Santa Fe / Glorietta

Posted 12/18/2017

Tucson isn't that far from New Mexico, not to someone who enjoys taking long car rides where there's time to think and not a lot of distractions or interruptions; and when there is someone dearly loved only a short few hours away, all the better.

So the day after Thanksgiving was an excellent time to jump in the rental car and head to Glorietta.

It's been far too long since I spent some quality time with Jan. My excuse has always been that there's so much to do at home: the kids, the cars, the house, all the schedules and chores and projects that don't seem to let up. But here was a golden opportunity staring me in the face - a weekend with some time I could dedicate to her.

The trip was lovely, with all the beautiful open country between Tucson and Santa Fe, a good seven or eight hours of uninterrupted solitude to sit and listen to the humming of the road and think through life and daydream about the past and the future and everything in-between, and then arrive in an amazing place like Glorietta with so much beauty just waiting to be appreciated.

I arrived at the wrong time, of course: Jan and Caleb and Rebekah were out at the movie theater. But I was able to get into the compound (with Jan's help) and find her house and take all my stuff inside and relax after the long drive and sit quietly to wait for their imminent arrival.

And they arrived. And we had a fun time visiting and eating dinner and watching sappy movies on the Hallmark channel and listening to Caleb play guitar and then it was time for bed.

Caleb and Rebekah Relaxing

And the next day, Rebekah got up early and drove home. Jan and I hiked through the camp. Then, after a bit of rest, Jan and Caleb and I went to Frankie's diner for a very yummy brunch.

Frankie's Casanova Southwestern Grill

Afterward, we worked on mounting Jan's washer and dryer on the drawer stands until it was time for Caleb to depart as well. Then Jan and I went to the hardware store to pick up some things for the dryer vent installation (because now that the dryer was raised up a few inches, it needed one of those angled connectors) and finished it up.

After all that work, it was time for dinner (salsa chicken) and some more Hallmark Channel movies (bring your hanky!) ...

Jan Multi-tasks the phone and the Hallmark Channel

... and then Cheryl called and it was time for our Bible study before bed.

On Sunday, Jan was still coughing (she'd been coughing the whole weekend), so we did "church" remotely via Internet, talked up a storm, and then it was time for me to skedaddle back to Tucson.

Another long, thoughtful drive (Jan always gives me a lot to think about) and I was back in the motel again, skyping with the family and feeling lonely again.

I can't wait to get home.

Thanksgiving 2017

Posted 12/16/2017

The Holt Family @ Home

Being away from the immediate family during a holiday is generally not a lot of fun, but it's made all the better by having the opportunity to spend some time with family anyway.

In this case, I was blessed to spend Thanksgiving with the Holt family down in Tucson because it was impossible for me to get home to Michigan due to the frantic work schedule. They are excellent hosts! We had a wonderful time just hanging out and talking and laughing and (of course) eating and watching parades and football and movies and going on walks with dogs and doing all the things that families do when they are enjoying one another's company.

Let's Roll!

Braelyn and Jeanne cooked up a storm in the kitchen while us men-folk sat around and watched the parade. OK, I sat around and watched the parade and talked a lot with Jeanne while Brendon did something on his computer and Brason did something productive and and then suddenly it was time to eat and -- oh, all the yummy food! -- we stuffed ourselves silly and then returned to the couches to watch more television and talk and talk and talk; and then Braelyn had to run off to another dinner with her boyfriend's family and then the rest of us talked and talked some more until it was time to have some pie and ice cream and then because we had eaten so much, it was time for us to get up off the couches and take Wally for a nice, long walk around the block (as the sun was getting ready to set) and the moon was out ...

The Moon is Nowhere Near as Full as We Are!

... and I couldn't get a really good picture of it owing to the peculiar light and the fact that it was so far away and my camera doesn't do so hot on long-distance shots, but, trust me, it was really, really pretty -- and then we all went back inside and talked and talked some more while we waited for Braelyn to return (because none of us can relax while someone we dearly love is out and about, away from home, but expected any minute); and then, when she finally returned; we talked just a little bit more and then all retired to bed because -- well, because we had eaten a lot and exercised a lot (especially our jaw muscles) and our eyes were heavy and it was late and tomorrow is another day.

I do hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I thoroughly enjoyed spending this one with my sister and her wonderful family.

Now, about those leftovers...

Phoenix Hike

Posted 12/09/2017

The View of Phoenix from Camelback

There's an old friend of mine living up in Phoenix who used to be one of the teenagers I was actively corrupting during my Teen Ministry days on Long Island. His name is Jeff, and he is an amazing person.

Back in the day, he was geeky and funny and hilarious and lots of fun to hang around with. His family was wonderful: his dad was an engineer like me, his mom was funny and gracious and very hospitable, his sister was bright and strong-willed and a challenge to teach, and it was always a lot of fun being with them.

Now he is all growed up and doing wonderful work in the inner city of Phoenix, helping kids and underprivileged families and working with a fantastic church, and there just aren't enough words to describe what he has accomplished.

I drove up Sunday morning and found their house, then got to ride with them in their 15-person van to church and then to lunch; and then Jeff and I and some other friends of his went on a short hike up Camelback, which is a very steep mountain on the east side of town.

It was a humbling experience for someone like me who is so entirely out of shape. I didn't quite make it up the hill because my digestive system was giving me fits and we were under a time-crunch (as people are not allowed to be on the trail after dark, and we didn't head up the trail til nearly 4 pm!), which was disappointing. But it was all good. Jeff and I went back to his house and I got to hang out with him and his lovely family for the remainder of the evening before hitting the road again for the two-hour drive back to Tucson.

