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.

Tuesday, Nov 29th

It was chilly in the night, well in the morning as well, but by mid morning it is warming up and around mid-day it is quite pleasant.  It's funny to watch the weather reports when they blame the winter like weather coming down from Canada.  When my friends down here mention it, I just tell them in Canada we get the same effect, but blame it on weather coming down from Alaska.  It just doesn't stop in Canada, rather keeps coming south until it gets here, just like the snowbirds.  LOL
  Got some more of my project done today: put the paneling back in the bathroom closet, caulked around the pipe, etc.  Almost had a whoops with the drain pipe, it was set in place yesterday so I could measure the fit on the pieces, but one joint was not cemented.   Fortunately I discovered it and was able to remedy the situation before it became a problem.  Put the plug-in together and wired it into the circuit with the 20 amp breaker designed to handle the washer.  The power now is operational, so just need to do the water connections.  I had to take a break while the silicone was setting up.  It shouldn't take much to complete it, but I may have trouble getting to it tomorrow, we'll see.  I had a bit of a planning change, so had to go to the hardware to exchange some parts.  The cashier said, "thanks for coming in Dave".  You know you are spending too much time in the hardware store when......
  Marg's friend Shannon stopped by about then with a kitchen over the sink light fixture she bought.  He light quit and when I was walking back from church service she cornered me, so I took the faulty one out.  She had a nice LED one and I thought she came to ask my opinion on it, but no she was looking for an installer.  She is on her own now, but trying to do what she can, so I went down to her place just prior to lunch.  It was pretty much ready for a light, so it didn't take very long to put it in.  Not certain what her reaction will be, but the light will be much brighter than her old fluorescent.  Then she asked me to look at her shed & Az room.  She is looking form someone to finish off the entry, it's kind of a porch.  The electrical is a boars nest and the construction of the entry leaves a bit to be desired.  Howard had started it, but with his health was unable to complete it.  It looks to be a handful and I tried to decline, but she asked me to think about it.  I am thinking it is more work than I want to tackle, I'm here to have some fun.
  Lunch was Reuben sandwiches.  For me that is great, as it's the thing I most frequently order in a restaurant.  Marg had a nice marble rye bread and a tasty sauerkraut.  It was nice just to sit down to a cup of tea on a chilly day.  By the time we finished lunch it was warm enough that a jacket was too warm, so our timing was perfect.
  Did a bit of visiting this afternoon, some new people arrived and the usual visitors from around the park.  One of them came to see me about the Canadian flag at the park entrance.  I guess both flags  got tore up in the wind the other day and need replacement.  I had replaced the last one, so they were asking if I could do it again.  I had got a free one from my member of parliament a couple of years ago and brought it down.  They were impressed as they have to buy them here, even their own flag.  Will have to call him tomorrow and see if that is still an option.
  Happy hour was off to a slow start.  Some of the guys had to go to Peoria for a part and weren't back yet and others were late, so I had to sit with the ladies for a bit.  They were gracious in inviting me to their group, LOL.  It's a bit like the Hutterites:  guys over here, gals over there.  It wasn't too long until the guys came, it seems they got caught up in traffic and that was a traumatic experience.  Larry said there are only 7,000 in their entire county in S. Dakota and guessed there were more people on the road than in the entire state, pretty funny.
  Supper was a chicken dish in the slow cooker.  It was very nice and Marg is always well organized on Tuesday.  Bingo in the hall tonight and we don't want to be late for that.  There were 4 winners at out table, none of whom were named Gourlay, but it was all good as they are all friends.  Marg credited the luck to her bringing licorice goodies and everyone sharing in them.  Maybe I should have eaten more than one?
 

Monday, last one in November

After the rains last night, it was cool this morning.  I turned on the heat this morning, it was pretty chilly in the trailer, in fact it may have been warmer in the house, where we have the heat turned down, LOL.  It did warm up quite a bit and although the wind was cool and the day was pleasant.
We decided to tackle the laundry hook-ups today, so started with the sewer as I thought it was the most difficult part.  We needed some parts, so we went to Best hardware where we pretty much filled a basket with plumbing and electrical pieces.  It took a bit of creativity, but I think we have it completed and ready to move on to the next part.  The primer I used on the drainage pipes was just about enough to make a guy ill, but that was really the only negative of the whole day.
  By then it was happy hour so we went down to join the group.  Larry's patio heater was not operating, which was unfortunate as it would have been nice to have by that time.  I think he is looking for someone to mess with it, but I am committed for tomorrow being half way through this laundry challenge.  Maybe one of the other guys will tackle it.  A couple of them went out in the desert today and said it was a nice time out there, but not too sure.  There has been snow up north in the high country [especially Flagstaff], so that usually means the higher mountain areas as well.
  The good news about the cooler weather is the critters aren't as active.  Snakes don't even get active until the night time temperatures are much warmer.
  Supper tonight was left overs from the roast beef dinner last night and was great.  As luck would have it there were still a couple of pieces of cheesecake to finish off the meal.
  Busy day, but mainly on the tools, so not too exciting.  Will try to get a few pics of the laundry once we get it operating.

Sunday, Nov 27th

Another chilly day in the valley of the sun, hey wait where was the sun?  I think the temp got up to about 65 today and Marg said this is not the Arizona she signed on for, she would rather have the 80 stuff.
  I got out and went to the church service this morning.  It was nice to see the attendance up from last week.  Pat B handed me a hymnal, pretty funny, so I asked her if she was expecting me t sing today.  Years ago my daughter told me "don't sing dad", apparently my singing sounds like someone strangling a cat, I just follow along reading it.  When I got back home, Marg had made biscuits and had some home made jam as well as other spreads.  They were like baking soda biscuits and I always enjoy those.
  After breakfast she went out to pick up a few things as she was having guests for dinner.  I worked on the drawers in the closet in our room so they would slide properly.  It was just some wear & tear that had them dragging when slid in or out.  I finished just about as Marg came back with the groceries.
  By then Kenny stopped by, ready to go to Harbour Freight.  We had talked about going yesterday, but he got his mail, so put it off until today.  He gets his mail once a week because his deal is that they bundle it up in Kansas and forward it that way.  It usually takes him a bit of time as he pays bills and generally deals with it.  He had a few things he wanted to look at and I am always up for a trip there.  We both had lots of coupons, but it takes a bit of picking through them to get the best of them.  I bought a set of hole saws and got a magnetic strip to hold tools and it attaches to just about anything.  I have one on my pegboard here and want to do the same thing at home, so was happy with it.
  When I got back Marg had started preparations for the evening meal.  She has lots of fun with this stove as it seems to have a mind of it's own, but she was successful.  First she made a strawberry cheesecake, then a nice roast beef, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, dinner rolls.  Kenny and Doris got here shortly before Lynette and we had a nice visit and cocktail before the meal.  It was a fun evening and a good way to spend a rainy evening.

Saturday Nov 26th

A much cooler day today, in fact I don't think we even saw the sun.  The winter weather that is impacting most of the country is now influencing Arizona weather.  I think our daytime highs were in the mid 60's [16-18C] although the winds had died down.  While it's still very pleasant, this trend seems to be what we can expect for the next two weeks.  In fact they are even forecasting snow in elevations above 5,000 ft, so we'll be spared from that.
  Some new people pulled in with a 5th wheel and are parked across from us.  They are from Grande Prairie, although neither of us had ever met.  They worked in home construction and their builder has been hurt by the slow down, so they were out of a job and decided to go full time RV'ing. 
  Saturday and that means a big breakfast in the hall:  bacon, eggs & pancakes.  The numbers when I was there looked to be down, so it could be the weather or the fact that there are still lots of empty sites.  I would like to think that it's because I am no longer cooking pancakes, this is the place where you laugh!
  After breakfast we went out to the Mesa marketplace where I traded pocket books.  The old gal bought all I brought in and I in turn bought 8 new ones.  That should get me through the next week and possibly even the one after.  There really wasn't much else we were looking for so we made an early departure.  Not sure what Marg looked at while I was picking out books, but she did try on a top.
  On the way back we spotted an estate sale.  These can sometimes be good, so we followed the signs down south and it was in a very nice newer area.  It turned out that it was the guys mother who had lived in the house and might have been a bit of a shopper because they had lots of new/in the box stuff that looked like they were from the home shopping network on TV.  Marg bought a vacuum, still in the box for $25.  It's a smaller canister pull type.  She also got a steam blaster thing.  It kind of looks like a kettle with a nozzle and a hose attachment for $5.  It was the last day of their sale, so seemed very open to offers.
  When almost home we ran into another estate sale in a very good area.  It was a gated community on a golf course.  It appears to have been another woman living alone whose son and wife were disposing of stuff.  They must have been doing it for a while, but still had lots of good stuff like white leather furniture, crystal, china, etc.  The one thing I really liked was a grandfather clock that Marg said was top of the line, probably in the $6 - 8K price range new.  She did find a leather covered storage table, sort of.  I think it's a hassock cube that opens up and the top turns over to use as a serving top.  Anyway she paid $20 for it.
  After we returned to the park and Marg went out to Walgreens for some things at the drug store.  Supper was in the slow cooker tonight and that was our day.

