Tag Archives: food

Letters to Diane – 19

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It’s Wednesday, I’ve had supper and, yes, I’ve taken all my pills for today. The thing about pills is that apparently most people I know think I need reminders about them because I forget. Well, that’s true. I do. But today is a milestone because no one sent me a text to remind me. I’m not saying people should stop sending them because this is just one day. I could easily forget tomorrow morning.

Today Lydia and I made a batch of chicken and noodles. I’m sorry you aren’t here to enjoy the results because it was pretty good. I ate twice and there are four bowls left. I’ll let the kids duke it out for the leftovers.

I had good intentions about those noodles, but didn’t get it done. Now I’ll have to go buy another chicken. That’s OK. It will get done.

Since the day before yesterday was Thursday, I made a trip to the Kozy for coffee and visited with Jeff, Chuck, and Larry. As always, we had a nice visit and drank a bunch of coffee. Now, since yesterday was Friday, I have no idea what happened after Thursday’s coffee. I’m petty sure I woke up around 0530-0600 this morning and instantly made a decision to stay up a little later in the evening to avoid those early mornings.

Oh… oh … yesterday for supper I fed Lydia one of the pot pies I bought a few days ago. When I saw them in the store they made me remember pot pies in the past that were really good. I wasn’t so enamored with the ones I bought, though, because you can cook them in the micro or a conventional oven. Maybe the one I had would have been a little better. There’s just something that doesn’t sit right with me about a crust that browns in a microwave, unlike the crusts that brown properly in a conventional oven. Lydia said hers was fine, but she’s young enough that she probably hasn’t had something like that before microwaves. That, and she’ll eat pretty much anything when she’s hungry. That’s not a bad thing.

I think I’ll work on making my own crust and see what happens. What could go wrong?

Today I went with Jennie, Jasper, and Siah to the Christmas Bazaar at the fairgrounds. Had I gone with you in the past I may not have been so surprised about what a big deal it is. It’s quite amazing how many people were there that I know. I had a lot of fun talking with them, and even with the vendors I just met. All four of us had a good time, then we went to the Country Inn for lunch. We had simple meals and it still cost me over $70. That’s remarkable. Almost like going to McDonald’s, right?

Lydia’s cats, Lucy and Louis, are getting along find with Max, now. It’s like all the sudden they figured out that no one is leaving so they may as well just get used to being around each other. Or, it may be that the cats think kindly about Max because he helps clean their litter box. I’m thinking about changing his name to Litter Lips.

Things in my head are getting out of hand so I better stop before I get in trouble.

I would tell you to be safe like I do everyone else, but it would be pointless considering where you are. How could you not be safe in Heaven.

I miss you and love you a lot.

Random Things With Photos

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Hi. Happy International Blow Up Your Neighborhood Day (IBUYND). I know, I’m late but that’s pretty much what I am for anything I do, and you know what? It’s OK to be late. I’m sure that’s true. Especially for me because most people probably are amazed that I get things done. For them it’s a surprise that causes some folks to remark, “Hey! Jerrie’s still sucking air! Who knew?”

Like normal, I have no agenda for this post so I’m just going to pick some photos at random and see if I can remember what caused me to take them. It might be interesting for all of us.

As many of you know, I’m the cook in the house and Diane does the cleanup. I’m totally OK with that, in case you might be wondering. One of the main reasons for liking this arrangement is because while preparing a meal I can nibble on things. I mostly nibble vegetables. If I was the cleanup crew, I couldn’t do that because my hands would be dirty the entire time. That wouldn’t bother me, actually, but it would bother Diane. A lot.

So, I made some hotdogs and cooked up some corn I found in the fridge.

There’s potato salad on my plate, too. Diane and I collaborated on the salad. She doesn’t eat corn so I was forced to eat all of those. I didn’t take a photo of Diane’s hotdogs because she puts ketchup on hers and that makes my stomach crinkle up. I’m sure it’s illegal to put ketchup on hotdogs in a bun. It’s OK to do so when the hotddogs are cut up in a bowl of baked beans.

Here’s Diane’s sandwich from a different day. I think it’s a ham and swiss on rye sandwich. I had one, too, but it wasn’t worth a picture.

Here’s Max giving Mom a little help with her filing.

Here’s Mom trying to ignore Daniel & Jennifer’s new kitten, Anakin. He’s a very mellow kitten which is good for the boys.

