Where to Downsize?

 We are looking for a smaller place with less maintenance, and we really aren't geographically limited in terms of places to live.  

Justin was the main reason we continued to live in south-central Wisconsin.  We both have some friends in the area, but not a lot of close family.  Julia's parents have both passed. My dad passed this year, and my mother isn't necessarily committed to living long-term in Iowa, although she will probably stay there in the short term. 

Have we considered staying in Wisconsin?  Yes, we know we like Madison, and we would consider living there, if it wasn't the most expensive place to live in the state of Wisconsin.  The truth is that we could sell our house and barely afford to trade to a newer two bedroom townhouse or condo.  Add in the much higher property taxes and a monthly chunk for an HOA, and living in Madison loses much of its allure.  

On the other hand, we know Madison.  We've lived in the area for over 40 years.  It's a progressive city with great parks, festivals, bike paths, lakes, etc. If we could find the right place that we could afford, we would certainly consider it.  But we've been looking at the market for quite awhile without finding anything that tempted us.   In the meantime, we are doing our due diligence to see if there might be somewhere else in the country for our next adventure.  

What are the criteria that we are examining for our next location? A medium-sized city in a walkable neighborhood, good bike trails, access to hiking (mountains and/or desert), diversity in culture and restaurants, sustainable water supply, sunny climate, less winter, affordable housing, good health care, reasonably low crime, a blue or at least purple state, and a thriving arts/weaving community.

We've done quite a bit of research already, and the four states at the top of our list have both pros and cons. None of them meet all of our wants, but life is about compromises. The three states we will visit this fall include:  Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.  There are four cities where we will airbnb in apartments and condos to get a better "boots on the ground" feel that can't achieved with internet/Zillow research.  

The plan is to blog about each of the cities as we experience them.

On a more immediate note, last night I won my first pickleball medal (bronze) at the second annual Baird's CAPA Cup.   It was my partner's first tournament, and we played at the 4.0 level (men over 50).  I felt like we both underachieved, losing badly in two out of three games at the start.  In the next three games, we were often behind but kept battling, winning each game to qualify for the bronze medal round.  Then we won decisively in the medal round.  It was a lesson to never give up--no matter how badly things are going.

 

Sweaty John

If a Tree Falls in the Forest

I've been training hard during the last couple of weeks with my new pickleball partner for Wisconsin's largest pickleball tournament, taking place this weekend.  After that, I'll be ready for a "pickleball break."  

 

Thursday night Round Robin

Julia and I made reservations at one of our favorite COE campgrounds on the Mississippi River next week, where we can now take advantage of 50% off with the Senior Pass ($10/night) with electric. 

This morning, after taking Callie on a four mile hike in the country, I saw something very disturbing up near my Scamp.

Close Call

We had been experiencing a severe drought, and then over four inches of rain dumped on Wednesday and Thursday night.  The branches and leaves of the trees eagerly soaked up the moisture, causing severe stress for the now top-heavy oak. The trunk snapped and landed about two feet from the tongue of the Scamp 

It took about three hours today to cut up the part of the tree that blocked access to the Scamp,, move the rounds to my firewood processing area, and drag the small branches back into the woods.  On a hot and humid day, I may have set a perspiration record.  There is another twenty or thirty feet of uncut trunk going back into the woods.  It will make quality firewood but will wait until a cooler day. 

I ended up moving vehicles around and put the Scamp in our driveway until our camping departure.  There is another double trunk tree nearby (to the right side of the photo above, and it has a severe bend without breaking yet.  It'll be interesting to see if it's still standing when we return from our trip.  The  trunks are under far too much pressure from the wet branches to safely fell at this point. 

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Pickleball Dangers

When I was in junior high and high school, I played basketball all of the time and had a frequent issue with sprained ankles.  After stopping play, more than 40 years went by without ever having another problem.  

I suppose I was overdue when I rolled my ankle playing pickleball on Monday.  The courts here aren't exactly pristine.  There are cracks and a few uneven surfaces that are potential hazards.   As a civil defense attorney, I used to preach to juries about the need to be aware of one's surroundings in slip and fall cases.  I didn't follow my own advise.Yeah, it was my own dang fault.

As I moved laterally across the court to get into position to handle a lob that got behind my partner, there was an area of elevated blacktop where the basketball pole used to be.  Focused on the ball, I didn't notice. BAM!  My ankle rolled hard!  

I walked it off and finished my play that morning, but that was just the beginning of things.  When I took off my shoe and elevated my right foot, the ankle swelled up with an ugly bruise.

I was pretty much incapacitated for the rest of the day.  Julia picked up an ankle support from the pharmacist, along with some anti-inflammatory cream to rub on the injury.  

By yesterday morning, with the help of the ankle support, I was still able to walk Callie --at a much reduced pace.  Today, I'm close to normal but took the day off from pickleball.  With gravity, the black and blue went to the bottom of my foot.   I'll try again on Friday but will probably wear the ankle support for added protection.

Carnaval is Over

Last night was the final celebration for Mazatlan's Carnaval, and I am relieved!  What started off as a novelty for us ended up getting very old.  It wasn't the crowds; it was the noise.  Mexican bands played loudly until 2 or 3 a.m. every night, except for last  night when the band played until 4 a.m. at our street corner.  

