El Paso (10-01-15)

With a break in the action on the house, Paul and I drove to El Paso to see his mom.  She had a hip replacement about 6 weeks ago and was ready to transition back into her house from rehab.

We spent a few days helping her get the yard and house cleaned up after her long absence. 



Unfortunately while she was gone, the GFI tripped to the outlet that her freezer was plugged into, ruining pretty much everything in it.  Since it needed to be emptied and cleaned, she took advantage of the opportunity to donate it to the thrift shop where she volunteers.

It wasn’t long before she was zipping (okay, not quite zipping) around the house getting stuff done.  She and Paul made many batches of plum jam- one of his favorites.

We were in El Paso for the eclipse, and had a perfect view of the moon coming up over the mountain, however, I hadn’t brought my good camera with me, so I didn’t get a decent shot of it.  I borrowed this one from my friend Mike Swain, who has the same camera as me. Thanks Mike!

On the way to El Paso we split the drive in two and stayed in a hotel in Tucson for one night, but on the way home we decided to leave really early, and make the drive in one day.

It’s about 10 hours of driving, a long day for everyone- especially the cat.  He doesn’t like how rough the truck rides when there is no camper or trailer weighing it down, and he let his unhappiness be known.  So, we let him out, and I held him so he wouldn’t disturb the driver.

Of course, the minute we left the truck to get some lunch, he was happy to take over the driver’s seat.











We knew we were approaching Havasu when the temperature outside crept up to almost 110*.

House Update

There is disappointingly little progress to report on the house.  Apparently there was a “delay of game” while we were gone, so instead of coming home and finding the inside completely painted, as we expected, they hadn’t even started.

Part of the delay was due to an issue that Paul and I discovered with the front entryway.  The door was not hung square and the hallway is wider to the right of the door than to the left.  They had to re-hang the door and rebuild the wall on the right.  Still, I’d rather have it fixed now, than be unhappy with it later.













Today we met with the pool contractor and officially laid out the pool.  His lines were much nicer than mine, but harder to see, so here’s a repeat of the picture I doctored before.

Next week we should have a huge hole in the back yard!