Hi Gram!
We’re settled into a nice apartment for the next few weeks, and still tossing around ideas of what to do when we have to leave this place. It’s a really nice apartment, and I wouldn’t mind being here for the next few months, but he already has it rented out for the month of February.
One option we’ve considered is to go travel for a month, then come back for March and April. Maybe drive up to Utah and Colorado to do some snowboarding, then over to Seattle to see Tom and the family. For now, though, we’re enjoying the nice weather and wonderful hiking opportunities.
Once we settled in, we headed up to see mom and dad for a day. They’re both doing well, and we had a good visit. We opened Christmas gifts, talked about the trip down, and headed over to Chili’s for lunch. They have a wide variety of food there, and we were able to find something for everyone from mild to spicy. Zibby and I haven’t been to a Chili’s in quite some time, and it was interesting to see some of the changes they’ve made to the menu. When we got back to their house, Dad and I went out to his workshop to look over his tools – he’s giving me some duplicates and tools he doesn’t use anymore. We played a game as he would dig out a tool to show me, some of which he hasn’t used in years, and ask me if I knew what it was. In some cases, I surprised him by knowing what it was, and other times he would show me something and I would learn a little about how things were done when he was active in the field, or show me a tool that I could have used to make a past job much easier. While we were out in the shed, Zibby and my mom talked about yarn, crochet, and fiber arts in general. Eventually, we decided we’d sort through the tools later, just before we leave AZ, and headed back inside. Mom and dad took turns telling stories to Zibby to embarrass me or help her understand me a little bit, and we told them about our skydiving and plans for the next year. I think Dad and I bored Zibby and mom when we started talking about the best way to update the plumbing under their house. I really enjoy talking to my dad about plumbing, construction, and renovation projects. Often, we’re talking on the phone as he tries to help me solve this problem or that with whatever house my contractors are rehabbing at the time. It was nice to talk about his house and give him my 2 cents for a change. As the sun started setting, we decided to head back to Tucson and said our goodbyes. It’s a little between an hour and a half and two hours from their place to ours, and we were home at a decent hour.
Our plan while we’re down here is to get a feel for Tucson in general, get out and enjoy the weather a little, and try to relax. We’ve both been so hectic for the past 8 or 9 months between skydiving, rehabbing houses, and growing my real estate empire for me, and leaving her job, moving to Ottawa, and getting her freelance work off the ground for her. We haven’t been setting alarms, but I wake up around 4 or 5 every morning, fully rested. I get out of bed so I don’t disturb her with my fidgeting, make some tea, and go read a book or work on my computer. Zibby usually gets up between 6 and 8, makes herself some coffee, and figures out what assignments she’s going to write for the day. She’s been doing some freelance writing for the past month or so, and she’s trying hard to get more and more efficient at it. When she started, it could take her half a day or more to finish a small article. The last couple days, she’s been knocking them out in an hour or less! She writes for a couple hours while I talk to contractors back home, work on this blog, learn C# programming, or read a book. Late morning, we take a break and go for a walk.
We love this area because there’s a chance to take a casual hike all around us! We just walk down the driveway and stroll through the neighborhood, which would be a perfectly peaceful and pleasant experience if that’s all there was. There are miles of avenues and cul de sacs all around us with well-manicured homes to look at, cool sculptures in the yards, and mountains in the background. But wait! There’s more! On almost every street we’ve been down so far, there’s a trailhead (sometimes real with markers and signs, sometimes unofficial where shoe prints are the only proof that others have been here before). One of the things I love about the area is that there are dirt roads or well-worn trails that branch off in each direction all over the place. I was telling Zibby yesterday that I need to get a bike or ATV to go explore some of these, as they just keep branching and continuing too far to keep walking to “see what’s there”. The terrain and paths are always changing too. Sometimes it’s a wide dirt road, with signs that cars use it on a regular basis. Other times, we’ll be on a narrower path, still wide enough for pedestrians but cars would get scraped up by the brush on either side. Some of these pedestrian paths are manicured gravel paths, with rocks on either side to show the border between path and nature. Some are just well-worn streaks where people and/or animals have kept the brush from encroaching and left their footprints behind in the soft sandy soil. Since it doesn’t rain here often, a set of prints could be hours, weeks, or even months old.
We’ve been trying to keep our walks to about an hour, and it’s a nice time to chat about life, silly thoughts, what-if’s, and dreams. So far, we’ve had to double back on some of our walks to get back to the neighborhoods and houses, but we’re learning the area and hope to start doing some more circuitous routes. After about an hour, though, we decide it’s lunchtime and find our way back.
After lunch, Zibby gets back to writing while I try to stay out of her hair. I decided to get a membership to the movie theater that lets me go see three movies a week. It’s a great plan because the theater gets steady income from my monthly dues and I get to see more movies than I probably would have if I had to pay full price for each movie. The theater near the house here has soft, comfortable reclining seats. I usually go in the afternoon so there aren’t many people there, so it’s like watching a new release movie in my living room, but with a bigger picture and better sound.
This winter, I decided to get some coaching from my friend Elliot to help improve my video flying. We started working on exits yesterday. We watched videos he shot of the different exit formations and broke down how he flew his body, what he was looking for, and where he placed himself relative to the team. I took copious notes before and after our conversation, and it was like drinking from a fire hose. After we got through all of the videos he had, we reviewed some of my videos and he gave me some pointers on what I was doing right and what I could tweak to do better. It was a great session and I look forward to working with him more. After we got off the phone, I spent the next couple hours reviewing videos and writing notes on each exit plus geeking out on a spreadsheet that I can use to update these notes as the season goes on.
Last night, we went and visited our friend Brian, who’s in town for a few days working. Skydiving is a wonderful world because no matter where we go, we run into someone that we know. Brian is based out of Chicago, but he travels for work and just happens to be in town while we are. We had a good dinner and sat around talking with him and his friend Eric for a few hours. Eric had some amazing stories from when he used to hitchhike and train hop his way around the country. He was involved in a whole community of people who would see each other in their travels, sometimes hopping a train together for safety in numbers, or meet up in a National Park where they would form an impromptu family. One person would cook while another played music, someone would tend to the kids and others would be working on their crafts or doing wash in a river or just playing and exploring the area. He got to see a lot of the country, meet some very interesting people, and learn about himself. It was fascinating listening to his stories.
Well, I should get my day started and look for some breakfast. We’re going hiking with Brian and Eric this weekend, so stay tuned to find out how that went!