Friday, Dec 7th

A nice day in the valley today.  The weather was back to shirt sleeve weather.
  Marg & I went out check out a park sale just south of here.  It was a nice park, so we thought nice junk today.  At the first place we stopped in they had a sign in front that said something like:  my husband said I had to choose, him or bingo.  I still miss him.  On the patio, the old guy was there helping out, so I said to him, I saw the sign so you must have got back in on good terms. He turned out to be quite a character and had a good laugh about that.  His wife talked Marg into a huge bag that she could carry both her purse and purchases in.  Then she found a couple of Himalayan natural salt stone candle holders.  I never knew we needed them, but apparently they give off a aura and improve your chakra.  Can hardly wait.
  Yesterday she saw a warehouse sale that seemed to have everything, now that is worth getting excited about.  So we plugged in the GPS and went right across greater Phoenix to Glendale.  It took the better part of an hour at 75 mph to get there.  It was so far, we stopped at Encanto where I showed here where I go to play golf with Gerry.  She was concerned about the traffic, but more so with the need to cross the busy road on the carts.  I think she thought the area looked pretty nice, but was really hung up with the road crossing.  When we got there, it looked like a chop shop or something like that.  We couldn't find the bay with the sale, so I asked a guy with more tattoos that you have ever seen if he knew where it was. He was busy putting wheels on a car, looking a both I think the wheels were worth more than the car.  It didn't seem like a place to get out of the truck or even slow down.  LOL  We left without ever finding any sale. 
  We started heading back home and got back to the freeway with only one wrong turn, pretty easy.  We came through the tunnel downtown again and it was bumper to bumper in all 8 lanes each way.  Lunch hour traffic I guess.  By then we were starting to think a washroom and a bite to eat would be a good idea, so I took an exit around Tempe.  There weren't too many places with food, but we found a Jack In The Box, so stopped there.  The bathroom doors were locked and we had to be buzzed in by the cashier.  Hmm, that's unusual. I had a nice chicken sandwich, Marg had a thing that looked like poutine.  We also had something called Churros.  There were really good.  The place was clean, food good, but Marg kept being concerned by one of the customers who had an ankle bracelet on.  You know the kind you get when you are out on a legal parole.  Anyway we were ready for the road having had all our basic needs met.  You see lots of stuff here that is different.  What kind, well like yesterday in Walmart.  A young guy with a buggy that he had two young sons in was at the cash in front of us.  What's unusual about that well, he had the biggest honking pistol in a holster on his waist.  Made you feel secure just having him around in case of trouble.
  Oh yeh, back to today's story.  Lots of traffic going through Tempe where the 101 & 202 meet, only 6 lanes each way.  We got almost back to our park and spotted a sign - Estate Sale.  These are usually good ones, so stopped.  The fellow had a lot of knives, some very old train sets, a couple very old guns and lots of household stuff.  On gun was a side hammer 12 gauge with Damascus steel barrels in pretty nice condition.  The second was a Harpers Ferry musket from the American Civil War era.  I believe it would be a little over 200 yrs old.  It was only $150, but in pretty rough condition.  Marg bought some Christmas decorations for the golf cart parade.  I looked at a couple of knives, but the guy had them priced a little high in my estimation.  Some were new, but he had a nice lock-back Henry I had interest in but it was well worn for what he was asking.  So I bought nothing.  We made about 100 miles to get to that sale in our neighbourhood.
  Our neighbours got a new trailer today and traded their motorhome on it.  The two other couples across the road joined us for a drink while we watched.  Then we went to happy down the end of the block.  On the way back home, the people across were still having their happy hour, so we stopped to hear about the new trailer and Marg accepted a Moscow Mule from them.  I had a couple of sips but it was pretty terrible.
  By then it was time to eat, so we went out with a small group in the park, about 14 of us.  We went to the Dirtwater Café as a lot of them like to go out for fish on Friday.  We always sit in the back of the restaurant, its kind of a patio bar and has a singer who does country songs.  It was out first time this year, but we've eaten there dozens of times.  The fish is cod and is always good.  Well the place sure changed, new tables and chairs, new fancy patio heaters, new menu.  The prices were new as well, they were a bit higher and the portions a bit smaller.  Marg & I both had fish & chips and it was good, so was the music.  Oh yes, I had a beer, Marg a margarita, both were very nice.  Kind of a neat place, a former owner of the place came to our table to chat us up, he is Canadian but has been there for 40 yrs and then the singer did likewise. Lots of laughs.
  Then home where we finished up the peach cobbler with a cup of coffee.