Photo Contest

The activities director in our community held a photo contest and residents could enter one photo during the week. The goal was to gather enough photos taken within our community so they can make and sell calendars next year. I thought about it and couldn't decide right away. I looked through my photos I'd already printed and decided on day 6 to enter a photo. There were about 40 photos entered and the residents voted on their favorite photos, with the top winners being choosen for the calendar.

This is the photo I entered. Its taken in our front yard at 5:30 in the morning just when the sun was rising, back in 2005. It's one of my favorites. I call it "A New Day".

After seeing the other photos entered, I decided that Rick could also enter a photo. This is the one entered with his name.

Its the state flower of Arizona, the saguaro cactus. Both photos were choosen for the calendar.

Great site for pronunciation

I found a nice website while trying to figure out how to pronounce some words. Dictionaries show you in print how to break up the syllables, but with the Internet you can actually hear how to pronounce the word. Give it a try next time you come across a word you cannot pronounce. Turn up the volume.
http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=flyfishing
Just type in your word or click from the list. (I sort of like the English accent he has.)

Doctor re-visit

When I get on my PSA soapbox Rick makes the sound of an alarm, sort of like a police car in England. Eeee-Oooo, Eeee-Oooo, Eeee-Oooo. This PSA or public service announcement is because of our recent doctor visit/re-visit. This is about facing facts.

You are probably like us, sometimes putting on the sunscreen, sometimes wearing the wide-brimmed hat, sometimes wearing the long sleeve shirt. Sometimes letting the sun tan us to what we thinking is a healthy looking golden glow.

As teenagers and young adults, having grown up in southern California, both of us spent lots of time at the beach and outdoors. There was surfing, swimming, sports, fishing, boating = all done outdoors in the glare of the sun. As a young child, our parents make sure we have sun screen or sun block on our sensitive skin. As teenagers and young adults we think we are invincible, strong, unbreakable, indestructible. And we think it will never happen to us. And we think we'll live forever.

As we grown older we come to the realization that we won't live forever. We do break and we sometimes are not as strong as we thought. And the healthy glow of the sun is not always healthy.

Rick had a suspicious looking spot on his wrist, what he thought was a thorn from a lemon tree, possibly aggravated by dirt, that wasn't healing as expected. He picked at it and opened up the wound, put on antibiotic ointment and bandaged it. After 2 weeks it didn't heal, but got bigger and sore, and coincidentally we had our bi-annual dermatologist appointment. The doctor could have opened it up and looked for the thorn or she could cut the area off and send it for biopsy, which is what she (& we) wanted. The lab results showed Squamish cell carcinoma and the doctor wanted to remove more to be sure she got it all. So the re-visit. And my 40 questions.

Being involved with a family member's diagnosis of brain cancer in the recent past, I had a very long list of questions. After each question, the doctor would say "That's a good question" and you could tell she didn't mind answering and explaining everything. She said if you had to have a skin cancer, this is not a terribly bad one. It's keratoacanthoma and the doctor confirmed that it can be brought on by trauma, such as a thorn. It also has to do with over exposure and sun-damaged skin, but the trauma caused those crazy cancer cells to erupt. The lab diagnosis confirmed how it presented and we were surprised to learn that it is very quick growing and after a while can "go away", sometimes taking many months. Thing is, it doesn't really go away. And if left untreated, it can destroy and "eat away" the surrounding skin such as your nose or ear. And it can metastasize to the lymph nodes and other organs.

My point to all this is that you should not be out there in the sun without a really good sunscreen. Although we use sun block everyday while fishing, we should be wearing it more often. You should take precaution and wear a long sleeve shirt if you're going to be without shade. We just bought a few 40+ UV protection fishing shirts from Sam’s Club and they will become our everyday shirt. And you should wear a wide brimmed hat to protect your face, ears, and nose. No more ball cap. And be proactive. You should visit a dermatologist who will perform a thorough exam. Please take care of yourself. We are not invincible.

Happy Birth Day Jared!

Jared arrived a few days ago, on time, as scheduled, with just a little bit of a rollercoaster ride. After our newest nephew was born he needed to go to the NICU for an hour or two for oxygen. Turns out he just had a little fluid in his lungs and he's perfectly OK! He scored a 9 out of 10 on the APGAR test shortly after being taken to NICU. The APGAR tests appearance (color), pulse, grimace (reflex), activity, and respiration in newborns. He is sooooo darling and cute!

Jared weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and he was 20 1/2 inches long. His mother, Kat, is doing well, but has a recovery to go through herself. The new dad, my brother Mike, did well during it all, but looked a lot better after Jared, his first, was out of the NICU. Although he quickly got to hold Jared after he was born, Mom and I were there in the NICU when Mike was able to hold him and the realization of it all sunk in. He looked sooooo happy, proud, relieved, elated, and all the other emotions that describe being a parent for the first time.

