Splish, Splash, Auntie's Getting a Bath

A week or so ago, I called A.N.S. Detailing, and made an appointment for Auntie Violet to get washed before we head north. The boys had washed and waxed the rig when we arrived in October. They put on a good coat of wax and buffed it well, so we figured all she needed was to have all of the desert dust washed off. Alan and his crew are based here at Eagle View in the winter, then head home to South Dakota to work up there during the summer months.

Alan's comment when they were up on the roof was that he couldn't believe how dirty it had gotten...

I had taken down the hummingbird feeder and the wind chimes that we hang on the mirrors last week, so we were ready for the wash job.

 The crew uses a foam cleaner that attaches to their pressure hoses. Once it's on, they use brushes to scrub.
 

Forry and I sat in the shade and watched. It's been a couple of years since we've done it ourselves. It took us most of two days to do what the guys did in a couple of hours.

While they were at it, Toad II got a bath as well!

When they were done with the rigs, Alan helped Forry load the trike into the back of Toad II. It's a two person job and I was so glad he volunteered to help.

Spring Flowers

After watching the Mariners very nicely beat the Los Angeles Angels on ROOT Sports this afternoon, we took a trip into the Post Office in Fountain Hills to mail a package. Along the way we kept seeing more and more blooms on the cacti. There were several patches of Prickly Pear cactus that were sporting blossoms.

 
The orangeish yellow blooms are in clusters on the top of the "pear."

The HedgeHog Cacti are some of my favorites -

I love the bright fushia color!

As we drove into town, the fountain at the Fountain Hills Park was going off (it goes for 15 minutes at there top of every hour). There was no wind today, so it was going straight up. (Sure is a dirty windshield those people have...)

Mother Nature Loves Yellow,,,

I don't know what going on over on the highway this morning, but we were awakened by the prolonged blowing of air horns. L-o-n-g laying on the horn blasts; over and over again. Then just when you thought it was finally over, they would start up again. I guess we should have gotten dressed and gone over to see what was going on. All it did was irritate me and make me crabby.

It was a bit cooler today, only got into the mid-nineties. We alternated on TV between watching Gonzaga get beat by Duke and watching the Mariners get beat by the Padres. That didn't help my crabbiness either. It was not a fun afternoon.

The mesquite trees and bushes have begun to bloom. They have beautiful long yellow tassels of blooms -
 

The top two pictures are of the mesquite tree next to our blooming Palo Verde tree. This next one is of a mesquite bush in the fence. The blooms aren't as obvious from a bit of a distance.

I made a pot of chili for supper. With the air conditioner running most of the day, it seemed okay to have something cooking on the stove most of the afternoon.

We are starting to think about getting everything put away in preparation for departure sometime this week. Our time in Arizona is almost over for this year.

HOT!

I think the forecasters who are predicting a very hot summer may be right on. It was already hot when we got up this morning. I don't think there was much of a drop in temperature even early this morning.

After we listened to the Weather Channel and checked the forecast, we decided we would watch the Mariners game versus the San Francisco Giants on ROOT Sports TV rather than going to the ball park. The forecast was for 97 degrees! It actually got hotter than that from what the announcers said. Our seats are on the sunny side of the stadium and we decided it was just a bit too hot for these old fogies.

We've had a pretty laid-back day. We watched the 15-15 Bucking Battle of the PBR (Professional Bull  Riders) early this morning from Seattle and then watched the baseball game this afternoon. The Palo Verde tree outside of our front door is becoming a sea of yellow -

Basketball and Groceries

The Gonzaga basketball game in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA basketball tournament was scheduled for 4:15 today in Houston. We really needed to get groceries, but decided to wait until after the game. I figured it would be over in an hour and a half to two hours, but with all of the time-outs for commercials it took more like two and a half hours.

It was already getting dark when we headed for the Safeway store in Fountain Hills. It was one of those days when there was livestock out roaming. We had had a cow or two go by outside the fence earlier - which really got the dogs excited as they were being walked. Then we saw more cows alongside the road near the casino and a group of horses on the road a couple of miles further down. Makes one a bit cautious about driving on these roads at night!

