Nope, it’s not fair time right now. We just went there to take a walk through a bunch of Tiffen RVs. In case you don’t’ know, they are pretty classy rigs. Like over the top, classy. The best one cost $700,000.00. That isn’t a typo. Though it would be nice to have one, something like that just isn’t practical for folks like us. Seeing all those fancy rigs caused us to lean more in the direction of moving back to a trailer instead of upgrading the Bus. This is still a work in progress.
We didn’t take Max on this trip, but I doubt if anyone would have objected had he tagged along. For being such a good puppy, we took him to the off-leash dog park just a couple blocks away. When we got to the park, we saw this making its way across the sky …
When I first saw this, I thought it was just the contrail of a speeding aircraft. Diane said “no. It’s the comet!” I was easily convinced because the contrail didn’t linger like they usually do and seeing a comet is way cooler than seeing a high-flying aircraft. I mean, we’re living on an Air Force Base so high-flying aircraft are no big deal. According to the local info I could find this is the 80,000-year-old C/2023 Ag Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet. That’s quite a name. I suspect it’s meaningful to astronomers but why couldn’t they just call it Henry, or Alvin? Something simple? It’s supposed to be visible until the 26th so I’ll be looking for it again the next couple of days.
Once the comet was over the horizon we concentrated on Max, trying to get him to run, or chase his ball. He needs the exercise. But since this was his first time in this facility, he was more obsessed with sniffing pretty much every place where a dog could have marked his spot. That means he had to sniff, for a long time, anything that was vertical to the ground. The one exception was a pretty large hole that a previous dog had enlarged.
He maintained this position for about 3 minutes, waiting for something to happen, or for something to crawl up his nose, I’m not sure which. Apparently, nothing happened so he extracted himself and calmly resumed sniffing his surroundings. It must be difficult to be able to smell such an amazing variety of stuff and catalog it for future reference. Wears me out just thinking about it.
He finally gave up his quest to smell everything within the boundaries of the park and decided that we should go home. First, however, there was a playground nearby that Diane had to visit. It had slides.
I just knew there was still a little girl in there somewhere.
Then we went back to the bus for the rest of the evening.
Today is Jennifer’s 49th Birthday. I know, I shouldn’t tell people her age but in her case it’s necessary because she only looks about 18. An amazing young lady.
That’s our girl about 10 years ago. She looks the same now.
Nope. Just laid around all day except for taking Max out to walk 5-6 times.
Three walks ago the sun had just set so I took you a photo.
Diane got to go out and visit the Base thrift store today, she also went to the commissary. We seem to keep running out of food.
The temps went back up today to 98. It’s interesting because when it’s that hot and you’re out standing in the direct sunshine, it feels just like a sauna. There is immediate relief as soon as you step into the shade of a tree. It’s actually cool. I did that for a while, just walking from one tree to the next, walking into and out of shadows. What fun.
Today was devoted to only two events. First, fill the car with gas. Second, visit San Xavier del Bac Mission in South Tucson. This was a “must see” Diane chose early in this trip.
The mission is located on the west side of I-19 as you head south from Tucson. Interstate 19 is interesting in itself and falls into the category of I-1, I-2, and I-3 on Oahu. None of them cross state boundaries. So, how can they be Interstate highways? Interesting, right?
When you take exit at W San Xavier Rd and signs guide you to the Mission. The signs really aren’t necessary because the Mission can be seen easily to the right as you transit the road. This is because the Mission is surrounded by homes that are pretty much all single-story dwellings. The Mission is much taller. Here’s a sequence as you drive up the road.
The interior is stunning. One of the visitors told me they brought artists from Spain to help refurbish the interior. I don’t know if that made the difference, but I assure you it’s worth the trip.
The areas to the right …
And to the left …
… of the main altar are every bit as stunning.
Even looking back to the entrance is awesome …
Then you tip your head back a little and notice the ceilings are also amazing.
No matter where you look, it’s beautiful. The music playing in the background added to the experience. Even the ceiling …
There’s not much I can add to this without ruining the mood, so I’ll share one last thing, and check out.
The are no Speed Bumps in Arizona.
This is true. We’ve not seen even one warning about Speed Bumps.
Today was relatively calm. It started out with me visiting Emily at the BX Toenail Boutique to have my toenails fixed. Diane got hers done last week and really liked her. Emily likes to talk so Diane thought we’d get along famously. We did. Emily is Laotian, she’s 5’2″, and probably weighs about 70 lbs. She has two children with whom she shares her native language. She’s also from North Carolina. I think I got most of that correct. Anyway, she did a marvelous job on my Troll Toes, and we talked about a lot of stuff. It was good therapy.
