Apricity West 2

January 9, 2022, Sunday

Great find on our bike ride today - FREE lemons! There are so many fruit trees on the properties here. Love it when they share the bounty!

January 10, 2022, Monday

Dance class today and I realize that I am actually utilizing muscle memory in my feet to do the dances with much more ease (Beginners coordination?). I stay for Intermediate class and it seems more doable than it did. Miss you, Lu! Get ready - I am gathering beginners step sheets and song choice to bring on the road with me…

 

January 11, 2022, Tuesday 

Rich has been hard at work doing commission work:

Also, he gifted these flamingo cards for Kathy Benton:

This is her yard - she is quite enamored with famingoes!

January 12, 2022, Wednesday

Did another Costco run with John and Eileen, followed by a delicious lunch - this time Italian! 

Babbo’s Pasta Valducci - Delicious! 

 

January 13, 2022, Thursday

Rich “pretending” to be sitting in the jam circle! One day it WILL happen...

January 14, 2022, Friday

Birthday today! Went to practice ukulele with Joanne and invited them to go to the Elks with us for Fish Fry Friday which they were happy to do. Joanne walked me home after practice and on her way back one of her friends stopped her to ask if she was "going tonight". She asked “where?" To the Elks to see Two of a Kind (Wayne Elliott and Ed Rice)! What a surprise - they know them well and Ed plays in the North Ranch jam often. There were a lot of North Ranchers there tonight.

Ed and Wayne - Two of a Kind

A great time was had by all…

Stay tuned for next week’s blog as the editors in chief (Terri and Jim) will be paying us an in-person visit. We will be seeing Wayne again on Sunday afternoon for our covered wagon tour of Wickenburg. Can’t wait! 

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!

Apricity West 2

December 26, 2021, Sunday

It was great to get to church in person again, singing with the choir, and seeing the familiar faces again.

 

Got to see Dee and Tim’s new home - really cute and remodeled  - had a nice turkey dinner, too.

 

December 27, 2021, Monday

Among many other presents, the boys will be taking a Spring Break trip to Galveston - while we are there! Yay!

The girls also got many gifts to open AND will take a Spring Break trip to the Florida condo and Disney! 

I have cancelled in person visits with friends. It just seems too risky with everyone being with their people, who had been with their people, who had been with their people over Christmas. It just snowballs and there are new COVID cases every day in the area. 

 

December 28, 2021, Tuesday 

Cleaning and organizing Mom’s Lazy Susan. It was nice to have quality time with Mom (and Freddie).

Zach’s impromptu birthday dinner at Gramma Dee’s - 10 years old!

December 29, 2021, Wednesday

Woke up to light fluffy snow - it really looks pretty and is rather warm today. 

Did a zoom call with Terry Green and caught up on each others’ lives. 

 

December 30, 2021, Thursday

Had a nice walk with Kathy DiMario today. It felt safe since she gets COVID tested every Wednesday for her job and we were outside.

 

December 31, 2021, Friday

Up at 3am to get to the airport for 6:30am flight, arriving in Phoenix at 12:15pm. Can’t believe how many people take animals on the plane with them!

I have been terrified of this trip due to the media reports about cancelled flights, weather, Covid, et al. But, it was a very pleasant (though long) trip with civil masked people, on time arrivals and departures, good weather, etc. There was only one mortifying incident when we changed planes in Chicago. I did the usual bathroom run while there. The line at the Women’s Restroom snaked out to the concourse but moved rather quickly. Then I washed my hands and walked past the line and went several gates to get in my boarding line. After a while, I felt a tap on my shoulder and thought someone wanted to check my boarding number, but the woman says, “You’ve been to the bathroom, right?” I said, “Yes” and thought - oh no, toilet paper on my shoe? That’s pretty common and easy enough to rectify! She continued, “You have white seat liner paper hanging out of your pants at your waist.” My eyes bulged as I looked at her and immediately reached back to tuck it into my pants! I thanked her sincerely and she said, “Only a woman would have the guts to tell you.” I agreed, but thought about the 8 women in the bathroom line who watched me wash my hands with my back to them. Not one of them said a word!! Maybe they weren’t all watching me, but I can’t believe at least one of them noticed it…

 

Can’t wait to see Rich! Missed him soooo much… Pretty sure he missed me too. He gave me my Christmas present today and it is the real deal - Luna, with a built in tuner and electric, too. I bought a cheapie from Amazon to see if  I would like it and stick it out. I do and did!

The inlay is gorgeous…

and he just had to get me a purple case to top it off!

It was great to see the family, but it took a toll on my joints. Since I stopped seeing people and only saw one basketball game - all others were cancelled. Glad I got my hugs in when I first arrived after my test. 

 

We went to the Elks and had their steak and shrimp New Year’s Eve special - can’t believe I didn’t take a picture but the steak was so big, we had to take half of it home. They had 214 reservations!

 

January 1, 2022, Saturday

It is warmer in Lee (46) than it is here in Congress (41). Ha! We had black skies at sunset with wind and rain all night long. The sun is out now, but still windy and chilly. But NO SNOW!

 

Apricity West 2

December 17, 2021, Friday

I thought this young cowboy was going to join the band at the Elk’s tonight, but he must be a roadie for them - his gramps is on Bass. 

December 18, 2021, Saturday

Meet Kathy Bross who hosted a neighborhood Craft Fair today! She was gracious enough to have pots of hot coffee/water with the fixings, as well as a heated pot of delicious hot cider for the crafters. It was quite chilly with some wind until the sun came over the top of her adobe to warm us. Her yard is like a museum with a plethora of teapot totems, accented by wall multimedia murals with adornments along side of them. 