Black Friday

  The wind blew today like it only can here.  Larry & I went for a short bike ride, but had to return early.  Even thought we never got many miles in we worked up a sweat like we had been out for a much longer ride.  It was tough going, when I was riding east directly into the wind, I was afraid it was going to blow me in reverse.
  The newspaper yesterday must have weighed 2 pounds with all the flyers in it.  It took a while, but Marg identified a destination she wanted to check out, Sears of all places.

As soon as we got ready we were off to the Sears store at Superstition Mall.  They had an unbelievable sale at the jewelry dept. and Marg had lost one of her good earrings and has been wearing costume jewelry.  She first picked out one pair from the 80% off bunch, they were 10 carat gold and a plain solid hoop.  The tag was regular $260, so $50.  Then she saw a second pair in the 90% off display that were 14 carat gold with Swarovski crystal pieces much like diamonds.  They were such a good deal and even though she really wanted the first pair, the lure of the second and the deal were too much to pass on.  After a lot of discussion, she bought them, regular $699 for $70 and has been on cloud nine since.  She deserves them doesn't she?  There were lots of other deals in the ladies wear, e.g.: blouses at $5 to $8; but she wanted me to get something.  You know her, probably feeling guilty for being so lucky.
  Then it was on the way home to Lowes where I got a 4 foot fiberglass ladder for less than half at $20 and a hand truck for half price at $30.  Hardly glamorous, but I could sure use both of them.  My practical side coming through again, eh!  LOL
  We were running out of time as Dave & Elizabeth Chomik were due at our place for 11:00 AM.  They came to Phoenix to watch the Oilers play the Coyote's tonight.  Dave was going on about paying $300 for 2 tickets, so I told him we would supply lunch to make him feel better.  Hah  It was fortunate as they were parked out front when we arrived, about 10:30.  Knowing David I suspected they would be early.  We had a nice visit and Marg made Reuben's with coleslaw on the side.  They left early with time to get over to Glendale and the arena.  After the game, they were driving back to Lake Havasau tonight.  David never changes, but Elizabeth is looking frail with the ravages of her disease, but still in good spirits.  It was nice to see them again.
  After that Marg was still looking for a few things, so went out to check out Kohl's, bed Bath & Beyond on Signal Butte and then a few other stores.  She did get a bed skirt as the fabric under the mattress on ours was simply disintegrating and the skirt was falling down.  That should bring her down to earth, LOL.
  It was a hot day in the sun, so a good time for Happy hour.  Marg was eager to show off her deal of the day.  Even though there were lots of folks there today, I never took my good deals to show off or brag about.  LOL  After we went to Dirtwater Café with Kenny & Doris for fish.  The all you can eat cod there is second to none and at $16 well worth it.  I think we had the cod replenished twice tonight and beer was at happy hour price.  We also got seated in the patio where there is entertainment, the same C&W singer that usually performs there on weekends.

Thanksgiving, November 24th

  Larry & I went out for a ride this morning, taking the short track again.  I think we made about 3 or 4 miles, but with the wind a fairly good workout.  The good news is the repaired tire tube is still holding air. 
  We celebrated our 2nd Thanksgiving this year with our friends in AJ.  We went in at 10AM to prepare the hall [table cloths & settings], make coffee, get the turkey in the oven to heat up, make the stuffing & gravy, get the steam trays set up and then clean up all the prep dishes.  The dinner was at 1PM, so for those who attended [approx. 60 diners], the timing worked, while some others had other functions or may have preferred an evening meal. Given the number of people in the park right now, that was a pretty good level of participation.  The part of the dinner our kitchen crew prepared [5 turkey's, 24 boxes of stuffing/dressing & 4 gallons of gravy] turned out pretty well and seemed to be well received.  It was tasty and came out hot with the turkey nice and moist.  Even so, I prefer the way Marg seasons & makes all 3.
  Serving the provided 3 components of the dinner went very smoothly and Marg said it was quicker than it takes to get everyone fed at our house.  Each table is required to organize and provide their own side dishes, kind of like an organized pot luck dinner.  We lucked out this year and our side dishes were excellent, making for a very enjoyable meal.  It's nice to see what other folks consider as in their meal planning for this well celebrated day on which food is an important part.  Marg brought mashed potatoes [5 pounds] and brussel sprouts [3 pounds] with diced almonds and kept them warm in her slow cookers while we served the turkey.  The cranberry sauce was unlike any I have had and was very good.  The sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows was a bit like the candied yams Marg makes.  We had home made bread [I brought the butter], some cinnamon pickle zucchini [Marg loved them], squash, and pumpkin pie [with cool whip topping].  At the end Kenny called me over and he had save us a piece of Doris's coconut cream pie [her pies are legendary].  We were so stuffed that I had to bring the pie home for later. 
  Clean up went pretty well with lots of people pitching in and we were out of there shortly after eating.  When I left I thought it would be for a snooze, but it seemed we got a second wind without falling victim to the sleepy turkey syndrome, although we did relax for most of the rest of the afternoon.
  A bit later I discovered Wilma was back at her place so went over to get her.  She had a nice picture of Elmo that she wanted to crop and get a copy of.  I had scanned it and wanted her to decide what the end result would look like.  She is a very talented artist and Marg has 3 or 4 of her pieces that she treasures.  Marg and her have a special connection, so Marg wanted to get the picture reproduced for her.  While she was at our place she had people looking for her but after finding her at our place kind of shook their heads and moved on.  We had a nice visit with her and got the changes made to the pic, then walked her home as it was dark.  She took the opportunity to show Marg the new floor she had installed a couple days ago as well as some other stuff.  Her car was unlocked, so in the process of locking it I managed to set off the alarm, which is always fun.  That attracted some of the neighbours who seem to keep an eye out for her well being.  Being a car I am not familiar with, the alarm went on for quite a while, arghhh embarrassing.
  After a short walk we went out to Walmart to get the pictures printed and a copy of the Thursday paper.  With tomorrow being black Friday there would be lots of adverts in the paper, so I wanted to see what was available.  While at Walmart, we were surprised to learn they had an advance sale with some great deals.  The parking lot was full of shoppers with most seeming to be buying toys for Christmas.  There were other deals as well, like an HP printer for $19, lots of remote cars and trucks for as low as $10, electric frying pan for $10, computer mouse $9, too many to remember them all.
  When we got back Marg had a couple of visitors, a friend of hers from south of Leduc who has a park model here and her friend.  They are just down for a couple of weeks and haven't had a visit for about a year now.  After they left, she went through the flyers and I think has a strategy mapped out for tomorrow [Black Friday].  One of the deals she saw advertised is a waffle iron for $10 and when you buy it you get a $10 rebate that you apply for, so it is actually free.  Another is gold earrings for $20 [I think we're going to that one].  From some of the media reports, I think it is called black Friday after the fighting over door opening specials or hot deals and the resulting black eyes.  LOL
  The weather was gorgeous today and got to almost 80F.  The wind blew in the morning and much stronger in the evening.  The night time temperatures are getting quite chilly.  I think it is forecast to be about 48 or 50 [9 or 10 C] tonight and you would think we have never been the cold before, LOL.  Anyway not a pleasant evening to sit out on the breezeway, so we are chill-axing in our recliner chairs in the trailer tonight.  Need to rest up after a busy day and in preparation for a bit of running around tomorrow.  Tune in tomorrow for a report on our success in finding great deals.

