Alone again, but OK!

I've had a really great summer all in all. My friend Delfie was parked in her motor home 50 feet away from me, and we spent the summer (after I got off work) eating, drinking, dissecting life, and laughing until the tears ran. I gained some weight back, because she cooked for me. She's truly family to me, and I love her dearly. But they left yesterday, time to go south. They'll be in Kino all winter, but plan on coming back here in the spring. I'll have her on Skype.

Me, Delfie, Jose, and Teriyaki Elk Chops!

Ron comes up to visit sometimes, had to buy screening for the casita porch. Here he is at the grill. Yes, it's mounted on the outside of the deck.

It was intended he take Rocky home to Kino for the winter. He had all his stuff packed, bought a winter's worth of those expensive tiny cans of Fancy Feast. Then the night before he left, Rocky suddenly crawled in my lap and was actually SNUGGLING against my neck and licking me. Normally that cat doesn't like me, but it was like he KNEW I'd be too lonely. I changed my mind. He's here for now.

After Delfie left yesterday, I tried to keep busy to lessen my sadness. I had bought a couple of coleus plants for the deck, and over the summer they got humungous. I want to try to keep them alive this winter, but had to move furniture to accommodate them inside. Ron brought our big trunk home from Minnesota this summer when he cleaned out our storage unit there, and it serves perfectly for those plants.

So here's the way it all looks now. Sorta crowded...

My oil lamps, now with crystal petticoats!

And I still have Buddha, sporting a tiara and binoculars...

During and after I finished moving furniture, I also did 3 loads of laundry, made another batch of Bailey's, made Elk Chili, watched a bunch of stuff saved on the TiVo, and had a bubble bath. I'm off today also, and plan to go to the Segundas. Maybe haul out the holiday decorations and see what's needed.

And let my cat know how much he's appreciated.

Where the hell did August go?

And the summer's over, just like that. Haven't blogged in over a month, so here's a randomly slapped together mishmash of where the rest of my summer went.

Ron went home to Mexico, had been working on expanding/enclosing the front porch, when THIS happened:

 

 

Kino's had SO much rain that our hay bale construction sort of caved in. Apparently we need better drainage directed away from the foundation. It's been repaired with concrete block.

I've truly enjoyed having my friend Delfie parked across from me this summer. We have cocktails every afternoon when I get home from work. We go to Segundas (second-hand stores), we eat out, she cooks for me (Posole last night!), AND we've perfected our homemade Bailey's recipe. (Bailey's costs too much in Mexico.) Tonight we're having Teriyaki Elk Chops, courtesy of one of my favorite patients, who sometimes calls off sick to his treatments because he's out hunting. Delfie and Jose are heading south in a few weeks, and I'll be very sad. But my neighbors are great, quite laid-back and throw great bonfires. With beverages. And snacks.

Jose, Delfie, and neighbor Kim

Segunda Treasure: Ashtray with planter

Segunda Treasure: Oil Lamps! (The Horsehair Pottery Vase was a gift from Ron)

I bought a tiny clothes dryer to go with my tiny washer. Home Depot delivered it free. Currently it's just sitting on the built-in dresser in the den, but it's going to be mounted on the wall above the washer in the bathroom. The washer actually washes a larger load than the dryer can dry, so it's required some adjustment on my part when organizing this most-hated chore. I liked it better when I was just dropping off two overstuffed laundry baskets at the laundromat and picking them up later, all folded and on hangers.

Dryer

Washer

But now I have more $$ for the important things: fresh flowers every week, segunda treasures, Bailey's ingredients, and I DID buy the Kohler's Pig print! It's above my bed.

 

 

Our RV park is emptying out for the winter, and the visiting patients are going back to the valley. Rumor has it that if the patient census drops low enough, we'll only be open Monday-Wednesday-Friday, 15 hour days. Oy vey.

There's a javelina problem here in our park. Herds of them wander around at dawn, fearless, destructive. I bought a bazillion candlepower spotlight that they seem to hate, and when my tethered cat's out there in the dark, I keep running outside with the light to check on him. Rocky's pretty fierce toward intruders, but those pigs could be his match. (I would add my photos HERE but blogger is being horrible. It's taken me two days to finish this post because the photos aren't loading.)

