One month later...

Really loving my roomy mobile home in the tall pines! It's SO 60's, yet so perfect for what I need right now.

Ron came up a few weeks ago (when I got kinda sick) and has been helping to tweak things into shape some more. Here's the guest room, now that I got my futon back. The couple that traded me the mobile for our fifth wheel bought a big sofa and gave me back my futon!

And when Jan and John Knicklebein came for a week, we found these deck chairs at a yard sale on the Rez for $20. They match the mobile's green and white theme, PLUS they fit in my little Nissan with all 3 of us in it!

 

While Jan and I were browsing a consignment store, I got this amazing print. It's hanging in my kitchen. Reminds me of me and certain of Mi Amigas... You know who you are.

Re: the "sick" thing. I've lost a lot of weight here, and my new doctor (love her!) is busily trying to diagnose and fix me. I'm suddenly developed very high blood pressure, quite a bit of nausea, and am fatigued like never before. Fairly extensive blood and urine tests showed that this adrenal node I've had for a while is secreting epinephrine and cortisone, but she doesn't think the numbers alone are high enough to explain everything. So Friday I had a brain MRI and abdominal CT. Taking my new blood pressure med (Toprol) and nausea med (Phenergan) religiously, which nurses rarely do, because frankly, I'm sorta scared.

But I'm also oddly resigned , like Que Sera. Hard to explain.

Today (Sunday! No work! No call!) Ron and I drove over to Hawley Lake on the Rez for a little fishing. There were these beautiful trees all along the road with gorgeous magenta pea-like clusters of flowers. 

Robinia neomexicana – New Mexico Locust

We didn't get any keepers, but I got this: A bit of a sunburn. That's gonna peel. Try not to notice the wrinkles. Mom always said "Stay plump, fewer wrinkles..." Yes, that's my liquor cabinet behind me. It's growing.

 

For those of you that aren't my Facebook friends, here's one of the latest photos of a couple of the grandbabies I miss so much. This is Dylan's graduation from Montessori's Kindergarten, missing a couple of front teeth, with his little sis Nora.

My work schedule has eased up a bit. This is my last week of on-call. I finally told them no more. Ron's truck spent the week in the shop (new rear end, $2300!) and he'll be leaving this week for an extended trip: Louisiana to see his brother, Atlanta to see his daughter, and Minnesota to see a bunch of grandbabies (one of whom is going to China next week!) and to dispose of the contents of the storage unit we pay $95/month for and there's nothing in there worth what that has amounted to since 2005. He needs to be back in time to get me and go to California to see our first great-grandbaby, Oliver, due early July. I've booked 10 days off, so he'd best cooperate.

Lindsay

Also loving my June calendar pin-up boy, John Knickelbein.

So outside of missing Kino, being sick, and working too much, things are good here in Show Low. The weather's absolutely perfect, it always smells like pines, got plenty of gin, and Ron has my drink waiting when I get home. Don't forget about the guest room...

Trailer Trash!

I traded our fifth wheel for a mobile home!  With this three year gig here in Show Low, and our place in Mexico, we really don't see ourselves traveling any more. Plus, I'd come to realize (well, duh!) that winters in these White Mountains in an entry-level non-four-season fifth wheel would not be much fun. So on my rare days off, I drove all over, chasing Craigslist ads for used mobile homes. One morning, too early for my first appointment, I decided to drive through a mobile home park I had avoided before because it was perched on the side of a mountain. A man working in his yard came over when I rolled down my window. I told him I was looking to buy a mobile home, and he pointed to the one I was stopped in front of. Said these folks want to sell theirs and buy a fifth wheel. Karma! Even trade.

(Sorry for photo quality, still haven't bought a camera. Phone pix.)

This park is thick with very tall Ponderosa Pines. Next to it is National Forest, complete with elk, bears, javelinas, and mountain lions. Campfires with drinks next door nightly. And a 1966 mobile home, dark paneling, single-wide, two bedrooms, and a real bathtub. Compared to the casita AND the fifth wheel, it feels cavernous. My clinic is 1/2 mile north, and the hospital, WalMart, Home Depot, Lowes, and Big Lots are 1/2 mile south.

