Our Lady of the Sierras

Sunday, March 3, 2021 - St. David, AZ

While visiting with Scott and Robin, they told me about a Shrine down by Hereford, AZ, so today Mike and I decided to go and see it.  The Shrine was opened to the public in 1998.  

Scott and Robin stated they noticed the cross up on the hill as they were driving by.  Mike and I almost missed the cross and we were even looking for it.  Maybe that is the problem.  :)

Of course I had to take a picture of the sign.

Here are a couple of pictures looking down in the valley.

There is a beautiful 31 foot tall statue of Mary.

And then there is the 75 foot tall cross.

The chapel is very small, but very beautiful.  In 2011 a wildfire damage the building, but the mural of Jesus was redone by the original local artist.

And someone was kind enough to take a couple of pictures of us.  :)

Here is a picture of the cross from the Our Lady of Guadalupe grotto.

Here is the grotto.

The Angel of Revelation.  The crosses in the background are part of a trail with the 14 stations of the cross.

It was very nice and I can see why the owners picked this spot.

It was another wonderful day!

Property Layout

 Saturday, March 6, 2021 - St. David, AZ

I am finally feeling much better and we are both out of quarantine.  :)  Today, we drove up to Safford to layout where we are going to put the modular home and the hangar.  :)  You can't really see the string, but it is the faint pink lines.  You can see the stakes better.

It was another wonderful day!

ER Visit

 Thursday, February 25, 2021 - St. David, AZ

This afternoon while working, my back started hurting.  Soon, it became very uncomfortable, so I decided to lay down on the bed to see if it would help.  The pain was only getting worse.  Soon the pain became unbearable and Mike ended up taking me in to the ER.  I was pretty much unable to move and was curled in the fetal position when he got me in and ended up curled up on the floor.  They came out and got me into a wheelchair.  After getting my vitals, gave me some morphine and another COVID test.  Oh boy!  But it was nothing compared to the pain I was in. The COVID test came back positive again so quarantine starts all over.  They took me out to their portable lab and did a CAT scan.  The results of came back and showed I have kidney stones!  I have heard a lot about them from my brother and after experiencing them for myself, they are not something I would wish on anyone.  Hopefully, they will pass soon!

Sign Paperwork

 Tuesday, February 23, 2021 - St. David, AZ

Mike and I are both quarantined, but we needed to sign papers at the title agency, so they had us come to their Benson office, stay in our car with masks on, and brought the paper work out for us to sign.  I must admit this is a different way of getting the process done, but it went smoothly.  Hopefully we will close soon.

It was another wonderful day.

Beautiful Sunset

 Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - St. David, AZ

We got ready to take Gracie for a walk and I noticed the beautiful sunset, so I just had to take a couple of pictures.  Since testing positive for COVID, our walks only consist of making a few laps of the RV storage area behind our trailer.....but at least both our cases appear to be pretty minor compared to what they could have been.  Mike is back to normal (other than his loss of taste and smell); and I feel okay other than still suffering from serious fatigue.

It was another wonderful day!

Yep, we have COVID.

 Saturday, February 20, 2021 - St. David, AZ

Well, we got our results back and we both tested positive for COVID.  We are both feeling much better now, but now we have to quarantine for 10 days.  :(  Mike still does not have his sense of taste and smell back and from what we have read and heard, it may be several months before he gets it back.

Joan Not Feeling Well

 Monday, February 15, 2021 - St. David, AZ

This morning it was my turn to wake up not feeling well.  I don't have a fever, but I ache all over.  After 24 hours, Mike said he felt fine when he woke up Sunday morning....no fever and no aches; but has lost his sense of taste and smell.  Uh-oh!!   I think we both have COVID.  

Mike looked into getting a COVID test in Benson.  It looks like the soonest we will be able to get tested in Benson is sometime next week.  Really??!!  So he was able to get us an appointments at a CVS on the far east side of Tucson for Thursday.  It's a drive thru test but it is the quickest free test we could find.

Mike Not Feeling Well

 Saturday, February 13, 2021 - St. David, AZ

This morning Mike woke up not feeling well.  He is running a 102+ fever and aches all over.  Not sounding good.  Hopefully, it is not COVID.

