Benson Tidbits

Things are settling down again after our wild Saturday adventure. Not really all that wild, but at least a nice day. Sunday was a church day, of course, and Valentine’s Day, and Admission Day for Arizona (we became a state February 14, 1912, the last of the 48 – we earned the right to govern ourselves and vote for the President after we wiped out the Apaches around the turn of the century).

We kicked back and read the paper, then moved out to our casita to get down to the business of doing taxes and working on Chapter 21 books. In the evening we trotted out to our Knights of Columbus Council's Valentine dinner to honor our wives and sweethearts. This is the first time our council has included the ladies, and it should not be the last.

What happened was that our meeting is usually on the first Sunday of the month, but last Sunday was Super Bowl; the meeting was put off one week. Suzy and I made a fuss that if the Knights are going to have a meeting on Valentine’s Day, we darned well better do something for the ladies. The officers listened. Our dinner was catered by one of the local Mexican restaurants, and some of the ladies provided desserts. Wine was poured, the ladies each went home with a long-stem red rose. Neat!

One day recently I dropped Suzy off for her physical therapy session at the Benson Hospital, I went off to do a little pick up grocery shopping at Safeway. Using our handicapped parking tag, I managed to snag a parking spot right by the store entrance. When I came out I spied a Benson police officer standing near my car, talking to one couple and asking questions of a lady coming out ahead of me. She shook her head and walked away, As I approached the car door, the police officer said, “That’s him!”

Now that is an uncomfortable feeling. I knew that the handicapped tag really was Suzy’s and not mine and I had no right to use it myself, but how did they know?

Turns out the car that had parked next to mine had pulled out of its spot, made a swing around and collided with my car, paused, then drove away! The couple standing with the officer had witnessed the incident, got the car’s license number and called the police. Using the handicapped tag didn’t cause me any grief except that I had chosen that spot to park next to a scofflaw!

The actual damage to our car was slight: we have a hydraulic lift on the rear to support Big Red, Suzy’s mobility scooter. Big Red was at home, the lift was folded up, and suffered only a slightly bent edge.

The police officer asked if I wanted to press charges, and realizing that might mean court appearances for myself and the witness couple, I declined. The hassle to the City of Benson would cost more than any damages we might win. The officer did a field interview of both the witness couple and myself, and sent us on our way.

Let’s see some more pictures! OK!

At the Thousand Trails Park south of Hollister, California, I got these shots of a bobcat, one of a family that inhabits the park. She was quite content to pose for me until I got a little too close. Here she is on her way to a gopher hunt. We saw her actually catch one to take home to her young’uns.How’s that for pictures? Come back next time, maybe I’ll have something else we have seen during … Our Life on Wheels.

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