This morning, I woke up the first time at 0400, the second time at 0530, and the third time at 0645 or so. While lying there wondering if I could make myself get up before 0900, when breakfast was over, Diane told me I should get up and eat breakfast before it’s over at 0900. That was code for “get up and go eat breakfast.” It’s good to know the code.

So, I got up and took Max for a walk, stopped by the breakfast area and got Diane a cup of coffee, THEN I went to breakfast. I knew she was thinking that and inadvertently omitted those two critical instructions. There are times when I add things to the code and make mistakes but this time I was spot on.

I went back to the breakfast area and had a bowl of oatmeal and two, two pieces of overtoasted toast, the way I like it, and I was good to go for the rest of the day.

When I was done, Diane went down to get some yogurt and then we saddled up for a trip to Tombstone. It’s only a 25-minute drive but it takes you back 100 years in time. When we got there Diane found a shaded parking spot on 4th Street, across the street from Puny John’s BBQ and just down the street from the Visitor’s center.

Tombstone is not a dog friendly town, so we didn’t get to see much together. Max was relegated to tugging on a short leash and hanging with one of us while the other visited a store. I peeked into the OK Shootout ticket venue and thought Diane should go there. She did. Max and I spent some time on a main street bench to wait.

When Diane returned, she took control of Max and released me to go visit the Visitor’s Center. In the VC I talked with Kathy, the lady behind the counter, and learned that she used to live in Hermiston, OR, and Portland, OR and knows where Scappoose and St. Helens are. Small world stuffs. Also, her daughter lives in Forest Grove, OR and might be Les and Sophie’s neighbor. I didn’t get an address to confirm, so we’ll never know for sure.

We sat on that bench for a while and watched the participants in the 1100 OK Corral shootout gather in front of the store Diane visited. Sadly, more than one of them lit up cigarettes and the wind blew it right at us. We were block away and it was still nasty. Smoke is a deal killer for us, so we decided to call an end to this a visit and headed back to Sierra Vista.

There’s a statue in Tombstone that we encountered, and Max stopped, stared at it a bit, then started barking at it. Something new for him. He stopped quickly when I asked him to, then I took him to it and introduced him. After that he was fine.

We came away with some photos, and memories of the old buildings and Kathy in the Visitor’s Center. Max just got in his throne and went to sleep.

Upon arrival in Sierra Vista, we went to 143 Street Tacos for lunch. Diane surprised me by ordering a chicken burrito. When she got it, she understood my surprise because the burrito must have weighed in at around 3-4 lbs. It was enormous. She ate 1/3 of it which made me happy. I’m sure I will have to eat the rest of it one of these days. I had a beef burrito and ate almost all of it.

Before going back to the hotel Diane dropped by Best Buy and I got her a new iPad for her birthday. Her old one stayed in Tucson this trip and it was damaged from an incident with my knee, so now she has something new to play with for the next couple of days.

After eating those burritos, we were a little conflicted about dinner. Like, were we really hungry after all that?

We finally agreed that Diane should go to Safeway and pick up something that looked pleasing to her and to just surprise me because I’ll eat pretty much anything. Anytime.

When Diane was on the way home, she called me saying, “I’ll be there in 6 minutes. Bring a cart.” What this told me is that she went shopping hungry. That’s why we needed the cart.

Here’s what she brought back:
1. A Swanson dead chicken dinner for me.
2. A piece of dead fish and mac and cheese for her.
3. A tray of vegetables for me.
4. A container of green grapes.
5. A can of mixed nuts.
6. A loaf of bread.
7. A jar of chunky peanut butter.
8. A jar of strawberry jam.
9. A container of cinnamon cake.
10. A gallon of distilled water.
11. A 12-pack of bottled water.
12. A half pound of Butter.
13. A box of popcorn.
14. A box of Rice Krispy treats.

That’s why she needed the cart to get it up to the third floor.

The dead chicken dinner was good, and Diane liked her dead fish. I nibbled on the veggies while mine cooked in the micro. Max gave me a little help with the chicken and also with the veggies. He was bugging me about the chicken, but he had chicken in his bowl that’s been there most of the day. He could have eaten it any time. Instead, he conned me into feeding him bits of chicken. When that was all gone, he continued to give me his prairie dog look, so I started feeding him vegetables. He like carrots, and broccoli. I didn’t give him a tomato, but he probably would have eaten it, too.

I finally got him to leave me alone by moving his food bowl from the bathroom to the living area and insisted that he eat it. He did, in about 3 minutes. I figured he’d be looking for dessert after all that, but he settled down and is currently sleeping. He’s such a funny little guy.

I think that’s about it for tonight.