Kim’s phone rang early meaning that Clayton
was telling all inhabitants of the trailer not to play in the poop at 6:15 a.m.
😐 It was a call about the shelter...Kim got up to start
his day, I wallowed in the warmth of the covers until about 7:15...but never
did go back to sleep. Early morning for
both of us.
-------------------
It would have been a perfect time to take a
cool early morning walk...really didn’t want to do it, though. Kim didn’t have a problem skipping it,
either. Partners in crime... 😎
--------------------
Instead of walking we took the drone out to
play. I wanted to see the pecan groves from overhead to see if the green of the
leaves was visible....contrast them with the pictures the drone took a couple
of weeks ago. After the pecan groves I
thought it would be fun to see an aerial view of the Field of Glass...but first
a stop at the grocery store for steak burritos, piggy cookies and something
fried that involved cheese and jalapeno peppers. Then we spent the morning driving around.
--------------------
We pass the hawk nest on the way to the Field
of Glass...on our way out, the male hawk was perched on the edge of the nest, looking
around. On the way back, the female hawk
was perched on the opposite side of the nest. At that time there was a hawk
circling the nest...I assume it was the male circling to come in.
Each time we approached the nest, Kim
stopped so I could take some pictures. I
didn’t get out of the truck...simply rolled down the windows and zoomed
in. Neither bird flew away like they
normally do. It wasn’t until I was back at
camp looking at the pictures on my computer that I noticed that a little white
fuzzy head had popped up during the male photo shoot. So there appears to be at least one little
one in the nest...probably why neither of them left when we stopped.  |
| The Field of Glass...then and now |
Totally expected the sun to be shining off the
glass that’s been scattered throughout a big field we call the Field of
Glass. Totally wrong with that
expectation. No shining and shimmering
from a distance...in fact, no shining and shimmering up close. Three possible reasons: 1.The field was cleaned up and 2. The rusty
colored weedy grass was covering the glass and 3. Blowing dirt had covered some
of it up, too. Since there was no evidence of any clean up
going on...it would have taken heavy equipment to remove all that glass...we
figured it was a combination of 2 and 3.
We stopped to investigate. Sure
enough the glass was there but the ground cover and dirt were doing a good job
of hiding it from the sun and anybody passing by on the road. In the past, the ground has just been dusty
dirt so maybe the grassy stuff is the result of all the rain this spring. And interestingly the grassy stuff was
crunching as we walked on it and our footprints were visible. It appeared that it was on the backside of its
lifespan.
We searched out just a small area so Kim put
the drone up to verify that the condition of the entire field. Yes, the glass was visible from the sky but
it wasn’t reflecting like we thought it would.
When the grass dries up and both it and the dirt blow away, the field
will sparkle and shine again in the sunlight.
Or maybe more glass will dumped out there.
--------------------
The last thing we did this morning before
returning to camp was kind of spontaneous...well, spontaneous in the sense that
we didn’t prepare for it before we left camp today but the idea wasn’t
spontaneous. Earlier in the week while listening
to yet another train rumble by, Kim jokingly mentioned what a great opportunity
we have for putting a penny on the railroad track to get squished by a train. The tracks are close by and trains are running
all the time. As a kid I was told that putting
a penny on the track was a good way to derail a train and that was one theory I
wasn’t willing to put to the test. When
I mentioned that to Kim, with a smile in his voice and on his face, he assured
me that wasn’t going to happen. Okay,
then let’s do this!
So today when we were out and about, I
mentioned that we didn’t have a lot of time left to conduct our penny
experiment. No stray pennies in the
console but there was one in a cup holder...yay!! Kim dug in his pocket for change and found 8 more
pennies. Double yay!! We had to find a good spot to lay the
pennies...a location that was somewhat hidden from the highway, near a landmark
so we’d know where we put them and away from any possible surveillance
equipment (Wait?! What was that? Surveillance equipment? And I was thinking
the only concern would be derailing the train.)
