End of March

March is winding down.  We are back in Mesa and tomorrow is the last of the Physical Therapy.  Seven weeks is a long time.  A great amount of our free time this year was spent driving to and from Mesa.  I am glad that is finally over.
   Last week's weather was unseasonably warm.  5 or 6 days in the 90's.  Too warm for March.  The wildflowers are beautiful this year.  Flowers blooming everywhere.  However, the heat caused the flower bloom to accelerate.  The bloom is great but going to be short.  There is a certain Saguaro near the visitor center that is the first big cactus to bloom and R and I saw a pretty white flower on it this morning on our way out of the park.  
   Another view of an Ocotillo bloom.

Truck

Report on truck:
   Oil changed  ---  cheap
   Replaced all of the U Joints and the carrier bearing --expensive
   Discovered leaking brake booster; replaced and brake fluid replaced -- very expensive

   An expensive day, but cheaper than the monthly payments on a new one.

   Glad to have the those things taken care of.  It's called "Piece of Mind"

Tuesday March 21, 2016

   I'm sitting in McD's having what they call breakfast.  Across the street, at Sun Devil Auto, the truck is having an oil change.  It should make it feel better.  After that I will go look for a part for the water heater on the trailer.  I called maybe four RV shops yesterday and none of them answered the phone. Instead I got a message telling me to "leave a message and we will return your call".  No one did, so I need to resume the search today.  I find it hard to believe that business is so good that customer messages aren't important.
    Yesterday, the first day of Spring, was quite warm.  94-97 depending on what thermometer you looked at.  Some folks might call that HOT!  But this is Arizona.  Truthfully, this is warm for Arizona for this time of year,  I still love the sunshine and warmth of the desert climate.  The bloom is in full force right now.  The yellow Poppies are on the down swing but they have been replaced by the yellow of the Brittle Bush.  The hillsides are peppered with yellow color.  In addition, some of the small cacti are starting to flower.  Every time I drive the Ajo Mountain road there are changes in color.  It's fun to see what it is new.

    This Agave is in the process of dying.  But, before that it uses all of it's energy to produce a bloom.  The stalk that is growing up from the center grows at a tremendous rate ( up to 11 inches a day) until it produces a flower along the top of the 10 to 20 ft stalk. The flowers are pollinated by insects and bats and seeds are produced.  In addition the plant sends out runners that produce "pups" nearby.  It is a exciting thing to watch,

Desert view

The Ajo Mountain Drive has many great views.  This is just one of them.

 The Ocotillo are starting to bloom.  The red against the blue skies is spectacular!

Purple

A small purple flower in the desert.

Color

An evening shower a couple of weeks ago gave us a show.

Arches

Arches Canyon is one of the favorite hiking places in Organ Pipe.  The arches are accessible with some scrambling.

Heat

Saturday we met a family that was vacationing from Fairbanks.  During our conversation they realized that it was 120 degrees warmer at ORPI than at home.  Hard to believe.

The greeting ritual

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to observe the greeting ritual.  R and I spend  time working in the visitor center (VC).  One of jobs is to greet the visitors when they come into the VC or as we walk around the VC.  " Hi how are you?  Can we answer any questions? Where are you from?"
   As we are chatting, the process has started.  We find a commonality.  A common interest.  A state of National Park we both have visited.  A location where we both have lived.  As the process continues it might progress to someone we both have met or even know !
  At the conclusion of the process, we have established a relationship, sometimes casual, sometimes quite close.  And all of this happened in a few minutes.  Some of these established relationships have lasted for many years.  It is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing.  The people make the places memorable.

Surgery

Jason's surgery is over.  What an ordeal!  His initial surgery lasted 11 hours.  I don't have all the details of it but the doctors removed the fibula bone from his right leg, along with some tissue and blood vessels.  The bone was cut and fitted into his jaw and the blood vessels attached.  After a few hours they discovered that they got clogged up so he was taken back in back for another couple of hours.  

   The next morning, more clogging (clotting) so in the afternoon, he was in the O.R. for 5 more hours.  The doctors determined that the "flap" procedure they were trying was not going to work so they reverted to the bone graft procedure that normally uses a piece of the hip bone.  The doctors cleaned up the jaw of any new tissue (to prevent infection) and put some "bone paste" on the area,  Hopefully that will work out.  The good news is that he did not get a tracheotomy or his jaw did not need to be wired.

  All of this started on a Monday.  I am writing this a week later and he is in a private room and has been walking a bit.  How will his leg be without a fibula?  He will be wearing a special boot so some time while his leg gets used to only one bone, but the doctor says he will be fine.  It sounds incredible to me.  

   What work the jaw will need in the future, I have no idea, but no doubt, the journey is not over yet.