Monday, December 30th

Well another chilly day in the valley.  In fact the wind pretty much blew all day and in this area it comes off the Superstition mountains where it is even colder.  So in a nutshell, nothing to brag about.
  I got up and mobile pretty early as I wanted to deal with the check engine light in the truck from yesterday.  I took it to the Superstition dealership where I had the oil change recently.  A very helpful service technician put a code reader in the truck that had a wireless connection to a tablet.  Reading the code he said it was a very unusual one.  Well with 7,200 km's on the truck I would say any code should be unusual.  His interpretation of it was some reaction of the transmission responder to a condition it didn't like.  Apparently it is very sensitive to anything unusual.  After questions about how it occurred and whether the truck did anything unusual, he elected to remove the code, but gave me his card asking that I call should it re-appear.  So far today, nothing has happened.
  When I got back to our place, we had breakfast and kind of chilled for a bit.  Marg had a few calls dealing with the Entertainment committee and then picked the 3 of them up at 11 to go shopping for things for the New Years eve party.  I guess they went out for lunch to Chili's as I went without. LOL Anyway they got what they needed for the party Tuesday night.
  I went to play some pool with one of the guys here and his grandson.  We played a game where each player has 5 pool balls and you try to sink each other and not your own.  The winner is the last one to have balls on the table.  The young fellow seemed to enjoy it.  I came home around noon and finished up some stuff I was doing around the place.  I am pretty much done, just have some finishing touches left.
  Oh wait when Marg got home she made me a sandwich for lunch.  That and a nice fresh orange.  Then we went out to Safeway where she needed a few things.  They had some good sales, the best was in the meat area where they had a, not sure what you call it.  Some big slab of beef, a steak I guess, but it was about 12 inches x 20 + inches and very thick.  The deal was buy one get 3 free.  The lady ahead of us cleaned it all out, so we'll never know how it was or what to do with it.  I bought some Modello [Mexican beer] for the party tomorrow.  Marg already has her Jag chilling in the freezer for tomorrow.
  Marg had a few visitors this afternoon.  She's pretty darn popular around here especially with the ladies doing anything with the party.  By then it was getting on, so she started supper.  It was something a bit different, she made: chicken fried steak, veg stir fry, baked potato and apple turnover for dessert.  That was 3 hours ago and I am still feeling very full.
 

Sunday, December 29th

A chilly night last night, I believe the temperature reached 32 F, for you metric fans that is zero and the truck windshield was covered with frost.  There was a risk of serious freezing in areas of Pinal County, which is where we are in AJ.  The morning continued cool, but the afternoon was very pleasant, but you could feel it cooling off as soon as the sun went down.
  We started out the day doing some maintenance in our place, but ran out of what we needed.  Took a trip to Home Depot.  When we came out with some stuff in our buggy, I wanted to put it in the back of the truck.  Unfortunately I had backed in to the stall and the young woman parked there, sat in her car watching while I had to pull ahead and then load the stuff.  As soon as I put the last bit in, she left.  Not certain what was up with her.
  On the way back the check engine light came on.  I thought it might be the fuel cap, so pulled over and tried that.  No such luck, I guess I know where I am going tomorrow.  To see the nice guy at the fancy dealership.  Same thing happened with the 2013, it turned out to be an oxygen sensor, so hope it is something simple like that.
  We went to ice cream social in the evening.  They had a pretty good crowd for a cool day, but then again any day can be good for ice cream.  Marg had her usual bowl of ice cream and piece of cake and me the banana split.  I think I may quit them as the strawberry stuff they are using isn't nearly as good as last year.  I even started taking pineapple on one scoop so I don't get as much strawberry.  In prior years I quit pineapple to get more strawberry.  Such a dilemna, what passes for a crisis in my life.  LOL

Saturday, December 28th

  The day started out cool and it must have rained last night.  It sprinkled periodically through the day, but nothing serious.  The clouds were low in the morning, with the top half of Superstition in the cloud or fog.  The high for today was 55 C and there was  a cool wind.  Not the Arizona we signed up for at all.
  In the morning a group of us met at Blanke's where Darryl got Paul's Bronco started and drove it out of the carport.  He leaves it there over the summer when they go back to Maine.  I turned on the power and water.  Then I unlocked the trailer [we got the keys from the park manager], so the ladies could go in and clean the inside.  The fridge had been left open, but sure had a nasty odor, in fact when I came out I said it smelled like something was dead in it.  When the ladies pulled  the crispers out, they found that something had fallen behind one and it was consumed by maggots.  They also found all sorts of bugs throughout the trailer, mostly crickets and flies, but a few cockroaches.  There were 4 ladies working and by noon they had the place spic and span.  I went over to Gary's where we had arranged to borrow his leaf blower.  The carport was full of stuff that blew in as well as dust, but the blower made short work of it.  Jerry was with us and he cleaned the eavestrough out and I believe he had to small pails and half a large one of mud and debris.  It was a good thing there was lots of help so by noon we were out of there.  The Blanke's are likely to be here Jan 2nd and with their health issues, folks wanted to do what they could to help with the start up work.
  After lunch Marg & I went to the big flea market in Mesa.  It still was not as busy as previous years, although there were lots of folks there. The old gal who I trade books with was not there, but her daughter was running the stall.  I got rid of some books and bought 4 new ones, so should be good for the week.  I think it will be a busy week, so don't expect as much reading time.  We did wander about a bit and I bought 2 caps and Marg a large bottle of Mexican vanilla.
  After the market, we stopped at Walgreen on the way home.  We need a few things and Marg picked up a bottle of Jag, another surprise.  We needed mouth wash and band-aids, but came away with a few other things as well.
  Back at our place we had a few visitors.  Jerry came by to return some of the things he was using to clean eavestrough and stayed for a couple bursts of scotch.

