Bobcats, coughs and lots of fun

Joan at MMM

Yeah, I know it’s been awhile. Sorry. There’s a lot going on here and it’s not all good. When we last left off Joan was receiving treatment for an eye infection. Just when that was getting better it was time for me to make my annual trip to Urgent Care, this time for a cough that wouldn’t go away.

Tuesday hike

Well two weeks into that treatment and the cough continues to hang on. The nurse practitioner at the Urgent Care said I had some kind of virus (well, duh) and that it would get better in a week. Well that was 10 days ago and I’m still hacking. It hasn’t kept me from all of our activities but it is annoying nonetheless.

A couple of Meet Me at Maynard's have come and gone we continue to work our way to our 50 MMM pins. We have the t-shirt that you get for 8 MMMs and the hat you get for 15 appearances. I think we are about 32 MMMs now.

We have seen two great shows since last I wrote. “Good Rockin Live” was a show about Sun Records and some of our favorite local musicians and singers were involved in that show. They did a great job covering songs by Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, just to mention a couple of them.

My Bobcat buddy

This past Wednesday was William Florian, a former lead singer for The New Christy Minstrels, brought his great voice and folk music to the Voyager stage. His show is very audience-centered and he encouraged us all to sing along with all those great Peter, Paul and Mary songs as well as many others. We have seen him here before and I’d really like to book him for a Family Literacy Center fund raiser in Lapeer.

Friday night we attended the dinner show in the ballroom. The entertainment was The Sonoran Dogs, a group named after a spicy local hot dog, and again it was very good. The group, not necessarily the hot dog. If you want a sample go to You Tube and search for “Alice in Nogales.” A funny, but catchy tune that I always enjoy. The Sonoran Dogs have been here before. They have a great blue grass sound and the evening was wonderful.

Off on my own hike

I’ve been on a number of hikes in the past two weeks, including an easy hike at Sweetwater Park where we encountered a wild, but very calm Bobcat. I’ll post a photo here so you can see how close he came to us. Our group of five simply stood still and he walked up and by us.

For a point of clarification, when I hike with others I wear my good hiking shirts, you know the plain ones. When I go off into the wilderness on my own I wear a loud Hawaiian shirt so the rescue helicopter will be able to more easily spot me.

As per my son Tim I am working on making my "selfies" have more smiles than frowns. How am I doin?

Hoping that Joan might experience the Bobcat she and I returned to Sweetwater a few days later, but no Bobcat, but we did get a close up look at a Roadrunner. The guy was hiding in the bushes and was well camouflaged. When I started taking photos of him he moved off.

Roadrunner in the brush

I do need to stop and make a couple of observations. One involved one of the entertainment nights. We had taken our seats (we have the same seats for every show) and I looked around and noticed all the grey heads surrounding us.

I looked over to Joan and whispered, “What are we doing here with all these old people.” That observation was tempered by the stark feeling I had when I saw my new age (as of last month) written on the doctor’s sheet during my visit to Urgent Care.  Patient age: 70. And there is was, the first time I had seen my new age listed on any form. It kind of sunk in for a minute that I had made this new mile marker in my life.

Or in other words, “Where did 70 years go?”

Roadrunner escaping

Despite my cough and illness I have had a couple really good hikes recently with, and without the Voyager hiking group. One of them was in the Tucson Mountains. It was supposed to be a hike called “The Golden Gate Loop” trail. Unfortunately our leader made a wrong turn and we ended up on the Dave Yetman Trail, which is a beautiful hike, but not a loop.

So I went back alone on Friday and found the right trail and did the Golden Gate Trail by myself under a clear, warm Tucson sky.

Me on the mountain

This past Tuesday I went on a hike in the Rincon Mountains and we did a trail called La Milagroso Trail. Again we made a wrong turn and ended up on a trail on the opposite side of the canyon we were supposed to be on. Still it was a great hike and I’m going to go back at some point and do the trail we were supposed to do.

Joan has continued to make beautiful jewelry and I’ll post those photos here as well. She has quite a knack for making and then assembling the jewelry. We will no doubt pick up a few beads and trinkets at the coming Gem Show here in Tucson next month.

Our Tuesday hiking group on La Milagroso Trail

The Two’s Company group that was here for New Year’s Eve was back a week ago for another dance. One of the wonderful things about being here is they have a dance just about every week.

We also had our first “Market Daze” here at the resort and we bought a good supply of some homemade greeting cards, because the nice lady who has made them all the years we have been here is at a point in her life where she can’t do it anymore.

In fact that is one of the sad things about coming back here each year. As wonderful as it is to come and see our old friends, it is equally sad to return each year and find out that some of our friends are not coming back either because of health or that they have died since the last season.

Rain in the desert

This week alone we had two memorial services for two of our resort friends and there is another scheduled next Saturday for another.  In addition, the man who taught me wood carving four years ago took a fall off a ladder in Michigan and he and his wife are in assisted living care back in Michigan. They sold their home here.

Another couple we have come to know very well is a Canadian couple who always rent the casita right across from our space. We hadn’t seen them (they are always here when we arrive) and then learned from a mutual friend in the park that they had a serious accident on the way here and returned to Canada. They may or may not return next year.

Another couple (I wrote about them several years ago because they went with us to see the Sand Hill cranes) are not returning because their son tragically died in the spring last year. They are also selling their home in the resort.

Joan's latest creations

We have another couple we really enjoy spending time with but they are not here this year for a happier reason, they are on an around the world cruise on the maiden voyage of a new Viking Cruise liner. We hope to see them next year.

I know that this is all part of the circle of life, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Bonus hike photo

And because I’m in an observing mood these days, let me just say that as much as I am amused by the weather folks and the over the top panic in Michigan, it is worse in Tucson. We’ve had a couple days where there was the threat of rain and cold (when they talk cold here they mean daytime highs in the high 50s and low 60s).

But it’s the rain they go bonkers over. “Valley rain and mountain snow tomorrow.” And we got a little, but they still go crazy over a ¼-inch of rain and a couple inches of snow in the mountains is ridiculous.

Also during this period my wonderful sister-in-law Diane sent us a care package of my favorite soup - Andersen's Split Pea soup from Buellton, California. She apparently remembered me talking about the soup during a discussion about things to to around Santa Barbara and she sent me some. That's a great thing!

I'll really try to be a little more prompt with future postings.