Gonzaga did win their game and will be playing in the Elite Eight on Sunday. We tried to spot our friends Judy and Tim in the crowd, but weren't successful. We'll look for them again on Sunday.

Another Day, Another Game

We headed over to Peoria Sports Complex a little after ten this morning for another Spring Training game. The Mariners were playing the Kansas City Royals today. At least, a split squad was. The other part of the team was over playing The Milwaukee Brewers. Unfortunately, neither one of them did very well.

Felix Hernandez pitched today and he did very well. He pitched six innings and allowed one hit. He got no offensive support at all and after he left, the Royals got another two runs and ended up with a 3-0 win. Over at the other game, it was even worse - that squad got beat 15-1!

We got home to two delightful short videos from the greats. Great-nephew Jackson, wearing his Mariner cap (and getting lots of coaching from Mom), gave a delightful thank you. Then we got a text from Nephew Jared with an attached video of Great-niece Ellie and Great-nephew Ryan wearing their ball caps and cheering for the Mariners - just darling! Jared said that Ellie had gotten the mail, saw that her name was on the package with Ryan's, and opened it before she even got in the house. She told him it was okay to open it as she knew it wasn't either one of their birthdays... It's so fun to have little kids in the family. But they are growing up so fast!

It was very hot again today. The announcer said that it had gotten to 88 degrees at the game. That's more than hot enough for me!

Hot Again Today

All of the locals we have chatted with keep predicting that this is going to be a very hot summer. I think they are going by how hot it has been already this Spring. We've heard expectations of 120 degree days. That's a little too warm for me! I like the temperature to be between 80 and 85 degrees. How's that for being specific and picky?

We are watching the Mariners/Cubs game on ROOT Sports. Once again, we decided that going to a night game with an hour plus drive home is a little too much for the old folks. After watching so many games this Spring at the Peoria Sports Complex, it is interesting to watch one from a different perspective.

I had an interesting telephone conversation with a Verizon representative this afternoon. My Verizon Jetpack, that I use as my back-up internet  connection, had stopped working a couple of days ago. We had planned to go into Fountain Hills today to see if we could find a Verizon dealer to see about getting it replaced or fixed. I went into the files to get a bill and the paperwork for the Jetpack so they could have the numbers, etc. While looking at the bill, I saw a number to call on the back page "if you were having trouble with a Verizon appliance."

What the heck, it was worth a try. I called the number and talked with a very delightful woman - but I never caught her name. She very nicely walked me through taking the back off the back of the Jetpack and taking out the battery. After making sure the battery was not hot or even warm, she had me wait 20+ seconds and then replace the battery. And that's all it took! The Jetpack lit up and was obviously working again. She said it was the same as doing a hard reset on my iPhone or iPad.

I'd say it was very good customer service. She spoke very good English, was patient in her explanation and didn't make me feel stupid for not knowing how to reset the Jetpack.

Bloomin' Trees

The Palo Verde tree alongside Auntie Violet is beginning to turn yellow with blossoms. Every day there seems to be more of them.

Where we are has been a really nice spot. The tree, and the mesquite next to it, provide just enough shade to make it very pleasant outside, especially in the forenoon.

I finally got semi-sorta ambitious this afternoon and got the laundry done. It's been quite warm, so clothes dry quickly. We had several shirts in the laundry that weren't really soiled, they were just stiff with sweat from sitting at the baseball games.

Spring?!

There is more and more evidence of Spring around the Valley. The many brown sticks of ocotillos are turning green and the bright red-orange flowers at their tips are seen all over.

Many of the chollas are also beginning to bloom -

They vary in color between orangey red, pink and a orangey yellow -

 

 

We saw some brilliant pink hedge hog blossoms today as well, but they were along a busy road where we couldn't stop for a picture.

