FALL IS HERE!

 We were able to go off grid for about half the month so hopefully that will help the electric bill.  Oct 19 we hit 101º so hopefully that will be the last 100º day of 2023!  Most of the month was really nice weather wise, a welcomed relief.  

On Oct 14 I ended up in the hospital observation ward because my heart rate went up to 155 bpm and won't stop for two hours.  Of course as soon as I got there it slowed down but I had signs of a heart attack in my blood but no other signs so they wanted me to stay so they could 'observe' me.  I was there two nights.  Todd surprised me with a very nice visit and that made the time on Sunday go by really fast.  I still don't know why or what went wrong and have to figure the doctors don't know either since I've heard nothing from them.

We ended the month by going to see the movie "Miracle in East Texas" with Kevin Sorbe.  It is a true story from 1930 and the oil they found helped the Allies win the second world war according to Winston Churchill.  That was not mentioned in the movie.  It is a comedy love story about redemption.

                 Sunset Oct 30, 2023 from the backyard

Lemon cake I bake for Larry with cream cheese frosting

Sept NOT so Bad

Sept. was not as bad as I expected thankfully.  It started out with a high of 89º and many days below 100º with one night going down to 68º!

We had two really nice visits from Todd.  The first on Sept 2nd and he brought Larry a nice US Navy veteran hat  and the second visit was on the 19th.

Larry's birthday hat from Todd

                        Father and son

On Sundays after church we usually go for Chinese but twice we changed our plans.  On the 3rd we went to Olive Garden (for Larry's birthday) and beat the rush and were seated right away.  We had a super server and had fun with him as he liked to kid around and Larry 'kidded' back!  The other Sunday we didn't have Chinese was the17th and the church had a pizza party after the service.

Larry kept busy putting lights in the "He" and "She" sheds.  They are 12 volt lights and run off the MH.  He also has been busy fine tuning the solar as he keeps learning more about it.

                             Between the sheds

                             Light in the shed
 

Larry sitting on the tires hooking up the solar wires

I had a loop recorder put in by my Cardiologist.  Hopefully it will help him figure out what's going on with my heart.

The IRS sent a check we were not expecting from 2021.  Always nice to have money surprises!

We continue to play Train on Fridays with Vince winning 3 out of 4 games.  We've added Farkle so the rest of us can win sometimes!

                               Almost full Harvest Moon

 

Is summer finally winding down?

 We started off August with haircuts.  We've used our Flow-Bee for over 20 years now and are very happy with it.

The 7th of Aug we were surprised to see a quail chick on our patio.  He seemed to like my yellow crocks and whenever I went outside he would come running to see me.  We have no idea where he came from as we never saw a mama.  We didn't see him again for two weeks and then, sadly, I found him stuck between the water pipes on the driver's side of the MH.  We certainly aren't having much success with quail chicks.

The intense 110º heat has lessened some and we had two nights where it rained a little but we didn't even know it until Dawn told us it had rained!

August is a birthday month with our DIL, LaTia first, then Calvin our first great grandson, then Milli our first great grandchild and lastly Larry.

                 Milli's birthday party

The grandkids having fun at Milli's party

Our grandson Alex who is moving to MO in Sept.

Calvin has moved with his family to Portland, Oregon so we didn't get to see his birthday party.

We ended the month with a wind storm and then much needed rain that was actually measurable.  It brought much welcomed cooler weather!! 

A rainbow that was earlier in the month when we didn't get rain

BLAZING HEAT!!!

I started the month of July off with making applesauce from some of the apples off of the apple tree in the yard.  It had so many apples on it the limbs were breaking!  Then I made an applesauce cake, twice. 

                    Just some of the apples off the tree


We cleaned out the small storage trailer so Larry could have more room for his equipment.  We gave Todd the electric lift lounger since it is way too big for our MH along with two lamps.  He came to get it and we made him promise not to lift it out of his car instead enlisting the help for his son and neighbor as he doesn’t need to injure his back any more! 

On the 12th Larry had two VA appts. one at 11:30 AM  and the other at 1PM fasting so I basically fasted also and afterwards we went to Valle Luna for lunch.  We ended up sharing a meal and had no leftovers since  we planned on staying out, walking around Costco and then going to the movies to see “Sound of Freedom”.  We were surprised how full the theater was!  We recommend everyone see it.

We had an issue with our EV charger and returned it and received it back within a week.  It is working fine again.

July has been an unprecedented month as we have had 31 straight days of 110º or over (118º two different days!)  Absolutely brutal and has caused problems with both our refrigerator and the A/C’s.  We had to have an RV repairman come out and he told us the front A/C has an unfixable leak so we have ordered another one that will be delivered on Aug 7 and he will come back out to install it on Aug 10.

One of the projects Larry has been working on is putting cargo doors in the big bay doors to help the inverters which are in the big bay, stay cooler with air blowing across them as inverters don’t like heat.  We had to work late at night several nights to get it done as it was just too hot during the day.  The inverters are 20 years old and cost $5000 each so it is important to keep them happy.  He also finished putting in the 6th solar panel and has it hooked up so we should be able to go ‘off grid’ during the winter months.  The A/C’s  take too much juice to go off grid now. 

