2/17/18 Anniversary Sale

Wow!  What an incredibly busy day!  We took a group photo just before opening the doors at 9 AM.  It is a good thing we did it then because there wasn't a minute to catch our breaths before our shift was over at 1 PM.  We had tons of help on the floor and in the warehouse where people were picking up furniture at a constant rate.  As soon as something left the floor, someone filled the space with another item from the back.  It was crazy!  I took a pic of the crowd waiting for the doors to open - there were at least 75 people in line.  We had two cashiers open all day and the line ran down the aisle and wrapped around several times.  Someone said they had to wait almost 2 hours to pay, but the savings were worth it.  Everything was 37% off - even the sale items.  I sold an office chair to a man - he paid less than $3 - at that price he couldn't refuse.  The staff was great - they treated everyone to coffee and 10 dozen donuts this morning (neither is my favorite and we had just eaten breakfast) and then at noon they had pizza, wings, a veggie platter and a fruit platter.  The afternoon shift came on at 12:30 and it included a group of sorority girls from U of A.  The line to pay was still about an hour's wait when we left.  I won't find out how much we made today until we go in on Thursday, but most of the items on the floor had sold tags on them.  The only unknown is what else they had in the warehouse to bring out.  As we were driving away, I saw a Habitat truck coming in with a load that they had picked up.  I assume they had enough people to price the items and get them on the floor for the afternoon crowd.  We were both exhausted when we got back so we put our feet up for a couple of hours.  My piggies were smoking!

The four pics today are of the group shot, the free popcorn table, the line out the door before we opened, and the line at the registers as we were leaving.

2/16/18 Habi-Store

We woke up to a cloudy day which turned into a rainy afternoon.  It is still raining and it is about 5:30.  The "natives" are enjoying the rain.  One man at the store today said that this was the first rain they had had in 186 days!  Apparently, they get a monsoon season in August and it is unusual to have rain this time of year.  They are also happier with the cooler weather (about 57 now).  It was surprisingly busy this morning at the store.  I thought we wouldn't have many purchases today as tomorrow is the big sale - 37% off everything, celebrating the 37th anniversary of the store, but I was proved wrong.  We had plenty of purchases plus Dave was busy in the back unloading 2 of the 3 trucks that came in today and emptying the 2 sea-land containers where the guys have been storing special items for the sale.  I don't know how they are going to fit anything else on the floor, but I guess they will bring things out as other items are sold.  I am including some pix of items that are recent to the floor as well as a picture of Joe, the disabled vet I talked about last week.  There is also a pic of the monthly sales chart and one of the Valentine's aisle at the local grocery store - they must really celebrate big here.  The other picture is of the happy flowering plant in the front of the house - I can practically hear it sucking up the rain!  We switched our times tomorrow so that we can be of most help for the sale - apparently last year they sold $18000 worth of goods!  I expect it will be a mob scene as many people were in today scoping out items.  There should be a crush at 9 AM when we open.

2/15/18 Rainy Day and Habi-store

What a difference a day makes!  Even though we had rain for part of yesterday, it was still fairly warm.  It rained all night and during most of the day today, but the temperature has dropped.  The high was only 57 (I know, I know - most of you would love to see 57, but when it has been in the high 70's and low 80's, that is quite a drop).  I looked online before we went to work at noon and we had gotten 3-4 inches of rain.  The drive in was interesting as there was a lot of standing water on the roads.  It was busier than I would have thought today given the rain and that the big anniversary sale is coming up, but it died off at the end of the day, which makes the time go so slowly.  Tomorrow we will be busy putting out some items that they have been saving for the big sale.  I don't know where they are going to put the big items though as the floor is pretty crowded already.  No pics today - I will try to take a few in the store tomorrow.

