Back to Better Working Conditions

The drama over the new job will end today. Josie returns to Phoenix Flower Shops today and is very happy that the outcome is a satisfying one and that the attempt to change was a short one. It is good to see her happy again about going to work.

She also had her back injection yesterday which went well. It took a lot longer than I expected as we arrived at the clinic at around 9 AM and she wasn't done until around 11 AM. That seemed like a long time for only an injection, but the prep and recovery time from the anesthetic made it a longer procedure. She says that her back is already feeling better this morning, so she is ready to go now.

Time is marching on as we enter December tomorrow. It is the final month before putting our house on the market. Our understanding is that the market is good now for selling a home. It would really be nice if it sells as quickly as when we purchased it three years ago. At that time, the home was on the market for only one day when we made our offer and was accepted. December will certainly be a busy month...

An Obvious Home Option

While looking at all the options available to us on the housing issue, there has been an increasing frustration level with what is available in the marketplace that satisfies our requirements. After doing drive-by's on several homes that seemed like a good fit for us - both rentals and purchases - none resulted in a clear solution. Also, none of the options are clearly pointing the way for us.

One option that we haven't seriously considered, until now, is to do nothing. That is, stay where we are and not buy or rent anything. Yesterday, we went into the office and talked to the staff about options for moving to a site in the resort that would be a good option for staying on an annual arrangement. They gave us about a dozen site options to check out, so we drove around the park to check them. One of them appeared to be a nice option as it backs to a wash and is in a decent area. We made a (cancellable) reservation to hold that space for us until January when we would make a change. The more we think about it, staying here is probably the best option for the near term. It is a lot less expensive and we would still remain mobile for any future changes. It doesn't address eliminating our storage unit, but, with no housing costs, the storage unit is easier to justify on a continuing arrangement. Anyway, remaining here has now become a real possibility and an attractive option that we will continue to investigate

Today, Josie has to get her epidural injection at 9:30 AM. We are hoping that the procedure will help with her back pain and provide some relief for her while standing all day at the shop.

We have been shocked this morning with the breaking news about NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer being fired over sexual misconduct in the workplace. Wow. This is becoming an epidemic...

Getting Ready for Christmas

All of the gifts that were ordered on Black Friday arrived yesterday. The main one, is an Instant Pot that I got for Josie:

I'm sure you all have heard about them. I did a lot of research on them before ordering this and the reviews are excellent. It is a new technology pressure cooker that will also replace the crock pot and create options for other food preparations. The only negative that I can see so far is the size of this unit which is big for an RV. We have to figure out where to store it when not in use.

We spent most of the day decorating the interior of our RV to get ready for Christmas. Most of the decorations we have used for the RV are all placed around the unit and ready to enjoy. There are a few items we passed on this year as the site is not graveled and we didn't want our outside decorations to get full of dust and dirt. So far, it appears that all our neighbors are in the Scrooge category with no visible decorations - yet.

Today will be a day of rest for Josie before she goes for her back injection tomorrow and then to work again on Thursday. We talked to Patty over the weekend and she would like us to come to Naperville for the holidays which would be terrific. Josie needs to talk to her manager about that possibility so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to put that together...

Righting the Ship

First of all, We watched the Cardinals win a great game against a good team yesterday. They beat a favored Jacksonville Jaguars team 27-24 with some clutch plays and determination. There may be some hope yet for them to salvage a good season if they can keep up the intensity and keep their mistakes to a minimum.

The Seahawks also won their game against a lousy San Francisco 49er team, 24-13. Everybody beats the 49er's, so no surprise there. The rest of the way for the Seahawks will be interesting with all their injuries and having to play against some of the best teams in the league over the next three weeks.

Josie's frustration and stress with her new job at Cactus Flower ended yesterday. She called her manager and told her it wasn't working for her and that she would not be back. We had already stopped at her old shop at 19th Ave on Saturday where she visited with her manager about a possible return. They are accepting her back with open arms and are delighted that she will return this week. She will begin work again at the 19th Ave location on Thursday. Hopefully, she can look forward to some stress free work with familiar faces in a familiar location with a familiar company. I'm so happy that she is happy...

