Another Saturday

Well, it has been a week since I visited this blog. So let's see. Monday we drove to Phoenix, checked into a hotel and spent the afternoon going over papers and files that we needed to be very familiar with for a hearing on Tuesday with a federal judge. Tuesday morning we went downtown to the VA regional office and went to a very formal hearing. We were sworn in, the entire hearing was taped, the judge was from Washington DC. We had a DAV representative who acted just like our lawyer. It was really quite interesting.
And why did we do all of this?? Because six years ago Mike filed a claim for disability based on an injury to his knee while in Vietnam. And since the VA has a total of 24 months to satisfactorily resolve any claim ours was extremely out of compliance--on their part, not ours.
Anyway, this was an interesting experience. And we still don't know the resolution. It will probably be 3 months at least before we know anything more.
The best thing about the day was that we got to see Charlie and have lunch. We were planning to spend Tuesday night at his house, but we got in to the hearing before our appointed time and so finished much earlier than expected. We took Charlie to our favorite gourmet place near his work--McDonalds. We thought of going to Denny's for the free breakfast, but the line around the building and down the sidewalk discouraged us.
Wednesday Mike rested and I moved furniture. It seems to be my current hobby. But I am slowly getting things where and how I want them
Thursday we went to the Tubac art festival. Lots of walking. Lots of art. Beautiful weather. What more could we ask for???
No I have lost a day somewhere. Friday we went to Tubac. Ditto all of above. Then we went to Tumacacori mission and stopped at the Santa Cruz Chile Company. Just stepping in the door is healthy. The air is pungent with the smells of 100's of different chilis all packaged and ready to go. But I only bought dried cilantro. It's like dried parsley, but tons better flavor.
Then, Friday night our friends from Mata Ortiz--Jeromino Boyd and Jorge Quintana came down and spent the night. They are selling beautiful things at the Art Festival and will be here for 2 nights. Always fun. So, Mike is resting and I am getting ready to go putter about. Have a wonderful day. As always. . . .