We had made a trip into Fountain Hills to the Post Office to mail the ball caps I had gotten for the kids, then went on an unsuccessful hunt for some soft ice cream. There are no Tastee Freezes in this part of the world. We had the address for a Dairy Queen in Scottsdale, but when we arrived, the building was being remodeled into an art gallery...

Shut Out

It was a  good game today. The Mariners played the Texas Rangers and managed to shut them down with an 8-0 game. It was exciting as there were two 3-run home runs. The first was hit by Kyle Seager in the first inning after Robinson Cano walked and Nelson Cruz had hit a single. Cano was in the middle of the next rally in the second inning, following Seth Smith's walk, he singled to to left, then Cruz hit a homer off the center field wall, high above the yellow line. These kind of games are fun to watch -- as long as it's your team making the runs...

We came home in time to watch Gonzaga win its game in the NCAA March Madness, moving up to the Sweet Sixteen. At the same time, the Gonzaga Women were doing the same thing. I bet it's rockin' in Spokane tonight!

And now it's time to sit down and watch the PBR bull riding in Albuquerque that we had recorded while we were gone this afternoon. I do love the recorder the good guys in Junction City were able to set up for us last fall. We have really enjoyed it. I would much rather be at The Pit in Albuquerque, but I'll settle for watching it on TV.

Lazy Saturday

It's been a very lazy Saturday. We slept in this morning. I thought that after last night's thunderstorm and rain showers, we might have a cooler day today. Not so, it was already hot when we got up this morning. If anything, there was an increase in humidity.
 
We certainly didn't do anything today. We briefly thought about going into the Post Office in Fountain Hills to mail off the baseball caps I had gotten for the great-nieces and nephews, but had a pretty good idea that the Post Office probably closed at noon on Saturdays, so left it for a Monday trip.

I finished reading the New Zealand trilogy by Sarah Lark. Song of the Spirits and Call of the Kiwi were the last two books in this fascinating series. Lark writes in her home tongue of German, so the books are translations.

We did have a Messenger chat with Granddaughter Havela this afternoon. She is preparing for her graduation recital in May at Hesston College. It's so nice to have electronic communications!

Costco Trip Day

We made the long-put-off trip to Costco today. I have just not wanted to deal with the distances and the crowds. There are several Costco stores in Phoenix and every one that we have been to has been extremely crowded. Today was no exception. We went early this afternoon, so were not even there late enough for Forry to have his Costco Dog supper...

We saw several thunderheads building out over Four Peaks and the mountains as we were driving home. By about seven o'clock, the clouds had gotten really black over that way and we began to see sheets of lightning and hear thunder. As time went on, the flashes got closer and closer until they were right overhead. Finally, as the lightning tapered off, it began to rain. At first, a few drops and now a steady rain.

I was actually a bit surprised we did not lose power as strong as the storm seemed to be. None of the weather apps we have predicted the storm -- or the rain!

Playing Hooky

The Mariners are playing their first Spring Training night game tonight. It started at 7:05 at Peoria Sports Center. We were very tired yesterday evening after stopping for dinner after the afternoon game. We slept in this morning, but debated off and on whether we had the energy to go to the game tonight. Besides not being all that excited about driving at night, we were still tired. We finally decided we would stay home and watch the game on TV as ROOT Sports NW is broadcasting it.

So we are switching channels between watching the Mariners game and watching the Eastern Washington University's basketball game against Georgetown in the March Madness.

I have become very attached to using Amazon Prime for purchasing. Both Forry's slippers and his sandals have gotten pretty worn out and tacking looking. I was able to go online and find a pair of each that he liked. They both came today and both pair fit! And he liked both pair. Now, you have to understand, that shoe shopping with Forry generally ends up looking like the cartoons of lady shoe shopping. He's very fussy and there usually ends up being a stack of rejected boxes alongside. This way, he got all of his wishes and preferences out of the way as we looked at various styles on line. I must admit, I was fully prepared for returning one or both pair at least once, and maybe several times. So I am pleased.

