Sure Enough!

We've been having a fine week here in Tucson, even with all the doctor visits squeezed in (five separate appointments in three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), and the memorial service for Mike McFall's son on Monday.

The only blemishes for the week were (1) the loss of my key ring on arrival Sunday, (2) our air conditioning is not working as well as it used to, and may need service, and (3) Suzy is at the distant end of her pain control cycle, so is having some tough days. Next Thursday she begins a new pain relief cycle with an epidural injection, and she will be in better shape to take on more of the duties while I'm in the early days of recuperation from surgery.

We're not doing any sightseeing while we are here, but today we are "site-seeing." That is, we are staying on our site and just relaxing. Sitting quietly is difficult for me sometimes, so it's good to be getting some practice at it for the few weeks to come!

So while we are site-seeing, we'll show you another picture of our site here in Rincon Country East RV Resort in Tucson. Every street here is lined with what I believe are Queen Palms, and blooming oleanders decorate the outer walls of the park.

Each morning Suzy has been fascinated by the shadows of the palm trees along our street, as they gradually shrink away from the western wall, moving inexorably toward and eventually beyond our site. Had to get that picture.

Each evening this week we have watched a movie from our collection of DVDs. Early in the week, fellow blogger Margie  had mentioned the film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson. You really ought to take a few minutes to read Margie's story of a museum about early-day mental hospitals -- go ahead, we'll wait here for your return. Just click on her highlighted name above to go to her blog post.

What did we watch this week? "Something's Gotta Give" starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton; "Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman; "On a Clear Day" starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. Tonight we will watch "As Good as it Gets" starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. "On a Clear Day" didn't star Jack Nicholson, but he did appear in a small side role as a laid-back 22-year-old almost hippie, wavy dark hair, and very quiet demeanor. You have to look closely and listen to his voice to even realize who the actor is. This is a Jack Nicholson week!

From 2010 Rincon Country

Jack Nicholson in "On a Clear Day"

Jack Nicholson in "Bucket List"

In between doctor visits and lunches out this week, I managed to get some of my keys replaced at Ace Hardware, but Ace could not do the car key. We also tried the key station at Lowe's, but they could not do it either. They suggested finding a Suzuki dealer, which we did. Yes, they could replace the key (and we also wanted to get a spare key because, when we are towing, the Suzuki's ignition has to be in the "accessory" position. That requires a key, and I really don't like leaving my whole key ring in the car while towing).

The dealer had to charge me $32 for the key blank, and another $15 to cut the key, plus tax! Ouch. I only bought one key at that price. While I complained that this was literally highway robbery, the service writer explained that Suzuki makes these keys out of an especially hard metal (he suggests titanium?) and they are extremely hard to cut and deburr. The other service writer piped up and said, "You should have seen the boss's eyes when he found out how much the key cutting machine cost!"

Hard to believe I had to pay $60 for this single key to be made!

I wasn't overly surprised at the cost, as Mike McFall had told me a new key for his pickup would cost $150, and a lady I met at the dealership told me their second key was priced at about $232. Of course, those keys both include the new "chip" that makes life more secure for us, and income better for the dealerships. Fortunately, the Suzuki XL-7 didn't start using those chip keys until 2007, and ours is a 2004.

After our day yesterday, we sat outside in the evening to catch some of the cool air. As we gazed at what stars are visible above a big city, a bright moving light caught our attention as the park's security guy patrolled in his golf cart. Seeing us sitting out, he stopped and asked what part of Oregon we are from, a question we get about once a week. We chatted for a while, and as I noticed he was carrying one of those mega-multi-million candlepower searchlights, I told him I wished he had come by Sunday evening after I lost my keys.

Rich immediately did a sweep of our site (outdoors) and found nothing. I told him I actually expected to find the keys sitting in the middle of our living room floor as soon as I had replaced them all!). So Rich sat and chatted with us a little longer, and he suggested he would bring over his metal detector. As he left, he walked around the far side of our car, bent down and picked up the keys from the gravel on that side. In plain sight between two shrubs!

The keys are still hard to see in the gravel!

Why hadn't I seen them as I scoured the area? As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was all Kokopelli's doing! He had been hiding them somewhere else, and as soon as I had been required to pay a king's ransom to replace the keys, he plopped them onto the ground where they'd be found immediately. Sure enough, as soon as we replaced them all, we found the missing ones.

What an interesting turn of events! If we hadn't decided to sit out a while last evening, Rich would not have stopped to chat. If Rich had not been from Oregon himself, he might have just waved and continued on his patrol. If I hadn't commented on his mega-million-candlepower searchlight, he'd not have found the keys, and Kokopelli would have had to find some other place the put them for finding later, somewhere else along ... Our Life on Wheels.