More on Housing

We drove around an area in North Phoenix yesterday that was full of homes with lots of RV's parked outside and obviously had no HOA rules. The area was not far from the Arrowhead Mall area and had some nice properties. Some were on lots that exceeded one acre and would not be affordable for what we want to accomplish. It's nice to know that there are some properties out there that would work for us. All we have to do now is to find the winning ticket in the lottery.

It is nearing the start of December which is the final month that our tenant will be in our house. Decisions need to be made fairly soon on the direction we plan to take.

While we were out, we stopped at our storage unit and picked up the Christmas decorations that will be used this year. Today, we will do what we need to do to get everything set up for another Christmas. We aren't as excited about decorating this year as our site is not as nice as we have had the last two years. Having all dirt on the site and no gravel, it makes for a dusty base for our outdoor decorations. For that reason, we will not have our reindeer or lit trees placed outside. We do have plenty of inside items that will add cheer to our Christmas season.

Also today, Josie will decide on a course of action she will take regarding her employment. We will keep you posted on those developments...

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday every year when you "supposedly" should be able to get the best deals on just about anything. I did a lot of surfing on the web while Josie had to struggle through another day at work. There were a couple items that I wanted to get - one for Josie for Christmas, and the other item was for our computer.

I had no problem with Josie's item which I found on Amazon at the best price I've seen anywhere. The item that I was looking for to be used on our computer system was a Western Digital high capacity hard drive (4TB) to keep our backups, documents and photos on in case of another internal hard drive failure. I found the best deal on that one at Best Buy where they beat the next best price by almost $30. You wouldn't believe what I went through to discover that Best Buy had none of those items in stock - anywhere. I could not even have one shipped, let alone pick up one at any store. I was on a chat with the Best Buy representative that informed me that there were none in stock, anywhere. They didn't even offer to provide a "rain check" to me so I could get the item sometime later. It was hard for me to understand why a company would advertise an item at such a great price without having any product to sell and provide such poor customer service on top of that - on Black Friday! I ended up getting that item from Amazon also, but at the next best price. At least I didn't have to discover that fact while driving all around to the local Best Buy stores in this area.

Josie is doing some hard thinking about her job change as this first week was very difficult for her. She is looking at options now, and will decide on a course to take by Monday.

We expect to drive around a couple neighborhoods today to look at homes that might satisfy our needs for either rental or purchase. Following that, we will stop at our storage unit and get our Christmas decorations and spend the rest of the weekend setting up for the Christmas Holiday...

Nice Thanksgiving

We arrived at the "Reeds" home shortly after 2 PM yesterday for our traditional Thanksgiving Day gathering. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. There was plenty of conversation and catching up with what everybody has been doing since Thanksgiving of last year. Our family friends, Cot and Lois, were there as usual, and it has been exactly one year since we last saw them. We took several shots of the day, the best of which are below:

Starting with the group sitting around the table on the patio outside:

and then, checking out the spread just before going through the line to fill our plates:

Finally, a pretty good shot of "The Reeds":

Jason and Jesse are growing so fast now that it must be tough keeping them in clothes that fit. What a great looking family.

The football games on TV were so-so, but the food was terrific!

The attention now shifts to the Christmas season. We expect a busy, and noteworthy December leading up to Christmas, and we will be making plans for the holiday fairly soon.

Have a great "Black Friday" today...

Holiday Time

The day before Thanksgiving at Josie's  shop was close to a bust. In fact, she volunteered to work at the Cave Creek store as a result of very little work at her 67th Ave location. It was much busier there, but still did not create a great feeling for her. She goes back to the 67th Ave store on Friday. It appears that Cactus Flower may have some internal problems that are spilling over to the stores. It could possibly end up having Josie rethinking her job change if things don't improve soon. She will give it every chance to turn around.

The Resort is filling up now to the extent that we have neighbors on both sides of us. The empty spaces are rapidly filling and I'm sure that the park will be 100% full by January 1. We don't know, at this point, just how long we will be here. It depends on how quickly our house sells and also where we plan to go after it does sell. We are on a month to month plan now, so it really doesn't matter.

