Sunday, June 28, through Sunday, July 5, 2015: The Big Weekend Visit:

On Sunday I made up for the excitement of Saturday by not doing a lot.  Naturally, there were small projects (I started installing the baseboards in the master closet, for example) and some conversations with Becky about matters relating to her father's affairs, but mostly I just puttered around and relaxed.  Delightful.

Monday was routine, except that on the way to Flagstaff the sky opened up.  The monsoon season had finally arrived. 

The temperature dropped from 80 to 60 in less than a minute.  At one point, I realized I was hydroplaning---and immediately slowed down enough to regain complete control.  After my radiation treatment the sky was clear and I stopped at Home Depot, Walmart, and Maverik (for diesel fuel), then headed home without incident.  We had some Mandarin Beef stir fry for dinner from P. F. Chang (via Safeway) and it was delicious.

Becky joined me for the trip to Flagstaff on Tuesday, so we did a little shopping, of course, and picked up some parts for our spa.  Late in the afternoon we started watching Focus, the day's redbox movie, starring Will Smith and a delightful Margot Robbie, of whom I'd never heard before. 

It's an interesting caper movie, but for some reason we couldn't finish it Tuesday. 

Wednesday was another day of radiation and shopping.  Among other things, I stopped at Home Depot on the way home to pick up the necessary parts to install the shade cover over our spa.  The cover is not really for shade, it is to keep stuff from the pine trees out of the spa and off the spa cover.  We finished watching Focus late Wednesday afternoon.  The spa cover arrived at 6:30.  It's perfect.  I installed it first thing Thursday morning.  Becky's not sure she likes it.  We'll see. 

Thursday afternoon was my last scheduled radiation treatment for the week since the folks are taking Friday off.  Becky had a 1:00 appointment for a facial in Flagstaff, giving me a lot of time to kill before my 2:30 appointment, so, after picking up some special bread at the local Whole Foods Market, I went to the hospital an hour early on a chance---and they were able to take me immediately.  Yea!  After returning home, I finished Street Lawyer, an old John Grisham novel I've been reading off and on for a week,

and immediately picked up Fury, a Robert K. Tanenbaum novel. 

Thursday evening and Friday morning we took care of last-minute things to get ready for the Bernsteins.  They arrived at 11:30.  It was great to see them after such a long time.    

We talked, and snacked, and talked some more, and snacked some more.  And David went for a 15-mile bike ride.  (It would have been longer, but it started raining off and on.)  He's amazingly consistent in keeping up his riding.  The gang started on a jigsaw puzzle.  Finally, it was time for dinner at Red Raven, the #1 restaurant in Williams and a clear favorite of ours.  It was delicious, as usual.

Saturday morning, we went to Bearizona and enjoyed the "wild" animals, many of which were sleeping.  They're still fun to observe.

In the afternoon, while David went on another bike ride, the gang continued on the jigsaw puzzle.  It was very complicated and nearly consumed us for the rest of the weekend. 

Since Saturday was the 4th of July, we had to cook our dinner of hot dogs (actually brats) and hamburgers on our dazzling barbecue.  Yum!  (Cleaning the barbecue later was my job and it was no fun.) 

Donna and Emily are preparing for a mini marathon so they went running through Williams on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The Bernsteins had originally planned to leave early on Sunday morning, to arrive home at a reasonable hour.  That all changed and, except for Donna and Emily's running and David's bike riding, we had a leisurely morning.  They finally left, heading for an interim stop at Four Corners, the intersection of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. 

They apparently had a good time on that adventure, but we learned they didn't get home until 1:00 AM.  After they left us, we relaxed, realizing it was wonderful, but exhausting, having them here.             

Saturday, June 20, through Saturday, June 27: The Build-up To My Birthday:

Saturday morning came bright and clear.  And warm.  We have had a few days of 80+ degree weather, and we're promised several more.  Just delightful.  It's one of the advantages of the 7,000 foot elevation.  (Phoenix has been getting 100+ degree weather.)  At 11:00, we took a one-hour ride on a special train run by the Grand Canyon Railway people. 

It takes the same route as the one going to the canyon, but just makes a 16-mile round trip in the vintage "Harriman" cars, drawn by the steam locomotive. 

It's no big deal in reality, but we love the old train equipment and the ride through the Coconino National Forest is very pleasant.

After that, we stopped in at an open house in our neighborhood.  The home for sale was built nine years ago by Andy Worthington, the husband of our realtor, Danielle Worthington.  It's truly beautiful and looks hardly lived-in at all.