I think his maternal grandmother, who's been a NICU nurse at this same hospital for the past 17 years, was taking extra special care of her newest grandson and one of her co-workers joked that she just wanted Jared to spend a little time in her unit, intensive care. She made sure that all was well and it was a relief to have her overseeing all the activities. It was really nice that she was able to give Jared his first bath. And she's a photographer so there's already hundreds of photos taken by her and another photographer she knows. In addition to all the other shots family and friends have taken. Wow! Here are a few taken by Rick and me.

It'll be a few weeks before we visit with them again and I'm sure Jared will have changed quite a bit. It puts a smile on my face to think that a year from now Jared will be running around playing with his cousin Leo and all the other cousins.

Internal debate

Usually my thoughts flow fairly freely, but I've been having an internal debate with myself about what to write and therefore nothing has been posted here. That's usually the reason for me not posting. I feel a sense of relief when I get my thoughts out. We have a new, beautiful nephew and lots of photos to share. We also have another appointment with the skin doctor this afternoon and I'm preparing myself for that. I think my next post will be about the good news.

I never thought I'd know so many doctors

Another thing I used to scoff at. I never thought that we would know so many doctors. Literally, doctors from head to toe. I'm surprised at all the doctor appointments that have started to appear on our calendar. I guess once you hit 50 that's what you have to look forward to.

They're all for wellness checkups and yearly exams and (knock on wood), we're healthy. We go to the dermatologist (skin doctor) twice a year for check ups and it seems she can always find some little spot to burn off or remove. Last fall Rick had a few suspicious spots burned off his face and I got away clean. This last week we went back and she found 2 spots on my face to remove and Rick had a spot on his wrist that was hurting so she removed it. The cuttings were sent for biopsy and we'll have the results back in a few days.

Doctors appointments usually aren't any fun, but we are grateful to have good medical insurance and we go for our checkups. Don't always like to, but we would rather know what's up with our health. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I say "Better to know and deal with it."

Quick trip for a new nephew

We're making a quick trip to CA for the birth of yet another nephew. Yep, I'm going to be an aunt again! It's a real contrast in my family with Rick and I retiring and my brothers and sister just having their children. We're finished with work and they have many more years to work. There's a large span of years between us all, and a number of us also. Seven months ago my brother Mark (& Anna) had their first child together, and now his twin brother, Mike (& Kat) are having their first child together. Here's a link to the posting about Leo. http://rickmicgonefishin.blogspot.com/search?q=leo He won't be the baby any longer.

Families get very complex and multi-layered nowadays and mine is no different. Just from my siblings we have 9 nephews and 2 nieces, all under the age of 15. I'm not even counting from Rick's side or anywhere else.

The drive through the desert was beautiful with the yellow, orange, purple and blue wildflowers in full bloom, growing alongside the freeway and a little ways into the desert. It was like a carpet of yellow with purple throw rugs spread around for color accents. If we hadn't had Rick parents with us I would have stopped to get some photos. I've already asked Rick to have the camera ready for the trip home so I can show you that the desert can be beautiful.

Fun stuff

We've settled into a routine schedule of fun activities! We're having soooo much fun! This is the fun part of retirement! We still love to play pickleball (me probably more than Rick) and it's a good incentive to get up early and get going. There are lots of choices of where and when to play, but we like the round-robin play everyday from 7:30 AM to 11:00. There are also ladies groups, couples groups, an advanced group, weekly lessons and mini pickleball tournaments happening all the time. All the enthusiastic players and the pickleball club keep the pickleballs flying from sun-up to sun-down.

The weather is warming up and by 8:00 the courts are busy. Rick plays 2-4 games and then around 9:00 he heads up the street to the Sawmill Woodshop for a few hours. He's working on some cool pieced and turned bowls. I usually stay and play a few more pickleball games and on Thursday I played with the ladies group. A lot of play on that day - 12 games!

I've started riding my bike around the community and some days I go back and forth from home to the town center a few times. Great exercise! I go home for lunch and Rick usually joins me for a little sandwich. Today he planned to stay late at Woodshop so I surprised him with lunch and he didn't have to leave the shop. He's working on a bowl that looks more like a wooden puzzle. Maybe I'll post some photos of the life-cycle of a pieced bowl.

I spend some of my afternoon time at the Stitchery club or Arts & Craft club participating in classes or working on my own projects. And sometimes I wander through the Ceramic club to see what they're up to. Activities are starting to wind down so I won't join something new right now, but next year I might check out the line dancing lessons. Friends say it's a lot of fun and good exercise, too!