We are ready for a happy Thanksgiving. Our afternoon will be spent at Brian and Amy's house where they will, once again, provide an excellent turkey dinner for the family. It will also be the first time we have seen everybody since returning from our summer in Wyoming so we look forward to the visit.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody !!!!

Holiday Business Down

I don't know if it is just the floral business, but Josie came home from work early yesterday because all the work was done. She is struggling to get comfortable with all the changes at Cactus Flower that seem to affect business - in a negative way. The start to her return to Cactus Flower is not a smooth and happy occasion so far. One thing that has changed, and is responsible for some of the downturn, is the fact that the company has reduced its involvement with FTD to save money and the order call-in volume has been reduced as a result. The Call Center function has been eliminated.  I was suppose to drive for them today to help with holiday deliveries but the lack of orders on the "board" has eliminated the need for my help. Hopefully, there will be a turnaround today.

I have spent lots of time perusing rental listings looking for what might be the "perfect" rental for us. There have not been any, so far, that satisfy all our requirements. That doesn't mean that there won't be one as we have some time before we need to get serious about that.

As mentioned yesterday, we expect very warm temperatures for Thanksgiving Day. It is in the upper 80's almost every day now - and will be for the next several days - and those temperatures are about 15 degrees above normal for this time of the year. It could be a lot worse as we look at some of the weather across the country...

First Day Observations

Josie's first day impressions on her new job were mixed. The only familiar aspect was the location of the store. Much of the interior has been redesigned and procedures have changed for just about every aspect of the job. It will take some getting used to and a learning process that she didn't anticipate going through. All of the employees at that location are fairly new and they thought that she was hired to manage that store. It isn't out of the question but, right now, she has other priorities. It is going to be an interesting experience, for sure. The commute is just a couple minutes longer than the last shop she worked at with Phoenix Flower Shops but not enough to cause concern. Time will tell.

The Monday Night Football game between the Seahawks and Falcons was entertaining, but did not produce the desired outcome. The Seahawks, after falling behind with their patented dumb mistakes and giveaways, had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds but missed a makeable field goal and lost 34-31. They definitely miss some key players that are injured, but so do the Falcons. The rest of the season should be interesting with the very tough schedule remaining for the Seahawks. This season has been full of injuries to key players on many of the favored teams, including the Cardinals.

It is suppose to warm up for the holiday this week and we could potentially have the warmest Thanksgiving on record. The forecast is for 89 for Thanksgiving Day which would break the old record of 87. Just what we need...

Ready for New Experience

We had a nice, relaxing day yesterday for Josie's final day before starting her new job today. She is nervous as you can expect, but I'm sure she will be fine as soon as she begins to get familiar with her new surroundings. Actually, they aren't new except for the people she will be working with. Her previous experience with Cactus Flower ended at this same shop almost ten years ago. The company has gone through some dramatic changes since then.

It was not a very good football day yesterday for the Cardinals fans. The game became ugly as the third string quarterback was terrible in the second half and the Cardinals gave away the game to the Houston Texans, 31-21. It sure looks like the Cardinals will be struggling for the rest of the season.

The Seahawks will play tonight against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. I am concerned about them also, as they have lots of injuries to key players and may struggle like the Cardinals. I hope not.

Good luck to Josie today on her inaugural day at her new job...

Another Drive By

Our main objective yesterday was to do a drive-by on another potential rental home. It actually was a pretty decent home, but had a couple negatives. First, the photos from our visit to the home which was off the Carefree Highway, fairly close to where Josie would work at the Cave Creek store location:

First, the positives: It was on a nearly 2 acre parcel, had a swimming pool, lots of room for the RV, a completely renovated manufactured home with 1800 S.F., the rent was in the acceptable range, convenient to Cave Creek and 67th Ave store locations.

The negatives: It was off a dirt road, swimming pool was tiny, no garage, surrounded by horse properties which will smell in the hot summer, landscaping was almost all agave's - some of which were dead, rather small covered rear porch area.

So far, it probably comes the closest to what would work for us but we are glad we still have lots of time to continue the search.

Today will be the final day off for Josie before starting work at her new job tomorrow. We will try to enjoy the day and get lots of relaxation...

