Enough Wind Already

For the sixth consecutive day we are expecting 30 plus mph wind gusts and steady winds in the 20-25 mph range. We are somehow caught in a pattern of pressure changes that are causing these constant winds. The winds are making it difficult to get things done outside to prepare for our trip, but we'll manage somehow.

Josie said her farewells at work for the summer yesterday and is now focusing on the tasks to get things organized inside. There really isn't that much that needs to be done, but we hate to wait until the last minute to finish. She had a couple experiences yesterday that are noteworthy. The first is that some vandalism occurred on the beautiful prickly pear cactus that is outside the door of the shop. Here is a shot of the plant, taken just about a week ago:

and these shots of the damage that was done:

They suspect it was done by people from the neighboring trailer park. It's sad to see how some people just don't care about the effects of stealing, or whatever their destructive motives were.

Her excitement continued after coming home from work. She said the tire pressure light on the Jeep came on while driving home. Well, at about 8 PM last night when I went outside to empty one of our holding tanks, I saw that the left rear tire was flat. I changed the tire with the help of one of our neighbor's (Mike) who just happened to be walking by. I will have to take the flat down the road to Fletcher's in Peoria this morning to get it repaired. I just hope it doesn't mean buying a new tire, as it is fairly new with plenty of tread remaining. I would have had a shot of the flat except we put the spare on in the dark, using a flashlight. At least I know now where all the jack tools are located and how to get access to the spare tire under the vehicle. I could have waited for that education.

This will be the first full day we have had together in about two weeks to be able to concentrate on the chores required to get ready. We have enough time - if the winds would stop - to get everything done outside in the next day or so...

Progress Made Despite Wind

Since my driving for Josie's shop ended on Mother's Day, I spent most of the day outside getting some things ready to go this weekend. The winds made it difficult to take down and fold the gazebo fabric panels, but I managed. It has been four consecutive days now with winds in the 15-20 mph range with gusts in the 30-35 range. What is happening to cause so much wind?

I also shored up the fence a bit with a few medal posts, placed along the fence to give it more stability. It will have to do for now, and maybe when we return for next winter I will do more to eliminate any wobble. Our plan is to do a little more in the way of improvements anyway, including privacy slats in the fence along the one side and maybe more ground cover to eliminate some of the dust when the wind blows.

Josie had a "normal" workday yesterday and was home by 2:30 in the afternoon. We went to Albertson's down the street to stock up on some groceries, and we saw this coyote crossing the street that was limping as a result of an injured front leg:

We don't know if it was hurt by an auto or maybe a fight with another animal over food, but he was limping badly with the damaged left front leg. Just another example of the varied wildlife on the desert.

Today is Josie's final day of the winter season at Phoenix Flower Shops. She will get together with the General Manager (hopefully) sometime before we leave to confirm her return in October for next year. It has been a definite win-win situation for her and for the shop.

There will be more preparation done outside as the week progresses and we are also scheduling a dinner at a restaurant somewhere in the area to say our farewells to George and Cheryl. That will probably be Thursday night following Josie's Endoscopy during the day...

Mother's Day Activity

The marathon effort by Josie ended yesterday on Mother's Day when she was done working by noon and got home to enjoy a little of the holiday. That is, after she did more laundry. Our dirty clothes accumulated until we were almost out of clothes to wear. She did  laundry on Saturday night and again yesterday to catch up on everything. It's nice that the General Manager of Phoenix Flower Shops worked with the crew the entire week before Mother's Day to help out, as he does each year. He told Josie that this was the best organized and most prepared Mother's Day that he can remember, and credited her with making the difference.Hmm, maybe she should ask for a raise for next year.:)

My deliveries also ended yesterday with a relatively short delivery schedule. I finished the four days with 86 deliveries and they were all in the Peoria area. That amounts to almost $500 which is pretty good for a few days work. It will help with the gas for our trip this weekend.

The saguaro cactus are in full bloom now and Josie got this shot of one that is at the edge of the resort:

They don't last that long before dropping all the blossoms for another year.

One benefit of working in the floral business is that you get to enjoy some of the beautiful flowers at the end of the holiday. These are some of the flowers that Josie was working with and had left over from the holiday:

She put that together with about a dozen different flower types and it looks great. A nice ending to the holiday...

