What does a workamper do all day anyway?

Soooooo, just so ya know, today is July 31st, and we have left the Refuge.  (Insert frowny face here, and yes, it was a bit more emotional than we/I had anticipated.)  But, since I hadn't really been keeping you up to date while we were ON the Refuge, I thought I would share a bit of what we were doing during the time of self-isolation and quarantine.  (Jennifer, please be patient, you've already seen most of these photos, but none of our friends have...)   Btw, let's all welcome our Volunteer Coordinator to the blog - hellloooo, Jennifer!  And Candice, too...our neighbor from Crystal River, FL, whom we miss dearly - howdy, Girlfriend, 'sup??!!  Ok, let's get back to work now...  So, the Refuge Visitor Center has been closed since mid or end of March (can't remember, and it really doesn't matter, it's been quite a while now), and the staff has mostly been working from home.  I say mostly, 'cuz if you're a fireman or maintenance specialist, it's darned near impossible to telecommute, and so they have been coming onsite to do their work.  However....their work does not include making things presentable and pretty, sooooo, that falls to the volunteers! The Russian Sage bush is way overgrown and the butterfly garden is full of weeds, so off to work we go! 

And here is the railing - all poopy and chipped, and just generally not pretty.  Since I have to use it to get up the steps, I wanted to spiff it up some.

And so, we waited till a Friday night, prepped it with our fancy recycled box spatter shields, and our spray painter extraordinaire got busy.

When all was said and done, it was shiny and looked brand new!

The next morning we trucked on over to Marble Falls, about 23 miles away (only 11, if you go by crow), and picked me up a hand pruner to make it easier for me to work in the flower bed.  That's the closest Lowes Home Improvement store, and the ACE Hardware that is in Lago Vista doesn't have a pruner worth a dime.  We know, 'cuz we bought the one they had, and pardon my French, but it sucked.  It got returned the day after it was purchased.  While we were at Lowes, we found a rack of scrawny, half-dead, dried up tomato plants.  For a dime each.  Ever searching for the perfect homegrown tomato (yes, STILL), Driver just couldn't resist.  We came home with two!  And a couple bags of compost and dirt.  There was a discarded pallet on the burn pile, so we salvaged that and turned it into a planter box.

And planted our 20 cent tomato plants.

Later that night, we still had some energy left, so we signed up for a Zoom square dance.  This would be our second one, so, thankfully, we were better than before.  We still had a time or two where we stepped out of camera range, and while muted, we had a discussion about where our phantom corners should have been.  Darn those phantoms, they could sure use a few lessons!  LOL, probably us, too, ya think?

Remember that Quilt of Valor I did a dedication block for?  If you don't just click on that there link, and you'll go right to the post that contains the original block.  I'll wait.  Well, apparently, it, and its quilt, turned out so well, the maker was tasked with recreating the whole thing for another Veteran.  In a month's time. So she sent me some more fabric, and as soon as it was received, I whipped out this little puppy.  I thought maybe we should change up the motif at the top, to more accurately reflect the land-based Army, rather than the ocean waves of the Navy, but she said the stars and scrolls were find, so who am I to argue.  Besides, I still had all the threads selected and readily available, so, BAM, plug in the new dude's name, and Save and stitch away.

The next day, or maybe another day, I don't really remember, but it was a working day, so it was Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, we decided we were going to work on an area of the Refuge that was open to the public, but was about 15 miles from our campsite area.  To get there, we traveled down Cow Creek Road, and we got to see this beauty.  

and a baby....

So, you see here, there is a sign posted, suggesting that the area behind the sign was closed to the public.  No trails were here at Shin Oak Observation Deck.  This area is basically just a gazebo to shelter the crowds from the hot sun or sporadic rain showers that might pop up.  The area is dedicated to the Black Capped Vireo, a small and endangered songbird that nests exclusively in this area of central Texas. People come from all over the world to catch a glimpse of this shy little bird.  We never did see or hear one. 

But, we did fix it so that people would know to stay out of their territory.

While we were there, we got to see one of the Prickly Pear flowers up close and personal.  (Actually, Driver got REALLY up close and personal with one of the prickly parts, and it's a good thing I have tweezers.....)

This is how we found the boardwalk to the Observation Deck...

And this is how we left it...

This is how the parking lot looked when we arrived (you see all that trash around the edge??)...