History

The Phoenix Flower Shops are now history in Josie's working career. Her final day was yesterday and it was kind of sad leaving a place that has been part of your life for the last ten years, At least during the winter seasons of those years. There was a farewell cake brought in for the occasion and the manager said to give her a call if, for any reason, the new job doesn't work for her. Monday begins Chapter 2 at Cactus Flower Florist and we're hoping that this experience goes well.

I took our 2015 Escape in for scheduled service yesterday. Part of the plan was to eliminate the aftermarket alarm system that was in the vehicle when we purchased it a couple years ago. It turns out that the alarm system is a Code Alarm product that was probably installed by one of the Larry Miller dealerships. My Ford dealer said he could uninstall it for $150. No way. There are also transmitters that are missing which would help us in programming the system. Evidently, they got lost or the previous owner neglected to pass them on. At any rate, I did research on the internet and found a way - I think - to disarm the system without the transmitters. I will wait for the proper time to attempt that task when my neighbors are gone for the day or out and about so that any panic alarm sounds won't bother anybody if there is a problem. That should be an interesting exercise.

We plan to take another "drive-by" of one of the rentals that we are looking at that is between here and Cave Creek. It looks like a nice place with almost two acres, a pool and almost 1800 S.F. with three bedrooms. The property has lots of room for an RV, so we are anxious to take a look. Of course, we can't do anything if it is the perfect place for us until our home in Glendale sells. At least we can get satisfaction knowing that there are places that fit the bill for us. We'll try to get some photos today...

Annual Ultra Sound

Yesterday was my scheduled ultra sound for the aneurism that was discovered a couple years ago. The device that was installed on the vessel has to be checked each year to make sure it is doing its job.  I won't know the results of the procedure until the doctor has a chance to review them. I suspect that everything is OK as I have no complaints. The all clear call should (hopefully) be today.

Today will also be Josie's final day at Phoenix Flower Shops. It is ironic that now that she is leaving, they are giving her all the hours she had been seeking. Of course, the holiday coming up has some effect on her hours. She will get the weekend off and then start at Cactus Flower on Monday at the 67th Ave location.

This morning, I will take the red Escape to the dealership in Surprise for scheduled service. I will also have the aftermarket security system deactivated, or uninstalled, as it has been nothing but a nuisance. The horn beeps each time you unlock or lock the door and sometimes, if the sequence isn't right for starting the engine, it goes into alarm mode and is difficult to shut off. Those systems have a purpose and some folks like them, but in most cases the alarms go off without it being a criminal attempt to break-in and everybody standing around within hearing distance knows that and, consequently, don't do anything except go on about their business.

It should be a nice weekend for us as we plan to do another drive by on a rental and we will probably look at some other areas for potential candidates...

RV Repairs

As I was going to the store yesterday, I passed a site where there were two vans parked and about 5 men who were replacing a motor home windshield. The vans were plastered with advertising for their window repair business (Glass Commander) which included all kinds of windows for businesses, homes and RV's. I stopped and talked to the "lead" person in the group about repairing a couple of our windows in the RV. He said he would stop by our site and take a look at them. Well, it was a couple hours later when he finally made it over to our RV and we talked about replacing/repairing a couple of our windows that have lost their seal. We have thermo-pane, or dual pane windows, and two of them are in pretty bad shape as far as being crystal clear. The main one, the rear window, is the largest and worst of the two. His estimate for repairing the windows was out of sight so we will probably live with them for awhile.

Our RV is getting to the age (10 years) where these problems will begin to occur. There are other areas of the RV that need attention and that is one of the main reasons why we are looking for a home where we can park the RV outside so that it is convenient for performing these repairs. The repairs list is growing  and that will be the only way we will get them done. Fixing these problems at the resort is not a consideration for several reasons. The main one is that the RV needs to be emptied of much of the contents to effectively have access to the areas where we need to perform the repairs. The windows issue is another reason - we cannot go for any length of time without the windows as long as we are living in the rig. The option of taking the RV to the dealer and leaving it for the repairs is not a good one. The expense would be prohibitive and would have to be performed all at once.

This RV has, basically, been our main home for almost ten years and is getting tired and showing signs that it needs some major work. All homes get that way over time and this is no exception. There is a "right" solution for us somewhere...