         Installed on the passenger side of the coach

Preparing the cargo door we bought in 2008 at Winnebago

Screen wire covers the cargo opening on the driver's side

   

                       Hooking up the sixth solar panel

The quail eggs are not viable.  Larry forgot they were under the big fan and moved it, smashing five eggs.  The remaining 8 eggs had ‘something’ eat two of them and just yesterday, two more eggs are cracked and show yolk so no baby quail.  I have only seen mama quail once and nearly scared her to death as she had a hard time trying to escape.  I’m sorry these eggs didn’t produce baby quail but they were in a very strange place, just on the ground (rocks) and next to the house and under the big fan.  I’m not sure just how mama managed to get into the back yard anyway as they don’t usually fly.

We ended the month going to Gilbert for our great grandson Dominick’s 4th birthday party.  It was bitter sweet as they are moving in Sept. to MO for a good job offer.  It was good seeing family again. 

                      Us with grandson Alex, Dom's dad

                       Birthday boy Dominick 4 years old

 

SUMMER HEAT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

 We started the month of June off with a visit from our granddaughter and her husband. They were in AZ for a wedding and their children were staying with Grandpa and Grandma while they went to Prescott for the wedding. As I am typing they are on their way moving from ID to OR. 

                      

Larry has been busy wiring up the solar panels so we can utilize the

solar we are producing. He still has more things to do but is slowly

getting it done. It doesn’t help that summer has finally hit so he

has been working at night when it is cooler.

 June has been surprisingly cool for Phoenix.

                            

Todd visited several times this month which we love. He even

brought us breakfast one morning!

For Father's Day,

 our wonderful daughter-in-law LaTia, made lasagna, Dawn made

salad and garlic bread and I baked a cake and bought ice cream so 

we had a really special Father's Day!

Vince, Shane and Milli went for a swim but the water was still kind of

chilly as the nights have been really nice and doesn't allow the

water to heat up like usual.

  

                                       

                                            Four fathers for Father's Day

Two of our A/C units quit so we quickly ordered new fan motors as

we cannot be without A/C in Phoenix in the summer!

Larry is having a hard time with the heat now (he used to like the

heat) so in order for him to get on top of the MH to repair the A/Cs

we took the big fan with a mister and hoisted it up in the air so it 

would blow on him while he worked.  He told me I had a really

good idea with the fan as he would not have been able to stay

on the roof to fix the A/C 's had it not been for the fan.  When I

moved the fan I discovered 13 quail eggs under it.  I have  not 

seen a mama quail but when the air temp. is 100º or more she does

not need to sit on the eggs.  Just at night when it is below 100º.

I've been keeping an eye on the eggs and will keep you posted.

                                 

                              

We've been enjoying okra, squash and just recently cherry 

tomatoes out of the garden.

                            

We ended the month with 113º predicted for the very near future!!

Another project finished!

Last month I was so excited to see the quail chicks but unfortunately they got caught between the plastic and the wood side and I didn’t find them for 24 hours.  There were seven still alive and we carefully put them in a drain pan under the garden where they hatched and hoped Mama would find them.  They peeped their hearts out but Mama never came.  We tried to give them water and food with an eye dropper but were not successful.  The last two lived 56 hours and because they fought so hard Larry buried them in the garden.  But God is good as I have seen a quail mama and 10 chicks in the neighbor’s back yard several times most recently watching her show them how to scratch for bugs.  They are so cute!

                  Great granddaughter Millie holding one chick

          Larry trying to give water to a chick

Todd came to see me/us for Mother’s Day on May 17 and to get his birthday present.  We had a good visit and Larry showed him how to sharpen his lawn mower blade.

Flowers Todd gave me for Mother's Day

                        Mother and son

             Todd opening his present

  Sharpening Todd's lawn mower blade

For Vince’s birthday we went to Texas Roadhouse and then back to their house for cake.  We had leftovers which is always good.

               Vince's birthday cake

Vince and Dawn at Texas Roadhouse

Since we had some 100º days and the forecast was for cooler weather, Larry worked 10-12 hours a day (until 11 PM because it was cooler) for basically two weeks to get the last two solar panels installed.  He finished them on May 31 and they are hooked up and working.  Yeah!!  He is now taking a much deserved rest before starting on another project.

          Solar panels up and running

The jack assembly to raise and lower the panels

  The frame for the solar panels

  Another view of the frame

  The first forming of the solar panel frame

Larry’s older brother passed away May 23 after a month in the hospital.  He has been fighting prostrate cancer for 24 years which recently metastasized everywhere.  Larry was able to Facetime him May 9 and they talked for 24 min.  Usually when they talked it was for 1-2 hours but he was having trouble holding the phone.  He is now with Jesus and has no pain.

              Beautiful double rainbow