Today is Tuesday and after our very busy Monday, we have spent the day recuperating. I think we did overdo it yesterday.
At least it is a bit warmer today. According to the news, the "cold snap" is now over. Our neighbors have brought their plants back outside and removed the covers from the ones in the ground. We saw a great deal of broken portions on some of the cacti yesterday. I'll have to get out and get some pictures.
We listened to the President this morning and have been listening to all of the arguments pro and con about how to cut down on gun violence. I just saw a graph on Facebook that purported to show how few gun deaths there are in comparison to other causes. But, I guess it's that the idea of of massacres, especially of children that gets to us all. I can understand the argument that all of the various proposed restrictions only penalize law-abiding citizens. But on the other hand, there has to be some way to cut down on all of the violence.
It's been a good night for watching TV. Many of the shows we like were on tonight with new episodes. We have really been enjoying Nashville. I think partly it's because we spent time there last year and it's fun to glimpse sights of places we've seen or were at.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
A Day Out
I am tired tonight. We were both feeling pretty good this afternoon, so we went out to do some long overdue shopping. First on the agenda was a Costco trip. Besides containers of blueberries, we were out of vitamins. Got that task done and then made a stop at Safeway.
We went to the Safeway store a few miles away on Southern rather than the close to us as the one on Southern has a gas station. I had accumulated six Safeway gas points, so we ended up paying $2.43 a gallon to fill the Suzuki. We also picked up the essentials of orange juice and milk.
Then it was back to Auntie Violet for a quick nap before Juni and Tom picked us up to go out to dinner. They took us to BJ's Brewhouse, which they were interested in checking out as rumor has it there is going to be one going in close to where their house is in Albuquerque.
We had three very good entrees -- and one not so good.
Juni had an amazing jalapeno hamburger.
I had BJ's blond shrimp which I ended up sharing with Forry.
Tom had what he said was incredible jambalaya.
Forry ordered the Texas style chicken fried steak which was just plain overdone -- in fact it was so hard it was almost burnt! The waitress took it back to the kitchen...
Rather than order something else, we decided Forry would just share my shrimp since there was way more than I could eat.
A little later the manager came out apologizing for the state of Forry's meal and offered to comp dessert for us. BJ's has a freshly baked cookie that comes out still warm with a scoop of ice cream on it -- delicious!
Today was the first day we've really been out and about since the first of the year. It was good, but Forry's already sleeping in his chair and I'm ready for bed.
We went to the Safeway store a few miles away on Southern rather than the close to us as the one on Southern has a gas station. I had accumulated six Safeway gas points, so we ended up paying $2.43 a gallon to fill the Suzuki. We also picked up the essentials of orange juice and milk.
We had three very good entrees -- and one not so good.
Juni had an amazing jalapeno hamburger.
I had BJ's blond shrimp which I ended up sharing with Forry.
Tom had what he said was incredible jambalaya.
Rather than order something else, we decided Forry would just share my shrimp since there was way more than I could eat.
A little later the manager came out apologizing for the state of Forry's meal and offered to comp dessert for us. BJ's has a freshly baked cookie that comes out still warm with a scoop of ice cream on it -- delicious!
Today was the first day we've really been out and about since the first of the year. It was good, but Forry's already sleeping in his chair and I'm ready for bed.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Laundry and Ham Hocks
Things are looking up around the Hardt's motor home. I actually had enough energy to not only do the laundry, but make a pot of beans using the ham bone Juni had saved from our Christmas dinner. It's been a couple of weeks since I've had any extra energy at all and it felt good to feel like doing something besides sleeping and napping every chance I've gotten.
I had been totally worn out by my junket into Mexico with the Executive Board and spent most of the weekend recovering from it. It's hard to believe one could rest and sleep so much.
Unfortunately, Forry is still hanging on to the dregs of his cold, or flu, or whatever it is we've had. We were planning to make a Costco run this afternoon, but by the time he got dressed and ready to go, he didn't feel up to it...
Juni and Tom stopped by on their way to town and shared a large bagful of oranges, lemons and pink grapefruit their neighbor had shared with them. Juni also shared some cucumbers, lettuce and other veggies that she had picked up in quantity. We tried one of those grapefruit -- it sure was delicious! I sure hope this chilly weather we're having doesn't affect the citrus crops.
