When it rains, it pours.

Or, when God gives you lemons, make lemonade.
And, since it is raining, you can make it with pure rain water.

My degree is in psychology, but I did take a philosophy class, so I know that any situation can be looked at from any perspective and be interpreted accordingly. See the previous "Glass half full" entry.

On Thursday, two significant, but seemingly unrelated things happened.
First, as you read, the truck ceased being a functioning contributor to our vagabond lifestyle. Our plans for spending weeks in the cool environs of high altitude forests, listening to the wind in the trees, watching whatever wildlife wandered our way, and doing as much nothing as we could cram in, were dashed. A HOT! summer in Tucson loomed.

Second, I got a telephone call from ...(drum roll, please)...Skagway, Alaska.

Now, you may have heard of Skagway from us. We went up there when we were younger, like last year. And the year before. And the year before that. We did not plan to go there this year. (see above paragraph for our plans this year) I should mention that this is the fourth call inviting us to return.

         One spring day a truck came out to Old Man O'Hara's farm, and the driver warned
         Old Man O'Hara to evacuate the farm because the river was going to rise and flood the farm.
         "I'll be fine," says O'Hara, "God will take care of me." And he refused to leave the farm.
         Later that day, as O'Hara stood on his porch as the waters swirled around his house, a man
         in a motor boat pulled up to the house and offered to take Old Man O'Hara to dry land.
         "I'll be fine," replied the old man, "God will take care of me." And he refused to leave the farm.
         Later that night, as O'Hara sat on the peak of his roof, watching the waters eddying around the
         eaves of his house, a helicopter hovered overhead and dropped a rope ladder. A loud speaker
         encouraged Old Man O'Hara to climb on up, as the water was about to rise even more.
        "I'll be fine, God will take care of me," O'Hara shouted back.
         Old Man O'Hara drowned in the flood. As he stood before St. Peter he was angry. "I trusted
         in the Lord to save me," he said. "Why didn't He take care of me?"
         St. Peter patiently nodded his head. "Who do you think sent the truck, the boat, and the
         helicopter?"

So, we decided to heed all of the messages we have received. We leave for Skagway next week. The earnings put us closer to that new truck we need if we ever want to pull our trailer to the mountains again. It's a no brainer and part of the glass being half full (a solution).

Having done this before, I don't find it necessary to tape off a corner of the living room to allot space for all the junk we will take. We are taking a lot less junk. The ferry is full, so we will get in a 3000 mile road trip. We will see high altitude forests, and there is a chance that we will see wildlife. Who knows, we might see a bear!

Happy Birthday, Jane

Okay, we are a day late and a dollar short. But we thought about you yesterday.
Hope you had a good day and have many more, and share a good number of them with us.

Glass half full.

Making the best of a bad situation comes easy after the practice we've had. For reference, see just about any of our previous entries.
On Friday, when we were supposed to be enjoying the cool temps in Silver City, we instead went to the refrigerated confines of our local multiplex to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." That was fun. Then we decided to find a motel near Silver City and go to the blues festival, anyway. The nearest available room was in Lordsburg, 45 miles distant. We got the room free from our rewards. Excellent.
We found a good, comfortable place in the shade at the park and enjoyed the music from noon until 9 pm. Then on Sunday, from noon until 6:30. Becky and Steve joined us for the day and dinner after. Then we drove home.
So we salvaged most of a good time. We enjoyed the music, the perfect weather, and the people watching. There was more driving involved than we planned for, but, on the bright side, there are fewer bugs in the world now.

Bummer!