  Then Barb & Joann [Lynett's daughters] stopped by to give us a bouquet of roses.  These are the gals I had picked up and delivered to the airport last week.  When Barb called to ask if I would pick her up I said only on the condition they not give me anything for doing it, so when the ladies came they said these were just because they care for us and appreciate our helping their mother.  The B.S. was getting pretty deep in here by they time they left.  Nice ladies and a nice floral arrangement, but now I know why their dad used to get frustrated with them.  LOL
  Then it was off to happy hour just at the end of our street.  It was Darryl's birthday so we had snacks today and a patio heater, so it was quite pleasant.  At happy I sat by Barb and told her she may be using a taxi next year.  He reply was yeah, right.  Well really she may be, who knows.
  Supper tonight was a stir fry as Marg still had lots of vegetables left after making the Christmas eve veg tray and they needed to be used.  It turned out very well, with some left over lazy cabbage roll and chicken.

Friday, December 27th

Rain, rain go away.  We know they need rain in the valley as they have been suffering through a multiple year drought, but it doesn't make for a fun day.  Although not hard, it rained most of the night and sprinkled throughout the day.  I think the high temperature today was about 55 F, so a coat and long jeans day.
  We did laundry this morning, yes I meant WE.  It was not all that exciting, but the basket was getting full so had to be done.  With the rain, air drying was not an option so we just loaded up the basket and went to Lost Dutchman laundromat.  It's close to here on Delaware and the place is clean with good equipment.  They also have large capacity machines that are really handy when you have a lot to do.  The only downside is the machines take only quarters, so I bought $10 worth from the dispenser. When I was plugging the dryer, something happened and it didn't show the right time, so I just kept putting more in. After 4 I went to get the attendant and he showed me what I did wrong, but by then it was a little over a half hour on it.  Fortunately it didn't take all of them, so I came home with a pocket full.  A young guy next to us was taking his sheet out of the dryer and trying to fold it.  Marg has a way of doing fitted bottom sheets and offered to help him, which he accepted and learned a new way of doing it.  I made a comment about her training me to do that as well, but it's a 2 person job. 
  Then back to our place to unload and for lunch. 
  After lunch we went out for a little retail therapy, but ended up returning without making any purchases.  Oh well, it was interesting, NOT.  Shortly after we got back, two of Lynett's daughters came to visit.  They had a beer and we had a few laughs.  The girls really are good with their mother, especially right now when she is not her usual self.
  A nice supper and that was our day.  With any luck it won't rain tomorrow.
 

Boxing Day 2019

  Well here comes another winter storm to the valley.  I mostly report good weather, but not today.  It was cool this morning as it rained in the night and only started warming up about mid-morning.  The day was actually very nice in the early afternoon, but about supper time the clouds were rolling in and you could feel it getting cooler.  The weather forecast was of a big storm front moving in from the coast with winter travel advisory in the high country and high water / flood warnings in some areas west of Phoenix.  We will see, but it's raining hard now at 9 PM.
  We went to coffee this morning and the attendance was light.  The really good news was our table was first, so selection was great.  After coffee Marg went with 6 other ladies to the Fort.  The gamblin' gals on a road trip.  It was a 4x bonus day, so on some games they each were playing 180 cards on the electronic machines.  They played a bit of slots early and then the bingo.  At the end of the day, there were no winners.  Somewhat incredible, but it happens, lady luck abandoned them today.
  I did some maintenance stuff around the house this morning.until it warmed up.  Then I went out to sell some New Years eve tickets for Marg.  Sales have been slow and the event will be cancelled if there isn't enough interest.  It might just be a case of people waiting until the last minute, but it needs to happen before the end of the weekend.
  After lunch I played pool with a couple of guys and it was a fun time.  It was also pretty aggressive at times, but I think the worst hook I had was one I played on myself.  LOL  After I gave a guy a bit of a hand.  He was putting up some screen around a patio around his park model. 
  I caught up with Marg at the gate when the van full of them pulled up.  We came back to our place for a bit as I needed to get a joke to tell at the animal races tonight.  It started to rain by the time I finished and our time was short, so we went to Denny's for supper.  The food was good, but the service left a bit to be desired.  I don't think it was because it's Boxing day as that is not a big deal here.
  We went to the animal races and had a fun night.  Mickey is back and has his grandson and wife with him, so we sat with them.  The elephant won 5 races so I ended the night with 6 wins, Marg with 5 wins, so we were a bit ahead.  Had lots of fun razzing a couple of people when the elephant wins, kind of nice as they have been giving me the gears the last few weeks.

Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you.  It is such a wonderful celebration.

  Our day in AJ here started off wet.  It rained off and on, more on this morning and at times very hard with a river running down our street.

  We had to be at the hall for 8 AM this morning.  The kitchen staff didn't know how to light the conventional stove and oven, so I went to get that going.  Then they had to wash the turkeys, clean them up, season them and get them started.  I say turkeys because there were 5 of them.  The gals also chopped onions and celery for adding to the stuffing later in the day.  We also got the tables organized and coffee made plus a bunch of other chores.  

  Then it was back to our place until the turkeys were cooked. We had a couple of face time calls with our kids.  Marg worked on the dishes she was bringing to the dinner, pyrogies and .lazy cabbage rolls.   At  noon we went back to the hall and the turkeys were out and done.  They were too hot to carve, but the ladies used the time to make the stuffing or dressing and get some more things ready.  

  Then back to our place where we finally caught up with the Smiths on a facetime.  Marg finished the pyrogies and I took the patio heater from Christmas eve back to its owner and then helped the party organizers load their chairs and tables into their truck.  You may have forgot that party was not thrown by us, but held in our breezeway.

  Lots of running around today as we went back to the hall shortly after 2 when we carved the turkeys.  One of the ladies wanted to try carving the breasts the way I do it using an electric knife and she was a quick study, so it made the job easier.  The rest of the group all deal with the dark meat.  The guy who looks after our knives at the kitchen certainly keeps them sharp.  In fact I nicked my thumb and had to go to the first aid and band aid it.  Then I had to wear a plastic glove to prevent contamination with the meat.

See the bowl of shooters still available!

The ladies also made the gravy and messed with the stuffing.  The gravy is made in a large pot, I think there was about 4 1/2 gallons of it and tough stirring for the short people, right Marg.  We plugged in the coffee pots and one of them leaked, so we had to clean up the mess and then get another pot started.  While the ladies were working the sisters who organized the Christmas eve party declared they had made jello shooters for that party and forgot to bring them, so instead had them in the kitchen today.  They were either tequila or vodka in red jello. As it turns out there were about 75 shooters.  I tried one and that was enough for me, but the gals each had more than that.  It certainly made for a happy work crew.  The food was good and we received several compliments on how tasty it was and how quickly we got it out.  By the middle of the afternoon all of the clouds were gone and it was a beautiful sunny warm day.  Just like the heavens smiled down on us to help us celebrate.