And this is how it looked after we did our thing...

Back up at Warbler Vista, another area that is open to the public, we found another hidden sign....that we uncovered...

And, again, back at the Visitor Center, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the hedge trimmer to take care of these bushes around the foundation...

It was hard, strenuous work...

but so very rewarding in the end...

And, speaking of rewards...remember back when I was making all those masks, and I got a kit of 50 from our MagneShade friends?  I had agreed to sew them all up and return some or all back to them in North Carolina.  Well, the kit came, and I put out a Facebook notice to all our friends that I would have masks available in a week or so, and just let me know how many they needed of blue or pink.  John and Lora asked for 2 (I'm pretty sure I made them 2 each, but it's been so long, I just can't say for sure) to be sent to them at Happy Trails, in Arizona.  They offered to pay me for them, but, since this whole project was a charity thing, I didn't feel right accepting money for the masks or shipping.  I suggested they just buy lunch for a cop or a bag of dog/cat food for their local animal shelter.  Well, in typical Lora fashion, she told me that there would be a surprise waiting for me at the Marble Falls Post Office when we arrived here.  It.Never.Came.  First we went there (remember, it's not even close!), TWICE, and there was never anything there....and finally, we started calling.  And calling..and calling.  And there was never anything there for us.  Eventually, Lora ordered another surprise for us, and lo and behold, this one ARRIVED. And, boy, what a surprise it was!  While we were in Sedona, AZ, we had the pleasure of tasting freshly-squeezed Prickly Pear lemonade, remember?  I rather liked it, Driver was on the fence about it. (but if you pressed him, he would admit to liking it better than the mineral water lemonade of Mineral Springs, CO) Well, now I can make my OWN Prickly Pear lemonade!  Or, pour the syrup over pancakes.  Or make my PBJs with the jelly she so generously sent.  Oh my, what a prize this surprise was!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lora and John!!

So now you've seen a little of what we did the first couple of weeks we were on the Refuge.  There's much more to be done, so stay tuned!

Stay well and safe out there!

3 Shots, Mail Call, Cold Showers and Food Truck Friday

So, it's so easy to get busy then forget to fill you in on the day's activities, and then everything just piles up and it gets overwhelming, and wham!  Three weeks go by before you know it, and you are in the dark, not knowing where we are or what's going on.  I know y'all wait with bated breath for my every post, so I apologize up front for my radio silence.  So, we've been in Surprise for a month and a week now, and we have done absolutely diddly squat!  Well, that's only partly true.  We've had LOTS of doctor appointments, and I've gotten THREE, count 'em, THREE shots!  You know about how hard it was to get that Prolia shot done - if you don't, just trust me when I say, it was HARD.  A royal pain, to be honest.  But, finally, after many hours (yep, not a typo!) on the phone, and traveling between offices, I finally got it.  Took all of about 10 seconds to administer, and I can already see the difference in my fingernails.  I tell ya, that stuff works miracles.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure I got in in time to prevent a cracked toe.  Yeah, if it ain't one thing broken, it's another!  Speaking of broken, didja notice the title?  Notice that "cold showers?"  

Now, Dick is pretty handy, and can fix just about anything and everything.  But, see, this here coach is still under warranty, and if he goes taking too much stuff apart without schematics (and permission!), we just might void said warranty, then we'll be in a heap o'trouble.  So, cold showers?  Yeah, what's up with that????  Ever since we took possession of this puppy, our showers have been wonderful.  Endless streams of super hot water.  And then, one day, we tested the hot water on the furnace mode.  Seems now, we get in there, the water's good and hot, but only for a moment or three.  Then, it goes icy cold!  And usually STAYS that way!  What the heck?  More than once, we've both been caught, all soapy, and with only cold water to rinse off.  That is MOST unpleasant, lemme just tell ya.  This Oasis hot water/furnace system is all new to us, so we did a little research, came up with nuthin' and called Newmar Customer Service for advice.  Sweet Erica (love that girl!) suggested we just use the furnace option when we wanted to shower, then turn it off when we were done.  Ehhhh, noooo, that's not the way we understand it's supposed to work.  But, we did as directed.  Ummmm...still cold water after a minute.  If we're lucky, it goes back to warm, but, personally, I'm never lucky!  So, today, we called Newmar again and spoke with Mike this time.  He said we could just add it to the list when we take it in to Apache Junction to rectify the hood shocks.  And in the meantime?  Well, quick, lukewarm showers, I suppose.  But, today, we got another clue.  Hot water remains at the sink, even when the shower water is cold.  Hey, now, THAT could be important.  By my logic, that narrows the problem down to the shower handle/regulator thing, not the actual heater element or the lines bringing the water to the back of the bus.  I don't know how they're going to take that thing apart, but I do know that there's one dude gonna be watching when they do it.

