Ham Radio Snow Bird Field Day

The Sunlife Amateur Radio Club (of which Carl is a member) recognizes Snow Bird Field day on the last Wednesday in February. They meet in a local park and set up radios and antennas to test their ability to set up and broadcast "off grid".

A few people had "interesting" antenna set-ups:

A beer can antenna...

Another view of the beer can antenna

A "Chock-Full-O-Nuts" antenna

The club president calling us together for lunch

Sign from the club so others using the park would know what these people are doing with their radios and strange antennas!

Other amateur radio clubs recognize a winter field day on the last weekend of January.

Family Visit - Scott and family

Scott and family were able to come for a week visit at the casa...

Heading out for a tour of Venture Out

Glad we got the back seat installed!

We went to Organ Stop Pizza for pizza and....

... organ music.

The kids enjoyed a few of the activities here at our community -- the swimming pool, tennis courts, and ping pong.

On their last morning, they took a hike in Usery Park -- on the way up to Wind Cave.

They didn't quite make it all the way, but still had good views!

As always, it is great to have family come to visit!

A visit to Florence, Arizona

After our visit to Boyce Arboretum, we headed to Florence, Arizona, where friends Mark and Wendy live...

We drove into "downtown" Florence (just a couple of blocks long)...

...and enjoyed fish 'n' chips and poutine at the Irish pub!

We also got to see the home that Mark and Wendy are just finishing updating, and the next project which they have just purchased!

Cute thoughts from items in the gift shop of Boyce Arboretum

I enjoy looking at the items in gift shops, especially tea towels and hot pads that have interesting sayings or thoughts on them...

This is an appropriate one for me!

The rest are "desert thoughts"--

I only bring home the thoughts... don't need any additional items in our rig!

A visit with Nancy and Steve - part 2

While Nancy and Steve were here, we also drove out to the Boyce Arboretum, near Superior, AZ.

Nancy and Steve had visited the Arboretum in the past, but this was our first visit. The Arboretum was established 100 years ago (established 1924, opened to the public 1929).

Map of the Arboretum - I think you can click on this if you're viewing the blog online in a browser to get a larger picture view.

It has been a very dry year, so there weren't many plants flowering, but this one was!

Some information about deserts -- again, I think you can click on this if you're viewing the blog online in a browser to get a larger picture view.

There was such a diversity of desert plant life to see!

Getting a hug!

Steve and Nancy and Pepper too!

Checking out where we were and where we wanted to go

Some pin-cushion cactus

Golden barrel cactus

We headed out to the easternmost part of the Arboretum, hiking Thompson's Trail...

... by Ayer Lake (which is not a natural lake, but was created to help irrigate the lower section of the park).

You might see some palm trees just left of center -- these are in the area where the water is brought into Ayer Lake.

We saw these signs in multiple places "Rattlesnakes Only Beyond this Point" -- we couldn't figure out why the signs were not closer to the ground -- how could the rattlesnakes read it so far up on a pole?

A beautiful flower

Queen Creek that runs through the Arboretum

A suspension bridge over the creek -- when Steve and Nancy were here before, they took a path that went up on the hills on the far side of the creek, but they said that it was rather steep and all in the sun, so we elected to bypass it on this visit.

Enjoying a bench in the shade!

Nancy is a bit of a tree hugger!

Some of the desert plants make me think of pictures from Dr Seuss books!

Pretty flowers

Back at the entry area, there was a blackboard where people could record wildlife sightings, what they saw and where -- note the 5th one down!

Information about Boyce Arboretum from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyce_Thompson_Arboretum):

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum”, the arboretum is located in the Sonoran Desert on 392 acres (159 ha) along Queen Creek and beneath the towering volcanic remnant, Picketpost Mountain. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Superior, Arizona. 

A visit with friends Nancy and Steve - part 1

Our RV Escapee Christian Fellowship friends, Nancy and Steve, came to visit at our casa for a few days...

Their pup, Pepper, also came to visit (this was on a tour on the golf cart).

We visited the Velda Rose Rummage Sale and found a number of great bargains!

Velda Rose United Methodist Women have a 3-day sale in the spring and the fall. The church has a warehouse building where they gather donations throughout the year, pricing and placing the items in appropriate locations all through the year -- so on the day of the rummage sale, they open the doors and allow the shoppers to come in! (I'm sure there's still a lot of work immediately preceding the doors opening, but it is amazingly well organized!)

Proceeds from the sale go to a number of organizations

Later in the day, Nancy joined us for line dance lessons...

Unfortunately, the ballroom had been reserved for another event, so we had to use the patio outside -- the weather was beautiful, but a bit hot, and the concrete / asphalt was hard to dance on.

 A video of part of one of our dances: https://youtu.be/Lfkfdfac-NU

New "Starter Ignition Switch" for golf cart

When we purchased the golf cart, we only got a single key. We were told that all EZ-Go golf carts between specific years share the same key -- for ease of management in their "natural" environment on a golf course. But we acquired a key that was supposed to be a replacement for our year of golf cart, and it did not fit. We figured that a previous owner had swapped out the ignition to have a more secure key.

By the way, we are not sure that it should be called a "Starter Ignition Switch" since the golf cart is electric and therefore doesn't have an ignition - but we figured that is just what people call something that turns on a machine that does work.

Anyway, Carl ordered a switch off of Amazon...

New switch

Taking out the old switch

New switch in place

We now have 3 keys for the golf cart, which we figure is far safer than just having a single one that could easily get lost! And, now, anyone with the same or similar year EZ-Go can use their key on our golf cart too -- not sure if that is good or bad. We notice that many people just leave their golf cart key in the switch when they park around the community -- one of our neighbors says he only takes it out at night. I guess since most anyone -- in the community or from outside -- could use their key to start and move the golf cart, why be overly concerned?!?!?