Wednesday, almost Thanksgiving!

It sure was chilly last night.  Marg had put the flannel sheets on the bed in order to launder the others, but with the forecast left them on.  I think the temp was in the 50's and it was definitely jacket weather when I went out to get the bike out.  I knew Larry was coming by as I had fixed the flat and sure enough at 8:00 he was here.  We rode a short track as he knew I to be at the kitchen for 9 and made a little better than 3 miles.

When we got back, Marg was ready to go and we went down for our kitchen duty.  We were preparing the turkey's and roasting them in advance of Thanksgiving dinner in the hall.  There was lots of help and we did 5 turkey's, so it was not too much for any one person or couple.  After we got that started, Marg made us a nice breakfast back at the trailer, well really it was about the time for brunch.  By then the day had really started to warm up and we had to get rid of coats and long sleeves.  I think our daytime high was in the mid 70's so a very nice day.
  With a bit of time to spare we went out to Walmart looking for new drip pans for the stove.  I think the ones on it were the originals from new and were pretty much done.  We also got a new ice cream scoop, like one that a pal of Marg's bought.  It is liquid filled and apparently it does not get frosty, so never has to be dipped in water or warmed up to scoop ice cream, we'll see.  Then to the deli where Marg ordered some shave pastrami.  Well at home that is very thin sliced, here it meant cut into small fragments that were not what she wanted, so we just took a few grocery items and left.   Then we went to Safeway where she got the thin sliced pastrami.
  By then it was back to the kitchen to take the turkey's out.  The two in the convection oven were golden brown, so we put the two in the conventional oven to brown them up for the last half hour.  After they were set out to cool and then be carved.  The carving was done by a couple doing the dark meat and two of us the white.  The other fellow was not familiar with removing the breast whole and then slicing it, but was pretty good at it when we finished.  We ended up with some nice trays of meat that were refrigerated until tomorrow. 
  By then it was happy hour, so we went for a quick one.  There was a large group assembled there and a few new people arrived again this week.  Everyone we see comments on our being here early this year as they generally are here before us.  The talk invariably turns to weather both what they had on the road and what it is like at home.  On the way home we discovered our neighbour had picked her lemons and had a basket of them out front for anyone to take, so Marg brought home 2.  They are really very nice when they are that fresh.
  Supper tonight was Taco Bell.  They have some new combo's out that are really good.  Marg had the big deal for $5 again. It has a burrito, a taco, a gordito, nachos with cheese dip and a drink, just a heck of a deal.  I had the gordito.taco combo and it was great and very filling for under $6.  There was another couple from the park in there and the place was pretty much full.  We always think of Katie when we go there, as it was one of her fav's. 
  When we got back, I went to poker tonight and on the way picked up a couple of lemons for Doris.  She loves them and would probably have missed out by tomorrow.  Marg peeled potato's and then prepared the brussel sprouts for tomorrow she will be ready with her contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.  There were only 4 of us for poker tonight, but that left us with options to play some of the games that don't work with larger numbers.  As luck would have it I ended up the big winner tonight and I gauge that more from the comments and complaints of the others than I do by a count.  We had a few laughs and that is what it is all about.

Tuesday

The weather turned pretty chilly last night and took a while for the sun to warm it up.  There seems to be a huge weather system covering most of the country.  The last I saw on the news was they have over 40 inches of snow in New York.  This system gave us weather that topped out during the day in the low 70's.  Still a very pleasant day but most people around here were dressing warmer. I went to long pants today and they were just right and even had a hoodie on for the early hours.
  Larry came by for a morning ride, but my tire was still flat, so I had to pass.  After we got organized, Marg went to do laundry, so I helped her with getting the stuff to the truck and into the Laundromat.  As luck would have it there were no other people with the same idea, so she had lots of machine space and was able to get everything going at the same time.  I was doing some organizing and making some changes in the shed as it's small and I really have to keep on top of organizing things to keep it from being a boars nest.  Then I got the tire off and found my leak, so had to go out for a patch kit.  Found it a the bike store up the Trail. They do flat repairs if you bring in the tire on the rim for $19, but I got the kit for $4 with enough patches for 20 fixes.  Hey I should go into business competing with them - NOT.  Anyway went back home [well this is my home for now] and helped Marg get the laundered clothes back to our place and then fixed the flat.
  Almost forgot, when we went out there was water all down the road in front of our place.  A guy pulled in late yesterday and connected to water and set up to fill his on board tank.  I guess he left it on all night and it just came out the over-flow.  Marg overheard the doofus camped next to him say - Yeh it ran all night.  Well most people would go over and say something I would think when you see a regular river running down the road in a state that has a water shortage. 
  We had what was left of our bread loaf in french toast [yes eggy bread Char], yes I know we had it yesterday.  I told her I wouldn't complain as long as we have it less than 6 days a week, LOL.  She is OK with it, but not that OK, so I consider myself fortunate anytime we have it.  After she got the stuff steamed and put away.  I took a quick test drive on the bike and then went to play pool.  I got in with a couple of pretty good players and we had some fun.  I won more than lost, but just when I start to get too confident, they would kick my butt.  Marg went out to Fry's for a few groceries.  With having only one fridge and no freezer she needs to shop much more frequently and Tuesday's seniors get a discount and apparently it was very busy in there.  She did see a local celebrity in the line ahead of her, he is the Willy Nelson impersonator at the Arizona Opry.
  Happy hour at Blanke's and there were lots of folks there today.  Then it was home for a bbq steak and baked potato.  Good thing Marg was organized because we didn't have a lot of time.  It was nice meat, for here; well it's not Alberta beef.  Then it was off to bingo.  We had a winner at our table, but alas not us.  We were both very close several times, but it was not meant to be.

Monday, Nov 21

An early start this morning as the gamblin gals wanted to be on the road by 8AM.  I wanted to get an early start anyway, so it never made any difference to me.  They went to Casino Arizona today as they were unhappy with the payouts at the Fort and have never been to this one.  It is related to the Talking Stick, but is the only one of the two that has bingo.  They thought the slots were tight, I don't think that meant drunk and as they were not too happy, I assume it meant they were not paying very well.  We had only been there in the evening and it sounds like the daytime format was different and while that is to be expected, it seems it was not positive.  There were no winners today and no talk about how close they were, so it may be a one-time visit. 
  I spent a bit of time planning my hot water tank installation and made a trip to Best to get the parts I needed.  I had intended to install the water connections on the side, but the tank had a top mount inlet and outlet, so had to change my thinking a bit.  I also picked up some shark bite connectors and it was fortunate I did as I had a problem that one of them solved.  After I installed it and turned the water on I had a leak with one of the pex connections in the old pipe.  This is an older trailer and the plumbing lines are the old grey pipe which is no longer used.  Whenever possible I try to convert it to the newer pex.  As luck would have it, the connection was at the back of the tank, so I had to drain it and take it out again. That was an argh moment.  Getting the old tank out was a bit of a challenge.  It wouldn't fit through the door on the place it resides, so I had to take the frame and door off the trailer.  The old tank was really heavy even when empty and I can only assume the insulation was saturated as it dripped constantly.  In fact I needed a hand putting it in the trash bin it was so heavy.  The little bit of water remaining in it was very rust colored, so I am certain is was very close to a major disaster type leak, so it was a bit of luck when we discovered it.  This is not the kind of thing I plan on for my winter retreat or the kind of souvenir I was hoping for in Arizona, but it is what it is.
  After all was done I had a nice hot shower.  That was the bonus in it all.
  I went down for happy hour with the guys and the gals showed up about half way through.  We had a bit of good news there as the Bingers had pulled in and it's always good to see them.  They have been going through some health stuff with their family, something we share in common.
  Let the fun begin - well as soon as I fix the flat tire on my bike.
  It rained a bit last night and the news reports on traffic this morning were all concerned with it making the roads slippery for the early morning commute.  These people should come to GP, we'd show them slippery.  There were lots of accidents as a result and it wasn't even that much rain.  It also rained a bit in the middle of the morning and I heard there was hail in Scottsdale.  The other big thing in the weather is that it is turning cold.  Lots of people were in long jeans today, as the temperature plunged to the low 70's [22 - 24C].  Again we could show them plunging temps in GP, LOL.  It will start to get cooler as we get into December and as it gets closer to the freezing point [at night] they will start to get excited about it.
  Well that's all folks.

