Sunday, November 15, 2015

Another Week in the Desert

 

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Hard to believe tomorrow will be four weeks since we arrived at McDowell Mountain Park. Not sure where the time has gone, but we’ve been keeping busy. Finally got the outside of the Lazy Daze all cleaned and polished.

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Still plan to go through every storage bin and cabinet to see what we can get rid of. We try to do this once a year and it’s always surprising how much stuff we can find that we don’t need or haven’t used.

Jim got a good report at the ophthalmologist on Monday. He was concerned that his Fuch’s corneal dystrophy had worsened to the point of needing transplants, but the doctor said his corneas looked great and his visual fluctuations and irritation were due to dry eyes. He gave him an Rx for Restasis, which is supposed to help the eyes produce more tears. It’s expensive and takes at least six weeks to see results, but he’s hoping it will work.

We did some shopping in Scottsdale the other day and found a frame for the lovely watercolor painting Bobbie gave us in Utah last month. Adds a nice touch of class to our tiny home.

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We’ve done several bike rides this week and Jim’s managed to stay upright. I think it’s because he got a new helmet and shoes. Pretty snazzy, huh? I won’t let him wear his old shoes that he has to clip into the pedals so these grip the flat pedals better. He claims that red makes him go faster.

McDowell Mountain Park 2015, Fountain Hills, AZ

We did a hike last week on the Escondido trail. I miscalculated the distance and thought we could make a relatively short loop of 4-5 miles, since we got off to a late start.

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The sun was getting lower in the sky and the temperature was dropping before we looked at the phone and saw that we had hiked 4.3 miles with no end in sight. By this time it was already 4:20, with not much daylight left. We decided it was best to just turn around, a good idea as we later found out the loop would have been around 11 miles. We were completely unprepared, with just one bottle of water, no packs, and no flashlight. We should really know better that sometimes our intended short hikes don’t end up that way.

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But this is what we would have missed, and we made it back just as it was getting really dark.

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This weekend is the Fountain Hills Arts and Crafts Fair, a big deal, so we went to check it out. There was some very impressive artwork and it was very crowded. We liked the dog hats and the models. They were selling a lot of hats! Wonder how many dogs will actually wear them.

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I spent Thursday morning in training at Fearless Kitty Rescue, where I will be volunteering every week. I was too busy to take photos but will try to next time. It’s a very nice shelter. Just after I got home we had a pleasant visit from fellow Lazy Daze owners and blogger Judie (Adventures of Dorrie Anne) and Gary. Always fun to meet people we’ve only communicated with through emails and blogging and we hope to see them again down the road.

17 comments:

  1. Days and weeks have a way of slipping by when you are setteled in a nice lace. Every day does not have to be a travel day!

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    1. We love it here and the days just seem to fly by. Every now and then we need a little down time from traveling.

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  2. That is a great place to have some "down time." We will stop by in February, but I suppose you will be gone by then :(
    Great news about Jim's eyes!!!
    mark

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  3. Glad to hear the good news about Jim! Thanks for giving us our desert fix! Gorgeous.

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  4. Ahhh…..those desert sunsets are so beautiful! In all of the years we've traveled in Arizona, we've yet to make it to McDowell. Looks like we need to remedy that! Very snazzy new bike shoes and helmet. :-)

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  5. I wonder if I cleaned and polished by 5er, including windows, if I'd get those gorgeous sunset reflections. Jim looks spiffy in red.

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  6. Great news for Jim! And he does look spiffy in the red helmet and shoes!! Red always makes one go faster! I'm getting excited for the saguaro!! There are some around here in yards but I need the thousands of wild ones in the desert:)

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  7. Such a bummer that we will not be there for New Years. I love that place.

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  8. What a beautiful picture from Bobbie, she is so talented!

    Jim looks pretty snazzy in his new riding duds!

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  9. since we are in Florida this winter thanks for sending us some photos of the southwest...

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    1. We keep thinking we should spend a winter in Florida, but after living there for many years it's hard to get excited about it. We don't miss the bugs and humidity!

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  10. We very much enjoyed our visit with you in McDowell. It certainly whet our appetite to come there for an extended stay very soon. Great medical news! And that RED!!! Oh, my - he will be soaring high!!! Hope to see you again really soon! ;->

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

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  11. Stunning photos! Love those Arizona sunsets :)

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  12. Beautiful pictures of the sun setting and disappearing for the evening. Was a special hike.

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  13. Good medical news is always the best! Love the desert at dawn and dusk - your photos on the trail capture that magical time. Glad you made it back without incident :-) Red is definitely a power color!

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  14. Can't decide which are more fantastic your cloud pictures especially the reflection in the window or those racy RED shoes. Way to go Jim, I'm sure those really will put the flame under you.

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