This is Lydia trying to ignore everyone so she doesn’t lose count.

Here’s Max trying to get over his fear of the sprinkler.

I found this pair of socks in my dresser, so I wore them the other day.

After I tossed them in the hamper, I found another pair just like them in the drawer. Pretty awesome that I have two pair of them, right?

That’s it.

Day 108 – Tuesday – Free Christmas Lunch

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Yesterday we joined a large contingent of Bone Yard dwellers for a very nice lunch at the base community center. It was a full-blown Thanksgiving Dinner all over and it was wonderful.

Someone told me a few weeks ago they had planned to have Thanksgiving Dinner at the community center, but it was changed for some reason, so they just stuffed it in the refrigerator and saved it for another date. I suspect today was the chosen date. Voila! Thanksgiving Dinner became Christmas Dinner. We’re happy that happened. As we were leaving, Diane was given two full take away containers for later. It was perfect because our neighbors didn’t attend the meal, so we took it to them.

Then we went to the humane society thrift store and shopped for a while. Max and I were asked to calm down or leave because he was having words with a noisy chihuahua. They didn’t have to leave. It was plainly a case of sexual bias. We walked around in the parking lot for a while then sat in the car till Diane was finished. It was OK.

From there we returned to the base and stopped by the visitors center to find out what someone with a VA card had to do to get on base. Now I must tell Gene and Patty.

The Christmas tree has been erected.

The mornings here are 38-ish and it warms up to the 70’s. It’s interesting weather. When we3 first got here, a 100 degree was common. When in the sun it was very hot, but in the shade it cooled right off. Nothing like home. With the temps cold like now, it’s really chilly until the sun gets high enough to hit you in the eye. Then it gets warm. The temp shift is drastic.

Diane got me a giant Snickers Bar the other day. I’ve been gnawing on it once in a while, one slice at a time. It’s really good and should last me well into next year if I’m careful. I’ll let you know how that goes.


She also got me new socks. They are very festive, and I appreciate them very much. I wish I could reciprocate in kind, but I’m not creative like she is. One of these days I might figure out.

I actually got her a couple dozen pairs of socks one Christmas and creatively wrapped them after mismatching the pairs and making it necessary to unwrap each pair individually. I guess that was pretty creative. But I think the fun wore off about halfway through the unwrapping process. Still, it was pretty cool. Maybe I should buy her more socks.

Maybe I can paint her a picture. That would be nice. I actually have all the tools to do it, but getting started is difficult. It’s like writer’s block, something I’ve never had because I just start writing gibberish until something coherent rises to the top. Sometimes that never happens, but at least I got the gibberish. Transferring that to painting, I suspect I need to just start painting something with no clear notion about what it might be. That sounds interesting.

By golly, I think I have a plan. Maybe I’ll even take a picture of it.

Peace to you all.

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 85 – Sunday – Harbor Freight & Beyond

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After all this time I finally had valid reasons to visit Harbor Freight. The failed toilet is one of them, and the flap thing on the bottom of the slide is another. I was allowed to plot a course to the nearest store. When we got there, it was not really a Harbor Freight store. We’re not sure what it was but I then had to compute a course to the next one which was about 10 miles away.

Getting there had us traversing city streets we’ve not been on since our arrival here. That was fun because we love going different places.

When we got to the store Diane parked in a shady spot then she got busy looking for a likely spot for lunch. Dog friendly was the key element. I went inside and got the items I needed, then added a couple extra just for fun. It didn’t take long.

For lunch, Diane found the Union Public House close to the Catalina Foothills. They like dogs. It’s a unique facility, a large outdoor area surrounded by places to get out of the sun. At one end of the dining area is a huge TV screen that was displaying the NFL Red Zone channel, so we got to see all the fun plays from the games that were on today. Pretty cool.

Diane got a Chicken Quesadilla, and I got an enormous Burrito.

Diane used to love chicken quesadillas until she had bad experience with one from Victorico’s in St. Helens. It wasn’t pretty so I was surprised she ordered one for lunch. She ate 3/4 of it and Max ate the innards of the other 1/4. Her love of quesadillas has returned. We already plan to visit this venue again before we leave.

Today was a really good day.

Day 74 – Wednesday – Bisbee, Arizona

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I ate oatmeal again this morning and it was good. This may become a habit. One of my good ones.

