Wednesday, February 15, 2006

We leave tomorrow; Boys here Friday

Preparations under way
Kathleen and Stan will depart Arizona bright and early Thursday morning, hoping to make Shakopee by 8 p.m. Saturday. We'll stop tomorrow night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, stay at the La Quinta Inn, and have dinner with Harland and Carolyn Hoffland, Stan's high school classmates. We'll pass through the Arizona petrified forest on the way. It is very windy right now. We hope it calms by tomorrow.

Harland and Carolyn are big New Mexico advocates, so we'll be comparing climates with a some difficulty: We hear it is cold and dreary right now in Minnesota. Oh well. At least we have water there ... when it melts. There is no water in New Mexico.

Then it is on to Wichita, KS, for no particular reason other than that is about as far as we can go in a day. Then a day's trip to Minnesota.

Here in Arizona, we are preparing for the next shift. Stan injured his back (conveniently) lifting furniture and pottery and valances and playing too much golf. He has been restricted to light duty and Advil. Kathleen, interestingly, has greatly improved her delegation skills, finding plenty of tasks he can easily handle without bending. Steve and Virgil will be here with friends late Friday. We hope everything, including the paint job, is to their liking.

If it is, there are plenty of next steps to consider. We have a notebook.

In the photo above, please note Virgil's new (unused) mop being given its Trial on the Tile. Success, says the operator, in a blur of motion. Notice, in the middle photo, Kathleen's right foot, where a bristly scrub brush has been employed to eradicate those stubborn stains.

Meanwhile, exercising a refined skill for delegation, Kathleen has assigned Stan to shelf and mirror detail in the bar, where he won't have to stoop or bend, and medicinal whiskey is handy to ease pain and suffering.