January 2017 is now in the history books and the month ended with the warmest day of the year so far. Now this is the Az we signed up for. With the rain this year the desert is about as green as it gets and some of the cactus are blooming already.
Got out on the bike this morning with 4 other guys and went up to feed the donkey a couple of carrots. He was pretty happy to see us and came right over to the fence. After we were on the road for a bit we could hear him braying away probably trying to get someone else to stop by. I would estimate we can hear him at least a mile away. One of the guys cut off early to go play pickle ball and two of us turned off after about 3 1/2 - 4 miles. I have my bike speedo all messed up and the only thing I get now that is useful is the road speed and it's metric now. It still shows me lots of other useless info. One of the guys said the only way to reset them is to take the battery out, for now this is good enough.
After I got back we went out to pay the insurance on the park model, then to the post office. It was amazing I was in and out in no time at all. It's usually a half hour, so that was a nice surprise. When we got back to the park, Marg went to water aerobics. The pool here is solar heated, so it was a bit cool this morning, still being impacted by the weather last week. When the days are hot like today, it makes the water seem that much cooler. There were 7 ladies at splash & thrash, so it was a good deal.
I went to the car wash down on Ironwood. I use the self serve spray wand bays. They still use the brush type car wash system here and I really don't like them after becoming to brushless at home. The car has the headlight covers all scuffed up from them down here. It was $6 to soak it with high pressure soap spray, use the soapy brush, rinse it and then spray it with spot free rinse agent, so a pretty good deal. You don't dare not use the spot free rinse with the water in Arizona. When I got back I used some vinegar in water to do the windows and mirrors and it looks pretty good.
While I was cleaning the truck, the neighbour came over with a 16gb flash drive. They want me to copy a bunch of pictures from prior years to it as I have quite a few [back to 2010] on my hard drive. Then he will rearrange them to take to the hall and run in a DVD player on the big screen TV there. They have the one I made for Nov Dec this year as well as my player and want to expand on that presentation. People like to see pictures of themselves. A project for another day.
Marg went out to pick up a few groceries, for one thing we are out of bananas. Oh I got some nice pink grapefruit. One of the guys in the park agreed to pick all the one's on Richard's tree and was running around in his golf cart giving them away. He's the same guy who gave me the sheleighleigh. The truck came back, still clean. Hah, the rains have ended, so there is nothing on the road here now just dust and bugs to splat on the grill, that's why I washed it.
Lunch was BLT's and she managed to get the smoke detector going. Not sure why it wasn't that smoky, I could still see in here. But it was good to hear that it is working fine. I put in a new battery every year when we get here and that is the first time I have ever heard it. After lunch we cleared out the Az room so I could change the headboard on the bed. It was fortunate as when we pulled the bed out to do it, we found the carpet still wet from last week's rain. Put the fan on and opened the window and it dried pretty quick That means another job, to seal around the base of the wall. Got it dried out, the headboard changed and then put everything back. Took a bit of time, pretty much the afternoon was gone when it was finished.
By then it was happy hour and it was pretty well attended. A couple of the guys were asking about tee times, so we agreed to book a time after 1:00 PM to get a better rate. As soon as I got back home I got online and booked a foursome for 1:06 on Monday at Encanto, then sent each of the other 3 an email with the details. I will probably end up driving as they are all talking about the PBR [a good deal on beer] at the turn and they know I don't usually drink on the course. It will be our first time to this course this winter. They are a fun bunch, so it will be good.
Supper was brats and hash browns, something I always enjoy. Then it was off to bingo at the hall. Marg had a very good night, she won twice and two of the gamblin' gals won tonight as well, so they were all in fine form.
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Monday 30 January 2017
Monday, January 30th
We were just talking and the time goes by so quickly. Here we are almost the end of January hard to believe we got here the first week of November. How can that be? Well the good news is we still have a couple of months before we need to leave, but at the rate time flies we best not blink or we will be homeward bound.
The weather that had been below average is now above average. It was a much warmer night and during the day the temperature got up to about 74 today. How good is that, well I am back to wearing short pants again. Life is good in the Valley of the Sun.
In the morning I went for a bike ride, probably made about 3 1/2 miles today, but it was good to get out again. The only negative was a strong wind blew out of the northwest and the route to the west is pretty much uphill all the way. Sure felt good on the return though riding at a bit of a downhill grade with the wind at my back. It has been a few days since I last rode and it was good to get out and stretch the legs today. By the time I returned, Marg had her first load of laundry going. We had a nice facetime with the Smith's in the midst of the visits and the laundry. It was a great day for laundry as the combination of sun and wind made for ideal drying conditions. I think all told she got in 4 loads today. One couple from BC stopped in to see what Marg was talking about when she described a laundry boost, I still don't know what it is. They wrote down the details and were headed out to get whatever it is.
She tricked me a bit and had her lunch before mine. When I asked why, she told me she was craving a peanut butter sandwich. I had the warmed up spaghetti from last night and as luck would have it there were still some biscuits left to have with it. A heck of a lot better than peanut butter that's for certain.
While the process got the laundry done, that meant Marg was steaming clothes in the afternoon. Well I was no help in that, so I got out of the way and went to play pool. Well you can imagine that was just the right thing to do, it made her so happy. Well that and the fact that she gets more visitors when I am not here, kind of like a hen party I guess. It was a good thing I went down as Kenny came to play today and he joined in with Luther and me. All told I played for about 2 hours today. Played fairly well actually, probably won a few more than lost.
Went to happy hour at the regular place. There are several everyday and we were invited to a couple of other ones today. It's kind of hard because we don't like to appear stand-offish but we do enjoy spending time with the regular group. It was a bit of a choice today though as the second group inviting us are friends and we enjoy them as well. The third group are neighbours in the immediate area around our place and are nice folks. Almost like being back in school where you just try to fit in Eh? Marg had bought some bartender rootbeer at Total Wine the other day and took one to happy today and she left there very happy.
We had a bbq for supper tonight and it was very good. After supper we were sitting around and some of the people from happy #2 stopped by to tell us they missed us and asking if I would make a golf reservation for Monday at Encanto. I tell you we are social butterflies here! LOL
The weather that had been below average is now above average. It was a much warmer night and during the day the temperature got up to about 74 today. How good is that, well I am back to wearing short pants again. Life is good in the Valley of the Sun.
In the morning I went for a bike ride, probably made about 3 1/2 miles today, but it was good to get out again. The only negative was a strong wind blew out of the northwest and the route to the west is pretty much uphill all the way. Sure felt good on the return though riding at a bit of a downhill grade with the wind at my back. It has been a few days since I last rode and it was good to get out and stretch the legs today. By the time I returned, Marg had her first load of laundry going. We had a nice facetime with the Smith's in the midst of the visits and the laundry. It was a great day for laundry as the combination of sun and wind made for ideal drying conditions. I think all told she got in 4 loads today. One couple from BC stopped in to see what Marg was talking about when she described a laundry boost, I still don't know what it is. They wrote down the details and were headed out to get whatever it is.
She tricked me a bit and had her lunch before mine. When I asked why, she told me she was craving a peanut butter sandwich. I had the warmed up spaghetti from last night and as luck would have it there were still some biscuits left to have with it. A heck of a lot better than peanut butter that's for certain.
While the process got the laundry done, that meant Marg was steaming clothes in the afternoon. Well I was no help in that, so I got out of the way and went to play pool. Well you can imagine that was just the right thing to do, it made her so happy. Well that and the fact that she gets more visitors when I am not here, kind of like a hen party I guess. It was a good thing I went down as Kenny came to play today and he joined in with Luther and me. All told I played for about 2 hours today. Played fairly well actually, probably won a few more than lost.
Went to happy hour at the regular place. There are several everyday and we were invited to a couple of other ones today. It's kind of hard because we don't like to appear stand-offish but we do enjoy spending time with the regular group. It was a bit of a choice today though as the second group inviting us are friends and we enjoy them as well. The third group are neighbours in the immediate area around our place and are nice folks. Almost like being back in school where you just try to fit in Eh? Marg had bought some bartender rootbeer at Total Wine the other day and took one to happy today and she left there very happy.
We had a bbq for supper tonight and it was very good. After supper we were sitting around and some of the people from happy #2 stopped by to tell us they missed us and asking if I would make a golf reservation for Monday at Encanto. I tell you we are social butterflies here! LOL
Sunday 29 January 2017
SUNday, Jan 29th
What a difference a day makes. The day started out sunny and just got warmer. By noon we were out, so could not change, but it was definitely shorts weather. This will definitely be a welcome change and I am back to celebrating life in the Valley of the Sun. I think we were in the mid-70's today.
I went to the church service this morning and we had a good sized group there. We also had some special music and it made for a nice service. Pastor Don weaves some interesting analogies into his sermon, today was one of those. It built on last week a bit and the analogy was very down to earth. His perspective is generally thought provoking. If your day it going just a little bit better, you can thank me, it may be that I put in a good word for you. LOL
When I returned, my charming wife had made a monkey bread or pull-apart bun pan. These are sure good and I am glad she has picked it up as her new "thing" for mornings. Kind of funny, she was expecting one of her pals to come for some, but she didn't and she took a small plate of them over to our neighbour to the east [Janice]. She seems to be taking her under her wing this winter and it seems to be going over pretty well with Janice.
Being such a nice day, we decided to spend the day out. Our first stop was out to the Mesa marketplace. I had some books to sell and picked up a half dozen new ones. Well new to me at least. When we left, we decided to go to the Santan shopping center. It must have been fate, but I took a different route down Baseline to catch the Santan freeway [202 southwest]. Along that route Marg spotted an estate sale sign on the roadside. She had good luck at a couple of these already this winter, so we went to check it out. It turned out to be one run by an outfit that handles liquidation of estates and this one was the estate of Bill Irwin. He was an actor and composer with a host of impressive credentials and success stories to his credit. The house was large and full of paintings and pictures of all sizes and around 3 main themes: clowns, European scenes and American landscapes. The walls were 12ft high and were covered floor to ceiling with pictures in every room and hallway. There were huge numbers of stuffed and porcelain clowns, to say there were 500 would not be an exaggeration. There were also a number of music items including a couple of organs and a piano. The big organ was offered for sale at $54,900, as I imagine a music producer would have need of such a fine piece. Marg ended up buying a small print with a bathroom theme. The sale is being run over a series of dates and apparently this is at the mid-point and they have sold more than half of the stuff.
Then it was on to Santan where a stop at the Total Wine store produced a nice Macallan scotch, some adult rootbeer and a mixed drink concoction. We also looked around a in a store or two, but nothing came of it. Then over to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. Marg really likes the salad bar at these, so a nice lunch and we were at the tail end of the lunch hour, so got right in.
After I had to use the GPS as we wanted to go to Trader Joe's, one of her favourite grocery stores. They are kind of a specialty store in that they have a lot of unique stuff. I think it's kind of trendy and is always busy, you know one of those places that doesn't do plastic bags, rather they are all brown paper bags with handles. Anyway two bags full came home with us. The freeway traffic was light and we made good time coming home. Kind of funny as we passed 3 Rat Rods on the freeway. The were booting along at about 65 or 70 and looked like they shouldn't even be running.
When I got back I had to get the pictures from the Cord Price dance last night posted to the tenants association FB site, I think I had about 70, so it took a while. Supper was a light meal and we ate in tonight. Shortly after we went to the ice cream, Marg had a sundae and cake, me I went back to the banana split. Most of the conversation was about the estate sale and what we had seen, well among the ladies anyway.
I went to the church service this morning and we had a good sized group there. We also had some special music and it made for a nice service. Pastor Don weaves some interesting analogies into his sermon, today was one of those. It built on last week a bit and the analogy was very down to earth. His perspective is generally thought provoking. If your day it going just a little bit better, you can thank me, it may be that I put in a good word for you. LOL
When I returned, my charming wife had made a monkey bread or pull-apart bun pan. These are sure good and I am glad she has picked it up as her new "thing" for mornings. Kind of funny, she was expecting one of her pals to come for some, but she didn't and she took a small plate of them over to our neighbour to the east [Janice]. She seems to be taking her under her wing this winter and it seems to be going over pretty well with Janice.
Being such a nice day, we decided to spend the day out. Our first stop was out to the Mesa marketplace. I had some books to sell and picked up a half dozen new ones. Well new to me at least. When we left, we decided to go to the Santan shopping center. It must have been fate, but I took a different route down Baseline to catch the Santan freeway [202 southwest]. Along that route Marg spotted an estate sale sign on the roadside. She had good luck at a couple of these already this winter, so we went to check it out. It turned out to be one run by an outfit that handles liquidation of estates and this one was the estate of Bill Irwin. He was an actor and composer with a host of impressive credentials and success stories to his credit. The house was large and full of paintings and pictures of all sizes and around 3 main themes: clowns, European scenes and American landscapes. The walls were 12ft high and were covered floor to ceiling with pictures in every room and hallway. There were huge numbers of stuffed and porcelain clowns, to say there were 500 would not be an exaggeration. There were also a number of music items including a couple of organs and a piano. The big organ was offered for sale at $54,900, as I imagine a music producer would have need of such a fine piece. Marg ended up buying a small print with a bathroom theme. The sale is being run over a series of dates and apparently this is at the mid-point and they have sold more than half of the stuff.
Then it was on to Santan where a stop at the Total Wine store produced a nice Macallan scotch, some adult rootbeer and a mixed drink concoction. We also looked around a in a store or two, but nothing came of it. Then over to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. Marg really likes the salad bar at these, so a nice lunch and we were at the tail end of the lunch hour, so got right in.
After I had to use the GPS as we wanted to go to Trader Joe's, one of her favourite grocery stores. They are kind of a specialty store in that they have a lot of unique stuff. I think it's kind of trendy and is always busy, you know one of those places that doesn't do plastic bags, rather they are all brown paper bags with handles. Anyway two bags full came home with us. The freeway traffic was light and we made good time coming home. Kind of funny as we passed 3 Rat Rods on the freeway. The were booting along at about 65 or 70 and looked like they shouldn't even be running.
When I got back I had to get the pictures from the Cord Price dance last night posted to the tenants association FB site, I think I had about 70, so it took a while. Supper was a light meal and we ate in tonight. Shortly after we went to the ice cream, Marg had a sundae and cake, me I went back to the banana split. Most of the conversation was about the estate sale and what we had seen, well among the ladies anyway.
Saturday 28 January 2017
Saturday
Finally the breezes died down and old Sol came to warm those of us seeking it's bounty.
I went to breakfast in the hall and it was pretty good today. They had ham as an option so I opted for it instead of bacon with my eggs and pancakes. The pancakes were pretty darn good as well, so a good start to the day.