2/14/18 Biosphere 2

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.  We woke up to clouds this morning with a threat of rain so instead of walking outside, we opted to visit Biosphere 2.  The property was developed from 1984-86 as a research facility to study and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology.  Human missions took place from 1991-94 with teams of eight plus a medical doctor.  The people were sealed in for two years and were able to be self sufficient - growing their own food, etc.  After the second team went through, Columbia University took over and now it is run by the University of Arizona.  It is no longer a sealed facility, but is used as a research laboratory for environmental studies.  We went on a guided tour and walked through a rainforest containing over 90 different plant species some more than 60 feet tall, a small ocean area with man-made wave action, a mangrove area, a hydroponic area where fish are in the upper tank and their waste (nitrogen) filters though the plant areas where the micro-organisms in the soil change the waste to fertilizer.  As you can see the lemon is quite large for the small size of the tree.  The last area is a fog desert - more in tune with the deserts near the Pacific Ocean because of the high humidity in the air.  We then walked into the basement to see the myriad of water pipes, air controls and a room called the lung with changes the air pressure and volume.  The glass enclosed area is a bit over 3 acres and there are 6500 windows.  It is 91 feet tall at its highest point.  Many scientists work here to see what effect different factors have on the environment.  For example, the average carbon dioxide level on Earth is 400 parts/million.  When the level was raised to between 600-700 parts, the rain forest began to emit carbon dioxide instead of oxygen - quite a scary thought.  Our last stop was to visit a lunar greenhouse.  It contained strawberries, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes - it looked very healthy.  It was raining quite hard when we finished exploring.  I'm sure the plants and cacti were VERY happy!  Apparently, it is supposed to rain all night and into tomorrow.  It is a big change from our 2 1/2 weeks of sunshine.

2/13/18 Catalina State Park

Today we drove 20 minutes north and took a walk in Catalina State Park.  The area was very different than the desert park near us.  It is in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains and is surrounded by Coronado National Forest.  The path was wide and lined with creosote trees and cacti.  On one of the knobs of the mountain we noticed a natural A (for Arizona?).  The path was uphill for a bit and then leveled out before descending in a series of manmade steps to the canyon floor.  Fun fact:  if a barrel cactus is leaning, it is leaning toward the southwest (see pic)!  I also took a pic of an ocotillo plant.  At this time of year is looks like a bunch of thorny sticks, but when the rains come, it leafs out and has bright red flowers all over it.  Most of the wash is sandy, but at the bottom of the canyon there are a number of large boulders that have washed out of the sides to litter the bottom.  We saw a number of century plants complete with the elongated flowers left over from last year.  Coming down the canyon, I stopped to take a picture of the conglomerate canyon wall.  It is probably the remains of an ancient mudslide.  Many-armed saguaro lined the top of the canyon walls.  We chatted with a young couple (married in July last year) who are traveling from California to Michigan.  They are taking their time as they don't want to get to Michigan until late March (I don't blame them).  We gave them some suggestions from out trips out west - Antelope Canyon, Marfa, Texas (we only mentioned Marfa as they said they wanted to stop in Roswell for kicks), Zion, etc.  At one point we saw two women on horseback and then later, a couple on horseback.  The last pic is of a small tree in the wash - you can see how the water has eaten away the soil at its roots.  After 2 1/2 miles of a lovely walk, we drove home for lunch.  Food tip:  I only use a dab of mayo when making tuna - just enough to hold it together, but when you are out of mayo, a small bit of ranch dressing works quite well.  We will have leftovers for dinner tonight.  We hear it is supposed to rain tomorrow so we will see what we will do for an excursion - there are so many choice.

2/12/18 Park and School

So today we went back to the desert park nearby and took another lovely walk, trying out a new trail. We didn't like this trail as well as the last one as there was a lot of loose sand and it felt like walking on the beach - very tough on the legs.  We did see some pretty cool cacti though so it was worth it.  I took a pic of some strange new growth on a cholla.

We also saw several hawks.  When we got back, we looked it up and they were Harris's hawks and this is the most northern part of their range.  We also saw several cacti with round holes drilled in them - either by a bird or a small owl.  There was a large epiphyte on one tree and a couple of crazy cacti.  One of them looked like it was chewed by something - insects, birds?  We came back and had lunch and then I was off to read to 4th graders at Manzo Elementary School.  The school is in an impoverished neighborhood and was not doing well, but has turned itself around by adding a chicken coop and a greenhouse in one of the patios.  The parents love to come and help with the gardening and the chickens and have become more involved in all of the school activities.  The second patio had picnic tables and a small stage for performances.   The students in Miss April's class were great!  I had picked up a book at the Habi-Store and read to them for a half hour.  They loved the story and were engaged and responsive to questions.  We only got about four chapters in and they were wondering what was to happen next.  I told them I was donating the book to their classroom and they all cheered.  The book was The Kid Who Ran for President by Dan Gutman - an excellent choice for this age group.  When I got back, Dave and I drove for a half-hour to the Good Feet store.  His feet have been bothering him and we thought he might benefit by having new shoes.  He said his feet felt better as soon as the put the new ones on.  We will put his old ones right in the garbage can.  We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner (celebrating Valentine's Day a bit early) and then drove home.  On the way home, we went by a Chinese restaurant named Wok and Ro (very funny).  When we got home there was a spectacular sunset.  We had a few clouds today which is unusual, but Dave heard there was a 40% chance of rain on Wednesday - we will see.