We also got a package today containing the bracelet our friends Dennis and Colleen of The Recycled Spoon had made for my colleague Tina's birthday. It is gorgeous! I can hardly wait to get it in a birthday card and off to her in New Mexico.

Take Me Out...

Today's baseball game was against our arch-rivals, The Oakland A's. It was a good game, at least from our point of view. It ended up being a 4-0 shut-out. It was actually a much pleasanter game physically as it was a cloudy day. Even though it was humid and sticky-feeling, it was much nicer than the mid-ninety bright sunshiney game we had on Sunday.

It ended up being sort of weird. The couple and the guy sitting next to them in front of us got to chatting and discovered they were both from the Mount Vernon, Washington area. They had actually gone to the same school growing up. As they were talking, I asked what the odds of five people sitting together at the baseball game having the Zip Code of 98273 were? We all got a big chuckle out of having the same address...

We stopped on the way home to get something to eat at The Tilted Kilt. Forry had a Swiss and mushroom burger while I had some mild wings. Good food, cute waitresses and noise! Lots of people had stopped by after the baseball game. Between the fans and the ten to twelve TVs, you could almost hear yourself think.

It started to rain about half way home. At first just a few drops, then actual rain. By the time we got back to Eagle View, it was raining hard and there were already puddles on the ground. It's supposed to continue raining all night.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Bagging It

My bag that I take to the ball games seems to get fuller every game we go to. You can't see down into the depths very well, but there is my scorebook - with a couple of #2 pencils - the umbrella, the fan spray bottle, an extra shirt (protection from the sun), the tickets, the sun screen, sunglasses, a pencil sharpener, the radio, sometimes the camera, etc.

All of the pockets are handy to make sure some things just don't get buried. Reactions to the bag are always fun (every bag has to be held open so it can be examined at a table before you enter the ball park). Men doing the screening don't seem to pay any attention to it, but the women examiners almost always do. First they notice and make some comment about the fabric. Then they ask if I made it. When I say "No, it was a present from my sister," there's always a comment about how lucky I am.

In addition to my bag, Forry has been carrying our little insulated bag with a couple of bottles of frozen water, along with the seat cushions he packs as well.

This year, they are still doing manual checks of bags at the gates. It's my understanding that by next year, all of the parks are supposed to have metal detectors. I've heard that Safeco Field in Seattle has already been outfitted with them.

Showers and Groceries and Laundry

A typical Saturday was had by all. Had to get busy and do all of the things we ignore when we're too busy running to the ball park! I've still got to go and put clean sheets on the bed and then we'll be ready for another week.

It was busy at the grocery store today. I'm not sure what was going on, but there were only half a dozen carts left when we went in about three o'clock. Forry had no trouble finding an electric one though, which is sometimes a problem when they're not that busy. The store had gotten into the whole "pi day" thing of 3.14 and had a whole lot of pies on special. We followed that theme on through and got a pizza pie from Papa Murphy's (who seemed totally unaware of Pi Day!)

We've managed to have phone calls with all three of the (grown) kids over the last two days along with some nice chats with Sister Sherry. It's always good to be able to be in touch with family, no matter how old they are. Granddaughter Havelita will be 20 tomorrow, which totally blows me away! It's amazing how quickly the years have gone by and what a lovely young woman she's grown up to be.

Another Game Day

Today the Mariners played the Milwaukee Brewers and won 10-5. The regulars are being allowed to play a bit longer now. The starting pitcher, Happ, actually pitched for three innings and the rest of the crew did not leave until after they had batted in the fifth inning. Both Charlie Furbush and Danny Farquar pitched solid scoreless innings.

It was another VERY warm day today. There was a very welcome small amount of breeze at the ballpark otherwise we would have had a tough day. There were some clouds over on the horizon, but the breeze was blowing the wrong way and they went around the ballpark.

