Monthly Archives: December 2024

Day 102 – Wednesday – Biosphere 2

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Today Diane drove me north to visit the University of Arizona Biosphere 2, a giant 3+ acre terrarium. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Eight people entered the facility in 1991 and stayed there 2 years and 20 minutes. during that time, they had no contact with the outside world. They ate what they grew and recycled everything. I’m guessing the food they ate had a head start so they wouldn’t have to wait for something to grow so they could eat.

I thought the additional 20 minutes was a little odd but after careful consideration I figured it had something to do with skepticism about how accurate the clocks were in 1993. Adding 20 minutes might have been a cushion to ensure they had indeed spent 2 years locked up.

Or, it might have been because one of the detainees had to use the facilities one more time before exiting. It could also have been because the second to last person to use the facilities used the last few strips of toilet paper and couldn’t reach the Kleenexes.

With Diane’s blessing I was allowed to take the 90-minute walking tour and learn all about Biosphere 2. By the way, after a little research, I learned that Biosphere 1 is actually planet earth. Biosphere 2 is a miniature earth because is encompasses most of the various environments found on earth.

Max was allowed to accompany me because he’s a good dog. That was true right up until the moment we got through the gate, and he saw the turkeys. Three of them. He did his best to yank my arm off and it took a while to convince him that Thanksgiving is behind us, so he had to leave the turkeys alone. Finally, he saw something else move and we detached from the turkeys to follow the RED arrows.

I took a lot of photos after Max decided we were OK, and he didn’t need to protect me from anything. He was, however, very curious about everything. I mean that literally. He is curious about everything and what he was seeing was totally foreign to him.

The walking tour is accompanied by an app you download to your phone that leads you to 23 locations throughout the complex. At each stop you can watch a video on your phone of someone explaining what you’re looking at. Pretty cool. It worked just fine until I missed a turn somewhere and missed #7 so had to go back and find it. That involved going down 3 levels of stairs then finally asking a handy docent where #7 was. He looked at me, leaned to his left a little and point over my shoulder at the #7 hanging in the window behind me.

Apparently I missed #1, too.

Max paused here and I’m sure he was thinking, “that’s a lot of stairs.” But, he skipped the ramp and dragged me to the bottom.

Proof of life. Made it in one piece.

That tall portion of the structure is the library that was reportedly not used a lot because getting to it involved lots of stairs like those below.

The skylight in the center is the top of the library from the inside. I think I would not have gone up there very often, either.

Next is one of the three sections where the atmosphere is controlled so they can study how water flows through soil – like how much water hits the ground and how much of it makes it to the bottom of the hill.

This tree apparently fell down, broke it’s hip and was doomed to use crutches for the rest of its life.

Finally got back outside.

This dome structure is called the “Lung” of the facility. I’s purpose is to ensure the air pressure of the enclosed buildings is maintained as the air heats and cools. Had the lung not been included, the hot air inside would have caused the big buildings to explode. That’s a lot of glass that would have littered the dessert. There’re roughly a bazillion glass panels in this place. It’s true. I’m sure I heard that on one of the videos I watched. Amazing.

Inside the next structure are a stunning variety of trees and plants.

There’s even an ocean with a coral reef. Sadly, we learned, the reef did not survive but it served it’s purpose to allow people to study the effects of various temps of ocean water.

Some of the trees in the rain forest section are 90 feet tall. This is a big terrarium.

Heading for the exit.

Back up the stairs makes a full circle.

Another aspect of the facility is the many casitas they built to accommodate scientists who come to study. I believe I heard that the casitas had 3 to 5 bedrooms for a total of 200. They are very nice, too. They won’t let riffraff wander through them. Seems like they could probably make a few bucks on the side if they rented them out to common folks.

Somewhere not far down the road to home we stopped for lunch. When I did a search for a likely location, Max spied the Grain River Asian Bistro so that’s where we went. I think it was a lucky call on his part because it just happened to be the first one on the map and we were hungry. How handy.