Ron drove up from Mexico in the truck to move the rig to the park, as the MH owners had taken an empty site across from it. They had already removed their stuff outside, so they sat in lawn chairs and waited for Ron and I to make 18 dozen trips back and forth, moving our stuff out of the fifth wheel. Took all day, amazing how much stuff was in there.

They left it furnished. Some of it will/may get replaced in time, but it's all fine for now. Here are my favorite parts:

Bathtub, shower, COPIOUS hot hot water. After the 6 gallon "navy showers" in the fifth wheel, OMG!

HUGE bedroom closet. Four sliding doors, couldn't even get the whole thing in the photo.

CRAFT room! Funky old big desk, closet, built-in dresser. I'll look for a futon to put where the glider-rocker is. For guests.

Gas grill, bolted to the deck!

Shelving in the living room for tchotchkes, huge cupboards and drawers below. I still have empty cupboards and drawers. That white leather armchair and ottoman I recently bought online from Walmart. I love them. Haven't found a better place for the litterbox yet.

This mobile home is exactly what we need, and where we need it, to see us through our last 20 years or so. After this three year gig, I only intend to leave Mexico for those couple of too-hot months every summer, and this little mountain hideaway is perfect.

More pictures.

Kitchen, big fridge. I can have ice cream, my gin, AND a bag of ice all at once in the freezer, PLUS food!
The opening over the microwave is my bar.

I'm trying to lighten up the living room, may have to delete the dark overdrapes, or whitewash the paneling or something. The older blue sofa has recliners at both ends. VERY comfy!

We did buy a few things. New TV for the wall. (Ron mounted it too high, have to recline so it doesn't hurt my neck) Printer, now that there's room for one. Leopard shower curtain. Lamp. Kitchen curtains (theirs had roosters...)

So there you have it. We are no longer RVers. (Have to change my blog header.) I did feel some remorse, sadness, whatever, after I made the deal but before I moved in, because there've been some good times in that RV. No more. I love my old mobile home!

Bits of My New Life. And rambling thoughts. And a rant or two.

Working 50-60 hours a week, hardly ever a day off to do errands or just recuperate. That was NOT in my contract, but I'm mostly holding my tongue, awaiting the promised new staff due soon. Mostly. My Area Manager asked me was I OK with doing this for 6 more weeks, and I told her no, I was furious, and scared I'd get sick. I know I should have said "Sure, whatever you need", but I couldn't.

And it's true, the government takes a whole lot more when you earn a lot of overtime. My take home was 60% of my gross.

First time in my life I paid someone to do my laundry and they lost one whole load. Throw rugs and towels. Including Karen's crocheted-from-sheets rug. Shoulda known: Earl's Laundry.

Had to put gas in my new tiny car today. First time. Trying to like the little booger, but it's hard. Have to turn the lights on and off manually. Can't get the seatback vertical enough, had to get a pillow. SO small and low to the ground, when used to driving that big diesel pickup. No computer, apparently: doesn't tell me what direction I'm going or how my fuel mileage and oil filter are. Couldn't find my car in the WalMart parking lot the other day, thought it was stolen. Who'd steal a no-frills Nissan? It was hiding behind a Jeep. Completely engulfed by a small Jeep.

If you can't figure out what that rhythmic CLICK is, turn the thermostat up so the noisy furnace drowns it out.


I put the awning up all by myself (except forgot to get the stick to hold the end of the strap, so the strap is now inside the rolled-up awning), made the porch light functional again (had one of those Tap Lights stuck up there for a while), and dumped the tanks. I fill water jugs when it's going to freeze, then undo and drain the hoses. I called up the propane company to find out how exactly my big tank gets refilled. Good thing I did. Turns out I'm on Will Call, which means I tell THEM when I need propane. He patiently told me where to find the gauge and how to read it, explained about local temperatures and expected usage, and we decided I was maybe good for the summer, but might want to refill anyway. Generally feeling a bit more confident re: living alone in this RV. Still can't operate the remote control for the TV, though.

