Cool Now

The caulking is complete now around the new air conditioner - both inside and out. The next step for that project, and the last one, is to paint around the entire unit. That will occur sometime later. I will say that it is quite a difference now working in the cool den with the high heat outside. I don't have to leave the room at noon now to escape the rising temperatures. The previous owner hardly used this area of the house except that the washer and dryer are here and he did have a desk, of sorts, that he rarely used and is replaced by my own office equipment. I love sitting and working at my desk and watching the golfers go through outside. Of course, the birds and the rabbits are also entertaining to watch.

We will probably do some shopping today as Josie has her first day off for the holiday weekend. She works only on Monday and has the rest of the time off until next Thursday. There are some adjustments we will make in the bedrooms over the next several days and I will hang the TV's permanently on the wall in two of the rooms.

I spent some time in the garage yesterday AM going through a huge box of my hats collection. There are a couple hundred of them that I've accumulated over the years and many of them can be eliminated. I found the ones that were autographed by Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller and Fred Couples, and they are the most important ones. A lot of memories returned during that exercise...

Sprinkler Issue

I was noticing two days ago that we had lower than normal water pressure coming out of the sprinkler heads under our trees. I walked around the side of the house and saw that there was "break" in a joint in the water line and water was shooting out all over. The sprinkler system was shut down and I called our landscaper. He came out yesterday and the net of the whole issue is that he needs to replace a section of the line with a heavier grade plastic pipe because the old one is too close to the surface and the heat is destroying the bond on the pipes.  He will come out on Saturday or Monday and do the work. Whoever did the original work did not use good judgement. Oh, well.

I picked up the caulking yesterday at Home Depot to complete the trim work around our new air conditioner. I didn't do the work yesterday as it got too hot by the time I was ready to do the work. That will be done as soon as I complete this entry. Then, all we have to do is paint the area - inside and out - and it should be perfect. I sure could tell the difference in the room yesterday with the new unit running.

We have no real plans for the holiday coming up, but, with Josie getting more time off, we may decide to take a short trip somewhere...

Major Project Completed

First of all, we enjoy watching the animals and birds that frequent our back yard. Yesterday, we had another visit from a not-too-friendly animal that occasionally comes through looking for a quick meal - the coyote:

Of course, when he is present, there are no other animals, of any kind, that are visible. This time, he walked through our yard from the golf course to the front of the house where he trotted down the street.

Yesterday was significant for one reason - a major project was completed that will make our life a lot more comfortable in the den and laundry area. We switched out the swamp cooler and replaced it with a window air conditioner. The project was a bit more complicated than original planned. The window A/C unit is built for just that - a window installation. The window kit that came with the unit did not work with the unit for a wall installation. The guy that performed the work did an outstanding job utilizing the wood and parts from the swamp cooler to manufacture a solution. These photos show the before and after of the switch:

Exterior before taking down the swamp cooler:

Exterior after A/C installation:

Interior before removal of swamp cooler:

Interior after installation:

The A/C unit is much smaller than the swamp cooler unit, so I have lots of caulking and painting to do to complete the project. It is a huge improvement to the room and I am already enjoying the much cooler air while writing this entry.

Finishing up that project - except for the painting - will take place today...

Taking Care of Small Stuff

We have an evaporator cooler (swamp cooler) in the den where my desk is located and where the laundry room is located. It is useless. I purchased a small room air conditioner to replace the swamp cooler and I spent a good part of the day yesterday trying to locate someone who could do the swap-out. If you can believe it,  refrigeration companies won't touch it unless it is a full A/C that is replacing the swamp cooler. I finally found a handyman that would do the job and he is expected out to the house this afternoon to give an estimate. Maybe soon I will be able to work in my den on these hot afternoons.

We also went to Home Depot to exchange our hummingbird feeder for one that will not attract the large birds. We found one with no perches and with no place for larger birds to land on the feeder - except on the very top.  So far this morning it appears to be doing the job. Here is a shot of the new feeder:

I also discovered this morning that the water pressure on our sprinkler system was low. I found a break in the pipe on the side of the house where the water was streaming out so I shut that off until we can get our landscaper out to repair the pipe. I am not totally satisfied with the quality of work so far from this landscaper, so we may have to make another switch to a third landscaper soon.