While waiting he thought maybe he could sit at the table with Mom.

I convinced him that dogs eat while standing on the floor. When I told him I’d order some chicken for him, he readily agreed.

Thanks, Dad

Day 101 – Tuesday – Tacos and Nachos

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Today we visited a museum where all the displays are all miniatures. Very stunning stuff. I took at least 125 pictures and videos of the displays. I know, it doesn’t take me long to use up that much film and there’s no way I’ll be able to share all of them with you. I was fascinated looking at the incredible work the artists created. The houses and everything that fills it were awesome, but what got me the most was the art created at the end of a #2 graphite pencil. Simply amazing.

Max enjoyed it, too, and we didn’t even have to pay his way in.

The miniatures start before entering the museum. The door is beautiful.

Next to it is it’s miniature.

The pencil art is amazing.

This is the couch from Beetlejuice. It’s not a miniature, but it’s pretty cool.

I took a lot of photos but I didn’t do justice to the displays so please visit the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures website and see for yourselves.

Day 100 – Monday – Taco or Nachos

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Wow! Monday was a blur. That’s true mainly because nothing of significance happened. That’s true, of course, unless you consider turning 2 pounds of hamburger meat into taco meat to be significant. To complicate things further, I used the taco meat to make a nice pile of nachos for supper. Diane didn’t want any and had a bowl of cereal, and two pieces of toast. Perhaps she was also confused about my dinner choice and the misuse of taco meat to make nachos instead of tacos.

I’m so confused right now, but the nachos were pretty good. Tomorrow I’ll eat tacos. I’ll bet they’ll be good, too.

Diane and I have talked a bit about snow birding and how much we aren’t very good at it. We both really like the traveling part, but not the staying in one place for a long-time part. Typically, we’ll go just about anywhere at the drop of a hat, but a long stay is 7 days. Then we move on to the next adventure. It’s been that way for a long time and is apparently difficult to change. We think we tried snow birding too late in life and we’re looking forward to moving on down the road. What that means is we’re looking forward to the trip home. We miss our family and friends.

Max agrees.

He misses the creek.

And he’ll miss his new friends, as will we.

Laurie

Day 99 – Sunday – Tumacácori National Park

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We left the bus not long before noon, and we only made it about 10 feet before Diane stopped and told me to get my keys.

I’ve done this before. So far, no harm has befallen us because of my mismanagement of the keys.

The park is about 55 miles away, a bit south of Green Valley, so we had to traverse familiar territory to get there. That was OK, because it’s actually a nice drive. It’s even better because I don’t have to drive. More accurately, I’m not allowed to drive. Max and I just sat there enjoying the ride.

Getting there was simple but when we approached the park there were cars parked all along both sides of the road. At first glance it was apparent that getting to the park itself could involve a long walk. Not knowing exactly where the entrance was, Diane kept driving until she spied a handicap spot and took it. As it turned out, that spot was directly in front of the entrance door into the park. Amazing, right? It gets better.

The entrance sign was very specific that no pets were allowed so I went inside to see if Max would be allowed to enter as a Support Animal. I made it clear that Max was a work in progress to be a Service Animal. To our benefit, the guy sitting behind the desk was a retired Command Master Chief with over 40 years of service so wearing my navy hat paid off. He only gave me a little grief about only making Senior Chief and for quitting the Navy after only 26.5 years. We chatted a bit and It was a good talk. He handed us off to a fellow ranger gave me the drill for service animals to ensure I understood the importance of not letting him desecrate the buildings or grounds. We understood. That actually isn’t a problem with Max because he’s the best little dog in the world.

There was a fiesta going on, the reason for our trip, and we could hear the music and singing in the distance. It was very pleasant.

We followed the fiesta signs that led deep into the park, behind the old church in the photo. Since it was on the way to the music, we had to stop and to see it before finding the source of the music.

