Tag: condominiums

Beep Beep Time

I’m into alliteration in my blog post titles. But yup, I finally saw a roadrunner in Arizona. Beep beep! It literally ran across the road in front of us, as roadrunners do. I’m sure fond of these cuckoos.

Okay, so you can barely see it. But, yay.

Today was hard, so the roadrunner and its pals were a great reward. After work we had to do our penance for a nice visit by attending yet another condo sales presentation. They just take so long, and we simply don’t want anything. We escaped, though! And off we went to the Sedona Wetlands Preserve.

This place was so cool. They take waste water and turn it into habitat for native birds. That’s so encouraging, because we need more wetlands everywhere.

We heard lots and lots of birds, mostly Great-tailed Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds. I was extra charmed to see a family of American Coots swimming around and honking away.

Coot Time!

We enjoyed seeing the facility, where lots of ducks also congregated, plus a bonus bunny. We had a good time!

This guy was very friendly
Lots o’ ducks

By the way, I ALSO saw that roadrunner’s nemesis, the coyote, earlier today on my walk. A beautiful one, too. We looked at each other for a while and went on our separate ways. It pleases me to see them thriving. They are important pieces of the ecosystem! Crows may disagree, though. Later in the walk I heard a crow ruckus and realized at least three crows were yelling at a young coyote and sending it out of their territory. Drama!

It’s bigger than it looks (the one the crows chased)
Not a coyote. Just threw it in.
Yip yip!

I got a great couple of pictures of a Scrub Jay intent on catching a bug, and a sort of recognizable Gila Woodpecker. They make a great noise!

You just can’t see its head.
This is a pink fairy duster, apparently.

After all the sales pitching, beep beeping, and yip yipping, we were hungry. I finally got to watch Lee enjoy a meal. It was at an out-of-the-way restaurant, bar, and local grocery called Brewha in Cornville. The food was so fresh, and everything was made there, even the pickles. I also had an Old Fashioned made properly with simple but high-quality ingredients. Heaven.

Convenient sign.
That’s a hand pie.

Our visit to the Sedona area is winding down, but there’s still more fun to come. Stay tuned.

Looks like June is heating up back home.

Rainy Day and Condo Stuff

Today was a bit rainy and cloudy, but I am not complaining, since the weather looks much worse at home.

In the morning, the clouds were rolling in.

It was a really good bird watching day, though, since I have a balcony and binoculars. The coolest birds I saw were ducks. I’m pretty sure they were hooded mergansers, which do occasionally hang out in the ocean, according to Merlin Bird ID. I watched groups of 5-10 swimming fast and diving hard. There were also cormorants in the mix. The most fun I had, though, was watching a poor pelican who simply could not get rid of a gull that kept following it. They flew together, dove together, swam together and never separated.

I’ll say, though, that seeing dolphins right out the window is always a highlight of my day. I always feel my heart skip a beat when I spot them.

And I did my nails in Valentine colors. Whee.

The lowlight, as is the case with all the condo visits, is the sales pitch we inevitably have to attend unless Lee isn’t with me. They always have something new to sell you. We weren’t interested, so we played good cop/bad cop, with Lee not needing to act much as the aggressively negative person, and me trying to get my questions answered, which takes the salesperson off their desired conversational trajectory. This all went fine, our salesperson was not a creep, and we didn’t buy more condo days (I have enough now).

What I did enjoy was listening in on the sales pitches used on other families. They sure do tailor them to your perceived weaknesses…err…interests. Our guy was saying what a bad buy condos in Myrtle Beach are and what a good buy Hilton Head is (which I can see, since HH has very few condos and MB is crowded with them). The guy one group over was telling these people they didn’t need this boring area and should go to more lively MB. Another one was begging the people to just sign up for anything, even a week a year.

Condos don’t make sense for most people. I like the ones we have, since I can go work in different places and feel safe. If I were younger, I’d travel differently. At least I get to get out of Texas every so often and see Spanish moss and marshes.

Typical Hilton Head scene.

Anyway, do what works for you. I’m also looking forward to some shorter, more close-to-home RV trips. I didn’t get to travel much when young. Now’s the time, while I’m still mobile and have mental health.

I do love how lush and green this place is

After the condo meeting, we went to a restaurant on Broad Creek, which is very broad, as a matter of fact. My crabcakes were delicious, and Lee didn’t like his seafood omelet. That’s how our meals usually go. I’m a good menu-item picker. But, Lee enjoyed the guy providing the musical entertainment, who was a pleasant singer and a very good guitar player. I enjoyed his solos very much; he played a lot like my friend, Jeff, who I listened to a LOT at one point in my life.

Somewhat scenic location

Since I couldn’t do a lot of nature walking, I crocheted a lot (I am not sure this thing is working out, but I keep going), and watched football. I have a book by a friend to read, too. I’m not really fond of reading on the computer or phone, but it’s not in print yet. I could use a nice mystery, and I’ve sure been hearing a lot about this book!

Hope you all are handling whatever is challenging you. The weather’s bad in lots of the US, and there’s always something going on with most of us. I care!