We Continue to Stay at Home due to Covid-19, May 20 - 27, 2020

Jennifer coordinated a virtual birthday gathering for Helen and we all sang Happy Birthday.

Our new fridge was delivered - while it is larger (21 cubic feet versus 18 for the old one), it seems smaller because it is counter depth.  And the ice maker works on this one.

The Noelle St sidewalk artist continues to share her/his art.

Different neighbors have found ways to celebrate graduates this year.

Although there are no tours and all buildings are closed to the public (including the restrooms), we visited the Flagstaff Arboretum and had a picnic lunch while enjoying the views of the San Francisco Mountains.

We walked several of the trails.

We enjoyed the art work on display.

City parks have opened some parts but still have clear rules on using the parks and trails.

But the picnic tables and food prep areas are still blocked off.

Our next door neighbor had family visiting over Memorial Day Weekend, including visitors from Washington in this car.

We did a 4.5 mile hike at Picture Canyon Park, following the Tom Moody Loop and portions of the Arizona Trail.

We saw many wildflowers including lupens and desert paint brushes.

 

There was even a cactus in bloom, we think it is an Englemans cactus.

We bought a new Weber grill and followed 47 steps on 35 pages to get it together, and then had our first cookout in Flagstaff.

We continue to outfit our patio and backyard, adding a coffee table and shelves for citronella tea candles; additional chairs have been ordered and shipped, and Amazon says they will arrive between June 12 and 22.

In the mornings, we all enjoy the shade of the new patio umbrella.

We are looking at different types of carpet for the patio - I saw these inexpensive ones in brown, grey and green, but they do not have enough color for Patty's taste.

And after all that hard work, we just have to put our feet up and have a cold beer.

We Continue to Stay at Home due to Covid-19, May 11 - 19, 2020

As we continued to stay at home, we continued to work on the fence.  We removed all 131 vertical boards, each about six feet long, six inches wide and three quarters of an inch thick.  I wire brushed all four sides and both ends, averaging about ten minutes per board, then rinsed them before bringing them into the garage.  In the garage, we would paint one side and one edge, let them dry, turn them over to paint the other side and edge, let them dry and then do it all again so that both sides and edges had two coats of paint.  And then we reinstalled them with six screws on each board.  We also wire brushed and rinsed the 21 horizontal two by fours and nine four by four vertical posts, and then put two coats of paint on each of them.  And the five two by six boards on top were removed, wire brushed, rinsed, two coats of paint, and then reinstalled them.  To say the least, this was a lot of good exercise and a project to tackle while we were required to stay at home for Covid-19.

And after three plus weeks, it was finally done!

While out hiking, we routinely saw signs about the Flagstaff Community Labyrinth.

But to get to the actual labyrinth, you had to look closely for paintings on rocks on a side trail off the main trail.  One day I decided to explore it.

It is on a small flat area at the top of a small cliff above the trail.

It appears to be about a hundred feet in diameter.  Here is a satellite view from Google Maps.

I don't know who is creating the sidewalk chalk art on a nearby street, but they are very talented.

Patty and I went for a hike off Puliam Road near the Flagstaff Airport.  Both the map view and the satellite view show this large circular area that was a pleasant, easy hike of about two miles.  But the map does nothing to identify that white dot in the middle.

We did not approach it closely and did not take photos, but here are photos of similar VOR stations I found on the web and here is some info about those stations: Very High Frequency (VHF) Omni-Directional Range (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons. It uses frequencies in the very high frequency (VHF) band from 108.00 to 117.95 MHz.

We also saw some desert paint brushes on that hike.

Another project while at home was installing pulls on the eighteen doors and drawers in our three bathrooms.

We visited a large local hardware and building supply store - it competes with many things you would find at Home Depot, but they give all veterans a ten percent discount.  Outside, they had this grill that reminded us of raising pigs when we were in Conway and of one Christmas where we made some animals from barrels to surprise Patty's parents at their camp in Rindge.

There is a lot of sun in the morning so the shade of the umbrella really makes the patio much more comfortable.

Governor Ducey has let the stay at home order expire, but the CDC still recommends social distancing, face masks when out of your home, hand sanitizer when out, and thorough hand washing when you return home.  We have no plans to go to any gatherings of people or dine in restaurants for the foreseeable future until the pandemic has come under better control.