Things are looking good

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 From the last posting I showed this bush from 6 inch sticks to almost full grown.  Now it is blooming and the blooms last for weeks.  Also, the most beautiful butterfly was getting some nectar from the blooms.  We both enjoy all the wildlife we see here.  We have had a coyote and javelina skirt the house.  The roadrunner comes through looking for a lizard meal.  The quail come by with their half grown babies.  The deer come through once in awhile.  So far the scary things like snakes and a gila monster have only been seen down by the pool area.  I am sure the water attracts them.  That is why we don't want a fountain in our yard.  We have enough trouble with rodents getting under the house.  These manufactured homes are set on top of a  three or foot deep whole.  The utilities are then run under the house.  

We had our shed rebuilt.  All of the siding and trim were taken off.  The handyman that did the work posted it on facebook.  He used it to advertise his business.  I shared the photo on facebook and then put it on my page.  He put all new siding and trim plus added flashing to the bottom so water doesn't pool at the base of the trim.  Jim and I painted it all.  We should not have anymore problems with rotting wood.  This avoids another problem as well--- termites.  They like wet wood.  

Bird of Paradise

 When we moved in to our house we noticed that the flowering shrubs in the yard hadn't been trimmed in awhile if ever.  We had the landscape guy/jack of all trades come over and trim them up.  He had to cut the Bird of Paradise down to a stump because it wasn't doing well.  After only 5 weeks it has come back with a vengeance.  It is now over three feet tall and looking very healthy.  Our lot is covered in pea gravel and the landscape guy treated it with a preemergent weed killer guaranteed for six months.  If a weed shows up he will take care of it.  

He was over the other day to look at fixing our shed that has some water damage and he noticed a weed.  Looking at it more closely he said it was a new Bird of Paradise coming up that must have germinated on its own from our bush.   It is in a good location so I said to leave it and we will see how well it grows.

We have been driving back and forth to Yuma.  Our truck is being repaired in Yuma where our RV is still parked.  We've been driving rental cars and using the time to move stuff out of the RV and put in the house.  It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a small space.  

Cactus in our yard

 We have these lovely cacti in our yard.  I haven't found out the name of the one with the orange flowers.  The one in the bottom picture is called "old man on the mountain".  It gets all these fine white hairs covering it.  So far they are small and out of the way so we won't get poked or stabbed accidently.  As we walk around the neighborhood we have seen so many different varieties of cacti.  You just can't believe there are so many different kinds and each kind has a different color and shape bloom.  

Since this is Tucson and we are next to Saguaro National Park there are a lot of saguaro cactus in our neighborhood.  Those are the ones with the arms.  They are finally starting to get buds on them and will start blooming soon.  A gal from Saguaro National Park came and gave a talk about the park at our rec center.  It was very interesting to learn about all the wildlife in the area as well as learning more about the cactus.  

New House

 We have been so busy moving into our new place that I haven't taken time until now to put up some pictures.  We bought a manufactured home in a gated community in Tucson.  It is the nicest community we found in all of our searching.  All the properties are well kept and all look new even if they aren't.  There is an HOA but it is very reasonable and they actually spend the money on upkeep of the roads, common spaces, community center, pool and other amenities.  

As you can see from the picture the truck just fits in the carport.  We are hoping to get a different truck --something a little smaller once we are more settled.  We have some views of the mountains that are around us and the sunsets have been beautiful.  We wish we had more time to explore the area right outside the community because it is federal land with lots of hiking and atv trails.  We are too busy cleaning and getting the place ready for new flooring.  Maybe by this fall we will be able to get out.  It is starting to warm up here and soon it will be too hot to do much outside.   

We are starting to learn Tucson not having ever spent a lot of time in this area before now.  There is  a lot of traffic but we are learning what roads to take and which ones to avoid especially at rush hour.   

The house next door

 We have been watching them build a house next door to us.  It is amazing how quickly they can get walls built and raised.  The guys walk across the top of narrow boards like they are walking across flat ground instead of up in the air.   There are usually only two or three guys on a crew getting whatever the next part of the job is done.  Each crew seems to have their own specialty.  We have been impressed at how well the owner/contractor has coordinated the work being done.  It is his first building project in Yuma.  He has built homes in California around San Diego before this project.  

He told us he probably wouldn't build another house in Yuma.  It has been difficult for him to get workers and the ones he has gotten have had to redo a lot of their work because it wasn't done correctly the first time.    I didn't mean to take a video of the house covered in sheeting with the shingle bundles on the roof waiting to be installed.  It's supposed to be just a picture so you can't click on it.  

We have been busy buying a house in Tucson so I have fallen behind on doing the blog.  I should have pics of the house to show soon.  I'm looking forward to showing more new things of interest around Tucson.  We have been coming to Yuma for so long that there isn't much new to put on this blog.  

More Pima Air Museum

 There are so many airplanes at this museum it's hard to pick out a few to show.  I thought the top picture of the WW11 plane was cool.  The bottom one was President Kennedy and Johnson's plane.  What is now known as Air Force One.  I thought the paint scheme was pretty.  It sure looks small compared to what the presidents fly in nowadays.

We went out to our gold prospecting site and yes the dirt is still too wet to run through our dry washer.  We brought a small bucket home and panned it out and didn't find a speck so we aren't in a hurry to get back out there.  We do need to go and look for a new spot but we need more incentive.  We will probably just go on a 4wheeling trip with the neighbors for something to do.  That way I will have some new pictures to share.

Pima Air Museum

 Our truck was in the shop so we took advantage of having a rental car and went to Tucson.  We wanted to visit friends and check out some homes for sale.  We looked at a couple of nice 55 plus communities that were surrounded by nature either BLM land or state park land.  Tucson is a little cooler than Yuma but still quite hot in the summer.   Lots of new home construction going on around Tucson and someday I think Tucson and Phoenix will merge.  

While we were in the area we visited the Pima Air Museum.  We have been there before but its been many years now.  The museum is dedicated to military aircraft.  There are 7 or eight buildings full of planes and also a huge area outdoors with more planes.  They all look like they could take off and fly but regulations require them to be non flyable.  The corsair in the top picture was a popular fighter plane in WW11.  The super guppy was a weird looking giant transport plane.  President Kennedy and Johnson's plane was there an old version of air force one.  There is an sr-71 the supersonic spy plane.  There seemed to be every kind of plane ever used by the military but I'm sure there were some missing.   This is a great place to see aeronautical history and  especially get a sense of what flying in WW11 was like.