 |
| Snow on Mt. Lemmon |
With the weather still on the chilly side last Thursday,
Jan. 27, we hung around the resort and then decided to grill steaks outside for dinner. Actually, I
grilled the steaks and they were delicious, even if I say so myself. After
dinner I went to the Bible study in park and we continued our conversation
about Genesis.
I had a pretty open day on Friday, so I offered to prepare
dinner while Joan attended her Women’s Bible study and later her polymer clay
class. Joan is learning how to make pretty jewelry in the class and she is
really enjoying the class on Friday afternoon.
While she was at her jewelry class I helped set up the
ballroom for the coffee and donuts on Saturday morning and then went shopping.
This is how I prepare dinner for us. I drove to Walmart with
a very short shopping list. I purchased an already cooked chicken in a plastic
container, a head of lettuce, a few bananas and eggs for breakfast the next
morning.
 |
| Tanque Verde Ridge hike |
When I arrived home from shopping I realized that I had left
my trailer keys (which are on a separate key ring) inside the locked trailer so
I had to interrupt Joan in her class to borrow her keys. I did that because I
had a chicken that needed to be kept warm and didn’t want to sit out on my
patio for another hour.
Joan was supposed to leave me a crock pot to place the
chicken in when I got home, but she forgot. I, being the dutiful husband
searched the trailer and found a crock pot and stuffed the medium sized already
cooked chicken into it and put the temperature on low.
When I say “stuffed” I mean “stuffed.” The crock pot is
small and I had to break a few chicken bones to get the dinner to fit, but
finally was able to get it squashed enough to fit the lid on to the pot. It was
after Joan arrived home that she mentioned we actually have two crock pots in
the trailer and I had chosen the junior sized version instead of the larger,
ample chicken-sized container. To her credit, she agreed that she had erred in
not leaving behind the proper crock pot and actually admired my ability to squeeze
a fairly large chicken into a pretty small pot.
 |
| More Tanque Verde hike |
For the first time since we arrived her there were no
weekend dances at the resort, so I suggested we go to the Tucson Roadrunner’s
hockey game Saturday night. First we went shopping and filled out the cupboards
an refrigerator.
Joan made a delicious spaghetti sauce with meatballs that we
ate without noodles as required by our new diet and it was delicious.
We headed downtown to the Tucson arena about 6:15 p.m.
confident that we would be able to buy tickets to the game as they rarely if
ever sell out the arena. What I didn’t figure was that this is Gem Show Week,
which is a huge draw for the city and it was also Superhero night for the
children, who all received free capes as they entered the arena. On top of that
it was $1 hot dog and $1 popcorn night.
 |
| Me on top of the world (Tanque Verde anyway) |
A security guard at the back door told us we probaby were
not going to be able to buy a ticket, but we walked around to the box office
anyway just in case. After all, we had just paid $10 for parking that I was
sure we would not get back. Sure enough, they were turning folks away at the
ticket window, but a nice man approached us and indicated he had two tickets he
was trying to sell because two of his friends couldn’t make the game.
I quickly snapped up the two tickets and we ended up sitting
with the man and his family in Section 201. We learned that he was born in
Binghampton(?), New York and later moved and worked in the Boston area. So we
had a lot in common.
What we didn’t see was a very good hockey game. The
Roadrunners were on a four-game losing streak and they managed to stretch that
to five games on Saturday night. They not only didn’t score a goal against the
San Diego Gulls they really didn’t come close to scoring a goal. Besides that
there were no fights.
About the most entertaining things at the game were the
silly hats worn by the Gulls fans, who were at the game in abundance, and a
little 19-month-old girl who was sitting behind me and took a liking to my
beard. Her parents kept apologizing for her reaching out and grabbing me, but I
told them it was OK as it helped soothe my feelings for being away from my own
grandchildren. As we left I told little Ava to have a nice life and that I
enjoyed meeting her. She never stopped smiling.
 |
| Joan and Kathy looking for Sand Hill cranes |
I was able to escape my $10 parking space quickly and we
were home from the game before 10 p.m..
The weather is slowly warming here although the heater ran
much of the night Saturday night and the winds picked up on Sunday. What they
describe as “breezy” here could more accurately be thought of as gale force
winds anywhere else.
We went to church Sunday morning, which was Unity Sunday
here at the resort, and stood with many others when the roll call of states
reached Michigan. As you can imagine the largest contingents of folks in the
park are from states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana,
although there are smatterings of folks from nearly every state in the union.
Hawaii, predictably, is not represented in the park.
A small group of us went on the “easy” hike Monday. We hiked
into Dove Mountain on the same Wild Burro Trail that I did on my first hike
this season. The difference was this hike stopped where the other hike really
started. But it was nice to be outside in the warm air, which has arrived back
here in Tucson.
 |
| Believe me, there are flocks of cranes in this photo |
Then Monday night brought us to Meet Me at Maynard’s in
downtown Tucson. With the better weather there was a much bigger crowd this
week than last. On the last turn we noticed that there was a concert at the
Rialto Theater across from the Hotel Congress.
A large crowd was gathered outside and we noticed that many
of the women and girls were dressed in very skimpy outfits. Apparently they
were all going to the “Excision” concert, which according to a google search is
a “Rave” group.
After the drawing at Maynard’s we headed to O’Malley’s for
dinner. While waiting for our dinner two couples walked in and Joan and I both
did a double take because at first glance it appeared that both women were
wearing fish net stockings – and very little else. In fact the fish nets left
very little below the waist to the imagination.
Then it occurred to us these folks were heading to the
concert with the rest of the inappropriately dressed people. While the girls
were at the bar it was very difficult not to catch a glance every so often, so
I distracted myself by watching the Oklahoma State versus Oklahoma basketball
game on the large screen television. Mostly, it didn’t work.
 |
| Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw |
After the peep show we headed home.
