I also live in Arizona (Tucson and just short of 2 hour drive from Greg who lives near Phoenix).
I am always cold so, for example on a day like today which was 77° and sunny, I wore a light weight longsleeved top and went for my daily walk with my Golden Retriever starting at about 2 PM and it was a beautiful day! I went around our apartment complex (currently apartment living since January) which is quite large and then I left our complex and they ventured out to what it called the "pedestrian and biker" trails which is an extremely smooth 2 sided path that goes on and on and on for miles and miles and miles. But I only go so far because eventually there is a large stone wall and my dog feels cornered between me and the very high wall and refuses to go next to it. So I turn around and venture out to other areas. Today I went across the street to where there are 2 Plazas which are actually connected by one going on one one street and the other on another street making it an 'L' shape. There is a large space which goes behind the bigger strip mall and is very quiet and then went around to the front of the strip mall to head back home (I had lots do before 5 PM rolled around for dinner). Glad I did it because I came across several businesses that I had not previously been directly in front of before. It included everything froman animal hospital to an Ace Hardware store to a facial and massage business to a place for women (or men) to get their nails professionally done to a family restaurant that I had not seen before and looked good so I went in there (I take my dog everywhere as this is the most dog friendly city I have ever been in). It is a nice American restaurant and I got a take-out menu just in case it is difficult for me to get there with all I have going on. I then passed the stores I *have *gone into (a Goodwill store, a large grocery store, the place I get my hair done (Cost Cutters) a Domino's pizza place, a Mexican restaurant and a couple other businesses before I go back to the 4 Lane Rd it cost to get to the Plaza and then back (it is a mostly quiet Street but I surely make sure no cars are coming when I cross the street and usually have to stop in the median to look for traffic going both ways) and then goes through the area that is also a plaza before getting to our complex road. The plaza we are right next to contain a Chinese restaurant, a doctor's office (which I can't go to because over 99% of physicians here do not accept patients on any pain medication which I am), a bank and some other businesses I can't remember right at this very moment. In other words, I can get to anything I need except for my physician, my veterinarian & a Super Wal-Mart. By vehicle, it takes us less then 10 minutes to get to our closest Super Wal-Mart but it would take me much longer in my wheelchair if I wanted to because the pedestrian/biker path will eventually get me there (because they are all over the city next to main roads) but I would have to cross another busy street and go down the road that leads to the Super Wal-Mart which is in yet another strip mall called the "Oro Valley Marketplace which has a very nice shoe store (DSW shoes), Best Buy, Big Lots, a cell phone store, Century theater (to go to for current movies of course), Ross, Dick's Sporting Goods, a nail boutique, GNC, Olive Garden, Petco, Chase Bank (which we have another Chase Bank right in our backyard essentially), an Urgent Care place, a sushi restaurant, Red Lobster, State Farm, a boxing place, an Ulta store (for all kinds of makeup, hair brushes, etc.) and a few other places. Basically we have everything we need that I can get to by my wheelchair or less than 10 minutes away. Including 2 great parks that include wheelchair accessible bathrooms and with one park that has a HUGE paved trail running around it to walk, 2 ballparks, tennis courts, a huge yard, etc. while another smaller park is just as nice to go to that includes a fenced in doggie park, tennis courts, a small basketball court, covered pavilions with steel or metal picnic benches, a small playground with things for the kids to climb on and sand below in case they fall, a fairly large yard right next to the desert that bunnies love to frequent go to and then stay right next to the desert area for safety from prey and right next to the doggie park and yard is offers two places to enter a dirt trail for hiking or walking. It is too steep for my wheelchair and I prefer not to go on dirt anyway. I used to go to this smaller park from my wheelchair since it is only less than a mile away from the one rental home my husband and I lived in before his passing. I missed out on me and the 2200 ft.² home we moved into 2 1/2 years before his death. I had nowhere to go then and was in panic because of the situation & that is when my sister and brother-in-law flew over right away (from PA) to come into my rescue and, at that time, the best thing to do was move in with them so we had a huge estate sale and selling all my husband and I had (and purchased more after moving there planning for his retirement). I lived with them 3 years before my sister began to have some mild medical problems (just like me hiring in home every morning & every evening 7 days a week plus having a great home health agency) and my brother-in-law wanting "to his house back" (without me in it and having the caregivers every morning and evening coming in around 90 minutes). My one caregiver that I hired in PA even said that they were abandoning me (which they were but would never use that word) so I had to either go into a nursing home which was just fine with my 2 sisters, 2 nieces living nearby and would help "share the care" in case my sister and brother-in-law were gone during the day and I had them to call if need be. And one time when my sister and brother-in-law and their daughter her husband and their 14-year-old son (my sister and brother-in-law's only grandson/grandchild) and with my caregivers there morning and night my other sister came to stay with me that week to stay overnight, preparing meals and the rest of the day just enjoying each other's company by watching movies or whatnot. I would have stayed in the same small-town if there was one apartment or house to rent but I looked and looked and looked and there was not. It is a very old, small, isolated town 45 minutes to an hour to the nearest cities and near a river where buying my sister and brother-in-law, in 2011, had to evacuate their house and move in with their daughter and son-in-law for a full 3 months. During that time they had to have their whole house remodeled because the river climbed up a large steep hill (which was their backyard for the most part) and the water came up to 18 inches into their house. They had to replace the carpets, lower cabinets, both bathrooms and so much more. IF I WAS LIVING WITH THEM AT THAT TIME I would have had nowhere to go with my hospital bed, rotating