After being up for a while, I told Joan that I was going to go out for a soak in the hot tub... to my surprise, she said, "I think I'd like a soak this morning." It's the first time she's been in it. Not unusual - we got our first hot tub in 1981 and haven't been without one since. I usually soak alone.
The situation here with the hot tub is nice: you have a view of South Mountain and lots of sky. I enjoy watching the aircraft fly over; we're far enough from Phoenix Sky Harbor that we don't get the noise, but you still see the jets against the clear blue sky (during the day - wingtip strobes at night), and the occasional small plane from the residential skypark on the other side of the foothills from us.
It was fun watching Joan try out each of the positions in the hot tub - it's a 4 person tub, and each of the seats are molded different (higher, lower, more recline) with difference in the jets in each position.
When we were done soaking, we sat out on the new furniture. It's comfortable; just need some shade. I took a few minutes to clean the filters on the hot tub (once a week for the first month, then once a month after that).
After cleaning up, I made us pancakes, bacon, and sausage on the griddle - that goes a long ways for making this feel like home. Of course, I miss having my furry boy out there with me when I'm cooking.
On that topic, I feel like we're dealing with the loss. Yesterday, when heading to Home Depot, Joan said something about me grumbling... mostly about traffic and stupid drivers; but I made a concerted effort from that point to change my attitude. Rufus was a happy boy - his way of looking at the world gives me something to work towards.
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As we clean up the breakfast dishes and Joan makes some chocolate muffins, there is a snow ski competition on NBC Sports on TV. It is on, but neither of are paying much attention to it. Joan said to me, "Do you remember doing that?"
"That was a long time ago, and I never looked like that." It made me think that there was a "Snow Report" on the local news this morning. Yes, there is snow skiing in Arizona (in the mountains, well north of here). It was 42º here in the Valley of the Sun when I got up this morning. In the mid-50s by the time we got in the hot tub. It will get close to 70º here today. Clear blue sky.
I still miss the salt air and the view down the canal from our deck in Texas, but our view of South Mountain is growing on me. To the east of us is something (a tree farm?) with tall palm trees, so we have that view of palm trees without the mess or maintenance. I am enjoying the landscaping work that was done in our yards - it goes a long ways towards making it feel homier.
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11:30 and Steph just checked in with us. They are back from their apartment: they got rid of their couch there. Someone was supposed to pick it up yesterday afternoon and they never showed up. When Steph called them well after the agreed upon time, they said, "We're just leaving Phoenix right now." Steph and Dan went to the next people on the list and they were there early today. Free is a good price for someone, but free and having them not come when they say... not good.
Steph and Dan had taken the week off from work. Today will be their last "day of rest" since they are back to work tomorrow. It is nice that they had this time off and were able to get a lot of their "settling in" work done... not really much rest.
They have a lease on the apartment for another month, but they are moved out. It was a good interim place for them, between selling their other house and moving into this one. We had the motorhome to live in and the moving pods in storage for interim. I think we are all glad to be on this side of the move.
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