  Supper was at  5 and there were 8 tables of 12, with a few empty chairs, so we fed lots of folks today.  One of the challenges we have is to ensure everyone receives a fair amount while trying to limit others who try to get enough to take home so they don't cause others to be short changed.  For the most part it works out, but there are always some glitches.  The group at our table was all the kitchen workers and the ladies had a good assortment and ample amounts of great dishes.  Our dessert table was also very good today.  Marg brought nanaimo bars, others brought pumpkin & apple pies.  The nanaimo bars were quite a hit as many people had never heard of them let alone eaten them and all found them delicious.

  All in all even though we are tired, a good day ending with a great dinner.  While we enjoyed the day, we both agreed that this will be our last Christmas away from family.

Christmas Eve 2019

  A rainy day in the valley, but still a decent day, not cold at all.  Most of the time it just sprinkled, but occasionally it rained pretty hard.
  We had a busy day.  Marg made a veggie tray, so she was doing a lot of slicing and chopping.  The two knives she was using weren't up to the task so I took them out to the shed and sharpened them.  After that the slicing went better.  When she finished she had a big bag of stuff to discard, like the ends of the asparagus [I couldn't tell the good end from the bad].  I even helped with some of the slicing, once it was sliced lengthwise and had a flat side to lay on the cutting board she had an easier time.  I took the garbage out and stopped to get the mail, but all we had was flyers today.
  We had visitors, first two guys bringing a patio heater over to help make it more comfortable.  Then two ladies whose party was being held on our breezeway.  They came bringing stuff for the evening, like table cloth, plates, etc. 
  After lunch I pulled the truck out and parked it outside the gate.  Then I put up a tarp on that end of the carport to shield us from the wind.  Marg & the other two arranged things preparing for the guests.  By then it was happy hour and being as we were set up already we had it here.  There were a handful that showed up at 4, and so it began.

  Everyone was invited for 5 o'clock and they started arriving a bit early.  Most couples came bearing food.  The ladies hosting it had made chili and there was lots of it.  There were also lots of other good dishes and desserts, even a trifle.  Lots to eat and that was a good thing because we had about 26 people here and no one went away hungry.  It wrapped up at about 9 tonight and then we did some clean up and packing up.  There is still quite a bit of stuff to go back to peoples places, but that will wait until tomorrow.
  A fun evening.
  Merry Christmas everyone!

Monday, December 23rd

A very nice day in the valley, although it was cloudy and the forecast rain did start about 8 PM. 
  We went out early in the morning, first to pay the cable bill at Meidacom.  They don't provide any paper trail, rather send an email that is a confirmation of payment.  It seems all this move to a paperless society is everywhere.
  After we stopped at the Ranch Market where Marg buys her vegetables. She is making a veggie tray for tomorrow evening.  Some friends are having a Christmas eve gathering and with the forecast rain tomorrow will be gathering in our breezeway.  We also have patio heaters on standby in case it turns cold, although even in the rain it is warm tonight.  She also picked up some cabbage as one of her contributions to Christmas dinner will be her lazy cabbage rolls.  I like them better than the rolled ones, as after a few people have taken theirs, the rest looks like the lazy ones anyway.  We also got a bag of oranges.  They are unbelievably fresh this time of year and were only $2 for a bag that had 10 or 12 in it.  I believe the amount of oranges we eat contributes to our winter health and absence of colds or flu.
  Our next stop was Safeway where Marg picked up the supplies for both events.  She also had some coupons that made other items a good deal.  The best one was for a free donut at the bakery, which I used for an apple fritter.  We also got 2 x a pound of butter.  The butter was regular price at $5.99, but with an e-coupon was 99 cents.  The only problem was we don't have an I phone, so can't get the coupon, another on line aggravation.  This meant a stop at the customer service desk where we got a new loyalty card and they gave us the price on the butter.  Apparently now she can get the coupons on line through that account.  There were about 8 people in line at the customer service desk, all for the same reason.
  When we got home we had a bite to eat and then went out to check the mail, nothing today.  After lunch Marg had visitors.  I went out back and discovered the water tap at the pedestal out back had been leaking for some time as the dirt was muddy around it.  I tried to tighten it, but the leak was still more than acceptable.  A trip to the hardware where I picked up a new fitting and some hose washers.  Replacing it is complicated by the connection to the trailer, it is flexible copper pipe.  When I got it all back together everything was fine again.
  After supper Marg made the lazy cabbage rolls.  To cut the cabbage heads I talked her into using the large butcher knife.  She has avoided it because she likes smaller knives.  I bought the large one last year at a park sale in a large park south of us.  I knew it was a pretty good one as it took and held an edge very well.  She suggested we google it to see how good it is.  It does say Victorianox on it so I knew it should be good, well it turns out it sells for almost $70.  Maybe now she will use it.  LOL
 

Sunday, December 22nd

  A much warmer night last night and the day was like a nice summer day back home.  The temperature was in the 70's and when I saw it on the truck dash around noon it was 21 C and got a bit warmer after that.
  I went to the church service this morning and it was about average attendance.  The sermon today was about promises and dreams leading up to the origins of the birth of the Christ child.  The hymns were mainly well known carols, a nice prelude to Christmas.
  When I got back we went out to the Mesa market so I could exchange my books.  The place was not busy judging from the parking lot as we drove in and when we got to the west side; the booth where I buy books was not operating today.  In fact there are still some vacant spaces in the place where there don't appear to be vendors.  I'm not sure if it's because it is early in the year or if it's proof of the rumour we hear that winter visitors are not spending as much as in previous years.
  From there we went to Macy's.  Last time Marg was in there she got a $10 coupon that was expiring so she wanted to see what was there.  Apparently the last call area stop was unproductive but she did manage to find a small purchase at a good bargain and was able to use it.  Then back home for lunch.  We had a couple of face-times, one with Roger and the second with Char about that time as well.
  This afternoon Marg had a fairly long meeting with the the association president sorting through some things coming up this week [Christmas eve and dinner on the day].  While she was busy i went out to buy water.  While we use the local water for most things, I filled a 5 gallon and a 2 gallon from the dispenser, mainly for drinking water.  After we made up a poster and put it up to encourage ticket sales for the new years party, then went for a cruise around the park.  It's pretty quiet today, lots of people went home for Christmas while others must be busy with personal stuff.  The ones who left for Christmas seem to all have got tickets at great rates, almost all of them under $100 each way.
  For dinner Marg made a curry.  It was very good and a bit spicier than usual.  It was very filling so she never went for ice cream tonight.  I went but just had a bowl of ice cream as I didn't feel up to a banana split.  After I went and played some pool with 3 guys for a little over an hour.