And, in other news....check out Bailey's new wheels!  (That is a BIG box of fabric, batting and embroidery supplies, sent to me, courtesy of Kelly, my dear friend from Ohio.  She had two quilt tops pieced together, but needing quilting, and I (foolishly?) volunteered to do so.  In return, she sent me rolls and rolls of stabilizer for embroidery, dozens of pre-wound bobbins and some specialty threads.  Twenty six (26!) pounds, sixty two (62!) bucks to ship.)  But the wagon is from Sam's Club and is collapsible, for easier transport.  She loves it!  And she sure stays a lot cleaner this way!

So here is the box, just opened.  You can see, it is packed full and right up to the very top.  I got everything stowed, but it took some creative arrangement.  I went up to the quilt room, to make arrangements to "borrow" their tables so that I could put these quilts together properly, but would you believe, I am not even allowed in the room until or unless I cough up 10 bucks to join their guild.  They told me it was only 10 bucks dues, but that was for the whole year, and lets me use the room any time there wasn't a class in it.  I told them we'd only be here another month or so, and I was planning to leave them 3 finished quilts, but they said, Nope, can't be in here.  Literally dropped my jaw on that one.  Oh well, their loss.  

Sometimes, we get a really pretty sunset.  This is the view out Driver's front window the other night.

Every Friday, a group of food trucks come and set up outside downtown Sam's Club.  They range from Mister Softee to soul food (?) to waffles and cream, bbq & Korean.  I understand there is a different lineup every week.  Here's Lora, setting out on her first trip around the lot, checking out tonight's offerings.

This poor pasta truck had some cute sayings printed on its side, but they didn't serve many people the night we were there.  I don't know if they had a bad rep, the food was bad, or what.  But there were long lines at the other trucks, and nary a sole at this one.

Here's Driver, with our appetizer of spicy shrimp, fresh pickled cuke slices with jasmine rice and field greens.  YUM!  I'd guess most people would call this a dinner entree.  We split it and could have easily each had another full order.  Maybe 2.  Each.

John (Lora's hubster) got an Indian Burger, served on what they call Frybread.  It's kinda like a pizza crust/pita cross.  Two burger patties, pico de gallo, guac, and cheese over it all.  He enjoyed it!

Lora found a fellow Iowan, serving genuine Iowa Black Angus, wrapped in a corn flour patty, smothered in cheddar cheese.  It was definitely a generous portion, eh?

Dick and I each got a piled-high bbq sandwich, with both sliced beef brisket AND pulled pork, with a bit of homemade slaw on a brioche bun.  Gotta admit, it was pretty darned good.

Oh, crap.  I'm just now realizing, I didn't get a single photo of dessert!  Naturally, with this bunch, you know ice cream was involved.  Remember, I mentioned Mister Softy?  Caramel, chocolate and wet walnuts, with maraschino cherries managed to all find their way to our table.  We ate well, that's for sure.

So, during all these weeks, we've gotten the car serviced (twice!), gotten the floor tiles repaired, visited Tucson & Gila Bend, seen doctors all over the West Valley, been out to Cave Creek to see my brother and sister-in-law, danced with DeeDee Dougherty once, gotten Bailey to the vet (all good, doesn't need dental just yet, no heartworms, so we could refill her preventative meds), gotten her a set of wheels, visited the commissary a few times, and have experienced our first food truck dinner.  Oh, yeah, and there was a happy hour thrown in there too.  I tossed some apple slices in brown sugar and cinnamon, wrapped them in thinly sliced pie-dough strips and baked them, and there weren't any left to come home, so they must have been ok.  I was originally going to make them for the Halloween party and put eyeballs in between the strips (you know, to make them look like mummies), but the party was the same day as my first injection, so you know we didn't get to go to that.  Oh, and I did get my sewing machine serviced (for FREE, no less!!) while we were in Tucson.  