We are still moving boxes in from the garage at a very slow rate. There is no end in sight for that project...

Rejoicing Over Return of Picture

As you probably already know, we have been searching all over for our picture (lithograph) of the Pike Place Market that has been a favorite of ours since we purchased it in the mid 80's in Seattle. We thought that perhaps it was taken by the packers we used at our home in Glendale and then we thought maybe the movers lost it recently on our move to Sun City. We have it back now, as the mover dropped it off yesterday and made our day:

I went to Costco yesterday to try and get a fix for my glasses. The arms of the glasses have lost their protective coating as a result of my perspiration. I had an infection on my face and decolorization in my hair where the problem occurred. I ended up getting another of the same frames as the clerk at Costco made some adjustments to the arms so that there is no direct contact to my face.

We are getting close to the holiday - 4th of July - and we are trying to decide if there may be a chance for us to take a mini vacation somewhere since Josie has extra time off for the holiday. We'll keep you posted on that...

More Beautiful Cactus

I knew it wouldn't be long before we had a really nice display of our cactus blooming. It happened over the last two days and these shots are the latest of the beautiful, large flowers that are opening on all of the plants:

It's quite a show. The only negative - if you can call it one - is that all the blossoms are white and we were hoping for maybe a little red or orange among the blooms. The rabbits are loving the low hanging blooms and have eaten most of the ones that are within their reach. Now, we just have to wait another year before we see this show again.

We went to Home Depot yesterday to check out the 4th of July sales on appliances that they have advertised. Our goal was to find a good deal on a new refrigerator. By the time we left, we had signed up for an entire suite of appliances because of the fabulous pricing and bonus discounts. However, after sleeping on the move overnight, we decided to cancel everything as we need the money for other higher priority items. It's too bad that we haven't hit the lottery or we would have gone forward with purchasing a lot of stuff. Most of what we need with a higher priority will be seen as time goes on...

Cactus in Bloom and Good News

One of our several cactus plants finally bloomed yesterday and the others are not far behind. Here are a couple shots of the first one to show the beautiful blossoms:

There is another plant similar to this one that has more blossoms and is probably another day away from blooming. There are a couple of different plants that also will be blooming within the next several days. I will get shots of all of them.

We have been missing a favorite framed picture of ours that we have had since the mid 80's when we visited the Pike Place Market in Seattle. We thought that perhaps the packers we used at the Glendale house may have taken it as it is nowhere in our house, or among the boxes in the garage. I also sent an email yesterday to our movers that were used to empty our storage and bring our goods here in Sun City last month. They responded that they have our picture! It was in a large box in the front portion of the truck and was under some pads so that it was missed during the move.  They are going to return the picture to us tomorrow. There really is a Santa Claus.

We are having a cold spell today - the high will only be 104...

Another Hot One

It went to at least 111 here yesterday and forced me to stay in the house. I occasionally sit in the shade of our patio when there is at least a little breeze, but there really was very little breeze yesterday. There are at least four more months of this to go before we see decent daytime temperatures again. The only good part is that there is very little humidity. We'll try to make the best of it.

Today we have COIT coming to clean our carpets and to clean the air vents. We are hoping that the effort today will help eliminate most, if not all, of the remaining tobacco odors in the house. We don't notice it much at all now, so we have made tremendous progress.

Several of our cactus in the yard are very close to blooming - in a big way. I hope to have some photos soon of that display. I also am still trying to get good shots of our new quail family, but they are just not close enough yet to get clear shots, especially since the babies are still very tiny. I suspect that the season for hatching new eggs is about over...

New Quail Family

I discovered that there is a new quail family that hangs out in our back yard. You have seen photos of the first family that was discovered and that single chick is growing rapidly. This new family has two chicks and they cannot be more than a day or two old. Their size is so small that they don't show up very clearly in any photos that I take. The problem is that they are so small coupled with the fact that I can't get close enough to get a good shot. They are very skittish and run away whenever I try to get closer. I'll keep trying though.

Josie was home early again yesterday. The shop is virtually dead at this time of the year and she is not getting the hours she had hoped. We are discussing options that may help that situation. That is one of many advantages of going to Jackson each summer. Not only do we both get the hours we want, the pay is terrific and we escape the AZ oven. We miss it this year.