Contract Driving

It appears that I will once again help Josie's flower shop (the new one) by being a contract driver during holidays. I used to do that before, and it was a great way to help the shop and also make a few extra bucks. I don't mind doing it and it is a huge help for the stores. So, I signed up to drive next Wednesday which is the day before Thanksgiving. I'm sure I will also be driving for other holidays.

We are getting down to the short strokes on our home rental. We will make sure that all regularly scheduled services  know that the home will be put on the market in January, and that the services will stop.  It is mainly the landscaping service that needs to be given notice, but our pool service guy will also be informed.

I went to the fitness center here at the resort for the first time in about 7 months. Yes, I am out of shape and need to ease into this exercise regimen. It will probably take a couple weeks before I can get back to doing the treadmill at the settings I was used to doing previously. At least I will be getting some much needed workouts from now on.

Josie has three more days before leaving Phoenix Flower Shops for good. As I said before, they will miss her talent and work ethic. Their loss is Cactus Flower's gain...

More Listings

We received five more rental listings to review from our property manager. The listings are beginning to take on a pattern which is to be expected. Most of the listings are for older homes in neighborhoods where there are no HOA (Home Owner Association) rules which can be good - or bad. Some of those neighborhoods are in less desirable areas where, generally, the people don't take as much pride in their homes. Some are in nice neighborhoods that have RV gates but not enough room for large RV's. There are a few that satisfy our RV storage requirements but, so far, don't have the other amenities we are looking for in the house and grounds. Hopefully, when the time comes, we will find the perfect fit.

There are some signs that our tenant might be taking advantage of his (now) short term occupancy. Our rental reimbursement is late this month which is not normal. I have sent a note to our property manager asking about any potential problem. I just hope that the tenant does not think he can get a free ride the rest of the way.

It is beginning to get  busier at Josie's shop now that we are getting closer to the first Holiday this season. I'm sure that she will be very busy when she begins work at her new job next week. She will only have three days of working at her new job before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, she is somewhat familiar with the procedures at Cactus Flower...

On With a New Week

Today will be the start of Josie's final week working at Phoenix Flower Shops. I know that she has mixed emotions about it as she has made many friends there that will be left behind. Actually, she will always have those friends and will keep in touch as good friends remain that way. Friday will be her final day and she begins work at Cactus Flower on Monday.

We will also get more rental listings this week and hope to identify a couple more that would be worth driving by and investigating. None of these listings will be "real" candidates for us as we have several months to go before being able to move on anything. Our home in Glendale needs to sell before we can do anything, but it will be nice to know that there are homes out there that qualify for us. If we somehow win the lottery between now and then, our plans could change (ha).

This new week will also have more doctor appointments for us. Josie will get a shot for her back and legs, I will have my annual ultra-sound for the aneurysm, and I will also try to schedule my physical which is now due.

I'm sure that there will be other surprises during the week. We hope for good things to happen so we'll just take events as they occur...

Doing Drive By

The main thing we wanted to accomplish yesterday was to do a drive by on a couple of the rental listings that our property manager has provided. He has sent about 25 listings so far, and we chose two that looked very promising for fulfilling our requirements. The first one was a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood (Arrowhead Ranch) that was within walking distance of one of Josie's new store locations. I took these shots of the outside of the house:

We were only able to look at the inside by peeking through the windows and there would be some problems with the interior - very small rooms. Otherwise, it satisfies every aspect of what we are looking for in a rental. The other main concern we have is that there were no visible RV's in the neighborhood which indicates to us that it is probably similar to the home we are going to sell - RV gates, but no RV's allowed. That will be a problem in many areas.

The second home was a little bit south of the first, and not worthy of photos. It did have the ability to store your RV on site, but the back yard was forgettable. It was also on a corner lot with the RV storage on the side of a busy street. It was older and not in as nice a neighborhood as the first.

We will continue looking and feel confident that there is a "right" house for us out there somewhere. The good news is that we have a huge area identified for the search.

We also made a stop at our storage unit to pick up our regular, outside grill to use here a the Resort. Our small grill that is used for travel is not performing well which resulted in that move. There are things we need to get done around the RV today, so it looks like a "stay close to home" day...