We had a pizza from The Pizza Factory for dinner.  When I called to order it, John pulled up my phone number on the computer and  noticed that we had called several previous times.  He volunteered that the odd area code would not usually suggest to one of the clerks that we were locals, but the frequency of the calls suggested that we were, and he offered that we were therefore entitled to the local 10% discount.  It's not a lot, but I was impressed that John volunteered that information.  The pizza was delicious, of course, with or without the discount.

Sunday was Fathers' Day and the day was wonderful.  Becky brought me two apple fritters for breakfast, and Ramsey and Kelsey gave me a nice card.   (Kelsey's handwriting is very bad.)  Both of my human kids gave me the appropriate wishes, and Becky let me tackle a job I have been avoiding---cleaning the barbecue. 

I'm sure most parts of it have not been touched in the nine years it has been here.  It took most of the day, but the thing now looks pretty damn good.  The only bad part is two drawers are rusted shut.  (Well, one of them can be opened but it's  not pretty.)  I need to get new drawer-slide mechanisms and drill out the old ones to fix them. That's a project for another day (or so).

We celebrated with a dip in the spa. Aaaaaaah.

Monday was back to the normal routine, including the daily trip to Flagstaff for radiation, and shopping, of course.  On the way to Flagstaff, we got slowed down by an accident on I-40.  A travel trailer and its pickup truck had somehow jackknifed and turned over in the middle of the road.  It was a spooky reminder of some of the accidents we have seen on our RV adventures.

We are expecting several groups of visitors in July, so we're taking care of last-minute planning so our guest rooms will be ready.  We're even clearing out the second stall in our garage so people can park away from the sap dripping from the pine tree in the middle of our driveway.

On Tuesday, my day started with a pedicure in Williams and a little more cleaning of the barbecue.  My afternoon trip to Flagstaff involved two stops at Home Depot, a haircut, a truck wash, a stop at PetCo to return some overpriced doggie treats, and a stop at the diesel repair guy who determined that what looks like the small the leak we now have is probably just air conditioning moisture washing past old oil buildups on the engine.  Whew.

Tuesday night, the redbox movie was Wild  Tales, seven short stories from Argentina.  Strange, but interesting.

When the electrician was here a few weeks ago to install the traclight in our bedroom, I had him attack a few other things, as well.   One of them was to try to determine what a switch near the patio door was for.  He was stumped.  By sheer accident the other day, I found a heretofore unknown electrical receptacle in the roof over the barbecue, which turned out to be controlled by the mystery switch.  Armed with that knowledge it became imperative, of course, to attach a small light to that plug.  Which I did Wednesday morning.  Damn clever installation, I think. 

That effort tired me out, though, and I did little else on Wednesday but make the trip to Flagstaff for my radiation treatment.  Before we left Flagstaff, we stopped at Whole Foods to pick up sushi for dinner, which it turned out Becky had been craving for a few weeks.  Yum.

On Thursday, I returned to the dreaded barbecue to deal with the two drawers that were rusted shut.  My earlier efforts at cleaning the damn thing had no effect on those two drawers.  I loaded up on tools and parts at the hardware store and dove in.  It took two days, but I finished the project Friday afternoon.  Success! 

I still need to finish a final touch-up cleaning, but the barbecue is now fully functional except for the built-in igniter which is well above my pay grade to fix, but Becky tells me that's why matches were invented.  (I found the motor for the spit in one of the drawers that had been rusted shut.)  I am a happy man.  I'm ready for my 77th birthday Saturday.

I awoke to two apple fritters on Saturday, a fitting start to my birthday.  I spent much of the day puttering around, taking brief naps.  I did attack two small projects, and the four of us went on a field trip to Dogtown Lake, about a half hour out of town.  It was a nice lake with a lot of people fishing and hanging out. 

There were any number of RVs boon docking near the road leading to the lake, and a large number in the campground at the lake.

In mid-afternoon, we watched Survivor, with Pierce Brosnan, a freebie from redbox owing to my birthday.  The critics and the general public apparently hated the movie but we thought it was quite entertaining.

For dinner we went to Kicks on Route 66, which is fast becoming a favorite of ours.  I intended to order Mandarin Beef Stir-fry, one of their dishes I like a lot, but they had a blackened Filet Mignon as a special and we both just had to have it.  It was fabulous!  Chris, our server, is only going to be there another week. 

Due to his wife's pregnancy, she needs extra help at night, so he has to exist with just his day job at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.  We will miss him; he's very good.  Thus ended a very nice birthday.          

