password isn’t a big secret.

With the solution in hand, we headed back to the RV but took a slight detour to the fenced dog run to see what it had to offer. It was almost dark and there were no lights, but I took Max inside the fenced area anyway to let him have a look around. He told me he can see in the dark with his nose. Well, he didn’t actually tell me, but I’ve watched him close his eyes while sniffing so it makes sense. Making his rounds, very slowly, smelling pretty much everything in the place, he paused, looked around with a satisfied look on his face, looked me in the eye and led me back to the car. Apparently, he’d seen enough.

Many of the RVs parked around us have rope lights all around their rigs so Diane did some research as to why. Turns out that Arizona, especially in the south end, have about 700 different kinds of mice and rats that come out at night and ravage the neighborhood. So, guess what we’re doing tomorrow — we’re going shopping for rope lights.

One of the reports on mice and rats is that they burrow in the soft sand and sleep all day. I gave this some thought and concluded that we weren’t really in any danger of being consumed by rats and mice. The entire park is covered with many layers of color-coded rocks. They are small and well compacted meaning rats and mice who venture into the park have to travel over a lot of rocky territory to get to us. I shifted into “quandary mode” and wondered why any rat or mouse in their right minds would subject their tiny little feet to those sharp rocks littered with sticker burrs. Even after sharing that thought, I have no doubt we’re getting rope lights anyway. Diane said so, and Max agreed. Apparently, he’s a bit wary of rats and mice. It might be because of his small stature.

Now it’s almost 2300 hours and way past time for bed so I’m quitting.

See you tomorrow so I can share some photos of our new lighting system. I think you’re going to love it.

Now, just for fun, here’s another photo of Max and his new friend the bear rug. After they got acquainted, he gave the bear an opportunity to get a little closer by using a universal method of establishing identity.

It didn’t work.