Marg went with the gamblin' gals today to the Fort. It seems the lure of the stainless steel stacking bowls was strong enough to warrant a return on Saturday. There were 5 of them making the pilgrimage today. They had a good day, but alas financial success was not in the cards today.
After breakfast I went over to Kenny's where I helped him install a second outdoor light fixture with spotlights. He has some statues of owls and an eagle that he shone one on and some paintings/pictures for the other, all in his breezeway. Walking past there tonight it seems to me he may have gone a little overboard on the wattage for the bulbs he bought. It's pretty much like daylight in there tonight.
After lunch I tried to fill out the IRS forms for Closer Connections required from aliens in the U.S. The electronic filing didn't work as I don't have electronic signatures on file, so I had to print them off to be mailed. Well I tried to print them and my printer cartridges were pretty much done, so it was a trip to Walmart to get new ones. I finally got the forms filled and printed. It's important to file these if a person is in the U.S. for more than 120 days in total for a single year otherwise they can demand income tax payment on your world income and they can't be filed retro-active. It's a real if you snooze you lose approach, but if you have been watching the news, you already know Canadians are not the only aliens they are cracking down on.
I went for a short happy hour and it was nice to sit out for a change. Marg and the gals showed up about half way through, so I left a bit early. I wanted to see if she preferred to dine out tonight as we gong to a function. She made fish and rice tonight and it was very good.
After we went to see Cord Price, a singer/entertainer they had come to our hall. We packed a few wobbly pops in the cooler bag so were well hydrated throughout. It was very well attended and he did a good job of filling the dance floor. We went not expecting to dance as Marg's back has been sore, but the music was so good, that we had a few dances. We had lots of laughs, so a fun evening.
I went to breakfast in the hall and it was pretty good today. They had ham as an option so I opted for it instead of bacon with my eggs and pancakes. The pancakes were pretty darn good as well, so a good start to the day.
Marg went with the gamblin' gals today to the Fort. It seems the lure of the stainless steel stacking bowls was strong enough to warrant a return on Saturday. There were 5 of them making the pilgrimage today. They had a good day, but alas financial success was not in the cards today.
After breakfast I went over to Kenny's where I helped him install a second outdoor light fixture with spotlights. He has some statues of owls and an eagle that he shone one on and some paintings/pictures for the other, all in his breezeway. Walking past there tonight it seems to me he may have gone a little overboard on the wattage for the bulbs he bought. It's pretty much like daylight in there tonight.
After lunch I tried to fill out the IRS forms for Closer Connections required from aliens in the U.S. The electronic filing didn't work as I don't have electronic signatures on file, so I had to print them off to be mailed. Well I tried to print them and my printer cartridges were pretty much done, so it was a trip to Walmart to get new ones. I finally got the forms filled and printed. It's important to file these if a person is in the U.S. for more than 120 days in total for a single year otherwise they can demand income tax payment on your world income and they can't be filed retro-active. It's a real if you snooze you lose approach, but if you have been watching the news, you already know Canadians are not the only aliens they are cracking down on.
I went for a short happy hour and it was nice to sit out for a change. Marg and the gals showed up about half way through, so I left a bit early. I wanted to see if she preferred to dine out tonight as we gong to a function. She made fish and rice tonight and it was very good.
Friday 27 January 2017
Friday
The wind she blow like hurricane. What line is that from? Anyway it was windy day and cold night, but the sky at least cleared and was sunny. Now you will know why we brag on the warm days down here in the desert.
We went out to an estate sale today, but didn't find a great deal to attract us. It must have been a single old lady as there was nothing of interest to me. Marg saw a few things, but in the end only the porcelain roaster caught her fancy and came home with us. There was another sale in the same park where the guy had his unit advertised for sale and was getting rid of stuff. I did buy a soldering gun when his wife was looking after things and I was able to make a deal. When he came back I was looking at something else, but ended up just walking away. I think that was the only thing we picked up there.
On the way back I stopped at circle K for fuel because they accept the Fry's discount points and got gas for $1.95 per gallon with it. Fuel prices seem to be going up this month, which seems to be fairly normal here. It generally tops out the day I fuel up to leave for home. LOL
We stopped in at the hardware store where I picked up a short piece of wire to help Kenny connect a spot light to his porch light tomorrow. I was sort of looking for something at the sales, but resorted to buying a brand new piece of wire. You know how it is with old folks, they are the ultimate in re-cylers, trying to always use some old stuff instead of new. A guy spends a day looking for just the right thing, so he doesn't have to spend a buck. Pretty funny.
In the afternoon I played pool and all I can say is that I should have played this well yesterday in the pool tournament when we won 5 games and lost 13. In some circles they would say we had our butts handed to us. Today I was unbeatable when playing one on one. When we were playing in teams I dropped one, but it was a fun day. When we were playing teams one of the guys complained when he was shooting behind me, that I never leave him a shot. The irony was that from that position he complained of, he sunk 5 consecutive balls. Duh! He is an older guy and is notorious for his whining and complaining as well he really gets owley if you hook/snooker him. So after his turn where he made 5 balls, the next two turns he was snookered, by yours truly. Everyone but him play that way here and it sure stopped the complaining. LOL
One of the ladies in the park went out in an ambulance this afternoon. She had pneumonia or darn close to it. She had been ill for several weeks and it got bad enough today that she was having respiratory problems. The fire dep't are always the first on scene here and they do an excellent job of getting people stabile and transporting them. Just one of the problems when you hang out with old folks who are away from home all winter in these parks I guess. We had a telephone call with our banker today to sort out an issue that went bump and it seems sorted out now. The account manager dropped the ball, but we got hold of Wanda, the assistant who makes everything right and it seems to be sorted out.
We had a small group at happy hour today, it seems lots of folks were busy today. Some of the group were going out to a new buffet tonight, but Marg had supper in the oven in the new roaster before we went for happy. It was a nice roast of chicken breasts, potato, vegetables.
For those of you participating in where is the opening line from - as best I recall it is "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". Have a great day!
We went out to an estate sale today, but didn't find a great deal to attract us. It must have been a single old lady as there was nothing of interest to me. Marg saw a few things, but in the end only the porcelain roaster caught her fancy and came home with us. There was another sale in the same park where the guy had his unit advertised for sale and was getting rid of stuff. I did buy a soldering gun when his wife was looking after things and I was able to make a deal. When he came back I was looking at something else, but ended up just walking away. I think that was the only thing we picked up there.
On the way back I stopped at circle K for fuel because they accept the Fry's discount points and got gas for $1.95 per gallon with it. Fuel prices seem to be going up this month, which seems to be fairly normal here. It generally tops out the day I fuel up to leave for home. LOL
We stopped in at the hardware store where I picked up a short piece of wire to help Kenny connect a spot light to his porch light tomorrow. I was sort of looking for something at the sales, but resorted to buying a brand new piece of wire. You know how it is with old folks, they are the ultimate in re-cylers, trying to always use some old stuff instead of new. A guy spends a day looking for just the right thing, so he doesn't have to spend a buck. Pretty funny.
In the afternoon I played pool and all I can say is that I should have played this well yesterday in the pool tournament when we won 5 games and lost 13. In some circles they would say we had our butts handed to us. Today I was unbeatable when playing one on one. When we were playing in teams I dropped one, but it was a fun day. When we were playing teams one of the guys complained when he was shooting behind me, that I never leave him a shot. The irony was that from that position he complained of, he sunk 5 consecutive balls. Duh! He is an older guy and is notorious for his whining and complaining as well he really gets owley if you hook/snooker him. So after his turn where he made 5 balls, the next two turns he was snookered, by yours truly. Everyone but him play that way here and it sure stopped the complaining. LOL
One of the ladies in the park went out in an ambulance this afternoon. She had pneumonia or darn close to it. She had been ill for several weeks and it got bad enough today that she was having respiratory problems. The fire dep't are always the first on scene here and they do an excellent job of getting people stabile and transporting them. Just one of the problems when you hang out with old folks who are away from home all winter in these parks I guess. We had a telephone call with our banker today to sort out an issue that went bump and it seems sorted out now. The account manager dropped the ball, but we got hold of Wanda, the assistant who makes everything right and it seems to be sorted out.
We had a small group at happy hour today, it seems lots of folks were busy today. Some of the group were going out to a new buffet tonight, but Marg had supper in the oven in the new roaster before we went for happy. It was a nice roast of chicken breasts, potato, vegetables.
For those of you participating in where is the opening line from - as best I recall it is "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". Have a great day!
Thursday 26 January 2017
Thursday, Jan 26th
Well another cold night and although it did not freeze, there was frost on the windshield. They said on the news that someplace in the mountains called Snowbowl, Az had 92 inches of snow in the last 6 days. The high country here is really getting dumped on. There were quite a number of places that had over 3 feet of snow in the last 6 days. I think there are a couple more cold nights in the forecast and then warmer weather. The daytime high although in the high 50's was still very pleasant in the sun.
In the morning we both went for coffee and donuts. Our table was the second one drawn, so a good deal as the selection on donuts was all you could hope for. It was funny as many people sit at the same table with the same group of friends, although I sometimes change depending on seats available and we have several groups of friends. In other words we are very flexible. When each table is drawn someone from it draw the number of the next to be called. Marg drew from our table and picked the other tables where we have friends that asked us to sit in.
After I went for a bike ride and as luck would have it the donkey was back home, or perhaps just came out to see us. Anyway Patrick fed it the carrots he packed along and we made pretty good time. 2 of us cut off and rode about 4 miles while the other 2 guys went on for the longer ride. It was a nice day to ride as the sun was out by then under a clear blue sky.
When I got back we had a bite to eat and then I went to play in the pool tournament. I was paired with one of the less successful players in our park and we faced a couple who were very good. No I'm not just saying that because we were beaten 3 straight. Our opponents played again and beat that team all 3 games against one of our better pairings. Then the big guy from Eldorado paired with another player and won 3 games again. As a park team we took a drubbing today. After the tournament we played some games among ourselves and that was certainly a better result; our park won all the games. LOL
Marg went out to Kohl's where she returned something she bought the other day. She also went to get a battery put in a really good deal wrist watch she bought about a month ago and a nice store clerk gave her the option of a new watch, which she took. On the way back she stopped at Hobby Lobby, but never found anything she wanted. Fortunately this time she made it straight home from there. You may recall a while back here wrong turn resulting in about 50 miles of travel instead of 2 from there back to our place. I guess she does better in the daylight. In fairness there are few street lights here, they rely on reflectors set in the road surface.
By the time we were both home and organized it was happy hour. I took my sheleighleigh with me to show off and everyone was suitably impressed. We never stayed long and then it was out for supper. We went to Ihop for supper tonight. Marg had a cobb salad with the usual blue cheese dressing while I had something different, a split decision. Both were very good and filling. It was not busy there, something unusual. Last year on a night like this it would have been packed, lined up at the door.
Got back just in time for the animal races. A small crowd tonight, made smaller by Marg staying home. It seems there were a couple of tv programs she wanted to see. I went and won on 4 races, so was 50/50 tonight. Go Bimbo [the elephant]!
Hey I managed to stay awake until I got this posted tonight.
In the morning we both went for coffee and donuts. Our table was the second one drawn, so a good deal as the selection on donuts was all you could hope for. It was funny as many people sit at the same table with the same group of friends, although I sometimes change depending on seats available and we have several groups of friends. In other words we are very flexible. When each table is drawn someone from it draw the number of the next to be called. Marg drew from our table and picked the other tables where we have friends that asked us to sit in.
After I went for a bike ride and as luck would have it the donkey was back home, or perhaps just came out to see us. Anyway Patrick fed it the carrots he packed along and we made pretty good time. 2 of us cut off and rode about 4 miles while the other 2 guys went on for the longer ride. It was a nice day to ride as the sun was out by then under a clear blue sky.
When I got back we had a bite to eat and then I went to play in the pool tournament. I was paired with one of the less successful players in our park and we faced a couple who were very good. No I'm not just saying that because we were beaten 3 straight. Our opponents played again and beat that team all 3 games against one of our better pairings. Then the big guy from Eldorado paired with another player and won 3 games again. As a park team we took a drubbing today. After the tournament we played some games among ourselves and that was certainly a better result; our park won all the games. LOL
Marg went out to Kohl's where she returned something she bought the other day. She also went to get a battery put in a really good deal wrist watch she bought about a month ago and a nice store clerk gave her the option of a new watch, which she took. On the way back she stopped at Hobby Lobby, but never found anything she wanted. Fortunately this time she made it straight home from there. You may recall a while back here wrong turn resulting in about 50 miles of travel instead of 2 from there back to our place. I guess she does better in the daylight. In fairness there are few street lights here, they rely on reflectors set in the road surface.
By the time we were both home and organized it was happy hour. I took my sheleighleigh with me to show off and everyone was suitably impressed. We never stayed long and then it was out for supper. We went to Ihop for supper tonight. Marg had a cobb salad with the usual blue cheese dressing while I had something different, a split decision. Both were very good and filling. It was not busy there, something unusual. Last year on a night like this it would have been packed, lined up at the door.
Got back just in time for the animal races. A small crowd tonight, made smaller by Marg staying home. It seems there were a couple of tv programs she wanted to see. I went and won on 4 races, so was 50/50 tonight. Go Bimbo [the elephant]!
Hey I managed to stay awake until I got this posted tonight.
Robbie Burns day 2017
Got off to an early start to the day, from what has been the coldest night of this winter. There was a hard frost that iced up the windshield and so what would you expect but to go golfing. So that's what I did. Played with some pretty good golfers and my game was not great, but it was nice to get out. Besides at this time of year, the tee times fill up and if you snooze you loose is on everyone's mind. So we were pretty much full up on players, everyone afraid of losing their spot. They watered down the tee boxes and greens so they were fine, but lots of ice on the grass elsewhere. Marg did some housework and from the way I played, I'm not sure if I wouldn't have been better off staying behind and helping her.
Lunch was soup and sandwich, which is always popular this me. After lunch I went to play some pool. It was with some different guys this time and it was fun. Kenny Blanke came in about half way through and one of the guys left, so he played a few games with us. He & I were partners on the last game and we won it, so lots of fun.
A friend gave me a cane he made out of some willows. I brought a bundle of willows for the last two years after he told me how hard they are to come by here and yet they are prolific in our part of the world at home. He was so grateful that he presented this beautiful piece of his work. It's very strong and a hard wood. I think I will call it my sheleighleigh.
We worked at the hamburger fry this afternoon. Gary's hamburgers are always popular and they pretty much had a record turnout today. Marg worked in the kitchen taking orders and I worked the front desk taking orders and cash. It was kind of fun chatting with the residents and kidding about with them. One old guy seeing the money in the cash box said this is a hold-up. My reply was that our burgers were such a good deal that it was like a robbery anyway.