I guess this qualifies as an "adventure" of the third kind?
An adventure of the first kind was planned. Isn't that how every good story begins?
We made reservations way back in January to take the trailer to Silver City for the Blues Festival this weekend.
We set out early this morning to avoid an adventure of the second kind. Forecast called for strong winds on I-10 between Tucson and the N.M. border. We did not want to get flipped over by a strong crosswind. Really, we didn't want to get flipped over? Why not?         DUH!!
So, back to the story. We made it to mile post 277, which is on Tucson's southeast side. Kind of out of town, but not really. The engine quit running. No explosion. No fire. Just quit. Being the clever soul that I am, I pulled to the side of the road, set the flashers, and tried (unsuccessfully) to restart the engine several times. Then, because I am a guy, I got out and raised the hood. I looked at the engine and could not tell what was wrong. Huh?! What I mean is, the belts and hoses were all there, no leaks of any kind were visible, and the engine, itself, was still there.
Now, we learn from past.....experiences. Yeah, that's the word. So we have Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance coverage. And we had cell phone coverage. So, do you know how hard it is to have a conversation on a cell phone next to a busy truck route? The poor operator had to repeat everything she said.
Upshot is, the tow truck only took an hour. Then about 45 minutes to get us hooked up. The tow company's owner was our driver, and he took lots of calls. Good thing we weren't paying by the minute. Good thing we weren't paying at all. The nearest repair facility was Tucson Dodge, because our truck is a Dodge and the Good Sam operator assumed that was the best place to go.
Okay, we sat around the dealership, blah, blah, blah (or is that yadda, yadda, yadda?).
The verdict is that the engine quit because the spark plug wires are shot. Oh, and there is a gasket missing on the air intake (it gets dry and brittle after years and years) which has been letting dirty air into the engine. That is very bad. In fact, the ticking sound we have been hearing is most likely in a piston. Prognosis? Fifty-fifty chance we could get to Silver City and back without the engine quitting again. This time with a bang and for good.
So we did not go to Silver City. And we will not be able to take the trailer to the mountains later this summer unless we get a new truck.
So, never mind the sun viewing glasses, I want a new truck for Father's Day.
Kids? Are you reading this? Don't both of you speak at once.
Oh, not to leave you hanging. The truck runs, and got us home safely. But only because I can drive while keeping my fingers crossed and holding my breath.

NSR =No Shovel Required

Even my cold-blooded sister wouldn't go get the shovel for this reptilian sighting.
We were on the first leg of our evening constitutional when we observed a group of fellow walkers off the road taking a picture. When we got closer they let us know it was gila monster sighting. Sure enough, there he or she was. About 16 inches long and with a nice fat tail. Perambulating in that unique lizard way that looks like walking isn't the preferred method of getting around.
We continued around the next corner and soon we saw, about 50 yards up the road, something crossing the road. Snake or gila monster. We actually trotted to get there. We arrived as another gila monster climbed the berm. This one was about an inch or two shorter and less fat, but very nicely patterned in orange and black.
Two. In one day! Cool.
Continuing, a resident red-tail hawk swooped just overhead and sailed to a landing on a telephone pole where we often see him. He never lets us get too close, but tonight he didn't sail away until we were stopped at the base of the pole.
Finally, as we neared our house, a pair of nighthawks got an early start eating all those nasty flying bugs over our street.
So we got our exercise, and some good wildlife viewing.

What's wrong here?

This evening we will be able to view part of the solar eclipse before the sun sets. On June 5th we will be able to watch part of Venus' transit of the sun before the sun sets.
EXCEPT you can't look directly at the sun long enough to see anything, or else you won't be able to see anything ever again. That is the classic catch 22. But somebody produced a special set of sun viewing glasses that are dark enough to allow direct sun viewing. Fine. Where can I get them?
There is one astronomy-themed store in town. They had the glasses until they ran out three days ago. The Saguaro National Park West is hosting a viewing party, so the gift shop had them for sale. Until they ran out yesterday. We drove out there today specifically to buy the glasses. Long drive. It was pretty, because we went through the Tucson Mountains at Picture Rock, and the saguaros are BLOOMING.
Okay. What's wrong here is marketing. If you want to maximize sales, you must not run out of product. Simple.
So, as the manufacturer of a product like these glasses which will have a limited demand period, what do you do? No retailer wants to be stuck with 800 pairs of sun viewing glasses after June 5th. The next eclipse will be years away, and the next transit of Venus will be more than a century from now. So the manufacturer should have guaranteed full return-for-credit on excess stock. If it was me, I'd have had them in every convenience store. Tonight when the moon starts blocking the sun, hundreds of people who don't plan ahead (the very definition of C-store customers) will be wanting to buy glasses.
Personally, I could pass on the eclipse. Been there, seen that. But the transit of Venus? Only once in my lifetime. Once. Coming up in a couple of weeks. I know, pictures will be shown on TV and youtube. But that's like saying you don't need to visit the Grand Canyon because you saw a postcard.
So, your assignment, reader, should you decide to accept it, is to find me a pair of sun viewing glasses.
I will also be looking. I can't really count on you, now can I?

