We have arrived in Congress, Az.

I know it's a long time since I have posted anything to the blog. We finally got the rv back the first of March. After picking up the rv we headed to the rv park around the corner from Jeremy's where the things that we took out of the trailer during the repair process was stored. We moved everything back into the rv and took off for Arizona. We spent the weekend in Deming, NM visiting friends there before moving on. WE arrived in Congress a few days before the wood carving workshop was to begin. I talked to the manager of the park and he said we could wait till after wood carving week to start our workcamping job.  This is one of the reasons that we like working for the Escapees RV Club. The managers are very accommodating and very nice to work for. They will go out of their way to help you and make your stay a pleasure. 

March 22 was the start of carving week. When I found out that Bill Strickler was teaching a class on carving a Cardinal, I had to sign up. Bill is one of the best bird carvers in the country. I took a class form Bill 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. The other thing is, my Mother's favorite bird was the Cardinal. In honor of my Mother I decided to carve the bird. I had thought I was going to work on my cotton wood bark carving but couldn't resist the bird. I am sorry I didn't think to pictures of the carving procedure, it would have been a lot more impressive. After five days of carving, we started the paint job on the sixth day. Bill is known for is painting of the birds he carves.   He took us through the steps of how to blend one color into the next and how to highlight the feathers and other detail. I am very happy with the end result. Mom would have loved it!!

Hard at work

The finished bird

After carving the bird I had to figure out a way to display it. Bill gave me a piece of mesquite wood. I had a base in my stash. I decided to try a technique I had seen on a carving  web site to make the base look better. The process I used was spread a product called Mod Podge over the base. I sifted sand from the desert to get the fines. After covering the base with the Mod Podge, I sprinkled the sand over it and patted it down onto the  goo. When it was all set up I sprayed it with 6 coats of sealer. I was very pleased with the in results. 

We stared work Tuesday here in the park. Louise is learning the new computer system that was installed in the office since we left. On days that we don't work, I go to the Pickleball court at 7:30 am and play till about 9:30. There are 7 or 8 players so you play a game and set out a game. I am already starting to lose a little weight...YEA At 4:00pm Louise and I go to the court to play with another group. The afternoon group  plays more for fun and exercise. The morning group is a play for blood group and Louise does not like to play at that time. We plan on doing a lot of motorcycling while are here. We haven't been out much on the bike yet because of carving week. We plan on going to the Phoenix Bike Fest on Sunday. Next we we plan on riding to Jerome, a little town in the mountains. Looking forward to making a lot of trips on the bike.

Louise has been working on her next quilt. She sewed together all of her scrap strips of fabric--1 1/2 in to 4 in wide and whatever length--to make this piece which will be the top.  The finished product may surprise you.

We will try to post more often in the future. I kind of got out of the habit during all the down time we had while the rv was being repaired.  Once we get back on the road with the bike we will have something to blog about. 

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Til next time

Duane and Louise