Sunday

  Well it wasn't exactly sunny Sunday as it was a bit overcast and the temperatures plummeted into the 70's, although at the higher end of the range.  You can really see the rainy weather coming in, for several days ahead, not many surprises on it here.  It is a nice change actually and all the northerners are still wearing short pants, while the locals are starting to button up and wear flannel. 
  Got out the door in good time and went to the church service in the park.  Very small attendance, I guess a combination of the number of people still not here and the weather.  We were even missing one of our piano/organ players, but the park owner filled in well.  After the service the pastor came to see me about coffee and fellowship after.  The sermon was on giving thanks and the love of family, on which I paid him a compliment.  We had a nice visit and then I explained to him that Marg often has breakfast prepared for my return and today was french toast, one of my favourites.  Kind of funny as he asked me if it is referred to as Canadian toast in some areas; being politically correct.  I replied that all I have ever heard it called is french toast.  Anyway, sure enough the french toast was in the frying pan when I got back and it was good, as usual.
  After I went out and pulled the skirting off the back of the trailer so I could hide the antennae wire.  When I installed the new tv antennae, I had left the coaxial cable laying on the patio.  I knew at the time this was a temporary measure, as I dislike leaving loose wires laying about.  While I was under there I chopped off a couple of the old cable lines.  They had been there a long time and were serving no useful purpose.  As part of this process I pulled off some of the skirting on the side, around where the hot water tank is.  I had a dual purpose in mind as I wanted to take a look at the area where I would be installing the connection for the washer/dryer. 
  This was kind of good news/bad news as I discovered the annual water leak.  We have had one every year since owning this old trailer and I thought we might have dodged the bullet this year.  Alas that was not to be, the dirt under there was a bit damp.  Not soaking wet like last year, but enough to warrant further investigation.  The cause seems to be the hot water tank has been leaking.  There was a bit of water standing on the floor beside the tank and after wiping it up and not finding a damp water line determined the base of the tank was the source of it.  This is a real concern as the floors in these units are very susceptible to excessive water, they just go all soft and cause a major repair problem when they are not found in a timely manner, so it was sort of good news.  Corrosion seems to have caused a very slow leak in the tank and it is seeping out around the bottom rim, albeit slowly.  Checked the serial number on the unit on line and it seems to be a 1998 model, so 18 years would be about all that we could expect.  Left it for a bit in an attempt to see if that was correct and if so how bad it was. 
  Went for a walk around the park and had a few visits.  One couple who hang out with the happy hour group just arrived today, nice to see them back.  They are interested in a park model and one of the couples that just got in this past week had bought a second one; sight unseen, even though it was next door to the one they are in.  As it turns out it was not what they expected and now they want to sell it, so Marg went on the tour with the interested couple.  It's no big deal if they don't buy it as another couple arriving next week are also interested in it.  Places in this park really don't stay for sale very long if they are priced right.
  Well just before supper checked it and confirmed the diagnosis seems to be correct.  Googled suppliers on price and where I could find one in stock  The lowest price was at Sears, but it would take 4 days to get one.  Found a Lowes [not the one in AJ] with 9 in stock, so we delayed supper and went to pick one up, so I could install it first thing tomorrow and avoid going out during rush hour on the freeway.  Had a few problems with service as it was getting late by then, so I had to run around and get some price skews from the shelves for some of the things I bought.  When I asked about a sale price or whether they match prices, the cash lady said they did.  After some checking she said it was on sale last week, so gave me the sale price.  That was a big break as she charged me $69 less than the shelf price, converted to Canadian that would be over $80, so more good news.
  When we got back, Marg had most of supper ready to cook, so it didn't take long to eat.  As always, supper was very tasty: shrimp and fried rice with peas mixed in and a nice pastry for dessert.
  Tomorrow will be a busy day.  The gamblin' gals are going to the Fort because Thursday is the Thanksgiving dinner in the park.  For me you already know my plans, just part of the joy of owning an older unit, you know of course I am speaking of the trailer.  LOL

Saturday, Nov 19th

It warmed up quite a bit, last night was downright pleasant.  A sharp contrast to the Thursday night temps that were the lowest since the first part of February of this year.  They are talking about rain in some parts of the state that could be snow in the higher elevations [some reports are 9,000 ft, others are 5,000] but we should not see an of it.  In fact the temp got up to about 81F today, is was very warm.
  I got out for breakfast this morning.  Bacon, eggs, pancakes but I really go for the pancakes.  They also had corned been hash and tried to tempt me with it, but I passed.  I love corned beef hash, but not for breakfast, much like I love roast beef but for any other meal. 
  When I got back, Larry and I went for a bike ride.  Fortunately I checked my bike first thing this morning and discovered the rear tire was flat.  That is the one I had problems with last week and put in my original tube, so maybe not my best decision, so I just pumped it up.  I'll have to deal with this tomorrow, but am undecided on my course of action.  The tube with the hole had that green never go flat stuff in it, so much for how effective it is.  If it was an ordinary tube I would patch it, but it has all that green slime all over it, or I could patch the old tube.  Stay tuned for the outcome on this riveting story and my decision.
  When I returned we went out to look at a few park sales.  We don't usually go to garage sales, but the ones in the nicer parks are worth a look.  Marg is looking for a few things and got one of them, a headboard for our bed.  We had a book case headboard, but because the room is tight wanted a metal frame one.  Well she found one she really liked and it was in great condition, so she got it for $10.  I wasn't really looking for anything, but did buy a Canadian coin set.  It is a mint set from 1982, so has all 6 coins produced in a sealed plastic carrier.  Knowing there is not a great deal of interest in Cdn coins here, I got it for $5, a pretty good deal.
  When we got back I changed headboards and Marg took a picture of it, so must still be happy with it.  I had to go to the hardware for bolts to install it.  Although I hate to drive down there for $2 worth of nuts, bolts & washers; it gave me an opportunity to look at plumbing solutions for the laundry installation I need to do.  It is almost ready to move from the planning stage to taking action.  Marg went out to Walmart for some things she needed.  She went to the one just down Delaware and her biggest challenge was dealing with all the people from the park she met there.  Another thing she is happy about is the kitchen supplies are finally getting to where she has choices for making meals.
  Happy hour and then supper tonight was eat in and we had a couple of those pork chops Marg got in her good deal the other day and they were fine.  Later there was a welcome back dance in the hall tonight, but we passed on it.  We needed a bit of a break, so took one.