Our first stop of the day was a visit to Fort Huachuca, or Kombucha for Diane, to see what it was about. It’s an enormous Army base in Sierra Vista and it’s one of the nicest bases we’ve been on in a long time. I took a lot of photos as we drove around the base because there were trees. The base housing units look pretty nice. Many of the ones we saw appeared to be empty.

One thing stood out for us was that none landscaping for any of the buildings involved tons of rocks. Davis-Monthan AFB is nothing but rocks for yards, but Fort Huachuca has actual grass yards. They were brown, but they were grass. There are also tall trees on the base.

One of the reasons for the different kind of landscaping is probably the altitude difference. It’s about 2,000 higher than the Bone Yard. Yeah. That’s it. The elevation.

Turns out there’s an RV park on the base which has reasonable rates and is very nice. We took a look see and really liked it. It’s well away from the main base in a very quiet corner. I took Max for a walk and encountered Paul, an Army guy. He said he’s been staying the winters in Fort Huachuca for the past 3 years. We got along nicely, and he let it be known that if we’re there in the next few weeks, for the Army vs. Navy game, he’s going to give me some s**t. He was an officer, too. What a guy. I really liked him.

From Fort Huachuca, we drove to Bisbee for the day. It’s only about 20 miles away and is a mile high city. Diane labeled this trip a “Foodie Day” on the calendar because Bisbee has a lot of places to eat. It’s a town built in Tombstone Canyon near the Copper Queen Mine which is the reason there’s a town.

Before lunch we stopped at the Visitor center for the Copper Queen Mine so this was really our first look at what the town might be like. The visitor center was also the place where excursions into the mine begin. I wandered around outside and saw the vehicle that takes people on the mine tour. It’s a very narrow-gauge rail track about 18″ wide. The vehicle people ride on are the same one’s used by the miners before it closed in 1975. We didn’t take the tour because we’re not fond of delving into large holes in the ground. We’d rather stay outside and just look around, which we did.

The visitor center was also a very large gift shop featuring mostly geological items. They also had a movie about how copper is mined and the entire process of making sheets of copper for making everything copper is used for. It was very interesting.

Getting to lunch required a drive almost all the way through town. It’s a curvy road through the canyon with buildings growing up the banks on both sides. It’s quite an amazing town. When we found Thuy’s Noodle Shop, there was parking right in front which was awesome because the town is narrow, and parking is sparse.

The restaurant is small, but they had outside tables which worked for us because we had Max along. Many places won’t let 4-legged animals inside, only the 2-legged animals are allowed. We didn’t see any of those today. Sitting on the patio was nice until the food showed up and the flies were waiting. They were a nuisance, but not terrible. The big thrill was when an enormous wasp landed on the table in front of Diane, and she darted away at least two feet, while I broke a chop stick killing it. All the other patrons were well entertained. I’m really glad Diane didn’t get stung.

The dish on the left is Beef PHO and the one on the right is a pork salad. These are actually two meal choices so you can probably say I over ordered a little. But I ate almost all of it. One thing for sure, to Diane’s delight, I got my share of protein today. Vegetables too. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of Diane’s catfish. She said it had an orange flavor to it, and she liked it a lot.

After lunch we went down the hill to Patisserie Jacqui for a couple of their world class croissants, but it was closed. So, we won’t have world class croissants tomorrow. Dang.

Next, we tried to get dessert at Pussycat Gelato. It was closed, too. So, only 1 of 3 locations were available for our use. Thankfully, lunch was good.

After missing out on dessert, we headed back to Sierra Vista. As we made our final pass through the town, Max saw a cat run across the street. He was sitting in his throne on the console between our seats and launched his little self almost out the passenger window. He only made it halfway because Diane grabbed one hind leg, and I grabbed the rest of him. We managed to get him back inside, but I about broke Diane’s shoulder in the process. He was going to get that cat, by golly. It was pretty exciting. We can only assume that chasing cats was something to do with his past.

Once back in Sierra Vista we stopped at a DQ where I got Diane a Peanut Buster Parfait and myself a chocolate malt. Then we returned to the hotel for our last night.

Day 73 – Tuesday – Tombstone, Arizona

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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.

Day 72 – Monday – Happy Veterans Day

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We closed up the RV for the next few days and took a trip to Sierra Vista. The ultimate goal is Tombstone, AZ but that’s going to wait until tomorrow. Today was just a travel day – get where we’re going and nothing else even though the trip only took a couple of hours. That’s a hard rule, set in stone. No sightseeing on a travel day.

