Winter readiness in AZ.

Here in AZ winter readiness is like springtime in MN. We clean off the patio or porch, rake up the leaves that are still on the ground, take off the foil insulation on the windows and put flowers outside. And that is what was done yesterday afternoon. We once again have sunshine coming in all windows, well except for the bedroom window. That window may stay covered, it sleeps better without the rising sun streaming through way too early in the morning. With the sunshades on the windows we don't get all that much air flow but it does keep the dirt from entering so much too.  We just put fans in the doors when we need air movement. The days are so nice in the winter and the nights can drop into the chilly upper 30's. Some days we go through three different sets of attire. hehehe

It's so nice waking up and opening the doors and windows to the fresh cool morning air. Maybe tonight, if the house cools down enough by bedtime,  we will leave all the windows open. I'm not comfortable leaving the doors open unless I am home and awake. Lola may be a smaller type dog but she had become very protective and offers great protection. Not to mention other means of security that we have. But why ask for trouble.

There is a downside to having all the doors and windows open. On windy days such as yesterday some of the desert comes in and lands on everything. So fall and winter I do a lot more cleaning. But to not have snow and nose freezing weather, I'll take the extra chore of cleaning.  So may ask us, how can you stand the heat of the summer? Well we handle it the same way we handled winter, we stay inside most of the time.

The snowbirds are coming in faster and seem just as rude as last year. I do believe the nicest snowbirds are our neighbors. Mark said you can easily tell the snowbirds from the AZ residents by their rudeness. Retail loves the increased sales but hates the attitude that comes with some of the visitors. So when you visit another state, or anywhere for that matter, show off the good side of yourself and leave the attitude in the suitcase. We are all the same, money does not make you superior to anyone.

As some of you may know, my mom is not doing well. Jesus is making a place for her that is just perfect. A place where she will not have anymore pain, grief or stress, just the peace of being with our Lord savior.  Being so far from MN, makes it difficult for us to make decisions of what and how to do things. We are almost 2000 miles from MN. To fly back and forth is out of the question, we live on a limited income and flights and car rentals and dog kennels are not cheap by any means. Some people are treating us with utmost understanding and some are quite mean. But until you walk in our shoes you have no right to be judgemental. Our hearts are breaking and this is no time to cause us more pain. But as God forgives us I will forgive you.

Feeling better

I am definitely liking the changes happening her in the Sonoran Desert temps have a way of changing almost over night. As you know most of the summer I have been showering off after each morning in the pool in cold water. Now do not go burrr. The cold water here is almost too hot to shower off in during the summer. Well within just a week or so I have been having to add a hot warm water mixed in with the cold to find a happy medium.

The temps which were in what Yuman's call the single digits 101 to 109 deg. during the day have now dropped into the high to mid 80’s during the day and down into the high 70’s at night. Trust me with a breeze It feels cool.

Also I finally got the Cortisone shots in my hands taken care of and am ecstatic with the results so far. My left hand which had become almost useless as I could not grip anything with it over night has an almost 80% improvement. The right hand I now have at least partial mobility of the thumb and believe another shot will resolve that as well.

I have to say that you living in Minnesota can Thank God you have a state that Values Health Care. Do not take that for granted for at least here in Yuma that can not be said!

The outcome of both my procrastinating and going thru the waiting room boredom, I have seen more writing on bathroom walls than literature to read in these waiting rooms. But the biggest outcome from this is No More Pain. My hands have hurt so bad at night and finally all the time that I have not been able to sleep even wearing the compression gloves was only offering minimal relief.

Now I have over years gotten up during the night not sleeping much more than about 3 to 3 ½ hours at a time. But living thru the pain was waking me up after just an 1 ½ hours. Yep I can truly say it sucked to be me……..lol

You might ask yourself why the hell did he not go to the doctor sooner as you knew there was something wrong?

Well it was something I knew leading up to what they found when I did my health card this year for my CDL license. I have Type 2 diabetes and when I originally asked the Doctor about my hands he said that may well be a side effect from the diabetes. Of course he also to me I might die and should have passed out, so I guess his opinion is only worth the $75 dollars I paid him.

Now the true assessment brought on by my diabetes condition and quite possibly all the Gravy I have slurped down even to the point of adding it to pizza over the years is that I have quite possibly lost the feeling in my left heel and my right ring finger forever. Although I have a goal of losing more weight which may change that outcome as well.

Speaking of weight I am very proud to say I have stayed under the 200 lb mark for a week now and am feeling pretty good about it. That is 25 to 27 pounds off my starting point and I feel puts my goal of the 180’s in site. Notice the ‘s in 180’s? That means 189 pounds counts…..lol

I wish to give a Big Thank You to my loving bride Cindy for keeping my feeding habits, to what I feel our bare minimum for survival, in check.

To Caravan Oasis for the Pool we have virtually all to ourselves to do an hour plus long workout in, almost each morning.

And get this “Walmart” for giving me a 32 hour a week job in produce that makes me attempt to keep up with kids half or less my age and walk 5+ to 7 miles a day. Yep if it wasn’t for the fact I still part my hair down the center you might not recognize me if you walked by.

So in closing I also want to thank all of my friends for their words of care and encouragement. And to let people know, now that it has passed, 120 deg. is dam hot but we made it thru and now have 6 months to beautiful weather to look forward to. How about you………...lol?

Stay Cool my friends and if your ever are passing by Yuma drop by! Our door (at least in the winter) is always open!