air mattress, large desktop computer & tablet (that makes up my route to the outside world for the most part) and my US Certified Support/Companion dog who has separation anxiety now that my husband (her daddy) is gone. Families! I was NOT going to go into a nursing home being an active member of the community for 36 years. My sister and brother-in-law said that I could not put an ad on craigslist but that is exactly what I did and that is how I found my live-in caregiver who is with me now except for every two months when she gets away to see her boyfriend in California. After both of my sisters coming out with me to help me settle in and were here 2 weeks all hell broke loose as far as my health and having the first home health agency nurse I had to change my catheter doing something very bad that has made my life hell since then. To this very day. I will probably have to have surgery because of it and for the surgery that I will need... my urologist I have had since 2006 (except for the 3 years in PA) doesn't do that type of surgery. So she suggested another urologist who does those type of surgeries and I was going to go to him (at the university) until I found out that there is another urologist in town who is familiar with spinal cord injuries and I feel that is in my best interest at this time -- to go to her to explain everything that has happened and see if I will need a "bladder neck closure" and going to a Suprapubic catheter. I have NEVER had any problems with my Foley catheter until this happened. If you are wondering if I looked into being compensated for forcing me into surgery ... yes I have. Since what she did is, by the Arizona Disability Law Center or Association falls under "negligence." My appointment with my new urologist is, unfortunately, November 29 and that can't come soon enough. I can't go on like this. To add insult to injury no one would believe what was found the week that my live-in caregiver was gone and my "fill in" caregiver was here and that I had never had before and after knowing so many people of our my 52 years and none of them having the problem. Bedbugs! My live-in caregiver loves stuffed animals and she was getting a lot of them (around 20 or so or even more possibly) from the Goodwill store across the street. Who would have thought that they had bedbugs on them and then when they were clustered together it was even worse because I have learned more about bedbugs between October 28 and the 7 days that followed that I ever wanted to know. My live-in caregiver had been getting bites on her forearm for numerous weeks or longer (which turned to welts from her scratching them) but she just thought they were some other type of bug. She was getting bitten because the recliner she sleeps in what is right next to the twin bed with all of her many stuffed animals on it cluttered together. They had been jumping and "into" her recliner that she did not see them because they were buried deep down into the thickly cushioned chair unable to be seen. THEY LOVE THE DARK and I read that those people who have gotten bitten get bitten between midnight and 6 AM. They also like "clutter" because they love to hide in the nooks and crannies where it is dark. Her room was cluttered but not in a bad way. She had everything "around" her room put very nicely and very eye-catching. >From her large chest of drawers to all the cute stuffed animals on her twin bed and everything in her room was pink in color because she loves the color pink. Of course not EVERYTHING was pink but things like those plastic crates that you can get at stores around school time for kids having dorms in college or even high school to organize their rooms with that she had in her room were pink and a lava lamp, etc. NO, bed bugs don't care about color! LOL. We called an exterminator on October 29 or so after my fill-in caregiver got bitten and then found some in my live-in caregiver's bathroom which she used when she was here. So... my live-in caregiver's bedroom was the "infested" room in the house/apartment but the exterminator who was called in to "assess" the situation said that they love to travel (looking for food... like human blood) so they then had to schedule an extermination which occurred on November 1 but, before that, we had to wash and dry ALL clothing and blankets and towels and wash cloths in high heat and then put them in black plastic garbage bags and placed somewhere out of the apartment. Good thing we have a garage and an outside storage unit! My caregiver and absolutely loves to sleep in her large recliner in her bedroom but that was so infested that the exterminator said it had to go. To be on the safe side, we had them take away her twin bed, the sheets on it and all but three or four stuffed animals that were also washed and dried on high heat because bedbugs cannot live in very very hot temperatures. That is why, when they came to exterminate, they have to use equipment to get the apartment at 130° as well as spray. Then we had to wait for them to come back to reassess the place with a service dog specially trained to sniff out any one bedbug in drawers or in boxes of any size, etc. Female bedbugs can lay 50 eggs in a day or a week (can't remember which). When the first assessor came he found only 2 eggs in our couch. ONE THING TO KNOW... bedbugs are not discriminatory. They can live in a very clean apartment or house so they could care less on the cleanliness of it and we do not have a dirty place. OTHER THINGS TO KNOW AND WHY I AM TELLING YOU ALL OF THIS: * They can be gotten anywhere. My sister told me that there were several Wal-Marts across the nation that had to close down because people brought them in on their clothing and jumped onto towels & washcloths or those floor carpets you can find at Wal-Mart and they then can just spread. * The exterminator assessor explained to me that they love to be on people's outfits/clothing like his. So people like maintenance men who go from house to house and whatever dwelling to another dwelling can carry them. * Currently, the "hot spots" for bedbugs are in theaters and on airlines because of their hourly or daily rotation of people coming in and out and leaving them in the seats. ~Lori On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 6:16 PM, RONALD L PRACHT <r.pra...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > What area in Arizona? How many miles do you put in on a nice > day..........tell about your adventure! > > > On Friday, November 18, 2016 6:15 PM, greg <g...@eskimo.com> wrote: > > > This is sunburn season here in AZ. Finely cooled off enough to spend the > day in the sun. I spent the day just cruising around. Now my face is > burning red, flushed, tight, nose itches. Gonna hurt tomorrow. > > Greg > > > -- "Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be soothing to the mind and heart and deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer." ~Dean Koontz
