Thursday, December 1st

Time passes so quickly, here it is December, 2016 and we have been in Arizona the better part of a month already.
  We were up fairly early as we both had commitments this morning.  For Marg it was off with the gamblin' gals to the Fort.  For me is was coffee and rolls in the hall.  There were 5 of them this morning going and there was the lure of the unknown dish as they left the park.  For some of them the dish is useful, but I suspect some it's the lure of the unknown.  The gambling went ok, better for some, as is generally the case.  Marg won the first game of bingo, but had to split, so the prize money was modest.  She was glad just to break the ice and get a win, good for her.  Two of the other ladies won on fairly big payouts, so there was quite a bit of good humour on the return trip.  Oh yes, the dish; well today it was a cookie jar.  Not just any cookie jar, but a ceramic shaped like a snowman with a bit of a Christmas 'y' theme.  Pretty cute actually, although I think Marg has made her mind to give hers to Doris.  Aside from being a very dear friend to her, she feels obligated for the washer/dryer they gave her.
  The coffee and donuts was pretty well attended and I got a blueberry fritter.  It's an opportunity to share information and to hear about plans or activities for the coming week and sometimes several weeks in advance for the activities that require commitments.  I took a few pictures and then put it on the tenants association FB page.  There was a new item a pledge for the Canadian visitors that some of the residents have brought forward.  The president wanted something to respect the Canadian flag and last year we had a moment of silent reflection, this year they have a pledge advocated by the snowbirds association.  I frankly do not feel comfortable with either and tell them when they ask me that I am a guest in their country and respect their traditions and customs, but do not expect anything like they are doing.  We don't have a pledge to our flag when we are in our country, so I do not expect it here and that when they fly our flag that is sufficient tribute for me.  Waste of my breath.
  After coffee I went out to pick up some things and stopped on the way at a yard sale.  The guy had an honest to goodness cannon ball for sale.  Apparently they are not all that rare out in the desert.  In fact a guy there was saying he has found quite a few artifacts that are remnants of the army battles with the Indian tribes in the area from the wild west era.  It was only $10 and I debated long about it, not because of the cost, but what I would do with it.  it's actually very heavy and appears to be about 4 or 5 inches in diameter.  I liked it, having served in an artillery regiment, but the questions still remains - what will I do with it?  Picked up some pipe insulation as I have some exposed water line and although it does not generally freeze here, it has happened and I wanted to put some on the hot water line to make it a bit more energy efficient.  Then I did some catch up on the laptop, mainly because I needed a couple of jokes to tell at the animal races.  Gene is not here yet and he generally fills in for Clyde, so I sometimes fill in.
  When Marg got back we went for a brief happy hour and then supper in the trailer tonight.  The animal races have been moved to Thursday evenings now, so it was down to the hall for the inaugural running.  The elephant came close, but the elephant lovers of Apache Junction were disappointed with not win on the card.  Marg won 4 races and I won 3, so not bad out of 8 races.  She has taken over my happy dance routine and using it more than me, not sure what I think of that.  LOL  There were a couple of new people and our numbers were down a bit, but that's because lots of folks aren't here yet.