Had a problem with the ensuite toilet this morning — for a while now the water has kept on running a bit long after a flush. So I took the tank apart, looked up a couple of youtube videos on how to fix it.
We decided to go on a bit of a road trip after lunch. So I put my Steve Jobs book aside and we got in the van after 1pm. Sue had a shopping list for Walmart. And we wanted to see the Maricopa area, about an hour southwest of Gold Canyon.
We had a nice drive down to Maricopa. Once we got there we drove around in a few of the neighborhoods there — and both of us were pleasantly surprised! Instead of a dilapidated dying community we found nice homes, nice yards, not very many ‘for sale’ signs, and lots of families. Children playing outside. Parks. Malls. Nothing like the long barren stretch of (litter-filled) desert we drove through to get there.
We visited the Walmart in Maricopa. Not too crowded with Saturday shoppers. Sue got most of the things she had on her list. Next we went to the ACE hardware store. Again, a nice surprise. Incredibly helpful salespeople, friendly, knowledgable. So I asked all my questions about how to fix the sprinkler system, the outside tap, the toilet. Got the right parts.
On our way home we stopped in Chandler at a couple of discount clothing stores. I looked for sandals (and didn’t buy any). We got home just before sunset. Enough time for me to replace the filler valve on the toilet. All fixed, works great. Then we had our gin and tonics and barbecued a couple of steaks. Sue made some great rice and snow peas and tomato and avocado salad. A very fine supper.
After supper I finished my book. Then we watched the (Redbox) movie “Lincoln Lawyer”. I felt like I might have seen it before, but we both enjoyed it. After the movie a bit of late night TV, iPad Scrabble for Sue, journal for me. Tomorrow? NFL on TV all day. Yes!