Busy

There sure is a lot to do at home. I told Joyce that while we were at Catalina working at the SIL Center it seemed we were single-minded, one focus. Our task was to do our job at the Center. No other worries; no other responsibilities. Yes, I know that is a little understated. But we really did little else unless we wanted to. Now at home we go many different directions. The single focus has been replaced with many things – people to visit, house to take care of, yard to mow, garden to prepare, trees to spray, doctors to visit, etc. And so on. Maybe the optimum word is “responsibility.”

I’m not complaining, understand. This is life, real life, here where we live everyday. Snow birding in Arizona, even with the good of voluntary work, is temporary. The whole idea of going there – of going anywhere, going on vacation – is to become as single-minded as possible. We use the term “to get away.” The idea is to leave the responsibility behind. If only for a little while.

So we are back to responsibility. Since getting back home I (or Joyce and I) have visited 6 people, had lunch or dinner 7 times with a total of 31 people, attended 3 staff meetings and one Senior Adult Potluck. I also wrote the monthly Senior Adult Newsletter and got it printed. All of this revolves around my “responsibility” as Minister to Senior Adults. Then of course there were things around the house to do and the general  stuff of life – like visiting our insurance agent and getting my tax stuff over to the accountant, i.e. responsibility.

Okay, quit laughing. I’m being responsible and dressing for the occasion. It was a St. Patrick’s Day potluck and this was the closest to a green hat I could find. The picture below shows Joyce being responsible and visiting with some of our Seniors. The javelina picture projected on the wall is the introduction to a little presentation I did about our jobs in Catalina.

Here’s a fun responsibility we are now into. The other day we joined the Courthouse Athletic Club. On the plus side we both need the discipline of doing some healthy workouts and… our insurance pays for it. The joining fee is waived if we attend 8 classes in the first month. So we went to “SilverStrength” yesterday. It is for those “silver haired” folks among us. It lasted one hour and I knew I had had a workout. It will  be good for us. Tomorrow we are  going to a water exercise class and then sit in the hot tub.

Maybe it is because Easter comes so early this year or maybe it is because I’m no longer responsible for Holy Week activities but it just doesn’t  seem like Easter. Maybe it will tomorrow with the church Easter egg hunt and the Easter Sunday breakfast and worship.

But anyway… Happy Easter.

Home

We arrived home – Salem, that is, at 4:00 Sunday afternoon after 7 days, 1,560  miles, 6 camping spots, and 150 gallons of diesel. No incidents along the road and it seemed the Lord prepared the way before us. We came to many spots of damp pavement but only a very little rain on Tehachapi Pass. We fought some wind Monday night and Tuesday morning and discovered they issued high wind warnings later Tuesday after we had passed on. It was a long trip, but good. We listened to 3 stories on tape or CD.

Monday we left Jim and Joyce’s about 10:00. The first obstacle was getting around the corner. The road in and out is basically one way and a construction crew had been working on the gas lines for about a week. There was always room to squeeze by but the day we left they decided to dig up the corner where I needed to make a wide turn. This picture shows how tight it was getting by.

Just as we got on the highway – about 4 miles from Jim’s house – we heard a click, click, click sound. Joyce and I wondered about it and thought we would check on it as soon as a good stopping place appeared. Then it got louder and louder so I pulled over immediately. We looked and looked but couldn’t find any problem. Then Joyce said, “What’s this?” I looked at the right front tire to see a piece of black electrical tape on the tread with one end loose. It was click-clacking away as the wheel revolved. I’m sure it would have eventually flown off.

We drove a “whole” 3 or 4 hours to Wickenburg, northwest of Phoenix and got a place in Desert Gardens RV Park. The purpose was to meet Marilyn and Joy Griffith, friends from our Grants Pass days. They now live in Prescott so they drove down and we spent the afternoon talking and eating dinner together.

Tuesday we drove on up Highway 93 to I-40 then west to Kingman (one last stop at a Cracker Barrel for lunch!) and on into California. In Barstow we turned onto Highway 58. Our stop for that night was at Boron, CA. in the Arabian Trailer Oasis. Be impressed by the name, not the ambiance. However, for $20 it served the purpose of getting us off the road for the night. The wind blew but we were snuggled in. Boron, population 2,200, is known for the Borax mine located a few miles away.