Friday

We got out and about early today.  There were some sale flyers from grocery stores that Marg want to check out, so thought we would do that first thing.  First stop was Albertsons, not one of our regular spots.  One of the big deals was buy a tray of pork chops and get 3 more free, another was butter at $1.88 a pound and then there was a couple of bags of other stuff.  The bill was $38 and our total savings was $61.95.  We are well supplied with pork chops and if they taste as good as they look good, it will be a great buy.  Second stop was Fry's where she got a nice prime rib roast for $16 and a few other things.  The grocery bill was $28 and the savings were $19.  I got fuel there for $1.99/gallon, that would be about 57 cents a litre for our metric fans.  The last stop was Costco.  We got lots there including scotch and Baileys  at [$16 for 1.75 litre bottle], a bunch of groceries and some frozen stuff.  Lots of good deals like the 5 pounds of wieners for $6.79.  We are thinking of having a hot dog night with some friends.
  Lunch was at Costco.  The food table area in the Mesa store is huge.  I think it seats well over 100 people.  It was pretty busy in there and we make it a practice to not go to Costco on weekends. They always have unique things and some are really very good.  It's interesting to see how they customize their stores to match the needs or wants of the area.  Another unique feature in this store is the ceiling fans at the cash area.  The fan blades must be 8 feet long.  We used to go there quite a bit, but in recent years we have not because they only accepted American Express or cash and now their deal is with Visa.  They don't accept the MasterCard that the Canadian stores use other than for member identification.
  In the afternoon Marg went to Bells to see what they had in bathing suits, but was unsuccessful.  When she returned to the park, she had quite a few visitors.  Always lots going on here and news travels faster on the moccasin telegraph around here.  I went down to the pool hall and played 8 ball for a couple of hours.  It was a big adjustment from the snooker tables in GP, but had pretty good success.  One of the guys I played with is real character and is fun to play.  He enjoys playing away from a couple of the older residents here because we play anything goes and he hooked me 3 times in a row, laughing each time, especially the one I missed.
  Happy hour was brief today as a bunch of us went to Ihop for the cod special.  There ended up being 10 of us.  We were able to get seated pretty quickly as it's still not terribly busy around here yet. The meal was pretty good, but not as good as Dirtwater café, but still very filling and some of our group ate a lot of pieces of fish. 
  The weather cooled down noticeably from the yesterday.  I think the night time temp was around 50F and the daytime high got into the low 70's.  Lots of people here in long pants, but the snowbirds were almost all still in shorts.  Yours truly wore shorts, so you know it was till nice out.

Thursday

It was road trip day for the gamblin' gals, as it is every Thursday.  At Ft. McDowell or "the Fort" they area again giving out dishes on Thursday to anyone with a loyalty card, so this year the pattern continues.  Really funny because Larry said they have all the unopened boxes in a room at home.  Our situation is not quite that bad, but I do believe there are a few boxes with dishes in the storage room.  Today was some kind of serving dish and apparently that is what we need.  LOL
  I went to coffee & donuts this AM and we were lucky to be drawn second table up.  That means choices were excellent.  The association president is back and his record is for brief meetings and that proved to be the case today.  Kind of reminds me of when I was working; we used to have a saying we ran meetings by - "Nothing to say - don't say it".  Almost forgot, they started recognizing birthday's and anniversaries during the meeting; so this month being November, the counter-month [when we are not here] is May.  I stood to announce ours, saying that if we are still together next may it will be 47 years.  It got a pretty good laugh.
  After I did emails for a while and printed off some of the Harbor Freight coupons as I get those by email now.  I had taken the ink cartridges out of the printer when I left last spring, putting them in a zip lock bag.  It sort of worked as they never dried out, but some of the colors are not showing up as they should.  So they would not be great for printing pictures, but fine for coupons.  LOL
  After lunch I tackled the screen I bought the material for the other day, but discovered that my ability to cut the 45 degree corners in the aluminum track did not work out.  I went out to Lowes and got a cut-off disc for metal that fit my power mitre saw and that did the trick.  With that it was pretty easy to get the frame together.  The sun screen was heavier than regular screen, but the smaller size spline I bought proved to be the right solution to fitting into the track.  After installation, it appears to be doing what I had hoped.  Enough light comes through that the room is not dark, but the bright sunshine is filtered out.  I am hoping it will reduce the damaging effect of the suns rays as well as reducing the heat build up from the window.
  Went to happy hour and the gals arrived about half way through.  It appears there were no big winners today, although Marg was close all day.  She said on one game with a $600 payout, her number was on the monitor when bingo was called, so that's as close as it gets without winning.  Anyway it seems they had lots of laughs and a good time.  Apparently they have a new agreement that what ever is said on the trip stays in the Fort, so even the spouse is in the dark.  They are probably talking about how good looking their spouses are anyway, right?  Kenny was organizing at the end, so it looks like fish for supper tomorrow.  There are quite a few all-you-can-eat cod offers in the area on Friday and several people seemed interested, so that looks like the plan.
  Supper was left overs, but the were very good.  There were fried potatoes & she always does a nice job with them.  Marg had brought two [that were left over] home last night, but tonight gave one to her buddy Lynette for her supper.  Maybe that is what they discussed in the car?
  Stay tuned for a report on Fish Friday.
 

Wednesday, November 16th

Wednesday is usually a fun day for yours truly, but alas there are still too many things to do, commitments complicated by not enough fun things getting on my agenda.   Larry & I went for a short bike ride, we made about 3 miles.  We intended to visit the donkey as we have heard it braying quite often, but with Gary not being along to feed it an apple, we opted for a short ride today.  Although the donkey is quite a ways from here we hear it calling, but there is no doubt it is looking for attention.  On returning, I adjusted Larry's patio door as I had left it until they used it a couple of days and told him he had one more adjustment remaining under the warranty.  Hah!
  When I returned it was time to head to the kitchen.  Marg had warned me before coming down and most of the trip down here, not to volunteer us for anything this year.  On arriving and discovering our breakfast team had folded we were anticipating much more free time.  You can imagine my surprise to learn we were working the potato bar, Thanksgiving dinner and seem to be on another breakfast crew.  It was a humbling moment when she confessed to me that she may have made these commitments.  Not only made commitments, but to the busiest kitchen team in the park.  I am still in shock, so can only say - we'll see how it goes.  The couple that head up this team are great and we really enjoy their company, but - well; we'll see how it goes.  Anyway, I digress; it was to the kitchen to scrub 4 sacks of potatoes for the park-wide potato bar for supper.  Some of the biggest potatoes I have seen and very tasty as well.  Later on, a guy asked why his was cut-off on the end.  I told him it was so we could get it through the door, LOL.
  After finishing the potato preliminaries Marg went to water aerobics.  It seems there was some interest from guys in the park and the current group want to keep it ladies and let anyone else organize a men's or all-inclusive event if there is interest.  Not really sure if there really is interest or if it just another example of this gender neutral phase society seems to be going through.  I can see this among the next generation, but among seniors?
  A quick lunch and then back to the kitchen.  The potatoes had to have bits dug out of them and them slathered in oil to be put on baking sheets and in the oven.  There were so many Gary had the convection oven full as well as the stove oven.  We got close to 2 dozen on each sheet or tray and they were full.  We tried to group them by size so they would all cook at about the same rate.  He said it was from 1 1/2 to 2 hours until done.  We also had to set the rest of the stuff out and get the slow cookers all ready.  There was:  chili by the bowl by the bowl, soft cheese, onions, bacon bits, sour cream, broccoli, butter, etc. to dress up the potatoes.  By 5 we were ready when the hungry hoard descended on the hall.  My job was to squeeze the potatoes and make them pop open so butter could be added.  Marg was adding the butter the spuds and serving the counter which included the chili bowls.
  It was a good crew and by the time we cleaned up it was a little after 6, so not too bad.  These events are fund raisers for the tenants association in the park and the proceeds are used to pay for events for the good of all.  The upcoming Thanksgiving turkey dinner will have the turkey, dressing and gravy supplied while participants bring their side dishes.
  Kenny & Doris had stayed back and helped a bit with the clean up, so we had them over to sit out and have a glass of wine before calling it a night.  Well they had wine, I had a brewski. 