I had been totally worn out by my junket into Mexico with the Executive Board and spent most of the weekend recovering from it. It's hard to believe one could rest and sleep so much.
Unfortunately, Forry is still hanging on to the dregs of his cold, or flu, or whatever it is we've had. We were planning to make a Costco run this afternoon, but by the time he got dressed and ready to go, he didn't feel up to it...
Juni and Tom stopped by on their way to town and shared a large bagful of oranges, lemons and pink grapefruit their neighbor had shared with them. Juni also shared some cucumbers, lettuce and other veggies that she had picked up in quantity. We tried one of those grapefruit -- it sure was delicious! I sure hope this chilly weather we're having doesn't affect the citrus crops.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Arizona COLD!
It's interesting to look down the street that Auntie Violet is parked on and see all of the sheets draped over plantings in the little yards of the park models. It has dipped down to freezing or below the last several nights. There are lots of notices on the air and in the newspaper reminding people to leave water dripping in their faucets.
It seems that Arizona housing is not built for freezing weather. Water lines are not buried, but are run up inside the walls of houses and are therefore subject to freezing. RVers are also being told to shut off their water hoses -- which, of course, are just lying on the ground.
We open all of the window shades as soon as we get up in the morning, so that the sunshine can help warm the motorhome. But, the minute the sun goes down, it starts to get get very cold and we quickly pull all of the shades, draw the drapes and turn on the electric heaters.
There seems to be some concern on the parts of local farmers, especially fruit growers, about the cold and we're hearing about fans and heaters in the orchards. The cold seems to be all across the south land spreading east from California across the deserts.
It's supposed to warm up -- but only a little -- by next weekend. I really do want to go back to wearing pedal pushers and sandals!
It seems that Arizona housing is not built for freezing weather. Water lines are not buried, but are run up inside the walls of houses and are therefore subject to freezing. RVers are also being told to shut off their water hoses -- which, of course, are just lying on the ground.
We open all of the window shades as soon as we get up in the morning, so that the sunshine can help warm the motorhome. But, the minute the sun goes down, it starts to get get very cold and we quickly pull all of the shades, draw the drapes and turn on the electric heaters.
There seems to be some concern on the parts of local farmers, especially fruit growers, about the cold and we're hearing about fans and heaters in the orchards. The cold seems to be all across the south land spreading east from California across the deserts.
It's supposed to warm up -- but only a little -- by next weekend. I really do want to go back to wearing pedal pushers and sandals!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
BorderLinks
Early Friday morning (7 AM) we (Members of the Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA, a couple of spouses, the CEOs and staff of church agencies and our Executive Director) boarded a charter bus at the Sheraton Hotel where we had been meeting and headed down the highway to Tucson, Arizona. We were going to the headquarters of BorderLinks, a partner of Mennonite Central Committee. BorderLinks was going to take us on a tour that will also be offered to attendees of Mennonite Church USA's Assembly this July in Phoenix.
After a bathroom break, we gathered in the living area of BorderLinks for an orientation. The lady in the middle speaking is Fernanda Morillon and the lady in the cap next to her is Rachel Winch (Rachel was the driver of the van I rode in.)
There were twenty-seven of us in our group. We left BorderLinks in two vans and headed for Nogales, Mexico. We crossed the border almost without knowing it. They have a random system. If you get a green light you go on through. A red light diverts your vehicle for questioning. Both vans got green lights and we stopped just the other side of the fence.
This is where deportees from the United States are dropped off. There is a Red Cross clinic here, but there was no one around it.
We had enough Spanish speakers with us that we were able to talk to some of the people who had been deported that day. I was hesitant about invading their privacy, but it turned out they were anxious to talk. This group of folks had been abandoned in the desert by their "coyote" when the Border Patrol came upon them. (They had paid the coyote $3000-$6000 each to be safely transported across the desert.) As Fernanda talked with them, the young woman on her left broke my heart. She was 23 years and her face looked so much like my oldest granddaughter. She had three children (all born in the US) and had spent six years in California picking strawberries. She went home to visit her family and now is separated from her children.
One of the women had become separated from her younger brother in the desert and had not heard whether he was alive or dead. They were trying to check with the Detention Centers to see if he might be at one of them.
A cemetery adjacent to the deportee area --
This area, with its services for deportees, is actually a service of the Mexican government --
Next door is one of the many factories established following NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) --
Nogales is NOT the sleepy little village I remember from visiting over forty years ago. There are many American chains represented here -- and the Mexicans say they "take all of their earnings back to the US as well!"
