ODEL COMES HOME TONIGHT - WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

My last blog post was written Wednesday, the day before Odel left for Memphis. I had big plans for the four days he would be gone. Since I haven't posted anything to the blog during that time, you might think I was busy, busy, busy, huh?

After I dropped Odel off at the airport at 7 am on Thursday, I came straight home, fell out on the bed, and took an hour-long nap. That pretty much set the tone for my time alone!

I spent a lot of time enjoying our huge, rather private site at Catalina State Park, sitting outside reading a long, complicated, odd book. I chaperoned Luna on her many, many excursions the out-of-doors, particularly her explorations near the edge of our "yard", where the tall, dry grasses hide potential dangers. I put the new electric awning out every afternoon, and brought it back in again a dusk - being able to do this alone was worth every cent we spent on that awning!

Odel called yesterday morning to describe the scene he saw looking out his window: 5 inches of snow on the ground! Memphis was unfortunate enough to be included in the record-breaking snowstorm that moved across the eastern states over the past few days. The last time measurable snow fell in Memphis was in 1984!

Here in Tucson, we have been experiencing higher-than-average warmth - and record-breaking heat for this date is forecast today: 91 degrees. Catalina State Park, north of Tucson and nestled up to high mountains, stays several degrees cooler than the heat sink of Tucson, but I am glad we have 50 amps of power here to run the AC's.

Our friends Jeanie and Ray were here at Catalina when we arrived, and have stayed until today. After a couple lazy days of doing "not much", I walked over to their loop on Saturday morning and invited them to go for a hike. Ray had plans, so Jeanie and I set off together. New wildflowers are opening every day, and the loop we hiked affords good views of the arid mountains, the greening washes, and closeup views of saguaros, ocotillos, palo verde...

Jeanie invited me to drop by for happy hour that afternoon. When I did, I was invited to stay for dinner planned and prepared by Ray: grilled skewers of shrimp, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. We ate outdoors in the perfect evening weather, then I stopped at Loop B's fabulous shower house on the way home for a long hot shower - a fine, fine day.

Yesterday morning, Ray joined us on our loop hike, then I motivated myself to tackle an ongoing problem: a slow leak in one of the Jeep's tires. Fill the tire with 34 pounds of air one day - it will have 25 pounds of air the next.

I fired up the motorhome to run our on-board air compressor, hauled out the air hose and pumped up the tire. Big O tires is just a couple of miles away, so off I went - only to discover that they are closed on Sunday! Sheesh. Then, off to Safeway for grub, and another session with my book and Luna in the afternoon shade.

This last photo shows what a year of hiking does to a pair of boots. I bought new Ariat boots at High Lonesome Feed when we were at Rosanna's. My old pair, though dusty and worn, is still in great exterior shape - but the cushy insoles have been completely smashed. They are retired with honors.

The sun is coming up, Luna is sitting by the door crying loudly to be let out, and I need to deal with the tire. The day begins.