November 15th

Got up early this morning as it was the first day to ride the bike and Larry has been raring to go.  Knowing I would be gone and expecting the Mediacom guys, Marg got an early start on the day as well.  It was a bit chilly this morning, so I wore a jacket, but about half way I had to take it off.  Never made a lot of miles today, only 4, but it was my first day.  It was about all my butt could handle, until I ride myself into shape.  When I returned, the cable man had not been around.  What a surprise.
  I had a shower and a bite to eat.  I have been having a lot of sinus problems, and suspect it's either the dust or the pollen in the air.  Marg gave me a tablet and went to water aerobics.  When she returned I had fallen asleep in my chair.  Pretty sure it was the medication as I had not worked that hard this AM.  They had a pretty good turn-out for splash & thrash and a good workout.  The lady who helped get it started is not here, but the group pretty much runs itself now.  There was a bit of controversy on whether it was to be ladies only or a mixed group.  They resolved it as ladies only saying that if there is interest in a mixed group, a second one could be started.
  After lunch Marg went out to get a slow cooker.  We had one here, but took it home and wanted a larger unit.  When she returned, she made up a dish for supper as it was going to be a bit of a rushed affair tonight.  Then the Mediacom guys showed up with the new unit.  It seems to be just what we needed and everything is working fine now.  We have a new land line number for the house now.  I think the guys were looking for a tip, but after all the delays and BS about the appointment day one was not in the cards.  Then we went out to get a few things.  I am looking for ideas on connecting the laundry to services and want to get a sun screen for the window in our bedroom.  There are no standard sizes when dealing with older units like ours, so I just bought the material to make one.  It is a south facing exposure and we really get the sun beating on that part of the house and need to cut down the sun's rays.  We stopped on the way back to fill our 5 gallon water bottle at one of the many water stations.  The filtered water is so much better, especially from the water cooler.
  By then it was time to go for happy at Jim & Beth's.  We are really like the Hutterites, the guys in one area and the gals in another.  Not sure but the gals talk about all kinds of stuff, while the guys focus on solving the great mysteries of the universe.  LOL  When we got back there was a nice hot dinner in the new slow cooker.
  Then it was off to bingo, the first one of the season. It was nice to see Richard back as caller.  There was a pretty good turnout and I even got a win, but had to split it 3 ways.  A win is a win, even if it's only $9 and a good way to start the year.

Monday, Nov 14th

One week we have been in Arizona and we are just about caught up on the stuff we need to get done.  The weather continues to be quite warm, in the 80's during the day, but it looks set to cool off for a few days.  In fact the weather report had below freezing temperatures up north in the higher elevations like Flagstaff, etc.  Nothing that drastic forecast for this area.
  Went to Mediacom this AM as soon as it opened and was about #12 in line.  The waiting room was full as people continued coming in while I was there.  Part of my inquiry about why we never got installed on Saturday was to tell them the satellite co would do it the next day and was answered with, you are scheduled to be installed this morning.  I just said, we'll see.  The service guys did come today, although in the afternoon.  The guys were pretty good, but had some challenges.  They had TV & a land line right away, but no internet as they had a faulty piece of equipment.  They got a new one at the shop and when it was installed they had TV & internet, but no telephone.  We left it at that and they are returning tomorrow with yet another piece they think will fix it.  The service we do have is pretty good, so far so good.
  Marg did floors and some housework in the morning to get the place in order.  I fixed the vents on the Az room as lots of them had fallen out during the summer winds.  Then I replaced the tube in my bike tire as it had developed a leak.  It was one of those tubes with the green goop in it, so rather than patch it I just put in the new one.  It also gave me an opportunity to lube the bike and get it ready.  Larry has been anxious about riding and this wife wants him to go with someone as he is a little unsteady these days.  I made a garbage run and took Larry's ladder back.  While at the garbage bins, I knelt down and as luck would have it the dead grass has some goat heads in it.  I ended up with about 6 in my leg and 4 in my hand and yes they were painful.  Just google them if you doubt me, I think they are the reason the dinosaurs are extinct.  LOL
  While I was away, Mark had stopped by and gave Marg a nice little china cup and saucer.  I think they call it a demi-tasse.  He recalled that when we were doing the roof, I had said she liked china tea cups and enjoyed finding old ones.  He deals in a lot of old stuff, kind of an antique dealer, so he found a nice one in his stuff that he thought she would enjoy.
  Marg made me french toast for lunch.  I love that stuff, she never has to ask me if it OK, any meal of the day it's fine with me.  We didn't have syrup, so I had honey on some and homemade strawberry jam on the rest.  Mavis had given Marg a couple of jars of jam she made back in Minnesota.  Marg opted for leftovers as there was a bit of potato salad from yesterday.
  In the afternoon, I played a game of 8 ball with Kenny.  He had bought a cue and wanted to try it out.  It worked well, almost too good as he was down to the 8 ball when I still had 4 on the table.  Then he had to leave early as he had a delivery of new laundry coming.  They gave us their old one and Daryl gave me a hand bringing it back to our place.  We really don't have a place in the trailer to install it, so think we will use in in the breezeway.  I just have to figure out the connections for water, sewer and power.  A project for another day I guess.  Marg is looking forward to being able to spend less time in the Laundromat, so better not take too long. 
  Oh yes, we had a visitor in the park today, a roadrunner:

  Supper tonight was a nice shrimp dish with mini-penne.  It was very good.  After we went out to Fry's for a bit as Marg needed a few things like milk and butter, and the was our day. 

Sunday

  Got an early start on the day and made it to the church service here in the park.  While there are still a lot of people not here yet, there was a respectable turn out.  It was nice to see Pastor Don's family in attendance.  His 3 grandchildren are always a hit and they sang three nice pieces with such happiness and joy, it was truly uplifting.  I'm not sure of their ages, but the youngest would look to be about elementary school ages.  Don's son-in-law also spoke about the orphanage in Mexico that he works with.  The church group here donates money to it annually, so it was nice to get information on how they are doing.
  When I got back we went out to the big Mesa flea market.  I sold some pocket books to the old gal who runs the book sale on the west side and was happy with what I received for them.  We wandered around a bit and Marg managed to find a grill mat she wanted.  It's one of those things you place on top of the grill to do vegetables and stuff like that and that was it for the day.  She did look at lots of things, but it seems nothing made the grade to come home with us.
  After we picked up an outdoor antennae so we could get some local television programming.  Now in Canada this may not seem significant, but here, once I got it installed on the old satellite dish bracket, I set the search and program feature on the TV.  It came up with 85 DTV channels.  Then you have to pick through the channels to delete the ones you don't want, mainly the ones in Spanish.  It's either that or take Spanish lessons.  LOL.  That still left us with about 40 or 50 stations & the reception is excellent.  Pretty amazing really.  At home we would probably only get 2 or 3 channels, so quite a difference.
  For lunch we went to Taco Bell.  They have great food and Marg tried a special that had a burrito, taco, taco chips & a drink for $5.  I just had a deluxe burrito for about $3.  The drink thing is something else.  One customer behind us had two beverage mega mugs that must have held a couple of quarts each and that seemed to be fine.  Makes me wonder how they could drink that much and still have room for food.
  Happy hour and then a nice supper at home rounded out the day.  Still had some potato salad from yesterday which Marg combined with a  nice ham steak.  The steak was so huge we will have to eat it for 2 meals.
  Almost forgot, we enjoyed a super moon tonight.  It makes the moon appear much larger and is the first one since 1948.  A great night for a walk in the moonlight?