Every morning, the Malecon (seawall sidewalk) was trashed with food, paper, and liquids of dubious origin.   The city street cleaners managed to clean it up every day--only to have it trashed the next night again. 

We paid for a ticket to see the Saturday night parade from the Hacienda Hotel and joined some pickleball friends there. 

The food, drink, and company was great, but the parade (and the bands) went on and on and on.  Julia stayed until the bitter end.

 

 

I had to get up and move my cramped body from the small plastic chair into the open space at the rear of the hotel, where I could breathe.

Now that the Mardi Gras celebration is over, I'm hoping to get back to normal life in Mazatlan.  We played pickleball today.  I found my sweet spot today and won five out of six games.  We will try to go out to eat to tonight at a place that serves regional specialties, hoping that no reservations will be needed.

A Friday in Mazatlan

The weekend is when Mazatlan really opens up and blossoms.  Mexicans from the interior of Mexico come here on the weekends to vacation and party.  By Friday afternoon, there were twice as many people on the beaches as earlier in the week.  Bands were playing.  Kids were running in the surf.  Popup bars, taco stands, and street vendors showed up in places that we had not seen before.

 

This morning, I was up early trying to tire Callie out so that we could leave her for most of the day in the condo in her crate.  I did a brisk walk of 4.5 miles on the Malecon (the beachside walkway), while Julia went for a short run. After breakfast, we walked a mile up to a local college for our first day of pickleball club.  The club is called the Mazatlan Pickleball Academy, which maybe should have been my first hint that this was going to be a higher level of play than the recreational style to which we are accustomed.

These players are intense. The day started off with drills, which I found helpful, but it was totally unexpected.   Each day of play (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), a round robin tournament is held during which scores and outcomes are meticulously kept, and players move to higher or lower courts, based upon outcomes.  I did okay so will probably keep my place, neither moving up or down. 

Julia had a rough day and will probably move to a lower level which will be more fun for her (I hope).  I ended up playing for almost four hours before my court's tournament was completed.  

We headed over to the beachfront restaurant for a late lunch.  Julia had grilled dorado (fish).  I had a craving for hamburger and fries, so that's what I had.  

Finally, we freed Callie and later took her along on a Malecon and beach walk as the sun set.  

We made sandwiches at home tonight and have settled in for a night of reading.  The weekend fireworks along the beach have already started.

Mazatlan's Malecon

The Malecon in Mazatlan is the longest in Latin America, comprising 13 miles of continuous seafront promenade next to the seawall.  This morning, we were walking south on the Malecon about 6 a.m.  A fisherman was already at work on the beach.  Other small fishing boats were just offshore.

Fishing Under the Moon

We learned today that many sculptures have been installed on the Malecon in advance of the Mardi Gras celebration here.  Julia took some photos of these sculptures early this morning, as darkness receded into dawn.

On the way back, some fishermen were already busy selling their fresh catch, using a small scale to determine weight and price.

 

We found closer pickleball courts today, met some expats, and made plans to join their pickleball club.  We will begin playing on Friday.

Pickleball in the Cold

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold with temperatures in the 30's and not rising out of the 40's.  For exercise, Julia had the great idea to go play pickleball inside at the tennis center open to the general public in Corpus Christi.  

When we got there, we discovered that her information was bad; the courts were all outside, and no one was playing on any of the ten beautiful and permanent courts.  Just then, two people got out of their cars and walked over to us.  "You two playing?" the man asked.  "Um, sure", we replied.   "Okay, then, we've got four to play."

So we played in the coldest weather that we've ever played in.  Greg was a retired carnival worker, and his lady friend was Danell.  They were both really good and play all over south Texas.  We somewhat held our own and kept it competitive.  Later, Eric showed up, giving us five, which allowed one person to take a break during games.  Eric left early because he didn't want to be too tired for a tournament he was scheduled to play in that night. Pickleballers are crazy!

 

It was so cold that we cracked four pickleballs, but a good time was had by all. 

Later we went to lunch at Railroad Seafood Station and Brewing Company.  The beer was unremarkable, but the seafood gumbo and fish po' boys were delicious

We finished getting our exercise in on the bayfront walkway.

USS Lexington

The ship above is actually a museum, which we did not tour.  Several huge freighters came in between the museum and the shore.  If the weather was nicer, that's the kind of thing that I could watch all day.  I'm not all that interested in ships, but they do make my imagination run about all of the stories that they could tell.  

We head tomorrow to San Antonio for a couple of days. 

Clouds Ahead

I'm glad that we were able to arrive on Padre Island a day early.  The chances for beautiful sunrises and sunsets are slim for the next week according to the weather forecast.   In fact, there's a better chance of some rain.

We still got up before "sunrise" and took a nice walk on the beach, observing some pink behind the clouds.  Breakfast was cereal, along with my home-roasted coffee in the french press.  Then Julia got that look in her eyes that spells trouble.  "I'd like for us to go play pickleball in Port Aransas."  Um, okay.  I was planning for a more lazy day.

Community Park's pickleball courts were busy with Winter Texans from the Midwest playing pickleball.  We ended up playing for over two hours.  Nice group of people.

 

Afterwards, we stopped at Stingray's Taphouse and Grill for a wood-fired pizza and a beer from Nueces Brewing.  By that time, Callie was quite frantic that she wasn't going to get a walk out of the excursion, so we took a walk up the Port Aransas beach.