Work on the church began in 1800 and the church was dedicated in 1822.

This is a rendition of what the interior looked like when it was in use.

This is what’s left

This is a rendition of what the altar area looked like

Here’s what’s left.

Now that you’ve seen my photos, you need to check out the park’s web site for better ones. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

The festival was a venue for many church, youth groups, and individual artists who sold items they made to support their groups. Scattered amongst the crafty people were many opportunities to by an incredible array of food. I bought Diane a bottle of water and a small Christmas tree ornament made out of string. Here are a couple of photos of the festivities. It was a busy place.

On the way out of the park we stopped for a while in a shady spot.

Here’s where we parked – the car on the right. That dark spot to the left of the car is the entrance door.

We drove back to Green Valley before hunger struck so we stopped at Arby’s for a fill-up. Max wasn’t offered anything to eat so he was a little bummed.

He stood like that the entire time I was eating my sandwich, so he got his way and wound up with quite a few bits of roast beef. It was only fair.

As soon as we got home, I took Max for a walk. We wound up talking to Chuck Berry, a fellow who drives an older RV with Oregon plates. I’ve been waiting to meet him, but he was never there when we went by, until this time.

I introduced myself and asked him which part of Oregon he had escaped from. He looked me right in the eye and said, “have you ever heard of St. Helens?” That was a true shocker. He and his wife live in St. Helens less than a mile from where we live.

Small world, right?

Needless to say, we had a nice visit and plan to have another before they leave this week.

Imagine that.

Day 98 – Saturday – Green Valley, Arizona

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Today was a good one for a number of reasons. First, Diane had us scheduled to visit Green Valley to go see the Festival of the Trees at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Green Valley isn’t very far from where we currently live, so it was an easy drive down I-19. It’s just a little way beyond San Xavier Mission so we got to see a little more of Southern Arizona and got closer to Nogales than we’ve ever been. Maybe we’ll make it to the Mexican border before this trip is over. We can’t cross it because Diane doesn’t have her passport. I don’t have mine, either, but I’ve got the magic driver’s license that will allow me permission to cross over. I won’t, however, because I made a promise to never go to Mexico without Diane. So, we’ll just get close.

Once at St. Francis Diane went in to see the trees while Max and I roamed around the parking lot. At the entrance there was a prominent sign alerting everyone that pets were not allowed. Although Max was wearing his working vest, I didn’t try to get him in because I suspect he would have found a reason to pee on one of the trees. Instead, he stayed outside and peed on bunches of rocks. It was OK. When we left the church, Diane drove around in the urban area so we could look at houses, just for fun. Green Valley is a nice place, and we discovered that houses here are wildly expensive, just like they are at home. We both like the architecture and the colors used to make the adobe-like homes. It’s very pleasing. I’m not a big fan of yards full of rocks and various kinds of cacti, and would rather have a lawn to mow but that doesn’t seem to be an option down here. They do get into the holiday spirit here, though.

Then we went to lunch.

I selected KFC because it’s one of our favorite places. When we got our order the young girl at the counter asked if she could give Max a chicken strip. I had to accept because I think there’s a rule somewhere about severe consequences if you turn down a free chicken strip at KFC. I chopped it up for Max and he gobbled it up rather quickly because he really likes dead chicken.

After lunch Diane stopped at a DQ and got me a large chocolate malt and herself a dipped cone. I paid for them. Now I only have $3 in my wallet. That’s OK because I don’t spend much cash. No one offered Max an ice cream cone, so we drove directly home.

The mountains caught my eye. We find them pleasing. These things surround the entire valley where Tucson and a bunch of other villages live.

When we got home, I gave Max his lunch. It was only a few hours late, but he didn’t seem to mind. He did, however, make short work of it. Once he was done, we took a walk around the park. He earned it because he’s really a good traveler. We walked a long way and found this little resting area that has 2 chairs, a bench and an ashtray for smokers surrounded by very large rocks. We didn’t stop to sit. Max just peed on a couple of the rocks, and we went on our way.