Mark

More to come

This morning we hustled our butts to get to the store before anymore bad weather left us without milk and bread. Heaven forbid the Bentons run out of milk!!! We had a dry run so we even stopped for breakfast🍳 at our favorite place, The Foothills Eatery. A short ride🚗 looking around was a nice bonus before heading home. There was even time before the rain for Mark to get the water softened. PTL!!

It wasn't long and the rain started, but at a lesser degree than yesterday. Back in MN we would call this a million dollar rain. Just a nice slow soaking rain all afternoon. Now, after catching the weather report, we have learned that the worst is yet to come. Hurricane Rosa is really going to make an impact on our weather. The moisture is much needed to ease the 18 year drought, but when the rain comes with such turbulence, it causes a lot of damage, which no one wants. Many businesses, schools, homes and shelters felt the wrath of yesterday's storm.  They were left some major damage. I pray that they will not any major issues again.

The challenge that we have tonight is dodging the rain to get Lola out to do her duty! She, like most people, doesn't really like walking in the rain. WM, as well as other places were all sold out of umbrella's. Imagine that, needing an umbrella🌂 in the desert. Yes, we do get rain,☔ not often but it does rain. Well neither of us will melt. If that were the case, I would stand in the rain until I got the remainder 20 pounds off. 😮

Wet

Today just before Mark left for work we got a little taste of the flash flooding. First the wind kicked in like on the Wizard of Oz. About half an hour later the rain come down in buckets with a force I've not seen since leaving MN just before a tornado. The rain kept up until around 4 at which time Lola and I went out to see how the park withstood the powerful rain and wind. One home had the skirting ripped off on one side, the rest of the homes looked ok.

I'm glad that I did the laundry yesterday or I would've been washing clothes in the parking lot using a rock or washboard. That whole area was flooded.

Before we headed back home we passed by two new swimming holes that used to be the volleyball court and the horseshoe court.

 Getting off of the porch Lola and I needed to use the front gate because the driveway was flooded.

Down many roads there was no way of crossing without boots or a boat. hehe As I was saying this was only a taste of what is yet to come. The flood watch continues through tomorrow and through Tuesday night. Right now it is calm, no breeze, muggy and everything is saturated as is our porch and all the shoes and sandals that were on the porch.

I heard that the pumps in Yuma were down so the water is still sitting in many places yet. We had a little flicker of power when the whole mess started but praise be to God, our power has remained on and stable. Being new to the area in the summer, I do have candles ready if need be.

Yesterday I should have gone to the store for milk and bread, but my back was giving me real pain so I just stayed in my recliner after doing the laundry. Tomorrow, God willing, the next round of nasty weather will hold off until we can make a run to the store and back home. Mark has off so he will drive us with the truck, incase roads are still flooded. The SmartCar, may be too small to clear the water safely

Beautiful morning

Oh what a beautiful morning....... 70º and sunny. The doors and windows are open. This the lowest temp we have seen in months and I'm loving it. I am going to go outside and sit on the porch with my coffee in a bit even though the chairs need a good vacuuming.

Mark has off today and I hope we can go and get a new screen door for the patio door. Our first day here Mark tried walking right through it and bam!!!! It got bent badly. After he tried twisting it back  we were able to kind of close it to some degree, but not lock the screen. No other plans besides the pool. But as cool as it is this morning I'm not going until this afternoon. Cold water is not good for the arthritis. Mark will go to the hot tub for a nice long soak on the sore muscles. And then we will both go to the pool later today.

Good morning.

Up early this morning because it's Sunday, church day. It's a warm morning and will be warm again all day. No snow predicted here at all this winter. The the kind of winter weather we love. We are so looking forward to another winter in Yuma.

The fields are showing signs of life once again too. The green is starting to peek through the ground, the fields are being flooded and sprinkled each and every day. It's a very unique way of farming, a way we have not seen anywhere else. It won't be long and I'll be smelling cut cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce. And the best part is buying it at the Arizona Market Place fresh from the field. Which will be opening in a couple more weeks. The produce won't be there yet, but we still enjoy spending time there. And I really could use some new shirts. Oh man I can hardly wait. Northern California is where we get most of the fresh produce in the winter, fresh but not quite as good as here.

Have a special Sunday.

Wheels

We are back to a two vehicle family. Yesterday we decided to insure the truck again and use that as our second vehicle. With Mark working and using the only vehicle to go back and forth made it too much of an inconvenience. After working hard at WM who would want to spend time on their day off shopping there too?  And we all know what it's like to need something or need to go  somewhere and not have wheels. Or make appointments when you don't know what the working schedule will be from one week to the next. Anyway, it was more financially smart to insure what we already own then purchase someone else's money pit.

When I got up this morning it was a beautiful 75º. A good morning to open up for some fresh air, or so I thought. Upon opening the door and sticking my head out, the smell of oil or tar was permeating the air heavily. So no fresh air this morning. We have had some nicer temperatures the last few days, but by Friday and the weekend the temps will be on the rise again. But cooler days are not far behind. Which means I will enjoy today for what it is now. Not like I can do anything about the weather anyway. hehehehe

I'm still working on some fall crafts and can see how much more detailed things are getting. So many of them I like so well that it will be hard to sell this fall. But I have to recoup some of the money I spent on the supplies and I have no good place to store them all either. Someday I hope to be able to get back into my card making, that is the craft I enjoy more. Plus card making is so much easier on my hand.

Time now to go and enjoy cooler morning walk with Lola.