Got back too late for a real Skype session, and the cell phone doesn't work inside the motel room, so instead I sat outside in the car and talked to my Lovely Lady for another hour. How I wish she were here with me.

Tucson in November

Posted 12/09/2017

Wally the Dog

It's November and I'm still in Tucson, Arizona. The job is scheduled to complete around the end of the month, but I don't have a lot of confidence that's going to happen. Things never happen according to schedule.

The motel life is boring. Wake-up time is 5:30, followed by breakfast at 6, then doing last-minute prep for work between 6:30 and 7:15, after which it's time to hit the road to travel the six miles or so up to work. The speed limit is very strictly enforced; these Oro Valley cops are either very, very strict or desperate for funds. It's the only place I've ever lived where they are out on the road every morning (and evening) without fail. At least between 7:15 and 7:30, and again between 5:30 and 7:30 (depending on whether I leave at 5:30 or 6:30).

Work is interesting but there's a lot of schedule pressure which is very annoying. There is far too much to get done than is allowed for in the schedule; one can only hope that they wake up soon and "smell the coffee". Otherwise, things are going to get very tense around here.

After work, it's time to just turn off my brain for awhile, make some dinner out of whatever I've brought home from the store -- frozen veggies, apples -- see what movies are on the television, wait for a call from Cheryl so we can talk or Skype or whatever. Then it's time for bed.

My life is very boring right now, at least most of the time.

But it becomes a lot more fun on Wednesday nights and Sundays when I get to hang out Jeanne and Brendon and all their friends at church. Yesterday they were both kind of busy so I just hung out at the house and played with Wally (pictured above) and the chickens (who were too shy for pictures) until they got home. Got to help Jeanne salve up a chicken who was being pecked on, then headed back up north to the motel to Skype with Cheryl and Adam, and then it was time for bed.

Grand Am Am Not

posted 11/18/17

The Grand Am -- which is my primary vehicle these days since my Subarus are having various difficulties - started to make some very alarming metallic screeching noises from the front driver side wheel as Mary and I were coming home from church last weekend. I thought perhaps it was just a loose brake or a broken brake bolt, something easy to fix.

Didn't have time to look at it on Sunday, though, as we were Skyping with James and then Mary needed to be driven back to school. So I put a hold on things til Monday.

The next day, after work -- I still had to work! -- I jacked up the car (with the jack that Dad bought me!) and pulled off the wheel to take a look.

Hmmm.

It doesn't appear to be a brake issue.

There's something a-missing here...

You see that metal bar there with the little hole in the top? That's called the "sway" bar. It's supposed to have a bolt through it so it stays connected to the bar below it. But somewhere along the way, the bolt got really, really rust and then it took a really bad pounding in a pot-hole or something and snapped like a twig. And suddenly the car, she don't drive so good.

Still missing!

This gives a little better perspective of the missing bolt. You can see where it's supposed to go. And do you notice the crack in the side of the rubber bumper below it? That's not supposed to be there, either. It broke.

I've never had to replace a sway bar link before and wasn't sure how to order one. So I went online and tried to find it by searching for "sway bar". NAPA had it, of course, so I ordered one for $150. Drove over to the store and picked it up, but didn't feel like putting it on that night so thought I'd wait til the next day (Tuesday).

Got up Tuesday and took a look at the sway bar kit again and got a little curious when I realized that the only piece I really needed was the bolt that ties the sway bar to the support bar, and decided to do a search on "sway bar link" instead. Surprise! They had it for $15. So I ordered 2 (one for each side, as I figured that they need to be replaced in pairs), then drove down to NAPA and returned the sway bar kit and grabbed the 2 links.

Got home again and realized (!!) that the sway bar links come in sets of 2 per box, so I didn't really need the 2nd box. But ... spare parts.

Meanwhile, I installed the links and took the car for a test drive.

And it was still making that awful metallic screeching noise. From the front driver side. Now I was frustrated. What could it be? If it isnt' the brakes and it isn't the sway bar, there aren't many other things it could be.

Now I was getting anxious. I have to fly back to Tucson on Thursday morning (6 am) so there isn't time to fool around here.

---
But first, a bit of Halloween. We're very traditional about that. We always have a bowl of candy by the door, someone is assigned to hand it out to all the kids who show up, and we always watch "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant.

This year, I got the assignment of handing out the candy, and Lex (Adam's friend) came over to watch the movie with us. Having guests to enjoy the show always makes it more fun! And I had a fantastic time passing out the candy. And trying hard not to eat any of it myself. We actually managed to get rid of most of it this year. But there was still some left over, so when the movie had ended, I took a quick trip over to Deb's place to visit. To give them the candy. Because otherwise we would eat it. And I would get fat(ter). Also, it was fun to visit because Halloween is Mason's favorite holiday.
---

On Wednesday, there was no time to waste. I dropped the car off at Firestone so they could figure it out what was wrong, and fix it, because it is imperative that the car is available for Adam to drive while I'm gone in Arizona.

Turns out it was the wheel bearing. Which made sense. But I wasn't about to spend all day changing out a wheel bearing. Although I had actually replaced that one only a year ago when I put the new steering knuckle in. [I have to believe I didn't put it in wrong. Because the car drove fine for nearly a year. But there's always the sneaking suspicion that I screwed it up.]

Firestone was able to fix it for a bit more than I really wanted to pay, but there was no time to haggle. Time was a precious commodity. True to their word, they fixed it in only a couple hours, so we were able to pick it up late this afternoon -- and it drove wonderfully. Quietly. Safely.

Which means I can fly out to Tucson again without anxiety. Yay!