Warm here and our day

We have had beautiful weather since we arrived here on Friday, and I am almost embarrassed to mention the fact on the blog.  But perhaps it helps a bit for those that are caught up in the cold front that has made it to the East coast now to understand that it is warmer back here in the West.

Officially we reached 77 here this afternoon, but I did see 80 on the dash of the motorscooter this afternoon.  Yesterday we had 84 on that same dash, and I never did look up the official.  We have had some high clouds coming from California that have streamed from the Southwest.  Had they not obscured the sky somewhat, I think it would have been even warmer.

The worst of this is that the 75 day 45 night temps are forecast for the next ten days.  Oh My!  We are parked with our windshield facing South and the door side to the West.  It is quite sunny in the afternoon, and will help during the late Dec early Jan time frame when it reaches about 62 as a daytime high.  But even that will be quite welcome compared to our back home temps.

Our day here was one of odd jobs, like go over to the Lowes and get some nails to nail wooden blocks together for under the stabilizer jacks.  Then to learn that the wood that I sourced for free from the wood shop was too dry to be nailed, and split with number 10 nails.  I did get a couple of them nailed together anyway.

Then I took one of our dinette chairs over to the wood shop and used a brad nailer to put the fabric chair back onto the frame after it came loose.  The wood shop monitor came over and all but did the repair for me.  I think he was afraid that I might staple my fingers to the chair on his watch.  Of course he has no way of knowing what my skills with tools might be, so he was being doubly sure I wouldn't cause a problem.

After that, I rode the scooter out North of town on the rode up over Usery Mountain Pass.  This is just a small pass that goes back down into the Salt river valley on the other side.  But it is about 10 miles each way and a 45 mile an hour speed limit road with some twisties.  I was having fun, but I can feel the resection some tonight.  You use your stomach muscles more than you think while riding a bike.  So I was wise not to go on the all afternoon ride yesterday!

I will continue to ride shorter jaunts around the area here, and try and build up my endurance and stamina.  It isn't hurting the incision any more to do the ride, but it does cause the incision to hurt me later in the evening.  Slowly, is the by word here.

Loyce and I went over to the local Petsmart tonight and bought some all natural pet training rewards.  They are made with chicken livers and natural ingredients with the main cereal being rice.  But with the words all natural on the bag, they are more expensive by the pound than T bone steak.

But they seem to be working, as Biscuit goes out and goes potty and runs back into the RV right to the bag of treats.  Jumping up on top of her crate trying to get at the bag.  She knows that she will get a treat or two for her outside performance.  If she piddles on the floor we have been showing her the bag and then making a big deal out of putting it away where she can't even smell them.

We really think she will be a ideal little doggy for us once she grows out of the puppy stage, but we are not rushing that any.

Retired Rod

"December 7th, A day that will live in infamy"  FDR

My father's ship the Phoenix was in Pearl Harbor that day and was strafed by aircraft machine gun fire.  But it was two years later, before he was drafted and began to serve aboard her.