This is a picture of one of the many Globe Mallow plants blooming on the other side of the fence. A harbinger of Spring, the orange Mallow blooms are the first flowers we see in the early spring.

The Roadrunner Nest

It was a busy day today. The fellow from the RV Shop came out to install the new electric cable for Auntie Violet. I purchased and downloaded the new 2015 Update for QuickBooks and then updated the ranch books for January.

Then this afternoon, I took a walk over to behind the office to the same saguaro that the Roadrunners had a nest in last year. I had heard from our neighbor Mike that they were nesting there again. When I got over there, there was no one sitting on the nest, but then I spotted her several feet away.

She stood there for a moment, watching, then made a run for the nest -

She came to a halt just before the saguaro and did her "you can't see me" act.

This is what you can see of the nest from the ground -

The adult bird took one hop and was up in the nest. If you look carefully, you can see the head and eye of one of the baby birds below the mother's.

I'm not sure, but I think I can see a second beak below the eye of the first baby...

 Once the adult fed the little ones, she settled down in the nest, and she was all that could be seen.

 

What a treat to see the little ones. Last year, I watched the adults built the nest, but we left before the eggs hatched.

Another Day, Another Game

It's after nine o'clock and the thermometer says the outside temperature is still 70 degrees. It got really warm today -- I heard it was up to 86 degrees. Thank goodness, there was a high scattered cloud cover. Otherwise, I think we would have been miserable at the ball game. You could instantly tell when the sun came out from behind one of the little clouds!

The Mariners played the Colorado Rockies today. It was tied 1-1 most of the game until Lucas Luetke came on to pitch in relief. The Rockies got his number early and ended up with three runs over him. But, that's the way Spring Training works.

The first thing I did when we got home was to change clothes -- I had sweated through everything I had on! We had taken two bottles of water along with us plus we drank two large lemonades at the game. It's hard to stay hydrated when you are sitting in the sun when it is this hot!

Daughter MM had sent a HUGE box of mail that was waiting for us when we got back to Eagle View. It's been a while since she sent a box and there were lots of magazines as well. It took me almost an hour to open and sort through it all.

Today was a big day for Mary Mae as well. She started a new job today as the Development Director for the Lincoln Theatre Foundation in Mount Vernon. We've been at a couple of plays that Granddaughter Claire has been in at the Lincoln Theatre. It's an incredible place. Congratulations MM!

A Day at Home

Today was another beautiful, warm day. We were tired from three straight days of traveling, so had a good sleep-in this morning. I was up and enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee in the hour or so before Forry joined me, which was also very pleasant.

It was quiet around the resort today. The frantic ins and outs of the first of the month have slowed down and there were only the usual three to four rigs moving around. The kids that were here this weekend weren't around either. The usual parade of dogs being walked along the fence continued. I think there are more big ones then there have been. There was a beautiful full-sized cream colored curly poodle walking his owner today that I hadn't seen before.

We had a nice telephone visit late this afternoon with Daughter Dawn and Granddaughter Havela who is home in Oregon for her college's Spring Break. It brought back memories of last year when she spent her Break with us here in Arizona.

The Mariners didn't fare so well today in their game, though Felix Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings. Tomorrow, we will go back to Peoria for a game with the Colorado Rockies.

Mariners Win!

Spring training is kind of a yoyo. One day you lose (yesterday was one of those), the next day you win (like today). It's hard to really tell as there is an incredible amount of substitution as the managers try to see how different players do.

In the more or less typical Spring Training game, the starters may play the first three or four innings, then they leave to go do other more directed work at the other practice fields. The starting pitchers have been pitching only two innings, then the other pitching candidates each may pitch an inning. My score card becomes almost solid names on the line-up side.

One thing about going to games in Peoria -- you see lots of vehicles with Washington license plates! We've gone all winter with perhaps only seeing one or two, so it's strange to all of a sudden see so many of them.

