2/23/18 Last day at HabiStore

We had the early shift today so got on the road about 8:00.  For the 4th day in a row, it was colder in the morning here than in Mystic.  The difference is that when we came out of work at 1:30, it was 65 degrees and sunny.  Today was quite slow, but we did sell to almost everyone who came in so that was a successful day.  Everyone said they were sad to see us go, but we are ready to come home.  Alastair was delighted with the brownies, but sad that he wouldn't get any more.  They must have been popular because I took a break at 10 and they were all gone (24 count)!  I forgot to tell you about a weird incident that happened on the way to work yesterday.  There was a car carrier ahead of us as we turned onto Grant Street.  It went under the I-10 overpasses just fine, but when it went under the railroad overpass, the car on top had pieces flying off of it - the carrier with its load was taller than the overpass!  Fortunately, none of the pieces hit our car as I don't usually follow too closely.  The driver pulled into the back parking lot of Sonic, which is next door to the HabiStore, and Dave saw him take the car down to inspect it, leave it parked in the lot and then come back later with a different carrier to cart it away.  I hope there was insurance on the car as it was brand new.  If no insurance, the driver probably lost his job.  We get done with our shift at 1, but stayed a bit longer so Luis could print out our boarding passes for tomorrow.  We came home, had lunch, and packed our suitcases.  Tomorrow we will vacuum, change the bed, and throw a load of sheets and towels in the washing machine.  We will go out to dinner tonight so there won't be any dishes to deal with.  No pics today and this will be our last blog so hope to talk to everyone when we get home.

2/22/18 House Dedication

Glorious sunset last night!  We got up early so we could drive south of the city to attend Arlene's house dedication.  It is a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath house.  She, her son and her daughter were very excited.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the banana bread, but there were lots of other items on the food table: quiche, soft tacos with pork, some type of pastry that looks like a filled tart, donuts, coffee cake, etc.  There was a standing room only crowd in the living room and Arlene was very happy as she received her keys to the front door.  It was nice that management delayed the opening of the store until 10 so all the workers could attend the dedication.  We came back to the house to do a few things as we weren't scheduled until 12:30.  When we got to the store, we noticed that they were having a 10% off sale on everything in honor of Arlene's new house - very sweet.  We gave the horseshoe to Matt, saying that we couldn't afford what he wanted (a horse), but we gave him a start.  He laughed himself silly!  It was not super busy today, but everyone who came in bought something so that kept us on our toes all afternoon.  I did find out that we made $15,875 last Saturday - not as much as last year, but certainly a good number for sales in one day.  I just made a pan of brownies to bring in tomorrow - Alastair said he would skip breakfast so he could indulge in brownies.  Tomorrow we will work in the morning and then pack up in the afternoon.

2/21/18 Our favorite park again

We woke up this morning and checked the weather on the computer.  Another strange day!  Mystic woke up to 50 and fog with a high predicted of 55, while here in Tucson, we woke up to a very chilly 36, but clear skies and sunshine and we got up to 61.  We intended to visit a new park today that I spotted on our way back from yesterday's jaunt, however, when we got there, there was a $10 admission fee.  I didn't think we would be there long enough to walk off $20 so we returned to our favorite park.  We took pics of saguaro - one of which has arms akimbo and reminds me of Gumby and a baby one that I had Dave stand next to for scale.  I also wanted you to know that there are two types of barrel cacti - a straight needled one and a fish hook one.  The picture of the sand on the path is trying to show the javelina tracks we spotted.  As we got to the parking lot, we noticed the purple prickly pear cactus (something in the soil perhaps?) and a van that parked near to us - I hope you can read the signs and the license plate.  We came home and I baked two loaves of banana bread as we are attending the dedication of the new Habitat home for our cashier, Arlene.  I have been looking around the house for a ribbon for wrapping around the bag we put the horseshoe we bought for one of the workers whose birthday is today (but we won't see him until tomorrow at work).  I haven't found one yet, but I'll come up with something.  We are starting to gather some of the things we have spread around since we have been here.  I figure we will pack up Friday afternoon after our last day at work. We are ready to go home and hope that the milder weather stays when we get there.

