A visit to the Vet for Buddy

Agave Gulch FamCamp
Davis Monthan AFB
1/21/2013

Since Joe is retired Air Force we have the privilege to "camp" at the FamCamps that most military bases have.  Some are good and some are not.  Here at Agave Gulch there are about 160 spaces, all very clean, plenty of room for the trailer and truck.  The big MHs that have four slide outs are a little tight for me, but that's just me.  Our little Airstream is usually lost between the big MHs.  The laundry room is clean and very inexpensive.  There is P/W/E w/ 50 amp.  The commissary is open 7 days a week.  We were here about 12 years ago and the campground is about double the size now.  If the campground is full they have a large dry camp and you can usually get in in about 3 days.  They also have space for RVers to stay if they want a 3 month contract, first come first serve.  We will probably stay here again in the future, even though I like the State or Federal parks best.  We will be moving to Gilbert Ray Campground in a few days which is a Pima County park.  We have never been there but I have heard that it's nice.  So much for campgrounds.

Buddy, Buddy, Buddy, what can I say.  Over the last five years or so he had tissue/muscle damage to his his wrist, now it has severe arthritis that needed laser treatments,  chronic ear infections, several sebaceous cysts, thyroid, BP and heart murmur problems along with an enlarged liver and spleen.  Now he has a ruptured ACL that will require surgery and a 8 - 12 week recovery.  And of course we are in Tucson.  Of course we love our little Buddy so we are going to go home the middle of February instead of the end of March.  I would rather have him recuperate at home in cold Olympia, WA than in the warm trailer in Tucson.  Plus we are planning on going to Alaska this summer.  I notified our vet at Hawks Prairie Vet Clinic in Lacey, Wa and she is looking forward to seeing him and setting him up with a surgeon as soon as we get home.

Buddy getting in trouble last year when he chewed open a spaghetti squash.  He ate big hunks of it.

On a short little hike in the desert

Last summer at the vet's office getting ready for laser treatments.

Looks pretty cool with those protective shades.






That's about it for today, tomorrow we hope to drive to the top of Mt Lemon.

Be Safe

Nancy

Sabino Canyon

Tucson, AZ
Still at Davis-Monthan AFB FamCamp

Sabino Canyon
High 82'
low 56'
Clear blue skies

Today we drove out to Sabino Canyon.  A beautiful canyon east of Tucson in the Santa Catalina Mountains, almost right under Mt Lemon.  Sabino Canyon is in the Coronado National Forest.  The canyon is fairly narrow with many hiking trails, the main road has a shuttle bus that climbs up the canyon and crosses the river nine times for 3.7 miles, you can get off and on the tram at any one of the 9 designated stops.

There was lots of water in the creek and many pools of crystal clear water.

See the breaks in the rock wall by the road, this is for when the water flows over the road.

The shuttle bus will run even with water on the road up to about one foot deep.

Trails zig-zag all over the place.  Next time I'll ride the shuttle all the way and then get off , there is a great hike that climbs up the mountain and then continues along the ridge for about 2.5 miles and then back down to the road to catch the shuttle.

Another area is on the other side of this ridge called Bear Canyon, with many more hiking trails, even going as far as Mt Lemon, about 14 miles.

A very nice enjoyable day.

Nancy

Introduction to "Izzy"

Davis Monthan AFB Fam Camp
1-9 - 1-18-13
Sunny, highs in the 70's and sometime 80'
Lows anywhere from 35' - 45'

We are still here, so different that when we were at Picacho and Catalina State Parks.  Actually a little on the boring side.  But we have taken care of a few things and able to clean the trailer better since we have plenty of water and sewer.  We have plans of going to Sabino Canyon for some hiking but Joe has had an ankle problem that is slowly getting better.

One thing I have not mentioned yet is that we bought a new to us 28' 1981 Airstream Motor home, Isuzi Diesel.  We took possession of her at the end of December and visited  Oasis RV Center here in Tucson to get awnings installed.  We are getting Zip Dee awnings and they closed down for the holidays so it is taking a long time to get them, so the Moho is still sitting over at the repair shop.  Here is a picture of  "Izzy"

 
Kind of short today but not too much going on here.

Safe Travels

Nancy

2/23 -  3/19/12

Pelican Roost, NS Mayport


OK, so I have had a couple of emails and phone calls threatening me it I don't get busy with blogging again.
As you can see we left Mayport almost a month ago.  Part of the delay was staying in remote locations with no internet service.  Once for 8 days!

Naval Station Mayport at Jacksonville Florida has been a superb place to stay during the last three weeks, with a double deep water channel right in front of us.  One channel for the Navy and one channel for the commercial ships/ barges.    While here we visited with our son Tim who just retired from the Navy last July and is now in school full time.  He has a very nice home about twenty min from our camp spot.  There is so much to do in the area; we visited the zoo, Budweiser Brewery, St Augustine, San Sebastian Winery who claims to be the oldest winery in the United States.  The tour was great at the winery, they also had a roof-top bar/grill and blues/jazz performance every Sunday which is the day we were there.  They were also dog friendly.  We also visited the Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach, they also had dog friendly places.  The beaches were starting to be packed as Spring Break was just starting.

