2:20 PM down in VOC facing the sun. Last several nights the temp dropped into the teens, today is first scorcher after snow quit falling late Thurs night. Ground is not frozen underneath the now melting snow which becomes slippery mud. I waited until Sat morn to learn about traction when I drove out of my snow hole. I drove away when the frost was still on the snow. I made it out w/o incident. I needed propane as my motivation. 89A was bare and dry, the ACE store lot had frozen wheel tracks to the propane fill. Laundry was next. Closed, note on door read Thurs and Fri. Today is Sat and still not open. Needed clean clothes. Drove down to Cottonwood to a laundromat to change once worn to fresh put away in the drawer. Bare pavement, beautiful day. returned to Sedona laundromat which was now opened. Owner said hired help interpreted that she also had Sat off. I borrowed his ladder and broom to sweep off remaing snow on the van roof. Wiile in Cottonwood the XM reported No Signal. Hmm. Came to conclusion problem was built up snow covering the antennae on the roof. Snow free again with proper reception.
Sedona received 18″, Flag was buried under 40″.
The Propex heater makes rumbling sounds, my concern was maybe it would go out. Thurs warm inside temp switched the furnace off. At relight it would burn for maybe 5 seconds then shut off and go thru its relight cycle. Burner would catch for same amount of time then shut off. This cycle repeated itself enough times to demonstrate it wan’t going to light. Shit. I fired up the cat infra red heater which caught. Not as warm as Propex and burning produces water vapor making a humid living quarter, moisture condenses and freezes on the inside of the windshield among other places. But I had heat to withstand the 16 degrees outside, a balmy 45 degrees inside, my breath was visible while still under the covers. Good frost build up. On Fri I texted the Propex guy who told me he suspected clogged regulator. I called the RV shop who has serviced my burners. I asked how quickly they could solve my propane problem, scored Mon at 9. I do prefer the Propex to the cat heater.
Friday was cloudless.
Thurs night I watched the Zags game on my phone. TV broadcast was a few seconds behind the real time game. I wanted to listen to Morrison’s comments at the same time. Wouldn’t sync up. Last night their home game against BYU was on ESPN. I walked in the bicycle lane down to Old Sedona to watch on bigger screen. Zags destroyed BYU again. The Zag players appeared to be really enjoying their cohesive playing. I walked back home about 11 maintaining balance over the melted snow turned frozen.
Yesterday as I was driving on the west outskirts of west Sedona I caught a fleeting sight of mountain bikers riding on a parking lot. I saw traffic cones on the lot which clued me to a skills clinic. Today at Basha’s parking lot Will, who owns a mtn bike store which is right near said parking lot. He said it was a women’s program. They built a snow quasi pump track and he shared a short clip of a rider working the hard but slippery tread.
Mountain bike festival this weekend. I volunteered for a stint exchanging one currency into another. Money for beer tokens.
I ordered a new Olympus TG5 camera to arrive this week. Sometime when I will be receiving a new Wing Nut hydration pack. Things get worn out.
Today I drove out while the snow and ground were still frozen. I tested traction again successfully. Later in the AM after temp climbed above freezing the Uhaul owner drove his 4X4 truck up to where I park to retrieve a trailer. It took him several gos to find traction enough to climb what I did when frozen. I would have been spinning my wheels.
I have been on no exertion vacation since the 16th. Sloth. Snow is too deep for my short top boots which is prolly good because covered rocks would be slippery.