Saturday, December 21st

Not quite as chilly last night, and as a result the day warmed much sooner.  It was about 70 F around the early part of the afternoon and was very pleasant before lunch.  This is the weather we signed on for.
   I slept in a bit so Marg was the first one up, not the usual start to the day for us.  We were in bed by our usual time last night, so not sure what happened.  By the time I got organized, I missed the breakfast in the hall this morning.  The crew were making crepes and I wanted to see what they were like, maybe next time this crew has breakfast.  We still had lots of bananas and the coffee cake muffins, so it was all good.
 Marg did a load laundry this morning and I went out looking to borrow a ladder.  My ladder guy was out, but I managed to track him down and get permission to use it.  Then I got my stuff organized and spent the rest of the morning on the roof applying the coating on the roof and all the seams on the tip out as well as the sides where the roof meets siding.  It goes on like a thick paint, so I used a combination of brush and roller.  The park model is more like an RV than a house with this part of the construction.  This is pretty much an annual project for me and it seems to be paying off as we don't have any roof leaks.  Doing the tip out requires a lot of ladder time, not my favourite way to work.
  Throughout the morning Marg was getting visitors.  Apparently there is some problem with the memory tree as well as other entertainment committee affairs, so she went out a few times.  I can't really be certain, but things seem to have been sorted out.  All I know is she was back in time to make lunch, which was nice.
  After lunch I did some clean up.  I had wore shorts while up on the roof, so my legs, especially knees were covered.  I ended up using the bathtub and Marg's Dawn dish soap to get both the oxidized and new stuff off.  After I took the ladder back.  By then lots of people were out and about and asking questions about the ladder.  I had it on the back of the golf cart standing straight up and as it is about 10 ft even collapsed it raised questions.  I told them I was the new fire chief in the park and had to have a ladder to do my job.  On guy asked if it was working out and I replied there had been zero fires since I was on the job.
  Marg finished up the laundry and did some housework,  Not sure what that means other than the floors she washed and the foot pads she put on the kitchen chairs.  The two of us went down for the mail today and there were a couple things.  One was a personally addressed piece to us from the CSA, no not the Confederate States of America [the rebel side].  It was from the Canadian Snowbirds Association, apparently we are now members as a result of our purchasing travel insurance through MediPac.  Nothing in the mail from you Charlene [to save you from asking].
  Marg said I made a decision we are going out for a buffet, you decide where.  About 4 we went out to Costco where I filled up with petrol at $2.79 a U.S. gallon.  That works out to about 73 cents a litre.  Then we went on to Golden Corral for our buffet.  It was a little more expensive tonight, apparently Saturday nights there is prime rib on.  The prime rib was actually pretty good, I ended up with an end piece and it was spicy, but very good.  They also had 2 or 3 kinds of shrimp and the bread pudding was good.  Marg got a couple bags of cotton candy to bring home as well as a piece of fudge from the dessert area. 

Friday, December 20th

Wow the time sure is flying by.
  It was chilly last night and in the morning, but again warmed quickly until by noon it was shirt sleeve weather.  Hard to believe it is really winter some days.
  Marg started the morning by making a couple of pie crusts.  Then I had to run out for eggs and some corn starch so she could complete the fillings.  She had 3 beautiful fresh lemons from the tree next door.  Janice has what is probably the best lemon tree in the park.  At the same time she had a load of laundry in the wash machine going, she likes to multi-task.  I went to do some maintenance in the pool room.  Some of the cue racks were loose as a result of pulling out of their anchor screws.  There was one that was installed by someone who could have been drunk as the cues were at an angle, so I moved the base so they are vertically straight. 
  When I got back for lunch she was making the lemon pie filling and baking the pies.  Then she made a lovely meringue and did a perfect job of browning it, they were a picture.  She also made a coleslaw for a side dish with our supper.
  We had to leave for the hall at 4 as we had kitchen duty.  The first ever fish fry was today in the park.  We had: deep fried fish, french fries, beans with bacon bits, fresh bread slices.  The quantities were generous and we had numerous compliments on the meal.  My job was the french fries in the new convection oven on large trays.  Marg was one of the servers, she dished out beans & fish on the plates.  I think we fed 106 people and deep fried 75 pounds of fish fillets.  The clean up was quite a chore as the deep fryer is new to us and is a bit of a learning process.
  After we finished Marg had invited the kitchen crew over for coffee and pie, but after the place was cleaned up, only 2 couples had the energy left to come.  It was a nice way to end the day with a hot coffee, great pie and lots of laughs.