I'll do my thing today at the fitness center and do more managing of my auctions online. The Ozone Generator was delivered to the buyer in WA and I received more calls on other items. It is a lot of work, but we will have some extra cash when it's over...

Rec Center Visit

Yesterday was an opportunity for me to visit the fitness center. I decided that it was time that I try to set up a regular schedule of visits to help with weight control. Nothing else seems to work. Even with  all the sweating and hard work still to be done, I can't seem to find the right mix for losing weight. We'll see how dedicated I can become to this new program.

We are doing work to update our resumes for any new employment opportunities. I will update Josie's today and we will test the market for work outside of the flower shop which is beginning to take a toll on her - both physically and mentally. She has talked about a change for quite some time, so maybe it will be a productive exercise. She has worked for Phoenix Flower Shops, both full time and seasonally, for over 10 years now and has very little to show for her efforts.

The thought entered my mind while at the fitness center yesterday that maybe we should also explore opportunities at the Rec Centers where they hire people for all kinds of jobs. It could be worth pursuing...

Chairs Ready

We received a phone call early yesterday that our barrel chairs were ready for pickup. It was less than a month ago that we took them to Phoenix where the Village Woodsmith would perform the work. Below are two photos of the completed chairs:

They look fabulous and match the living room scheme to a "T". These chairs are over 50 years old and were purchased while I lived in the Valley View Apartments in King of Prussia PA. We still have some of the other pieces from that purchase, and, except for some wear and tear from about 14 moves, still look terrific.

We stopped at our Rec Center on the way home and had a great lunch at George's Café in the Center. These shots were taken from our table in the Café which was located next to the bowling lanes in the center:

It is a nice place to go for a good and affordable meal.

We later ended the day enjoying some liquid refreshment outside on our patio while watching the golfers and these birds splashing around in our bird bath:

We made arrangements to complete another step in our odor treatment program to remove the tobacco odors from the house. Most of the odors are gone, but on Saturday, COIT will come to clean our carpets and to clean the ducts in our cooling/heating system. We are confident that this step will go a long way in eliminating most of the remaining odor. The final phase will be painting which will occur over time during the rest of the summer...

Roof Inspection

Our house has a flat roof which is covered by foam and coated with a weather protectant. The latest "coating" on the roof - which is under warranty for 10 years - occurred in 2010. That means that we have until 2020 until the warranty expires. There is a way that we could extend the warranty another five years (until 2025) by having a single coat put on the roof. The company that did the work 8 years ago did a free inspection yesterday to see if another coating would be necessary. The results were that we did not need another coating at this time because the roof is still in good shape. Another single coating would have cost $3500 anyway, so we passed on that.

I forgot to mention that while we out runni9ng errands over the weekend, we drove by our old house in Sun City Grand to see what changes have been made. Here is a shot of the home as it exists today:

It looks pretty much the same except that all of the landscaping has matured and that all looks terrific. We didn't get to see the back of the house, but that is most likely close to what we left in 2008. We do sometimes miss that house.

Today is an off day on Josie's new schedule so we plan to do some potting outside, cleaning up more in the garage (of course) and relaxing as much as we can before the real heat returns this week...

Nice Father's Day

It was a very good Father's Day yesterday - filled with sports on TV and a great dinner at Olive Garden.

The US Open Golf Championship took a positive turn in the final round yesterday. After the lousy results and tough conditions on Saturday, the pros came through and took advantage of the improved conditions on the golf course. The winner was Brooks Koepka, who won the US Open for the second consecutive year. Good for him. It's nice to see a good, young man from the US come through under tough conditions.

The baseball season is becoming very interesting  now. The Diamondbacks are still in 1st place in a close division. The real pleasant surprise is that the Seattle Mariners are making it a two team race in AL West with the Houston Astros. If the Mariners were in the same division as the Diamondbacks, the Mariners would be 7 games ahead. Just sayin'.

We wrapped up the day with a nice dinner at the Olive Garden. Josie had her favorite - Shrimp Scampi- and I had my favorite - Chicken Parmesan. They didn't disappoint. The Olive Garden is still right up there as a favorite Italian Restaurant.

It's back to work again today. Josie starts her new schedule of working 4 days a week and I will spend more time in the garage trying to create more daylight...

