Life in Show Low

I'm really loving this town! It's actually three towns within 7 miles or so, if you include Lakeside and Pinetop. Here's the Google Maps link to the area. CLICK

I added a Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow poster above my little desk. His eyes follow you.

 

I cooked one night! Up til now, I've either been eating Jack-In-The-Box tacos or nuking something, but Sunday night I actually made this, and it was terrific. Hot Italian sausages, Anaheim peppers, leeks, a dollop of Hoisin sauce, a dash of beer (wasn't saucy enough): all sauteed and topped with Mozzarella cheese.There was some leftover Fettucini Alfredo, and some good fresh French bread to round it out.

I went fishing Sunday! Didn't catch anything, but they took my bait a couple of times. Saw other people catch some trout, and did see a very large fish chasing minnows right near the shoreline while I was rigging up, but it was gone when I was ready. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I've been browsing thrift stores and yard sales quite a bit, and the best parts of that are the people I talk to there. This area seems to be a laid-back mix of aging hippies, Native Americans, and (mi favorito) Mexicans. There was a man in the WalMart parking lot holding a turkey, with another one in the open back of his hatchback car. He was selling fresh Araucana chicken eggs and I bought some. His story took 1/2 hour and he was delightful. The turkeys are his pets, tame, and do tricks.

I got to meet my online friend Ara Gureghian! I blogged about him back in March, the guy with the motorcycle and sidecar with his pitbull friend Spirit. He had just blogged on his website CLICK that he was in Show Low, so I emailed him and we arranged to meet in the K Mart parking lot. Amazing man, travels all over on that bike with the dog, camping in beautiful places. It was a cool morning, and Spirit was a bit shivery, so Ara said he'd probably put his heated jacket on him.

Had a distressing day yesterday. I apparently clicked on a bad link on Facebook and VOILA! Trojan virus masquerading as a Spyware program. Took over my computer, couldn't do anything. Had to spend almost 3 hours on the phone with HP getting it removed. Cost $62. I think it's quite curious that it happened 2 days after my laptop warranty expired... It made me very anxious about our online accounts AND not being able to contact Ron in Mexico. Really brought home how dependent we are on the internet. With no phone service where our casita sits, contact is only by SKYPE or IM programs. (I love SKYPE, you all should download it.) We do have the Magic Jack phone, but the sound quality is terrible: all broken up and staticky.

Ron's never home anyway. Always out fishing, and when he IS home, he and neighbor Jack are sitting outside, drinking beer and solving the problems of the universe. I don't believe I'm missed all that much!

The job's going well. I'm an old dog learning a new computer system there. Yes, nursing now is 1/2 computer documentation and 1/2 nursing. They're being patient with me, and the patients are beginning to realize I know what I'm doing (the nursing half, anyway.)

So there it is, life in Show Low is proving to be very different from anywhere I've lived before. Minnesota really IS like the movie Fargo, and San Diego is, well, Californian. I'm eager to see more of the area, and with 3 days off every week I'll be wandering around and trying to see it all.