Thursday, December 19th

Another chilly night in the valley that warmed up quickly to become a very nice day, 
  We got out fairly early and went to the coffee klatch this morning.  There were quite a few people there for this time of year, lots of folks have gone home for Christmas.  For some of those people it's an easy days drive while for others they get cheap flights within the continental U.S.  We were lucky this morning being the first table called for donuts, so excellent selection.
  Marg did some running around after coffee.  First to Lynett's place to see how she was doing and find out what time her daughter was leaving.  The daughter was flying to her sons place for a few days.  Then Marg stopped at Rita's to discuss some plans they are making for Christmas eve and the Christmas dinner.  I may have mentioned that we are kitchen help for Christmas dinner.  They are planning a get together for a few people on Christmas eve and there is a possibility of rain.  If it does rain, the group gathering will be in our breezeway with a few heaters.  When she finished we did some maintenance stuff around the park model to put up a privacy curtain to help us with the company we are expecting this winter.
  Lunch was French toast, always a favourite  I must be doing something right or she is buttering me up.  Around that time we had a call from Kenny & Doris, it seems they will be here just after New Years.
  After lunch I played pool with 3 other fellows.  We had good games and a few laughs.  We played for a couple of hours then I had to leave.  Marg had lots of visitors today, some of it relating to the entertainment committee, so she was pretty busy. 
  Shortly before 4 we drove Joann to Mesa Gateway airport and went for a short drive.  Short because she called to say she was at the wrong airport.  It seems her flight was from the big airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor and it was rush hour.  So we turned around and drove her to Sky Harbor.  It is quite a distance, probably 30 miles and it was rush hour.  Fortunately most of the traffic was the other direction and we got there in time to find out she missed the flight by 10 minutes.  Fortunate for her a kind ticket agent gave her a ticket for tomorrow.  Then it was back to Gateway where we picked up Barb, Lynett's other daughter from her incoming flight and drove the two of them back to Carefree Manor.  By then it was almost 6 o'clock and there was Animal races tonight.  We grabbed a quick bite at KFC and while late for the races, still made it for most of them.  Marg fairly cleaned up tonight, me not so much, but I did OK.  I also told a few jokes tonight to spell the organizer off.  It was the last races until January now.

Wednesday, December 18th

A bit nicer day today, although the weather fell to about 40 last night, it warmed up quickly.  It ended up being a pretty nice day.
  Marg made some biscuits for breakfast and they were very good.  Always enjoy the way butter melts on them when they are just out of the oven.  Marg had picked up a nice jar of strawberry jam that is the perfect finishing touch for them. 
  After breakfast, Marg put in a load of laundry, whites first then one of darks.  There was a bit of a breeze and while not as effective as a hot day for drying, none-the-less it worked well.  The only negative was one of her drying stands blew over and broke, so I ended up rebuilding it.  It used to be a collapsible stand, but now is very much fixed in the open position.  We kind of hope it lasts the season, so fingers crossed.
  Then we went out to Home Depot where I was looking for a few things for maintenance.  One was a rain pipe extension and I was looking for anchor bolts to fix some cue racks in the pool room, stuff like that, nothing major. When we got back Marg did up a few Christmas cards.  Even though we did the majority of them last week, a few keep showing up and she likes to reciprocate.  I delivered those and took the garbage down to the dumpster bin.  It is interesting that the recycle was totally full, while the garbage ones don't usually get quite that full.  The recycle program here was an initiative of the tenants association and seems to be well supported and used.  When you think of this kind of thing a lot of times you relate it to the youth, but our generation have certainly taken it seriously.
  Lunch was back at home today.  Some very nice croissants Marg had picked up the other day.  The pair of jeans I am wearing today, seem a bit loose and given the way I eat it's hard for me to believe I can do anything but gain weight.  They must be stretchy or something like that, right?
  After lunch I went to play pool.  Played with 3 fellows, 2 of whom are regulars there and for some reason they all brought their A game today.  Competition was tough and the win / loss was pretty evenly spread among the group.  The one fellow is a long time resident here, but just started playing pool.  As it turns out it seems he has spent quite a bit of time around a pool table.  He was complaining about the quality of cue sticks in the racks for anyone to use, so I brought my extra cue for him to use.  Not sure if that was a factor, but he certainly played like it was.  LOL  When I got back I posted some stuff on facebook for the association.  Now that may not seem like much, but by the time i scan it, crop it and post it, each one takes a bit of time.  Marg did some stuff with laundry and some other in-house maintenance.  These places are dusty and there is always stuff to do to keep up with that.  She had some visitors today and one of her buddies has been having medical problems today, so she went down to spend some time with her.
  Supper was a kind of seafood deal with Coquille st Jacques on a half shell and shrimp, very nice.  Being Wednesday, you know it was poker night, so we ate and were done a bit early.  There were 6 of us tonight and it was a fun night.  I started off not doing very well, but about the mid point started to win my share of pots.  As I don't tally up, I'm never really sure, but I think I did OK.

Tuesday, Dec 17th

The weather really went into the tank last night.  It was chilly throughout the valley and in the high country it was downright cold.  In AJ here I think it got down to the low 40's and the golf course in Queen Creek had a one hour delay in starting times due to frost on the greens.  It never ceases to amaze me how the weather can change or be very different in a few miles here.
  About the middle of the morning Gerry & Debbie arrived at our place.  Gerry was golfing with 3 of us from the park and Deb came for a visit and some retail therapy with Marg.  The girls hung around our place until noon when Marg made lunch and then they went to a few stores around here.  Marg never bought a great deal, but was able to find a new high density foam pillow and a few small things.
  Gerry and I picked the other two up at 10 and drove to the Links at Queen creek.  We were there with enough time to do some chipping and putting or have a bite to eat.  The course was a bit backed up from the late start, but a lot of sorted out by about the 6th hole.  The number of players was actually quite light, both because of people leaving for the holiday and of course the weather.  The wind let up a bit and the sun had some warmth to it.  By the back nine it was really quite pleasant.  In fact two of our group were in short pants, well not me though.  Hit some decent balls today, but if you have played with me you will know some luck was involved.  We played a format we used last year, where each player plays as a partner for six holes and then we change.  That way everyone partners with every player.  The pair with the best combined score win a hole and get a check mark.  At the end the player with the fewest checks, buys a round of beer. Although it would seem to even out I generally buy the beer.  But, today was the exception, someone else bought.  As one of the fellows here says, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.  It was  fun group to play with.
  We went for supper with Gerry & Deb.  Being Tuesday we generally go to Taco Bell and they like the food there as well, so an easy decision.  Then we all went to bingo in the hall here.  This was their fist time here this year and Deb won a game that she had to split 3 ways, so a small payout.  I won the last game and that helped out with the pot we share.  Everyone of us had times to be very close to a win and even on the money ball, which is really getting up there.  This was the last bingo of 2019.