Mixup

The final working day for Josie at the 7th St store location never happened. She drove all the way to the store - 1 hour away - and when she arrived was informed that she was not scheduled there. Whoa! The manager at the 19th Ave location didn't have her on that schedule either, so the communication breakdown was another example of why she is changing jobs. She went to the 19th Ave location to pick up her paycheck before heading home and was told she was needed there for the day, so she stayed and put in her day at that store. She will be so happy to leave that kind of nonsense behind.

There are a couple of the rental listings that caught our eye this week and today we will do a drive-by at each of those to see if they are on the mark. Each of them appears to have the ingredients of a nice home and are in areas that are desirable. We'll get a couple shots of them to show what we are looking at as examples. We are getting new listings all the time, but most of them have one or more feature that is not what we are looking for. The right house will be out there at the right time I'm sure...

Costly Win

The main event (for me) yesterday was the matchup on Thursday Night Football between the Cardinals and Seahawks. I root for both teams except when they play each other, and then it is all Seahawks. They won last night, 22-16, in a game that wasn't as close as the score. The Seahawks again provided a couple gift scores to their opponent via penalties. The bad news is that they lost their best defensive player, Richard Sherman, to an Achilles Tendon injury. He will be lost for the rest of the season and the Seahawks have a tough schedule the rest of the way. I don't see them going too far this season with all the serious injuries they have. They also lead the league in penalties, and they didn't hurt that distinction last night. Of course, I will still be cheering for them.

Josie will spend her final work day at the 7th St store location today. That is the toughest of the locations for her and she will be happy to see this day end. She has only next week to go at the 19th Ave store before starting her new job at Cactus Flower.

I made an appointment for next Thursday to have my annual Ultra Scan for the aneurism check. It should be fine as the device that was surgically installed seems to be doing its job.

We are getting new listings, daily, for rental properties. There have been a couple that we want to do a "drive-by" to check out. We have a way to go yet before getting serious about any rental.

It was announced yesterday that the GTA (Grand Teton Association) will eliminate the year-end completion bonus next season. They already have modified other compensation benefits (gift cards) which has us worried about the future impact of all these changes. We are not closing the door yet on a return to Jackson next year, but it is looking more and more like we may be taking at least one year off, based on our current activities...

Lots of Activity Yesterday

The most significant event from yesterday was receipt of 22 listings from our property manager of available rental homes that fall within our designated criteria. There were two of those that stood out as terrific candidates, one of which is almost within walking distance of Josie's new shop on 67th Ave. It has everything, including a nice, fenced in pool, along with a huge covered porch in the rear with plenty of RV storage space and complete privacy. We signed up to receive real-time updates on listings, so we expect to receive them frequently. It is comforting to know that there will be qualified choices when the time comes for us to commit to one.

I worked on trying to fix our small outside grill that we use while traveling. It has ceased holding a flame, even with the gas turned to the highest setting for some reason. I took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly and reassembled it. There was a slight improvement, but not enough to grill a meal. We will pick up our regular, large grill from storage to bring here to the RV.

We received our Letters of Understanding from the Grand Teton Association outlining our offers for the 2018 season. It contains everything we talked about, including our raises, and looks good except for one omission that I wrote them about. We don't know at this point what our plan will be for the summer, so we are going along with the plan to return for now.

I also received a couple of important calls. One from the eye doctor who wants to schedule my cataract surgery - probably in January. The other call was from my doctor who inserted the sleeve in my body around the Aneurism that was discovered a couple years ago. I get an annual check on that to make sure all is well. That will occur within the next couple of weeks.

It is becoming a very busy time for us, and exciting for the most part...

New Job is Set

All of the details were finalized yesterday for Josie's change in jobs from Phoenix Flower Shops to Cactus Flower Florists. She set her final day at Phoenix Flower Shops for Friday, November 17, and will begin work at her new job on Monday, November 19. Her first few days will be at the Glendale store located at 67th Ave and Rte 101. It is expected that, at least starting out, she will also spend some time working at the Cave Creek store. The distance to each location is much better than her driving to the downtown location a couple days a week which she is now doing. She will also make more money on her new job and will be appreciated much more than before as Cactus Flower already knows her capabilities and will treat her more professionally. She is, naturally, hoping that she made the right decision. I am almost certain she did.