Around 1630 we got ourselves comfortable on our couches to watch football. Today the Oregon Ducks played Penn State for the Big10 Championship. The game was in Indiana. I don’t know why Oregon had to travel 2500 miles and Penn State only had to travel 497. That didn’t seem fair. Seems like whoever chose the venue for the game wasn’t a Duck fan and wanted to make it easy on Penn State. Surely that’s true.

I won’t bore you with details, but despite the travel distance disparity, and the ho-hum chatter about the Ducks by the TV announcers, THE DUCKS WON 45-27! It was a great game most of the time but we had to turn the TV sound down so we didn’t have to listen to the announcers proclaim how great Penn State is even though they were getting beat the entire game. Oregon scored first and never looked back. What fun. The Ducks are 13-0 and is the #1 seed for the Championship playoff. We also heard, from our daughter, Jennifer, that the Ducks are playing in the Rose Bowl this year. More fun.

Now it’s time for bed. I believe we will sleep well tonight.

Day 96 – Thursday – VA Hospital Visit, Again

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Here’s another Thursday that I’m going to miss going to coffee with the guys at the Kozy Korner. I think the last one I was able to attend was last August. It’s OK, because they know we’re out of the country for a while and one of them might even read this stuff I share.

This morning at 1100, I had an appointment at the VA Hospital. It’s a follow up for my visit to their emergency room a month or so ago. You may remember that after that visit, they sent me to have an Echo Cardiogram, and this was where I got the follow-up info.

Diane got me to the proper building (38) just in the nick of time. I checked in and was almost immediately escorted to the back rooms where a young lady pointed to a chair and said, “take your shirt off and sit down.” I figured she was serious, and she was bigger than me, so that’s what a did. She was back in a flash with an armload of wires and a bunch of sticky terminals which she planted all over my chest. Then she connected all wires and ran one of the fastest EKG’s I’ve ever had. She also tossed in a BP check (120/70 BPM 55) and a blood oxygen check (92%). I was a little disappointed because my oxy level is normally in the high 90’s, not the low ones. But she thought it was OK. She also told me that my heart echoed back OK during the cardiogram, but they were putting me on a 30-day heart monitor anyway. Just for fun.

When the test was done, she ripped all the little sticky things off my chest, told me to put my shirt back on, and escorted me to another young lady, my very own nurse practitioner. She checked me again and we had a nice long talk about my health. In the end she issued me a Philips Mobile Cardiac Telemetry unit that I must wear for the next month. Apparently, they had this unit just laying around in the back room and needed to find out if it worked. So, they gave it to me. When it tells me the test is done, I’ll mail it back to them. I should be hearing from them about the results sometime next spring. So, you can either hold your breath for those results or just let it go and listen to whatever lies I tell you about it along the way. I’m actually not worried because no matter what they tell me it will be something they can or cannot fix.

After the appointment Diane drove us to Culver’s for lunch. She had 3 pieces of cod, and I had 10 fantail shrimp. Max got a “Pup Cup” filled with whipped cream. We all loved our lunch.

On the way home we stopped by the Injoy Thrift Store (you’ve seen it before). I took Max inside, and we went to the toy section where I put 3 little animals on the floor and told him to pick one. He dove on the rabbit, so I put the other 2 back. As we did last time, I got him to pick up his choice and convinced him to find Diane who was way on the other side of the store. He only dropped the rabbit a few times, but he always picked it back up with a little coaxing. We found her and after that delivery, Max and I went outside to wander around and let Diane go on her own. Eventually she appeared and we headed home.

She said the cashier saw Max carrying the rabbit back to her and didn’t charge for it. A gift for Max. That was nice. Save us a few bucks, it did.

