February Follies

You may be wondering if we got lost somewhere here in Arizona. Quite the contrary....we have been right here in our adobe on the hill all this time.

To take you back to where we left off......the Monday following June's birthday, Tom flew up to Bend on Allegiant Air. The ticket price was so cheap, we decided he could fly up and bring the Prius down for our short jaunts around the state much cheaper than we could have rented a car dolly to bring it down when we came. He landed in Redmond about 11 a.m. Daughter Becky, Wylie and grand-daughters Kelly & Laura were there to greet him and whisk him away to our house. He left our house about 2 p.m. Monday, January 18, driving thru heavy winds and snow. He made it as far as Fernley, NV that first night. Taking off early the next morning, Tuesday, he was again fighting the elements. When others were chaining up, he kept on going and the Prius got him safely through. While driving in stormy Nevada he even spotted two funnel clouds...fortunately the storm chaser in him didn't kick in and he kept on course. Meanwhile, June was at the Arizona house, wondering where her precious Prius was, and Tom, since she hadn't heard from him all day. Knowing his penchant for the element of surprise, she wasn't too worried, although she finally gave in and tried to call him about 5 p.m. No answer. But then she remembered driving south through Arizona there was no cell service. Sure enough, at approximately 5:25 p.m. she heard the garage door opening. And behold....there was the precious Prius and Tom!!
He may not have set a new record for the trip, but it certainly was noteworthy!
He hasn't lost his touch.

The day after arriving back in Arizona, he started coughing, and not feeling well. Before we knew it, he had a full-blown case of bronchitis. And before we knew it, June did too! It kicked us pretty hard, and we were literally down and out for two weeks. As soon as Tom started feeling 'normal', he experienced severe abdominal pains....and a trip to the ER was necessary. They checked him out thinking Gall Bladder, but fortunately it turned out to be a bad spell of gastritis.....too much aspirin, ibuprofen, and aleve trying to survive the bronchitis, no doubt.

I am happy to report that on this Valentine's Day, although we both still have somewhat of a cough, things are looking up, Tom is back to eating normally, and we'll now be able to start on our Arizona To Do list.

The other morning, the sunrise was phenomenal.....unfortunately the picture doesn't even do it justice!


Our recent full moon, peeking over the hill out back....

While we were sick, Arizona was hit with a record-breaking rain that lasted 5 days. Here in the Wickenburg area, they had 6.31 inches of rain. As a result, the desert is now covered in green, and we expect there will be an amazing wild flower crop this spring. This is the hill right next to our house.

Getting restless and anxious to take the Prius out for a run, we drove to Quartzite yesterday to check out the action. There wasn't any. But on the way, we passed this, and couldn't resist a picture for the blog!