Me & the Cats

I know, I know, the pages have become nearly silent once again. That’s because the trajectory of our lives has done a 180 since Marc has become quasi-employed. The good news is that it’s great to have a normal paycheck, even if it is sporadic. With this employer, Marc is doing restaurant remodels in three week increments, usually followed by two-three weeks off. Of course, the “off” offers no pay even though he is technically on salary. The salary however works well the other way, for the company, when they can work Marc ten-twelve hours on his graveyard shifts with no overtime pay. Once in awhile though, like what he will face come later in March, the projects will fall back to back with no breaks—thus, no time home and only one night a week off. This is a pretty grueling schedule for an old guy and makes for a lonely existence for me. Don’t get me wrong: faced with the “new normal” of life in America-the-third-world-country, we are thankful to have the job.  


So Marc just landed in Santa Clara, CA in his galvanized ghetto directly from Mesa, AZ and most of the new projects will take place in CA until June. Hum--that’s at least a long three months for me to think of things I can do in Yuma’s ever-increasing heat (besides work) to occupy myself. Nothing much is coming to mind. Cats and finances tie me down from doing any of my own wandering out of town so I guess I’ll just sit here, grow older and travel vicariously on my computer. So don’t worry if the blog goes silent; it’s really not a very exciting life I lead at the moment.

The Drudge

While I drool over my pen pal Mark’s latest blog and video, where he and wife Bobby are hiking to the top of Mt. Wrightson—somewhere in southern Arizona where I have not yet trod, (Box Canyon blog) I have just finished up my first day without Marc. He is off to do another restaurant remodel, starting in Mesa for a couple weeks, and then being sent directly to the Bay Area for at least one, possibly two more remodels. With no way to tell when we’ll see each other, I’ve tried to stay busy with cleaning and grocery shopping to take my mind off things. Since Marc doesn’t want me running around in the desert by myself, my world becomes pretty small when he leaves. No more neat camp-outs for awhile. 


Fortunately, I have a busy week coming up. Helping Hands is throwing its second seasonal big yard sale and I will have my long time friend coming to stay to help out and visit. We’ll both volunteer Wednesday and she by herself also Thursday, since I still have to work most of the week on all my scheduled cleans. 


 Yuma is hopping lately; full to the gills with snowbirds and starting to bloom with wildflowers. We’ve enjoyed over 80 degrees the past few days but now it looks like a storm system in California is going to cool things down just a bit. That’s a good thing; mid 80’s in mid-February is just too soon!