WHOA -- This was where I was when I fell asleep last night. Kept trying to stay awake to finish, but when I dozed off I would waken and find a string of whatever key my finger was resting on, so I finally gave up.
Okay I'm back.
Gary's hamburger's for dinner is always a big hit in the park and last night was no exception, I think the numbers were the largest turnout so far this winter, something like 125 and quite a few people have double burgers, so the actual burger patty count is much higher. Most people just have a cheeseburger with fries, Marg included. Gary decided I needed a double cheeseburger and fries. I only made the mistake of ordering that once before, so it was no surprise I wasn't able to finish, but it was very good, as usual. With the turnout, it was a good thing we were there, as everyone was busy and there was not idle time. The prices had gone up on the burgers by 25 cents this time and no one complained. For the couple of people that mentioned it, I said the minimum wage went up in Az, so everything is impacted. Even that volunteers who work the event got a raise, instead of a free burger at $3.50, we now get one valued at $3.75. LOL
Just got finished with the clean up and it was time to go to poker. There were only 4 of us played last night and my streak continues. I don't know how much, but I definitely donated last night. It must have been very apparent as people started feeling sorry for me. That sure never made it better, but may luck totally deserted me last night. It was not that I didn't win, but I was often second best and I always say it doesn't cost much to play compared to being second-best. Oh well, it's still cheaper than a casino and it gave pleasure to some friends. Now I just have to keep saying that until I get my revenge. LOL
I wonder if I could invoke sheleighleigh law and smack them about with my new stick. ;>))
Lunch was soup and sandwich, which is always popular this me. After lunch I went to play some pool. It was with some different guys this time and it was fun. Kenny Blanke came in about half way through and one of the guys left, so he played a few games with us. He & I were partners on the last game and we won it, so lots of fun.
A friend gave me a cane he made out of some willows. I brought a bundle of willows for the last two years after he told me how hard they are to come by here and yet they are prolific in our part of the world at home. He was so grateful that he presented this beautiful piece of his work. It's very strong and a hard wood. I think I will call it my sheleighleigh.
We worked at the hamburger fry this afternoon. Gary's hamburgers are always popular and they pretty much had a record turnout today. Marg worked in the kitchen taking orders and I worked the front desk taking orders and cash. It was kind of fun chatting with the residents and kidding about with them. One old guy seeing the money in the cash box said this is a hold-up. My reply was that our burgers were such a good deal that it was like a robbery anyway.
Okay I'm back.
Just got finished with the clean up and it was time to go to poker. There were only 4 of us played last night and my streak continues. I don't know how much, but I definitely donated last night. It must have been very apparent as people started feeling sorry for me. That sure never made it better, but may luck totally deserted me last night. It was not that I didn't win, but I was often second best and I always say it doesn't cost much to play compared to being second-best. Oh well, it's still cheaper than a casino and it gave pleasure to some friends. Now I just have to keep saying that until I get my revenge. LOL
I wonder if I could invoke sheleighleigh law and smack them about with my new stick. ;>))
Tuesday 24 January 2017
Tuesday, Jan 24th
The day was nicer even if below average temperatures here while the nights are pretty chilly. I believe tonight will be the coldest night of this winter, something like 37F, so still not freezing here. By the weekend it is forecast to warm up to about 70, so that will be about the averages for here and it will return to much nicer days. Just like anywhere the weather is probably the no. 1 topic.
This morning I went for a bike ride with a couple of the guys. One of them brought a carrot for the donkey, but something happened, he wasn't there. I made about 4 miles today and the guys went on for a longer trip. I was thinking about buying a new seat, but tried adjusting it this morning and it was much better, so will stay with it for a while. I had a few calls to make, so had time after the ride and got them in. The most important was to get sorted out with our home alarm system and I think we have it in hand. Another was to our banker to deal with an issue on our account. The third was to the city tax assessor dealing with the proposal we made for the condo association.
Marg did a load of laundry today. It was the little rugs around the place, like at the entry. She is really happy with the way it does them and it helps keep the dust down. She also had a bit of stuff from yesterday that needed steaming and got that out of the way as well. Had a sandwich for lunch and she had the left over ribs from last night. Me I'm not so keen on cold ribs, so I was happy with that.
After lunch I went and played pool. I ended up at a table of guys who are very good but had a good time. With 3 players it's always 2 against 1 and I did manage to get a win twice against those pirates I was playing. Marg went out and found a couple of things at Ross's, one of her favourite stores. With her what she likes and can find in her size she always has difficulty with poor selection at home. The opposite is true here and it makes shopping at this place a welcome change and at prices she can't come close to at home.
When I got back the fellow I helped with the flooring stopped by to drop off my installation kit. He was still very appreciative of the help he got. It really wasn't much, but his frustration level was such that it must have seemed like a life line the way he was carrying on.
Supper was some nice shrimp in a curry sauce. It was a little different from the one she normally makes and it was very nice. Every time we have a curry at home we always joke about east Indian folks coming to the door to see if they know us. I think it's because that kind of food is very uncommon here or at home for that matter. Doesn't take much to amuse us does it?
Tuesday night is bingo in the park and we played again tonight. I won a game by myself and got $30, Marg won the big double daub or final game that she had to split with two friends here in the park, one of whom was one of the gamblin' gals. She ended up with $42, so a good night for us.
This morning I went for a bike ride with a couple of the guys. One of them brought a carrot for the donkey, but something happened, he wasn't there. I made about 4 miles today and the guys went on for a longer trip. I was thinking about buying a new seat, but tried adjusting it this morning and it was much better, so will stay with it for a while. I had a few calls to make, so had time after the ride and got them in. The most important was to get sorted out with our home alarm system and I think we have it in hand. Another was to our banker to deal with an issue on our account. The third was to the city tax assessor dealing with the proposal we made for the condo association.
Marg did a load of laundry today. It was the little rugs around the place, like at the entry. She is really happy with the way it does them and it helps keep the dust down. She also had a bit of stuff from yesterday that needed steaming and got that out of the way as well. Had a sandwich for lunch and she had the left over ribs from last night. Me I'm not so keen on cold ribs, so I was happy with that.
After lunch I went and played pool. I ended up at a table of guys who are very good but had a good time. With 3 players it's always 2 against 1 and I did manage to get a win twice against those pirates I was playing. Marg went out and found a couple of things at Ross's, one of her favourite stores. With her what she likes and can find in her size she always has difficulty with poor selection at home. The opposite is true here and it makes shopping at this place a welcome change and at prices she can't come close to at home.
When I got back the fellow I helped with the flooring stopped by to drop off my installation kit. He was still very appreciative of the help he got. It really wasn't much, but his frustration level was such that it must have seemed like a life line the way he was carrying on.
Supper was some nice shrimp in a curry sauce. It was a little different from the one she normally makes and it was very nice. Every time we have a curry at home we always joke about east Indian folks coming to the door to see if they know us. I think it's because that kind of food is very uncommon here or at home for that matter. Doesn't take much to amuse us does it?
Monday 23 January 2017
Monday Jan 23rd
So I am thinking Larry isn't riding right now and there is a chilly wind blowing, so I might just sit here and read until I am ready for my shower. The along come a couple of guys that I had not expected today and I had to dress quickly, yes I was still in my jammies. Well so was Marg. We road out to the east and Pat gave the donkey a few carrots. He seemed very happy with it, not Pat, the donkey. I made about 4 miles today, the other two continued on, but that was enough for me. Early in the morning, Marg took the ribs we marinated and put them in the slow cooker in a mixture with the bbq sauce to get them ready for supper.
We had visitors in the morning, it seems there is some drama unfolding in the rv park and they just wanted someone to talk to. He made it clear up front that he was not looking for help or suggestions, just a sympathetic ear. Kind of reminded me of when I was working, we used to allow something we tended to call recreational bitching or complaining, actually. I had forgot about that until today. Anyway he talked about his thoughts on it and at a couple of points we either nodded or sympathized. I saw him later in the afternoon and it seems to have settled down and while not happy had a solution he could live with. I just keep telling everyone, I'm just here to have fun; but sometimes when a friend makes a request like this one, you just have to be there.
After that workout, I needed the shower I had been putting off and it was a nice way to relax after the ride. Marg did a load of laundry this morning and got out the drying rack from yesterday. She did the steaming of whatever needed it and got it all put away. While the air drying is a bit of a throw-back it seems to be working for her and the garments are very different when dried this way.
I learned something new today about electricity. One of our friends had an abnormally high electricity bill and it seems there had been a wire that grounded and caused a hot receptacle with the result being a constant draw of electricity through the meter. Fortunately Gary from the park came to change out her meter and discovered the problem. Apparently the wire was blackened and was likely a potential fire hazard. No one had been messing with the wire or plug in since she has owned the park model, so it seems it just happened. Something to be aware of I guess.
Lunch was french toast using up the buns left from the turkey soup dinner. They were really good buns and by now you know that french toast is a no-brainer for me. It was as good as anticipated and made for a great lunch.
After lunch Marg went out to look for some shoes. Her shoes are getting quite worn down and while she has lots of sandals, she wanted to get a good close-toe shoe. As luck would have it she found them at Bells and today there was some special promo discount, so even better. She also found some real good nail clippers, our old ones were just about done and were more properly nail rippers or hackers. Me I went and played pool. It started out just two of us that became three and ultimately four. All good guys and we had a bit of fun with it. One of the guys is usually a serious player, but I think even he was having a bit of fun, nice to see. I had a good day and won as many as I lost, except for the game where I missed an 8 ball that was sitting in front of a pocket. Arghhh.
One of the guys had been showing his neighbour how to install click laminate flooring, so after pool, he and I went over to see how it was going. As it turned out, not well and the guy had quit in frustration. Gene asked him to show us and low & behold he had only 3 pieces installed. Right off I discovered he never bought the installation kit, so I went home to get the one I used when doing it in our place. We started in showing him how it goes and how to piece it together so he wouldn't get discouraged. Soon both of us with bad knees were down there working with him, but the lady of the house came out with some cushions to kneel on, thank you. When I left after about 45 minutes, we had it all except for the last row done.
Well it was happy hour and I had to get there. As it was I almost missed it, but we did manage to get there for a little over a half hour. Now it may seem a bit callous, but the last 3 pieces need to be ripped length-wise and all he has its a skill saw, so would probably take - well too much time and besides there is still tomorrow. LOL Priorities! Oh yeh and I smashed my thumb while holding and pounding on the block to close up the gap. Well it's turning black, so don't laugh, that's what the guys were doing when I left anyway.
Back home for supper and the ribs turned out very good. For a change we had them with mashed potato and creamed corn. It turned out great and we ate like royalty. I think we are on to something new.
A couple of more cooler days and then it's supposed to warm up to seasonal norms. I think we are about 10 degrees normal right now and not all that happy about it. Oh well, it's warmer than home.
We had visitors in the morning, it seems there is some drama unfolding in the rv park and they just wanted someone to talk to. He made it clear up front that he was not looking for help or suggestions, just a sympathetic ear. Kind of reminded me of when I was working, we used to allow something we tended to call recreational bitching or complaining, actually. I had forgot about that until today. Anyway he talked about his thoughts on it and at a couple of points we either nodded or sympathized. I saw him later in the afternoon and it seems to have settled down and while not happy had a solution he could live with. I just keep telling everyone, I'm just here to have fun; but sometimes when a friend makes a request like this one, you just have to be there.
After that workout, I needed the shower I had been putting off and it was a nice way to relax after the ride. Marg did a load of laundry this morning and got out the drying rack from yesterday. She did the steaming of whatever needed it and got it all put away. While the air drying is a bit of a throw-back it seems to be working for her and the garments are very different when dried this way.
I learned something new today about electricity. One of our friends had an abnormally high electricity bill and it seems there had been a wire that grounded and caused a hot receptacle with the result being a constant draw of electricity through the meter. Fortunately Gary from the park came to change out her meter and discovered the problem. Apparently the wire was blackened and was likely a potential fire hazard. No one had been messing with the wire or plug in since she has owned the park model, so it seems it just happened. Something to be aware of I guess.
Lunch was french toast using up the buns left from the turkey soup dinner. They were really good buns and by now you know that french toast is a no-brainer for me. It was as good as anticipated and made for a great lunch.
After lunch Marg went out to look for some shoes. Her shoes are getting quite worn down and while she has lots of sandals, she wanted to get a good close-toe shoe. As luck would have it she found them at Bells and today there was some special promo discount, so even better. She also found some real good nail clippers, our old ones were just about done and were more properly nail rippers or hackers. Me I went and played pool. It started out just two of us that became three and ultimately four. All good guys and we had a bit of fun with it. One of the guys is usually a serious player, but I think even he was having a bit of fun, nice to see. I had a good day and won as many as I lost, except for the game where I missed an 8 ball that was sitting in front of a pocket. Arghhh.
One of the guys had been showing his neighbour how to install click laminate flooring, so after pool, he and I went over to see how it was going. As it turned out, not well and the guy had quit in frustration. Gene asked him to show us and low & behold he had only 3 pieces installed. Right off I discovered he never bought the installation kit, so I went home to get the one I used when doing it in our place. We started in showing him how it goes and how to piece it together so he wouldn't get discouraged. Soon both of us with bad knees were down there working with him, but the lady of the house came out with some cushions to kneel on, thank you. When I left after about 45 minutes, we had it all except for the last row done.
Well it was happy hour and I had to get there. As it was I almost missed it, but we did manage to get there for a little over a half hour. Now it may seem a bit callous, but the last 3 pieces need to be ripped length-wise and all he has its a skill saw, so would probably take - well too much time and besides there is still tomorrow. LOL Priorities! Oh yeh and I smashed my thumb while holding and pounding on the block to close up the gap. Well it's turning black, so don't laugh, that's what the guys were doing when I left anyway.
Back home for supper and the ribs turned out very good. For a change we had them with mashed potato and creamed corn. It turned out great and we ate like royalty. I think we are on to something new.
A couple of more cooler days and then it's supposed to warm up to seasonal norms. I think we are about 10 degrees normal right now and not all that happy about it. Oh well, it's warmer than home.
Sunday 22 January 2017
Sunday
Got up early and made it to the church service with a bit of time to spare instead of my usual last minute entry. There was a good turnout this morning, for here anyway and the service included a bit of music by a guy & lady who are cousins from Montana and they always do a fine job of it. The pastor got on a bit of a theme today and was really into it, so the service ran a bit long.
When I got back home my charming wife had made a pan of pull-apart rolls with a caramel sauce on them and they were still warm. I think she tries to anticipate the time I will get back and does well with it, but today the sermon ran a bit long. I had left my coffee cup in the kitchen yesterday when I left the breakfast crew, so I went to look for it in and sure enough Gary had it put away for me and it was all washed up nice and clean. Even though I felt guilty about leaving without helping clean up, they were appreciative of my helping out with pancakes which was nice. Oh yeh, the rolls, well we ate most of them, but there are still some left for a snack or breakfast tomorrow and they were delicious.