I have my TV shows DVR'd because I nod off watching them, but I  fall asleep watching the DVR'd ones, too. Can't get a handle on who's going to win Idol. I thought Joshua or Jessica, but they tried to vote off Jessica last night.

Really enjoying the bird feeder 6 feet away from the window where I'm typing. Finches, sparrows, nuthatches, and huge flocks of these Gray-headed Juncos with the rusty brown backs:

Made a mistake bringing my cat here. It was pure selfishness, and he's miserable. Keeps looking for Ron. I'm paying Mary-The-Cat-Lady to come walk/cuddle him during my long days at work. I've asked Ron to make a weekend road trip and come get him. He has not agreed yet.

I'm drinking, smoking, and eating less, purely from fatigue, but have lost enough weight to need new clothes. Although, since I only seem to wear scrubs and jammies, I don't guess I need to buy clothes any time soon.

Got a new duvet cover for my down comforter. It's cats! Duvets are SO great because you only need the bottom sheet, the cover is much more easily washed than that comforter,  and the bed can be "made" in 5 seconds.

Made an appointment with a family practice physician (a woman) for after my new Blue Cross health insurance takes effect next week. (My VA coverage states I have to be seen in Tucson. ) I have a list for her...

Stole a log from someone's woodpile for a scratchy post for Rocky. He knows those words, scratchy log. Also go for a walk, time to feed the kitty, let's go ni-ni, and no, use your box. This last is when he's scratching up the screen door, 20 degrees outside and blowing sideways.

Here he is right now, napping after his walk:

And right above him is the only crafty thing I've done here so far: a hemp/seashell garland on the slideout header. Makes me homesick.

 

(Sorry for the photo quality, Ron took my camera and these are from my phone.)

I'll wind this up. Have to go do the water hose thing outside, supposed to snow tonight. God, I miss Kino.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Having chosen to live far from home and family (for a variety of reasons), I find myself relying on phone contact, IM, Facebook, and memories to alleviate homesickness. The "memories" part gets frequent and regular boosts due to the tchotchkes (Yiddish for useless trinkets) I'm surrounded by. Living in an RV severely limits tchotchke displays, so almost every surface is crowded with memories.

When I look at these items, I get nearly tangible picture and sound in my head of the people they represent. These are the things I would fight to rescue in a fire, after my cat. These are my memories, slices of my life, and very comforting. William Morris said "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Well. Very few of these tchotchkes are useful, and while they're all beautiful to me, I'm sure visitors to my RV are thinking WTF?

So here are a few of my favorite things, memories included.

Birch-framed mirror, a gift from Brian and Joy Paulzine. Useful and beautiful. Brian and my husband Ron have been friends for 35 years, Ron is their older daughter's godfather, and their younger daughter is the mother of my two youngest grandchildren. They live in Minnesota, and this mirror evokes the closeness of these good friends. I can almost feel their hugs.

Buddha was acquired in San Francisco's Chinatown during a trip with dear friends Marlene and Stewart Becker of San Diego. She's my BFF. That trip included a couple of days in the Sierra Mountains, where Buddha was frequently referred to as That Effing Buddha, as we were short on space and he took up a lot of room in the trunk. This guy's been with me ever since, and is currently wearing my binoculars and guarding the litter box. Useful, no?

My personalized, signed Clint Eastwood photograph was a gift from the surgeon in San Francisco that did my first neck fusion. He had connections. My husband thinks he and Clint may be twins-separated-at-birth. And next to that is a BEAUTIFUL painting of our Mexico environs by my friend Jan Knicklebein, a daily reminder of what I'm here in a snowstorm in Arizona working so hard to get back to.

Gramma Edie's potato salad bowl. Beautiful and most useful. I can almost taste the stuff when I look at it. I do have lots of Edie-memory-items. And my newest martini glass, a recent gift from my friend BetteSandySue Parker, a glass as eclectic as she is. Extremely useful! Also in this tableau is a silver chip-dip tray (Edie) and a fish-shaped wine bottle from one of my Mexican Segundas. I may turn that into a lamp some day. Segunda-shopping with Las Amigas: now THAT'S entertainment!


