St Andrews day [November 30th]

Wednesday and a chilly evening last night again.  That is pretty much what we can expect for a while now at night.  Once the sun got up the day warms up nicely and we ditch our coats, so not all that bad.  It makes it kind of tough to go bike riding in the morning as we are a bunch of fair weather riders.  LOL
  I had committed to help Jerry pack up his sister's move.  As it turns out he had lots of help and two other guys in the park came to ask for a ride over as their wives had taken their vehicles.  Took my hand truck over and it came in pretty handy.  It was mainly boxes, but she had lots, so we had one in the van packing while the rest of us brought them out to the truck.  With 6 of us it didn't take long and Joanne was very appreciative.  She had been living here in AJ, but has sold her place and is moving to Reno, Nevada where her only son and his family live.  Jerry is driving the truck for her tomorrow, so will be gone a few days.  Pat is going in the car with her as she has a problem falling asleep and needs someone to help keep her alert. 

  After lunch it was back on the tools.  I fabricated the tap installation and water lines, the last step in my utility connections.  As soon as it was all plugged Marg was keen to try it out.  She loaded it up with the inaugural load of dirty laundry and set it in motion.  It was a humble start to it's chores in the our household with a load of unmentionables [you know gaunch].  It seems to have worked it's way through it, first washing, then drying.  It will sure save Marg a lot of trips and eliminate a lot of carrying.  It just sits on the cement pad under our carport because we don't have space in the trailer.  Lots of folks have a utility shed they put them in, but I wanted to try and simplify the utility connections, so went with this redneck option.
  It was just about happy hour by then and after the repairs to the patio heater, it was very pleasant out there tonight.  Marg of course was anxious to tell everyone about her good fortune with the laundry.
  She had supper pretty much ready to go as we both had plans for right after.  Supper was shrimp and rice with peas.  One that I am always up for.
  After supper I went to play poker.  We had a pretty good group tonight, 6 of us  I was pretty lucky again and probably ended up being the big winner, which means I made a dime.  That is kind of an inside joke around here. 
  Marg and Lynette went to Hobby Lobby for a few things.  It's only about 2 miles from here, so no big deal to get there and back in lots of time.  Apparently there was a traffic detour because of an accident when they were coming home.  To hear her tell they kind of got tangled up in a round about residential area and it took a while to get back on their road.  Then they drove a while and Lynette used her GPS system on her phone to make sure they were on the right road, but they never seemed to get any closer.  They felt confident as they saw places they are familiar with like Walgreens, so not worried at all.  There is one of these on just about every street corner, LOL.  After quite a bit of driving, Marg started to question Lynette's system, so got our GPS working.  They weren't really sure where they were by then, but were laughing that it seemed like they were just tele-ported to a strange place by aliens.  When she got it going, it directed her to the big freeway and even though she surprised & wasn't fussy about the freeway, she has learned to trust Barbie [the voice in it].  They were a bit surprised to see the directions showing it was well over 20 miles to home.   From her description of what was nearby when they finally resorted to the GPS, I think they were in Ahwatukee by South mountain.  I have never been there, but it's half way across the metro area and the Trader Joes out there where they think they may have been shows 28 miles from here.  Anyway they had a great adventure and lots of laughs.  It worked out and the story will be told and re-told a few times.  LOL.