Marg did a couple of loads of laundry and had a pretty steady stream of visitors this morning. Shortly after noon we stopped to have a lunch, even though we had only recently had the rolls. To make it a lighter lunch we had taco ships with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, nacho cheese. We do this periodically as it's both filling and a nice change, almost a treat. The only thing we differ on is the guacamole, she loves it, I'm just OK with it.
After lunch I went to take a CD with the pictures from the anniversary party yesterday over to the couple so they can do as they wish with them. I also printed a poster on the Canadian Snowbird assoc event [kind of a convention] the first week of Feb and put it on the bulletin board for anyone in the park who might be interested. There are a few things like this around here designed to appeal to the snowbirds and they are open to everyone.
Marg went out to Fry's for a few groceries and came back with a lot of them.. In fact she got a rack of ribs at such a great price that we will have them tomorrow. I grilled them for a bit to brown them up and now they are marinating until morning, should be good. I also did a nice steak at the same time that we had for supper tonight with baked potato and all the trimmings. It's from the deal she got a while back and we have been very happy with everyone of them.
We finished of the day at the ice cream social tonight. We had our dinner early enough that I was able to return to the banana split while Marg had sherbet and a small piece of cake, hardly worth going for LOL.
When I got back home my charming wife had made a pan of pull-apart rolls with a caramel sauce on them and they were still warm. I think she tries to anticipate the time I will get back and does well with it, but today the sermon ran a bit long. I had left my coffee cup in the kitchen yesterday when I left the breakfast crew, so I went to look for it in and sure enough Gary had it put away for me and it was all washed up nice and clean. Even though I felt guilty about leaving without helping clean up, they were appreciative of my helping out with pancakes which was nice. Oh yeh, the rolls, well we ate most of them, but there are still some left for a snack or breakfast tomorrow and they were delicious.
Marg did a couple of loads of laundry and had a pretty steady stream of visitors this morning. Shortly after noon we stopped to have a lunch, even though we had only recently had the rolls. To make it a lighter lunch we had taco ships with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, nacho cheese. We do this periodically as it's both filling and a nice change, almost a treat. The only thing we differ on is the guacamole, she loves it, I'm just OK with it.
After lunch I went to take a CD with the pictures from the anniversary party yesterday over to the couple so they can do as they wish with them. I also printed a poster on the Canadian Snowbird assoc event [kind of a convention] the first week of Feb and put it on the bulletin board for anyone in the park who might be interested. There are a few things like this around here designed to appeal to the snowbirds and they are open to everyone.
Marg went out to Fry's for a few groceries and came back with a lot of them.. In fact she got a rack of ribs at such a great price that we will have them tomorrow. I grilled them for a bit to brown them up and now they are marinating until morning, should be good. I also did a nice steak at the same time that we had for supper tonight with baked potato and all the trimmings. It's from the deal she got a while back and we have been very happy with everyone of them.
We finished of the day at the ice cream social tonight. We had our dinner early enough that I was able to return to the banana split while Marg had sherbet and a small piece of cake, hardly worth going for LOL.
Saturday 21 January 2017
Saturday
An early start to the day to work on the breakfast crew who were short a pancake maker for today. They are a good crew, so late yesterday I agreed to make pancakes this morning, even if it meant a 6:30 start to my day. Not sure what the reason, but the place was packed with people for breakfast, they were lined up to the back wall for the first half hour and that was not because they were waiting for anything to cook. Part of the reason was probably the great job Gary does on the hash browns, I'm pretty sure they were more popular than pancakes. Maybe I should have copied the team last week and put blueberries in them.
It was pretty funny as Marg showed up at the back door to the kitchen about 8:30 and the crew got a bit of a guilt trip, so told me to leave. The rush had pretty much finished by that time and it got me out of clean up, so I protested, well only a little and left.
Hey wait did you hear me say anything about breakfast, me eating it that is. Well that didn't happen. Marg drove the truck over, with three ladies in the back seat. There were some park sales advertised today, one very large one in particular that we never miss at Rancho Mirage. Last year we did very well at it and it's a very large park, I would guess well over 1,000 units. I guess after Marg talking about it they were keen to come along. As usual I had my pocket book and followed along as they went from deal to deal. I believe everyone got a few bargains and were happy with their day. Well that part of it anyway as we stopped at an estate sale on the way back. It turns out it was in a junky park and there was nothing of interest there. Pretty funny as the lady had a box of rocks and Linda took a fancy to one, but the lady said they weren't for sale. I guess she wasn't really getting rid of much and the gals said it was pretty much all junk. Gee I thought that's what these sales are, getting rid of junk. LOL Then on the way back Marg had an ad on a final park sale, so we stopped there. It turned out the ad was for next Saturday, so that was bust as well.
Back at our place, Marg made an omelet [with salsa] and toast. Well she called it brunch, so I sort of got breakfast. On that way back she was talking about making brunch and I told the story about Katie saying she liked it at grandma's because grandpa never misses any meals. She would have been disappointed today, LOL.
Marg had picked up a mirror at the sale, so I installed it on the area around her make up table. As it turns out it was a good fit for the space and she is really happy with how much better the space works for her now that she has two mirrors in it. The day was cloudy with a cool wind, only in the 50's, so we stayed in for part of the afternoon, then visited a bit with Blanke's. After we went to happy hour, there were only a few of us today and we wanted to see how Larry was getting on after yesterday. After supper was fish and chips that Marg made. It was some nice cod she had picked up and she even made the tartar sauce and cole slaw.
It was pretty funny as Marg showed up at the back door to the kitchen about 8:30 and the crew got a bit of a guilt trip, so told me to leave. The rush had pretty much finished by that time and it got me out of clean up, so I protested, well only a little and left.
Hey wait did you hear me say anything about breakfast, me eating it that is. Well that didn't happen. Marg drove the truck over, with three ladies in the back seat. There were some park sales advertised today, one very large one in particular that we never miss at Rancho Mirage. Last year we did very well at it and it's a very large park, I would guess well over 1,000 units. I guess after Marg talking about it they were keen to come along. As usual I had my pocket book and followed along as they went from deal to deal. I believe everyone got a few bargains and were happy with their day. Well that part of it anyway as we stopped at an estate sale on the way back. It turns out it was in a junky park and there was nothing of interest there. Pretty funny as the lady had a box of rocks and Linda took a fancy to one, but the lady said they weren't for sale. I guess she wasn't really getting rid of much and the gals said it was pretty much all junk. Gee I thought that's what these sales are, getting rid of junk. LOL Then on the way back Marg had an ad on a final park sale, so we stopped there. It turned out the ad was for next Saturday, so that was bust as well.
Back at our place, Marg made an omelet [with salsa] and toast. Well she called it brunch, so I sort of got breakfast. On that way back she was talking about making brunch and I told the story about Katie saying she liked it at grandma's because grandpa never misses any meals. She would have been disappointed today, LOL.
Marg had picked up a mirror at the sale, so I installed it on the area around her make up table. As it turns out it was a good fit for the space and she is really happy with how much better the space works for her now that she has two mirrors in it. The day was cloudy with a cool wind, only in the 50's, so we stayed in for part of the afternoon, then visited a bit with Blanke's. After we went to happy hour, there were only a few of us today and we wanted to see how Larry was getting on after yesterday. After supper was fish and chips that Marg made. It was some nice cod she had picked up and she even made the tartar sauce and cole slaw.
Friday 20 January 2017
Friday, Jan 20th
The weather is in the grips of a winter storm that is dropping snow in the high country and rain in the valley. It rained off and on most of the day and is forecast to rain at night, so far that seems pretty accurate. I think the snow is above the 5,000 ft level and some areas are expected to get well over 12 inches. The only good thing is the temperatures are still in the 50's and while that is not what we signed up for, it will get warmer, it will get hot. But tomorrow could be damp. LOL
This morning we pretty much stayed in. Marg had a couple of visitors come to the house, but that was about it. After lunch we went down to the Rec Hall where a couple in the park were celebrating their 50th anniversary. They are from Wisconsin and actually celebrated their anniversary at home, but wanted to do it with their friends here, so they provided cake and ice cream today and a bit of a program that was entertaining. The rainy day might have had an impact as well free cake & ice cream, but they had over 100 people there to celebrate and have a few laughs, making for a nice day.
While there Gary came up to me asking if I was busy tomorrow morning. Well I was driving 5 ladies to a park sale. But Gary was stuck for someone to make pancakes on their breakfast crew, so I agreed to do that for them. I guess I can get them all made and out and still get out by 8:30 to drive the ladies and if I do it will be without helping them clean up. Hey that could be good.
Supper tonight was Golden Corral, so as Char would say get out your buffet pants. There were two other couples going and they had asked us to join them. It must have been my night to cook as Marg agreed and just told me we were going a few days back. The other couple ended up with a single lady who came with them. Then we ended up with two other single ladies coming with us, so we were 9 in all and for a couple of them it was their first time to Golden Corral and they seemed to enjoy it. On the way out Marg convinced a couple of the ladies that they should take home a bag of cotton candy and then took one herself for the lady next door to give to her mother. It was actually her mother who lived next door and has moved to another park because she needed a bigger unit for health reasons.
This morning we pretty much stayed in. Marg had a couple of visitors come to the house, but that was about it. After lunch we went down to the Rec Hall where a couple in the park were celebrating their 50th anniversary. They are from Wisconsin and actually celebrated their anniversary at home, but wanted to do it with their friends here, so they provided cake and ice cream today and a bit of a program that was entertaining. The rainy day might have had an impact as well free cake & ice cream, but they had over 100 people there to celebrate and have a few laughs, making for a nice day.
Supper tonight was Golden Corral, so as Char would say get out your buffet pants. There were two other couples going and they had asked us to join them. It must have been my night to cook as Marg agreed and just told me we were going a few days back. The other couple ended up with a single lady who came with them. Then we ended up with two other single ladies coming with us, so we were 9 in all and for a couple of them it was their first time to Golden Corral and they seemed to enjoy it. On the way out Marg convinced a couple of the ladies that they should take home a bag of cotton candy and then took one herself for the lady next door to give to her mother. It was actually her mother who lived next door and has moved to another park because she needed a bigger unit for health reasons.
Thursday 19 January 2017
Thursday
A cooler day today and it sprinkled a bit throughout the day. It seems we are getting a couple of winter storm systems moving through and as a result our temperatures are below seasonal norms.
I went to the coffee klatch this morning and got updates on the activities in the park, it was very well attended this morning. The park owner spoke to the group about some of the construction they are having done and some of his plans to improve the park services. While I was gone, Marg had a facetime with Char and got an update on the stuff that is going on with their family. It sounded very positive and they got some good news with the doctor appointment in Liverpool, so it was nice to hear.
When I got back we got a few picture files on a memory stick and went to Walmart to print them. The instant print service there is excellent and at 29 cents a picture, it is good value. There is a couple in the park having cake and ice cream tomorrow to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The actual date was last summer, but they want to share their happiness with their friends in Arizona. Although they said no gifts, Marg got a very nice desk top type picture frame that she is going to put the picture in. We also needed a few groceries, so picked that up as well.
Got back home in time to have a grilled sandwich and drink and then it was off to play pool at Raindance, a park in our league. I partnered with a fellow from Red Deer who is an excellent player and it was darn good thing as he carried us today. We won 2 of our 3 games against some very good competition, so a good result. We played a bit after waiting for the last game to finish and that was more fun. LOL
While I was gone, Marg had lots of company. Three ladies in the park who walk their dogs everyday stopped in for dog treats. One of them leaves a package of them here so that when Sadie comes by she looks forward to stopping here and the other two benefited as well today. Then she had another lady who came in for a cup of tea and that was kind of how it went.
When the tea was finally drank up, we went out the hardware. I got a small part for some repair and then we went to Shoppers. For you GP people, it's like Peavey Mart. They sell a lot of farm supplies, including clothes as well as hardware and a whole lot more. Anyway there was an older couple in there, each had a goose on a leash and a cockatiel on their shoulder. These geese were huge [biggest I have ever seen] and had long necks like swans. There very docile and a couple of people went up to them to stroke or pet them, whatever it is you do to them. It was kind of funny as one dropped a few turds on the floor and the lady had to clean it up. Oh yes, the reason we went there, Marg got some room fresheners and other things. I looked at some electrical parts, guns & ammo, tools, geese, patio heaters, etc.
When we got back it was just in time for supper and then it was down to the animal races. We each won half the races, but not the same ones. I won lower paying races, but the elephant won twice, go Bimbo. On the last race, Marg had bet her 3 bets all on the elephant, so won big and had one or two other races that paid off over a dollar each. Kind of funny, but she wasn't going to say anything if Bimbo didn't win the last race. LOL.
I went to the coffee klatch this morning and got updates on the activities in the park, it was very well attended this morning. The park owner spoke to the group about some of the construction they are having done and some of his plans to improve the park services. While I was gone, Marg had a facetime with Char and got an update on the stuff that is going on with their family. It sounded very positive and they got some good news with the doctor appointment in Liverpool, so it was nice to hear.
When I got back we got a few picture files on a memory stick and went to Walmart to print them. The instant print service there is excellent and at 29 cents a picture, it is good value. There is a couple in the park having cake and ice cream tomorrow to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The actual date was last summer, but they want to share their happiness with their friends in Arizona. Although they said no gifts, Marg got a very nice desk top type picture frame that she is going to put the picture in. We also needed a few groceries, so picked that up as well.
Got back home in time to have a grilled sandwich and drink and then it was off to play pool at Raindance, a park in our league. I partnered with a fellow from Red Deer who is an excellent player and it was darn good thing as he carried us today. We won 2 of our 3 games against some very good competition, so a good result. We played a bit after waiting for the last game to finish and that was more fun. LOL
While I was gone, Marg had lots of company. Three ladies in the park who walk their dogs everyday stopped in for dog treats. One of them leaves a package of them here so that when Sadie comes by she looks forward to stopping here and the other two benefited as well today. Then she had another lady who came in for a cup of tea and that was kind of how it went.
When the tea was finally drank up, we went out the hardware. I got a small part for some repair and then we went to Shoppers. For you GP people, it's like Peavey Mart. They sell a lot of farm supplies, including clothes as well as hardware and a whole lot more. Anyway there was an older couple in there, each had a goose on a leash and a cockatiel on their shoulder. These geese were huge [biggest I have ever seen] and had long necks like swans. There very docile and a couple of people went up to them to stroke or pet them, whatever it is you do to them. It was kind of funny as one dropped a few turds on the floor and the lady had to clean it up. Oh yes, the reason we went there, Marg got some room fresheners and other things. I looked at some electrical parts, guns & ammo, tools, geese, patio heaters, etc.