When I returned to the RV it was almost time for lunch, but Diane wanted to go shopping at two local thrift stores, then swing by the commissary. I’ve previously covered Diane’s dislike of me going shopping with her so she went alone while Max and I stayed home and watched a movie about golfing and racism. Max would have rather gone outside, I’m sure.
When Diane was gone, I experienced a dizzy spell that took a while to dissipate. When she returned, I was compelled to tell her about it, so we had a discussion about all aspects of probabilities, First, I located and resurrected the blood pressure cuff the VA gave me about 8 years ago. All it needed was new batteries. It just so happens; we have lots of those.
The first run was 86/56 which isn’t very close to what we thought it should be, so we waited a bit and did it again. Second run was something like 107/60. Really different from normal.
Considering those results Diane and I decided to bite the bullet and see what the Tucson VA Hospital is like at 1600 on a Monday afternoon. All I really wanted was a professional to take my BP and reassure me that it’s normal. Turns out they are pretty proficient, up to a point.
I was quickly registered upon arrival, and a nurse took my BP right away. The only number I saw was 144 so I figured that was pretty good and took my seat in the waiting room as directed. A short time later I was called into the back room where a medical person took 5 vials of blood. He wasn’t the best phlebotomist I’ve ever had, but he wasn’t the worst, either.
Then I was directed back to the waiting room with the butterfly thing hanging from my arm. Seems like everyone in the waiting room was decorated in the same manner. I can only presume that the blood guy was new, and he was tasked with practicing his newly acquired skills on everyone who visit the emergency room at 1600 on a Monday afternoon.
I hadn’t been sitting long before I was summoned to the back again where I was rigged with little snap pads for an EKG. It was all digital, so I was unable to watch the needles twitch like we did in the good old days.
An hour or so into this last waiting period I was summoned by a nurse and escorted through the locked doors that separate the first waiting room to the area where the REAL waiting rooms live. There are individual rooms for each patient. I don’t know how many rooms are back there, but I was in #19 at the end of a passageway. There must have been another room, #20, that I couldn’t see because I’m pretty sure there’s a universal law about using odd numbers of individual waiting rooms. That law might be incorporated with the hotel industry rule that 13th floors are not identified on elevator choices. The reason for the hotel thing is triskaidekaphobia.
Upon arrival to room 19, my nurse hooked me to a captive oximeter and a BP cuff both of which were connected to an automatic unit that took my BP about once every few minutes. I called the oximeter “captive” because instead of the normal little clippie thing commonly used, this one had the sending unit built into a big band aid that once properly applied is very difficult to remove.
I sat there for a while waiting to see what was going to happen, then asked a nurse if Diane could come back. She said yes and went to get her.
Before Diane arrived at my personal waiting room, I was planted in a wheelchair and pushed to the imaging section of the hospital to have a CT scan of my head. I suspect they were looking for something bleeding in my brain that might have caused the dizzy spell. We learned later that the reason listed for my visit was due to “dizziness and giddiness.” No one ever told us that, but it was listed on my discharge paperwork which we didn’t see until much later. Huh! I was diagnosed for giddiness.
a state of excitable frivolity: “the fans can be forgiven their giddiness”.
Who knew? I’ve always identified giddiness with the #2 choice. How about you?
Once the CT was done the real waiting began, and it was cold in that tiny room. I mentioned that before Diane arrived and the nurse, Randy, brought me a warm blanket. I gave it to Diane so she wouldn’t shiver. Randy told me it could take up to an hour for the CT and labs to be read and suggested we hunker down, which we did.
Finally, around 2130, the doctor returned and reported that neither the CT scan nor the blood work revealed anything unusual. So, he suggested a referral to a neurologist and a cardiologist to follow up and see what they can find, if anything. That should be fun.
While waiting for Randy to return with our checkout paperwork, I disconnected myself from the machine. No one seemed to care. I’d actually removed myself from the machines more than once to see what would happen. One of those times I took a walk around past all the other waiting rooms looking for a bathroom and no one questioned me. Interesting, eh?
Finally, at 2200, we were released from their custody and set the GPS to take us back to the RV. Max had been alone there for at least 6 hours, the longest he’s ever been alone. Like normal, he was happy to see us and we’re pretty sure he spent every second of that time in the driver’s seat on his favorite pillow. It’s white, fuzzy and holds all the hair that falls off him. He got a long walk for being such a good puppy.