Before we left, we talked with the neighbors and gave them our phone numbers, “just in case” something happened. That also gave Laurie time to talk with Max. With the two of them, it’s a mutual admiration society. Max is a healer which is good because Laurie has leukemia. Max is good for her. They are good for each other.

We’re in a Hampton Inn here in Sierra Vista. It has a real shower that we’re going to use every day. Maybe twice. Each. Might even wash Max. Once we got our “stuff” to our room, Diane went in search of a Goodwill to get a swimming suit. This place has a small pool and a hot tub which Diane thinks might unkink her left shoulder and neck muscles. Going to a Goodwill, or thrift store at a new destination does not violate the travel day rule, in case you were wondering.

Max thinks the room is great because the bed is low enough that he can jump on the bed. In the RV he needs help. I’ll bet he could make it if he gave it a valid try, but he seems to be just fine letting one of us pick him up.

Our next-door neighbors at the Bone Yard live in Sierra Vista and let us know that the temps here run about 10 degrees cooler than Tucson. That would be because of the higher altitude, I suspect. Tucson runs around 2,700 feet above sea level, and Sierra Vista is right around 4,600 feet.

Diane returned around 1630 with 2 swimming suits and 2 dog toys. Max loves his toys.

Diane said there’s a Papa John’s Pizza joint just across from the hotel. She checked her Google Maps and discovered it’s only 600 feet away, on the other side of a very busy 4-lane highway. There are no crosswalks within a mile either direction so the only way to safely get there was to drive Diane’s car.

Yes, it’s Diane’s, not mine, so I don’t get to drive it very much. When I do it’s always a scary feeling because I’m afraid I’ll do something wrong. Heaven knows I have plenty of other opportunities to screw stuff up.

When I went to get the pizza, Diane made it clear that I needed to get a salad, too. Unfortunately, Papa John’s doesn’t have side salads. Diane told me that Dominos did. So, after ordering the pizza I did a search for the nearest Dominos. It was a couple of miles away. Since I had to wait 15-20 minutes for the pizza, I had plenty of time to make that quick trip to the other pizza joint.

When I got there, I was told that it would take 15-20 minutes for the salad. That confused me a little bit, but I stepped back and waited. There was a display in the waiting area listing orders by name and mine was at the top. I figured someone would call me, but they didn’t. So, I went back to the order counter and asked if my name was on the list or was it a mistake that my name was in first place. The girl did a frantic search of the pizzas waiting for delivery and didn’t see my name, so I told her, again, that I was only getting a salad, no pizza. I truly believe that I was the first person to enter that pizza joint who ordered just a salad. She was on automatic with the “15-20 minutes” wait. When she realized that I was an exception to the norm, she ran to the back and got my pre-packaged salad. That’s kinda what I expected right after I paid for it.

With my salad in hand, I returned to Papa John’s for the pizza. It was done so I didn’t have to wait. Back at the hotel I stopped to get more napkins in the breakfast area and discovered a table full of baby cans of soda that would go well with the pizza. Pretty cool.

I had to do a balancing act with the salad, pizza, plates, forks and sodas all the way to the room on the 3rd floor. Then that long walk down the hall to a room far from the elevator. Everything went well all that way then I had to get my wallet out for the door key and lost everything on the floor. Nifty.

Diane opened the door to let me in just as I was gathering everything up.

It was the first time either of us had eaten a Papa John’s pizza and it was really good. The sodas I dropped exploded a little when we opened them so that was exciting. A good way to end the day.

Day 69 – Friday – Massive Flea Market

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This day took us to the Desert Skies United Methodist Church, which is far, far away from the location of our currently chosen domicile. Actually, it’s only 12 miles and 23 minutes away. The GPS took us through uncharted territory on the way so that was nice. We’ve been traveling around the area almost daily, so the roads are becoming familiar, so it was nice to go to a place where the roads were not familiar. We’re almost to the point where we could be dropped pretty much anywhere in the town by helicopter, and we could find our way home. That’s just a working theory at this point. We’ll probably never know if it’s really true.

We found the church easily, and we quickly discovered that it’s a large, well-attended church. The first clue was that we parked in one of the first spots we saw when we drove into the parking lot, then had to walk 1/4 mile to the church and the area where the flea market was being held. I didn’t measure it, but we could have parked much nearer to the action if we’d known how to get around in the large parking lot. It’s not one large area, but small pockets of parking spots linked to the main building by a winding lane and paths through a forest of native trees, plants and cacti.