When we got back it was just in time for supper and then it was down to the animal races. We each won half the races, but not the same ones. I won lower paying races, but the elephant won twice, go Bimbo. On the last race, Marg had bet her 3 bets all on the elephant, so won big and had one or two other races that paid off over a dollar each. Kind of funny, but she wasn't going to say anything if Bimbo didn't win the last race. LOL.
Wednesday 18 January 2017
Wednesday
Busy morning today as we both had commitments. It was a bit chilly but warmed quickly to be shirt sleeve weather.
Marg went with the Gamblin' Gals to the Fort. There was a car full of eager ladies. Apparently the place was pretty full as there was a car auction going on. It's a funny thing, people come here for the big Barrett Jackson car auctions and several others hold their smaller ones at the same time. The one at the Fort is Silver Auctions and they still had some pretty cool cars the last time I went. There were no winners today in the group, so they had to be content with the fun they had.
I played golf at Apache Sun this morning. We had lots of golfers and I was teamed up with the second group out. We had a bit of fun and I was happy with what I carded, a 45 that included 3 pars. I drove again as I have been taking a guy who is new to the park with me. He seems to be enjoying the golf and the people and he plays pretty well. Oh yeh, I never even lost a ball today.
When I got back I made a lunch, yes you heard right, no need for cooking classes here. LOL Then I went out and got a great deal on a pair of sneakers [trainers, Char] and some nice buns for supper. Well not at the same store, Big 5 sports was in the same centre as Basha's. When I got back to the park I played some pool. The guys I played with were fun and it was pretty competitive. I was really lucky and never played on a losing team. I know, you are thinking it's more fun to win, but that was not my yardstick when I say this. After I went to Kenny's where we discussed a project he has to put some lighting in his place. Then I went to happy hour and it was a smaller group today. How small; well the women sat with the guys. That may be normal for most folks, but at Larry's place it generally isn't.
By the end the Gamblin' Gals returned and Marg & I made our way over to the hall for the turkey soup dinner. The place was packed, as it is when anything involving free food happens here. The soup was good, but I think it was better when Marg was on the cooking crew. It was nice, where we sat there was a couple who have been away a couple of years after selling their park model and have returned.
After supper we went home for coffee & shortbread, no one else, just us. I don't encourage Marg to share her shortbread cookies, they are almost gone now. Then I went to poker with the guys, where I donated to the greater good, not a lot, but I am pretty sure I was not a winner.
Marg went with the Gamblin' Gals to the Fort. There was a car full of eager ladies. Apparently the place was pretty full as there was a car auction going on. It's a funny thing, people come here for the big Barrett Jackson car auctions and several others hold their smaller ones at the same time. The one at the Fort is Silver Auctions and they still had some pretty cool cars the last time I went. There were no winners today in the group, so they had to be content with the fun they had.
I played golf at Apache Sun this morning. We had lots of golfers and I was teamed up with the second group out. We had a bit of fun and I was happy with what I carded, a 45 that included 3 pars. I drove again as I have been taking a guy who is new to the park with me. He seems to be enjoying the golf and the people and he plays pretty well. Oh yeh, I never even lost a ball today.
When I got back I made a lunch, yes you heard right, no need for cooking classes here. LOL Then I went out and got a great deal on a pair of sneakers [trainers, Char] and some nice buns for supper. Well not at the same store, Big 5 sports was in the same centre as Basha's. When I got back to the park I played some pool. The guys I played with were fun and it was pretty competitive. I was really lucky and never played on a losing team. I know, you are thinking it's more fun to win, but that was not my yardstick when I say this. After I went to Kenny's where we discussed a project he has to put some lighting in his place. Then I went to happy hour and it was a smaller group today. How small; well the women sat with the guys. That may be normal for most folks, but at Larry's place it generally isn't.
By the end the Gamblin' Gals returned and Marg & I made our way over to the hall for the turkey soup dinner. The place was packed, as it is when anything involving free food happens here. The soup was good, but I think it was better when Marg was on the cooking crew. It was nice, where we sat there was a couple who have been away a couple of years after selling their park model and have returned.
After supper we went home for coffee & shortbread, no one else, just us. I don't encourage Marg to share her shortbread cookies, they are almost gone now. Then I went to poker with the guys, where I donated to the greater good, not a lot, but I am pretty sure I was not a winner.
Tuesday 17 January 2017
Tuesday
Finally we got back on our bikes this morning. As it turned out there were 5 riders which is pretty good. We went east up to the donkey and it was braying loudly well before we go there. Pat had a couple of carrots and that seemed to satisfy it. It was a pretty good day to ride and we made about 4 miles, so not bad. One of the guys went on for a longer ride, one left early as he had to be back and 3 of us rode the entire way together.
Marg went out as she needed to go to the post office. Mornings are usually very busy, but she seemed to make out OK. When she got back she had some visitors and between she did her steaming of the laundry from yesterday. She ran the vac over the floors and I moved the furniture out of her way so she could do under it. It's kind of close quarters in here and it seems getting under the furniture works better that way.
For my part I tried to deal with our alarm service company as we are again having false alarms from one of the motion sensors at home. The alarm service company is in Saskatchewan and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with them, but am still waiting for a return call from the technical guy. Much of the afternoon I was waiting for the call, so had to hang around. I made a couple of phone calls to family in Edmonton and that pretty much filled the day. It seems I had got off my daily blog for a bit, so being around home gave me a chance to get that caught up as well as do some emails and make a couple of posts to the tenants assoc. FB site here.
A short happy hour tonight as our time was short. Supper tonight was a nice steak bbq for me and some spicy chicken [buffalo flavour I believe]. Then it was off to bingo where we had a good crowd tonight. We had 4 winners among our group. I won which was a nice change. It was a straight line bingo and there were only 4 numbers called, but they fit exactly and no one could believe I had a bingo that early, I guess it is very unusual and it got lots of funny comments.
Marg went out as she needed to go to the post office. Mornings are usually very busy, but she seemed to make out OK. When she got back she had some visitors and between she did her steaming of the laundry from yesterday. She ran the vac over the floors and I moved the furniture out of her way so she could do under it. It's kind of close quarters in here and it seems getting under the furniture works better that way.
For my part I tried to deal with our alarm service company as we are again having false alarms from one of the motion sensors at home. The alarm service company is in Saskatchewan and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with them, but am still waiting for a return call from the technical guy. Much of the afternoon I was waiting for the call, so had to hang around. I made a couple of phone calls to family in Edmonton and that pretty much filled the day. It seems I had got off my daily blog for a bit, so being around home gave me a chance to get that caught up as well as do some emails and make a couple of posts to the tenants assoc. FB site here.
A short happy hour tonight as our time was short. Supper tonight was a nice steak bbq for me and some spicy chicken [buffalo flavour I believe]. Then it was off to bingo where we had a good crowd tonight. We had 4 winners among our group. I won which was a nice change. It was a straight line bingo and there were only 4 numbers called, but they fit exactly and no one could believe I had a bingo that early, I guess it is very unusual and it got lots of funny comments.
Sunday/Monday January 15/16
Something must have happened, I must have had a senior moment thinking that I had posted here, but looking for it today, nothing. Well here is the recap of the last couple of days.
Sunday -- Started off attending the church service here in the park. It was well attended and not sure if that was a result of poor weather and nothing else to do or whether it was lots of folks seeking peace from their sinful weekend. Maybe it was just folks like me, going to hear the music. LOL
By the time I got home, Marg had a nice pan of pull apart rolls made, they were topped with a caramel sauce with pecans and they were still warm, very tasty.
Being as she did something nice for me I thought I would reciprocate, so we went to the Arizona Mills outlet mall. We had a facetime with Anna & Sophie on the prior day where Sophie told us they were having a baby and she was all excited about being a big sister. We were so happy to hear the news and it was such a treat to hear Sophie telling us about it. What a happy day. I stopped on the way at the Mesa marketplace where I traded in the pocket books I have read and got some replacements. With my pocket book to read and her with her keen shopping sense we ventured forth. Her first stop is always the Neiman Marcus store to look at the things she wouldn't buy; you know like the purse that was discounted to $3,000 to clear it out. Then it was on to the more practical places where she managed to get a few things, not certain what all it was but the bag was fairly large. We stopped in at Johnny Rockets for lunch, apparently she had previously ate their with Char & Katie when they were here. It was my first time and it was a good burger and fries.
Traffic was a bit heavy coming back which surprised me for a Sunday. It was later in the afternoon by then, but I would not have thought a rush hour on Sunday. In fact by the time we got home it was time to go for happy hour. We weren't all that hungry as lunch was a bit late, so ate a light supper, knowing that the ice cream social awaited at 6:30. At ice cream social I had to go light again, so just had a dish of chocolate, passing on the cake, passing on the banana split. Marg had ice cream and a small piece of cake, Lynette really makes good cakes.
Monday -- It rained through the night, so was a bit cool and damp. Have not rode the bike for a few days and today it was not in the cards. I spent the morning going over the financial statements for the condo association at home. The annual meeting is next week so my fellow committee member and I have to tender our independent financial review to include in the package. I also spent a bit of time talking with him on the phone and sorting things out. Then writing the audit report for his perusal and ultimately for the Treasurer to provide to the membership.
Marg went out to return an Ipad cover she bought that wasn't the right one. She also stopped at the post office, but it was closed for MLK day, a national holiday here. She also picked up a few things along the way and was back by lunch. In the afternoon she did a couple loads of laundry, still loves the new wash/dry machine. She had company for coffee, Lynette and her daughter stopped by. I think her daughter is here for a week or two. I went and played pool. I changed cue sticks and since my game has improved quite a bit. In fact I was pleasantly surprised as I kicked butt yesterday. LOL I played so long I barely got home for happy and then it was supper in, a dish Marg made with the left over chicken from Saturday.
Sunday -- Started off attending the church service here in the park. It was well attended and not sure if that was a result of poor weather and nothing else to do or whether it was lots of folks seeking peace from their sinful weekend. Maybe it was just folks like me, going to hear the music. LOL
By the time I got home, Marg had a nice pan of pull apart rolls made, they were topped with a caramel sauce with pecans and they were still warm, very tasty.
Being as she did something nice for me I thought I would reciprocate, so we went to the Arizona Mills outlet mall. We had a facetime with Anna & Sophie on the prior day where Sophie told us they were having a baby and she was all excited about being a big sister. We were so happy to hear the news and it was such a treat to hear Sophie telling us about it. What a happy day. I stopped on the way at the Mesa marketplace where I traded in the pocket books I have read and got some replacements. With my pocket book to read and her with her keen shopping sense we ventured forth. Her first stop is always the Neiman Marcus store to look at the things she wouldn't buy; you know like the purse that was discounted to $3,000 to clear it out. Then it was on to the more practical places where she managed to get a few things, not certain what all it was but the bag was fairly large. We stopped in at Johnny Rockets for lunch, apparently she had previously ate their with Char & Katie when they were here. It was my first time and it was a good burger and fries.
Traffic was a bit heavy coming back which surprised me for a Sunday. It was later in the afternoon by then, but I would not have thought a rush hour on Sunday. In fact by the time we got home it was time to go for happy hour. We weren't all that hungry as lunch was a bit late, so ate a light supper, knowing that the ice cream social awaited at 6:30. At ice cream social I had to go light again, so just had a dish of chocolate, passing on the cake, passing on the banana split. Marg had ice cream and a small piece of cake, Lynette really makes good cakes.
Monday -- It rained through the night, so was a bit cool and damp. Have not rode the bike for a few days and today it was not in the cards. I spent the morning going over the financial statements for the condo association at home. The annual meeting is next week so my fellow committee member and I have to tender our independent financial review to include in the package. I also spent a bit of time talking with him on the phone and sorting things out. Then writing the audit report for his perusal and ultimately for the Treasurer to provide to the membership.
Marg went out to return an Ipad cover she bought that wasn't the right one. She also stopped at the post office, but it was closed for MLK day, a national holiday here. She also picked up a few things along the way and was back by lunch. In the afternoon she did a couple loads of laundry, still loves the new wash/dry machine. She had company for coffee, Lynette and her daughter stopped by. I think her daughter is here for a week or two. I went and played pool. I changed cue sticks and since my game has improved quite a bit. In fact I was pleasantly surprised as I kicked butt yesterday. LOL I played so long I barely got home for happy and then it was supper in, a dish Marg made with the left over chicken from Saturday.
Saturday 14 January 2017
Saturday
Well by now you know how Saturday starts, I go for breakfast in the hall. Today was really cool, it was french toast or blueberry pancakes. Difficult to choose, so I had both and they were good. Gary cooked pancakes and Gen the french toast, so you knew they had to be good. You also know that Marg never went to breakfast.
After I go back we went to a park patio sale at a very large park just southeast of here. I never got a thing, Marg said it's because I sat in the truck and read my pocket book. Actually she might have something there, nobody came to the truck asking if I wanted to buy anything. She got a couple of things, I believe a wind chime and a pan she could make a bigger pull-apart bun batch. It looks like one she uses at home to make things like angel food cake. There were lot of people from our park out there looking for bargains and some seemed to have a lot more acquisitions than we did and I know for certain that one of the drivers never left his vehicle either.
After we returned we had a bite of lunch and Marg washed a couple of my coats and a vest as they were getting a bit soiled. She had a few visitors and got some things done around the house. I did a bit of maintenance out in the shop, well shed actually, but I do have a bench grinder and a vise installed in it. It rained off and on today, so not a good one to do outdoor things.
Supper tonight was a sit down dinner in the rec hall. Patti started a sit down dinner last year and it was very successful, so offered it again this year. It sold out very early, I think they limited it to 100 diners. It is a garden salad, roasted chicken breast with mashed potato and green beans with bread and cake, a great meal for the $6 per person they charge, quite a departure from anything else we do in the park. The food was good as usual and there was lots of it. In fact Marg brought half of the chicken from each of our plates and figures she has more than enough to make a chicken pot pie, the breasts were huge.
I did my photo thing and took about 50 pictures that I posted on the tenants assoc. FB page. People and their families and friends seem to really respond when there are pictures, so the site should be busy for the next few days.
After I go back we went to a park patio sale at a very large park just southeast of here. I never got a thing, Marg said it's because I sat in the truck and read my pocket book. Actually she might have something there, nobody came to the truck asking if I wanted to buy anything. She got a couple of things, I believe a wind chime and a pan she could make a bigger pull-apart bun batch. It looks like one she uses at home to make things like angel food cake. There were lot of people from our park out there looking for bargains and some seemed to have a lot more acquisitions than we did and I know for certain that one of the drivers never left his vehicle either.
