March 14, 2005

March 14, 2005

North Ranch SKP Park, Congress, Arizona

DAY 269

 

This morning was cloudy, a bit cooler, and windy. It rained for a few minutes this morning. A bit of rain makes the desert bloom even more. The afternoon was sunny and warm. The evening was cold and very windy. The forecast calls for snow tonight in the northern parts of Arizona.

Teddy and Bo woke me up at 6:15 A.M. again this morning. Teddy seems to think that as soon as the sun rises, he should be fed. His antics wake up Bo, who then wants to be walked. The two of them ganging up on me makes it impossible to sleep. I fed them, walked Bo, and went back to sleep. Harvey's windows have day / night shades ; a semi-transparent shade for day use, and an opaque shade for night use. We lower the night shades only in the bedroom, and always use only the day shades in the living area. I think I'm going to start lowering the night shades in the living area, to see if that keeps Teddy sleeping a little longer. If that doesn't keep him sleeping longer, my next step will be to buy solar / light shades for the roof vents.

This morning I phoned MTS Mobility, and paid the cell phone bill. Next winter I'm going to have to try a different service package. Our cell phone bills on a monthly basis are outrageous, and we rarely use the phone. Then I unhitched Harvey from Dee-Dee, and took Dee-Dee to adjust the air pressure in the tires. I check tire pressures and adjust them as necessary, on a weekly basis. Joanne joined me on an obedience training session with Bo, then we walked over to see Saguaro Park. Saguaro Park is a landscaped park on the edge of the RV park property. It was built by, and for, and is maintained by the residents in the park. This is a very large park of over 400 home sites. Some sites are RV home sites, some are mobile home sites, and some have regular “stick and brick” homes built on them. Saguaro Park is built around two old, named Saguaro Cacti. Sheba is about 145 years old. Methuselah is over 400 years old and is one of the oldest known Saguaros in Arizona. I'll walk back another time and take a picture of Methuselah for my blog.

This afternoon, I took a nap, then walked back to Saguaro Park to take a couple of pictures of Methuselah. I returned to the trailer and downloaded the photos from the camera to the laptop.

Then I took the computer over to the computer room, got online, and retrieved investment data. I'll update and analyze my investment files tomorrow. I spent some time playing with Bo, with his new "Foxy" retrieving dummy. Ducky is dead ! He sure loves those retrieving dummies. We have to always keep a spare in the cupboard. He destroys them at the rate of about one every two weeks. We administered monthly doses of flea "spot-on" treatments to Teddy and Bo, and heart worm medication to Bo.

At 6:30 I went to watch a session of the park's wood carving group. Tonight's gathering was a group of one. I chatted with the fellow as he worked on a wood carving of a fisherman. We chatted about Escapee organization politics. I don't think I'll be taking up wood carving any time soon. I returned to the trailer about 7:30 for dinner, and an evening of watching TV.

DSK