Romantic Poetry--hot stuff, eh?

Does this guy know me or what?

I do not like the heat

said she.

The heat is not my friend in need.

The heat is not my friend indeed.

I do not like the heat in spring.

I do not like the heat in fall.

I do not like the heat at all.

The heat in summer is too much.

It makes some things too hot to touch.

I do not like the heat

said she.

I do not like the heat today.

I do not like the heat, no way.

It is too hot.

I like it not.

I do not like the heat a lot.

              Bill Thomas, May 2012

The heat in May

is here to stay.

The heat in June 

is here too soon.

               Bill Thomas, May 2012

It's all finished--even the hem!!

And just in time for 100 degrees. It felt cooler when I was playing in the water at the sink so that's good.

Restaurant sinks for $150 are few and far between so I felt really lucky when I spotted this one on Craig's List. And it was in good shape even though it needed some cleaning (which Bill did as part of the gift). 

It's definitely a great gift. Bill's eight trips to various stores and my one trip to a fabric store for deeply discounted UV resistant fabric was very worth it! I'm glad we found this before it started hitting the hot temperatures or it may not have gotten installed as quickly.

You can see how convenient it is to the studio door. I think I'll put a couple planters along the fence and I'll almost feel as if I'm in an oasis.

There is a limit to everything.

In the last post I commented how special it is to share space with wildlife. Well, not always.
Last night in the hot tub we heard a rustling noise. It was coming from the space between the wall and the storage sheds. I went in the house to get a flashlight. After some patient searching I spotted the pack rat. Pack rats are fine out in the desert. Like rattlesnakes. Not in my yard, though.
Truly Nolen will be out in the morning. Or should I just ask to borrow the neighbors' cat?

And, for the record, it took 8 trips to get everything to get the sink installed and functioning. Casey is hereby declared the winner. But Peggie is the true beneficiary. And I have a pick again. Not that I look forward to using it any time soon.