There are two tracks...I laid our pennies carefully on the nearest one because the tracks are rather large and intimidating up close. Satisfied we went back to camp. On the way I asked Kim if he’d ever done this
before...Yeah, but I never found the
penny.
A little too late we thought of what we
could have done to ensure that the pennies wouldn’t vibrate off the track as
the train approached...stick them on with gum or tape. Time would tell if we'd have to use that idea. About 4 p.m. we headed to our spot...had to
wait for two trains to pass before looking for our pennies. When the coast was clear, I popped out of the
truck to begin searching. Kim came and
joined me...no luck! Guess we’ll have to
come back with more pennies and tape. But just as I was turning away to
leave, a reflection caught my eye...it was one of our pennies, squished out
bigger than a quarter!! I yelled for Kim
that I found one, quickly snapping a picture of it among the stones. At that moment in time, that penny was the greatest
treasure on earth. And bonus! the train
didn’t derail! Oh,
Happy Day! 😃
This is probably the last night Kim will be
imaging and he wanted to switch back to his big scope. While he was doing that, I went for a bike
ride. Too much time on the bike has been
making Kim’s knee ache at night (he already has an appointment to get it
checked out when we get back) and besides he was tired from his early morning
wake-up call. So I rode out to the
reservation and made a loop back up to US 8 near Casa Grande and then cruised
down the Eloy frontage road back to camp.
Kim was taking a nap when I got back.
--------------------
We went up to the clubhouse to play a couple
of rounds of Hand and Foot. So far, Kim
is way ahead.
--------------------
More traffic cone
observations:
*Trafficade is providing
traffic safety cones for the road work being done along I-10 in Casa Grande.
*Viasun is doing the resurfacing
work on Battaglia Rd and also providing the safety cones, etc. This was a new name in the traffic cone game
I’m playing so, of course, I’m going to google them. From their website viasuncorp.com:
ViaSun
is a minority owned small business, home based in Phoenix, AZ, that provides
pavement preservation and heavy civil constructions services all over the state.
And this is a statement from the president of Viasun, Rolando Perez:“Across the valley and throughout
Arizona, pavement maintenance and repair services are at the core of
our business. We bring the same focused attention and absolute
commitment to success that we have demonstrated on more than 1,500
projects since our inception in 2011.”
--------------------
Viasun, Quail Construction and Trafficade are all capable of doing road
work as well as providing the safety equipment. Bob’s Barricades, however, only provides safety
equipment and a lot of those barricades are being used on the big I-10 road
project near Picacho. Arizona Department
of Transportation solicited bids for the work on I-10 and eventually I found that
on Nov. 17, 2017, Coffman Specialties, Inc. was awarded the contract for $58,465,000.00. Wow!
--------------------
Random conversation from
yesterday:
Last night before the hot dog party, I tried
my hand at shooting basketballs with Ozias...Felicia and Ryan’s 6 year old
son. Ozias likes to tell people that
he’s almost 7 and in the 2nd grade.
He won’t be 7 until September and has 44 more days as a 1st
grader. 😉
He asked me how old my kids
were...I told him. Then the topic turned
to age...his, my kids, his parents and mine.
Ozias: “When’s your birthday again?”
Me: “March 31st...that’s 2 days from
now.”
Ozias: “And how old are you gonna be?”
Me: “Sixty! I’m going to be sixty! Aghh!”
Ozias: “Wait, how old are you now? And how many days till your birthday
again?”
Me: “I’m 59 right now and on March 31st
I’ll be 60.”
Ozias: “So for one...no, for two more days you’ll be
59, right? Well, I say we just call you
60 now, okay?”
Me, laughing: “No-o-o...I say we call me 59 for two more
days, then we’ll call me 60.
See...you’re 6 and you’re in a rush to be 7....but I’m not rushing
sixty. On Sunday...that’s when I’ll own
up to being 60.” 😜
--------------------
Today’s miles: 97
Total miles: 2146