Garage Task Started

We started the difficult task of unpacking, sorting and storing all the garage stuff. There is no way we can get even one of our cars parked in the garage without creating a space. The real problem with this job is that most of the "stuff" has to be brought into the house to be put away somewhere. Now, it looks like we are once again just moving into the house. Sheesh!

There will be some tough decisions made on goods from this effort. We just don't have room anymore for most of what we have in the garage - and lots of things in the house. It is time, once and for all, to downsize and retain only the things that we absolutely will need and things we cannot part with as a result of personal attachment. It will take a long time to complete this monumental task.

I was able to watch much of the US Open Golf Championship on TV yesterday that is being played at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course in New York. It was a debacle. Not one golfer is under par after three rounds. The early morning groups scored well, but the afternoon groups suffered through the drying effects of the high winds and negative effects on shot making. The morning leaders all fell back to make it a closer, and an almost unfair contest. The final round today will be interesting.

Happy Father's Day today and a Happy Birthday to my brother George...

More on Bird Family

As mentioned yesterday, there is a small quail family that likes to hang out around our house. I captured a couple more shots of the birds as they were walking around our patio:

I can almost see that baby growing each day. It is a miracle of nature how birds - and other animals - have the instincts to guard their young.

I shipped the ozone generator yesterday to the successful bidder on eBay. He is located in WA state - Burien - and is an automotive service company. My guess is that they will use the generator to remove smoke odors from vehicles. I'm sure they will be satisfied.

The rain has finally arrived overnight as we received (I'm guessing) less than .25" of the stuff. It is a good start though to the monsoon season which was yesterday. I suspect that the rain we received was more from the tropical storm Bud coming up from the Pacific than the monsoon. It doesn't matter though as it is the first measurable rain since mid March...

Bird Watching

One of the pleasant activities we enjoy while outside is watching the birds that are all over the place. The mating season is about over and we see lots of babies in the area and, occasionally, we see whole families together. These shots were taken yesterday of a quail couple that had an only child:

It is really tough getting close up shots of these birds as they are very skittish and run as soon as they spot you. I'll keep trying to get better close-up shots of these quail as they are seen every day in our yard. There aren't many species of birds that we don't get around here. The main ones, aside from the quail, are pigeons, doves, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, black birds and many others that I can't identify as a non bird watching person.

It appears that we will get some rain sometime today. We so desperately need some and I know that we will be wishing it would all go away as we get further into the monsoon season. In the meantime, it will be nice to get a little relief from the awful heat...

Managing Online Sales

I have several items that have been placed online in places like Craigslist and eBay. I have spent a lot of time managing those posts as they are always subject to renewal or modification. One ad in particular - the Ozone Generator  - had to be renewed today as I received a bid, but it did not meet the reserve amount required to sell. So, I lowered the price on that one and re-inserted the ad.

I placed another item online today about which I have mixed emotions. My laserdisc player is now for sale along with my entire collection of laserdiscs (63). I hate to get rid of those, but I will not be watching them any longer even though there are many laserdiscs that I don't even have on DVD. When I think about all the money that we spent on those, I get disgusted. It is about $2000, plus or minus, in equipment and media. I will be lucky to sell it all for $250.

Moving on to other things, Josie was given her schedule for the summer yesterday. She will work only 4 days per week as business is slow during the summer months. That is not so bad except that her three days off are not consecutive. She will have Saturday and Sunday off and also Tuesday. That makes it tough to plan any kind of long weekend.

We have some potential for rain in the weather forecast for tomorrow. We sure need some...

Too Hot for Work

Having had the bad experience with dehydration over the last couple of weeks, I hesitate to do any extensive lifting, unpacking and moving of boxes. The temperature at our house hit 113 yesterday and that is not a safe number in which to be doing lots of physical work - particularly in the garage.  I worked in my den on the computer much of the day tracking auctions and items I have for sale on Craigslist and eBay. I am disappointed with the results so far, but will stay with the program.

Our golf course was closed Monday and yesterday for fairway aerification and will close one more time in July (12th and 13th) for  two days to perform greens aerification. I am so impressed with the care that is given this golf course and assume the others are treated with similar attention. It shows in the condition of the course.

The temperature is forecast to reach 111 today with a sign of some moisture coming by the weekend. We desperately need that and it coincides with the start of the monsoon season. It has been quite awhile since we have experienced a monsoon season here, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it is a wet, but not destructive one...

