Lunch with friends

Our community, Venture Out, has arrangements with restaurants in the area that they will donate proceeds back to our social clubs if Venture Out residents go to dine on a particular day.

Monday was one of those days...

So we arranged to go with a couple of friends in the park -- we forgot to get pictures of our group...

But Carl took a picture of the misters on the patio (we hadn't seen ones that worked like those).

We enjoyed our time with friends -- we went with two ladies who live on the street where our RV lot is located. One, Laura, is the person we've known the longest in the park. She and her husband, Bob, were the folks who originally told Carl about the RV lot being available for sale and were instrumental in getting Carl and Sue to purchase in the park. The other lady, Claudia, is a new resident in the park, having just purchased at the end of last season and just retired about a month ago! We got to know Claudia a little better, and, since Carl and I had never been to Vito's, we enjoyed learning about another place to eat in the area!

Doing some cleaning

Sorry for the delay in posts -- we haven't been doing much newsworthy...

Carl had wanted to get the front and back decks of our park model power washed -- and on Monday the weather and his back cooperated for him to be able to get that done...

He did a terrific job and it looks great now!

I was out in the back yard and noticed that the weeds were doing *quite* well -- I started pulling them (the pile in the left foreground are what I already pulled)...

... after getting the most of them pulled.

I finished up with spraying some of the ones I couldn't get pulled -- some of the weeds would just break off when I tried to pull them, so I decided they would be better handled with weed killer.

We've gotten a rain shower over night a couple of times, and the weeds seem to sprout from nothing when that occurs. But the dampness in the ground also makes them easier to pull.

At least it will be dark

Another video from the solar eclipse back on 12 August -- I think this one was taken by the ship's photography team -- it shows a group of passengers around the rear pool on the back deck of the ship, and shows the scene going from nearly eclipsed to full eclipse -- in real time. It looks like it must be sped up based on how quickly the "light" goes out. 

https://youtu.be/unVc6nNYIMw 

What is surprising to me each time I see an eclipse is how little of the sun can be exposed and it still provides a lot of light. Moving through the eclipse from first contact (when the moon first touches the sun) to totality, the light wanes some, like in the evening. But when the moon finally covers the whole face of the sun, it goes dark, snap!

Even if it is cloudy (as it was for us in Kerrville in 2024), it still gets dark. Animals react and people do too (as you can hear the "oooooohhhh"s on the video). As Captain Timmers had told us, "At least it will get dark."

Speaking of Captain Timmers, there was an article about his finding the open spot in the clouds on Holland America's website: https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/whats-new/ship-crew/captains-view-solar-eclipse/ 

It is interesting how the navigation team had to consider the speed and direction of cloud movement at different altitudes in finding the open spot in the clouds. 

Tree trimming in the park

I had mentioned a couple of months ago that the palm trees in our park were to get trimmed during the summer. We've been seeing information online about the progress (or lack thereof) of the trimming, and it is still going on since we've returned. 

We went out one evening to get pictures of the before and after look of the trees... these are two that have not yet been trimmed...

... some more that have not yet been trimmed.

Here are some that have been trimmed -- they look like they have been scalped and are just matchsticks...

A few tall and a couple of short ones that have already been trimmed.

We don't know whether the new company that they hired to do the trimming is doing them more aggressively or whether the trees will look more "normal" by October/November when we would normally return to the park.

"Rounder" party at Venture Out

Our friends, Don and Linda, who live in Venture Out year round, let us know that there was going to be a "Rounder" party on the Wednesday after we returned from our trip. Initially we thought we'd be gone to Dewey by then, but as time progressed we realized we'd probably need to do doctor appointments that would keep us in Mesa, so we asked them to get tickets for us.

The theme was "It's hot!" with the decorations...

... and many people's attire supporting the theme in yellows, oranges, and reds.

We didn't get the memo on colors to wear, but I dutifully was fanning my face while we got our pictures taken at the photo backdrop.

They served KFC chicken, rolls, potato salad, and watermelon, with root beer floats for dessert.

We enjoyed getting together with this group of folks who live in Venture Out year-round (i.e. "Rounders"). Our understanding is that about 20-30% of the park's population lives here year-round.

Moving and "Yes, it's hot!"

Since we've decided to stay in Mesa for the remainder of the summer and through the winter season, and since it is pretty warm here, we decided that we should move into the park model as it should be easier to cool and more comfortable than Gracie.

We did most of the moving using the golf cart...

... and yes, it is hot -- the time on the display is not correct, it was actually about 2:30pm when Carl took this picture.

Carl watched the local news yesterday morning to get the weather forecast. The weather reporter said, "Another 115 degree day today, but relief is coming on Sunday when it will cool down to 106. Next week it will be mild and the temperatures will be in the low 100's".

Hmmm... welcome to "the valley" in Arizona in the summer!

And, did we *have* to pick the warmest day to do the most of our moving? 

Staying in Mesa

Our original plans were to return to Mesa, pack up Gracie, and move to Dewey, near Prescott, for two months to wait out the hot part of the summer in a higher elevation with a hope for cooler weather.

Unfortunately, just before we left for our London visit / Solar Eclipse cruise, Carl started experiencing back/arm pain that he thinks is associated with an impinged nerve in his back. He was able to control the pain much of the time with ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but there were many times that the pain was pretty severe and impacted his ability to fully enjoy all that he wanted to do. We decided that he should try to see a doctor when we got back to Mesa and we were able to get an appointment scheduled for the Monday after we arrived back.

The doctor wanted him to get an MRI (which we were able to get done on Monday), see an orthopedist and a spine surgeon, and get physical therapy. To be able to get all these doctor/therapy appointments accomplished, we've made the decision to stay in Mesa, which will probably mean that we will be staying here in the valley through the rest of the summer and into the winter season.

We're bummed that we'll be missing out on our plan to visit the Prescott area. But we're grateful that we have friends here in Mesa that we'll be able to enjoy time with before the busy-ness of the season, and that we have the "new" park model house that we can move into that has better insulation and whose air conditioning should be more effective in this heat than the RV is. We're also grateful that, since a lot of people leave this area in the summer, it is a little easier to get in to see doctors than it would be during the winter season.