This dreamcatcher was a gift from one of my patients, a Lakota in Minnesota. Can't name him, HIPPA laws. He had it blessed by a Shaman. I can still see his face and hear his laugh. He made this beautiful thing himself. I've been a dialysis nurse for 35 years, many hundreds of patients, a gazillion memories of these fragile, noble people.







Birch basket of twigs, bought during our first RV trip to Gunflint Lake on the Minnesota-Canadian border. Also an arrowhead I found there. I can smell campfires and pine forest, see the Aurora Borealis, hear loon calls, and taste fried walleye when I look at this.








This canoe shelf is crammed with memories. The Demdeco Angels each elicit moments of joy from my life: my first glimpse of a Sequoia, my dog, my cat, and the taller Free Spirit, another gift from Bette. The lowest shelf has an amber Zuni bear (which reminds me again of my friend Joy, who's always coveted it!) and some amethyst points she and I found together at an amethyst mine in Ontario. Amethyst protects one from drunkenness. Good to know, huh? Beautiful AND useful.





This is my shrine to my dad. The photo is from the 70's, sipping a beer while working on the new house. The frame has a shot-glass vase holding one of his actual cigars. And the useful little green pitcher was what he poured his milk out of every morning of his childhood. The inlaid musical jewelry box was a high school graduation gift from my godparents. And the tiny bronze chest that holds rings was in my dad's box of Army Air Corps memorabilia. No idea of it's history. Found it while sorting out the house contents after he died and mom went to the nursing home.


I was born in the year of the dragon. I'm fierce. Some framed photos of the grandkids, plus one of my son Jon in the 3rd grade. He has a house key clipped to his shorts: he was a latch-key boy. Those were my alcoholic days, and he sorta raised himself. That photo makes me ache for him, he looks so sad and lonely. 

Here it is enlarged:

It also fills me with resolve to never be that self-absorbed person again.
I will never love anyone as much as I love Jon. And I can't live near him, be a daily part of his life, lest I damage him any more than I already have. My penance.







This is my seashell IM-mobile (that has to hang flat against the wall or it tangles badly.) It reminds me of Kino, beachcombing, ATVing, all of it. Pinned to the windowbox are mostly Edie's brooches, PLUS the crocheted angel mi amiga Delfie Lujan made. She IS one. And hard to see unless you click on the photo to enlarge it is the beaded spider (on the washcloth basket) made by my friend Grace Doyle, a gifted crafter who is married to Pat Doyle, who looks JUST like my dad. I love them.

Pat Doyle

My Dad

This is a cat quilt made by my friend Jeannette Harris. The fabric was purchased in Arizona by my mom, who planned to make me a nightgown with it. But Alzheimer's Disease intervened, and it was stored away and forgotten. Mom found it later and gave it to Jeannette, who was futilely trying to teach my mom to quilt. (Something Alzheimer's victims cannot do is learn new things.) Every time I wrap this quilt around me, I remember Jeannette's loving care of my mom and OF ME, her support and belief in me, and her encouraging words when my life was so very dark. The quilt is now frayed in places, loved to bits. As is Jeannette.

That's most of it. There are also cartons and bins of photographs, baskets and boxes of shells, rocks, bones, and potsherds. (The RV has a basement...) I sometimes sit and pore over them, remembering. It's not sad, though, it's actually very fulfilling and comforting. Like Edie's potato salad.

Meet My Friends Part Two

Second in a series on mi amigas in beautiful Kino Bay.

Joan

Joan and Maurice (Canadians) live next door to me winters in a motorhome with a big screened patio. No pets CURRENTLY. Daughter Andrea (Canada) with son-in-law Willie and granddaughter Victoria just visited last month. Joan runs the Western Horizons RV Resort. (Eddie thinks HE does, but anyone will tell you otherwise.) It's an unpaid, thankless task, but she has help: Pat, Suzanne, and Jill in the office and Maggy in the kitchen. And Joan's beloved spouse Maurice (pronounced Morris because he thinks Maurice sounds like a hairdresser) is the neighborhood computer and satellite Go-To man. He also plays Santa Claus.

