A week of highs and lows.

The past week has been a week of highs and lows and other things. A few things I didn't mention in last blog. On Wednesday we - Bill had his second appointment with the neuro-ophthalmologist.  It was at 7:45 on the other side of town. Peak traffic time so we took an Uber.  While we were waiting to go in my phone rang. I saw who it was and answered it. One of my walking friends had been reading the Facebook page for our community and came across this message. "Does anyone know who owns the RV in front storage lot space 2? It has been broken into." She said, "Isn't that you?" Bill is listening, but can't hear her voice. I smile and replay Oh, yes. Well your RV has been broken into along with 4 or 5 others. I smile and say "Okay, I'll check into that. Thanks. Bye." Decide not to say anything to Bill at that time. Bill is called into the office. More eye tests by assistant.  He was upset about testing, I am having a quiet melt down about the RV. So anyway, they finish testing and The doctor came in. More checking eye and eyelid. She confirms it is Myasthenia Gravis. Prescribes a pill that will work. Another Uber home. I'm still not saying anything. 

Got home and discovered the guys were there cutting down the big tall dead pine trees. Thank goodness. Only picture I could find of them, taken a year or so ago before they died. They were tall. Notice the one on the left is right behind our Palo Verde

The first one was almost completely cut down. 

But guess part of it hit the Palo Verde and broke off a couple of branches. 

The second one partly down, taking lunch now. 

Bill out talking to them. They were sorry about the Palo Verde but there wasn't much room for the cut pieces to fall down. They said they would finish pretty soon and then clean up the mess. At least the trees are gone. 

Then I finally told him about RV, so went over to check it out. Actually it wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. They pried up one of the windows and broke the mechanism that opens it. No other damage - amazing. They just opened every cupboard and drawer in the place.

Broken thingy on window. 

Took out all the drawers from here - good thing I have a diagram of what is in every drawer and where each drawer goes. 

So basically just a mess.

The fifth wheel next to us has a broken window - whole window needs to be replace. The owner of it is the one who wrote on the Facebook page about the break ins. Another RV had a couple of broken windows also. So we were lucky. Called our son and he came over Friday and helped us get it started (a whole other issue) and brought it home. We have it all cleaned up now and Bill put some screws in the bottom of the window so it can't be opened  again. While it was in storage - the storage place is part of the community we live in. They just installed locked gates to the areas about a couple of months ago. Also it is a gated community. I'm guessing they came over the wall from the Wetlands. While it was in storage Bill had disconnected the battery. Well all the sensors need to be reset before it will pass smog - which has to be done before the 20th. To reset them the vehicle needs to be driven in traffic and on highway at highway speed etc. etc. Lovely.

We picked up the pill on Friday morning he will take 1/2 a pill three times a day and his eyelid will stay up.  About 10 minutes after he took it his eyelid popped open and HE CAN SEE. But the pill is upsetting his stomach. Also Wednesday afternoon we had appointment to see the heart doctor. All is well with both of us. Come back in month for echocardiograms, see you then. By then Bill was exhausted and his long covid hit again. Spent most of Thursday in bed. And Thursday night there was another human started fire in the Wetlands. 

He did get to use his new eyesight to watch on TV a great soccer game on Friday. However by Friday evening his stomach was hurting. By noon Saturday he was hit with the side effects - all of them. Up to and including the severe ones. Trouble breathing, extreme weakness. He did not take any more pills after Saturday afternoon. By Sunday he was bedridden, I was thinking of calling ambulance. He did improve a little by evening but is still not entirely well today. So no more pills. He says he'd rather be blind.  Have talked to doctors assistant. She says he should slowly get better. Doctor is on vacation for whole week. Will hear from her next week.

This one is weird - not something I'd not want to see looking out a hotel window. 

And so we are up to today. The RV is all cleaned up and ready to go for a drive or put back into storage. Still a couple of small things that need repair but they can be done at any time. I had planned on taking it for a drive on Sunday, but with Bill so sick of course didn't.  Because the battery got disconnected all the sensors lost their information. It will not pass a smog test until they are up and running. Which means the RV has to be driven in all kinds of traffic and up to 65 miles per hour on freeways. Have to have it done by Saturday to do smog. Sorry if this is a little mixed up. Got a few of the days mixed up, think I got it fixed

Spring blooms amid ash

Well looks like we are getting a taste of summer already. 

Took an almost 4 mile walk on Saturday.  Spring is trying to bloom. 

Didn't see too much in the way of wild life. Only this lone pelican floating around in the river.

These will be the last of the damage from the fire. It burned up right to the river near the bridge. 

We crossed the bridge to walk a ways up the river and much to our surprise discovered the fire jumped the river! This used to be completely covered in brush. 

This is the way that area looked before the fire. I took this picture looking the other way. 

A little further up, the river is not just a creek it is pretty good size. Glad this area was spared. 

Still snow on the mountain, most should melt in the next few days. 

Heading back towards the Nature Center. Big burned area. 

See the river behind the burned trees. 

The trees are burned but the brush is okay. 