We fiddled around this morning until 1100 or so then headed across town to visit the Humane Society Thrift Store. When we got there, I discovered that we didn’t have Max’s leash so he couldn’t go in. To rectify this Diane gave me permission to go all the way back to the RV and get it, all by myself. First time for me driving off base. I admit it was a little scary, but I managed to get there and back, with the leash, without either falling down, or running into someone.
When I took Max into the facility, he was immediately accosted by all the women gathered near the front door. Apparently, they knew he was on his way. He was thoroughly pampered by the time I pried him loose and set off in search of Diane.
I told Max to “find Mom,” and he dutifully dropped his nose to the floor as if searching for her and led me off across the store. I actually thought he was on her trail until we passed the row she was in. I called him back and he when he saw her, he just melted and ran to her like he hadn’t seen her for days. It was quite a moving sight.
We walked around the store for a while, running into a few ladies who didn’t meet him at the front door.
After leaving the store, we headed way across town to have lunch at Freddy’s. They have custard and steak burgers. That caught Diane’s eye.
We parked in front, and I entered the facility to see if it would be OK if Max came in also. The gentleman at the count emphasized that “service dogs” are welcome. After a little talk about that he made it clear that I didn’t have to certify that he was a service dog. It took a bit for me to understand what he was really saying. essentially, he was OK with Max if I called him a service dog, which I did. He was under our booth, keeping an eye on the people coming and going, and they even brought him a bowl filled with custard topped with peanut butter sauce. He actually ate it slowly as if to savor this treat.
I had a chicken sandwich and got Diane a double patty steak burger for Diane.
After lunch Diane wanted to investigate the Elks Lodges in the area. There were three of them. She’s looking for a place to have Thanksgiving dinner. The area where the lodges live are a little bit scary. All the yards are surrounded by unfriendly fences making one wonder about the reason for a need for such fences. I think she crossed the Elks off her list for Thanksgiving.
She plotted our course for home and about halfway there I unplugged her phone and put mine on with directions to the only Eagles Aerie in the area. It turned out to be pretty nice and might be a perfect replacement for the Elks Lodge. Think she wishes to try out a Monday night Bingo session and give this place the “sniff” test, checking to see if the folks are friendly.
Another feasible solution is the base mess hall. It’s called a dining facility, but it’s really a Mess Hall. I have no doubt they would provide a really nice Thanksgiving meal. We’ll see how that works out and you can be sure I’ll tell all.
From there we went home for real. Once we got on base Diane made Max and me get out of the car so we could walk the last mile or so. Max needed to walk so it was really OK. Diane even had me keep the front door keys saying she would just sit on the patio and wait for us.
Here are some of the planes we could see from the RV park as we walked home …
I wish there was a way we could get in and visit the rows of fighter jets. There is no apparent access to common folks to this area of the base.
When we got home, she was waiting for us.
As always, no matter where home is, it’s always good to be there. Don’t you agree?
The PIMA Air & SM is located on the southern edge of the Bone Yard, almost directly south of the location of our current home. It’s 5.8 miles and 11 minutes away from us. Since Diane was driving, we made it in 9 minutes and she shaved off a couple miles by taking shortcuts not made readily apparent on the map.
We had Max with us so the only place we couldn’t go was the gedunk because there’s food in the area and they frown on having dogs around. So, we didn’t go there. That word, by the way, is recognized as a valid definition of any facility that sells junk food. Ask any sailor or marine who has been to sea.
The first thing we did upon arrival was take a walk to the area where the tram ride starts. We figured that would be the best way to get a feel for the area. That was a good choice because most of the planes on display live in the great outdoors. Yes, there are many that live inside but we haven’t seen them yet. No, we bought a ticket that allows us to make two trips to the museum and that was a good idea, too, because of the size of this place.
The tram tour guide/tram driver gave us a lot of history about many of the planes on display but he did so in a way that made it clear he’d done this so many times he no longer found it interesting. We managed to ignore the delivery and focused on the content to get the information. Pretty amazing stuff, for sure. If you’re ever down here, go there.
When we departed the tram at the end of the 45 minute tour, Diane and Max took a seat outside the gedunk near a playground type facility for kids. I learned later that Max had a great time visiting with strangers.
While they rested, I took a walking tour of about 1/2 of what we saw and took a bunch of photos. My main objective was to find an F-4 Phantom so I could include it herein for Les. I found the plane and got the photo but getting it to my computer for use is a difficult task. It will show up eventually.
I returned to Diane and Max and learned about all the fun he had licking new people. Diane got to visit with them while Max was busy. Those of you who know Max are aware of how quickly he can lick the roof of your mouth if you get too close.