Long Deliveries Day

I started at 8:30 yesterday with deliveries to the Peoria area. I did three runs, totaling 38 deliveries and was in just about every part of Peoria before finishing up at 4 PM. I really don't like delivering in this particular area because of the traffic volume and other considerations. There were traffic jams all around the central part of Peoria where the malls are located and all of the big box stores and good restaurants are located. Yesterday was a day for everybody to be out shopping, as I lost lots of time crawling in traffic in the early afternoon. As I mentioned before, the town of Peoria has a much larger concentration of working mothers and it gets frustrating when I have to knock on several neighbors doors to find someone who would be willing to hold an arrangement until the recipient came home. In some cases, I had to try three or four neighbors before finding one that would take the delivery and hold for the recipient. When I delivered in Sun City last year, and Sun City West the years before when I helped with deliveries, I didn't have many of those situations as most of the customers were retired and at home. Also, when the recipient wasn't home, a close neighbor would come to the rescue and take it after only one or two tries. I like the willingness of the retired folks to help out versus the seemingly "I don't want to be bothered" attitude of the working customers.

I should also mention that we have seen the burros again while leaving the last two mornings for work. This time, they were close to the resort and were grazing and playing near the entrance to the resort:

Josie actually caught this one earlier in the morning when she left about an hour before me. He was walking along the side of the road:

It was nice to see them again after a long period of wondering where they went. It may be the last sighting before we leave at the end of this week.

Today is my last day to drive and Josie's final day for production. She will work tomorrow and Tuesday to wrap up any late orders and to complete replacements where required. She actually got home before me yesterday by a couple hours. It's finally over after today...

Happy Mother's Day !

Longer Day

It was a busier day yesterday for deliveries. You would expect the volume to increase the closer we get to the holiday. I did 20 deliveries yesterday versus 11 on Thursday. My assigned area the last two days has been Peoria, which is different from my area last year in Sun City. I would much rather deliver in Sun City. The reason is fairly obvious: there are many more working mothers in Peoria than there are in Sun City. That means I have to spend (waste) more time knocking on neighbor's doors to find somebody home that can accept the delivery. Another reason is that Peoria has much more traffic congestion than Sun City. Most folks in Sun City ride in their golf carts, whereas in Peoria, there are more autos, buses and trucks, not to mention congested shopping areas. My final run yesterday was for 4 deliveries that were scattered over 35 miles. It becomes difficult to (financially) justify so few deliveries over such a wide area. If I have my way today, that won't happen. My pay as a contract driver is a per delivery compensation as opposed to an employed driver's salary regardless of how many deliveries he makes. If I have to drive long distances between deliveries, there is not as much return on my time.

It is expected to peak - or be near the peak - for deliveries today. I hope to do at least 30 today, and anything short of that will be disappointing. Tomorrow should also be a huge day. Josie has worked 11 hours each of the last two days and will most likely have another long one today. With only two days to go, we should make it through all right. It seems like the business this year is off from last year, but that can change today and tomorrow. At any rate, the store is happy to have Josie helping this year...

First Delivery Day

My first day of driving for the shop was yesterday. It was a relatively short run - 11 deliveries - and all were to addresses in Peoria. It went fairly smooth, with just one bad address, one where the recipient wasn't home and one that was omitted from the routing chart. They were done in just over two hours which is still a good average. I like to gauge the delivery speed by having at least 4 deliveries done each hour. I was done by 11:15 after starting right at 9 AM.

Today will be a longer day with more deliveries. The closer we get to Mother's Day, the more deliveries we have. Josie worked from about 7:30 AM until after 6 PM yesterday, so she is definitely in the middle of the marathon production phase. Everything else is on hold for her until after Sunday.

I got a chance to put a latch on our gate to the new fence. It isn't quite the way I want it, but it will work for now until we get more time to work on outside stuff. Both of us will most likely be gone most of the day from now until Monday. That leaves next week to get everything ready to go before we head out to Jackson on Saturday, the 17th.

It looks like the weather will be near perfect for the weekend which is very good news for floral deliveries. We have to make sure that none of the arrangements are left outside, so when somebody is not home, we have to find a neighbor to leave it with and notify the customer that it can picked up at that location. I only had one of those yesterday. It's not expected to really heat up - into the 100's - until late in the week, so maybe we can beat the heat and get everything done before it arrives...

Fence Installed

The weather finally cooperated with cool temperatures (74) and light winds (20 mph gusts). It gave me a chance to finally install our fence so it is all but finished except for finding the right kind of latch for the gate. It looks pretty good:

It should provide a little more security and privacy and, hopefully, deter traffic on our site while we are gone this summer. Our neighbor has indicated that he will also keep an eye on things while we are away and he will email any problems and status updates to us during the summer season. He (Dan) is in the military and manages a staff of technicians that service the F-15 jets at Luke Air Force Base. His girlfriend (Sabrina) works at Honeywell in Phoenix. They are a nice, young couple that are setting up their space for a long term stay - at least until January, 2015.

I received a call from Josie's shop asking if I could begin my delivery schedule today. I knew that I would be on standby for today so it is no problem for me to help out a day earlier than I was scheduled. It promises to be a very busy weekend, beginning today for both of us, but especially for Josie...