TOUR AMERICA, 2019: TUCSON, ARIZONA – THE GRAND CANYON STATE

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Tucson Metropolitan Ministries Family Services

Oct 23, 2019

Temperature 89 degrees

Second Project, Apartment 3201, Finished

Third Project  – Apartment 7101, Finished 

Fourth Project – Apartment 8101, Day One

Like that hat above.  I do wear my paint real well.  In fact, perish the thought, I’m even having to take a shower each and every day.  Ah, I look forward sometime in the future to the good old days, a shower every other day, maybe every third or fourth day.  Not for awhile though.

It’s amazing, when I owned my own home I put off painting it until the very end.  Once I put it up for sale I had no choice.  So one room after another was painted.  Not that I enjoyed it.  It was just something I had to do.  Here I am today as a NOMAD finding myself painting day after day.  They tell me this is really what NOMAD’s are really all about.  Maybe they should change our name to RPP – Retired People Painting.

Its really, though, more than painting.  Barbara and I both agree it’s also about growing in terms of interpersonal dynamics.  Let’s be honest for the longest time now we really haven’t had to work together as part of a team.  Its just been the two of us.  Now we find ourselves once again having to work together with individuals with different skills, different backgrounds, and different personalities.  Its been interesting, enlightening, and a positive experience.

So what did today hold?  We finished our Third Project, Apartment 7107.  It needed some touch up and a few other odds and ends.  We were finished with it by lunch time.  A three bedroom apartment like this typically rents for $1400 a month.  However, for those who qualify this apartment will rent for no more than $600 a month.

This is the beautiful wall mural adjacent to the apartment.

Then we moved on to our Fourth Project, Apartment 8101. This was the one we had been warned about.

What did we find?  Take a look.  This is the ceiling fan in the one room.  Look at the ceiling above it.  Yuk!

There were holes large and small in all the walls.  Someone had put their foot or fist (I guess) through one bedroom door.  And in the bathroom wall there is a hole the size of a softball.

Mold in the bathroom shower.

The door jamb had been kicked off the wall in the bathroom.

This is some of the garbage that we first hauled out.

More bags of garbage waiting to go out.  Overall, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Is there a lot of work to be done here?  You bet but we’ll get it done.

Then we moved in and got to work.  Thankfully, the walls in this unit are already white.  With any luck we’ll only have to apply one coat of paint.  I’m working in the front bedroom and I’ve already painted half of the ceiling and two walls.  I’ll finish that room tomorrow for sure.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  The days have begun to sort of become one big blur.  One big blur of white paint!  I’m starting to have dreams of paint cans, brushes, and rollers chasing after me.  I guess that’s better than warlocks and witches and what not.  OK, time to get some sleep.  I already hear a wall beckoning to me Please come paint me and make me white as snow.  Wall, you are just going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in with us.  We always appreciate sharing our day with you and reading your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!