There are lots of Snowbirds at the games. There are lots of Mariner shirts, jerseys, hats and bags with a scattering of Seahawks shirts in the mix as well. The ones I enjoy the most are the old ladies. Some of them are pretty fragile and have a tough time negotiating the steps, but they are first and foremost baseball fans!

There are not many children at the games (though it looks like there may be more of them sitting on the grass over in the outfield.). Most of the ones we see are with what looks like their grandparents. We've also seen whole family groups that look like they are here visiting elders.

People watching at Spring Training games is a fun pastime.

Litchfield Park

A couple of days ago, our friend Colleen called to let us know that they would be setting up their booth, The Recycled Spoon at Litchfield Park this weekend. We hadn't seen them for quite a while since they have been at the Stock Show in San Antonio, Texas.

It's about an hour's drive from Eagle View over to the Street Fair in Litchfield Park. We planned our trip over to see them so that we would catch the last hour of the Fair, then go out to dinner with Dennis and Colleen after they had packed up.

Dennis' buddy, Mike, the leather worker, had his booth across the street from The Recycled Spoon. Forry has been needing a new belt for some time, so Dennis took him shopping over at Mike's booth. This is what he ended up with -

We have been with Dennis and Colleen a couple of time in the midst of a show when, at quitting time, they covered everything in the booth up with sheets and left, trusting to Security to ensure the safety of their wares. We haven't been there at the end of a show when they've taken the booth down and packed everything up. It's quite a process. All of the bracelets, watches, rings, necklaces, wind chimes, key rings, zipper pulls, etc. need to be packed into containers.

All of Dennis' tools, wire, and parts also have to be packed up. Then the sign, the canopy, the tent sides and roof all get packed along with poles. Even the mats on the floor have to be picked up and put away.

It didn't help when a big cockroach ran out from under the canvas bag when Colleen picked it up! Forry managed to stomp on it, but a two inch bug can freak any one out!

We tried to be helpful, but the very best help seemed to be to just stay out of the way! After everything was all packed up in their van, we headed out to a place a couple of miles down the way called Haymaker. It turned out to be a good place to eat and we had some very tasty ribs. It was a good evening with time to visit with good friends.

What Can I Say?

I washed and hung another load of clothes. I made the bed. We ate breakfast. We put on sun screen. I gathered up my pencils, my scorebook, the tickets, a bottle of cold water and we went to the baseball game in Peoria. Iwakuma pitched for the first time this spring. He pitched two great innings. I got more sun exposure than I wanted on my neck. We drove home via Bell Avenue so that we could get gas. Gas was $1.349 with a twenty cent Safeway discount. We got back to Eagle View. I fixed spare ribs for supper. We are both very tired. Time for bed.

Big and Little

This was the view across the fence yesterday morning. There is an old snag about twenty feet in from the fence. This is the second time we have seen the Great White Heron that flies up and down the river perched there in the early morning (it's probably been there more often, but we've not been awake to see it).

On the other side of the snag, the little hummingbird was also perched enjoying the morning sun -

Today was a catch-up day. We took showers, drained the grey and black tanks, washed laundry. There was a power outage throughout the park for an hour or two.

Tomorrow the Mariners are playing the Diamondbacks. My neck got sunburned yesterday even with sun block, so I'll have to do something besides a ponytail. My seat is right on the end of the row, so there's nothing or no one to block the sun.

The Big Guns

I was very pleased this morning to read the line-up for today's game with the Padres on the Mariner Blog. Yesterday, it was primarily the rookies and the Triple A guys, but today the big guns were up - for the first four innings anyway.

Robinson Cano is hitting third in the line-up and came through in his two at-bats with a single and a double.

Hitting right behind Cano is the new addition, Nelson Cruz. Batting as the DH, Cruz hit a single in his first at-bat, then hit a sweet home run the second time up, driving home his buddy, Cano. Cruz got a very warm reception from the crowd when he came up the first time and an even bigger round of applause after his homer.

Batting right behind the two big Cs, is Kyle Seager, the probable third baseman. His first at-bat, he hit a single driving in Cano.