No different than the US, there was lots of road construction everywhere --
After our visit at Grupos Beta, we drove to the top of a ridge overlooking Nogales where and organization named HEPAC (Hogar de Experanza y Paz A.C.) was our host --
Here we ran into something I hadn't seen since we were in Bolivia -- composting toilets! There's a bucket of wood shavings out of sight over on the left for throwing down the hole when you've finished your business. Used toilet tissue goes in the waste basket...
Due to the incredible numbers of workers moving to Nogales to work in the factories, the hillsides are filled with various shanty barrios --
Most families have both parents working in the factories. The schools are open only four hours per day. Therefore, there are lots of children left alone most of the day. HEPAC tries to run camps and classes for children. A good share of their work is trying to educate the children that they do not have to allow inappropriate touching by others...
More of the hillside housing. The mountains in the rear are across the border in the US.
More housing --
This is housing built by one of the factories as part of their contract with the Mexican government. This unit houses a couple of hundred workers, but the company employs over five throusand!
That housing complex is next door to this Maquiladora, one of ninety-five huge factories in Nogales.
Another Maquiladora. You can see the border fence in the background --
We crossed the border back into the United States without incident. The Border Patrol agent took the fourteen passports from our van, ran them through her little machine and waved us on by. We drove around to look at the infamous wall from the American side of the border --
It's an ugly steel thing, twenty four feet high, rusting away --
Incongruously, there are gates in the fence about every hundred feet or so --
And of course, a couple of our group had to try and see if they could climb it --
We hadn't been there long before the Border Patrol stopped by. We were very close to the spot where a couple of weeks ago, a Mexican sixteen year old had been shot (on the Mexican side of the border) eighteen times by US Border Patrol after he threw rocks at them. We heard a lot about it while we were in Nogales, but I sure hadn't read anything in the Phoenix paper.
A chilly prayer vigil at the fence; some quiet time for reflection then it was back to Tucson and Cas Miraposa where a wonderful hot meal was waiting for us.
Casa Mariposa is a house of hospitality for people being released from immigration detention. Our meal was prepared by recent detainees who later shared their stories with us.
It was a long, emotional day that will require a great deal of reflection and processing on my part. Id you are going to be attending the Mennonite Church USA Assembly in July in Phoenix, you can sign up to spend a day with a BorderLinks/MCC trip.
After a bathroom break, we gathered in the living area of BorderLinks for an orientation. The lady in the middle speaking is Fernanda Morillon and the lady in the cap next to her is Rachel Winch (Rachel was the driver of the van I rode in.)
There were twenty-seven of us in our group. We left BorderLinks in two vans and headed for Nogales, Mexico. We crossed the border almost without knowing it. They have a random system. If you get a green light you go on through. A red light diverts your vehicle for questioning. Both vans got green lights and we stopped just the other side of the fence.
This is where deportees from the United States are dropped off. There is a Red Cross clinic here, but there was no one around it.
We had enough Spanish speakers with us that we were able to talk to some of the people who had been deported that day. I was hesitant about invading their privacy, but it turned out they were anxious to talk. This group of folks had been abandoned in the desert by their "coyote" when the Border Patrol came upon them. (They had paid the coyote $3000-$6000 each to be safely transported across the desert.) As Fernanda talked with them, the young woman on her left broke my heart. She was 23 years and her face looked so much like my oldest granddaughter. She had three children (all born in the US) and had spent six years in California picking strawberries. She went home to visit her family and now is separated from her children.
One of the women had become separated from her younger brother in the desert and had not heard whether he was alive or dead. They were trying to check with the Detention Centers to see if he might be at one of them.
A cemetery adjacent to the deportee area --
This area, with its services for deportees, is actually a service of the Mexican government --
Next door is one of the many factories established following NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) --
Nogales is NOT the sleepy little village I remember from visiting over forty years ago. There are many American chains represented here -- and the Mexicans say they "take all of their earnings back to the US as well!"
No different than the US, there was lots of road construction everywhere --
After our visit at Grupos Beta, we drove to the top of a ridge overlooking Nogales where and organization named HEPAC (Hogar de Experanza y Paz A.C.) was our host --
Here we ran into something I hadn't seen since we were in Bolivia -- composting toilets! There's a bucket of wood shavings out of sight over on the left for throwing down the hole when you've finished your business. Used toilet tissue goes in the waste basket...
