Apricity West 2

January 2, 2022, Sunday

As I mentioned before, I have been trying to understand my newly acquired allergies for several years now. I have been going through what seems like cases of tissues lately. My mom has a cat and I was a snotty, sneezing mess the whole time I stayed with her. I noticed that I did not sneeze or blow my nose at all while traveling cross county! Then I walked into the motor home with Lily the cat greeting me, and immediately started a sneezing fit! I am pretty sure that is the source of my distressed reactions. I also switched from my usual Zyrtec to Claritin the next day and did not notice a difference immediately, but will persevere for a while. 

I think we’re on to something - Lily isn’t allowed on the bed at night, but always hops on to claim her turf while I make it in the morning. She stays snuggled up on or near my pillow all day! Last night, we pulled a heavy blanket out of storage to see if she would use it during cold nights at the other end of the camper. The bed has been made for an hour and she is still on the blanket! Yay!

January 3, 2022, Monday

I went to Line Dancing Class this morning with a mask on. I made it known that I was not exposed to anything that I know of, but since I was around hundreds of people, who knew? One of the teachers also had a mask on as she was in a room with someone who tested positive. The togetherness of the holiday season is the culprit along with the highly contagious new strain, Omicron. I was surprised to manage 2 hours of dancing with the mask on, and felt so much better about it that I did. 

 

January 4, 2022, Tuesday

Rich went into Art Club with Tom Kern this morning and was happy to present him with a customized palette for his table during craft fairs. Tom was elated and another member already commissioned one for her display.

January 5, 2022, Wednesday

There was more disclosure of new Covid cases in North Ranch at dance class and I was glad I still wore the mask there. Those who have been sick were down for 3 to 4 weeks and one fellow dancer ended up with pneumonia after that. I plan to wear mine at the Jam Session tomorrow and at Friday’s line dancing. Then I will reassess.

My new friend, Lu, left today for parts unknown. She and her husband are looking for a place to settle. They sold their house in Nevada and went full time (camping) a year ago. They want to find the perfect place to plant themselves and really like Arizona. They stopped at Rovers’ Roost RV park between Phoenix and Tucson and really like what they have to offer - line dancing in particular for her. We hope to meet up again in Deming, New Mexico the first week of April. 

Lunch at the Elks

Historic Back Bar

It’s hard to see the beauty of this bar, but the history is very interesting:

Lodge No. 2160

History of Wickenburg Elks Bar Con Beastrom, first Exalted Ruler, had an idea to put an old-time bar in the Lodge. He spoke to Tom Cousins, who told him about a bar in the Lions Club in Gallup, New Mexico. The bar originally was in a saloon in Silverton, Colorado, before 1850, and was purchased by a Mr. Gurley of Gallup. Our Lodge found out they could get it for $500. The Lodge sold a Life Membership to Belford Howard to get the money for the bar, finances being somewhat short in the Lodge at that time.

In May of 1960 Houston Anders and Con Beastrom left on a Thursday night in Mike Courtney's truck to pick up the bar for our Elks Lodge. The bar was stored 40 miles north of Gallup in a tavern, and was torn down and scattered all over the floor. After they got there they had nothing to wrap it in, so they had to go back the 40 miles to Gallup to get things to wrap the bar in, to keep the mirrors from breaking. This wrapping was all supposed to be done before they got there. They worked all Friday and got back time to see Houston's daughter graduate on Friday night.

It was unloaded at the Lodge, and was erected as it now stands.

The pillars were countersunk into the back bar so that if the Lodge got quarters with a higher ceiling they could be brought up the their original height. George Blakney raised $1000 to put in the present mirrors; the original mirrors were in bad shape. The Lodge members put in countless hours removing the old varnish and refinishing it.

At a later date Houston Anders and his son Noble drove to Phoenix to pick up some chairs and kitchen equipment given to the Lodge by Mr. Hyder.

This history of the bar was supplied by Houston Anders, R.D. Jones and Mrs. Tom Cousins.

The reason for this history being compiled was because many visiting Elks, and their Ladies and guests, in admiring the bar, have asked for its history.

 

January 6, 2022, Thursday

Rich has breakfast with the guys on Thursdays, but today the Horseshoe was closed due to staffing issues. So they went to Denny’s and they are now jus doing takeout. So they went to Hassayampa and the place was packed. He always orders biscuits and sausage gravy - yummy! 

 

January 7, 2022, Friday

Went to Joanne and Denny Evans' house today to practice ukulele. She has been playing for a couple of years. It was awesome to play with someone else and to learn numerous tricks and tips. Our goal is to join the Jam Session circle on January 27th, the last jam that I will be here at North Ranch. Joanne’s daughter lives in Avon, CT and she has a 10 year old and 12 year old. They go to the Big Y (where sister Leslie worked for years) to get lemon donuts whenever they are there. She plays pickle ball and loves to walk - I will not be doing pickle ball, but will walk any chance I get.

We had a new Casita park across the way from us today, and Rich recognized her as Marilyn who we met in Deming last year. At that time, she was excited to be turning in her tear drop for a Casita and now she actually came to North Ranch for the Boot Camp scheduled in February. Boot Camp is a week of instructions on safety, fire prevention, maintenance, driving school, Smart Weight (to see if your rig is overweight for the axel specs), etc. for RV owners. The Escapee organization schedules this annually in various Escapee RV Parks. 

 

I told her there were several other lone women in the park and how much I admire their bravado. She in turn said that she bows down to people who have been married for 30 years!! As we chatted, she recalled that our knitting conversation last year was life changing for her - how to turn the heel of a sock!! Do you see this, Leslie? Yes me, with knowledge of how to turn a heel!! Who knew? Good journalist that I am, I asked if I could get a picture of her with the Casita and she was happy to do it. As I walked toward her, I had to step over 1 high railroad ties (I thought). It turns out is was 2 high railroad ties, and my foot was not high enough to clear it. So I had to decide in a split second if I wanted to do a face plant in the gravel, or chest plant! As I dropped to my knees (ouch) I put my hands out in front of me with one holding my phone, and did all I could do to land this large mass gracefully and painlessly. Thankfully, the phone did not break and I just had a few cuts on my palm and a blood blister on my thumb. My chest and shins were protected by clothing. Poor Marilyn didn’t know what to do. The first words I uttered were, I’m OKand Did anyone see me? I recovered quickly and went on with the conversation as if nothing happened. 

Since we are leaving in 3 weeks, I find myself in count down mode - getting pictures I should have taken before now. Our new BFF UPS gal, Jennie, is such a great personality and we have a lot of fun teasing with here. We are one of her best customers with our habit of ordering online rather than going to stores if we can help it. 

From there Rich and I went to the Elks and I talked with the young cowboy about being a Roadie for grampa and gramma as he stood in front of the MIA POW table set for one. I wish he would get a chance to play with the band - I saw him strumming before the gig started. 

When I got back to the table, I was pointing out which player was his grampa to Rich, knocking over my wine, shattering the glass all over the place! I swear the glass had just hit the table when several people rushed to the rescue with towels to clean it all up. Then a full glass of wine was placed in front of me as if nothing ever happened. Poor Rich - he didn’t know how many embarrassing moments he was in for!

By the way, Claritin seems to be working well - praise God!