It was a very sunny, very warm day. The Mariners ended up winning the game 9-4. After the regulars left (to go work on specific tasks at one of the other practice fields), the subs put up another six runs including a home run by Patrick Kivlehan.

We were both tired tonight. It's a good thing we don't have a game tomorrow (our tickets are for the "home" games). We'll go to the game against the Diamondbacks on Saturday.

Opening Day!

The day was finally here - the first day of Spring Training Baseball in the Arizona Cactus League! We weren't sure how long the trip from Eagle View RV Park to the Peoria Sports Complex would be, so we left at eleven o'clock for the one o'clock game. We got there about twelve-thirty which worked out well. The reserved parking lot is right across from the B gate, which is a straight shot to Section 109 where our seats are in the Infield Box area.

It was a beautiful day. The flags of the Cactus League teams were all rippling on the outfield wall.

And the Direct TV blimp was circling overhead -

I made a quick stop at the gift kiosk on the concourse to pick up the 2015 Spring Training pin for my hat.

Our seats are in the top row of the infield box section on the third base side. We normally like to sit on the first base side (we sat there for all the years we had season tickets in Spokane), which is usually the side of the home team dugout. But in this shared facility, the Padres dugout is on the first base side, while the Mariners have the third base side.

The nice thing about the whole day is that the Mariners beat the Padres - though it took ten innings to do it! A great start to the new season.

A Busy Day

I was up early this morning. The hotel registration for this summer's Mennonite Church USA biannual assembly opened up at 10 AM Eastern time this morning. That's 8 AM here in Arizona which is a bit early for me. But I got on line and got our hotel room about quarter after. It's probably a good thing as I heard later that the site was having trouble and not taking reservations.

As long as I was up and on the computer, I went ahead and took care of this month's bills on BillPay as well. All done - and I didn't need a single stamp! Then I took Forry's phone and paid a couple of his bills as well.

A couple of hours later, Forry and I headed into Fountain Hills and did some long overdue grocery shopping. Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I dislike grocery shopping and even more the necessary putting away of said groceries, so I'll leave it at that.

There were still lots of heavy clouds around the valley today and I think we even had one little rain shower. It's supposed to be really nice tomorrow. I sure hope so as it's the first Spring Training Cactus League game for the Mariners. I'm curious to see where our seats are and how far we're going to have to walk from the Reserved Parking area.

Rainy, Windy Day

It was very windy when we got up this morning. Even our neighbor Mike brought his tied-down awning in. He said he hasn't brought it in since they got here last September. It wasn't long before the rain started. And it rained hard!

By the time it tapered off in the late afternoon, there were even puddles -

Toward evening, Forry got a picture of the Four Peaks that were actually peeking out from behind the clouds for the first time all day -

The sunset wasn't as spectacular as some we have had, but it was still a nice one.

 
I don't like rainy damp days - and my joints don't either! I didn't accomplish much of anything today. In fact, I curled up on the couch with my afghan and my iPad and read the day away.

The Start of Another Month

When we traded our Jeep in on our Suzuki a year or so ago, we debated about taking the auxiliary mirrors off, but finally decided not to. We thought we could just pick up another set at any auto store. NOT! After checking at several stores, we finally gave up and bought these little circle mirrors to get a wider-angle view.
Forry has not been happy with them and has once again been griping about them.

 So, as I have become accustomed to doing, Tuesday, I finally went on-line to look for some. Sure enough, I found a pair that he liked. With Amazon Prime, they were here by Friday afternoon. This afternoon, Forry unpacked them so that he could put them on.

We were going to pop the circle mirrors off, but after he got the new ones on, he decided that he really liked the view that the two of them provided and we decided to leave them on for now.

 
It is the first day of March and there was a constant parade of RVs leaving the park this morning. And by afternoon, there was an equally constant parade of newcomers moving in.

There usually are many snowbirds heading north this time of year, but with the nasty storms going on in the rest of the United States and Canada, many people have decided to stay longer.