Going through Hangar 1 on our way back to the car was eventful because there were lots of people who willingly dropped to a knee for Max making his trip here memorable. Then, during an interlude, he circled up like he does before ejecting the remnants of unused food particles and dropped it right on a very shiny cement floor. It wasn’t difficult to remove and cleanup, so it was OK. He wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about it. Neither was I. Diane, maybe a little.
Ah, the F-4 finally showed up in my photos. Here you go, Les …
Sorry I didn’t get a profile show of this. I’ll do that when we go back for our second tour.
I had to stop writing for a while because I had to watch #1 Texas get beat up by#6 Georgia. Because of that, I’m pretty sure #2 Oregon (7-0) will move up to #1 and Texas will drop under Georgia since they both have the same win/loss record (6-1). Hope the #1 slot doesn’t go to the Ducks’ head and screw them up.
Got up early this morning (0630) and took Max for a walk. It was 66 degrees and very comfortable. The sky was crystal clear, and the air was calm and cool. Couldn’t be better.
Then, as I sat here, looking out the window, time flittered by and all the sudden it was 1100! How could that happen so quickly? Also, the clouds had rolled in, and the wind picked up, threatening to blow stuff all over the park. I had the awning out and had to put it away before it joined the other litter flying around. Actually, there wasn’t much litter flying around, just the wind. It’s a little windy here all the time so there isn’t much litter at all on base. What litter there may have been was blown away a long time ago. I think I saw a sign somewhere on base alerting folks to just toss stuff out the car window on base because it will be quickly blown off base. It winds up along the freeways that surround and pass through the city. I’ve seen it.
Diane is getting ready for a trip to the Commissary, but Max and I have to stay home. That’s OK because I’ve got a ton of stuff to do here. Can’t tell you what chores I have waiting right now, but I might remember eventually. Sometimes I remember stuff.
After Diane departed for her commissary run, and possible toe-job (pedicure), Max and I set off in the direction of the only enclosed dog run we’ve seen so far. When we got there, I unshackled him, and he walked free for about 50 feet. What he actually did was walk with me to the middle of the enclosure then sat down under the chair I chose and sat there the entire time. I kept waiting for him to make a move, but it didn’t happen. I had his little tennis ball and tossed a couple of times, but he just watched it. When it didn’t come back to him, he lost interest. Dog runs just aren’t any fun if you’re the only dog in it. He told me that, and I understood him.
On the way back home, we encountered a rig from Montana that had 2 goats tied up out front. Not a common sight in an RV park. Next to them was a cage full of ripe chickens, then 2 big Akita dogs came around the corner, and James, the resident, said he had a couple of cats, too. He told me he and his wife are in the process of moving here from Montana and kinda brought the farm with them. Pretty interesting. I might have to take Diane over there to meet the herd. If she wants to, that is. I think Max would love to have a baby goat to play with.
The wind has been blowing very hard most of the day. The way it makes the RV shiver is reminiscent of being on a cruise ship. Most of the time you can’t see how the ship is moving, but you can feel the subtle jitters as it plows through the water. That’s the feeling, but in the RV you can definitely feel the movement when a strong gust slams into it. Max doesn’t like it.
A UPS truck showed up while Max and I were gone. He left us the little stairs Diane ordered so Max can climb on the bed, if he wants to. I introduced him to it but he didn’t seem to be very happy about having to get on/off the bed all by himself. He’s getting lazy.
He also left the tire covers I ordered to protect them from the blistering sun.
Even though it’s cooled down a bit, the sun can still wreak havoc on tires, and human bodies. My little skinny arms and legs are no longer pasty white. I’ve been wearing shorts like the natives. I can do that now because my knees are almost totally healed from the falls I took at home. Seems like knees get the worst of those events. Next is the elbows. I think it was the last tumble I took that added in my forehead just for fun. That’s been many months ago and I haven’t had the urge to fall since them.
Diane returned from her trip to the commissary with a carload of groceries and newly painted toes. She also brought me an appointment card for next Monday, with Emily, to get my own toes whittled down a little. She won’t let me get a paint job. I don’t know why because I always wear socks so it’s not like I’m going to embarrass her.
We had planned to go to the movie this evening but since she spent quite a while shopping, she had second thoughts. So, we stayed home. Instead of the movie, I got to watch the Oregon Ducks beat the Purdue Boilermakers. The Boilermakers have a reputation of beating ranked teams, so I was a bit concerned since Oregon is #2 in the nation. When it was done, the score was 35-0 for Oregon. It made me happy. Oregon is 7-0 for the season and some analysts think they might just go all the way. We’ll see.
All of you needed to know that.
