Now for week 2 of our time in AZ.
We headed up to Pinetop for about a week. It was good getting to relax up there. I was happy to find that there did not appear to be any mice in the cabin – Praise the Lord! The first night I heard what I thought may be a bird inside the cabin, but it ended up being a bat. It flew around for while, and one of the kids said that we should open the down and see if it could find its way out, and sure enough it did after about 10 minutes.
The next few days “B” had to work and the rest of us did things around the cabin or at the rec center. I started teaching the kids how to play billiards and we swam some. We also did frisbee golf at the rec center. The frisbees were beat up and wore on our fingers, but it was fun.
I had to install a new Nest Thermostat in the cabin. We had a generation 2 installed there, but Google informed me earlier in the year that online support for first and second generation models would stop this October. That would mean I would be unable to adjust the heat from elsewhere to get the cabin preheated before we wanted to stay there. It would still work as a regular thermostat, but arriving to a warm cabin is amazing. Google, thankfully, offered a pretty good discount to get a 4th generation to update it. I did that, and found that it isn’t compatible with the Nest App. I have to use Google Home. That is irritating, but I can access my other nest thermostats from the Home App so I will just have to get used to using it rather than the nest app. I also found out that using the Home App I was able to get the new thermostat setup pretty easily with my Home Assistant system as well. That was nice.
We also had some good thunderstorms. Like crazy lightning and loud thunder. We got a lot of rain, and that was really good for he area since it has been really dry up here.
We went for a nice hike around the local lake and into the woods. We also went to our favorite bakery, Baked In Pinetop, for a second time. I needed to get a few sticky buns for my ladies. I also ordered more muffins and bread to pick up a couple days later. We also went to a good Asian restaurant called W&Z Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar. As always it was delicious and we had some leftovers as well. The rest of the day was spent with making sure we had all the purchases made for the girls so they had what they needed for Girl Scout camp that is coming up and then reading and relaxing (for most of us). I also called another HVAC company in Boise to see if I could get another quote for replacing our unit.
On the 4th we went to the Show Low Parade. It was fine as usual. In the afternoon we had a plan to do some hiking. I suggested that we head to a hike we had done before that was south of Sunrise Ski Resort. But when we got there we found out that the forest had been closed to everyone due to the fire danger. So, we headed back towards Pinetop. “B” ended up finding another hike that was near to our place, and we headed there. It was open, and we did it. It was a nice hike. The 1.5 hour drive we had was pretty, but a bit of a let down for timing. Then we saw fireworks in the evening in Show Low; that surprised me since it has been so dry and I thought they would cancel it for sure.
On the 5th the rec center had their annual July 4th stuff. We did pancake breakfast, tie-die, bingo, hot dogs and hamburgers, and a scavenger hunt. It was fun. We won the scavenger hunt and got “Twister: Splash”. “G” was excited and “A” was, well a teenager about it so indifferent.
The next day we headed home. Well we did stop along the way at Moab at the hotel we like there. It was a good drive. I got great gas milage which was nice. Then the next day we had the long haul to home. That drive also went well. I got good gas milage to Salt Lake and not as good gas milage from Salt Lake to home. During the entire trip in the car we listened to audiobooks since that is “G” preference. We re-listend to the first 6 or 7 “How to Train Your Dragon” books. They are read by David Tennant, and he does a great job. We also listened to “How I Killed Pluto, and How He Had It Coming”. It is a fun read and very interesting if you enjoy that kind of thing. The history of how Pluto stopped being a planet was well written and the side things in the book add light and pleasure to read/listen.
I did have to do some house work; a piece of flashing had fallen off the cabin and I had to hammer it back on, and a bolt on our porch swing had snapped in half so I had to get a new one. But overall it was a light week of cabin work.
It was very nice at the cabin. The only annoyance was that our next door neighbor house was being massively remodeled. So, many days there was a lot of construction noise. The weather was very nice, and it is truly a great place to spend time at. I truly believe it will be where “B” and I retire someday. It needs some work once it is being lived in more, but not yet (at least I hope not yet).