A little detour

I am waiting for the sun to move a little bit so my work area will be in shade, so I will tell you about yesterday.
Margie and Dave are in town again so she can attend a PEO convention and he can play. I joined him at sunrise yesterday and we drove down to Madera Canyon to do some bird watching. It was a typical Tucson day, clear sky, moderate temperature, slight breeze. We parked at the trailhead at the uphill end of the road. We checked the board to ascertain that my "old farts' card" would cover the parking fee, and headed a short distance up the trail. We spotted something interesting and dropped into the dry creek bed for a look. It turned out to be a great spot. We just sat or stood around and the birds came through as if the waterway was also a flyway. Other people came by occasionally to have some birder chat. The big question was "Have you seen him?" They meant the Elegant Trogon male who overwintered in the canyon. Normally in May and June they inhabit the area, but this one stayed all year. Well, we did. See him. We heard this strange call that sounded like a raven doing its dog impression. "aarrk, aarrk, aarrk" coming from down canyon and getting closer. Then a brilliant flash of red and he landed in the tree overhead. He just sat long enough for us to confirm it was him, then he continued up canyon. So right away, the day was a success. I won't recount all the birds we saw, but they were numerous and pretty. Eventually, we headed to an area where the creek runs above ground, and the water attracts a different variety of birds. We were again holding still and observing, when we heard a distant "gobble, gobble." Well, every kid knows that that is a turkey. We could tell from the occasional call that he was getting closer. Finally, I could tell that he was going to be passing on the far side of the creek and across the road. So I climbed up there, saw some other people heading in what I thought was the right direction, and there he was. Just a big tom, all alone, heading downhill. I remembered my camera was in my pocket, so I walked along the edge of the road parallel to old tom and managed to snap a few pictures. Then it occurred to me that he was trying to get to the water. So I stopped walking. Some other people were about a hundred yards away and the turkey fanned his tail feathers and gobbled angrily, circled a bit, then strutted across the road between me and the other folks. Headed for the creek.
Dave had joined me by then, so we crossed the creek again and headed back towards the car. On the way we stopped to admire a pair of painted redstarts. They do not stay still long, but for some reason, perhaps a nearby nest, they cavorted just above my head for a while before I moved on. Just a few feet up the trail, I turned my head to see what was rustling the dry leaves and saw a small doe heading in the opposite direction. About the time I saw her, she froze. She held totally still for several minutes with her ears turned straight ahead. She was more alarmed about something ahead of her than about us. Eventually she resumed walking, she was joined by a fawn and then we saw that she was joining another pair of does in a low meadow. As we watched she turned and walked right towards me. I could tell she saw me, but she was not overly alarmed. Living in a public area like this had reduced her fear of humans. She was joined by the fawn and they browsed no more than 25 feet from either of us. It is always special to get to share space with wild animals. Finally, the deer began to move, and we saw that there were six of them, altogether. As we headed up the trail again, they were also heading up the creek parallel to us, about 50-60 feet to our left. We came to a spot where another family was sitting on some rocks by the creek watching the deer approach. Then a really funny thing happened. A car came whizzing by on the road, and the deer quickly retreated toward the creek. The fawn was in full run when she saw the people on the rock. Wham! She set her brakes! Then is when you see that animals can have facial expression. Her eyes were huge, and you could clearly see the confusion in her mind. Where is the greatest danger? That noisy vehicle behind, or those people on the rock ahead? She probably stood frozen for 20-30 seconds. Then she kind of shook herself, looked around, saw mama was not panicked, and nonchalantly nibbles some grass.
On our way out we saw another tom turkey who wanted to cross to the creek. He was really displaying his tail and voicing his objection to the the people who seemed to be in his way.
It was a fabulous morning. We saw the trogon, two turkeys, six deer, and a whole bunch of other birds we hadn't seen before. Then we had some really good chile con carne at Guillermo's on south 4th.

The Story, The Whole Story, and Other Things, Too.

