I want some coffee!

... but no cigar!" We have used the Skyroam Solis Lite 3-network router here at our RV park for a couple weeks now and the results have been less than stellar. The first few nights it worked with no issue, but then it seemed to not find any suitable network. I rebooted the router over and over in hopes of getting it to a working connection but no joy. We finished the evening using the park's WiFi (yeah, that was embarrassing). My plan was to call Millenicom the next day (no techies around at that late hour) and see what was the issue.  And I forgot! As the appointed hour for viewing approached I did an 'oh crap!' head slap and took a quick look at the router. Odd... it seemed to not be dead as I expected and had 'normal' indicator lights. I had left it Off (powered off but plugged into a charger).  I went to my laptop and did a speed test which looked something like this app from HonorLock : If you're familiar with this sort of internet connection (often c...

I can imagine this is a common question around the country as things wind down after dinner and it's time to get in a couple hours with your favorite whatever before heading off to bed. We have Dish but frankly, other than The Admiral watching PBS News Hour before dinner or maybe a couple episodes of Fixer Upper on the Magnolia Channel earlier in the afternoon, we spend the time streaming something from Netflix, Amazon Prime/Brit Box/Acorn Ltd or YouTube. The park has a WiFi system for connecting to the internet and that's what we use. Well... *used* to use. The park is pretty busy right now as the snow birds start drifting back east and north toward more comfortable summer climates than Arizona can offer at lower elevations. It's not uncommon for us to see every available site in our park's rental pool in use and dry camping (no power, water or sewer- just a numbered space on not-so-level ground) is pretty much full. The rush starts about the last 10 days of February a...

 ... is the itch you can't scratch. Our friends from Key West, collectively "conchscooter", are newly retired and free to roam as the mood strikes. They left the Benson area on the eve of the new year. They crossed the border at Naco, AZ/Naco, MEX and headed straight to the parking lot of a Sonoran winery for the night (!). Then they were off to the north end of the Sea of Cortez. But that area of the gulf of Baja is seriously cold so there was no chance for a swim in warm water. That forced a migration south till they finally found coastal water where they could swim without calling it a Polar Bear Party! So here they are in the south-of-the-border-Margaritaville enjoying the comfort of warm 90°F days and who knows how warm Pacific ocean water... about 1200 miles south of the border. Benson, AZ to Tenacatita, Jalisco, Mexico- 1,226 miles according to Google Yeah... a margarita. Jimmy Buffett would approve! The margarita & food were delivered to them on the beach- som...

 ... and I like it. I just roasted 7 lbs. of Organic Chiapas greens for us and a few others. No one is much interested in anything else and neither are we! I have to admit this has been the most consistent variety of greens I've found in nearly 20 years of roasting. So far Coffee Bean Corral has been able to maintain a stock of them but I live in fear of having them go away. I *can't* be the only one that is hooked on this variety! I was curious what the facility looked like so I poked around with Google Maps and managed to find a street level image- Not at all what I expected. I figured it would be a building about like what they have here but stuck in some industrial area. I think I could enjoy the drive to work each day in a place like this! Good on you Coffee Bean Corral !

... in Bisbee. Well... in the Lowell district. Lowell was once a separate town next to Bisbee but as the mines closed there was consolidation in order to survive. Bisbee was once a major mining center for all sorts of things but is best known today as the site of the Lavender open pit mine. The huge site is still just as it was when abandoned decades ago. The Lavender pit mine The pit was mined till it's closure in 1975. It is 900 ft deep from the parking lot elevation to the lowest point. During its day they extracted 76,000,000 tons of ore from the pit. Not of much use to anyone today, the pit is now just a hole in the ground. When I knew that the adventurers and recent custom-built van owners Michael & Layne were arriving I wanted to be sure they saw something more interesting than the re-enactment of the gun fight at the OK Corral in Tombstone. Lots of choices here in AZ (first stop was Mi Casa in Benson for lunch!) but they had just been toured around Tucson by Layne's...

Wednesday worked out as a good day to do some roasting and I managed to get through 7.3 lbs of green beans. 7.3 lbs of greens translates into 6 lbs of roasted coffee which is enough to keep the coffee drinkers we know from having caffeine withdrawals.  6 lbs ready to go plus a spare plus a pound of Liquid Amber for Will Roasting these recent 6 pounds of coffee was the easiest roast session I've ever had. The new Recipe for these organic beans from Chiapas, Mexico makes it a breeze! Went very smoothly and each roast ended as expected instead of the frequent 'anyone's guess' I often encounter. And this current lot of Organic Chiapas from Mexico (via Coffee Bean Corral in Jackson, MS) is still a remarkable favorite. It's so good I've stopped roasting anything else. And that appears to be pretty much the opinion of the others I'm sharing this with. So today or tomorrow the Admiral will drop off a few chocolate Santas as Christmas treats and I'll deliver cof...

Life has been a little off balance for this scribe. Rehab continues to demand the focus of most of my activity by either demanding I get ready to go to the clinic or return and try to remember what I was supposed to be doing or do the exercises I'm required to do daily. On top of that we changed 'laundry day' back in August from Thursday to Tuesday cuz we had run out of clothes when we returned from our brief trip to New Mexico and that discombobulated everything that requires repetition. Take your pick for a cause- it requires very little for a person who needs daily repetition to maintain a habit to keep it from falling to the wayside.  And the exercise from rehab must absolutely not be tossed aside. According to the Admiral my posture is actually improving a little and I'm walking further. When I started rehab in early Dec I was able to walk about 1/4 mile max. Michael-the-rehab-tech told me to start increasing that distance so I gave it a try on Friday morning (16 D...