Our vacation ends and we drive back to Canada

Our first winter in Arizona was very memorable to us. It followed a more hectic time. Yvonne had just retired, we sold our house of 30 years and moved to our new house at Lac La Nonne. Following Sandi and Tito's lead, we purchased a winter house in a Mesa retirement community called Leisure World. Despite the cheesy name, we discovered that Leisure World (LW) was one of the best places in Arizona to live in. 

During our stay we were not short of Canadian visitors. Amy & Stephen came from Vancouver followed by Christmas visitors Maurice & Jeanette, Rachelle, Paul & Marianne, Denis & Shannon and Stan & Cathy Dezaeyer. We enjoyed having Yvonne's sister Doris stay for a week and Amy returned for another 4 days.  We know the road to PHX very well. 

Lake friends Ken & Gail Duffield (Wintering in Yuma)  and Jerry  & Mary Wispinski (Maricopa) dropped in. Joan Jansen, also from Lac La Nonne was visiting relatives in Glendale and we all met to hike White Tank Mountain during her stay. Len and Lorrain Perras, whom we've known since we were teens, were vacationing in Havasu. They spent a night at our place and received a royal tour of LW. Wes and Helen Gates, from my Imperial Oil days, noticed our names in the Leisure World Newspaper and decided to drop in one day. They have been wintering in LW for seven years.

Sandi and Tito drew us into their circle of LW friends, Glen and Kathy Griffiths from Sherwood Park were two that we met frequently. Tina & Damien and their kids visited S&T for a week and we got to spend time with them too. Sandi's sister Glennis and husband Lawrence, from Redwater, rented a place in LW for 3 months. We visited in the Rec 1 hot tub often.

We also met several American residents that will certainly remain friends for years to come. Rob and Julie Davis from Iowa and Mike and Ruby Artz from North Dakota to mention only a few. We look forward to meeting up with them again.

Lady Gadriva (our GPS unit) kept insisting we take another route. Not wanting to have this electronic "black-box" have it's way, we chose to ignore it. When we got onto the I-60 we quickly realized why. Bumper to bumper trafic at 5 MPH for almost an hour. All because of a single car accident in the far-left HOV lane. The accident did look quite spectacular. The vehicle rolled over a couple times and there wasn't a square inch of that car that wasn't damaged.

Welcome to Nevada. 

Highway Patrol car, fishing for speeders, parked on the wrong side of the road.

Welcome to Idaho

The beginning of a long slushy drive.

Welcome to Washington.

Intermittent snow and cool weather all the way to the Canadian border. Luckily no accumulation of snow on the road, just wet and miserable. We kept saying that we should have stayed in Az a couple more weeks. Temperatures all the way through Idaho and Washington hovered around freezing and there was snow everywhere. 

Welcome to British Columbia.

We crossed the Canadian border near Salmo. As we approached the tiny customs building we could see three Border Agents watching from the window. We were the only ones in sight.  Although we had nothing to hide, I was certain we were in for a thorough vehicle search but to our surprise, 2 minutes later, we were motoring towards Nelson.
When we arrived at Joel's an hour later the temperature was +10C (50F)

Hedgehog

Our little Hedgehog Cactus in the front yard spent the winter quietly sitting there. Now that it's warming up a bit it has gone from ordinary to spectacular by producing over a dozen new flower buds. We are lucky enough to see it's first bloom before we leave for home.

This tiny desert dweller needs next to nothing for water but it does appreciate the occasional drink. I've been giving this little prickly cluster a cup of water every two-three weeks and now it's reciprocating by squeezing out a new flower.

You're welcome.

Predator in the yard

It should be no surprise to see a coyote walking through the yard when you're over-run with rabbits, quails and doves. I was reading the Edmonton Journal on the laptop when I caught sight of this furry fellow in the corner of my eye. Luckily I had the camera nearby and managed to squeeze off a shot between the blinds.

Click on the photo. It should enlarge.

Pickleball taking over.

Our Pickleball schedule is taking over our daily walk routine. We find ourselves playing almost every day. Sometimes for 2-3 hours at a time if our friends book the court before or after us.  In this set, Yvonne is paired with California-Buddy, playing against Rob and Julie Davis from Iowa.

Score 1 for Team Canada

Pickleball is often the precursor to happy hour. 

Great for easing Canada/USA tension. 

Yvonne and Nevada-Gary play against Winnipeg-Lorne and North Dakota-Terry

Yvonne and Sandi play against Iowa-Julie and Winnipeg-Lorne

SLAM-IT

Yvonne and Gary against Lorne and Terry. Great bounce off the net followed by not-so-good slam.

Good News Blooms

I planted two orange trees earlier this year. One is a Washington Navel, the other is an Arizona Sweet Navel. Both are flowering but the Washington, shown below, is exceptional.  I chose these two particular seedless varieties because they are supposedly best suited for this area.  I have them both are on automatic drip watering systems so they should still be thriving when we return next October. With any luck, they will be bearing fruit.

The wire cage is to keep the rabbits away. I've often seen rabbits eating the low-hanging branches and leaves on our neighbours trees. Some will even eat young cactus.  As cute as they are, rabbits can also be very destructive.

Those little green spheres, in the centre of the flowers, are apparently new oranges.

Rain and Wind today

Normally it doesn't rain here unless Amy is visiting. Today was an exception.

This is the street in front of the house at 1 o'clock today.

Our 10 foot tall Mexican Fencepost Cactus fell over during today's storm.  A result of over-saturated ground and a sudden gust of wind. I was surprised to see how minimal the root system was for such a heavy plant. Those long arms weigh 50-60 lbs each.  Poor thing, I'll try to salvage some of the better pieces to replant.

a little bit of hail too.

The next morning I cut up the fallen cactus into smaller manageable pieces.

 I managed to save and replant a couple arms that still had a few roots attached. 

I'll keep the soil moist for the next two weeks and hope for the best.

Cactus Flowers and Pickleball wind-up

This Prickly Pear is trying very hard to change its image and get cozy with bees and other flying insects. Unfortunately its bright and beautiful flowers will only last a couple weeks and soon it'll be back to its old aggressive ways again, trying to stick you as you walk by.

This is our mature Totem Pole in the back yard. I like it because it doesn't have spines or needles. This type of cactus tends to sprout new arms quite often but requires trimming to keep it balanced.

Not too long ago somebody was giving away Totem Pole arms they had trimmed from an overgrown plant. We picked up a couple 3 footers and took them home. We'll see if they survive the summer heat while we're away.

The process for transplanting is quite simple. Allow the cut end of the arms scab over and dry for 2-3 weeks. Plant them in sandy soil deep enough to prevent from falling over and give them a little water.
So far, so good. These two have been in the ground for a month and are still firm and healthy looking.  

Our Pickleball club had a wind-up party a couple nights ago. The theme was Hawaiian and as usual, we had a good time.  Everybody was joking about getting lei-ed, ha, ha,  especially the men. Come to think of it, it was only the men.