After we returned we had a bite of lunch and Marg washed a couple of my coats and a vest as they were getting a bit soiled. She had a few visitors and got some things done around the house. I did a bit of maintenance out in the shop, well shed actually, but I do have a bench grinder and a vise installed in it. It rained off and on today, so not a good one to do outdoor things.
Friday 13 January 2017
Friday, January 13th.
Well the media have been making a big deal of this day, Friday the 13th with a full moon. Probably an unlucky day for weirdo's.
The day was overcast, but still quite pleasant. It could be and will be warmer, so no use complaining, right?
In the morning we went out to a park sale. Marg had arranged for 3 other people to ride with us, well two ladies who like to garage sale and one husband who wanted to ride with me. It wasn't the best sale we have been to, but each of the ladies found a few things they could use, but nothing major. After we cruised the areas around the other parks and none were productive. We did stop at on yard sale and one estate sale, but neither of those were very productive, so we called it a day. In the next while there will be lots of park sale opportunities. They tend to be better than yard sales because, although they seem a lot alike to me.
After we got back Marg made something to eat and then I went golfing to The Links at Queen Creek with 3 guys from the park. It's certainly challenging enough for me and these guys are fun to go with, lots of laughs. A couple of them had really good scores, I think one was 76 and the other 83 while us other two were in the 90's. It was pretty much shirt sleeve weather, so a nice day to play and one of the guys got the booking off Golf Now, which gave us a rate reduction of $20 lower than what they charge, so a good deal. I only lost one ball today, so that is a good day for me. It was a bit unusual as we started on #10 and finished on #9, not certain what they had going but it was interesting to play the course that way. The foursome in front of us was a grandfather, his daughter and her two children. The kids were both playing in a youth tournament on the weekend so playing a practice round. The little girl was probably 10 or 12 and she could hit the ball a couple hundred yards right down the middle every time. The boy was a teenager and could play with most any adult I know.
Marg got the laundry steaming caught up, I guess she had it left to do from the previous day. Then she went out for a bit to Bells and found a few things. She has been looking for a bathing suit for a long time and finally had success with her search. One piece suits are quite expensive and she got a heck of a deal on the one she purchased, so she was very happy with both the deal and suit. She also bought me a shirt and a few other things, so considered it a successful trip. She likes to shop alone because she can go at her own pace and not feel pressured and I am good with it, so it's all good.
At days end the guys dropped me off and stopped in for a beer. Then Marg had supper on the table and we ate in with a nice salad and plate of spaghetti rounded out with the lemon pie.
The day was overcast, but still quite pleasant. It could be and will be warmer, so no use complaining, right?
In the morning we went out to a park sale. Marg had arranged for 3 other people to ride with us, well two ladies who like to garage sale and one husband who wanted to ride with me. It wasn't the best sale we have been to, but each of the ladies found a few things they could use, but nothing major. After we cruised the areas around the other parks and none were productive. We did stop at on yard sale and one estate sale, but neither of those were very productive, so we called it a day. In the next while there will be lots of park sale opportunities. They tend to be better than yard sales because, although they seem a lot alike to me.
After we got back Marg made something to eat and then I went golfing to The Links at Queen Creek with 3 guys from the park. It's certainly challenging enough for me and these guys are fun to go with, lots of laughs. A couple of them had really good scores, I think one was 76 and the other 83 while us other two were in the 90's. It was pretty much shirt sleeve weather, so a nice day to play and one of the guys got the booking off Golf Now, which gave us a rate reduction of $20 lower than what they charge, so a good deal. I only lost one ball today, so that is a good day for me. It was a bit unusual as we started on #10 and finished on #9, not certain what they had going but it was interesting to play the course that way. The foursome in front of us was a grandfather, his daughter and her two children. The kids were both playing in a youth tournament on the weekend so playing a practice round. The little girl was probably 10 or 12 and she could hit the ball a couple hundred yards right down the middle every time. The boy was a teenager and could play with most any adult I know.
Marg got the laundry steaming caught up, I guess she had it left to do from the previous day. Then she went out for a bit to Bells and found a few things. She has been looking for a bathing suit for a long time and finally had success with her search. One piece suits are quite expensive and she got a heck of a deal on the one she purchased, so she was very happy with both the deal and suit. She also bought me a shirt and a few other things, so considered it a successful trip. She likes to shop alone because she can go at her own pace and not feel pressured and I am good with it, so it's all good.
At days end the guys dropped me off and stopped in for a beer. Then Marg had supper on the table and we ate in with a nice salad and plate of spaghetti rounded out with the lemon pie.
Thursday 12 January 2017
Thursday, Jan 12th
The day was a nice one in the Valley, much better than the forecast looked yesterday.
I started the day going to coffee & rolls or as some people call it the coffee klatch. It was well attended this morning, so you can imagine how pleased I was to find out our table was first up for rolls, so choice was excellent. This meant no bike ride, but we had sort of agreed to go at 10:15, which I had sort of forgot. As a result I took Marg to get some things at Walmart and when the time came and went there were only 2 riders, but they went without the other 3 or 4 who it seems also forgot.
When we got back Marg did another load of laundry as she was out of detergent. This machine uses so little that it comes with a measuring spoon. It is very sensitive to excess soap or suds, so she is very careful with the amount used. There was also some laundry from yesterday to fold as it was now nice and dry.
After lunch I went to play pool. It was a tournament day and being short of players my partner and I played 2 teams, so 6 games as they are sets of best of 3. Our first set we lost 2 to 1, my partner scratched on the 8 ball for both losses. The last one was really hard to take, we were on the 8 ball and the other team had all 7 of their balls on the table, but that's the way it goes some days. The second set we played a much better team, but we beat them all 3 because one of them scratched the 8 ball , so I guess it evened out. Overall our team won 8 games and our visitors won 10, so my partner and I contributed half of our wins today. It was nice to see the reaction of my partner as he is frequently very serious about winning in pool. I think he was actually having a bit of fun today which seemed to make him friendlier than normal.
While I was playing pool, Marg made a dish with pork chops in the slow cooker for supper. It was very good as she had potatoes and vegetables in the sauce with the meat, so a little like a stew. She also made a lemon meringue pie from scratch. No not like the scratch in pool. She got a lemon from Janice next door who has a tree and doesn't really use them. She puts them out in a basket for anyone in the park rather than see them go to waste.
After supper it was the animal races tonight. The elephant was at his best, winning 3 times. I won 4 races and Marg won 5, so she continues to out do me in the winners circle.
I started the day going to coffee & rolls or as some people call it the coffee klatch. It was well attended this morning, so you can imagine how pleased I was to find out our table was first up for rolls, so choice was excellent. This meant no bike ride, but we had sort of agreed to go at 10:15, which I had sort of forgot. As a result I took Marg to get some things at Walmart and when the time came and went there were only 2 riders, but they went without the other 3 or 4 who it seems also forgot.
When we got back Marg did another load of laundry as she was out of detergent. This machine uses so little that it comes with a measuring spoon. It is very sensitive to excess soap or suds, so she is very careful with the amount used. There was also some laundry from yesterday to fold as it was now nice and dry.
After lunch I went to play pool. It was a tournament day and being short of players my partner and I played 2 teams, so 6 games as they are sets of best of 3. Our first set we lost 2 to 1, my partner scratched on the 8 ball for both losses. The last one was really hard to take, we were on the 8 ball and the other team had all 7 of their balls on the table, but that's the way it goes some days. The second set we played a much better team, but we beat them all 3 because one of them scratched the 8 ball , so I guess it evened out. Overall our team won 8 games and our visitors won 10, so my partner and I contributed half of our wins today. It was nice to see the reaction of my partner as he is frequently very serious about winning in pool. I think he was actually having a bit of fun today which seemed to make him friendlier than normal.
While I was playing pool, Marg made a dish with pork chops in the slow cooker for supper. It was very good as she had potatoes and vegetables in the sauce with the meat, so a little like a stew. She also made a lemon meringue pie from scratch. No not like the scratch in pool. She got a lemon from Janice next door who has a tree and doesn't really use them. She puts them out in a basket for anyone in the park rather than see them go to waste.
After supper it was the animal races tonight. The elephant was at his best, winning 3 times. I won 4 races and Marg won 5, so she continues to out do me in the winners circle.
Wednesday
A nice day today and a good one to be outdoors.
Marg and the gamblin' gals went to the Fort today. There were 5 in the group today and Marg said they had a lot of fun. When I asked if she won her reply was that she came back with more money than she went with, but only a small amount, I think she said about $30. Any day you can have some fun and come out ahead, financially, that's a winner.
I went to Apache Sun with the group from the park. Gary drove and a new guy in the park, Greg rode with us. I ended up playing with him in our foursome and he seems very pleasant and strikes the ball pretty well. He said it was fun, so that's good. I struggled right from the start, but ended up with a few good holes. I never scored well, but that's OK. I had a few pars and a couple of birdie putts as well as narrowly missing out on the long putt prize of #4, mine was shorter by something like a foot, but hey Gary won it and that was good.
After lunch I played pool for a couple of hours with some of the better players in the park. In fact two of the best players in the park and my game was much better, in fact I won more than lost, so was pretty happy.
Happy hour this afternoon was a Kenny & Doris's place, so that is like a must go event. There were lots of people there, but the gamblin' gals were not back by the time it was wrapping up. Quite a few of the ladies were voicing their concerns and asking if any of us had heard from them. My answer was that they had cell phones and were travelling when there was lots of traffic, so pretty sure they were fine or we would have heard from them. As it turns out there was some big cash prize draw late in the afternoon that they wanted to stay for, so got away late.
Marg came strolling up the road just a bit after happy hour ended so it was getting a bit late for supper. We went out to one of Katie's favourites, Taco Bell. They always have specials and they change them from time to time. We had a great meal at a cost of about $14 for the both of us. A nice change.
When we got back it was just about time to go to poker. We had 5 players tonight and lots of laughs. I started out strong, which is always a problem and then as expected lost for quite a while and then near the end of the evening started winning a few hands. I think I might have lost a little or come very close to break even, as Marg says, can't win all the time. She went to the Laundromat in the park and did the bedding. A couple sets of sheets plus the pillow cases is a bit much for our small laundry, so it just works out better this way.
Marg and the gamblin' gals went to the Fort today. There were 5 in the group today and Marg said they had a lot of fun. When I asked if she won her reply was that she came back with more money than she went with, but only a small amount, I think she said about $30. Any day you can have some fun and come out ahead, financially, that's a winner.
I went to Apache Sun with the group from the park. Gary drove and a new guy in the park, Greg rode with us. I ended up playing with him in our foursome and he seems very pleasant and strikes the ball pretty well. He said it was fun, so that's good. I struggled right from the start, but ended up with a few good holes. I never scored well, but that's OK. I had a few pars and a couple of birdie putts as well as narrowly missing out on the long putt prize of #4, mine was shorter by something like a foot, but hey Gary won it and that was good.
After lunch I played pool for a couple of hours with some of the better players in the park. In fact two of the best players in the park and my game was much better, in fact I won more than lost, so was pretty happy.
Happy hour this afternoon was a Kenny & Doris's place, so that is like a must go event. There were lots of people there, but the gamblin' gals were not back by the time it was wrapping up. Quite a few of the ladies were voicing their concerns and asking if any of us had heard from them. My answer was that they had cell phones and were travelling when there was lots of traffic, so pretty sure they were fine or we would have heard from them. As it turns out there was some big cash prize draw late in the afternoon that they wanted to stay for, so got away late.
Marg came strolling up the road just a bit after happy hour ended so it was getting a bit late for supper. We went out to one of Katie's favourites, Taco Bell. They always have specials and they change them from time to time. We had a great meal at a cost of about $14 for the both of us. A nice change.
When we got back it was just about time to go to poker. We had 5 players tonight and lots of laughs. I started out strong, which is always a problem and then as expected lost for quite a while and then near the end of the evening started winning a few hands. I think I might have lost a little or come very close to break even, as Marg says, can't win all the time. She went to the Laundromat in the park and did the bedding. A couple sets of sheets plus the pillow cases is a bit much for our small laundry, so it just works out better this way.
Tuesday 10 January 2017
January 10th a Tuesday
A cool start and again the day warmed nicely.
Larry came by early so we went for a bike ride. We made about 3 miles and he was ready to throw in the towel. My deal with him is that when he has had enough I will ride back with him, regardless of the mileage. It was funny, when we got back other riders were coming by to go, apparently they wanted to wait until the day warmed a bit, well I understand that, but my riding partner was keen this morning. The early day starts originated by the riding group to avoid the heat of the day [a little later in the winter season] when it gets uncomfortable to ride, but not this early in the year.
After getting back I did some consulting work with the neighbour. He has been plumbing in a water softener for the last 2 weeks and having difficulty. It turns out plumbing is not one of his strengths, LOL. He had a piece of 1/2" tubing that wouldn't go on a fitting. By chance I had a short piece of 5/8" tubing that fit it fine, so he took it with him to make sure he got the right one as he needs about 15 feet of it. He also had a small leak that he thought might be OK, but I think I convinced him to fix it. The softener is installed in a galvanized metal cabinet on the rear of his trailer, but the dripping water will eventually create rot of the floor and possibly rust on some parts of the cabinet.
Then I took apart a piece of my fence around the back patio. It seemed to have developed a lean over the summer. It is just posts on cement blocks with some plastic lattice work attached and the fence needed a bit of work to repair some wind damage. I think it's OK now, but the first big storm will be the ultimate test.
In the afternoon Marg did 3 loads of laundry and had them drying by the time I got back. I went and played pool with 3 of the better players today. I was on a winning team more than losing and played better than yesterday, so was happy. We had a bit of fun in the process. I like playing these guys as it forces me to try harder.
Happy hour this afternoon was at Beth & Jim's place and was a much smaller group. It was a nice day and people really take in outdoor activities on days like this. Hiking is really popular and there are lots of paths and different terrain to give the hikers variety and quite a few people in the park here hike. Supper tonight was some nice orange chicken and rice. As luck would have it we still have some of Marg's shortbread cookies and they need to be eaten up, so a great dessert. You know dessert in the desert. LOL Now that was punny!
When we finished supper it was time for bingo. There was a pretty good crowd tonight as the money ball is well over $200, so that made all the payouts larger. Marg has not won at our park bingo yet this year and broke the drought tonight, winning the double dab or full card with a payout of $138. Way to go darling.
Larry came by early so we went for a bike ride. We made about 3 miles and he was ready to throw in the towel. My deal with him is that when he has had enough I will ride back with him, regardless of the mileage. It was funny, when we got back other riders were coming by to go, apparently they wanted to wait until the day warmed a bit, well I understand that, but my riding partner was keen this morning. The early day starts originated by the riding group to avoid the heat of the day [a little later in the winter season] when it gets uncomfortable to ride, but not this early in the year.