Visiting Friends

During the day yesterday - while it was cooking everything outside - I paid my first visit to the Rec Center to try out the fitness equipment. It was at the Bell Center which our closest one and is the center that will serve as our primary one out of the 7 that are available to us.

I checked in and went to the fitness center and signed up for a treadmill. The equipment was wide open so there was no wait at all for a machine. This is the view I had while doing my 30 minute workout on the treadmill:

Between the hot sun and the summer vacation effect, the pool area was also not very crowded. It was a great first experience.

Josie was able to get off early from work yesterday so we had plenty of time to get ready for our visit with the Tates (John and Vicki) which was scheduled at 5 PM. They have been Sun City residents for quite some time although the house they are in now is new to them in just the last three years. They live about a half mile from us and are very close to the house we almost bought which is on another of the Sun City golf courses. It was a wonderful visit where we enjoyed talking about a lot of things including our experiences together in Jackson. This shot was taken just as we were sitting down for dinner:

They are leaving later this week to spend some time in Oregon and escape this awful heat in AZ.

Lucky them...

More Time With AT&T

So far, we have spent an enormous amount of time at the AT&T stores trying to resolve problems. The latest problem - not being able to access our DirecTV bill online - was the subject of yesterday's visit. It turns out that the same user ID on more than one account (our cell account and satellite account) causes problems in the system. Actually, there would not have been a problem if we didn't have an older DirecTV account that was in the system - the one we cancelled before moving everything to the bundled AT&T program. At any rate, we solved the problem by listing the DirecTV account under Josie's username. I can't say that the experience to date with AT&T has been a joyous one. Even though DirecTV is now part of the AT&T company, there is no satellite support at any of the stores. Time will tell.

Tonight is our planned get together with our friends John and Vicki Tate. We will go their house - about 1/2 mile away - after Josie gets home from work at around 4:30 PM this afternoon. We are looking forward to seeing them again.

It will again be a very hot day today as the forecast is for 107. The Monsoon season begins in a couple days, so maybe we can get some relief from this god awful summer heat in AZ. Only about 4 months more of this before we see some nice, cool weather...

Back to Pottery Place

When we signed up for our new phone service with AT&T, one of the benefits and rewards was a $100 VISA Debit card. We needed a nice, new "welcome" sign for our front entrance so we decided to use our reward card for a nice one that we could buy at the Pottery Place in Surprise. We went yesterday morning and found what we think is the "right" one for us:

It looks kind of nice at the front entrance and we still had almost $10 left on the rewards card.

There is a story behind the location of this new welcome sign. From the time we first started visiting our new home - even before we made the offer - there was an old, wooden wreath tacked on that spot that became a nesting area for a dove. She had three eggs, hatched them, nursed the young and they left - only to have a second dove arrive who laid two new eggs of her own. We went through that cycle - all the while trying to avoid any contact with the mother and she finally left the nest two days ago. We pounced on that old wreath, immediately removed it, and now replaced it with our new sign.

We connected with the couple that we worked with at the Visitor Center most of last summer - John and Vicki Tate. They left early last summer and did not return this season as a result of family issues and they are fairly close neighbors of ours in Sun City. We will meet them at their home on Monday night after Josie gets off work for a happy hour and barbecue. They were the managers of the center two years ago and we really like them a lot. They were shocked that we didn't return this year so we have lots of catching up to do.

I'm still waiting on some good news about items that I placed on eBay and Craigslist...

Craigslist vs eBay

I have many items that we have decided to sell. The question is: is it better to sell on Craigslist or eBay - or both. Craigslist is free and is perpetual - no cancellation date. eBay has much better coverage, costs money to list and has an ending date at which time it disappears from the site. Also, Craigslist is a local customer pickup site whereas eBay is a shipping site which costs the buyer more money. So, if it is a heavy, or large item (such as furniture), Craigslist wins. If it is a light, easy to mail item (stereo component) , eBay wins. The overriding consideration though is where is the best opportunity to move an unusual or hard to find item and that usually results in a win for eBay with its broader coverage.