Peggie found the three-compartment food service sink on CraigsList. Only $150, which is a very good price. This was on a Sunday. Being the busy bees that we are, we couldn't get downtown to see it until Tuesday evening. Downtown streets are torn up for the construction of a trolley line. We found an empty meter only a block from the location. While we waited, Peggie got a text that the seller couldn't find the key to the storage place. We waited. He showed up and we went around to the alley. The door had a combination lock, not a key lock. He had a key to the front door, so we went around to the side with the construction and he let us into the kind of place you'd never go in if you were in a slasher movie. Dark, crowded with detritus from bars, restaurants, apartments, junk yards, whatever. It was being used as a practice hall by this guy's rock band. Sure enough, there was a keyboard, guitars, amps, drums. Way in the back, was the sink. It was in good physical condition, but you could tell by its (long-term lack of) cleanliness that you were happy not to have eaten in the bar from which it had come. No way we could carry it back through the maze and around the block to our parking spot. Enter the smart phone. He texted someone and got the combination to the alley lock. So I brought the truck into the alley, we loaded up, tied down, and headed out.
When we got it home, unloaded it and carried it into the back yard, we discovered problem #1. One of the legs was missing a piece I have since come to know is called a bullet foot. It slips into (and, apparently, out of) the hollow legs so height adjustments can be made to deal with the inevitable uneven floor.
Plan A involved taking an inventory of needs to clean the sink, and hook it up to water and drainage. So I made a list and made Trip#1.  Lowe's for water line and drain pipe, Restaurant Supply for bullet feet and sink stoppers. I got everything on the list, except bullet feet. I was given the name of a local manufacturer of stainless restaurant equipment. They are out near D-M AFB, so that is a trip (#2) for tomorrow.
The clean up went well. I searched on-line, Casey, and found some instructional videos on cleaning stainless steel. Vinegar, lime juice, and baking soda were about equally recommended. I went with baking soda and it worked just fine. Except for the going blind part. Oddly, all of the videos were done indoors!
While hooking up the water supply, I realized I had waaayyy over engineered the project. So I scrapped Plan A, and since I had to make Trip # 2 anyway, I returned several pieces of plumbing and exchanged them for a simpler solution, namely a Y fitting for the existing faucet. We have used these successfully in RV parks, so why not?  Because....
... we have anti-siphon attachments on our outdoor faucets, and they leak when held under the pressure of a closed valve downstream. So, I had to remove that. Bad news. Twenty five years ago, when the contractor installed this device, he crossed the threads. So now I have to replace the faucet.  I know I should just take the faucet with me, but that would mean leaving Peggie without water while I am gone.
But wait, there are multiple sizes and types at the store. So this time I left the water off and took it with me.
Faucets are too expensive at Ace, but I remember seeing them for less at Lowe's.
So it is lunch time on Friday now and I think I have everything I need. After lunch I will make the "final" hookups.
Or so I thought. Here is what happens. Every time you get a connection to stop leaking, it puts pressure on the next connection. So, here I make the "last" connection solid and discover that the on/off handle leaks. Just a little bit. But, you know.
So, to recap: the swivel faucet had obviously been leaking for a long time based on the calcium build-up around it. The new washer there was in Plan A. When put under pressure, the valve on the wall spigot leaked. That was around Trip # 4. The connection from the garden hose to the sink hose leaked. That was part of Trip # 2. The faucet handle required Trip # 7.
Altogether I visited Restaurant Supply, Lowe's, [#1] AIS (for bullet feet),[#2] Lowe's,[#3] Lowe's, [#4]Ace,[#5] Lowe's,[#6] Ace.[#7] This is about 80 miles and another $50 over the original price, plus all those "priceless" hours of labor. I tried to time the work to coincide with shade after that debacle scrubbing in the blinding sunlight. I was interrupted by a crew who came to trim the big mesquite, a side chore to reset the timing and alignment of the drip system, some books that needed to be read, some TV shows that needed to be watched, and crosswords that needed to be filled in.
I still have to dig the trench and sump hole for the drain, but I have all the pieces of PVC I need.
Famous last words?
So far Dave looks like the winner. Thank you to everybody for playing. There is no prize beyond all the fun.

Clarification on the rules

Greg and Peggie have convinced me to make the following revision/clarification. So, Plan A was to visit two stores in one trip. That equals one trip, because it was the original Plan. But, since I couldn't get one item at those two stores, Plan B has to equal trip two. So, Greg's suggestion about sales receipts would seem to apply. For instance, I already have to go to the place where they build sinks like this one to get the adjustable feet for the legs.
What else might come up?

The Gift

Peggie has been doing a lot of fabric dying. Our patio looks like a redneck laundromat. We have a galvanized wash tub on a loose cinderblock stand with a garden hose going to it. The used water drains through a hole in the bottom of the tub, down through the blocks and into the yard, where it makes.....mud. We have a clothesline strung on the patio. (For you youngsters, that is a small rope used in the olden days from which wet clothes were hung to dry in the sun. Think of it as a solar powered dryer with no moving parts.)
Peggie has been lusting after a "professional" setup with a multi-tub sink, plumbing, and drainage, under a shade cover. For her birthday last year, I said I would do the installation when she found the sink(s) she wanted.
She found one. On Craigslist. A three-tub stainless steel restaurant sink with drainboards on both ends. (For  you youngsters, a drainboard is a sloped surface near a sink where dishes are washed and rinsed and dried by hand.  !!!!!)
So, now that we have air conditioning that makes it comfortable to stay indoors, I am cleaning up this grungy sink salvaged from a boarded-up dive bar downtown. Did you ever try to scrub stainless steel in the full sun? Well, don't. Just stare right at the sun for five minutes if you want to go blind.
And, guess what? The plumbing set-up requires a trip to a restaurant supply store AND the home improvement super store.
Before the next post here, the betting windows will be open. How many trips to the store will I really need? Pick a number higher than one and less than a hundred, place your bets in the comments section. Winners will be announced when the job is complete. Good luck to all of us.