It has been a busy month, and we've not really done any sightseeing, but we've gotten a lot of other things accomplished.  Every day is a new adventure..Wait till you hear what happened today!  Coming up next...Cave Creek Wild West Days.

Settling in, Settling down, Maybe a little mischief

Hello again, Dear Friends!  Noooo, thanks for asking, we did NOT fall off the face of the earth, nor have we gone underground again, so no worries...no stalkers, just been busy.  Doing what you ask?  I know, we're retired, and we really have nothing pressing, so what is it that keeps up so busy?  Honestly, darned if I know.  But we get up every morning, make the bed, get ready, and before you know it, it's lunchtime!  Then we do whatever chores and tasks we have on the agenda, and before you know it, it's dinnertime!  

Let's go shopping, shall we?  You may recall, we were headed all over tarnation, attending the Maricopa Independent Quilt Shops shop hop.  One county (I think), 8 shops, and about 200 miles!  Unreal!  The shops were demonstrating their favorite notions, from rulers (expensive!!) to pins, to magnets.  I did buy a new pair of scissors, specially developed for machine embroidery, and really not that pricey, at only $18.  They are made by Kai, and supposedly, guaranteed to stay sharp for life.  All the way to the very tippy tip.  We'll see, eh?  There was one other product, something you spray on the backs of your rulers to make them kinda tacky, so they don't slip around on the fabric.  It was $9 for a small spray can of it.  The product seemed kinda cool, and it appeared to work, but it was highly flammable, and even though we are a completely electric coach now, I just didn't think I wanted to keep that kind of explosive just laying around.  No telling how long it would take me to use it up, so it might be around a while.  The only other purchase I made was an itsy bitsy crochet-hook wire thingy, meant for pulling loose threads and loops to the back of the project.  Oh, and one piece of fabric.  But, the best thing of all - I *did* find a service tech for my machine, so that's quite a relief.  Last time it was serviced was about 3 years ago, so it was definitely due.  Probably overdue.  At one shop, waaaay out in the boonies, we did find these pillows, done in wools.  Cute, but very scratchy and heavy.  And sooo not our style!  But definitely cute!  That little quail, on the right, looks just like Squeak, the somewhat tame quail bird that lives a few doors down.  They've had him/raised him since he was no bigger than the palm of their hand, and he's a hoot.  It was a VERY long day, but we got 4 shops knocked out when we called it quits.  We saved the other 4 for another day.

The next day, Saturday, we gave the doggo another bath - these streets just crawl up her legs and make her all grimy, oily and gritty feeling, and then, of course, it all just comes right inside and makes dirty all over the camper!  Yeah, baths have become absolutely mandatory, weekly, at the very least.  Then, we decided to attend the Fiesta Grande that was scheduled to take place in Original Town Site, ya know how Jose loves his Mexican food...

And, of course, there was ice cream!  However, it was exorbitantly priced, and we had frozen yogurt at home, in the freezer, that promised to be every bit as good.  Plus, I could join him in a bowl of yogurt, and if he had purchased the ice cream, all I could do was sit and watch him eat it.  That wouldn't have been much fun at all.  Well, at least, not for ME.  

We wandered around for just a bit, to see what all was there; there were several food trucks and commercial booths and a mariachi band.  While the band was undoubtedly very good, they didn't really command (or hold) our attention.  Actually, they were very draggy and slow, so we lost interest after only one and a half songs, and we wandered back to the other end, where the kids were performing.  They weren't exactly professionals (yet?), but they were having fun!

If the video link below isn't available to you, click HERE to watch the kids dance.

This little hottie was full of personality!!  You could really tell she was gonna be hot stuff in a couple of years!

If you are reading this in email, and don't see the video link below, click right HERE to check out the little cutie-pie.

 There was the Chick-Fil-A cow there, and guess what!?  He (she?) had an attendant from North Carolina!  She said she knew I wasn't a local, 'cuz I sounded like her!  Hahaha.  They were passing out little "credit cards" with pictures of 3 of their sandwiches on 'em.  I asked what they were for, or would do (all the verbiage was in Spanish, go figure), and she told me they entitled us to a free dinner sandwich, all we had to do was present the cards!!  The catch - of course there's a catch! - was that the card is only valid at one location in town.  We don't know exactly WHERE that one location is, but you can bet we'll find it at some point.  Either that, or just give the cards to one of the neighbor ladies before we go.

