More sights in the sky

A few days ago, I posted about seeing Jupiter and Venus in the night sky (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/06/sights-in-sky.html)...

Mercury joined them a few nights later -- I think Jupiter is the highest, with Venus almost alongside the crescent moon, and Mercury is a faint light below and to the right side of the moon. You can still see the colors in the sky from the sunset.

It is beautiful to see!

A welcome back hot dog dinner and dance!

In addition to Pizza Hut and Einstein Bros. Bagels on Carl's birthday, our resort, Encore Venture In, had a "Welcome back!" hot dog dinner and dance with live music scheduled!

The Rec Hall was pretty packed -- it took a while for everyone to get through the line.

The live band was playing during the time we were eating, which made it pretty loud and hard to chat with other folks at the table.

We heard from other residents in the park that this was the first time the management had done anything like this - we think that the plan had been to have the eating outside, but it was too warm for that. So, tables were set up for eating where dancing would normally happen...

... but once everyone was done with eating, tables were moved out to the side and we were able to do some line dancing and some Arizona two-stepping.

Carl said that it was awfully nice that the park provided him a hot dog dinner and dance on his birthday!

Birthday benefits

We had heard that there are a number of restaurants that give you something free on your birthday (https://thehalalguys.com/123-restaurants-that-give-you-free-food-on-your-birthday/)... for some of them, it doesn't have to be redeemed specifically *on* your birthday (Carl had redeemed a free breakfast slam at Denny's a few days before his birthday), but for most of them, you need to be signed up with their frequent diners club or smartphone app.

We didn't start looking into this until the day before Carl's birthday, and some require that you be a member of their club or app for a little while before they send you a birthday "gift", so I signed up for some so I would have it before my birthday (in July). 

One of the places that is in Show Low that has a birthday benefit is Einstein Bros. Bagels. Not only do they have a free egg sandwich on your birthday, but you get a free bagel with a "shmear" (cream cheese) for joining up on their app... 

... so after Pizza Hut, we went by Einstein Bros. Bagels so I could get my free bagel. I think you had to make a purchase to get your free bagel... at any rate, we ordered a half dozen...

There were a lot of choices of bagels -- we did the order in the app, and the lady behind the counter confirmed that she got it. 

Although we ordered a half dozen bagels with a container of cream cheese through the app, when we got the bag of bagels (we didn't check it until we got home), and we had gotten 8 bagels (instead of 6) and no cream cheese (plus we got my free plain bagel with the shmear on it). We had cream cheese at home, so we froze a few of the bagels so they wouldn't get so dried out and enjoyed them for breakfast over the next few days.

Pizza Hut buffet!

When we were out and about the other day, we noticed that the local Show Low Pizza Hut has a lunchtime buffet, so, a couple days later, we went to check it out...

The building doesn't look like an old Pizza Hut...

But the lunch buffet is back!

When we went inside (shortly after 11am), there were no pizzas on the buffet, so we asked at the front. They said that they wait until people order the buffet to stock it, and asked us what kind of pizza we wanted. Carl asked for Italian sausage, so they said they would make one for us to get from the buffet.

I guess they had some others that were being prepared for the buffet, because the first one was half ham/pineapple and half ham/jalapeno.

But the Italian sausage one came soon after!

The Pizza Hut also had a jukebox that could access the internet for the music to play - no turning records inside! This one can be controlled from an AMI Play app on a smartphone. I don't think anyone was playing music on it while we were there, but every few minutes a song would start up -- maybe folks who work there were using it (there weren't many customers there).

While we were there, Carl reminisced about the Book It! program (https://www.bookitprogram.com/) that his kids participated in when they were young. As they were homeschooling, Sue set reading goals for each child, and when they met their goal in a month, they earned a free personal pan pizza with one topping. Of course, Carl and Sue went too and enjoyed the buffet as their kids enjoyed their personal pan pizza. At that time, the buffet included a salad bar too (we got a side salad with our meal). Previously, they had a dessert pizza on the buffet (apple and glaze and sugar), but we had bread sticks -- one type with herbs, the other type had cinnamon and sugar. Both buffets (then and now) had pizza and pasta with sauce.

As this blog is a few days behind "real time" -- we went to Pizza Hut on Carl's birthday, so used the buffet to celebrate his birthday too!

A drive to Alpine

Our friends from Venture Out, Don and Linda, had told us that they previously stayed in a campground in Alpine during the summers -- they had talked about how pretty it was around there, so we decided to take a drive there from Show Low.

Don suggested that we take the route from Show Low through Pinetop-Lakeside -- the drive took us to higher elevations... 

Pine forests with very clear understories

It appears that there have been fires through this area in not too distant past.

There were also broad meadows. I think that this is still considered to be high desert, but there were shallow lakes and cautions about flash flooding in places.

We ate at the Bear Wallow Cafe and enjoyed our lunch!

Looking down the main drag in Alpine

On the way back, we took a less scenic part of the loop, heading north out of Alpine -- the land looked much more like desert...