Joan is long-suffering (if you know Eddie and Maurice...), patient, diplomatic, VERY dry sense of humor, hard-working, energetic, and extremely giving of her time. She likes wine.

Joan

Jill

Jill and Kim are fulltime RVers, Texans,  that live in the WHR park winters in their fifth wheel. ("Volunteers", formerly called workampers) They have two GORGEOUS spoiled Shelties, Sugar and Shadow. Jill is my other Mom. (Jan and I are her twin daughters but Jan's older...). Jill is loving, generous, affectionate, giving, and VERY funny! Plays poker like a pro. Also likes wine. She's a breast cancer survivor: her bravery, strength and refusal to submit humble me. She carries dog biscuits in her pockets in case she encounters one. I made Jill a fairly tacky necklace that says "Life is good" and she wears it every day.

Jill

Sally

  

Sal and Al live one street below me in a trailer with a bright yellow bodega: stocked to the rafters, we call it The Store. Need a can of mushroom soup? Sal has it. These are the most Still-In-Love-After-Umpteen-Years-Of-Marriage people I've ever encountered. Sal is warm, vibrant, alive with curiosity and has a bizarre zest for adventure. And I've read this, but rarely see it: her eyes actually twinkle! Sal makes this drink called a Caesar: Vodka, Clamato, Hotness, etc. (Also called a Seizure...) They've been hit quite badly several times by the banditos that plague our neighborhood. Of all people! They probably would  have GIVEN the banditos anything if they'd just asked. Incredibly, they are Glass-Half-Full people and remain cheerful and optimistic. And they wear matching outfits. Really! Sal has more energy and youth than all the rest of us put together.

Sally

Here's a shot of all three of them, all in one place, drinking to my health at my birthday lunch at Jorge's.

 As an afterthought, I'm adding photos of their spouses, taken from the Men's Calendar...

Maurice (Santa)

Kim

Al

Might as well add the first four amigas' spouses' photos, huh?

Jose

Jan's John

Jim

Bette's John

Adding the first four amigas (Bette, Delfie, Jan, and Karen) to these three makes for a very full and fun life in my little neighborhood. And yes, our spouses' photos are definitely Photoshopped...

Two Steps Back

Lots has happened. My husband and I want to expand our little Mexican estate to include another casita atop the garage, buy the two lots in front of us so nobody can build a two-story there, and get a boat. Coincidentally, the dialysis clinic in Show Low made me an offer I can't refuse, so I'm un-retired. Again.

I'll be here 3 years, until I can get Social Security. And I'll be here alone in our fifth wheel, with occasional trips home to Kino where Ron will be working to perfect our little slice of paradise. Plus I get a month's vacation every year.

It was REALLY heart-wrenching saying goodbye to my friends. I did NOT want to do this anyway (the work is physically demanding on this abused old body), and there didn't seem to be any BUTS to append to the usual "I'll miss you so much but it's not for long" because it's for THREE FRICKING YEARS!

So the plan includes Ron driving us and the fifth wheel to Show Low, staying a few weeks until we aquire a second vehicle, then returning to Kino.

I spent a few weeks stocking the RV with what I thought I'd want or need. We left at 0630 Monday morning, and hit the Nogales border crossing at 1230. Short line, no issues with the inspection because I admitted right up front that I had a tad more liquor than allowed (so he let me keep it), and they DID ask for the cat's vaccination record, which I just barely remembered was overdue and took care of last Friday!

The cat yowled a bit on the bumpier or curvier parts of the road, but not as bad as before. Helps that our road is partly paved now. Changed our remaining pesos in Nogales (they gave us 12.6!) and proceeded to Tucson. I don't know why we were so exhausted, but we decided to stop there at the Desert Diamond Casino for the night. I didn't even go inside. Read my book and went to bed. At 2 AM, I woke up cold: the RV battery had drained and the electric-start furnace wouldn't start, nor would it start when Ron went out to start the truck. So we left for Show Low at 3 AM.