I got to chat with her and found out she has accomplished this creation in just 5 years. Her husband passed away 6 years ago and after a while she decided she needed color in her life.

 

It all began with the frog totem - she had seen similar art while on vacation somewhere and thought, why can’t I do that? And that she did. Each totem is built on rebar with assorted tea cups, saucers, and more which she picks up at yard sales, etc., drills a hole in the center, stacks them on the rebar which is staked in the ground. She has a street corner lot which is perfect to display all of the items she has created.

She built a yellow brick road (which is not yellow) of uniformly sized rocks into various segments taking you into the side and back yards.

Can you find the dragon’s eye? Tail? Claw?

Rich took a picture of the yard so that he could give her a painting of it the day of the fair. 

He was surprised to see that she had already added a new green vine with various colors of flowers and leaves on it by the time he delivered. (Look to the left of the picture below.) With the perfect weather year round here, she is always busy with some new addition and has shaded little nooks and crannies here and there for guests to sit and chat or just enjoy the view. 

 

A FEW VENDORS:

Tom Kern - wood carver

Peggy Derrick - gem and wire wrapped jewelry 

Kathy Benton - intricate jewelry 

Jodi Shannon - infused glass

Ray Derrick - wood carver

I am told that the secret to the vast amount of talent in this group is that they are retired and have the time to focus on their art/craft!

 

December 19, 2021, Sunday

Getting laundry done to pack up for the trip home. Rich made a delicious hamburger soup today for lunch. It is 63 degrees and full sunshine today. Lu and I went for a 1.9 mile stroll around the park. 

 

December 20, 2021, Monday

My last Line Dance class for a while - I sure will miss it. 

 

December 21, 2021, Tuesday

I really wanted to take my ukulele home with me but having a suitcase, CPAP machine (which they don’t count as a bag) and a small pocketbook was the max on how many bags I could carry on. At the last minute I realized I had brought my money belt with me and when I sorted what I REALLY needed to bring, it would all fit in there which allowed me one more bag - my ukulele! Lucky Mom...

 

Rich and I said our goodbyes in Surprise - this is the longest we’ve been apart since we met. (That’s one perk for having a motor home to park in my driveway.) I used the same limo service that John and Eileen use to take me to the Phoenix airport from their house. Driver Wayne and I pretty much shared our life stories and thankfully he noticed a sign that said there was a crash ahead on I-10, so we pulled off and took the truck route and made it in plenty of time. I had a stop without plane change in Midway so easy peasy, right? I decided to get off the plane to use the big restroom and walk around a bit. I did not realized that they cannot let you back on until they pre-board the wheelchairs (7 to be exact) and one blind man. This flight attendant was a true saint with enormous patience and compassion. She escorted them one by one down the ramp to the new crew. On top of that there was a delay due to another flight being late and our new crew was on that plane. So we were delayed about 40 minutes. The pilot was waiting to board as well and we started chatting so I asked him if he could make up some time for us… He did. 

 

December 22, 2021, Wednesday

I tried to get a Covid Home Test Kit in AZ with no success. Sister Cindy found a double test kit in MA for me. When it came time to take it, I was torn. Rich and I were vaccinated last year in Arizona, got our boosters when we got here in October, and wear masks when shopping, so we feel like we are being responsible to protect ourselves and others. Of course, I wanted my family (especially 91 year old Mom and young kids) to be and feel safe. 

But what if I tested positive due to exposure to a sea of people at the airport? I would be spending the entire visit locked away in a room! For a split second I considered not taking it at all, but knew I would never live with it if I got someone sick. So Cindy and I said our prayers and I started the easy process. If the test strip shows pink and blue, it is positive. If it shows just blue, it is negative. I was so relieved to see it blue - I screamed, Praise God - It’s a boy! 

 

That afternoon I was able to watch my granddaughter’s basketball game (8 points) with sister Lily in the stands with my son, daughter-in-law, and her sister. Everyone is masked in Massachusetts - don’t know how the players can breathe, but they still play hard. I put a video of one of Leanna’s foul shots in the email portion. We went to the Locker Room for some eats afterward.   

Back in AZ, Rich went to the North Ranch Light Parade:

December 23, 2021, Thursday

Grandson Zachary was surprised to see me at his front door at noon. We went to Let’s Do Lunch and then went Christmas shopping for Mommy. Then we went to Gramma Dee’s, wrapped gifts and hung out until supper - delicious Mac ’n Cheese and some hearty beef stew with banana bread for dessert. Zach went to his game to support the team even though he can’t play for 2 weeks due to a mild concussion from the last game he played. Jake had been skiing all day and when he and Shannon walked in to the gym, he saw a "random old lady with a mask reach out to him” until he realized it was me. He explained that the building is housing for old people and they come to watch sometimes. He was surprised!

 

December 24 2021, Friday (Christmas Eve)

This year my son, Randy and his family hosted Christmas Eve PJ Party. Kristie decorates the house beautifully and is a great cook and baker too.

December 25, 2021, Saturday (Christmas Day)

Last night Kristie had gift bags ready for us to take home filled with sugar cookies, almond balls, fudge, chocolate cookies, Rolo in sugar cookies, nuts and candies. Needless to say, they were great with coffee on Christmas morn. 

 

Rich’s son, Perry and family

Granddaughter Nora taking a break from Mine Craft

Last summer before we started our trip in October, Rich was kept very busy doing commissioned projects for Christmas presents. Now that everyone has received and been so awed by his work, I can share them with you:

 

Pretty impressive!