However the beach at NS Mayport was just as good and no crowds.  We saw many Navy ships come and go along with a couple of subs.  Three ships (all frigates) were decommissioned while we were there, it was sad to see them leave for their last time and probably will be cut up and used for scrap metal.  Sometimes they are sold to other countries but we were told these will be cut up.  

Below is an aircraft carrier that carries helicopters and a type of boat that skims over the water and can be loaded into the stern of the boat, which just lowers onto the water and the boat just shoots right on up there and is then stored inside the ship.

Tim loves waffles so he was come for breakfast on every Sunday for our ritual of waffles, I sure wish I had a picture of that.  I make the waffles with Biscuit or Krusteas Buttermilk mix, using 2 ½ cups plus I also add ¼ cup of bran and ¼ cup of Flax meal.  I usually make the batter a little on the thin side and this makes the waffles light and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

We stayed a little longer at Mayport than we had originally planned because our daughter Brenda and SIL Tom flew in from San Diego.   They were on their way to Jamaica to celebrate Brenda’s  

BIG 4 0  birthday  along with Tom’s birthday a few days later.  We were fortunate to be able to spend a couple of days with them.  Do they look a little tired?  Tom and Brenda had just arrived from San Diego about 2 hrs ago.

Tim, the master chef

And the whole gang:  Joe, Nancy, Brenda, Tom and Tim

At the Zoo in Jacksonville we were fortunate to see the black Panther and a Giraffe up close.

That’s it for now.

Be Safe

Joe and Nancy

Jacksonville, FL

Those of you that know me know that I will eventually catch up on blogging.

1/11 - 1/15 Mayport NAS, Pelican Roost RV Park, right on the ship canal for the Navy and commercial ships that are headed into one of the deep water ports or continuing  up the intercoastal water way .  This is one of our major stops, our son Tim lives in Jacksonville, just about 10 miles west of our our campsite.

Tim had dinner waiting for us, a delicious home made chicken noodle soup that was out of this world.  He has become a very good cook.  He roasted the chicken cut it up and made chicken stock.  The stock was very good, he also gave us a quart of stock to take with us.   Unfortunately I can't locate the pictures I took of him plus several others that I can't find.

While in Mayport, Joe looked his Aunt Helen and cousin Linda and her sister Carolyn.  He had only met Linda one time and didn't remember her and has never met Carolyn.  That may seem strange but his mother and Aunt Helen were  two of about 14 children.  I guess when there are that many you have trouble keeping track of them.  Plus, Joe joined the Air Force when he was 18 and has only been back to Maryland a few times.

Linda, invited us to her home in St Augustine, about 60 miles south of Mayport.  Linda fixed us a delicious buffet of a couple of meats, cheeses potato salad strawberrie,s and delicious home made buns .  Everything was scrumptious.  We talked and talked for hours, Linda then took us for a quick run through St Augustine.  What a beautiful town and so much history.  We were making plans go visit on our return north but have since decided to go their next year when we can stay for a whole week.

I always laugh so much when I set the camera up to take our picture

10 seconds, hurry, hurry

We really enjoyed our stay in Mayport.  Unfortunately all my pictures except this one are somewhere out in the" Picasa Clouds".  If they come back I will share them with you.  The fresh fish and shrimp are some of the best I have ever had.

Safe Travels to all

Nancy and Joe

New Years Eve at Pensacola

My computer is sometimes very fussy and just turns off after about 15 min and it's been happening more and more.  Every time I think of getting a new computer and actually start looking at them my computer starts behaving again and staying on. Well I have a lot to catch up on.  We had an absolute fabulous time in Gulf Port and Biloxi, MS.  If you like fresh fish and shrimp this is the place to visit.

Our next stop was at Pensacola, FL home of the Blue Angels and a superb Naval Aviation Museum.  If you go be sure to go on the inside and outside tours.  We stayed at the Oak Grove Fam Camp.  We enjoyed a New Year's Eve pot luck and Karaoke.  We met some wonderful people including a young family with two girls age 11 and 13 (I think), they were taking a year off and traveling around the country.  We will probably run into them again as we are going to some of the same places.  The Pensacola Base was a very large gorgeous base, right on the water.  There is a state park just west of Pensacola called Big Lagoon State Park.  It looks like a great place to stay, maybe next year.

Looking out our door the water is only about 200' away

We had some spectacular sunrises

The bay was being dredged 24/7.  When the barge was full of the dredgings they dumped it at this plant on a tiny island.  Not sure what they did with it then.

New Year's Eve Karoke

Eleven year old Mattie became the first brave sole to sing

Yep, that's an owl along trail to lighthouse   The sun was already down so I was lucky to get this shot

Many places on base and around town are these cute dressed up pelican statues

Pensacola Lighthouse

Naval Aviation Museum - Fantastic

Outside waiting to be refurbished by the volunteers

The famous Cubi Bar in the Philippians was completely dismanteled and brought to the museum, all decorations, bar and furniture

Boardwalks and sand fences (like snow fences) are everywhere, they don't want you to walk on the dunes

sunset at west end of base

That's it for now, safe travels to all

Nancy & Joe