Now it’s time to wrap things up and get to bed. I just took Max for a short walk and had to wear a coat. The temperature is 63 degrees and chilly. Diane told me that overnight it’s supposed to be 49 degrees. I’ll have to wear long legged pants for that one.
The base exchange is like a super-duper Walmart. It has all the essentials anyone who lives on the base might need. Additionally, like Walmart, it has a ton of other stuff that no one needs but usually wind up buying it anyway.
We went to the BX today and got stuff Diane needed. I needed something, too, but forgot what it was so I bought something else. I think. Maybe I actually bought what I needed. Diane won’t tell me.
Another thing we got, a small air fry thing, that served us well for supper to crisp up some french fries to go with the hamburgers I cooked.
While lounging on the couch after dinner, Kristina (I think) knocked on the door to alert us that our water connection was spouting water all over the place. By the time I got out there she had turned it off. What I found was the water filter had unscrewed its top. Interesting. I screwed it back together and went back inside to rest from that arduous repair job. I didn’t get much rest before another knocker reported that water was spouting again.
I found the same problem – the top of the filter unscrewed itself. To simplify the correction, I just took the filter out of the equation and put it away. We use a Brita inside anyway so it’s OK. I think tomorrow I might put the filter back to work and I’ll just sit there and watch it to figure out how it unscrews itself. Maybe I’ll video it because surely it must be fascinating to watch.
We watched a pro football game today between the Chargers and the Broncos. The Chargers are an all favorite because when we lived in San Diego we went to as many games as we could. It only cost $7 a ticket. Very reasonable. The game was doubly interesting because the quarterbacks for both teams are ex-Oregon Ducks who, I might add, are currently #2 in the nation. Justin Herbert plays for the Chargers and Bo Nix is a Bronco. The Chargers won, just so you know.
Now it’s 2115 and I must retire. Diane made a list of things for me to do tomorrow and I’m going to need my rest. The first stop will be the VA Hospital so I can alert them to a problem they have in the Pharmacy Department. The bottle I got during my first visit said there were 28 pills in it but there were only 18. That’s enough to keep me going, but I want those missing 10 pills.
Today, after doing all the laundry, we took a trip off base to visit a couple of churches that interested Diane. We wanted to visit an AAA office along the way, but they apparently do not exist in Tucson. Nope. Just insurance agents and auto repair that preface their names with AAA.
The first church Diane found was Holy Cross Lutheran about 30 miles from the base, but still in Tucson proper. It was about a 40-minute drive in the afternoon traffic. It may be closer, but it seemed like 30 miles.
The church is small, like we are used to, but the distance is too much for us old people. Plus, service starts at 0900. So, we went looking for the 2nd church. She plugged in the address the GPS took us to an empty lot in an elevated neighborhood in the Tucson foothills.
With no church at the 2nd location, we took it as an omen that we probably should just go to the base chapel. Service starts at 1130 which makes it more appealing. Then we plugged in the address for the base and got back in record time. The route home took us from the empty lot, over a small hill and to Craycroft Ave., the street that runs directly to the main gate. So, it was a fairly quick trip back.
Max was happy to get home because he wore himself out during the ride as he did his best to see everything that was moving outside the car. He was pretty busy, so I made sure the A/C was aimed directly on him all the time. He thanked me with nod. We immediately took a walk when we got back, dropping the boxes we received from UPS just before we left.
The box was from Jennifer, Diane’s first daughter, and it contained all the pills that we received at home. Now I’ve got enough pills to last me 3 months. That’s about the time we leave this place and head out. Diane has a new plan for our return which I will share as we go. It will be easier that way because everything is subject to change and I’d get all confused trying to correct the schedule if I blurted it all out at once.
I can share that her plan is to make the trip home with short jaunts of 125 miles, or so, then stay a week wherever we land. Sounds like fun to me.
Last night when I took Max on his last walk of the day, the moon was doing it’s best to peek around the clouds. Yes, there are actual clouds here. Surprised me, too.
The quality of the photo is deceiving because it almost looks like the sun peeking out. It’s not. It’s the moon. Here’s what it looked like the other direction, where the sun was hiding.
Tricky, huh?
I took photos on our trip today, but none of them are very good so I’ll spare your eyes. Just think about lots of adobe-colored domains and office buildings. There was also a lot of stunning landscapes. Perhaps we’ll take that trip again and maybe Diane will drive a little slower, so the photos aren’t blurred.
It’s only 1700 right now, early actually, but time to shut down. We’ve been watching Castle on TV for a while and both of us are perfectly relaxed. TV is like a sedative. Think I’ll take a nap before bedtime.
Temporary Sanity ... 