Monday, December 16th

The weather definitely took a cooler turn yesterday.  This morning it was only 41 F or about 4 or 5 C, although it did warm up into the 60's, so only about plus 16 C or so.  Now that may seem pleasant to you people at home, but..... Well I guess it's not that bad.
  We managed to get outside and brave the cold weather this morning.  Marg did laundry, which by now you know is an outside duty in the breezeway.  Then she hung it to dry and by the time she put it out back on the patio, the sun had warmed considerably to be a nice day.  I went out to the hardware store, first to Ace and then to Best where I was looking for something to hang a curtain on for the door on the Az room.  What I found is called a curtain rod, LOL.  Well it was a special one that wouldn't fall off when the door bumped on closing.  I also got a grease needle for injecting lubricating grease into difficult places with a grease gun.  When I got home I installed the curtain rod and filled the steering box on the golf cart with grease.
  After lunch Marg went out to Frys for a few groceries.  I went down to the pool room and played on the table with the new cloth.  They installed a cloth that is more like competition grade rather than the felt type. The new cloth is much faster and shots react differently.  It made for some interesting games trying to estimate how to get the desired response.  There; was only one table of 4 today, all good players, but a lot of fun.
  After I picked up the mail and discovered our debit cards had arrived, so we made a trip to Bank of America.  Its really quite handy to where we are and the staff were amazing.  We had to activate the cards and then we deposited cash so we wouldn't have a large amount sitting around the house.  In recent years we; just dealt in cash and used our U.S. dollar Visa from home.  While it worked out in the past, we were always concerned with our exposure and this year decided the risk with the proceeds from the sale of our unit was not prudent to sit on until going home.  Kind of a coincidence that this branch was the place we used to go to use the ATM for cash on our first down here.
  Supper was ribs done in the oven, they were from the Fry's trip Marg made earlier and were pretty good.

Sunday, December 15th

Charlene just pointed out my dates are wrong, it must be back to when my watch strap broke, but my wrist watch was out a day.  Talk about a Christmas rush.  LOL
  It was a nice day, although we had a cool wind the sun shone brightly.  It doesn't appear the high temp got over the 60's.
  I had some pictures yesterday some that never made the Facebook post on the association page:

 Marg's Christmas sweater really should have won the ugly sweater contest, you had to see the material it was very fuzzy.

John & I had the same sweater, from different stores.  You can't see in the light, but they had flashing Christmas lights all through the antlers.This was a game call jingle bells, I had to shake them out of the kleenex box to win.  Most people had 1 or 2 left, I had about 10.

Marg with vaseline on her nose.  You had to put it on to catch the red fuzzy Rudophs nose.  It was held in her teeth and using head movement had to be tossed up to catch on the nose.

M

Here is Marg trying to catch it, of all the people who tried only 3 managed.

This was the snowball fight.  They were cotton balls about the size of a baseball and there were lots of them.  As you can see in the air.

  I got up early today and went to the service.  It was well attended, probably because it also included a celebration of life on a congregation member who recently passed on.  The pastor did a good job tying everything together as even he commented on it being unusual to combine the two events.
   Marg did some laundry this morning, but waited until the service was over.  As it was bedding after washing it she took it to the laundromat for drying and the laundry is closed while the service is in progress.  I generally go along to help fold the sheets, something she is quite particular about.
  A bite to eat for lunch and we were out of here.  We went down to Macy's at Superstition Mall for some retail therapy.  Well I sat in the truck reading a pocket book.  When she came out to the truck it wasn't that long [judging from the number of pages I read], but she had a large bag.  It turned out she had 9 tops, that must be a record for her.  She found a last call area where she got one that was 80% off and while there were sales on the others, that was her best deal. 
   Then back home where one of the guys called me over to say he had a tee time for a foursome on Tuesday if Gerry and I were interested.  It didn't take long to confirm with Gerry as he had been wanting to play the Links at Queen Creek [a new course to him] and our regular weekly game has not started yet.
  Supper tonight was eat in and then it was ice cream social tonight.  There were a few less than the previous week.  I had the banana split and Marg the cake & ice cream.  Well they will give you cake with a split, but for me that is too much.  A group of guys have started playing pool after ice cream, so tonight there were 6 of us.  The guys I played with were on a table that was just recovered last week.  It was done with a new type of cloth, not felt.  It feels a lot like competition cloth and is very fast, so a bit of an adjustment to play on.

Saturday, December 15th

Another nice day, I can never say that too often.  Although it was about the same as yesterday, it was a pleasant day, shirt sleeve weather.
  I got up and organized early enough to go for the breakfast in the hall.  They increased the amount this year, it's $4 now.  When you consider all they offer including coffee, it's still a good deal.  This morning I had blueberry pancakes, eggs & bacon.  I could have had sausages as well, but that would be a bit much for me.  This breakfast crew also offered a choice of sticky bun or pancakes.  It usually is not much of a choice as when they have extra made and don't want to throw it out one of them come around offering a sticky bun and at other times extra pancakes.  They did this morning, so I had an extra pancake.  They were really good.  I never had coffee, rather took my own orange juice from home.  It was busy when I got there, but managed to get a seat at a table with friends.  By the time I got back, Marg had put in a load of laundry and was having a bowl of cereal.  While I like cereal, I don't get it when the alternative is a full breakfast.
  We went out to the flea market on the trail.  There is a booth there where the guy sells tools, kitchen gadgets and old golf clubs.  He had two wood shaft clubs, one a putter with a brass head, quite nice actually.  Last year he had an old club from Scotland that I wanted, but it sold while I was trying to out-negotiate him, so I just went to see if he had picked up any more like it.  Not seeing any we never bought anything and left for the Superstition Ranch market.  At the market Marg got a bunch of stuff, including a bag of freshly picked oranges and a bag of potatoes, for about $16.  Great produce at reasonable prices and the place is always busy.
  From there we came home and put our feet up for a bit.  Then a bite to eat for me.  A cucumber sandwich using one from the purchases at the Ranch market.  Marg put a pork roast in the slow cooker and hung the laundry to dry and I went to play pool with a couple of guys.  Played well again today, using the cue with the repaired tip.  Marg went to Walmart for groceries that she couldn't get at the market.
  When I finished pool, Gary was stringing Christmas lights on the clubhouse, so I offered a hand.  Surprising but he accepted.  We put up some but they had a lot of burnt out bulbs, so we had to sort through other strings for good ones.  The light sets all have a fuse in the plug, so there were issues with these as well.  I think we replaced about 30 or more bulbs and 4 or 5 fuses in the light set plugs, so lots of messing about.
  Supper tonight was pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw.  Marg had picked up some real nice bread that looked a lot like ciabatta to me.  They were nice a fresh, so a great meal.  We had to get organized early as it was the Christmas party in the clubhouse tonight.  It was my job to take pictures  at the event and I will get them posted tomorrow.  There was an ugly sweater contest and although ours were ugly, we did not win.  There were lots of fun games: shake your jingle bells, build a snowman, snowball fight that got people out of their seats and gave us a lot of laughs.  At the end there was coffee, hot spiced cider, cookies, meat and cheese, oranges enough for everyone.  There were somewhere around a hundred came, so it took lots of organizing.  After the snacks there was a dance, although we never stayed for the dance.