It got pretty dark after the kids performed, and there were lots of "dignitary" speeches that seemed to draaaaag on forever, then they brought in a live band.  Who promptly announced, in Spanish, that there was some sort of mixup and they weren't ready to perform, but they had a DJ lined up instead.  And they'd be back sometime after 6:30.  That was much later that we wanted or planned to stay, so moseyed on back to the shuttle bus pickup point.  Dinner was What-A-Burger, so it wasn't a total loss.

We must admit, we were getting a little bored with our day-to-day activities, and we needed a relief from all the stress of traffic (it's unreal!!  and not at all pleasant!)  Plus, we wanted John and Lora to know just how we felt about them being GONE when we got here!  Four rolls of crepe paper, some googly eyes, skeleton hands, and one tablecloth later, their site was sufficiently trashed.  We were careful not to tape anything to their rig or do anything permanent or damaging, 'cuz, well, that just wouldn't be cool.  We forgot to consider the HOA rules though....but no one seemed to mind too awful much.  Except for John and Lora, when they came home exhausted, and they couldn't even get their car in the driveway.  Which was exactly as we'd planned it!  HAHAHAHA!  That'll learn 'em, durn 'em!  Don't be taking off when we're scheduled to arrive!

So, some of you are wondering what were the results of all that testing I had done..  and if you weren't just close the window and go on with your bad selves!  MRI - shows that I have an "old fracture" in L4.  Exactly where it hurt back in July, and exactly where I showed them in the ER in Oklahoma City.  We are now playing phone tag with the Director of Emergency Medicine, at the hospital.  She wants to talk to me about what happened in the ER at the time of my visit.  We have an EOB for almost $4000, where they diagnosed me with a sprained muscle and sent me home with muscle relaxers and ibuprofen.  For a broken back.

The DEXA scan results are in too.  My hip is a T-score of -3.2, my lower back is -3.9 and I have a 21% chance of a fracture of some sort in the next 12 months.  Yippee.  So, I spent 3 hours, THREE HOURS trying to reach the rheumatologist's office, to get a follow up appointment for a Prolia shot.  Which, I believe I told them I needed, two weeks ago.  ARRGH, so annoying and frustrating.  No.  I have NOT gotten through to them - they kept me on hold, for 11 minutes, then after informing me that I was caller #1 in line, they auto-bumped me to the voice mail for the infusion department.  And the recording THEN informed me that the infusion department cannot accept voice mails. Click.  Yup, they HUNG UP ON ME.  This happened 4, count em, FOUR times.  You better believe I am going to address that if and when I get back in that doctor's office.  And Google Reviews will probably reflect that, as well as the original 51 minute wait time AND the failure of them calling their other office to tell 'em we were on the way.  But, in the meantime, I'm pretty much at their mercy, and I just hope and pray they can get their act together before we have to leave in December.

Tomorrow, we pack up and leave for Tucson, to get our floor repaired.  Yup, Doggo got another bath today, so she's all soft and fluffy for the trip.  AND, her feet are white again.  Today, anyway.  Tomorrow, after her morning walk, that may change.  We've been told (thanks Chuck!) that there are a couple of really good Mexican restaurants down there, a botanical garden/zoo (thanks Barbara), and Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Company, all not to be missed.  We'll see what's there, and I'm sure there will be pictures to share.  

Speaking of Barbara, on to the FL friends ---Barbara and Charles have received photos of their new rig.  You know, the 6th one!  The one they finalized the order on when we were all together up in Indiana and got to go into the "secret room" and scrutinize all the tile, flooring and countertop samples.  Oh gosh, that was fun.  Challenging, but fun.  The rig has arrived in Winter Garden, and if the weather cooperates, they can go down and pick it up very soon.  Like, in a couple of days!  We are sooo excited for them - it is simply gorgeous!!  We can't wait to see it (and THEM), in person, hopefully, sometime this spring, in Texas.  

So, not sure when the next post will be, I guess that'll depend on how complicated it is getting to the campground on base.  Maybe we had better go check out the directions, while we still have internet access.....and on THAT note, let me wish you all a good night!!