Saturday

No surprise, the day started out sunny, stayed warm and ended that way.  The weather here is highly predictable and that is why there are so many snowbirds.  It was really a gorgeous day.
  Got up in time to make breakfast in the hall.  We were asked to help a breakfast team out, but with our other commitments had to decline.  There must have been a change as it was a totally different crew this AM.  Sat with a group of friends and had ham, eggs & pancakes.  It was pretty good and nice to start the day with a big breakfast.  Marg chose not to participate, even though she was up before me.
  We started the day with high expectations.  The new SIM card came for Marg's phone and she was able to keep the same number as last year.  This was the day we were scheduled for a Mediacom appointment to install our wifi, television and landline.  They were to come after 8 & before noon, but would call ahead.  The lack of TV and poor internet we have right now had us really excited about the prospect of getting it looked after.  So we stayed by the phone with one of us at the trailer all day.  Sadly we never got the call and pretty much ended up very unhappy about the whole thing.  It put me in mind of the Seinfeld episode where Cramer tormented the cable guy to get even.  Could sure use him when or if they ever show up.  We may need to look at options.  Tried calling them to be put on the never ending voice activated circuit they call customer response.  Tried going to the office that is closed except on days when the staff don't have something more pressing [like pedicures] to deal with and are actually in the place.
  After breakfast I went over and helped Mark & Carol finish the roof on their shed.  It was not a big job, but anything like that in 80+ heat is taxing.  Well it is for us northerners anyway.  Got it done and with any luck it will not leak on the first rainy day.  They were sure appreciative of the help, so it made me feel good that I was able to do it.  With them being year-round residents and Mark being right across the road, they kind of keep an eye on things around here when we are gone, so it was a good neighbour gesture on my part.  After I did that it was my turn to sit on the nest while Marg went and did laundry.  Speaking of laundry we are getting an RV laundry machine.  It is a one piece washer & dryer that runs on 110 v/15 amp power.  Kenny & Doris are getting new laundry with 2 separate machines.  While it will not compare to what Marg is accustomed to, it will be a welcome addition to our place.
  At the end of the long suffering day, we had a bbq of pork chops and a nice potato salad.  Marg had actually made it yesterday, but when the opportunity for fish came up we opted for that.  Any of you who know how Marg loves fish and how often she would eat it if she could will realize that was pretty much a given.  Anyway we still had the potato salad in the fridge, it being one of my favourite parts of summer.  Well of winter as well when we are down in Arizona.  I would have said up in Arizona, but for the blasted Mediacom.
  After supper we went to an auction.  It real close to here, just down on Apache Trail at Idaho.  There were a lot of people there and they had a huge number of what they call "smalls".  Some were interesting and everything went at good prices. What was interesting?  Well for me: a small band saw, fishing reels, some bar signs, a step ladder; for Marg: a cat tail rocking chair a drop leaf table, a wind ornament, some ornamental stuff.  We never bought anything, but were interested in a few things.  The people watching was interesting, there are lots of characters.  It's nothing like a Sotheby's auction of priceless antiques or art, rather the redneck version of auctions.  There was a big ol' biker in a top hat who, among other things bought 26 boxes of pistol ammo [50 per box].  There was a black powder rifle and a pistol as well.  It was entertaining and now we are registered and on file to go back.  Marg is the auction fan, so no doubt we will be back.
 

Friday, November 11th

  Remembrance day in Canada, Veterans Day in the US of A. 

  A nice parade, much larger than I expected.  Many veterans wear caps that identify them as veterans, often telling where they served; either branch of their service [i.e.: army, navy, airforce, etc.] or campaign [WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc.].  The people in the parade, especially kids like the boy scouts frequently came over to shake their hand and thank them for their service.  We stood by Jim & Beth and he must of had his hand shaken a 100 times.  Two little girls beside us held their hands over their hearts the whole time.  There were lots of:  horses, old cars, hot rods, motorcycles, military vehicles & personnel, etc.  By shortly after 11:00 the parade was over.  There was not ceremony at a 11:00 AM nor any moment of silence.  The only poppies were the ones handed out by the vets in the parade, well other than the ones Marg & I wore that is.

   When I returned I went to help Mark & Carol put some roofing on their shed.  Carol Built the shed, but had it moved to Marks place, so not sure who it belongs to.  We got the front side almost done.  I say almost because we didn't have the stuff we needed, so Carol is picking it up sometime for tomorrow.  It was really hot [about 80F] so they wanted to quit after a couple of hours. It was the kind of job I would have completed today, but is starting to look like a Mexican Manana project.
  After went for a short [one beer] happy hour.  Then Kenny asked who wanted to go for fish, so us and another couple agreed to go.  Fridays typically have all you can eat fish on Fridays.  The place we went [Dirtwater Café] has cod for this, so excellent fish.  We ate a lot of fish for 6 people, but it lived up to our expectations.  Stopped in for an evening chat with Kenny & Doris before calling it a day.

Thursday

An early start to the day.  The first trip with the Gamblin' Gals for Marg.  It appears Thursday is the day again this year and the bonus is more dishes.  This weeks prize was a multi-purpose serving dish, a ceramic bowl in a basket frame that holds anything.  I don't recall seeing one quite like this before in our house, so if we had one it was sold in the garage sales of 2014.
  I got up and went to the first coffee and donuts.  Well it was equally successful, I got an apple fritter, one of my favourites.  It was an informal meeting as the association president and vice pres were not there.  It was brief and pretty much gave an update on what is happening for the next week.  I got a copy of the events schedule for the rest of the month so I could post it on the Tenants Assoc FB site.  Oh yeh, also got a pic of the people who make the coffee and donuts available that I also posted on FB.
  After I went down and helped Larry with his patio door.  The rollers were badly worn and we managed to find them at the hardware, they were only $3 each.  It is a double pane sliding door, so a heavy brute.  The wheels were also very difficult to remove and replace, so it took several hours.  The door is operating, but will need to be adjusted, arghhhh.  Although I had committed to play in the pool tournament, I missed it because of the time spent dealing with a difficult door.
  Spent some time on the computer, but for some reason didn't make a post.  Mainly I was fighting with copying pictures from the camera to the file on the laptop.  it seems something has changed in either the software or settings that is making it much more complicated.  Checked on my bike and the front tire is still holding up, but the rear is totally flat again.  Looks like I will be doing a tire repair in the very near future.  A couple of the guys are talking about riding pretty soon.
  By then Marg was home [with the dish].  Apparently the casino put new carpets in and the slots were not paying well.  The gals think they have cut back the payouts to pay for the carpet.  Could happen!  We went for a short happy hour at the usual spot.  After that we ate in.  Some brats cooked up in a pasta with a tomato sauce.  It was very tasty. 

Wednesday, Nov 9th

Day 3 of our stay in the south.
  It was election day yesterday and surprisingly little commentary among our acquaintances on the results.  It appears they have heard enough about it all and are prepared to move on. For my part I am fine with that for the same reason.  Confucius said something like - May you live in interesting times.   We certainly are doing that.
  We went for a walk and took a few pictures to start posting on the tenant's association FB page for Carefree to get people started looking at it again.  It was a gorgeous day with temps reaching into the 80's, so more to my liking that the 90's of yesterday. 

  While taking a few photos, we stopped at the pool and I cleaned the leaves and crud out of it while Marg dabbled her feet in the water.  I think she is anxious to get back into it.  She really loves her pool time.  The water was very inviting, almost a shame to see it empty, but that will change soon enough.

It seems Jim is not here yet and with their personal situation may not be for a while, if at all this winter.  He usually cleans the pool while Barb organizes the water aerobics and while that pales in comparison to their personal challenges, it is just another reason we will be missing them.  So I decided to get the worst of the leaves and other stuff picked out.  I'm not all that familiar with the process and in fact rarely even go in the pool, but Marg and the other ladies will need someone looking after this.  Although I don't  want to take it on, I may have to look at offering to help out there.

 By the time we got back to our place, our neighbour to the west was having a shed moved from her driveway over to Mark's place.  So always up for a challenge, I gave them a bit of help, mainly lending them some blocking and watching for problems.  The guy doing it had a forklift with 12 ft forks, so pretty much had the rest of it in hand.  One of the problems is that the roof is un-shingled, as it sat under a carport.  Mark has not been real active with that kind of thing, so may need a hand getting it done, so I offered.  You can probably tell which one is me & which one is Mark.  Stay tuned. It was a little tippy, but the move went well an using a forklift is really the answer to this kind of job.  Can never have too much supervision on a job like this in our park.  LOL
  After lunch we went out: me to Harbour Freight, Marg to Big  Lots next door.  I never found anything and still do not have any coupons, so it was just an exploratory visit.  Next time I will be better prepared, even if I don't really need anything.  It is a real man cave hangout.  Marg had a lot better luck and got several bags full of necessities.  In fact she had quite a load, more than I can recall, well that's not correct, she did get all the stuff to do laundry.
  By then it was happy hour and a bbq for supper. 
  Did I mention that it was hot and sunny here in the Valley of the Sun, well there you have it.