I started yesterday by listing our Ozone Generator on both eBay and Craigslist. It is not so heavy that it cannot be shipped (eBay) but is unusual enough to not rely solely on Craigslist. I also want the wider audience that eBay provides. So far, I haven't gotten much interest from either ad. That is an item that is better suited for a commercial application than a local, residential one. Restaurants, apartment complexes, Bars, conference rooms, etc., are good candidates for this device.

I have VHS players, VHS Recorder, DVD player and a laserdisc player to sell along with a nice collection of laserdiscs. I think all of those will be advertised on both eBay and Craigslist, although the laserdisc collection is very heavy.

Following those items, I have many 33 1/3 RPM record albums and many78 RPM records to sell. The chances are that all of those items will sell better on eBay.

Decisions, decisions...

Sizing up Options

The main activity yesterday - for me - was sizing up various sale options for eBay auctions. We have so much stuff that we have collected over the years that we have no use for any longer. I categorized and created a list of all of our laserdiscs (63) and will try to sell them on eBay along with the laserdisc player. There are so many different ways to sell this stuff (including records, VHS movies, magazines and other stereo components) that I will be spending lots of time sorting through all these various options. One thing is for sure - we have no room, anywhere, to continue to store these items and we will finally get rid of all of them.

I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor yesterday and got the green light from my episode with dehydration last week. All is normal and I am good to go.

Josie is getting back into the swing at work and that is a good thing for us. Even though she has some problems with Phoenix Flower Shops, they do take her back whenever she is available.

I guess it's now time to move on into the garage for today's sizing-up of options...

A House in the Garage

Josie's first day back at work was ho-hum, as expected. It is nice that her shop accommodates her here-today-gone-tomorrow schedule. Even though there are drawbacks with her working at Phoenix Flower Shops, they do have the flexibility that Josie needs in her schedule. Her commute time from the new house is about 5-10 minutes longer but about the same distance. She does not use the freeway now which results the longer commute time. It is not a bad commute though.

I began tackling the garage situation yesterday. It is like having another house to unpack. Most of what is in the garage - outside of Christmas related items - are old items we have been carrying around for years. These items include, but are not limited to:  books, pictures, stereo equipment, vintage records, magazines, movies and memorabilia. It will be a monumental task to conquer this objective of eliminating the contents - or even finding a suitable location to store what is left. I will start by advertising and attempting to sell most of the old audio equipment, records, laserdiscs, and other collectables. I will advertise on eBay where I am most likely to find a large audience of collectors and locally on Craigslist. It doesn't amount to a lot of money, but it is better than giving it all away.

I don't see an end to this latest effort to get settled but at least we will make a huge dent in what is left...

A Few Ramblings

Yesterday was the final day that Josie had off as part of her move-in time away from work. There are some things yet to be done inside, but, for the most part, we are done inside and now face the garage. Not so easy a job. I will start to tackle that one today.

We did not get a resolution to the Text Voicemail issue with AT&T yesterday. So far, we are not very impressed with AT&T as a cell phone carrier and hope that things get better. We have a two year contract with them but we did get lots of financial incentive to make the change from Verizon. We can always fulfill our two year commitment and switch back to Verizon in two years and get a whole bunch of new financial incentives. We can play this game.

We did some research and went to Home Depot prepared to replace our refrigerator with a new one. It turned out that we would be better off waiting until the big appliance sales hit over the 4th of July or even on November when the big sales happen.  We know that some of our other appliances will need to be replaced so we decided to wait and perhaps get a nice discount for multiple appliance replacements.

Josie is back to work today and her first trip to work from the new house went smoothly. She will experiment with different routes to find the best way to work, but she made it in about a half hour on the first day. Schedules are getting back to normal again - if there is such a thing...

A Day with AT&T

As you know, we switched our telephone carrier from Verizon to AT&T to get a substantial discount on our combined phone/TV services. We are still trying to finalize access to one of the features we (I) need to gain the best utilization of the phones.

I had what was called Voicemail Text with Verizon and we spent a good portion of yesterday dealing with reps at the AT&T store to install a similar feature. It seems that there is a conflict between the stores and their own corporate support group. One says the feature is available and the other says it isn't. We do not have the feature installed and expect to get resolution today. It isn't so important for Josie, but I depend on the voicemail text to make up for my hearing deficiency when I get voicemails. It sure makes it a lot easier to understand messages.