Due to the incredible numbers of workers moving to Nogales to work in the factories, the hillsides are filled with various shanty barrios --
Most families have both parents working in the factories. The schools are open only four hours per day. Therefore, there are lots of children left alone most of the day. HEPAC tries to run camps and classes for children. A good share of their work is trying to educate the children that they do not have to allow inappropriate touching by others...
More of the hillside housing. The mountains in the rear are across the border in the US.
More housing --
This is housing built by one of the factories as part of their contract with the Mexican government. This unit houses a couple of hundred workers, but the company employs over five throusand!
That housing complex is next door to this Maquiladora, one of ninety-five huge factories in Nogales.
Another Maquiladora. You can see the border fence in the background --
We crossed the border back into the United States without incident. The Border Patrol agent took the fourteen passports from our van, ran them through her little machine and waved us on by. We drove around to look at the infamous wall from the American side of the border --
It's an ugly steel thing, twenty four feet high, rusting away --
Incongruously, there are gates in the fence about every hundred feet or so --
And of course, a couple of our group had to try and see if they could climb it --
We hadn't been there long before the Border Patrol stopped by. We were very close to the spot where a couple of weeks ago, a Mexican sixteen year old had been shot (on the Mexican side of the border) eighteen times by US Border Patrol after he threw rocks at them. We heard a lot about it while we were in Nogales, but I sure hadn't read anything in the Phoenix paper.
A chilly prayer vigil at the fence; some quiet time for reflection then it was back to Tucson and Cas Miraposa where a wonderful hot meal was waiting for us.
Casa Mariposa is a house of hospitality for people being released from immigration detention. Our meal was prepared by recent detainees who later shared their stories with us.
It was a long, emotional day that will require a great deal of reflection and processing on my part. Id you are going to be attending the Mennonite Church USA Assembly in July in Phoenix, you can sign up to spend a day with a BorderLinks/MCC trip.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Trip to Nogales
Today the Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA and the heads of its agencies and its Executive Director went to Tucson, Arizona and then across the border to Nogales, Mexico. It was a long trip and a lot of driving. We met some incredible people and heard some very moving stories. I have a lot of pictures, but it is late and I am very tired. I'll leave you with the picture of the bus we rode to Tucson and a promise to write more about it tomorrow.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Day Two
Another day of meetings. We started at 8:15 this morning, which meant leaving Valle del Oro at little after seven. Fortunately the traffic was not as bad as we had anticipated and I was actually a few minutes early for the meeting.
It was a long day. The Moderator-elect chaired this afternoon's session and she did a very good job getting us w-a-y ahead of schedule. In fact, we thought we'd be getting done by 5:30. But, it was not to be. When the Moderator took over, he had several things he wanted to add. Then he introduced some pretty heavy material very late in the day. Of course, there were lots of questions and ideas, so we actually got out late.
I had called Forry mid-afternoon to tell him of the anticipated early dismissal. He ended up waiting in the parking area by the lobby for over an hour! Though I think he was in a better mood than I was by the time I got there!
Tomorrow the charter bus we are taking to Mexico is scheduled to leave at 7 AM! And the word is we will be getting back to the hotel at 9 or 10 in the evening if all goes well. So off to bed for me!
It was a long day. The Moderator-elect chaired this afternoon's session and she did a very good job getting us w-a-y ahead of schedule. In fact, we thought we'd be getting done by 5:30. But, it was not to be. When the Moderator took over, he had several things he wanted to add. Then he introduced some pretty heavy material very late in the day. Of course, there were lots of questions and ideas, so we actually got out late.
I had called Forry mid-afternoon to tell him of the anticipated early dismissal. He ended up waiting in the parking area by the lobby for over an hour! Though I think he was in a better mood than I was by the time I got there!
Tomorrow the charter bus we are taking to Mexico is scheduled to leave at 7 AM! And the word is we will be getting back to the hotel at 9 or 10 in the evening if all goes well. So off to bed for me!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Meeting Time
The Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA is meeting here in Phoenix the next few days. I didn't have to be at the hotel until 1:15 today, so it wasn't too hard. But tomorrow we start at 8:15...