The next day we were on the road early. It was a big 11 hour day. Over the Tehachapi Pass, thru Bakersfield, up highway 99, over to I-5 at Manteca, and on north to Corning. The Olive Pit is always our stop in that part of the country. We dry camped in their back parking along with a couple other RVs and a truck or two.

Thursday it was on to Grants Pass to visit with friends and park in Mike and Joann’s front yard. We had a great visit with them and a couple other people plus lunch with Don and Myrna, Joyce’s brother and sister-in-law. Friday we headed to Elmira (west of Eugene) to see my sister, Beth. We stayed there two nights visiting with her and Roy and Twyla, her son and daughter-in-law.

We went with her to church Sunday and then into Eugene to have lunch at Papa's Pizza with another of Joyce’s brothers. This time it was Jack and Luwayne along with Brandon and Megan and family and Katelyn. Bandon is Jack and Luwayne’s son. Katelyn is Joyce’s grand-niece from Alaska. She attends college in Seattle and was down visiting a friend during spring break.

And then it was off for home. As so this winter adventure draws to an end. I spent most of last evening sorting thru mail. It’s amazing how much junk mail a guy can get! And how much there is to catch up on.

I will continue to blog but perhaps not quite as often. So until next time… blessings.

The Tucson moon taken thru Jim and Joyce’s telescope.

Ahhh, Heat

I’m hot. Well, actually I’m warm. But yesterday was a beautiful, glorious, wonderful, very WARM day. Close to 80*. So nice. We have traversed through rain, sleet, snow, wind, and the dark of night to reach this point. Today wasn’t as warm but still very nice. And now, Monday we leave for home!!! What’s wrong with this picture… as soon as it gets warm in Arizona we leave for wet, cold, windy, Oregon? Hmmm?

Here’s my final report on keyboarding. Doreen and I finished the Mixteco Jamiltepec and then corrected it. She and I typed in this entire Old Testament summary. Isn’t that impressive? I guess I have to confess that it is only 95 pages, well, half pages because the bottom half is Spanish and we didn’t do that part. And a lot of the 95 pages were pictures. But it is fun to say, “I did that.”

While we were doing all that, portions of the Nahuatl were being finished by other keyboarders. After which they started a new translation of about 400 pages. I only typed about one page just to see what it was like. So in the 6 weeks I was keyboarding, one translation was finished just as I arrived, we did three, and a fifth one was started.

Wednesday we attended a potluck for the volunteers from Oregon. There are about 20 – I’m not sure of the exact number but Oregon is well represented among the states. There are two couples from Salem and 3 of the keyboarders are from Oregon.

Thursday was the Appreciation Dinner for the volunteers. This is put on by Wycliffe staff (i.e. not volunteers). They did a fantastic job from the decorations, to the food, to the program. We truly felt appreciated. By the way, there are about 150 volunteers here – the last couple weeks we were at the peak. But some leave earlier and some come later so at least 200 volunteers are here sometime during the winter. At chapel they give a little gift bag to those who are leaving. Thursday was the last day for about 35 of us! Big departure day.

Yesterday Jim and I went with about a dozen other Wycliffe people to hike in Oracle State Park. What a beautiful hike! Beautiful day, beautiful scenery. We did the 1.6 mile hike up (noticed I said, UP) to the highest point in the park. A short picnic lunch and Jim and I headed back home because he had a previous engagement for mid-afternoon.

On the way up.

From the top looking at the valley below.

Just to prove we were really there. The beauty of the Arizona desert is certainly different from the beauty of the Oregon mountains.

This old guy had seen better years but now he just stood there and let us enjoy his decaying beauty. I’m speaking of the tree, not Jim.

Here is our group eating lunch. Some of them went on to tour the old ranch house that was home to the man who claimed 50,000 acres of this land. The park is just a small part of that ranch.

Tomorrow we leave for Oregon but it will take us several days to get to Salem. We have some stops along the way to visit family and friends. I suppose the next blog post will be from home but I’m not sure what day. Think of us. Pray for us. And blessings to each of you from Arizona.