This is along US-60 heading west back toward Show Low -- we were almost to the New Mexico border when we started heading back west. In this area, very low grasses and shrubs...

As we continued west, larger shrubby-type trees.

We enjoyed the drive -- it was about 3 hours of driving with a few stops along the way.

Sights in the sky

We're always looking for interesting things to see in the sky... recently, two planets, Jupiter and Venus, appeared to be close to each other in the sky...

We didn't get the tripod out, but the picture still came out pretty good.

I think the information I read indicated that the two planets were 1.2 degrees away from each other -- appearing to be separated by about the width of your index finger when held at arm's length away from your eye. They were closest together on 6/9, I think, but will probably still be close over the next few nights.

Meeting up with friends

We met up with friends from the Venture Out Amateur Radio Club who are also in Show Low for the summer. The local Ham Radio Club had its meeting on Tuesday evening,

... so we met at Cattleman's Steakhouse for supper before the meeting.

We got steaks and prime rib and good side dishes, and enjoyed the company!

Games night

On a recent Sunday night, we participated in "Games night", hosted by the Venture In Chapel. There were various games available - bocce ball, cornhole, ladder golf, ping pong... we elected to try Wii Bowling...

We played with two other ladies -- it seemed that setting up the names of players could take a while, but we decided to just use player names that were already set up!

Look at that follow-through!

It is interesting to do bowling on the Wii -- you position where you want to be on the approach to the lane by moving pointers around, and then deliver the ball. Once you find the correct approach position for your delivery, I found it pretty easy to be consistent. And, you're not lugging around a 10+ pound ball, rather just swinging your arm with this controller in it -- you release the button when you want to release the ball -- both Carl and I lofted the ball a number of times -- in a real bowling alley, we would have gotten angry looks from the management! Thankfully, on the TV screen, the alley did not seem to get any damage!

Exercise at Venture In

Similar to our experience at Venture Out, many of the activities at Venture In are volunteer / resident driven. There are morning exercise options 4 days a week -- Monday and Friday we "Walk off the Pounds" with a video by Leslie Sansone (one of the residents takes on the responsibility of getting the DVD into the machine and getting it started), and Wednesday and Saturday we have "Chair Yoga". 

Chair yoga also is a video that we watch and follow. 

We find that it gives us good stretches, a good complement to the more aerobic "Walking off the Pounds".

We like this particular implementation of yoga as it does not have a lot of religious or meditation aspects to it. Being that it is "chair" yoga, we are either sitting or using the chair for balance most of the time, so it is also safer for seniors.

Carl says that, as we age, our bodies tend to just want to curl up in a fetal position and we have to combat that as much as we can!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have line dancing -- which exercises our minds (trying to remember the steps) as well as our muscles!

There aren't as many activities here at Venture In as we experience during the season at Venture Out, but it is enough to keep us busy without making us feel like we have to rush from one activity to another! 

Sunday pot luck at the park (and Happy Birthday, Carl!)

On Sunday morning, we joined the Venture In Chapel for Sunday morning chapel service. They were then going to have a pot luck in the evening,

Our contribution was Eclair Cake -- Carl does an amazing job of putting the frosting on the top!

The pot luck was sponsored by Venture In Chapel, but everyone in the park was invited. We enjoyed meeting some of our fellow residents and eating delicious food!

And a picture of a cake is a great reminder to say "Happy Birthday, Carl!" -- since today is his birthday!

Saturday night "barn dance"

The folks at the White Mountain Square Dance Hall had arranged for a "Hot Dog Barbecue and Fun Dance" on Saturday night. It was a free event, and Jenn, the president of the White Mountain Rim Rompers Square Dance Club said that it would be like a "barn dance", so we decided to go.

Jenn and her husband, Blake, welcomed us to the event. Blake would be calling the dances -- not square dances, but other round dances, country dances, and folk dances.

The event was hosted by the White Mountain Rim Rompers, who, I guess, own the dance hall, or at least run a lot of the events held there.

Circled up to try a circle dance. It had a lot of calls like a square dance, so we were lucky that there were a number of square dancers in the group who knew the lingo and could help those of us with less knowledge!

"Allemande Left your corner!"

The Virginia Reel (we didn't do it quite the same as I remember learning it in school in Virginia when I was a child, but it had a lot of similarities).

We are finding this group of folks are very nice and welcoming. The dance hall does not sell food or drink (other than that they do sell bottles of water for $1); you are allowed to bring your own drink (non-alcoholic, and no drugs allowed). For the Friday night dances, people bring snacks to share and they are all placed on the counter at the kitchen for all to enjoy. For this Saturday night event, they provided hot dogs with all the fixin's (including chili), beans, watermelon, lemonade, and cake and probably other things that I'm forgetting!

Friday night lesson and dance

On Friday, we went to White Mountain Square Dance Hall for a Country Western dance lesson and to dance to live music. The cost of the dance lesson included attendance at the dance, so it was a good value!

