Pinal County Historical Museum

Nolan and I visited the Pinal County Historical Museum that I had led a group of residents to a week before. I had told Nolan about it and he wanted to go.

.. Of course the displays of county history started with the pottery from 500 A.D. but we didn't start taking photos until the more current items. These intricately woven baskets were amazing.

Vases made of cholla (pronouced choy-a) cactus skeletons.

Three-legged table made of cholla skeleton.

Bookcase of cholla with stuffed gila monster.

Water fountain from an old school.

The two red boxes on the bottom were interesting. Chill Tonic and Swamp Root.

During Prohibition you could get a prescription for medicinal liquor.

Oh the elusive cure for fatness!

This is a combination high chair, potty chair, stroller and play table.

Read this for a chuckle.

Old office furniture and machines from the old courthouse.

There some very interesting things here. Like this Ediphone, precursor to the Dictaphone.

What wrong with this typewriter?

It has a regular QUERTY keyboard but it has two instead of one. There wasn't a shift key so the upper set is for upper case letters and the lower set is for lower case letters.

Now that's a different arrangement.

Then there were the times when you needed a portable. Just like a laptop today.

Another portable.

Sorry for the glare.

Just like today, if you have a famous name, it gets put on everything.

The museum has an extensive collection of bullets including some wooden ones.

Personal property in a home was taxed and this was one way to hide your radio. The electric cord ran up inside a leg and the speakers faced downward.

Notice the rolls of music.

No this isn't some torture devise. It's a hair curler from a beauty salon.

What this museum is most noted for is its Arizona State Prison Collection.

But before the gas chamber came the hangings. The rope from each hanging was kept and is displayed with a photo of the person hung.

These four guys wanted to be hung with the same rope.

I never saw this in the movies.

This is interesting.

Barbed wire collection.

WW II stories.

Yes POWs were brought to Arizona.

Cotton Pickin'

So we've posted photos of cotton bales along the roads before but today we saw more of the process.

I made a wrong turn but look what we found... a cotton field being harvested.

This is one of the cotton compactors that form the bales. The box is lowered to the ground before they start.

A belt inside the hopper moves the cotton to the edge where it drops into one of the compactors. The blue rail on tops of the red box is the actual compacting parts. It moves up and down plus pushes the cotton to the rear of the box.

Up close of the picker.

Here you can see the compactor in a different position. The hopper is being dumped in front of it.

The hopper operator sure dumped a lot of cotton on the ground. You can just make out the guy beside the compactor throwing some back into the box.

October Happenings

We had a Halloween party at the park but had poor attendance due to so many other things happening. Anyway here's some of the spooks out that night.

I planned to be a full bunch of grapes instead of a half of a bunch but this is all the coverage I got with 38 balloons. There were enough balloons there to make it hard to sit or do much of anything.

We put an entry into a Relay for Life fundraiser called "Dress your Banana Split". Creative people, huh? Do you understand the Addressed Banana? Addressed - a dressed. LOL We just thought we would take some bananas for kicks and all we used was a marker for our "costume". Yeap, the Siamese Twins were our contribution. Maybe next year we'll have triples.

Winter Destination

We got to Sunscape RV Resort by Casa Grande, AZ on October 1st. We were getting all set up and this is what I spot. Yep, a nail in the tire. Nolan was taking it off the next day so he could take it into town and he notices the tire across the way looks low. He pulls out the tire pressure gauge and it reads 30 psi. As usual we had checked them the morning of the 1st before we hit the road. The one with the nail in it was at 102 psi so we aired it up to 110 psi like it is supposed to be. All the rest were fine. Nolan took the one with the nail into town and they said it couldn't be patched or plugged so he bought a new one. Only $375! Yep these tires are expensive.
Once we got the second tire off, we found a nail in it. This one the shop was able to patch. During five years of living in our RV full-time, these are the only nails we've gotten in our tires.

Last spring we stayed on this RV site for two weeks and liked it so we rented it for six months this winter season. I didn't get the Activities Director job here until fall but it worked into our plans. As you can see, the site is on a corner.

Nolan got on top of the trailer and took some photos. We're in a lot that backs up to the outside so there's no one behind us. This is looking south.
This is just to the left of the previous photo. People walk their dogs around the outside of the fence.

This is the view to the west... in front of the trailer.
This is the front gate. Most residents have a card they swipe to open the gate but as an employee, I received a clicker. So much easier.

...As you drive past the Welcome Center, you can see the west side of the Clubhouse. Didn't take a photo of the front side so you'll just have to imagine it. LOL The saquaro cactus is a replacement. The much older, armed one that was there was toppled by wind last spring.

This is the east side of the clubhouse where a small separate building housed the post office.
Next to the Clubhouse is the Community Center. This is where events that need a sound system are held.
The pool sits behind the Clubhouse and beside the Community Center.

View of the pool from the road. Still seeing the back side of the clubhouse.

Inside the Clubhouse is seating for meals and card games. The kitchen is in the clubhouse and meals are served from it three times a week during the season.

One side room has a fireplace.

My office is also located in the Clubhouse. This photo is from my first day at work and I am in training. The air conditioning isn't working so it's probaby 80° or more in there. The a/c was repaired on 10/8/09.

This building is the Activities Center. Most card playing is done here. It also holds a library, a billards room, a weight room, a laundry room and a conference room.