FOCUS

Well, Tom convinced me to get the laser work done plus the new lenses and voila  I can now see WITHOUT GLASSES!  I have only worn them half my life, so it is as strange as finding my readers was 35 years ago before the bifocals!!   I had 3 pair of readers – one for my purse, one by the computer and one for playing the piano.  I was always the near-sighted one while Tom is far sighted.  We quipped that if we BOTH lost our glasses we could depend on each other in most every situation!  I have never noticed so MANY individual rocks on the mountains here in our section of Arizona!!

Now, it is just a case of finding the FOCUS POINT, and it is NOT at the end of my arm!!   As an ADD person I have fought a good fight trying to keep my focus on what I was doing when I got interrupted,  what I came into the “other room” to get, the many times I was tasked with FINDING the lost tool (where did you use it last?) or when I exceeded the number of tasks that ANYONE should try to do in one day!   Focus in learning a new skill was the task when Tom brought a computer home and said I was now the bookkeeper for the Strawberry Inn, long, long ago in a land far away!!

And did that skill ever come in handy the 26 years that I kept the books for the ten owners of the cabins there at The Rivers Resort, besides Tom’s computer company and our personal finances!!   Then there was REAL ESTATE where I had to concentrate on reading contracts and making sure than all the Ts were crossed and the Is in the right places;  the initials where necessary, and the pre-escrow inspections and repairs – complete with receipts – were properly accounted for before the close of escrow.  My first broker had informed me that when her door was closed I was not to interrupt for any reason as she was concentrating on a contract.  GOOD ADVICE!!

Focusing is not difficult during the Spring there is so much beauty here in the desert , especially after a couple of wet winters.  The Spring Flowers are just tremendous,  both the natural blooms and the garden variety blooms!!  We are here nearly two months longer than usual; leaving before Easter in previous years to be at Morgan Chapel.  But Easter was the earliest this year, which is why it did not connect with Passover as it usually does.   A complex situation due to the Gregorian Calendar vs the Hebrew calendar, blame it on Constantine!

So we will be lucky to get back ON THE ROAD by mid JUNE this year thanks to a new knee and a new place to spend winters as a bonus!!  The ESCROW closes on April 26^th ; the new knee is May 1^st, and Physical Therapy starts May 3^rd for 4 to 6 weeks!!  Then we have FOUR Birthdays in those same two weeks.   Allan on May 25^th,  Miss Grace, age 3, on May 23^rd (sure hate to miss that but we will do something special with her once we arrive in CA!) Kathleen on May 5^th and Tom3 on May 7^th.  Busier than usual with PT three times a week, but only 15 miles away rather than 65 miles.   Moving the health care to Arizona took a bit longer than I thought it would when I suggested it.  All of our doctors in the California foothills were retiring, moving to another state, or in the case of our dermatologist – dying!!  It just seemed like a good time and we have connected with folks we can work with, depend on, and it is all working out!  PRAISE GOD!! 

 

PHOTO OPP

 

Having nothing special on our calendar for that Friday, we agreed to meet our REALTOR to check out a new listing.  A single wide Park Model with an Arizona room attached in the housing tract called North Ranch adjacent to the EscapeesRV Park,  just northeast of Wickenburg.  Having moved all of our doctors to that area - since we spend 3 to 4 months in AZ each winter, we had been looking for land to park on.  When we sold our California business and “hit the road”  in 2020 the COUGAR had become our HOME on wheels.  This listing was a heavy duty FIXER UPPER!   We decided quickly that we were too old for that and Tom had donated all of the appropriate tools to the Country Cowboy Yard Sale a couple of years ago!!

We thanked our REALTOR,  but decided to drive around the community and look for FOR SALE BY OWNER signs, including a lot where we could park in the winter.  I had called that owner several weeks before and we wanted to double check on THAT small lot with utilities and a covered patio.   I saw a lovely flower in a cactus garden and asked Tom to back up so I could take its photo.   The owner was outside and came to my truck window to chat.  Turns out the cactus flower usually lasts only one day – it was now on day THREE!    He mentioned that he was outside awaiting HIS REALTOR, who was coming to take the listing on the property.  I asked his price and it was quite a bit more than the lot we were going to go look at. 

However, he seemed lonely;  I assumed he was recently widowed the reason he was anxious to sell.   So I asked if we could see the property anyway… we bought the cactus and the rest of the cactus in the  garden, the 45 foot LONG cement drive, the lovingly landscaped (pavers galore!) area, the amazingly finished  shed with washer and drier, the 13 x 30 foot Park Model just four years old, and fully furnished with views of mountains in two directions and no neighbors at the rear of the property.  There is an arroyo with a very occasional lake in it, and the community cactus garden is just at the end of the block, lovingly cared for by volunteers!!    Oh, and he wasn’t a widower.  He was a Veteran anxious to return to Michigan, never been married.  He is now filling boxes with memorabilia from his many years commuting each winter to this part of Arizona.  He must have thanked us a DOZEN TIMES for taking this burden from his shoulders.   There are now 5 more buds on this particular cactus waiting to bloom for our enjoyment;  a 30 day escrow AND an adjust a bed for my recovery from my new knee on May first just add to the AMAZING transaction.   GOD SMILED on us big time, thanks to a photo opp.  We still plan on traveling in the Summer and Fall so look for us to find you on one of our LOOPS!!