 

Saturday, June 13, through Friday, June 19, 2015: More of the Same:

Saturday came with a clear blue, warm sky.  Just lovely.  We had turned on our drip system on Friday afternoon and Becky did a thorough inspection this morning to see if it worked today---its first day.  Apparently, everything was just fine.  She then took the dogs for a long walk while I prepared some documents relating to her dad's trust.  In mid-afternoon, the sky darkened suddenly and we had a brief thunderstorm. 

Ramsey gets really spooked by thunder and we had to comfort him.  Kelsey couldn't care less.

My throat is hurting more than ever now, and I have decided that the radiation simply burned it to some extent.  It's hard to swallow, and if I blow my nose the forced contraction of my throat (which I never realized before was a part of the process) hurts more than anything else.  In sympathy, Becky authorized (encouraged?) me to have a Blizzard from the local Dairy Queen for dinner. 

It was delicious but somehow unsatisfying.  Our redbox movie on Saturday was The Duff, a predictable, silly, high school film that was actually moderately enjoyable.  Except for that, I was so miserable Saturday night that I did not even have a glass of wine, passed on a dip in our spa, and barely slept.  My throat felt slightly better Sunday morning, but my voice was virtually non-existent.  Our Sunday afternoon redbox movie was Black Sea with Jude Law, who did a great job in a tough film.   

I had another rough night on Sunday and decided I would not have any more radiation treatments until my throat was back to normal and the doctors convinced me there would not be a repeat of the trauma.  That latter condition might be impossible for them, but we'll see.  I called the radiation people and left a message to the foregoing effect.  As yet, I haven't heard back from them. 

I spent about an hour on the phone with a couple of people involved with Bill Shelton's finances to agree on a process to free up two of his accounts, and I started preparing the necessary documents.  This stuff is far more complicated than it should be.  We went to Flagstaff mid-afternoon on Monday to order a new spa cover from Summit Spas. 

The old one has faded a lot, is very heavy from absorbed moisture,  and is covered with scars from falling pine cones and sap from the overhanging trees. 

To celebrate ordering the new cover, we picked up dinner from Panda Express, which was delicious as usual, and we hopped in the spa for a nice soak.  (We'll celebrate just about anything.)

Tuesday was an ordinary day, a little of this and a little of that, and I finally heard from my doctor's office that we needed to talk!  We went to see him on Wednesday, and he announced that my throat problem was a yeast infection.  (No jokes, girls!)  He gave me a prescription for a medicine that he said would take care of it in one day, and ordered me to start back on the radiation treatments immediately---which I did, ten minutes later. 

His medical explanation was that the radiation changes the pH balance in my throat and that's what caused the yeast infection;  i.e., it's not a burn from the radiation.  The burn is a real possibility, but it will come later and he will deal with that when it happens.  Oh, goodie!  I'm OK with re-starting the treatments, and I look forward to being through with them in mid-July.  We had Tony Roma's ribs for dinner (via Safeway) and they were delicious.

I woke up Thursday morning with my throat already starting to feel better.  Yea!  We muddled through Thursday without incident and on Friday I started to put new baseboards in our closet.  For some reason the prior owners took out all but one of the old ones.  It was weird.  The closet has some "different" angles to the walls, so installing the new baseboards will require making 22 1/2 degree cuts and I don't yet know how I'm going to do that with my $10 miter box that makes only 90 and 45 degree cuts.  I'll figure something out. 

I usually refrain from commenting on current events in this diary, because I don't want to engage in socio/political dialogue here, but I'm particularly troubled by the shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, last evening.  When we went east in 2010, we spent several weeks in South Carolina.  I was particularly impressed that, among the several southern states we visited, South Carolina seemed to have attained a very comfortable working relationship between the races.  We even had occasion to use the services of a black dentist, who was quite professional and whose office personal, only most of whom were black, treated us in a completely color-blind manner.  I remember thinking as we left for other destinations that South Carolina had it figured out.  Maybe the loon who shot up the church last night is an aberration.  I hope so.

Our Friday night redbox movie was McFarland, USA, a feel-good Disney film with Kevin Costner that was quite entertaining.  The week thus ended on a high note.  

Friday, June 5, through Friday, June 12, 2015: The California Adventure And Then Some:

Friday was a 500+ mile day, including the swing to the Cinder Hills Kennels 10 miles east of Flagstaff to drop off the dogs at 8:00 AM while I had my radiation treatment. 