Tuesday, Nov 8th

Election day in the USA, hardly anyone here talking about it.  One of our friends said it was the first time in 40 years she had not voted.  It will be interesting regardless of who wins and much like our elections there will be lots of post game analysis.
  Had to get up early as Alberto was coming to was the park model.  It sure was dusty and dirty this year.  Often in the summer they get a couple of major dust storms, or haboob.  Now how did a dust storm ever get a name like that anyway?  Anyway the result is a lot of plant material and that fine dust from the desert.  He was a couple of hours with his pressure wash and then cleaned up the windows and had them sparkling when he left.  It was money well spent and I don't have a pressure washer and the water here is so hard it leaves spots on anything, so you have to have some kind of rinse agent to counter that.
  After we pulled out all the patio furniture and got things set up.  I took down the brace off the back fence, which stood up very well this year.  Again another effect of the haboob winds, last year it was blown down and had to be rebuilt.  Just as we were finishing, Lynette stopped by and Marg made us all a nice lunch.  Lynette is having her kitchen counters & cabinets redone, so is in the midst of a mess, so I think glad for the offer of lunch.
  We went out for a bit as I needed to get a filter for the a/c system.  Again the haboob.  Also wanted a new shower head, the water is very hard here and lots of scale on water fixtures.  I saw one that shows you the water temp on a display.  Now a novel idea, but who cares what temp it is, I think most people like me, just put their hand in the water to see if it's ok.  I am sure there are people who would buy it, but then how would they show it off?
  Stopped at the ranch market for vegetables and such.  Got a couple of bags of oranges & they are so fresh and juicy here @ $3 per bag.  Got a watermelon for 59 cents, a head of lettuce for 49 cents, a bag of carrots for $1.  The produce is so fresh here, it's a real treat compared to what we usually see at home in the grocery aisle at this time of year.  Also stopped and bought water, for the cooler and ice maker as it is still quite warm here.  One of the downsides is we buy most of our drinking water, but do it in the 5 gal bottles.  I think Marg said she saw 33 on the truck temp display when she went for groceries. 

That was another good experience as lots of the meat was buy one get a second one free.  This pack of T Bone was $13 and the steaks are thick and large.  Some nice steaks, can hardly wait to bbq.  She bought groceries at Fry's so that will give us loyalty points and at least a 10 cent a gallon discount off the $2.09 gas prices.
  After getting back I went down and helped Larry get the rear wheel on his bike.  He had a flat from it sitting and was having difficulty putting it back together.  Both of my tires are flat, but I am hoping they just need to be inflated and that I never picked up a goat head. Since putting liners in my tires I had not been having problems with flats, fingers crossed.
  Spent a frustrating half hour on the phone dealing with one of our Trac phones.  They are pay as you go, so one had run out of days and needs a new SIM card.  Several times I wanted to say I thought I pressed "1" for English.  The girl's command of the language was terrible.  It was as if she learned it from a text book without actually hearing any pronunciation.  It was downright comical when she tried to say Apache Junction.  When giving her our lot number she asked it that is spelled:  lote.  But the service is low cost.
  A quick stop at happy hour and then supper at Ihop tonight.  They have a promo on in support of children of wounded and not returning veterans, so we made a donation in the name of the Gourlay Family.  It's one of those things where they post donor names on their wall.
  Funny, no one here is wearing any poppies.  I asked about it, telling them I was wearing one in GP before leaving home, so it seems strange this close to Remembrance Day [not what it's called here].  Jim said they used to do like us, but now just wear them on the Nov 11th.  There are lots of parades on the day, in fact the one here in AJ marks the start of a 2 day celebration.
  Well that is all for today, from down south here in the Valley of the Sun.
 

Another year in the life - Gourlay's in Arizona --winter of 2016/17

Monday, November 7, 2016:  Although this post is early for our winter retreat, it is late in our process.  We left GP on Thursday, Nov 3rd but owing to spotty internet service I have been remiss in posting to our blog.  I tried to provide some benchmark data on our travels on Facebook, but kept it brief - just like the old TV series Dragnet - nothing but the facts maam.
  We put in some long days to start, 1,200 on day one, 950 on day two, then a couple of days just over 600 or 700 km's so that we could play a bit on the way down.  Our main focus is to get through Alberta and Montana where we have the greatest risk of poor weather.
  Most of the trip went very well.  One of the troubling parts was the number of road killed skunks we saw, more than a half dozen.  No these were not politicians or anything of that ilk, but real black & white skunks. A few were particularly nasty, but fortunately we didn't pick up any of the smell on the truck tires.  The other harrowing part of the trip was the lengthy traffic jam through Salt Lake City.  It was Friday, so lots of folks leaving work when we got there.  The first half driving into the city was great, the second half not so great.  On a good day at 65/70 mph it is over an hour to get through, but Friday was 8 southbound lanes bumper to bumper.  Marg suggested we try the HOV lane and it worked much better for us, although stopped dead at times.  Most of the road travel was uneventful, but I did get the finger from a trucker in Utah. I think he was Mormon and pointing out there is only one way to heaven, but not sure.
  We had a box of Timbits from our stop in Devon for lunch.  We ate a few, but the rest came south with us.  By the time we reached Las Vegas and found them under the pile of baggage they would have made good ammunition for an artillery unit.  I wanted to give them to some homeless people but Marg said they might throw them at us and damage something.  Las Vegas was our only locked bathrooms in a MacDonald's, the lady had to come out and punch the code in to give us access.  They really do have a lot of homeless people there and after our evening in the casino we know why.  At each overnight location I was able to have a dram or two of either the Chivas or the Glenlivet Founders Reserve that I picked up in Duty Free.  That was all we bought there.  The border crossing was the quickest ever.  It was supper time and we drove right up to the agent, no waiting.  He asked us where we were going and for how long and how much cash we had on us and told us to have a nice trip.
  We got into AJ shortly after 2 PM on Sunday and came in to our lot via the rear entry.  We were trying to avoid letting people know we were here until we got unpacked and things straightened away.  There was a lot of dust and crud in the breezeway to clear away, but the park model was in pretty good shape, except for some hard water build up in the bathroom.  It was a good plan, until about 3:30 when Kenny spotted the nose of the truck sticking out of the carport.  He and Doris came right up and asked if we were going to happy hour.  Well that was a loaded question.  [A pun?]  We had some confusion at that point because it was set clocks back an hour in Nevada and they never change them in Arizona and we weren't sure what the time was when were in LV.  As a result I had 4:30 and Marg had 2:30, but the local time was 3:30.  I think that would qualify as a senior moment.  We had no intention of going and no beer, but even that could not get us off, so Kenny brought me a brewski and we went.  Nice to see a bunch of friends again.  Then we went out for supper with Kenny, Doris, Darryl and Rita.  We have to travel 3,500 km's to spend time with them, they live in GP as well.
  After it was Walmart for some groceries, foremost of which was the 30 pack of Miller High Life, for $18, no can deposits here.   There was also a buggy full of less important stuff.
  That gets us up to Monday.  Early in the morning we went to Mediacom to find out that we can't have TV, internet or our land line until Saturday, so any internet stuff will be spotty until we get that connection.  We had the carport all cleaned out and most of the stuff out of the truck, so we went about dealing with all the loose ends.  The door at the back of the breezeway wouldn't open, then once opened wouldn't close.  The calcium mark in the toilet and bathtub were treated with CLR and some kind of scrubbing thing Marg bought.  Then I put new screen in the sliding screen door, new weather stripping on the patio door, a new screen in the Arizona room door so that made 3 trips to the hardware store.  Sheesh, well I never started out planning to do all those things.  Pulled the weeds in the flower bed and on the back patio.  Some of them looked like grass but had sharp spiny ends.  Poked myself on several of Marg's cactus out front; while putting the awnings up.  Had lots of drop by visitors and a nice pastrami sandwich at lunch, not all at the same time.  I'm not sharing that nice fresh bread and delicious pastrami.
  By then it was happy hour, there are still only a small number attending.  It's kind of different when you can actually hear what everyone is saying.  Turns out our host is having trouble with his patio door and asked me to have a look and see what I thought.  I did and was able to confirm beyond a doubt that he is indeed having trouble with it.  After we bbq'd and had a nice supper.  Just about time to relax, well we had some more visitors and got really caught up on most of the gossip.  Whew that was a long dissertation.  Will try and be more regular, with posts that is.
  Good night mrs kalabash where ever you are.