2/20/18 Sabino Canyon

We had bit of rain last night and woke up to gray skies with a bit of sun poking through every now and then.  We checked the temperature this morning and at that time it was cooler here than at home! It has been windy most of the day, but the temperature did get up to 56.  We drove about a half hour south and visited Sabino Canyon located in the Coronado National Forest. Here they pronounce it Sa-bean-o rather than the way we pronounce the ship at the seaport.  We bought a ticket to the shuttle and had a lovely 4 mile ride up the canyon.  There are nine stops and you can hop-on/hop-off at any stop.  It runs every 30 minutes.  We elected to go to the last stop and then did a bit of walking here and there.  We didn't walk the whole way down as in some places water was running over the bridges.  Yes, I said water!  Since we have had rain, the creeks and brooks have filled and there is actually water running.  We chatted with a few people on our way down, but the most memorable was an 85 year old man who was walking up the canyon.  He was from Indiana, but lived in Tucson for 10 years and was associated with the U of A softball team.  He was very bright and spry for his age and said he comes back every year for a few weeks to get warm, visit old friends, and hike.  The sides of the canyon were quite steep in places - about the height of a 40-story building.  We saw plenty of cacti - some even on the steep hillsides, holding on precariously, but also enjoyed the geology.  The gray and white rock visible in at least one of the photos is Catalina Gneiss, a metamorphic rock.  There were several caves up on the rocky sides - makes you wonder if the Native Americans used them for shelter.  I don't know if it will show up, but the rocks at the top of the canyon at one point look like Snoopy lying on his back.  We saw several sycamore trees and some of plants and cacti were even showing some new green growth due to the recent rain.  We had another wonderful day here in Tucson.

2/19/18 Desert Park

So we had an easy day today.  We did some laundry and some cleaning up around the house.  The day was partly sunny and partly cloudy, but cool and very windy.  At one point we went out on the patio so Dave could work on a spoon he is carving for Charity and I took some sand paper to the horseshoe we bough yesterday to clean it up a bit.  When the laundry was done, we went for a lovely walk at the nearby park.  Dave was able to sand the handle of the spoon while we walked and I took a few pics of cacti and the mountains.  The park has three mountain ranges in sight.  We saw no birds or animals today, but the walk was grand.  We came home and had a late lunch and then just relaxed for a bit.  Not too much excitement today, but a thoroughly nice one none the less.

2/18/18 Dan and Carla

Today we drove 40 miles south to Green Valley to visit some friends we met in Africa last year.  Dan and Carla live most of the time in Madison, Wisconsin, but come to Arizona January through April to get out of the cold.  There house here is lovely - 2 bedrooms, 2 baths with a gorgeous view of the Santa Rita mountains.  Green Valley consists of many little developments with 8 community centers and 6 golf courses within 5 miles.  They stay busy while here with dancing lessons, swimming, yoga, hiking, and golf.  We sat and chatted for a bit and then went for a drive around the neighborhood before driving out to Madera Canyon.  We stopped at a birding place and watched the birds for awhile.  I caught a pic of a nuthatch and a Mexican blue jay, but couldn't quite get a good photo of the hummingbird.  Someone said that a coati mundi has been coming by lately to the area, but he did not show up while we were there.  We then drove to the top of the canyon and I took a pic of the great view back toward Green Valley.  The light hill in the background is made up of tailings from the huge  copper mine nearby.  On our way out we passed an enormous pecan grove.  One would think that would not be a good tree to grow there as it uses so much water, but apparently they flood the rows every once in a while and they seem to be thriving.  We then went to visit Tumacacori Mission.  It was started by the same Father Kino who started the San Xavier Mission.  The mission was started in 1691, but moved to its present site in 1751.  The mission that we visited was rebuilt in 1820 and abandoned in 1848.  This was a totally different mission than that of San Xavier as this one was in ruins and has not been restored.  There was a local woodcarver showing off his wares in the church portico.  He uses a machete and a utility knife to carve both the wood and the root of the cottonwood tree.  There was a wonderful herb/flower garden beside the church and I took a picture of the lovely purple flowers there.  They also had plum, persimmon, and quince trees in the garden.  I must be a wonderful place when everything is in flower.  We then drove into Tubac for lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant and then went into the downtown area to visit a kitchen store named Tumacookery.  They had every kitchen gadget known to man.  It was great to just wander around!  We stopped at a bar, Dos, to have soda and beer because they had a live singer on the patio.  She was very good and we enjoyed listening to her original songs as well as some oldies.  On our way back to the car we saw a couple with their bulldog.  I had to take its picture - bulldogs are so ugly, they're cute.  We stopped at a giant permanent yard sale to poke around.  The fellow who owns the place goes to storage units and bids on abandoned ones.  He has been on the show "Pawn Stars" and was interesting to talk to.  We wanted to buy a horseshoe as the young man who does janitorial work at the Habi-Store loves horses and is having his birthday this week.  When I told the owner what we wanted and why, he gave the horseshoe to us for free - quite unexpected, but very nice.  Carla bought a beautiful Chinese-style robe that she is going to use as a Halloween costume.  We went back to their house, but didn't stay too much longer as Dan looked like he was tiring.  He had hernia surgery last Monday, but looked amazingly well, if a bit tired.  We had a wonderful day and hope that they will come to visit us in Connecticut.  The last picture is of Dan and Carla on their patio.