A sign of spring, a pink bloom on one of the trees. 

And wildflowers popping up.

We live just beyond the arrow. The circled places are the burned areas. So it actually jumped two rivers. 

We had a busy day yesterday. Our son called unexpectedly and said his cleaning ladies were coming over. Great timing I almost had to mop and vacuum myself. Heaven forbid! Then we got a call from the neurologist office. They had a cancellation could we be there at 3:45...OF COURSE! They sent me all the paperwork to fill out and I called an Uber to take us. Glad of that, traffic was miserable that time of day and most of the roads around the office were under construction Uber had to drive through the hospitals driveway to get to the building we were going to. All they did yesterday were tests on how well he can see...Tomorrow we see the doctor at 7:30 a.m. - for sure another Uber ride. 

The Sphere again. 

Busy time coming up. All three vehicles have to be smogged and I have to find a notary to fill out a paper to prove that I'm still alive. Also sometime in the next two weeks the dead trees will be cut down. Other than that - nothing going on. 

Sad and Happy

 Friend and I got out early yesterday morning to go for a walk in The Wetlands - yes, we wanted to see how much damage the fire did. We took masks with us, glad we did. Smell was strong and wind was blowing ash all around. The fire burned 34 acres and was started by a human. It is so depressing to see. This is the biggest fire since we've lived here. And it is in an area we always walk in. This is right near where it started. Some of the bigger trees might make it. I hope. 

So much destruction. This used to be completely covered in reeds and brush. 

No idea this little creek was there, couldn't see it before. 

Here is the starting point. The Nature Center building is in the background. Luckily wind was blowing away from it. The burned part looked like the brush in the back of it. 

No idea if these can come back or not. It is spring and there has been some rain, so maybe there is hope for them.

A big old tree. 

This was completely covered in brush. 

This area was where the owls nested last year. These are cottonwoods. Hopefully, again, they will recover. 

This is the same area as above picture, took it last week. See the cross on the tree in both pictures. 

Every thing is gone here. 

I have taken many pictures here, see the bridge in the background. 

Stopped taking pictures here as I got a text from our son he was on the way to the house to take us to breakfast. Had a very quick walk the rest of the way home. We did do two miles though in one hour with lots of stops for picture taking. Very depressing.

Have my March decorations up. Easter theme of course. The only thing new are the pillow covers. 

Made these place mats a long time ago. No Easter theme but spring colors. 

This picture didn't turn out very good, too much light coming in behind it. Notice the bottom embroidery, the hat, is upside down. Oh well. 

And of course sun catchers, have had them for a long time too. 

I also try to find a dish towel with the proper design to hang under my rooster. 

That is all for this time. 

Dull Days and Exciting Days

We are not sad to see the end of March - I don't remember what it came in as but it went out like a Lion. We had lows of 45 and highs of 91 and lots of wind all month. Winds yesterday were sustained at 30/40 with gusts at 60/65. We really haven't been doing much since I last wrote. But yesterday morning I contacted our gardener to ask him to come over to check the watering system. Figured we would hear from him today. So we got ready to go out - YES GO OUT. Bill wanted to go to Lowes and I thought I'd check out JoAnn's to see if they had any thing I wanted. (No they didn't) I did complete and frame another diamond painting. They are hard to take good pictures of. The colors are brighter than this looks. It is a really bad picture but you get the idea. 

No blog is complete without some Sphere pictures. Sometimes he even has a coffee cup in the morning. 

But back to yesterday. Just as we were getting ready the gardener texted that he was in area and would be at our house soon. When he came we walked around the house checking things out. Sure glad he came as you will see. When we were in side yard I happened to look at the Wetlands. OH NO FIRE!

I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. When she answered guess she saw the address and asked "Is this about the fire in the Wetlands?" I said yes and she told me fire trucks were already on their way. Whew. Also the the wind was blowing straight north which kept it from traveling towards our homes. When we first saw it, one big plume of smoke. 

With the strong winds it didn't take long for it to spread. It took about 10 minutes before we heard the fire trucks. Seemed longer than that. Lots of trucks though. 

Continued to spread quickly. 

More fire trucks coming down the access road behind our wall. They went down quite a ways then turned into the park. 

Finally some white smoke from the water. 

Thank goodness the wind was blowing straight north. I'd hate for all that smoke to be coming our way, not to say the fire...

We didn't leave for errands until it was pretty much contained. It burned 34 acres right where we always walk. This is from the TV this morning.  We walk on both of those paths. The path to the right goes right through the Cottonwood grove (the first two pictures of artists I put in last blog were in that area.) Also it is where the owls nested last year. I think the trees are pretty much destroyed. The park is closed today for "mopping up" and making sure no embers get going again. 

You can see the big cottonwood trees in this one. Maybe they made it. Hope so. 

Today the winds are down to into the high teens and a cold front is moving through. I'll get out there when I can. 

Bill has an appointment for testing with the  neurologist tech the first of May then with the actual doctor the second week of May. The days are passing slowly. By later in the day his eye is usually completely closed. Frustrates him.