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The only other new development is I'm now diabetic, courtesy of that secreting adrenal node. It has (to date) caused high blood pressure (requiring 2 medications), nausea, weight loss (not a bad thing yet), angina (last summer, I now carry nitroglycerine tablets), and now diabetes. I take my meds and my blood sugar monitor everywhere. Had to switch to my BIG purse to carry all that crap around with me. The adrenal node needs to come out, she's looking for a surgeon that will do it. Apparently it's tricky.

 

So onward toward winter. Ron may be coming back up soon, needs to buy NoSeeUm screening for the porch. I'm planning on sending Rocky home with him: he isn't happy being leashed, plus he's starting to slow way down. I don't think I can handle being the one to have to put that cat down.

 

 

 

If I had more room...

...these are what I'd buy for the walls.

By Michael Sowa, "Kohler's Pig". I've always loved this pig!

Can't recall the artist's name, saw it in a gallery in Minnesota somewhere. Just reeks of companionship, adoration, and love. It was titled "Batman and Robin".

By Rudy Hurlsmeier, "Krahe" means crow. With boots on. Makes me giggle, and not very much makes me giggle any more.

Don't recall this artist, either.

The Bear Dance, William Holbrook Beard. I actually owned a huge framed print of this once, but gave it away when we downsized to the RV. My friend Joy in Minnesota has one over her sofa. Reminds me of the song Teddy Bears' Picnic, which used to scare the crap out of me when I was really little. This version by Anne Murray isn't dark at all.

Teddy Bears' Picnic (Anne Murray)

Saw this on Ebay. I used it for my Avatar for a while.

Here's what's been going on:

Ron came up to Show Low, fell down (he gets dizzy) and got a huge bruise on his leg because he takes a blood-thinner. Took a while to heal, he was miserable.

Then he drove to Minnesota and cleaned out the storage unit. He was supposed to get RID of it, instead he brought a lot of it here. He also got to cuddle grandbabies.

Then we went to California to meet our first great-grandchild, Oliver. SO precious, so contented, we never did hear him cry all week.

And that's all. Glad I'm home, need a vacation after my vacation...

Mighty contented! Finally!

Most of the US is sweltering. Unprecedented heat and humidity. Y'all need to come visit me for a while.

The White Mountains of Arizona is where Phoenix comes in the summer. At 6500 to 7200 feet elevation, thickly forested in Ponderosa pines, it's nice and cool here. We did get temps into the 90s last week, but everyone says that's very unusual. And it always smells pine-y. I have a futon for guests... Show Low Weather Report!

Well, here's what's new:

I cut back my hours at work to 3 days a week. They're 12 to 15 hour days. Now when they ask me to pick up an extra day (most weeks) I'm not overwhelmed like before. And no more on-call. I feel rested and content. My blood pressure is now controlled and no more nausea if I take my pills, and have stopped losing weight. The future may include having that adrenal node removed, but not this month anyway. I'm busy.

Ron's been in Minnesota cleaning out the storage. He was told to get rid of most of it, but he had to rent a trailer, he said. D'oh! He's due back tonight.

My friends from Kino, Delfie and Jose, left the heat in Colorado and are parked in their motorhome across the road from me for the rest of the summer. I love them.

Ron's granddaughter Lindsay delivered a 9 pound 4 ounce boy, Oliver, on July 2nd. I'm a Great-Grandmother! We're leaving Sunday to drive out to California to see him. I booked a week off.

I re-opened my Etsy shops for my crocheted and felted booties, purses, and amulet bags. Take a peek!
HotWetWool
Barbiloulou

Bought a vintage fishing rod, then found out it's a baitcasting rod, not for a spinning reel. I don't know how to cast a baitcasting reel, it always backlashes. Ron calls it "Professional Over-run". But I decided I'll learn, and found a vintage reel yesterday that fits it. The new ones have thicker plastic "feet" that don't fit.

Phone picture, sorry. Like my fish pillow? Garage sale. Tons of those here, in fact, gotta get going soon, it's Friday, best day for garage sales. Wish Ron was here so I could take the truck, just in case we find something big. My car's so tiny I may have to just buy jewelry... And tonight is Seafood Buffet at the casino. We're going. All the crablegs you can eat. I can eat a lot. They saw them in half for you so you can eat'em faster.

Later! Come visit!

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.