Amazing Grace.....

6:55 am - Monday - April 6th - Wittmann, AZ - 48° F, 58% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the northeast........clear, blue, sunny skies today (again) with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this day in 2014 we visited Desert View, Grand Canyon for the first time.......

.....we stayed at a small RV park in Cameron, AZ, and drove to the Grand Canyon from there.  Who knew then we would spend 4 months living in working here from November 2017 to March 2018.

I did something Sunday I have not done for over a month.....I took a long bike ride.  Around 10 am I got on my bike and headed out not knowing how far I would go, or where I would go, which is what I love to do.  I initially rode 227th Avenue (about 90% dirt/gravel) all the way north to where it intersects Highway 60.  There I transitioned to a dirt access road the local electric company uses to access their power lines along the highway riding it all the way west to Patton Road, then on Patton (all pavement) to 227th Avenue again which is dirt all the way back to Newell House......

....in all I covered 12.9 miles of which about 70% was dirt/gravel, but that is no problem for my Haibike SDURO eBike.....I did the entire ride in assist level 2 (has 4 assist levels) averaging around 15 mph.

I returned around 10:45 am to a message on my phone from our local free range chicken egg supplier that I could pick up another 2 dozen eggs at noon time.  I took time to plug in the battery for the Haibike which was down to 81%....it recharged in less than an hour.  By the time it was done it was time to head over to 211th Avenue to pick up the eggs....the round trip takes less than 20 minutes.  Later in the afternoon when the shade was covering the VW I got out my car washing gear, and washed off a couple of months of dirt, and grime.  

At 6 pm we had another Zoom call....this time with my mother, who was transferred to Hospice care earlier in the day from the hospital where she will spend her final days in her physical body.......

.....my brother-in-law, Bob Hammett, asked somewhat jokingly if she would sing part of 'Amazing Grace'......many of my friends know my mother has a wonderful singing voice, and in the 60's and 70's performed often for several thousand people at one time.  I remember her singing this song in Blythe Arena at Squaw Valley, CA for around 9,000 people back in the mid 60's....acapella.  I still get goose bumps.  At any rate, she paused for a second and began to sing.  My sister-in-law, Jeannie Hockwald, managed to catch the last few seconds of the first verse, which I transferred to YouTube......

.....my mother is over 90 years of age, and has congestive heart failure, so I had no idea if she could sing, or not, but sing she did, and right on pitch......it was a gift from God to hear her sing, and to know her voice was still in fine shape after all these years.  We talked with her for the better part of an hour.  I feel blessed this morning.  I love you Mom!

What would my daily missive be like without a health update for TLE and I.....we continue to be asymptomatic.    Arizona stats......2,269 positive, 25,141 negative....64 total deaths.  Nationally our stats are.......334,487 positive, 1,450,919 negative with 9,586 deaths.

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