Also under the heading of "It's always something!"

We decided that we should move back into the motorhome for at least a week before we planned to leave Mesa -- our experience has been that we always forget a number of things that we would like to have with us. It will be easier to get those items while we are still at Venture Out rather than having to drive back, purchase new, or do without.

As we were moving in, we noticed a puddle of water forming under the wet bay area of the rig. At first we thought it might be from the air conditioners being turned on and running pretty constantly, but then we thought that, it's so dry here, would there be that much condensation? Carl opened up the bay and found that, no, it wasn't condensation from the air conditioner, it was a broken fitting on the water softener system.

It had gotten really hot (high 90s - low 100s), so he decided to wait to work on it in the morning, "before it gets too hot".

The fitting from the hose had broken off in the inlet to the water softening system.

After a couple of trips to the hardware store, Carl had the fitting end that he needed and was able to get it installed on the hose.

A little later, he could reconnect to the water softening system.

It was also time to re-charge the water softener, so he was able to take care of that too. He also changed out the filters on the RO system.

I am so grateful that Carl knows how to take care of all of these systems on the rig (and in our house)!

Under the heading of "It's always something!"

Gracie (the motorhome) has been in a storage lot for the season. She was not plugged in, but the solar panels were able to keep the batteries charged. But, the temperature inside the rig was not being controlled (no electrical hookup) so probably she got pretty warm inside at times.

We had left our two water jugs (7 gallon each) that we had filled for going to Quartzsite in January stored in the shower while Gracie was in storage. 

When Carl attempted to take some water out of one of the containers, the faucet broke off -- the picture doesn't show the broken off piece -- we took the picture to remind ourselves to see if we could find a replacement cap and faucet. The plastic piece just gave out -- the jug is probably 

Carl found that the newer containers have red caps, and he was able to find replacement caps at Sportsman Warehouse....

It looks pretty snazzy with the red caps, right?

We generally carry at least one of the water containers with us -- we keep potable water in it just in case we end up boondocking or without water unexpectedly (sometimes, in campgrounds, the water gets shut off without warning -- usually when a fellow camper accidentally runs over a water spigot). Technically, the water in our fresh tank is potable, but we prefer using RO water (processed by our on-board RO system) for drinking or cooking. Our plans for this summer have us staying in campgrounds with full hookups all summer, but, we never know when we might want to have an additional supply of potable water available.

No baby birds?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a new and unwelcome tenant moving in on the patio of the casa (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-new-and-unwelcome-tenant.html).

While Kim and her girls were staying at the casa, 

...we noticed that there was no longer a parent bird on the nest.

Carl got up on a ladder and found that there were still 3 eggs in the nest.

We are debating whether we should remove the nest, or, if we leave it there, will that dissuade other birds from building there? However, if we leave it there, might it cause staining on the awning? Decisions, decisions...

Meanwhile, we've moved back to the motorhome in preparation for our summer travels, so are staying right next door to the casa. While going back and forth in the front yard of the casa, I suddenly noticed something different on the grass... 

A little baby bird?

Oh, my, yes, a baby bird. We didn't think that it was a dove, but there were no parent birds around (I figured I would get dive-bombed if the parent was around as close as I got to it). I did a google lens lookup and Google identified it as a fledgling house finch. It also said that fledglings are meant to be on the ground and that they are usually still being cared for by their parents, even if they appear abandoned.

We decided to leave it be. We drove over to our park model (house) to pick up some additional items to move to the motorhome, and when we returned, the fledgling was gone. Whether it found somewhere safe or was eaten by a predator, we figured it was okay with us! 

Goodbye for now...

After just a few short days of visiting, it was time for Kim and the girls to head back home...

A couple of last pictures before heading to the airport...

What a nice visit!

Scorpion hunting with the grands

Since Auntie Pamela had told about going scorpion hunting, the granddaughters were keen to try it. Carl and Kim and the girls went to the dog park with the black light...

Looking to see if anything was glowing...

There's one!

This one is interesting because you can see the scorpion on the tree, but then you can see that McKenna is taking a picture and has it zoomed in on her phone, so it looks huge!

Does this count as a science lesson?

Beating the heat with the grands

At the beginning of the week that Kim was here, it was cool and comfortable, but the heat started ratcheting up during the week. 

Since the pool is not open for younger people until after 11am, we decided to enjoy card playing inside in the morning. Carl thought that the girls were looking like they were serious card sharks, so he added some props in the middle of the table to make it look like we were participating in some really serious gaming! If you look closely, in addition to the cash on the table, a couple of credit cards and an AARP card have been pushed in for the bet!

The game we were playing is called "Sevens" -- and there is no betting involved... all of the girls quickly identified strategies that could improve their chances and possibly thwart other players.

Rules for Sevens as we learned it

Once the pool hours for kids opened up, Carl and Kim and the girls headed to the pool...

... they had quite a nice time and pretty much had the pool to themselves.

While there are two pools in our community, only one is available for children (under 18) to use, and the hours that they are allowed to use it are limited.

Mother's Day Video

At our church service here in Mesa, they showed a video "Becoming Your Mom Support Group" -- I thought our blog readers might enjoy it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87NKcROF9Bc

Happy Mothers Day!