I do believe the weather has
turned. The nights are cool only in
relation to the daytime temps...60’s at night, 80’s during the day.
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Flies and honey bees are also making an appearance now that the days and
nights are warmer. Left the watermelon
rind and cake frosting on the picnic table to give them something to focus on
other than us. Don’t know if it’ll work
but it’s worth a try. **Bees found the
smorgasbord on the table but the flies still prefer people.**
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Last night we drove over to hawk nest road to check on the nest...no
hawks were visible so it’s still hard to tell the status...active or inactive.
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I was the first one to finish the Get Fit Bingo challenge. Apparently everyone gets a chance to finish
their Bingo game within the allotted time.
Kim is still working to get his...most of his tiles had mile amounts and
most of my tiles were step amounts. We don’t get to see what the other people
have to earn but we do get to see the total tiles they’ve turned over. I’m sure it will be a fight to the finish between
Anna and Kim. In the meantime I’m just walking to get my
10,000 daily steps and to have something to do until the next challenge starts.
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Checked the distance from the corner stop sign to the first green sign
on the frontage...1 mile. And because
it’s something to focus on other than walking we counted vehicles again on the
way back...for the entire mile this time.
Commercial vehicles: 165, private: 154.
Up from yesterday but our distance was greater also. And our timing was in the 9 to 10 a.m. time
frame. Somewhat unnerving that counting
vehicles is a stimulating activity. 😏
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Kim still has some learning to do with the new camera. He managed to take one test picture last
night but he’s spending his day watching tutorials and learning so hopefully
tonight it’ll all come together. I know
it’s frustrating for him but at least the Arizona night sky is giving him
opportunities to try it. Michigan skies
are not so accommodating.
**Update: Kim is feeling a bit
more confident about the camera tonight...he hopes there’s less frustration with
the process than last night. I do too.**
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Walked to the bathroom this morning to see a plane parked behind a truck
in the parking lot. It didn’t take long
to figure out that it was actually a camper.
How creative!
By the time we were heading out for a walk the plane camper was already
being set up in a site. We walked over
so Kim could see it. Keith and Shelly live
over near Phoenix and were very eager to show off this unique creation. Basic facts:
Keith bought it off Craig’s List for $400...it’s a 1966 Beechcraft Baron
and was originally painted yellow and white.
His idea was to model it after a P45 Fighter plane; it’s now a glossy
but not too bright green with bullet hole graphics and an ‘I mean business’ sneer on the front.
The graphics were professionally done and other than the FAA actually
taking the wings off, the rest of the remodel was done by Keith. All the electrical is solar powered...they
have the tail fin and the underside lit up at night. There’s also blinking light on top which is
bright and makes me wonder if anyone has ever complained about it. I’m sure the
lights are turned off when they go inside to sleep. Inside:
It sleeps two and has a TV and stereo. No standing room but roomier than I
thought it’d be. The graphics on the
window allow light to come in but not people to see in or out. Outside:
A sink with water tank and a grill have been built into the trailer that
supports it; green awnings are attached to the top to simulate the wings; a
small than life, stationary propeller is up front; and the man in the cockpit
graphics is a beardless Keith. The name
of the plane is Flippin the Bird 5150. Shelly explained that the police radio code
for crazy is 5150...since that’s a question that was asked numerous times he
thought it would be a good inside joke. There are so many other personal
creative touches also...a sign and stickers from Area 51 in Roswell, NM being
the ones I remember. He mentioned what a
series of stickers near the cockpit represented but I forgot.
Keith has been a trucker his whole adult life. I asked if he was ever a pilot because his
knowledge of the plane seemed to be born of experience. No, he’s never flown an airplane...he said he’s
learned everything about the plane from reading and you tube. Took him about 600 hours over the course of a
year to transform the plane. They’ve
used it maybe 6 times and understandably get a lot of stares when pulling it
down the road. 😎
This is not his first themed homemade
trailer...he’s done a Gypsy Trailer and a Casino Trailer also. He recently sold the Casino trailer for $11,000. When asked if he’d ever been approached to do
a commissioned design he said not yet but he wouldn’t mind doing this full time
instead of trucking.
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Movement over on the tree caught my eye...a lizard. Grabbed nearby camera and started taking
pictures. It’s one of my camp activities...taking
pictures of hummers and lizards. As we
were watching the first lizard at the bottom of the tree another one came out
between two branches farther up...and it started doing push-ups. That was fun
to watch and made me wonder if it was a mating ritual or was he just working
out the morning kinks. So I googled
‘lizard push-ups’....amazing the amount of information on the subject.
Grabbing someone's attention from a distance
is a challenge, particularly under noisy conditions but, according to a new
study, anole lizards have devised a successful "look at me"
technique: They perform multiple full body, four-legged push-ups to get their
fellow lizards to turn their heads.
Another
article indicated that the Jamaican anole lizard was the subject of the study;
I’m currently not in Jamaica so I googled ‘Arizona lizards in Pinal
County’. Found lots of images but I can’t
for the life of me match any up to what was on the tree. It did a good job of blending with the
bark...movement was the only way I saw it.
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Kim and I rode over to Saguaro Nat’l Park to get good pictures of a
cristate saguaro that we found last year.
All the pictures I’ve taken of it in the past were from a distance and
in poor lighting, either cloudy or at dusk. There’s an open area in the fence line so I
walked right up to it to get my pictures.
There’s so much more to this cristate than what’s seeable from the road.
FYI: Standing next to one of these giants makes one feel very insignificant.
We saw a roadrunner today on the way to Saguaro National....Marilyn didn’t
because she was back at the trailer.
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Bike miles today: 80
Total miles: 2329
 |
| Friday's route x 2 |
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