Good Morning COVID-19 Warriors! It’s day #356 for me today. I did get my first shot and J & J just came out with a 1 shot vaccine. I hope Bill decides to get the shot. Not sure he will. But that’s none of my business – 2 kinds of business: my business and none of my business!
I bought these yesterday – $4 bucks a piece:
The flower color is amazing – looks fake! Notice how pretty they are! We’ll see how they go. They are in a pot that has a reservoir in it for watering so I’ll try not to over water them. Time will tell. Also – I need to make sure that Metaxa doesn’t bite at them. She’s curious about them and likes to sniff them and then bites the leaves. So I put them on top of the fridge at night and then on the shelf during the day when I can watch her. But I’m not always home, so that will be interesting also.
SO today, I’m going to practice driving Mama Bear around the neighborhood and backing her up. I’m gonna try to get into her homebase by myself. I’m still having some issues with it, But it will come!
Yesterday I made this:
I’ve been finding camping grounds in AZ based on recommendations from YouTube and other things. I’ve been collecting the information on them with maps to the campground and maps of the campgrounds. So I organized them by how long it takes to get there. Here is what I have so far:
I have one other one that I don’t list here and that is Patagonia Lake State Park. It is about 1 hour south of here near the Mexican border and I made a reservation for May 4th to the 7th. There are all types of YouTube videos about these places and you can get a virtual tour of the campgrounds that way. Bill and Cathy will be working hard in YNP by then, but I decided to make those reservations. I’m keeping the list in the excel sheet I have going on Mama Bear. I’ll need to add it to that now. I’ll be right back.
So remember this:
I bought it for Buster but I sold it after he was “rehomed”. So I’ve been trying to get Metaxa to wear her halter:
She doesn’t like it much, but when I was speaking with Susan the other day about our plans for her to come visit me here in Benson from Denver, she mentioned it because I was debating about letting Metaxa loose in the truck when I take her camping. So now, I just bought another one from CHEWY and it’s on the way. I’ll use it for Metaxa and once is gets here, I’ll practice driving around with her in the truck in the seat. It might work. I think she may be curious about it. Time will tell. So I’ll keep you posted on that process.
I was just going through some pictures and ran across this video of our trip to Gila Box, on the Gila River in Safford, AZ. That might be a great place to visit with Susan, although my tires did spin trying to get out of the campground. We made it, but it was a little scary. Anyway, here it is:
Look at that river in the middle of the desert!!!
Here is another one I found in PHOTOS – I never uploaded them previously after that trip:
And here is the last one where you can hear how strong the river is:
So now I’ve documented this trip. It was really great and Mama & Papa did so well on their maiden voyage. This place was so cool. Here we are parked:
This campground was really amazing! The drives into the site were long and straight and I backed her up well. I kept her hooked to Papa because it’s just “easier” and plus we weren’t venturing out. We just stayed at the sites. It was great. Here is where Bill & Cathy were:
I just found another movie. Let me get it:
This place was GREAT! So now I’m going to go get dressed and work on practicing with Mama & Papa. Life is good! I’ll be back later.
So I decided to take a ride over to Mescal to check out the dispersed camping along that road. I drove down the road about 5 miles and decided it was too much of a washboard to drive Mama Bear down there, plus I really don’t want to be all by myself out there. I’ve decided I like the idea of camping with RVW or others. I don’t need to run in to car trouble all by myself. So I turned around and didn’t like the sound coming from Papa Bear’s engine. So instead of driving back to Benson, I stopped in at Mescal Auto Repair where I’ve had work done on Daisy and OTIS2. Bought new tires for him (that’s another story). I’m glad I did – when I got there, I took the key out of the ignition and the engine kept running – without the key! So I left him there and Bill came up and picked me up. So a couple of things. First of all, I’m glad I’ve decided not to try it alone boondocking – too old and not skilled enough. I’m glad I was near the auto repair place when the trouble happened (a God Thing for sure) and also glad Bill and Cathy were still in town. So come to find out, I need a new thermostat and housing – $300. I did ask them to check the brakes too, and they say there is still a lot of life in them – that’s good news. Papa Bear should be home tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
So I’m continuing this on Saturday, March 6, 2021 – day #258 of COVID-19 life! I got a call from the GEEK SQUAD saying that they were going to auto charge me $399 for Virus Protection on my computer and if I didn’t want that, to call a number. So “innocently” I called the number to tell them not to charge my account. I should know better…………anyway, that started an odyssey I don’t ever want to happen again! IT WAS A SCAM! Long story short, they accessed my bank account and transferred $3399 into my checking account from my savings account but showing me on line that it was from “their” CHASE account. So the story was that they over paid me and wanted me to give them their money back. BUT – they would only accept 6 $500 Nike Gift Cards. RED FLAG! The guy’s name was “Travis” and he was definitely from India. The number I called was changed during this whole thing to a number in WY. Another RED FLAG! I can’t find the piece of paper where I noted the phone numbers and “Geek Squad” on it. But I am going to contact Geek Squad and let them know this happened because it was harrowing and very upsetting. I called BOA immediately and changed my bank accounts which is now a pain in my ass because of my auto deposits each month from investments and Social Security. Fortunately it was Friday and I was able to call SSA and talk to a great American man named Steve. He was SO helpful. He even set me up to start my own payment from SS from my own account (I could do that when I turned 70) and now I’m no longer receiving money as a “spouse”. The GOOD news is that it is about $1000 more a month! Holy Shit! AND – I’ll get paid retroactively from January when it should have taken effect! SO now I have no worries about being on the road for a month this summer with other trips in between! Plus – I told you I’ve reduced my cell phone bill by $70 a month by going on the “pre-paid” plan like Bill and Cathy.
Carol Garvey posted this picture of the beach at Naples:
I must confess, I miss that a bit. But I took this picture this morning that reminds me of Florida – PALM TREES!
Cuteness OVERLOAD:
She still resists, but now I’m thinking about just getting a collar for her to wear. We’ll see how that goes. Still going to use the halter too.
Got her in the bed – she climbed in herself. I need to get some Catnip:
I had my computer scanned by Webroot at Geek Squad today – no issues. I set up my online banking with BOA – new user name and passcode – not “remembered” on the computer so life is good. All is well – until the next time. Thanks for visiting!