Friday, Dec 14th

Another nice day in the Valley, probably 1 or 2 degrees cooler than yesterday.
  We had to decorate the golf cart this morning to get ready for the parade.  Marg found our decorations and we had lots, even a string of lights that were battery powered and a lot of garland.  There were quite a few people in the park doing the same thing.  It was a good thing we had lots of tape and string around as Marg got a little creative with what she wanted to put on it and it had to stay on with a bit of wind for two laps around the park.  One of the most unusual entries was a small cart pulled by a miniature horse.  The couple have a piece of property nearby where they have horses.
  After we finished we went out to Costco.  Marg needed some vitamins and wanted to pick up some groceries.  I was going to buy milk, but they only sell it in 2 gallon cartons and that would last too long for us.  She bought several frozen things, so it was a good thing we brought a freezer bag from home.  The place is always busy and getting there shortly before lunch didn't make it any easier.  The food court area at this store is about 10 times the size of the one at home, so lots of people are just there for that.  We left without eating, so stopped for some take-away chicken at a drive thru window on the way home.  Yes I know that sounds odd, but that is what appealed to us.
  After lunch I went to play pool.  The guy I played usually beats me, but it seems I had my A game and he his B game, a nice change.  Every day I never know how, maybe it was the cue.  I played with the one that had a problem with the tip that I fixed the other day and it obviously was better.
  Marg went down to the open area where the memory tree is located where she and 3 other ladies set up the area for refreshments at the tree lighting after the parade.  They had coffee, hot chocolate and cookies.  Then later when we got toward the end of the parade we stopped in our place where she filled 3 carafes with coffee.
  I charged the golf cart batteries and when putting the charger away broke the band off of my wrist watch.  I took it in to a small jewelry store where I go for batteries and the lady fixed it.  The pin holding the band at the watch had pulled out, so she put a new one in.  A very friendly place to deal and she wouldn't take anything for the repair.  Then back for supper that was a quick bite and to get down to the assembly area where I had to take some pictures.  Nice to see some children there as well.
 Everything went well, including at the parade and tree lighting.  For the caroling this year they had an amp and played it off a laptop.  It was nice and loud so everyone was able to join in.  Well almost everyone.  I don't sing, every since Charlene came up to me one night at the lake many years ago and asked me "Don't sing tonight OK dad".  I always thought a few drinks lubricated the vocal chords and enabled me to sing like a bird, well apparently not.  So standing with a few other guys we just lubricated the vocal chords.  There were a couple guys on my left who were not singing and my hearing aid on that side battery went dead.  So when changing it they asked what I was doing and I told them I thought I had gone deaf as I couldn't hear them singing.  But fortunately realized it was just the battery.

Thursday, December 12th

A chilly night last night, but the morning warmed quickly and it turned in to a very nice day.
  Marg went to the coffee klatch this morning as there were quite a few things involving the entertainment committee.  After the meeting the gamblin' gals assembled in the area around the front gate and went on a road trip to the Fort.  There were six ladies today, so a real car full.  It was good to see Marg finally had a winner, getting a bingo on a $600 pot, although she had to share it and her payout was $120.  A good win for her.
  I left a bit before 9 to play golf with Gerry at Encanto as it was near the end of the morning rush so traffic was heavy.  The course did a major renovation at the restaurant and pro shop.  It was nice to be able to have a bite to eat at the turn as it was not open for the last couple of years.  The course was in nice shape with work on some tees, the traps had new sand, the tee markers were replaced.  We were give a third person to play with us.  You can never be certain what you get, but he was good company.  Started off hitting a ball in the water, but that was my only lost ball.  My game was a bit rusty, but overall I was satisfied with my game.  It was about 21 C, so to me like a pleasant summer day.  The course was full, but played well, we finished in just under 4 hours.  The drive home was much lighter traffic, the only heavy part where the 101 & 202 meet.
  When I got back to our place, there was a stack of about a dozen Christmas cards and a plate of cookies on the table.  Our Christmas cards are draped over the valances and we are pretty much out of room.  I caught a bit of a nap [about 20 minutes], showered and then did some research on jokes for tonight.  We still only have the Animal Race organizer telling jokes, so I pitch in when needed.  When Marg let me know she was close, I took the cart down to their drop-off place.  Another couple [whose company we really enjoy]  just arrived in the park this morning, so visited with them until Marg arrived.
  Back at home I finished my joke research while Marg made supper.  With all the stuff going on, it was a hurried effort to get to the races.  Small crowd there tonight, but it was fun.  Marg won 3 of 8 and I won 5, so we did reasonably well.
 
