Preparing to depart...

We plan to leave on Thursday morning to head to Quartzsite to join our Christian Fellowship BOF (Birds of a Feather) group, so we've been preparing to get underway. The longer you stay in a spot, the more the rig grows roots so it takes a little more effort than it would usually take to move. In addition, since we're coming back here after Quartzsite, we are leaving some things in the shed that we won't need there (like the bicycles and bike rack). So, getting everything in its proper place and also being ready to be without hookups for 2+ weeks requires a bit of planning.

First thing this morning, we headed into Phoenix to pick up some DVDs that I had requested from the library. It doesn't make a lot of sense to us, that people can go to Walmart and buy groceries and clothes and whatever, but it is too dangerous to go into the libraries - I guess they are non-essential services. So, we have to request items online, the workers retrieve the items from the shelves and place them on hold for us, and then we drive over and park in one of the curbside pickup spots, call, and the items are delivered to our car. They will also provide various types of "bundles" - Kid's bundle, magazine bundle, various other things (http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/ServicesForYou/Borrowing-Items/Pages/Curbside-Service.aspx). A nice thing is that, although Carl has a Mesa Library card (which we have been using to get audio and e-books), since we have a Mesa address, I was able to apply for a Phoenix Library card and get it electronically, allowing me to check out physical items from that library system -- and they had the DVDs that we were wanting.

We have developed an addiction to the Canadian television series "Heartland". It is the story of a ranching family in Alberta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_(Canadian_TV_series)). They are currently airing the 14th season in Canada, making it the longest running series for Canadian television. We started watching it on Prime -- they have seasons 1-9 available there. We found season 11 at Half-Price Books when we were in Dallas and purchased the DVDs for it. We finished season 9 from Prime about the time we arrived in Mesa, and were able to get season 10 through the Phoenix Library - for that one, I requested that it get transferred to the Phoenix Library branch that was closest to where we are staying (they won't transfer to Mesa branches -- or, maybe they would -- through InterLibrary Loan, but I didn't try that). I found, though, that there was quite a delay between the time they put the item on hold from the library where the copy was located until it got transferred to the closer branch. So, this time, I decided to just ask for it to be held at the library that already had it -- which was the downtown branch. It wasn't that much further a drive... However... the curbside service is only available 8-noon M-F, and 3:30-5:30pm Tu-Th... (and some other hours on Saturday). I had forgotten that, so we drove to the downtown location yesterday and arrived at about 1pm -- ARGH! So, we drove over to be there at 8am this morning and got our held copy of season 12 to be able to watch while we're away.

We got back to Venture Out in time to join the 9am Water Exercise class. We are enjoying it - the people in it are fun to be with (at appropriate social distancing, of course!), and it gets our blood moving and allows us to be a little more active during the day. In addition, today, there was also a 5K stroll/walk/jog/run at 10am here in the park, so we took a change of clothes to the pool, took a quick shower after our 9am class was done (at 9:45am), and made it just as the walk started. We enjoyed being with other folks walking around the park, though we walked a bit faster than we might have done if we were doing it on our own (we were trying to keep up with the fastest walkers). The Activities Office gave the walkers balloons to carry (to identify us as part of the walking group? to keep people from running over us in their golf carts? to help lighten us up (helium balloons)?) -- and when we got home, we found another use for the balloons:

Miss Kitty was NOT amused!

She is such a laid-back kitty though, she tolerated it for quite a while. It was not tied tight on her, and she eventually got out of the loop around her middle when she was tired of it.

After the unsuccessful trip to pick up the DVDs at the library yesterday, we went shopping for supplies at Walmart and had, I think, our biggest shopping day so far there. But... we've found that we really like to get produce at the Farmer's Market that is right next door to the resort:

So we headed to "Superstition Ranch Market" this afternoon.

It is really a nice produce market...

Lots of choices...

... good prices...

I found out today...

... if you don't see the item you want...

... ask, and they may have it in the back. I wanted some kale, and I had gotten some when we were there a week or so ago, but there wasn't any out today. I asked, and the fellow said they had it in the back and he could have it out in a few minutes. That was fine with me!

On the way back into the resort, we drove to the car wash area (about as far away from our rig as you can get and still be inside the resort) and washed the Jeep.

The Jeep will get dirty again on the drive out to Quartzsite (and *in* Quartzsite), but we put a cover over the hood to protect it from rocks and such being thrown up from the rig, and we prefer that the finish is relatively clean before we put that on - thus the need to wash it before we head out.

When we got back to the rig, we got a few more items from our to-do list completed, and I made some soup that we'll be able to enjoy for the next few days.

The refrigerator is plumb full from all our purchases the past couple of days!

I had to look up to see how to spell "plumb" in that usage. I think "plumb" is correct...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/difference-between-plum-and-plumb-and-plump-usage 

Having looked that up (and having nothing to do with either plum or plumb other than a similar spelling... have you ever heard of a "plump of ducks"? Evidently an obscure use of "plump" is as a group or flock... thinking of that, we recently learned that a "group of cats" is known as a "clowder" (also an obscure term)... Okay, I think I am devolving into minutiae and should stop typing now!