Keeping Occupied

Apache Junction, AZ  High 104  Low 85

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough for either one of us.

In the meantime we’ve tried to find things to keep us from going nuts while we wait. I haven’t been on line for a couple of days so I hope everyone is having a great time.

Jim washed the Bungalow and the truck. (And, of course, it rained last night.) He got a larger plane and has been flying it several mornings. Anything that needs to get done is always done early in the morning before it gets too unbearable.

We’ve watched more movies this last month that we’ve seen in our entire lives. Our library card has been a lifesaver.

We met up with Bob and Jo for lunch at Sal’s Gilbert Pizza. I don’t eat cheese so I don’t eat pizza but I have to admit their pizzas look really good and very interesting. Jo had a ziti pizza and Bob had a spaghetti and meatball pizza. Definitely not your typical pizza. (I didn’t take any pictures so check out Bob's blog.) Jim had a Stromboli that was really good but I had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten.

It was like taking a walk down memory lane. Back in the 1990’s we lived in Kalispell, MT where the county fair was held. There was a food vendor at the fair who sold Italian sausage sandwiches that were fantastic. The sandwich I had at Sal’s was just like that. It had sausage, green and red peppers and onions with Marinara sauce. It was sooo good. Can you tell we’ll be going back there again?

Had to follow up this lunch with an ice cream treat. We ended up at Udder Delights. I don’t eat ice cream (it’s a dairy thing) but everybody else said it was really good.

We also went out to dinner with two other couples from here in the park. Al and Wilma and George and Melva. We went for Chinese food and followed that up with a visit to McDonald’s for hot fudge sundaes and ice cream cones. Being here all summer does have its perks.

One of the really great things about this time of year in Arizona is that you don’t have the crowds. We don’t need to make reservations anywhere and there are no lines.

Now I’m going to rant just a little bit – We have had four hiker deaths in the last 8 days here in the valley. All four deaths have been related to the heat and lack of water. There was a grandfather who had medical problems which the heat exacerbated and his 12 year old grandson who tried to walk back for help and died of heat stroke. A 29 year old woman was hiking Picacho Peak with her fiancée in 105 degree weather in the afternoon. The other was a women who was hiking one of the peaks surrounding the valley and when she got to the top didn’t feel very good. So she sent her husband and son back down the mountain without her. It took rescuers several hours to find her body.

So what is wrong with people. If you insist on hiking in these extreme temperatures, at least make sure you have plenty of water with you, know your limitations and hike in the cooler temps in the morning. These deaths are so needless; if only some common sense was used.

Enough of my rant. I just feel bad for their families.

I’ll post a quick update tomorrow after Jim gets settled in his room. They are going to keep him overnight.