White Mountain Square Dance Hall

Brenda and Carmen providing us with lessons in the Arizona Two Step

At the dance -- there was a nice sized crowd and people were enjoying dancing...

... to the live music by the Wild West Outlaws Country Band.

At band break, they played recorded songs that some folks line danced to.

A sign posted above the kitchen in the dance hall

We enjoyed the lesson and the music from the live band.

Working on the Oasis system -- part 2

I wrote about Carl replacing the burner nozzle on the Oasis diesel burner, and finding that a relay for the electric system appeared to have been burned/melted (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/06/i-posted-few-days-ago-that-carl-tried.html).

We were able to get a replacement relay from Amazon...

Unfortunately, one of its "feet" (pointed to by blue arrow) was cracked when it arrived.

He decided to go ahead and see if it could be installed...

This is the one with some melting activity having happened...

... he was also able to see that there was another relay behind the one we had seen that also may be damaged -- he got a picture of that as its model number was different.

This is the new one in place. Carl used double-stick gorilla tape to secure it in place (since the foot was missing that would enable a screw to hold it in place).

With the replacement relay, one of our electric water heater burners now works! It appears the second one still does not work. We are okay with it working this way for now. However, we sometimes want to use both burners if we want to get hot water faster, and, if the one that is working fails again, the second one can be a back up. He has ordered the second relay from Amazon and will keep it "in inventory" to use if needed in the future.

Dance lessons

When we went to Rockin' the Rim on Memorial Day weekend (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/06/show-low-rockin-rim.html), we talked to a lady with the White Mountain Rim Rompers Square Dance club about dance lessons. They use the White Mountain Square Dance Hall, and she told us about a number of different dance lessons...

We started by going to the Ballroom/Latin lessons -- where we learned some waltz steps: box step, and beginning of a "silver sequence" -- which is a level of dance in the competitive world -- we are *not* wanting to learn for competition, but rather for social dancing. We then also went on Friday for Country Western -- they were teaching the Arizona Two Step that we had learned at Venture Out in early 2025 -- but these instructors were really good at explaining to the men and also to the women what the correct leads were and how to follow.

They have quite a selection of dance lessons at the Dance Hall!

We are enjoying improving our couple dancing skills.

A relic sighting

We went out to a Chinese buffet in Show Low, and within the same shopping center...

... we saw a Radio Shack!

It looks like there is an actual store there -- though we didn't go in. Carl took a picture to share it with his brother. 

It seems that Radio Shack (or, I guess it is now RadioShack, no space in the name) may be making a come-back: https://www.radioshack.com/about-radioshack 

Checking out a shoulder problem

I have been dealing with pain behind my right shoulder blade for a while (probably over a year). It is aggravated when I lift heavy stuff with my right arm -- it feels like lifting pulls one bone away from another bone and a nerve gets trapped between causing a lot of pain. The only things that relieve the pain are anti-inflamatories (like Ibuprofen) and putting pressure on the spot beside/behind my shoulder blade. Carl can do it with his knuckle, but to avoid him having to put pressure on it for a long time, I have found that lying on a tennis ball also does the trick -- I put the tennis ball into a knee sock, and can hang it down behind my shoulder and get it positioned appropriately as I lie down.

When I had frozen shoulder a few years ago, I waited until we were going to be somewhere for a few weeks to seek treatment -- since they often want to do physical therapy, it is better to have some time to get results. Since we're going to be in Show Low for about 2 months, I thought this would be a good time to try to get it taken care of. I called and got an appointment...

... I went to Summit Bone and Joint to get a diagnosis.

I found it interesting... when they sent me to an exam room, the lady said, "Our hallways are named after animals, please go to Squirrel room 5."

Sure enough, there was a Bison hallway...

... and an Eagle hallway!

I had gone in indicating I had a shoulder problem... but when the lady was doing X-rays, I realized that I really was not having a *shoulder* problem. When I talked with the doctor, he said that it is pretty common when people are having a neck / upper back problem, that they identify it as a shoulder problem (so I am not the first!). He prescribed physical therapy for about 6 weeks -- hopefully that will get a handle on the problem.

Working on the Oasis system

I posted a few days ago that Carl tried resetting the Oasis system by pulling the 12V power (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/06/some-work-around-rig.html) -- unfortunately, that didn't fix the electric water heater. We were using the diesel burner for hot water, but it was pretty smelly when it ran. Carl had a replacement burner nozzle and he decided to replace that to see if it may reduce the diesel smell...

Oasis system in the bay

Looking at the burner

Swapping out the burner nozzle

While he was inside the Oasis box, Carl looked at the connections for the electric hot water system. He noticed that wires going into the relay appeared to be melted...

He took a picture of the information about the relay and decided that ordering a new one and replacing it might be a good idea.

So thankful that Amazon has a lot of these parts and that we can get delivery in our campground!

And... the replacement nozzle *has* reduced the diesel smell produced by the burner -- win!