We headed for San Gabriel, California, the home of Becky's brother Peter and his wife, Terry, where we are spending the weekend.  The trip was typical---some parts of northern Arizona are beautiful, with rolling hills and big trees, and some parts are just ugly desert.  We had lunch at a strange but surprisingly nice place called Najah's Desert Oasis, in a wide spot in the road called Essex, California,

and we had horrendous bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-15 somewhat south of Victorville due to a seemingly never-ending road-construction project, but the trip was otherwise boring.  We arrived at the Sheltons' home at 5:30, and I immediately opened a nice Chardonnay while Becky and Terry made a cake.  After the dust settled, the four of us went to dinner at El Portal in Pasadena, a Mexican restaurant we frequented when we lived in Pasadena.  Yum.  I probably overdid it, having two double Margaritas, but I was certain I deserved them after the day we'd had.

I slept in on Saturday morning, reveling in not having to deal with Ramsey and Kelsey first thing in the morning.  After Becky returned from a facial at her regular place in downtown Los Angeles, we took advantage of the fact that we're in Trader Joe's country and bought three dozen of their mini Thai food boxes.  And I had one of them for lunch.  Super yum!  In mid-afternoon, Becky, Terry, and I went to Nikki C's to watch the Belmont Stakes race. 

The place is a hangout for people who frequent the Santa Anita Racetrack, and it was fun being among knowledgeable horse racing fans.  The race was exciting---American Pharoah leading wire to wire to produce a Triple Crown winner for the first time since 1978.  And the beer was wonderful.

The Sheltons had a spirited Trustees meeting late in the afternoon, and we had a potluck dinner afterwards.  Terry had made pulled pork, which was delicious.

Sunday morning, Barbara Coad and Wendy Kuwata came to the Peter Sheltons' home, and, along with Becky, they planned some of the activities of our upcoming (in October) cruise trip that starts in Rome. 

After they finished, Becky and I piled into the truck and headed home---retracing our steps from last Friday.  We arrived eight hours later, at 6:30, and crashed.  It had been a productive but tiring three days.

On Monday we returned to our normal rhythm, but late in the afternoon Victor, a concrete man, arrived to assess our need for a separate driveway for our trailer.  Traction is a big problem on our gravel.  Tuesday morning, another concrete man arrived, this one was Wes from Foundations Concrete, and informed us it would be ridiculously expensive to pour a separate driveway and suggested he knew a guy who could "fix" the gravel to get us the traction we need. 

Yea!  Two fellows from Sutton Plumbing had arrived earlier to fix the problems with the equipment at our kitchen sink and to solve my silly problem with finding the location of the filters for our furnaces.  Altogether a good day.  On Wednesday, while I had my radiation and picked up a case of wine and 18 feet of rope light, Becky had her hair done, and we left Flagstaff all fixed up.

On Thursday, I started out very early to get to Flagstaff by 8:00 since I had an early appointment to get our truck repaired at High Mountain Diesel Repair. 

I spent the next three hours cooling my heels, during which time the truck engine was mostly cooling down so it could be worked on.  The only problem was an oil leak at the gasket on the oil pan, but they talked me into also replacing the fuel filter as a precaution regarding my fuel injectors.  When they finished, I had three hours to kill before I was due at  my radiation treatment.  On a whim, I called the radiologists to see if they could squeeze me in early.  It turned out they had a cancellation for the precise time I could get there.  It worked out great, and I arrived home early.

Every Wednesday after the radiation, I meet with Dr. David and he assesses how it's going.  Yesterday, he asked me out of the blue how my throat was doing.  I mentioned that I was having a little phlegm, but no pain.  He looked at my throat and said everything looked fine.  I had no idea why he was asking. 

Today, on my way into the treatment I asked the nurse whether it was normal for my throat to suddenly start hurting---which it did this morning.  Her reply was, "Oh, so it has started" and proceeded to give me some over-the-counter medication to help soothe my throat a little.  Apparently, I have been lucky so far and the throat irritation may get worse.  I'm not looking forward to that.  The pain, along with the phlegm, make it hard to sleep sometimes, and coughing and sneezing are a real challenge.  But I will prevail.  

While I was gone, Becky dealt with the man from Summit Spas to assess the condition of our spa and to give us a tutorial on how to operate the thing. 

He was apparently very positive and helpful.  There were only a few small things that need to be fixed or replaced, and we are on our way.  As of Friday morning, the water was clear, its temperature was 102 degrees, where it was set, and we will try it out this evening, I'm sure.

On our way back from Flagstaff on Friday, we stopped at Summit Spas to pick up the items that were available, and stopped at the Pioneer Title Agency to get some documents notarized.  After Becky served a delicious Sockeye Salmon dish loaded with a Balsamic vinegar glaze, we hopped into the hot tub for our inaugural soak.  What fun!  We'll have to do this often.  We both slept very well.