It's a good forty-five minute drive from Valle del Oro to downtown Phoenix and the Sheraton Hotel where the meetings are being held. I am NOT looking forward to the early start the next couple of days.
It was good to see everyone today. There are a dozen of us on the Board and some of us have now been together for five years. There's been a lot of trust built up over those years. The newer members have now been on the Board for a full year and they have brought some different perspectives. It's a good group of people.
But, if I'm going to be able to get up and get going that early tomorrow, I'd best shut down the computer and get myself to bed!
It's a good forty-five minute drive from Valle del Oro to downtown Phoenix and the Sheraton Hotel where the meetings are being held. I am NOT looking forward to the early start the next couple of days.
It was good to see everyone today. There are a dozen of us on the Board and some of us have now been together for five years. There's been a lot of trust built up over those years. The newer members have now been on the Board for a full year and they have brought some different perspectives. It's a good group of people.
But, if I'm going to be able to get up and get going that early tomorrow, I'd best shut down the computer and get myself to bed!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Forrest Gets His Christmas Present
I was very disappointed when it turned out the chair I bought for Forry's Christmas present turned out to be not in stock and would not be delivered in time for Christmas. We finally were notified that it would be delivered today -- sometime between 9 AM and Noon.
Sure enough, about a quarter after nine, we got a call from the LZ Boy crew saying they were at the front gate of Valle del Oro. A few minutes later, they were parked in front of our site.
And the fellows were carrying in the back of Forrest's new chair --
And then they carried the old chair out the door by laying it down and extending the footrest. They set it outside on the patio.
Next, they carried in the bottom portion of the chair and put it together --
What do you think? Does he like his new chair?
I put a "FREE" sign on the old chair (which had a broken raiser for the foot-rest) which was now sitting on the cement slab by Auntie Violet, was only there for about an hour and a half before some fellows in a red pick-up loaded it up and hauled it away!
Sure enough, about a quarter after nine, we got a call from the LZ Boy crew saying they were at the front gate of Valle del Oro. A few minutes later, they were parked in front of our site.
And the fellows were carrying in the back of Forrest's new chair --
And then they carried the old chair out the door by laying it down and extending the footrest. They set it outside on the patio.
Next, they carried in the bottom portion of the chair and put it together --
What do you think? Does he like his new chair?
I put a "FREE" sign on the old chair (which had a broken raiser for the foot-rest) which was now sitting on the cement slab by Auntie Violet, was only there for about an hour and a half before some fellows in a red pick-up loaded it up and hauled it away!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Silversmith Day!
Several weeks back, soon after we arrived at Valle del Oro, we signed up to take the Silversmith class. This all-day class is a requirement for using the very nice jewelry-making shop here at the resort. So at 8:30 this morning, we were opening this door --
It was a full class -- they have room for eight --
This morning, all of the places were set up with mandrels, soldering irons, knives and other tools --
In the afternoon, we each had a flat piece of silver, a scalloped silver bezel piece and a silver beaded strip along with both soft and hard silver solder.
This is Jim, one of the instructors demonstrating in the afternoon --
This is today's work product. On the left are the two rings made in the morning by the lost wax method; on the right are the ones with stones made by silver-smithing.
Forry's ring on the left has a rope design while mine has entwined hearts --
It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but my ring on the left is a very pale translucent green with a dark spot in it while Forry's is more of a tiger-eye.
It was a long day today! It was the first day we have been out and about since we got those nasty colds. We had a hour break after the afternoon class and went across the freeway to McDonalds for some dinner before we had to go back this evening to watch the silver pour into our wax molds.
It was a full class -- they have room for eight --
This morning, all of the places were set up with mandrels, soldering irons, knives and other tools --
In the afternoon, we each had a flat piece of silver, a scalloped silver bezel piece and a silver beaded strip along with both soft and hard silver solder.
This is Jim, one of the instructors demonstrating in the afternoon --
This is today's work product. On the left are the two rings made in the morning by the lost wax method; on the right are the ones with stones made by silver-smithing.
Forry's ring on the left has a rope design while mine has entwined hearts --
It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but my ring on the left is a very pale translucent green with a dark spot in it while Forry's is more of a tiger-eye.
It was a long day today! It was the first day we have been out and about since we got those nasty colds. We had a hour break after the afternoon class and went across the freeway to McDonalds for some dinner before we had to go back this evening to watch the silver pour into our wax molds.
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