The pantry and freezer had bare spots–it was time for a trip to Tucson but we had a more exciting reason for the trip than grocery shopping. Emmi had a minor vet appointment in Green Valley which is near the home of Gay and Joe of Good-Times-Rollin fame. We have communicated for years, read our respective blogs but had never met until Wednesday. It was as if we were meeting life long friends–we had the best time in the two hours spent at Manuel’s–I think we could have spent the entire afternoon chatting away. What awesome, positive people with whom we have so much in common.

After Gay and Joe met Emmi who had been patiently sleeping in the truck we headed for Tucson. As we are zooming along I-19 in heavy traffic I spotted a small crested saguaro alongside the freeway!!! Of course there was no stopping for photos! Our Walmart pickup order was ready–that store was busy–then it was off to Costco. The nose piece on one pair of my glasses had fallen off and my sunglasses which were purchased at our Montana Costco last summer have never fit correctly. Costco optical departments are notoriously busy–you can wait a very long time to see an optician. Wednesday I walked right up to the counter and an optician who said, “how may I help you?” I told her I was heading straight out to purchase a lottery ticket, it was my lucky day!! And it was my lucky day–that young woman spent 15 minutes helping me with the nose piece and the fit of all three pairs of glasses. Typically in our Montana Costco it’s a 2-3 minute process and you walk away with glasses that still don’t fit correctly. I should have bought a lottery ticket!!
I’ve passed a milestone–I’ve given up my registered nurse license. In Montana it was easy to maintain the license which I’ve done all these years even though I have been retired for a long time. It was time to renew in December and I just decided it was time to no longer be a license carrying nurse. Do I have regrets–not one.
The garden box is doing OK in spite of our frigid temps here in sunny Arizona! The Cowboy puts a light inside the box and covers it with a blanket at night. We hit 22 degrees Wednesday night and the box was above freezing Thursday morning. Sunday morning it was 20 degrees outside and the grow box was 31 degrees inside–good enough for radishes and lettuce. And the lettuce has sprouted!
During coffee hour on Thursday morning (or maybe it was coffee hour #2) we were treated to a wildlife happening–three extremely fat javelinas waddled past the porch door and out across the yard. As Jodee recently talked about in her blog post–I stayed in the moment, just watching the waddling, not worrying about jumping up to find a camera.
Our weather has been awful–I keep reminding myself that even though we are in Arizona, it is still winter. Sue sent me an email early saying it was 29 degrees one morning in Quartzsite–that’s cold for Yuma, AZ country! We had a half inch of rain, gusty, strong, bitterly cold winds and frigid temps. The forecast for the next week continues those frigid night time temps and chilly days–but at least the sun is shining!
The ice maker in our refrigerator started to leak last season forming one big impossible to use mass of ice in the bucket. It wasn’t a priority for the Cowboy but all of a sudden I made it a priority!😋. Friday my handy husband installed our new ice maker and I’m a happy camper!
Several years ago the Cowboy and I started eating our main meal at lunch time–some time between noon and 1pm. We would then eat a lighter dinner–popcorn and fruit, soup, a leftover from the refrigerator, etc. While we all enjoy the ambiance of a nice dinner party, none of us sleep well after indulging in all that food later in the evening. Dan and Louanne have also recently started doing lunch as their main meal. Today they came to our house for Sunday brunch and even though it wasn’t evening we still dined like kings. I cooked bacon in the oven, made a fruit salad and a very sinful/unhealthy coffee cake–it’s made from canned biscuits of all things! Some people refer to the coffee cake as monkey bread, my recipe is for cinnamon nut ring. Whatever you call it, the dang thing is delicious! Louanne makes the best scrambled eggs so she was in charge of those when she arrived. Yep, we dined like kings!
The Cowboy grew up doing jigsaw puzzles, I did not. We didn’t jump on the pandemic puzzle wave but recently decided to give it a try, borrowing one from Louanne. It’s addictive!
I’m off to play Rummikub with the ladies and will schedule this blog to post later this evening. Life is good!