After dropping Max and me at the dumpster, with the bag of garbage we carried all over town, Diane continued on to the commissary for required items. Max and I took care of the garbage then wandered back to the bus. We made ourselves at home on the patio where I exercised my fingers and started this post. Max just laid around on the patio, keeping an eye on everyone who passed by.

The weather is changing, looking a lot like Oregon with a threat of rain. Flawless blue skies all the time gets boring sometimes. This is pretty and dramatic.

It actually did rain a little, but it wasn’t much. Just a little drop once in a while, the kind that makes you wonder if what touched you was a drop of rain, or just your imagination.

After sunset, our neighbors unveiled their new firepit and I got to help put it together and hook it up. Then we all gathered around it and chatted late into the night. I think we broke camp a little after 1900. That’s late for us to be outside. We had a great time visiting.

We retired to our living room and watched random TV shows until” Elsbeth” came on at 2100. She’s one of our favorite shows for now.

Exciting stuff, right?

Oh, I almost forgot. Just for fun, while Diane was out running around town one day, I decided to see if the bus would start. I had actually considered waiting until January 7th, the day before we get kicked out of the Bone Yard, but prudence suggested that knowing if it will start now might be a good idea. I’m pleased to announce that it started just fine. It’s been sitting idle since October 11th, a little less than 2 months. In case you’re wondering, Les, I checked the batteries first. They’re fine, too. It was a “Yippee!” moment and no one was here to hear it.

All is good.

Day 95 – Wednesday – Humane Society Thrift Store

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Yup. Another thrift store. We’ve been there before and I’m sure I’ve mentioned it so I won’t bore you with a repeat. The thrift store is run by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, or HSSA, if you prefer. It’s a fun place. All the ladies working there adore Max. Sadly, for Max, Diane will be going alone while we two guys take a walk to the Dog Wash.

Before leaving, however, I made myself lunch. Just a reasonable salad to help use some avocados and tomatoes that might go bad if they aren’t devoured soon. I also found some peas left over from a previous meal which I added to the bowl.

That will tide me over till supper. If it doesn’t, I’ll find something else to eat.

At the Dog Wash Max was a little skittish, same as last time. But he toughed it out and I got him nice and clean. It’s the process he doesn’t like. The results make him very happy. If he didn’t have to be on a leash for the walk home, I’m sure he could have made it in record time.

This is Max calling for help:

It doesn’t do him any good, but it makes him feel better. He eventually calmed down, like normal.

The wash station has a vacuum for getting excess water off your pet but it doesn’t work too well with Max. He kinda hates it more than the blower, so the blower is what he got. It didn’t dry him completely, but the walk back to the ‘house’ did a pretty good job.

Max got a new vest in our last box of mail, and he looks pretty snazzy in it. It’s helpful, too, because he can go with us everywhere. He doesn’t actually know that so we can leave him home at times, so don’t tell him.

Yes, he’s certified. He got a card that goes along with this, but no one ever asks for it. He’s just too cute to card, I guess.

Yesterday afternoon our neighbors, Pat and Laurie, came over to visit and we sat in a square talking until well past sunset. We must have been there for 3-4 hours. It was really nice to visit with them. That’s actually the first time on this trip that we spent time talking with other people for any length of time, and we discovered that we really enjoyed it. We’ll no doubt do it again. In fact, we already have a date for Thursday to break in their new fire pit.

See you tomorrow.

Day 94 – Tuesday – Mail Call

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I woke up at 0600 again this morning. Technically, it was my bladder that woke up. It’s like that part of my body just loves to communicate with me sometimes 2 or 3 times a night. Then, I realize that it’s one part of my body that works pretty good so why am I complaining. I was pretty comfortable laying there in bed trying to make sense of the things ricocheting around in my head, but I could not ignore my bladder’s persistent reminder that it was time to pay attention. So, like every morning, I scratched Max’s back, he stretched in appreciation, rolled over and went back to sleep. He’s never in a hurry to get up.