Sometimes I take my camera on my bike rides because I never know what will catch my eye. The morning light can be so perfect for photos. It's gorgeous springtime in Arizona and the birds are abundant. Lots of Canada geese, quail, and the prolific doves. The cactus, trees and bushes are starting to sprout and flower. I took the photo of the cactus and then tweaked them a little. I don't usually tweak photos, but seeing the cactus with the saturated colors is almost cartoon-like. And Beavertail cactus is anything but cartoon-like.


By 4 PM we're both home, sitting on the patio, planning what to cook on the BBQ. After dinner we talk about what's on the calendar for tomorrow. FUN! FUN! FUN!

Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Some friends sent me a question about tire pressure monitoring systems so I thought I'd answer here. They remembered we had a tire pressure system and asked which one we use and wanted to know about our experience with it. We met them last year at a Thousand Trails park when we noticed that we had similar motorhomes. We struck up a conversation and started comparing motorhome features, floor plans, and modifications.

There are a few different types of tire pressure monitoring systems, but I'm only familiar with the one we have and it's made by Advantage PressurePro. http://www.advantagepressurepro.com/

We've used it for more than a year and we feel it's done a very good job for us and the company has provided good customer service. We have the 6 wheel system for the motorhome and 4 additional sensors for the tow vehicle (toad). The small sensors screw onto the valve stems of each tire. The small flat monitor is attached to the left of my driver's seat with Velcro and is very easy to check the status of each tire. Because our motorhome is only 36' we don't need an additional receiver to get the signals from the toad, but larger motorhomes might need it.

We purchased our system at an FMCA rally from one of their many dealers. They were very helpful in answering our questions and getting the system set up initially. It may seem a little complicated when you first learn about it, but after you've changed the pressure in your tires and reset the sensors, or changed out a couple sensors, you see how simple it really is. You set the monitor when the tire pressure level is where you want it and it has thresholds for low and high settings. If it reaches a specific low or high level, an alert is activated. There were a couple times when we were parked overnight in Montana and the outside temperature dropped quite a lot and I'd left the monitor on. The beeping alert got me out of bed because the cold weather had caused one tire to drop pressure more than 12%.

From the Advantage PressurePro website you can read all the details and see photos of the components and accessories. I noticed from their press release section that you can even get the system from Costco.com. And they price seems really good from Costco.

It's a convenience to be able to check the tires any time we want from inside the motorhome. Rick also manually checks the tires every so often with a gauge to double-check the monitor. On the mornings before we get on the road it's one of the first things we turn on. We've heard about the horror stories of tire blowouts with motorhomes. It's very reassuring to know that we've taken another precaution to keep us safe. A sudden change in tire pressure, low or high, will sound an alarm. Just another way to keep us, and others on the road, safe.

Too True To Be Good

Such a great deal! Something for nothing! Such a good offer! Free!

Well, we all know that you get what you pay for. If it seems too good to be true then it probably is. And there has to be a catch.

This happens everywhere all the time. Offers too good to be true.

While at the swap meet in Quartzsite we saw a California Duster (for the car) for only $5 and thought it was a great deal. Our friends said they bought one at Wal-Mart for $10 and they usually retail for about $16. So when we found the car duster for $5 we thought "Woo-hoo! What a deal!" But we should have thought "Too good to be true?" When we showed our friends our deal they told us the difference between the authentic and the fake. Rick disassembled the duster from the carved wooden handle and it was used to move the logs around in the campfire. And eventually it became part of the bonfire so it was used.

Also at the Quartzsite RV Show we saw a guy hawking a hand-held grater for nuts, cookies, and cheese. It looked so simple to use, with just an easy twist in your hands you too can grate tall piles of cheese and more. A friend and I both thought it looked simple and the price was (about) 2 for $20 so I'm the owner of a cheese grater that doesn't work well with cheddar or other soft cheeses. Maybe it would work OK with nuts and hard parmesan. Again, you get what you pay for and too good to be true.

Have you ever signed up for a free drawing? You're probably being put into some database for junk mail. I'm not saying all deals have a hidden agenda. It's nice to think you're being given something for free. But really...what's the catch behind the deal?

Retirement? Don't be afraid.

I know a guy who, at the last minute, almost changed his mind about retiring. He was afraid. And at the same time Rick and I were looking forward to our retirement.

Back in December 2007, a few days before we gave our 3 week notice, a co-worker I'll call 'Rob', was counting down his last days on the job. He had already given notice and had just a couple days left to work. Rob was at least 65 and had a pension from a prior job and was eligible now for another (very) small pension. But he was having regrets about starting retirement. On his second to last day, as he was passing around his celebration cake, he confided in me that he really didn't want to retire. It didn't have to do with money. He said he didn't have any interests or hobbies and he didn't know how he would spend his time, if not working. He was seriously considering retracting his retirement letter.