If you've never driven the road from Tucson that goes through Globe and the Salt River Canyon, towing a 34 foot fifth wheel with an under-maintained and under-powered elderly diesel pickup, you're in for a treat. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. At one point, coming up a grade, we were down to about 15 mph. (The speedometer doesn't work sometimes...) My heart was in my throat, I had nausea and chest tightness, the cat was unhappy (lots of S-curves), plus it was dark. Stopped for breakfast in Globe, and debated having a garage look at the truck to make sure the transmission or rear end wasn't compromised, but Ron thought it was OK, so we continued. By then, it was light out, so I kept my sight trained out the side window and played brain games. And we made it. 8:30 AM.

I had pre-arranged an RV site at the Ponderosa RV Resort in Lakeside. Never saw it, just found one on the internet that had cable, wifi, and low annual rates. Really cute website. Turns out it's an older mobile home park mostly. Nobody in the office, so I called the owner Eva and was told "the handyman" would be there shortly to show us some sites. And here comes Dave, middle-aged, ponytail, few teeth, Border Patrol cap (no, he wasn't: "I'm a Minute Man, though. If they need me, I'll go in a minute! Hahaha!" )

Dave wasn't informed what spaces were reserved, just which ones were empty. We probably could have found those ourselves. We were supposed to pick a few we liked and call Eva back. We didn't like ANY of them: narrow, sloped, short, or right on the road. The first one I agreed to turned out to be available, after a lengthy phone call with Eva trying to navigate her files. We couldn't find the sewer under the snow, but were assured it was there somewhere. Dave left us then to back in there ourselves. But using every leveling block we possessed, we could NOT get it even close to level. So we pulled out and called Eva back. Now she's got me walking up and down the convoluted rows of mobile homes and decrepit trailers, looking for one that was less sloped, had all three hookups within reach of our rig, and had room to park the truck. Found one. The water was off, but Eva assured us Dave would turn it on for us. We backed it in, blocks under each wheel because the ground was soft and covered with loose gravel. The electric cord JUST reaches.

Now the slides won't move because the battery's dead. After an hour with the slide motor jumped to the truck battery, we got the slides out. And here comes Dave back to turn on our water, but there's a problem. He insists he cannot LEAVE it turned on unless we wrap our entire water hose with electric heat tape (20 feet, at least $100) The overnight temps here have been in the lower 20s, and currently the upper 20s. Daytime temps into the 50s. Ron and Dave had words, with Ron trying to convince Dave that we have some experience with cold weather RVing, and that he knows how to disconnect and drain at night blahblah. Dave wasn't having it, he was programmed with that one rule and couldn't adapt. Ron had to become quite stern and authoritative to get Dave to turn on the water, which seems to be what works with Dave. We then went to WalMart and Home Depot, and have insulated the water pipe.

The wifi is weak, may need an antenna. The "cable" is 7 grainy channels, and no Fox or CNN. There's a snowdrift outside my door. But there's a big apple tree out my back window! And lots of birds. And it's pretty quiet, only 11 winter people here as yet.

Ron's not happy, but he's not staying long. We'll be in a hotel suite in Tempe for training for a couple of weeks (this job now includes Acute Dialysis at the little hospital here). I may get the local cable company to give me real cable and internet. The truck needs to be looked at. We'll be going through propane like water. And I found out I'm JUST outside Domino's delivery radius: had to go pick up my pizza at the gas station up the road.

The movie theater is 3 blocks away, the Safeway and liquor store not much farther. It'll do for now. Ron will teach me how to change propane tanks, troubleshoot tank-dumping issues, and generally help me feel more confident at RVing alone, and I'll be too busy to be homesick, hopefully.

Here's some photos. Click on them to see the dreary details...

I'm crammed in between two older trailer/porch combos.

This is across from us. Hopefully, it's being dismantled and removed?

My own personal snow drift outside the door...

Dismal, huh? But there's big trees!

The apple tree behind the rig is a producer! They're all over the ground.