Mike Arrives Home

 Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - St. David, AZ

Today Mike arrived at Tucson Airport from Indiana.  Right after I picked him up, we headed for Rancho Rustico Restaurant in Tucson and had a wonderful lunch!  After lunch we hung out in Tucson for a few hours and had an extremely nice time!!  :)

Before heading back home, we stopped by Native Wings for dinner.

It was another wonderful day! 

Hiking & Dinner Out

Saturday, February 6, 2021 - St. David, AZ & LaPorte, IN

This afternoon I met up with Robin and Scott.  Mike and I have caught up with them the last couple of years as they pass by where we are staying.  Since Mike is in Indiana, he will not be able to join us and with COVID, we decided to forgo eating out and go on a hike instead.  We went on the same trail at Kratchner Caverns State Park that Mike and I took a couple of weeks ago.  :)  I forgot to take any pictures, but Scott was kind enough to share the pictures he took.

After our hike we headed back to the Saguaro SKP RV Park (where Robin and Scott were staying) for hamburgers out on the grill.  I had a wonderful time and we hope to see each other again next year.

While I was eating dinner, Mike sent me pictures of him eating dinner in La Porte with Tony, Miranda, Vivian, Diane and Holly.

It was another wonderful day!

Found Treasures

 Thursday, February 4, 2021 - South Bend, IN

While Mike was doing a little more clean up at AB's house, he found a couple of small treasures from our past.  :)

They are things we have not seen in a long time.  I think she bought them from our estate sale.  :)

And of course he had to send a picture of how big Vivian is getting.

It was another wonderful day.

Take Mike to the Airport - Part 2

 Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - St. David, AZ

Got Mike to Tucson Airport one more time.  Only this time he did arrive in South Bend safe and sound.

It was another wonderful day!

Take Mike to the Airport

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - St. David, AZ

Since Mike had to deal with some of AB's estate, I took him to Tucson so he could fly back to Indiana.  Around 1pm, I got a text from him letting me know the plane was having engine trouble and he was going to be delayed.  Well about 30 minutes later I got another text from him letting me know they were going to reschedule him for tomorrow.  So back to the airport I went (2 hours each way) to pick him up.  We will try this again tomorrow.  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Visit Our Property

 Saturday, January 30, 2021 - St. David, AZ

We drove up to Safford today to see our property!  I guess since it is ours now, we just had to. :)

While we were up in Safford, I took at couple of pictures of the snow capped Mt. Graham.

It was another wonderful day!

Snow Day

 Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - St. David, AZ

We got snow today!!  But while it came down pretty good, the ground was relatively warm and there was no accumulation.

It was another wonderful day!

Accepted Offer

 Monday, January 25, 2021 - St. David, AZ

After a couple of weeks of checking on prices of modular homes and building a hangar, we finally have an accepted offer on the property in Safford, AZ.  Oh no!!  What have we done!!  We are property owners once again.  Now we start the process of getting electricity to the property.  The septic is already there and we are going to do a well sharing agreement with Dave, so all we will have to do is connect a pipe to his well.  Hopefully we will have enough water pressure.

It was another wonderful day.

Visit Kartchner Caverns State Part

 Sunday, January 17, 2021 - St. David, AZ

After church we headed for Kartchner Caverns State Park.  We went here several years ago and took the cave tour.  Today we just planned to take a hike.

We took the Foothills Loop Trail.

It was another wonderful day!

Visit Chiricahua National Park

 Saturday, January, 16, 2021 - St. David, AZ

It took us a while to get up and get moving, but when we finally did we headed down for Chiricahua National Park.  The last time we were here was 1994 when we lived in El Paso, TX and my family came down for a visit.

We did hike the Massai Point Trail.  It was a nice trail with a lot of wonderful views.

While hiking we did try to take a couple of selfies.  We still aren't very good at it.  :)

I think the last one is the best.  :)

Once we got done with the hike we hiked up to the observation building.

On the drive out I saw these white veins in the rock.  I thought they were cool, so I just had to take a couple of pictures.

It was another wonderful day!