That also means that we will most likely change the area where we will seek housing. Our goal is still the same for the requirements and we will be searching for something that makes it easy for Josie to commute. It will be interesting to see what is available using the criteria we have established. We should begin seeing candidates any day now. Of course, anything close to Cave Creek and Carefree will be too expensive for our budget, but somewhere, not too far away, there may be a hidden gem that we can afford.

We received our first electric bill since we arrived back in AZ. With one week out for our trip to Chicago, the bill was $118.25, which may not be so bad. It was a very warm month and we ran the A/C a lot while we were home. It shouldn't get any worse than that from here on out as we aren't using the A/C at all right now.

Today should be a business as usual day with no significant events scheduled...

Moving Forward on Some Fronts

I took the trial hearing aids back to the Audiologist and reported to her that they did not perform, for me at least, according to their hype. I will wait on pursuing any option to replace the ones I currently have.

Today, Josie will finalize her next move in the flower shops. She will give notice to her manager at Phoenix Flower Shops and will connect with the HR person at Cactus Flower to move ahead with the changeover. Her final day at Phoenix Flower Shops will be set today, and her start date at Cactus will be arranged. She had a discussion yesterday with the owner of the Phoenix Flower Shops, and he, basically, indicated that they tried to accommodate her in every way. What a joke. We all know that she has gone out of her way to work at the locations where she was needed most and that in almost ten years she has had no increase in pay, and no help with mileage while working at the far away locations. It is definitely time to move on.

I had another call yesterday from the Amazon folks about working at their Distribution Center on Buckeye Rd in Phoenix. The pay is very good but the hours and the commute are terrible. That will not happen. I have been very busy trying to get things on track from our decisions regarding the house and other long term planning. There are still many things to coordinate. We are hoping things go well the rest of the year and into the next year...

A Few Updates

First of all, it was a mostly disappointing day on the pro football scene. Although the Cardinals won - against the worst team in football - the Seahawks struggled in lousy weather and eventually lost in the final seconds to the Redskins, 17-14. They just don't have the dominant team that we are used to seeing.

Josie's decision on the work situation will wait one more day. She wants to get clarification on a couple points from Cactus Flower, and her manager at Phoenix Flower Shops is off on Mondays so she cannot give notice anyway. It appears that she will be making the move back to Cactus Flower if all goes according to plan. Her current shop traditionally doesn't accommodate any employee, no matter what the situation or who it is. Believe me, they will be sorry they let her go if that happens.

We expect to begin seeing some housing options soon. The property manager is busy working the issues with their monthly rent collections from their properties and will begin getting some ideas to us any day now. Our tenant is officially committed to vacate by 12/31/2017.

I will take the "trial" hearing aids back to the Audiologist today. These new technology hearing aids don't perform as well for me as my current set, and they aren't even comfortable while wearing them. Why waste time with them.

It promises to be an exciting week - stay tuned...

Work Options

It was an interesting day for Josie - both of us, actually,  - as she spent about 1.5 hours interviewing with a familiar employer at a familiar location. She interviewed with her old employer of nearly 8 years back in the early 2000's - Cactus Flower Florist - at her familiar location at the store in Glendale at 67th Ave. She made contact with them last week and arranged this interview as an option to her very uncomfortable, split working arrangement at Phoenix Flower Shops where she has had to travel to 7th St at the downtown location a couple days a week. Also, Cactus will pay her substantially more than Phoenix Flower Shops who does not believe in giving raises to employees. In eight years, Josie hasn't - nor have any of the other employees at that company - had any salary increases. It is a terribly unfair policy to the employees and results in them losing many valuable people.

Cactus Flower wants Josie to come back - and immediately. They have also offered a management position which is even more money to her. The store where she is most needed is the Cave Creek store location which is in downtown Cave Creek next to Carefree. That has a lot of appeal to us as we love that area and could be a possibility for us to rent a home nearby. Any split working arrangement between the Glendale store and the Cave Creek store would be so much better than her current arrangement, even if we stayed in this area. So, she has a decision to make before going to work tomorrow.