Once we navigated the correct route, we were in the midst of the largest private flea market we’ve ever seen. All of the parking lot near the church proper was covered with very organized tables covered with small items, and segregated areas of appliances, furniture, and anything else too large for a table. It was amazing.

Diane found all kinds of stuff that she wished she could have snapped up for gifts, but our current living conditions aren’t conducive to hoarding so she withheld her desires and kept her wallet in her purse. Most of the time.

The prices were very reasonable, so it was a challenge.

Need cookbooks? They had a bunch of them.

It only took us a couple of hours to look at most of the things on display. Diane found 3 small items that she couldn’t live without, so we paid for them ($7 total) and went looking for the car. That’s not true. We sat Diane down on a handy bench near the front access to the church, then Max and I went looking for the car. I drove it back to pick her up. Then we went looking for lunch.

I found a place named Ziggy’s on Google and the name appealed to me because we once had a little poodle named Ziggy. We had him for 18 years. They had a few tables outside so we could take Max with us. Diane had a patty melt and I had a Ziggy burger. Both came with two 1/4-pound beef patties which is a lot more than we normally eat. Well, more than Diane eats, anyway. She asked for one patty on the side so she could give it to Max for his lunch. I ate both of mine which I’m sure doesn’t surprise many of you who know me. For some odd reason I’m blessed with the ability to eat an enormous amount of food. I may have mentioned this previously. If so, please forgive me for repeating myself.

After lunch we drove randomly for a while just looking at the area and found our way home like magic. It was a good trip and a good day.

Once home I took Max for his normal after lunch walk and he wore himself out, so he took a nap with his lamb.

Then he took a nap on my lap.

Then it was time for bed.

Twenty-Fifth Day – NAS North Island

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Today we made a trip to the commissary on NAS North Island to replenish our dwindling cache of various kinds of protein, vegetables, and other kinds of sustenance that we like to eat. There are times when I kinda wish we didn’t like so many different kinds of ‘things’. Shopping would be a lot easier. We wouldn’t have to walk up and down all those isles. It could be confined to just a couple of them. Then, however, we wouldn’t have any fun eating like we do.

On the way out of the RV park we were greeted with a whole line of new Seals watching some other ones duke it out on the beach with some automatic weapons. The troops on the beach were not visible so I’m only guessing about who they were and what they were doing, but I do know that the Silver Strand Beach belongs to the Seals.

While Diane went to the commissary I went to the Navy exchange at the other end of the building. My mission was to get a sewing kit for Diane and a sketch pad for myself. I brought a large container of art supplies but forgot my sketch pads. I think I know exactly where they are. At home. In the computer room. Near my computer. Dang! Guess we’ll visit Walmart tomorrow.

Oh ya! With the help of a nice lady, I managed to get a sewing kit. Diane needed it to sew up Max’s toys that have mysteriously sprang leaks allowing bits of cotton to invade our living space and somehow wind up in some little dog’s poop. Very odd, don’t you think?

I took the sewing kit back to the car and went to the commissary to accomplish my other mission – select some vegetables. Which I did. I got an avocado, some tomatoes, and a head of lettuce. Now I can make a proper salad.

While leaving the base Diane spied the gas station so we pulled in and I filled it up with $4.30 a gallon fuel. That’s not a bad price considering the higher prices all over town.

About the fuel thing – though the prices are elevated they aren’t nearly as high as we thought they would be. For that, we’re thankful.

After the gas stop, we continued to the exit gate, passing the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). It’s got here before we did, and it’s been here the whole time. We had to drive right past it to get off the base.

Last week, on our first trip to the exchange, the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was also here but she up and left without letting us know. We know a couple of people who used to be stationed aboard the Nimitz.

We made it ‘home’ without any notable incidents, and I took Max for a long walk because he’s such a good puppy. He’s actually amazing.

Here’s another photo I took this morning, or yesterday afternoon, of one of those Sea Hawk helos the Navy uses. It zoomed over the ships on the Naval Station side of the bay then dropped to a hover and just stayed there for a while. They do that once in a while. I mentioned this before. It’s pretty amazing. We still don’t know what they are doing but we can appreciate the skill needed for the pilots to do this for so long at a time without getting the wheels wet.

Gotta go. Stay safe.