After getting back I did some consulting work with the neighbour. He has been plumbing in a water softener for the last 2 weeks and having difficulty. It turns out plumbing is not one of his strengths, LOL. He had a piece of 1/2" tubing that wouldn't go on a fitting. By chance I had a short piece of 5/8" tubing that fit it fine, so he took it with him to make sure he got the right one as he needs about 15 feet of it. He also had a small leak that he thought might be OK, but I think I convinced him to fix it. The softener is installed in a galvanized metal cabinet on the rear of his trailer, but the dripping water will eventually create rot of the floor and possibly rust on some parts of the cabinet.
Then I took apart a piece of my fence around the back patio. It seemed to have developed a lean over the summer. It is just posts on cement blocks with some plastic lattice work attached and the fence needed a bit of work to repair some wind damage. I think it's OK now, but the first big storm will be the ultimate test.
In the afternoon Marg did 3 loads of laundry and had them drying by the time I got back. I went and played pool with 3 of the better players today. I was on a winning team more than losing and played better than yesterday, so was happy. We had a bit of fun in the process. I like playing these guys as it forces me to try harder.
Happy hour this afternoon was at Beth & Jim's place and was a much smaller group. It was a nice day and people really take in outdoor activities on days like this. Hiking is really popular and there are lots of paths and different terrain to give the hikers variety and quite a few people in the park here hike. Supper tonight was some nice orange chicken and rice. As luck would have it we still have some of Marg's shortbread cookies and they need to be eaten up, so a great dessert. You know dessert in the desert. LOL Now that was punny!
When we finished supper it was time for bingo. There was a pretty good crowd tonight as the money ball is well over $200, so that made all the payouts larger. Marg has not won at our park bingo yet this year and broke the drought tonight, winning the double dab or full card with a payout of $138. Way to go darling.
Monday 9 January 2017
Monday, January 9, 2017
The day was cloudy and the wind blew a bit, but it was still a pleasant day. This week is forecast to be something like this, so while it is better than home, we want heat, well until it gets too hot. LOL
After breakfast I went around and sprayed the weeds. The place is pretty much covered with fine stones as there is very little grass in Arizona. This is partly a traditional look, but more importantly a means to conserve water in the desert, which as you might expect is a challenge. The state has done a remarkable job of capturing usable water, but there has been a drought for several years. Even with the limited amount of rain, the weeds manage to grow and can actually be a significant problem.
After we went out so I could get a haircut. I went back to the same guy as last month and was again pleased with the result. While Marg was waiting in the truck, she went to the Vans golf store next door. It's a pretty big chain of stores and their claim to fame is they offer name brand equipment at the best prices and like some other stores around here have good used equipment from trade-ins. Anyway Marg bought me a couple of pairs of special design golf socks that are reputed to be easier on the feet and help keep them dry, so I guess we'll see on Wednesday.
Then it was on to Costco where we picked up stuff we were short of. After the happy hour this past weekend I needed to be a bottle of rye and Marg got some nice frozen fish, appetizers, bread, a top, seasoning; well you know, it's Costco so you buy lots of stuff you never knew you needed until you get there. We stopped on the way out and had pepperoni pizza slices for lunch. Then it was back home as we had the frozen food.
In the afternoon I went to play pool while Marg went out to pick up some fresh vegetables. The Superstition Ranch market has great prices and the produce is almost garden fresh. At this time of year when they are harvesting, it is almost unbelievable, so I copied and posted her receipt for you to see. Just one example is lettuce heads at 25 cents each and there are no wilted or throw away leaves on it. She spent $6 and as you can see had a bag full. It's also the best place to buy postcards, so she got a bunch of them as well.
After breakfast I went around and sprayed the weeds. The place is pretty much covered with fine stones as there is very little grass in Arizona. This is partly a traditional look, but more importantly a means to conserve water in the desert, which as you might expect is a challenge. The state has done a remarkable job of capturing usable water, but there has been a drought for several years. Even with the limited amount of rain, the weeds manage to grow and can actually be a significant problem.
After we went out so I could get a haircut. I went back to the same guy as last month and was again pleased with the result. While Marg was waiting in the truck, she went to the Vans golf store next door. It's a pretty big chain of stores and their claim to fame is they offer name brand equipment at the best prices and like some other stores around here have good used equipment from trade-ins. Anyway Marg bought me a couple of pairs of special design golf socks that are reputed to be easier on the feet and help keep them dry, so I guess we'll see on Wednesday.
Then it was on to Costco where we picked up stuff we were short of. After the happy hour this past weekend I needed to be a bottle of rye and Marg got some nice frozen fish, appetizers, bread, a top, seasoning; well you know, it's Costco so you buy lots of stuff you never knew you needed until you get there. We stopped on the way out and had pepperoni pizza slices for lunch. Then it was back home as we had the frozen food.
In the afternoon I went to play pool while Marg went out to pick up some fresh vegetables. The Superstition Ranch market has great prices and the produce is almost garden fresh. At this time of year when they are harvesting, it is almost unbelievable, so I copied and posted her receipt for you to see. Just one example is lettuce heads at 25 cents each and there are no wilted or throw away leaves on it. She spent $6 and as you can see had a bag full. It's also the best place to buy postcards, so she got a bunch of them as well.
Sunday 8 January 2017
January 8th
Well I guess today would be Ukrainian Boxing day, well at least if could be in theory.
Not sure about the weather here, a while back it was supposed to be very nice today. Well it was a bit windy but the sun was out and had some heat in it. By mid morning it was pleasant and by mid afternoon the very nice part arrived.
Went to the church service in the park this morning and it was well attended. Good thing I did as the pastor wasn't certain if today or yesterday was Christmas on the Gregorian calendar, so clarified that. I was a bit surprised it came up mainly because being the day of the birth of our Lord and a point that must be at issue between the orthodox churches and the rest of the Christian world who follow the Julian calendar. The issue would not be his date of birth as all seem to agree on the 25th of December; rather it is which day is the 25th, today or two weeks ago. So much for the ramblings of a confused senior citizen who follows the Julian calendar. The service took a bit of a solemn note with the special prayers. One was for family of a couple in the park. Their grandson's wife and twin sister were killed in a car accident and while the two infant children in the car survived, on may have serious damages.
When I got back home Marg had made biscuits in the oven. They were very nice with some homemade jam we have as well as with the honey. They were fresh out of the oven, so the butter just melted on them, very nice.
Then I took the propane fire pit and tank back to Gary. It was nice of them to bring it over as it was a big help taking the chill off the night air in our breezeway. By the time I got back, Gary was here to pick it up, so we had coffee with them instead. We had a few laughs as we talked about last night and then they left, I think Gary was still a little rough around the edges.
I had bought a tube of caulking yesterday to use on the shed roof. I have a small leak that showed up after the recent rains. It was a butyl compound, kind of messy to use, but I managed to get it where I think it will solve the problem. The tube was really hard to get flowing properly and the goop was sort of squirting out the back of the tube. I did manage to finish, but it only took 1/4 of the tube, so I went back to Ace to complain about it. I hope what I was able to accomplish with that tube will do the job. They gave me a full refund, so that worked out OK, well other than the mess from it squirting out that I had to clean up with mineral spirits. Took longer to clean the mess than it did to put the stuff on. While we were out I also had some stuff from the other hardware store I had bought and didn't use, so took it back as well. It really wasn't worth making a trip, but it was on the way so it just involved a stop.
While we were out we went for a bit of a stroll around the Mesa market place. It wasn't as busy as I expected, so good that way. Marg bought be a couple of caps, said mine are the wrong color for when it gets hot out here. I have not bought any yet, so it was a good deal. I looked around and checked some stuff out but it's getting harder to find anything that I need. We were sort of looking for post cards, but had no luck. Then on the way we stopped at a dollar store, but again no post cards. We like to send mom one every so often, so Marg will probably find some tomorrow.
Went for happy hour to Johnsons where Marg took a cold coffee and I almost took a pop, but then I thought that beer would be healthier - you know vitamin B. It was a small group today and the conversation pretty casual. Not sure about the gals, but the guys talked about the weird things other nationalities eat. I think it started with Lutefisk. Supper was left overs with a fresh garden salad and was all good. Oh lettuce seems to be coming into the harvest season as the Ranch Market had a special of 4 heads of lettuce for $1 and it is amazingly fresh.
To finish off the day we went for ice cream social. It was well attended tonight, which was nice to see. We sat with some new people in the park, knowing how daunting it can be seeing everyone in conversations and feeling like an outsider. They are from Michigan and seem pleasant enough. Marg had a dish of ice cream and piece of cake, me well just another banana split, but I get them made without pineapple.
Not sure about the weather here, a while back it was supposed to be very nice today. Well it was a bit windy but the sun was out and had some heat in it. By mid morning it was pleasant and by mid afternoon the very nice part arrived.
Went to the church service in the park this morning and it was well attended. Good thing I did as the pastor wasn't certain if today or yesterday was Christmas on the Gregorian calendar, so clarified that. I was a bit surprised it came up mainly because being the day of the birth of our Lord and a point that must be at issue between the orthodox churches and the rest of the Christian world who follow the Julian calendar. The issue would not be his date of birth as all seem to agree on the 25th of December; rather it is which day is the 25th, today or two weeks ago. So much for the ramblings of a confused senior citizen who follows the Julian calendar. The service took a bit of a solemn note with the special prayers. One was for family of a couple in the park. Their grandson's wife and twin sister were killed in a car accident and while the two infant children in the car survived, on may have serious damages.
When I got back home Marg had made biscuits in the oven. They were very nice with some homemade jam we have as well as with the honey. They were fresh out of the oven, so the butter just melted on them, very nice.
Then I took the propane fire pit and tank back to Gary. It was nice of them to bring it over as it was a big help taking the chill off the night air in our breezeway. By the time I got back, Gary was here to pick it up, so we had coffee with them instead. We had a few laughs as we talked about last night and then they left, I think Gary was still a little rough around the edges.
I had bought a tube of caulking yesterday to use on the shed roof. I have a small leak that showed up after the recent rains. It was a butyl compound, kind of messy to use, but I managed to get it where I think it will solve the problem. The tube was really hard to get flowing properly and the goop was sort of squirting out the back of the tube. I did manage to finish, but it only took 1/4 of the tube, so I went back to Ace to complain about it. I hope what I was able to accomplish with that tube will do the job. They gave me a full refund, so that worked out OK, well other than the mess from it squirting out that I had to clean up with mineral spirits. Took longer to clean the mess than it did to put the stuff on. While we were out I also had some stuff from the other hardware store I had bought and didn't use, so took it back as well. It really wasn't worth making a trip, but it was on the way so it just involved a stop.
While we were out we went for a bit of a stroll around the Mesa market place. It wasn't as busy as I expected, so good that way. Marg bought be a couple of caps, said mine are the wrong color for when it gets hot out here. I have not bought any yet, so it was a good deal. I looked around and checked some stuff out but it's getting harder to find anything that I need. We were sort of looking for post cards, but had no luck. Then on the way we stopped at a dollar store, but again no post cards. We like to send mom one every so often, so Marg will probably find some tomorrow.
Went for happy hour to Johnsons where Marg took a cold coffee and I almost took a pop, but then I thought that beer would be healthier - you know vitamin B. It was a small group today and the conversation pretty casual. Not sure about the gals, but the guys talked about the weird things other nationalities eat. I think it started with Lutefisk. Supper was left overs with a fresh garden salad and was all good. Oh lettuce seems to be coming into the harvest season as the Ranch Market had a special of 4 heads of lettuce for $1 and it is amazingly fresh.
To finish off the day we went for ice cream social. It was well attended tonight, which was nice to see. We sat with some new people in the park, knowing how daunting it can be seeing everyone in conversations and feeling like an outsider. They are from Michigan and seem pleasant enough. Marg had a dish of ice cream and piece of cake, me well just another banana split, but I get them made without pineapple.
Saturday 7 January 2017
January 7th
Kristos Rodyvsya - Merry Christmas [Ukrainian Christmas] to all you followers of the Gregorian calendar.
It was a chilly day in the Valley, the weather forecast changed only a day ago but before that this was to be a beautiful day. After you fail at everything else in life, you become a weather forecaster.
An early start to the day as Marg had to go with the gamblin' gals to the Fort and I had to go to breakfast in the hall with, well anyone who likes a big breakfast, and there were lots of us, even some of the gamblin' gals.
I had a casual day, so went out to get some weather stripping that I put on the patio door. A combination of heat and age, these things need periodic maintenance. I had a couple of tasks assigned while Marg was away today in preparation for hosting happy hour tonight.
Marg had a great day at the Fort today and brought home the proverbial bacon. She won at bingo, where she had to split the loot and then added to that with a good day in the casino for a total just over $400.
When she got home we got everything organized around here as we were hosting the happy hour today. Every so often we have a food event at happy that is kind of like a pot luck. Marg had a bunch of wieners she bought and when I asked why so many her answer was that we would do this and provide hot dogs and baked beans. One of my tasks was to put the slow cooker with the beans on a bit earlier. Another of my tasks was to gill the wieners for hot dogs tonight. It was kind of funny as Jerry & Kenny showed up early and were giving me advice on cooking them. Things like I don't just want mine warmed, I want them cooked, really helpful stuff. LOL
We ended up with a couple dozen here and it was helped by Gary bringing his propane fire pit over. It's amazing how much heat comes off it and well there is the psychological value of looking at a fire pit, I guess and made for a very pleasant evening on our patio. Everyone brought a dish so we had lots to eat and there were some great desert items as well. The drinks flowed freely and it became very jovial, in fact down right hilarious. It's funny everyone else hosts happy, it lasts an hour, we do and it lasts for about 4 or 5 hours. It ended up being a lot of fun, but I am out of rye whiskey.
In the end it was a nice party and a joyous Christmas day, even if we had meat instead of the 12 meatless dishes the traditional Ukrainian folks had today.
Oh yes in case you want the response to the greeting, it is Slavite Yoho.
It was a chilly day in the Valley, the weather forecast changed only a day ago but before that this was to be a beautiful day. After you fail at everything else in life, you become a weather forecaster.
An early start to the day as Marg had to go with the gamblin' gals to the Fort and I had to go to breakfast in the hall with, well anyone who likes a big breakfast, and there were lots of us, even some of the gamblin' gals.
I had a casual day, so went out to get some weather stripping that I put on the patio door. A combination of heat and age, these things need periodic maintenance. I had a couple of tasks assigned while Marg was away today in preparation for hosting happy hour tonight.
