Snowbirds, flying south

 Normally, we come to our winter home in Gold Canyon Arizona, in September.  Nothing about this year has been normal.  The first major change was in April last year when we sold our Airstream trailer.  Then we adjusted to living in an apartment in Lone Tree.  Next, John was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. His radiation treatments began in mid-December. That meant he made a trip to the hospital for treatments 4 or 5 days a week, putting a crimp on any other plans for the day.   It also meant that we have spent our first winter in the Colorado cold since probably 2009.  

The treatments are complete and we wait for three months before blood tests will show the doctors if the radiation was a success.  We had planned to leave Denver Tuesday, January 31. However, a storm was predicted for northern Arizona that day so we waited until February 1 to drive south.  It was so good to get to the (relative) warmth of the Phoenix valley.  We think the temperatures are wonderful, but those who arrived in the fall describe this winter as cold.  Give us a while and I know we will agree.  But today we compare the predicted high in the Denver area of 30 with the predicted high here of 65 h ere and revel in being warm!

Our trip south was interesting.  The views were beautiful.  



From the snowy ridges in Colorado, we moved into the Arizona desert.  I always try to get a photo of the first saguaro we spot.  We have been coming here for so many years, we know right where to start looking for it,




The mountains in Arizona are so different from those in Colorado.  Each state has a beauty of its own.





As I said earlier, we sold our trailer last spring.  That means our refrigerator in Gold Canyon was empty.  This was our shopping trip once we settled in a little.  Just $276.00 of food to get started.  It may take another few trips before I am stocked up enough I won't have to go to the store every day.  The good news about that is here, we just have to walk across the highway to Bashas for groceries.  

 


John is enjoying working in his shop here.  He has turned 6 pens already.    And we are enjoying catching up with our neighbors here--and meeting the new ones.  There is a lot of turnover in a 55+ community. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Season Is It, Anyway?

Image
 Thursday the high temperature in Denver was 88.  Today, the high will be 41.   The low last night was 37 and tonight it may get down to 28.  I thought we came to Denver to spend the summer where it would be cooler than the low 100s in Arizona.  But below freezing and snow?  That wasn't supposed to be part of the deal.   This is a shot taken from our patio last night. This was the same view this morning after the snow had been knocked off the trees. As we drove home from the grocery store yesterday, this was what we saw. The temperature was only 37. Today, Saturday, as I write this, the outside temperature is only 40. Thursday, we did our daily walk at The Bluffs, an open space area nearby in Douglas County.  We could see views of nearby neighborhoods, the prairie land along the trail and the snowcapped mountains to the west. Some days, we take the light rail to Park Meadows Mall for our walk.  Much different scenery there. We will have to see what the weather brings.  This year, I
Read more

Total Change in Routine

               I like routine.  Oh yes , and control.  And now I don’t feel I have either.  It started with tripping and falling.  And then, I fell out of bed. Several years ago, after developing sore muscles in my right hip, I went to the doctor and was given exercises to stretch the muscles in  that hip and performed them each morning before getting out of bed..  This spring I fell the first time March 30,  On April 1 I fell the second time.  Then, on May 9, I fell out of bed..                 Two days later, May 11, the neurologist performed a craniotomy.  May 13 and 14 I was unable to verbalize what I was trying to tell people  about my thoughts.                 For a woman who lives in her head and wants to communicate, that was so frustrating.  I like to plan, research and put those plans into operation.  And I realry couldn’t explain what I wanted  or how to go about it.                Now we are fairly clear on what we are doing in the near future. But it sure isn’t our r
Read more

Turning the Page

Image
   We went on our first trip in an RV in 1988.  We borrowed John's sister Cindy's popup tent trailer to take our son Eric to a Christian youth gathering--DC88-in Washington, D.C.  That was it for a couple of years, but we had enjoyed it so much that, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, we bought a Coleman popup tent trailer for ourselves.           We used that trailer for getaways on our days off and for traveling during our month-long summer vacation.  One year we went to the Northwest and up into British Columbia.  Then, in 1996 we bought a 1996 Komfort 5th-wheel trailer.  Since then, we have owned two Montana 5thwheels and a Mobile Suites 5th wheel.  Downsizing in 2016, we bought an Airstream travel trailer.    Fast forward to this year--we are aging and decided it was time to stop RVing.  The parking area next to our winter home in Arizona no longer has a trailer parked there.     On April 18, it pulled out of our driveway without us!   We have so many wonderful mem
Read more