The Tuesday hiking group was supposed to be heading to
Ventana Canyon, but because of the recent snowstorm and subsequent melt the
water in the canyon was too great for us to make the several crossings.
The group decided to switch to Tanque Verde Ridge which is a
hike that I have missed in the past so this was my first time on this hike.
Wow, this was a very difficult hike. Nearly 2,500 feet elevation in five miles
and many, many stone steps.
The views are awesome and in some cases 360-degrees. But it
has warmed up here and we lost have the group at the 2.5 mile and 1,500
elevation mark. Several folks turned back a little later and only 6 of us made
the complete 5-mile trek up the ridge. Actually, you can hike 12-miles to
Tanque Verde peak, but that would take longer than we had.
 |
| Lots of folks looking at Sandhill Cranes |
All of us had planned for a 6-mile hike up and down Ventana
Canyon so the 10-mile trek up Tanque Verde Ridge left most of us short on water.
By the time I got back to our starting point I was parched. We stopped at the
visitor’s center at Saguaro East National Park and filled our water bottles for
the trip back to the resort.
This is the same hike my friend Mahlon did alone when he was
here a couple weeks ago so I’m glad I finally got to do this one.
Because of the length of the hike I arrived back at the
resort about 4 p.m., but just in time to get cleaned up and ready for the
Tuesday night pot luck. The crowd was down a little this week, but there were
still about 50 people there. Joan made a tasty all-beef (and no bean) chili
that was very good. So good there were no leftovers to bring home.
While I was gone Joan worked her volunteer shift at the
health clinic at the park.
 |
| Lunch at Whitewater Draw |
On Wednesday we were joined by a Canadian friend in the
resort and headed to Whitewater Draw to make our annual pilgrimage to see the
Sand Hill cranes. We have seen some pretty amazing displays here, but nothing
like we saw on Wednesday, Feb. 1. We arrived about 11 a.m. and within a half
hour the waves of birds began flying in.
Like squadrons of airplanes they approached from far off
until they would circle overhead and make the graceful glide to the surface.
There are reports that more than 20,000 birds are wintering at Whitewater Draw
this year. I believe we saw 99 percent of that 20,000 between 11:30 a.m. and
1:30 p.m.
We returned to the resort where we enjoyed a Roy Orbison
tribute show in the ballroom. As always the concert was good and while Joan
headed home I remained behind to help break down the chairs in the ballroom.
 |
| Lunch on Wasson Peak |
Thursday brought Men’s Bible study in the morning and then a
lecture on climate change in the afternoon. A professor from the University of
Arizona talked about the recent droughts in the Southwest and what the future
portends for this area. It was a very interesting lecture. Thursday night I
attended the coed Bible Study.
Joan was the busy one on Friday as she had Bible study and
then went to her polymer clay class on Friday afternoon. I grilled beautiful
ribeye steaks out on the grill Friday night and we enjoyed a rare, quiet night
at home.
Saturday started with a visit to the fitness center for me
and then setting up chairs for the Saturday morning coffee and donuts in the
ballroom. I also set up a table for the Michigan Party, which Joan and her
friend Marcia are running on March 6. So far only a few of the Michigan folks
in the park have signed up, but we expect that to pick up over the next couple
weeks. In case you are wondering they have wonderful, tasty donuts and bagels
for free at the Saturday morning event and because of my diet I ate exactly
none of them.
 |
| Jim and Jim on Wasson Peak |
On Saturday we headed to the nearby Walmart and did our
weekly shopping and picked up an already cooked chicken for dinner. I went over
to the ballroom at 4 p.m. and helped set up chairs for the Sunday chapel
services here at the resort.
Saturday night was another rare night without a dance or
activity and we stayed in.
Chapel services were on tap for Sunday morning and then we
spent a leisurely afternoon around the trailer waiting for the big game, which
turned out to be quite an exciting game for a Superbowl. We were rooting for
Atlanta, but who couldn’t be amazed at that Tom Brady comeback effort in the
second half.
On Monday, we headed to Phoenix to visit friends there and
on the way back in the afternoon we stopped and sampled the Tucson Gem and
Mineral Show which is in town for two weeks, and which ends next Sunday. After
Joan bought a basketful of beads for her new jewelry endeavors we headed to our
usual Meet at Maynard’s Monday night walk and then had dinner at Diablo Burger
who accommodated our need for some special preparation so we could stay on our
diet.
 |
| Climbing down a natural dam from Wasson Peak |
Wasson Peak was calling my name Tuesday morning. Two years
ago, the last time I did this hike, I barely made it to the summit as I was
struggling with my breathing and stamina. Not this year, I climbed up the 2,200
feet to the summit like a champ and enjoyed my time at the top with my hiking
buddies in the park.
The hike is about 9-miles and the weather could not have
been more perfect. Temperatures in the low 70s and bright sunshine. I did a
pose at the top with my friend Jim who has been here the last several years and
who is an avid hiker and outdoorsman. He’s trying to convince me to start
coming to the morning Yoga classes, but I’m not sure I’m up to that potential
humiliation yet.
 |
| A recent Tucson sunset |
Once home, I found the trailer locked up and Joan gone. I
let myself in and had a late lunch and then set out to figure out where she
was. I checked the calendar and found that she was not scheduled to work. So
then I checked the closet and discovered one of the laundry baskets missing. I
went and took my shower and then headed to the laundry where I found Joan. She
was surprised to see me and asked how I figured out where she was.
“You know I worked for a police department once don’t you?”
I said. “You left enough clues to solve the Hoffa murder, that’s how I know
where you were.”
After that we came home and headed to the Tuesday potluck
dinner. Joan made our grandson Griffen’s favorite jello salad.
No comments:
Post a Comment