We had not planned on wasting much of the day on that issue. I did drop off a urine sample at the doctor's office to complete treatment and analysis of the dehydration that I suffered last week. I have one more appointment - on Thursday - to close out that experience. Josie had a haircut to get prepared for her return to work tomorrow and that about sums up the day for us...

Rec Center Visit

We finally made the time to visit our Rec Center. It is the Bell Rec Center and is one of 7 centers here in Sun City. It is also the one that is closest to us and will be our "home" Rec Center. It is a terrific, modern facility that has anything and everything you would ever want to do. I took several shots of the facility which still does not do justice to the many amenities that are available. I will start by apologizing to Cheryl for not acknowledging that there was a mini golf course at the facility. There is not only the one at the Bell Center, but there are mini golf courses, all different,  at a total of 4 of the Centers. These photos give a peak at some of what is available.

Starting with the main entrance to the facility which has 16 bowling lanes:

This shot is of the indoor shuffleboard courts:

and the George's Café which is a full service restaurant:

The fabulous pool area which has a laps pool (in the background) and a large, regular pool:

Of course, there is the fitness center which is a main attraction:

And finally, the mini golf course which is spectacular and one we will be enjoying very soon.

Throw in many, many club rooms and workshops which I did not photograph, and you have a very complete and functional facility. We are so excited that all of this is available to us, anytime, at no cost other than our annual $430 fee for the facilities - all seven of which are ours to use. The immaculate condition of the entire facility speaks volumes about the management and hard work that makes this town so successful and such a wonderful place to live. You could not find a facility anywhere, including a brand new subdivision, that can match the quality of this one.

What a wonderful benefit...

Nice Family Visit

Our scheduled visit with George and Cheryl occurred last night when they arrived with a pizza for dinner at around 4:30 PM. It was the first "official" visit to our new (to us) house although Cheryl had previously stopped by shortly after we moved in and was met by a sea of boxes. It was a wonderful visit that was only tainted by the severe pain that George suffers with his back problem. We wish there was something that could be done to help him get his quality of life back to where it was and where it should be. Now that we are in a house again, maybe we can visit more often.

The main part of the house is almost totally under control as far as settling-in. Our goal now is to make enough headway in the garage so that at least one of our cars can be parked inside. Eventually, both cars will fit but I see that day as being one pretty far down the road.

I am going to do the best I can to continue the recovery from my dehydration which means getting plenty of rest and continuing to drink lots of fluids. We are very happy and fortunate that we were able to obtain this house which is about as close as we can get to a perfect situation for us...

Feeling Better

I went to my primary physician yesterday morning and had a session with the Nurse Practitioner who was standing in for the doctor who was totally booked. She did a very thorough exam and review of the issues I had been having. She set up an Ultra Sound appointment for me later in the day. The net of the entire day was that I am extremely dehydrated from all the excessive physical activity while moving in all of this heat. The Ultra Sound was to confirm that no damage was done to any internal organs. Her prescription for me was complete rest and drink plenty of water and other liquids for the next several days. I have a follow up appointment scheduled next Thursday with my physician to review all of the events. What a relief, and I had a good night's sleep last night except for more frequent trips to the bathroom to eliminate some of the excess fluids.

As a result of the doctor activity yesterday, we never got to visit the rec center which will go on the list of things to do and places to go.

We are all set to enjoy our visit tonight with George and Cheryl. The oven doors will be open today and the forecast ( 106-110) is for them to remain open now for the foreseeable future...

Health Issues Continue

I had another restless night last night with feelings of nausea. As there may be some underlying issue, I am going to try to make an appointment today with my primary physician. You can't be too complacent about these issues and it's best to be safe. Even though the instances aren't as severe now, they are still cause for concern.

It was another beautiful morning today to sit on our patio and enjoy the birds and "bunnies" while watching the golf course crews go through their routines. The course has been closed yesterday and today for annual fairway maintenance. Golf play will resume tomorrow. Here is a shot of the full moon that we saw this morning through the saguaro in our neighbor's yard:

It has become a standard practice for us now to have our morning coffee on the patio while it is cool and quiet.

One of the things we want to try and do today is to pay a visit to our rec center to check out the amenities. Most of the rec centers are similar except that a couple of them - ours included - have expanded capabilities, such as bowling alleys and restaurants. We definitely need to familiarize ourselves with that facility...