I felt sorry for Rob. Little did he know, but upper management had jumped at the opportunity to replace him. As soon as he had given his official notice, they made it impossible for him to change his mind. There'd been rumors that he was probably going to retire and they were ready. They had their ways. I could only encourage him and I tried to help him find ways to look forward to life.

Anyway, I felt so sorry for him for not having any plans for retirement. For not being able to look forward to it. For being afraid of boredom.

I know many people who work well beyond "normal" retirement age. Especially nowadays. But even years ago I knew quite a few who enjoyed their work, enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment, of feeling helpful, who liked the interaction with others, who depended on the income, and who had nothing else they'd rather be doing. And I've met many who thought they were going to be happy spending their days on the golf course or playing tennis, spending time with their buddies, going to lunch every day, shopping, and just hanging out. They found that their friends didn't retire when they did and they grew tired of "hanging out" at the mall. So many returned to work, full-time or part-time, but they returned to the pastime they knew.

Years ago, from the very beginning, Rick and I had a plan to retire as soon as we were able. And we both had the same idea what to do when we retired. Getting an RV, travelling the USA, and being able to fly fish has always been the dream.

Counting the days until we are on the road again...

I used to scoff...

When retired friends said that they were busier than ever and didn't have time to do all they wanted each day, I didn't believe it and I used to scoff. I'd scoff! Scoff at the idea of not having to go to work and still not being able to accomplish all the things on the "To Do" list. My work day used to be controlled by the clock and we lived a tight schedule. Up at 4:30 AM, leave home by 5:30, at the office by 6:30 AM. Lunch at noon in the office, same place, same time everyday. Then leave the office at 5:00 PM and get back home around 6:30. Defrost dinner and eating before 7 PM. Then 3 hours to "relax" and get all the personal stuff done before our dizzy heads hit the pillows. We were thankful for our 4 day work week, but still, our 3 days off were chock full of chores. And family responsibilities.

When we retired 14 months ago we stopped wearing our wrist watches. We do carry our cell phones and check them to confirm doctor appointment times. It didn't take long to get used to doing without the watch reminding me of the time.

I stopped by a friend's booth today at the arts & crafts fair and he asked why he hasn't seen us at the club lately. He's been retired for 20 years and had a good laugh with me about not having time to do it all each day. I can't believe how much there is to do! It's not a stressful feeling, not at all like having a job you don't enjoy. Not stressful like driving the gridlocked freeway for 3+ hours each day. Not stressful like having to meet a deadline even. In fact, it's not stressful at all. It's downright enjoyable. Maybe I'll share a typical day in my next post.

So many activities, so little time

If you wanted to be busy all the time, it's here to be part of. It seems every type of club, activity, sport, or hobby is offered. Truly, if you can imagine it, it's here. And there are some clubs we've become involved with. We tried to be selective, but we're so tempted.

There are classes and meetings happening in the Stitchery Room. This past Saturday there were about 20 women who each spent more than 2 hours cleaning the room, organizing supplies and performing maintenance on the sewing machines, sergers and embroidery machines. The Stitchery club room looks fantastic! Today we held a monthly meeting and discussed the season-ending offerings and what's planned for next year. It seems like a very nice group and somehow I was convinced to work on their scrapbook. It'll be a fun task.

We went to the Wood Working BBQ on Saturday where they cooked up some tasty burgers and hotdogs, with all the fixins. They are also a great group of (mostly) guys who turn out some beautiful items. The wood carvers are housed in the same building, sort of next door. Rick also does wood carving, something I've never wanted to do, or watch. Sharp knives and chisels.

The stained glass club shares the room with the wood carvers. We stopped in to visit with the glass group and see what they were working on. Some beautiful projects there! We've made some stained glass items before and I can see us getting into that next year. They also work with fused glass jewelry, something I'd like to try.

I haven't had much time to go to Arts & Crafts or the NeedleArt group gatherings. Tomorrow is the craft fair, along with a small RV show put on by a local dealer. Friday is vendor's day and it always has a huge turnout.

Friday night I went to Bingo here in our community for the first time ever. No, I didn't win, but the cost was little and fun was big. My neighbor across the street goes every Friday and sits with 3 or 4 other lady friends and they chit chat while hoping to win one of the jackpots. There were about 10 games that paid out $110 and 2 special games that paid out over $400 each. I believe more than 300 people show up hoping to win. I'll probably go a few more times before we head out in the moho.

We want to get back on the pickleball courts, but with all the trips to California and other appointments, pickleball has taken a back court. Time to put it back on the top of the list and play with the morning group. I think I'll play with the ladies group on Thursday.

In between club activities we've started to load the motorhome. We had one day of 90 degrees and it reminded us of how hot it will soon be. The weather cooled off a little after that and has been absolutely gorgeous. Arizona winters are the best in the country.