We expect to begin seeing some rental properties (on paper, at least) this week that satisfy our requirements. At this point, we don't know where to concentrate on these offerings until Josie's work arrangements are finalized. That should happen sometime this week.

It looks like another good day of football on TV as the Seahawks play the Redskins this afternoon. After another close loss by Penn State yesterday, their 2nd in a row, I'm ready for a blow-out win by the Seahawks...

Hearing Aid Experiment

My hearing test yesterday produced no surprises. My hearing has gotten a little worse in the higher ranges, but has remained the same (bad) in the rest of the ranges. I was there for about 1.5 hours and my Audiologist is trying an experiment with the newest and latest technologically advanced hearing aids. She indicated that my current hearing aids do not produce the power required to effectively separate the background noises and these new ones should be a vast improvement. Of course, she wants to sell them to me after the one week trial period, but there is little chance of that happening. These hearing aids would have to bring back my hearing ability to where it was when I was 21 years old in order for them to be worth the money. That won't happen. After only one day, I can't see enough of an improvement to justify switching - at any cost. I will try them for the trial period and then return them for my old ones next Friday.

Josie worked at the 7th St store again yesterday and that drive is really brutal. It takes her one hour to commute each way to that location. We will address that situation next week.

It's nice to have weekends off together so we will try to do some things that we enjoy. One idea is to drive through a couple of areas where we think it would be nice to rent a home. We have seen some nice homes in different areas where RV's are allowed to be parked on the properties. Both of us are getting anxious to get on with the plan so that we can get our goods out of storage and have our RV with us all the time...

More Appointments

Josie had her appointment yesterday morning with her Neurologist and, as a result, will have several more appointments to get shots in her back and legs to help with her recurring pain in those areas. I have my appointment today with the Audiologist to get my annual hearing test. That result is as predictable as the summer heat in AZ. My hearing is not improving, and the test will only show that my hearing is, at best, the same as last year. I expect it to be slightly worse as that is the way it goes. I will also get my hearing aids cleaned at that appointment.

I still haven't decided on which way to go with the cataract issue. I guess I will opt for the surgery since it is going to happen anyway within the next couple years. The next step will be to find out how much the insurance will cover - or, will not cover. Depending on that number, I may be wearing glasses forever.

For the first time this season I saw a line at the office for check-ins. There were several RV's in front of the office and the park is now getting ready for the winter crowd. With cooler temperatures arriving now, it is a great time to be here in sunny Arizona...

Baseball History

The 7th game of the World Series last night did not disappoint. The Houston Astros took it to the Dodgers and won 5-1 to win their first ever World Series in franchise history. What a great series. The two teams were closely matched and, I believe, it was pure determination that provided the Astros edge in the end. We saw where there were over 17K fans in the Astros stadium in Houston to watch the final game on the big screen. They truly deserve  the championship as that city has been through a lot this year.

I had my eye exam in the morning yesterday and have a decision to make. Do I get another prescription filled for glasses, or do I opt for the inevitable cataract surgery. I will eventually have to have it anyway, probably within a couple of years. I was given a packet that describes the options and will read over the material in the next couple of days. The doctor said that new glasses would be a waste of money if I go the surgery route within a year or so.

We are going to start to get some listings on available properties that match our requirements to rent. The time frame depends solely on how quickly our home sells. If it is anything like the time we purchased it, it will not last on the market very long. It will (hopefully) be an exciting experience for us...

Filling Our Schedule

Our calendar is filling up with more appointments - rapidly. I have one today for an eye exam and another on Friday for my annual hearing test. Josie has one tomorrow AM with her Neurologist before going to work. I will schedule my annual physical either next week or the week after. All of these appointments occur at about the same time each year and is one reason we return to this area each winter season. Just like clockwork.

The situation with our mysterious stain is not much different from yesterday. I put some bleach on the stain which seems to help but I only had a small amount of bleach. I will get more today and try again. Of course, we need to discover the source of  "whatever is causing this" and that may not be easy. It is obviously coming from under the floor and I am not up to removing any part of it, so we will see what happens from here.

Well, it all comes down to one final game in the World Series tonight. Game 7 should be a bell ringer as the two teams are evenly matched. I am still rooting for the Astros to win their first ever title...