When she got home we got everything organized around here as we were hosting the happy hour today. Every so often we have a food event at happy that is kind of like a pot luck. Marg had a bunch of wieners she bought and when I asked why so many her answer was that we would do this and provide hot dogs and baked beans. One of my tasks was to put the slow cooker with the beans on a bit earlier. Another of my tasks was to gill the wieners for hot dogs tonight. It was kind of funny as Jerry & Kenny showed up early and were giving me advice on cooking them. Things like I don't just want mine warmed, I want them cooked, really helpful stuff. LOL
In the end it was a nice party and a joyous Christmas day, even if we had meat instead of the 12 meatless dishes the traditional Ukrainian folks had today.
Oh yes in case you want the response to the greeting, it is Slavite Yoho.
Friday 6 January 2017
Friday
Another nice day in the valley, well the wind was a bit cool, but I went back to wearing shorts and no jacket, so pretty nice.
A couple of the guys showed up, so I rode with them this morning. We went up Foothills to feed the donkey carrots, but it was pretty quiet this morning, just trotted up to the fence and waited for us. You probably noticed I say it as we have yet to identify the gender. Then on down to Idaho and back for about 6 miles. As Larry wasn't there we rode at a pretty good clip, so it was a good workout.
On my return Marg was ready to go out for a few groceries she needed for the happy hour we are hosting at our place tomorrow. She is going to the Fort with the gamblin' gals tomorrow, so had to get as much done as possible today. I got fuel as we went to Fry's and with the 10 cents off points, it was under $2 per gallon. I saw some posts from home where it is quite a bit over $1 per litre, so this is a great price here. I also got a 5 gallon bottle of water. They have been lasting a bit longer with the cooler weather, but I expect that will change now.
On the way home we stopped at Jack In The Box and got some lunch. Marg got a 4 for $4, it was: a fountain drink, small burger, fries, 2 tacos. I got a dish that had a scrambled omelet, potato nuggets and 3 strips of bacon for under $5. We went through the drive through and took it home just to make for a quick lunch.
Marg did a load of laundry, just one load as she is trying to do it in smaller batches so she doesn't have to spend a whole day messing with it. Then she got a snack plate made up as we needed one to take to a birthday party in the park. I went to play pool and played with two guys who are a lot better than me. As there were 3 of us it was 2 against 1 with the person who breaks playing alone. I'm not entirely certain, but I think I may have lost more than won. We were pretty noisy and had lots of laughs, so it was fun.
When I got back we went over to Tequila Lane for Harley's birthday party. They had quite a few people invited, with some form each street in the park. There were a few people who were new to me so I introduced myself, we all know what it's like to be new and people in this park are really good about making newbies feel welcome. One couple are from Michigan, the other from Montana. Oh yeh, Rob the chef who is planning to hold learn to cook for men was there. They had a chocolate cake to die for and the surprising thing was it came from Safeway.
A couple of the guys showed up, so I rode with them this morning. We went up Foothills to feed the donkey carrots, but it was pretty quiet this morning, just trotted up to the fence and waited for us. You probably noticed I say it as we have yet to identify the gender. Then on down to Idaho and back for about 6 miles. As Larry wasn't there we rode at a pretty good clip, so it was a good workout.
On my return Marg was ready to go out for a few groceries she needed for the happy hour we are hosting at our place tomorrow. She is going to the Fort with the gamblin' gals tomorrow, so had to get as much done as possible today. I got fuel as we went to Fry's and with the 10 cents off points, it was under $2 per gallon. I saw some posts from home where it is quite a bit over $1 per litre, so this is a great price here. I also got a 5 gallon bottle of water. They have been lasting a bit longer with the cooler weather, but I expect that will change now.
On the way home we stopped at Jack In The Box and got some lunch. Marg got a 4 for $4, it was: a fountain drink, small burger, fries, 2 tacos. I got a dish that had a scrambled omelet, potato nuggets and 3 strips of bacon for under $5. We went through the drive through and took it home just to make for a quick lunch.
Marg did a load of laundry, just one load as she is trying to do it in smaller batches so she doesn't have to spend a whole day messing with it. Then she got a snack plate made up as we needed one to take to a birthday party in the park. I went to play pool and played with two guys who are a lot better than me. As there were 3 of us it was 2 against 1 with the person who breaks playing alone. I'm not entirely certain, but I think I may have lost more than won. We were pretty noisy and had lots of laughs, so it was fun.
When I got back we went over to Tequila Lane for Harley's birthday party. They had quite a few people invited, with some form each street in the park. There were a few people who were new to me so I introduced myself, we all know what it's like to be new and people in this park are really good about making newbies feel welcome. One couple are from Michigan, the other from Montana. Oh yeh, Rob the chef who is planning to hold learn to cook for men was there. They had a chocolate cake to die for and the surprising thing was it came from Safeway.
Thursday 5 January 2017
Thursday
What a nice day. Nice to see the sun doing it's job here, after all it is the Valley of the Sun.
Started off with coffee and a nice fritter at the morning meeting. I guess they call it a coffee klatch, and there were some new folks there today as well as some of the regular people returning for their winter stay. They do cards for anyone that has been ill or lost someone close and there were 4 cards circulated this morning. One unusual thing this AM was we have a chef in the park who is offering to hold a learn to cook session for guys only. Little does he know that there are lots of women here who don't cook. Anyway some of the guys are excited about it, but most of the guys I hang out with seem to be taking the - I'm married, so how would I benefit from that, approach. I'm undecided, stayed tuned.
After I went for a bike ride with Pat & Gary and made about 5 or 6 miles. On the way out we stopped at the donkey where Pat fed it a few carrots. Kind of funny as it seems to know when someone is coming to feed it and starts braying and I mean very loudly. The other day when we just road by, it never made a peep, but today it came running right up to the fence making a racket.
When I got back it was close to lunch, so just read for a bit and then had a sandwich. By then it was time to head down to the pool room to assemble the troops for the big tournament road trip. There were only a half dozen of us, so I drove to Mountainview where I was paired with one of the new guys in the park. We played a guy and lady, who were quite good, but we beat them 2 games to 1 and had some fun in the process. My partner has a bit of a way to go on strategy in this version of 8 ball, but he played fine. The team we played were similar so the games were close and challenging.
Marg did a laundry load and a bunch of work around the house. There is always something to do here. I did a few repairs, mainly the breezeway door that we were having trouble with the closing and staying latched. Then it was off to happy hour where there was a larger group tonight. Marg had arranged to have happy at our place Saturday and that we would be supplying hotdogs, buns and beans. We always get a larger group at our place and have a bit of fun with it. Sometimes at the other places it's not quite as lively.
Supper was a nice chicken pot pie Marg made from scratch earlier this morning. It was very good and had the advantage that she was able to put it in the oven before leaving for happy and it was ready when we came back. In the past we had bought chicken pot pie at Costco and it was no where near as good as the one we had tonight. You may recall the peach cobbler, well it was the finishing touch to another fine meal.
Thursday so the day ended with animal races. One of us won all 8 races, you can guess who she is. It will be a bit of time before I hear the end of this as I only won 4 races. The worst was I always bet the elephant and after it won twice I never. Wouldn't you know it, but the thing won a third time and I had to endure a lot of joking about my lack of faith. A fun night in the park.
Started off with coffee and a nice fritter at the morning meeting. I guess they call it a coffee klatch, and there were some new folks there today as well as some of the regular people returning for their winter stay. They do cards for anyone that has been ill or lost someone close and there were 4 cards circulated this morning. One unusual thing this AM was we have a chef in the park who is offering to hold a learn to cook session for guys only. Little does he know that there are lots of women here who don't cook. Anyway some of the guys are excited about it, but most of the guys I hang out with seem to be taking the - I'm married, so how would I benefit from that, approach. I'm undecided, stayed tuned.
After I went for a bike ride with Pat & Gary and made about 5 or 6 miles. On the way out we stopped at the donkey where Pat fed it a few carrots. Kind of funny as it seems to know when someone is coming to feed it and starts braying and I mean very loudly. The other day when we just road by, it never made a peep, but today it came running right up to the fence making a racket.
When I got back it was close to lunch, so just read for a bit and then had a sandwich. By then it was time to head down to the pool room to assemble the troops for the big tournament road trip. There were only a half dozen of us, so I drove to Mountainview where I was paired with one of the new guys in the park. We played a guy and lady, who were quite good, but we beat them 2 games to 1 and had some fun in the process. My partner has a bit of a way to go on strategy in this version of 8 ball, but he played fine. The team we played were similar so the games were close and challenging.
Marg did a laundry load and a bunch of work around the house. There is always something to do here. I did a few repairs, mainly the breezeway door that we were having trouble with the closing and staying latched. Then it was off to happy hour where there was a larger group tonight. Marg had arranged to have happy at our place Saturday and that we would be supplying hotdogs, buns and beans. We always get a larger group at our place and have a bit of fun with it. Sometimes at the other places it's not quite as lively.
Supper was a nice chicken pot pie Marg made from scratch earlier this morning. It was very good and had the advantage that she was able to put it in the oven before leaving for happy and it was ready when we came back. In the past we had bought chicken pot pie at Costco and it was no where near as good as the one we had tonight. You may recall the peach cobbler, well it was the finishing touch to another fine meal.
Wednesday 4 January 2017
Wednesday, January 4th
The day started out a bit chilly, but again warmed quickly as the sun rose in the sky.
I went out for the golf with the park group to Apache Sun. The course was in nice shape, but owing to the high humidity this morning, the fairways were very wet. The greens and tee boxes were OK because they had run the mower over them before we got there. This was a big disadvantage to me as I rely heavily on the ball rolling on the fairway after landing. LOL. The game started out a little shaky, but I ended up with a respectable round, for me anyway. I was able to par the last two holes, so that's the kind of thing that stays with you and keeps you coming back.
By the time I got back it was a nice day. I put my clubs away and we had a nice lunch at home. We had a walk around the park that started off as a visit to the mail box. We stopped at Dale & Sheryl's where he was cleaning out the cactus garden. There is a large area and it gets a bit overgrown. They also had a lizard on their patio. They were leaving it alone, which is good advice here, but another lady came by and picked it up. It was really lethargic probably sunning itself after the cool night air, as they are reptiles and are more active in hot weather. Everyone had to try petting it, even Marg & I. It had sharp scale one way and was smooth the other. When I looked it up on Google, apparently it has very strong jaws and a nasty bite.
Apparently there was an ambulance & fire truck on our street at 4 AM this morning and there were a few people around asking if we knew anything about it. Marg found out from the neighbour that it was for them, as he was having trouble breathing. He spent the day in the hospital and was released, apparently it was a problem with his heart. Nice folks, she was the original owner of the trailer we call home and now have one across the street, so we have come to know them pretty well.
In the afternoon I went to play pool. Did fairly well actually, but the fellow I played is not a regular, rather one I convinced anyone can play, so he came to try it out. Marg went to Walmart to pick up a few groceries. I know it may seem we shop lots for them, but we have cupboard and fridge space, so are like the European model just picking up what we can use for the next few days. Marg also stopped in to contribute to the happy hour ladies latest idea. They are each putting in something and going to buy the stuff to have special coffee's at happy. The guys are not participating? I don't think they are, in any event it is not something that appeals to me, but who knows.
Supper tonight was stew and it was still great. That's the beauty of stew, it is often better the second day and we still had lots of it. She made some biscuits to have with it again tonight and they were even better than yesterday. When she had the biscuits in the oven, she also made a peach cobbler and as luck would have it, there was a pail of ice cream from the earlier grocery trip. A great supper. Then it was time to head out for poker and on the way Kenny & Doris drove up, they just got back from their Christmas trip home and were pretty tired from a long day. I called Marg to let her know and she went over with a care package, that included: stew, biscuits, milk, bread, shortbread cookies, butter tarts, peach cobbler.
When she returned she did all the on-line banking and sorted through our receipts. She always checks them to the credit card records to be sure there are no surprises. I went and played poker where we only had 4 players tonight. I have been doing well with poker until tonight, where I took what can only be described as a beating. Probably the worst one I have had since playing with these guys over that last half dozen years. It was still fun.
I went out for the golf with the park group to Apache Sun. The course was in nice shape, but owing to the high humidity this morning, the fairways were very wet. The greens and tee boxes were OK because they had run the mower over them before we got there. This was a big disadvantage to me as I rely heavily on the ball rolling on the fairway after landing. LOL. The game started out a little shaky, but I ended up with a respectable round, for me anyway. I was able to par the last two holes, so that's the kind of thing that stays with you and keeps you coming back.
By the time I got back it was a nice day. I put my clubs away and we had a nice lunch at home. We had a walk around the park that started off as a visit to the mail box. We stopped at Dale & Sheryl's where he was cleaning out the cactus garden. There is a large area and it gets a bit overgrown. They also had a lizard on their patio. They were leaving it alone, which is good advice here, but another lady came by and picked it up. It was really lethargic probably sunning itself after the cool night air, as they are reptiles and are more active in hot weather. Everyone had to try petting it, even Marg & I. It had sharp scale one way and was smooth the other. When I looked it up on Google, apparently it has very strong jaws and a nasty bite.Apparently there was an ambulance & fire truck on our street at 4 AM this morning and there were a few people around asking if we knew anything about it. Marg found out from the neighbour that it was for them, as he was having trouble breathing. He spent the day in the hospital and was released, apparently it was a problem with his heart. Nice folks, she was the original owner of the trailer we call home and now have one across the street, so we have come to know them pretty well.
In the afternoon I went to play pool. Did fairly well actually, but the fellow I played is not a regular, rather one I convinced anyone can play, so he came to try it out. Marg went to Walmart to pick up a few groceries. I know it may seem we shop lots for them, but we have cupboard and fridge space, so are like the European model just picking up what we can use for the next few days. Marg also stopped in to contribute to the happy hour ladies latest idea. They are each putting in something and going to buy the stuff to have special coffee's at happy. The guys are not participating? I don't think they are, in any event it is not something that appeals to me, but who knows.
Supper tonight was stew and it was still great. That's the beauty of stew, it is often better the second day and we still had lots of it. She made some biscuits to have with it again tonight and they were even better than yesterday. When she had the biscuits in the oven, she also made a peach cobbler and as luck would have it, there was a pail of ice cream from the earlier grocery trip. A great supper. Then it was time to head out for poker and on the way Kenny & Doris drove up, they just got back from their Christmas trip home and were pretty tired from a long day. I called Marg to let her know and she went over with a care package, that included: stew, biscuits, milk, bread, shortbread cookies, butter tarts, peach cobbler.
When she returned she did all the on-line banking and sorted through our receipts. She always checks them to the credit card records to be sure there are no surprises. I went and played poker where we only had 4 players tonight. I have been doing well with poker until tonight, where I took what can only be described as a beating. Probably the worst one I have had since playing with these guys over that last half dozen years. It was still fun.
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