While waiting for my first cup of coffee to brew I take my pills and eat a banana and stick my Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl in the micro. My doctor doesn’t think they are good for me, but they are easy to cook, and I like them. Diane makes sure there’s always a stash of them in the freezer. She’s really good to me.

After breakfast I took Max for his morning walk. That’ usually takes about 45 minutes because he has to sniff all the bushes and trees along the way to see who’s been there. I’m sure he’s got the scent of a coyote often because they wander around in the back throughout the night. I’ve mentioned that before, I’m sure.

Diane was up when we got back so Max greeted to her then climbed into the driver’s seat, where his pillow lives, and went back to sleep. Even then he keeps an eye out for the neighbors so he can see when they get up. Laurie always brings him treats and he’s not about to miss one of those.

The D-M Thrift Shop was on the calendar today so that’s where we went. It’s only open on Tuesday & Wednesday. This table caught my eye and I would have loved to buy it and ship it home to Jasper. He’s our official Spider Man Grandson. He loves that guy. But shipping the table wouldn’t be practical. Still, I think he’d really like it.

I don’t remember where we went after the thrift store, so I’ll just got with “we went back home fore lunch.” Then we watched a couple of Hallmark Christmas movies until it was almost time for supper. We decided we’d go get hamburgers from Culver’s. It’s only a few minutes away and a place we’ve been wanting to try. We got takeout and it was very good. Max was a little bummed that we didn’t eat inside because his “Service Animal” vest showed up in the mail just before we left to get the food. With it, he could have gone inside with us.

This SUV was parked Culver’s lot next to the drive thru lane. Quite festive.

When we got home Diane dialed up another Hallmark movie to watch while we ate.

So you see a pattern here? Hallmark movies are fun. But, we’ve also been watching old episodes of NCIS and other shows we like. Most of the episodes are old enough that we don’t remember them so it’s all good.

Before retiring for the night Diane went through the mail and gave me a stack because they were bills. I’m the one who pays them. Yippee! Oh yes, Max’s vest! I’ll get a picture of him wearing it tomorrow. It’s a little tight, but quite snazzy.

To end the day I took Max out for his walk before bed. We never go far because I’m a little leary of the coyotes. Sometimes on the night walk we can hear them in the distance so we stay close to the lights. Most of the RVs in the park have lights laying under their rigs to keep pests away and I suspect it helps keep the coyotes away, too. I haven’t seen one, yet, so it must work.

That’s pretty much it for today.

Day 93 – Monday – It’s-a Wha-da-day!

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Today was another slow day. When I got up it was 54 degrees inside and outside. I wore my short pants to walk Max anyway, but I also wore my fuzzy shirt. I guess my legs are so skinny they can’t tell if it’s hot or cold. It didn’t take long for the temp to move quickly to the high 70’s so we went on a drive. Max loves rides.

We wound up at a Restore Store, and Max got to ride around in a shopping cart. He’s been bugging us about that for a while. He loves shopping carts. So, today was a good time to give him that ride. It gets him closer to his audience so he can look them in the eye, catch them off guard, and lick their lips. He’s really quick. Not all the adults like his approach, but most kids do.

When I rook Max for a walk last night this star was shining bright. I used my app that tells me what stars I’m looking at but it failed me this time. Seems like it should be a star everyone knows.

We dressed the bus up for Christmas. Can you tell?

Since we stayed home except for that short trip for Max, Diane decided it was laundry time.

I stayed home and fixed the light leak issuer on the small slide in the bedroom. I’ve been collecting self-tapping screws for a while and finally found some that actually work for the place I needed to place them. The deed is done and the light is gone.

Oh, and I cut all the curls off the back of Diane’s head. Honest, I didn’t cut anything else.

I probably should have taken a before shot, huh?

Jennifer and family had Thanksgiving dinner at our house and the following photos show almost all of those who attended. Even with these two photos, showing different people, some still remained missing. I’ll leave it to you to figure this out.

Can anyone help me out?

I think this is a good place to stop.