 

Wednesday, December 11th

Another nice day in the Valley. 
  Marg had a meeting of the entertainment committee this morning, where they discussed activities for the next while.  This is a very busy time for them with: golf cart parade this week as well as Christmas [memory] tree lighting including caroling and treats, Christmas party, Christmas dinner, New Years party.  This also involved some running around in the park today.  Knowing these gals they will have all of their ducks in a row, but it takes a lot out of them.
  I spent some time on my pool cues.  I have the one with the hard tip that I have been trying to loosen up and the other that I put a new tip on that is to flat sided and I had to bevel the edges to get a nice even round shape.  The I went down to try them and they both seem much better now.
   We both finished up late in the morning and then had visitors.  It was the couple who are buying our park model.  They came to give us a considerable deposit cheque and talk about the transfer of ownership.  Anticipating this meeting, I had prepared an agreement for sale explaining that now that we have the deposit money it will protect their interest in the property and they seemed to appreciate the importance of doing this.
  We had sandwiches for lunch with some very nice bread that Marg had.  After I had a couple of the Mexican wedding cookies that Marg bought.  They are not shortbread, but sure taste like it and have a very similar texture.  They are dusted with icing sugar, so really nice.
  After lunch I went and played pool for an hour.  I had committed to play today, but had to cut it short so we could go and do some banking.  For the last few years we have dealt with everything on a cash basis or using the U.S. dollar credit card.  At the start of the season like now we have quite a significant amount of cash on hand that we hide in the park model.  They offered to get us a bank draft, but we said they could just bring us a cheque, which they did.  The cheque was drawn on a credit union in Wisconsin, so will need time to clear.  We went to Bank of America to open an account, but had to go back home to get our passports.  He gave us an appointment for an hour later, so when we returned we just walked right in.  It took a little over an hour to open the account and make our initial deposit.  They will be sending us a card to use for ATM access or use in purchases, but it will be about a week in the mail.  When they processed the cheque there is a hold funds on it for a little over a week.  Our thinking is we will eventually make electronic transfers to our U.S. dollar account in GP.  The main reason is at the border crossing we have to declare any funds we have on hand which means a delay going in to an meeting with a border guard to explain it.  In our initial meeting with the banker we clarified all of this as well as the fee structure and were satisfied before opening the account.  The bank is really casual and although both have friendly staff, it is much different than ours at home.
  After better than an hour in the bank we went down to Fry's where Marg went in to the grocery store to get a few things, well breakfast bars and Gatorade that I take when I golf at Encanto.  I needed to fill the truck, so we split up.  I had a bit of difficulty fueling up, so the time we each needed was about equal.  They have changed the process quite a bit from what we did last year.  the best part of the change is I didn't have to enter a ZIP code.
  It was getting tight for time when we got back home and threw the steak on the bbq.  It was a nice Tbone that Marg had picked up along with baked potatoes.  She also had a nice purchase of brussel sprouts and some cottage cheese. 
  After supper I went to play poker and Marg went over the banking.  She checks all the credit card receipts to the statement.  We had 7 players at poker tonight and it was a fun bunch.  In the first hour and a half I won two half pots, but my luck turned around after that and I really cleaned up.

Tuesday, December 10th

  A nice day in the valley, but lots of moisture in the morning from yesterdays rains.  There was so much condensation the underside of the golf cart roof was dripping and I had to wipe it.
  Marg started some laundry this morning and it turned out to be great weather for drying.  After she got that started we went out to deliver Christmas cards around the park.  There were quite a few and some involved a short visit, so it took a large part of the morning.  After we came back to our place for a bite of lunch and Marg changed the laundry load.  Just prior to lunch we went to the mail, she had one card to mail.  While we were down there we stopped in to meet with the park managers to talk about our plans to sell our park model and request approval to do it.  After driving around the park all morning, it was obvious I need to look at the brakes on the cart again, they are really noisy.

  There was a Christmas card from Yvonne & Malcolm and a package in the large mailbox from England as well.  Turns out it was from Lyzi in Birmingham.  Lyzi created the mini-family display for us in 2014 and she sent us an upgrade to the family, recognizing the changes that have happened.  There were 4 more mini figures: one for her husband, Nick, a second representing Benjamin [Anna & Craig's boy], a third is Paityn [Brennan & Jess's daughter] and the fourth is Jessica.  It was a total surprise and Marg was beside herself with joy at receiving these.
   Lunch was leftovers from yesterday for me, Marg had something on toast.  Well how should I know?  After lunch I went to play pool.  I ended up playing with two very good players, one probably the best player I have ever played or probably the best I have ever seen.  In his youth he actually knew and played Willie Mosconi, holds the world record for most consecutive balls sunk at 526 without a miss.  Fortunately that was about 40 or more years ago and he takes it easy on us.  Marg went out to buy some cookies for the Christmas parade and party.  When she got back she had some visitors and in between brought in the laundry.
  Happy hour today was on the other side of the park and was well attended.  I'm not sure how many were there, but the place was busy.  Marg said after that it was probably the most fun she has had at happy, so it seems the gals out-partied the guys - again.  All I know is we talked about building standards and emergency response vehicles and situations.  Perhaps we should lighten up, eh!
  It was a busy night, so we went out to Taco Bell for a bite to eat after happy.  Marg had to be at the bingo by 6 to sell cards and we got back with just a few minutes to spare.  We played bingo tonight and Marg should have won, she was waiting on a winning number several times, but success eluded her.  Me on the other hand, not even close.

Monday, Dec 9th

A pleasant day in the valley, but we are back to long pants today.  It rained a bit, less than a 10th of an inch and the temperature got up to about 18 C, there was a funnel cloud on the north west end of the city where they got a lot of pea sized hail [it looked like snow on TV], but a long way from here.
  There was a forecast for hail west of here, we delayed going out and when we left went out to the post office first.  I needed to mail a Christmas card and a stamp for a second one.  The line in there was brutal, so I went to the self serve kiosk [like an ATM.  When in line the lady behind asked if that was all I had.  When the lady ahead heard it was, she offered to sell me two stamps, which I gladly accepted, giving her a dollar.  Put the stamp on my letter and left.  When I got to the truck, Marg was impressed at how quickly I got out of there. Marg got some bananas some more Christmas cards and very small water bottles [filled] as she likes them better in her purse than the large ones. 

It was there we saw the robot cruising up the aisles, it had on a Walmart vest and what appeared to resemble a face painted on the top of it.  Not sure what it was doing, probably putting more people out of work.  She also got some small candy canes to put on the envelopes of some.  We never use the self pay stands at Walmart.  Marg's disabled parking pass is certainly coming in handy at some of these large parking lots.
  Then it was down to the billiard store that was closed yesterday and was also closed today.  Arghhh, all the way to Stapely for nothing.  Stopped at a mega Walmart in Mesa on the way back and got the things I needed to fix a pool cue.  Started for home heading down University where Marg spotted a sign for a book sale.  It turned out to be a small community library and I bought 7 pocket books, all Westerns of course.  The price was right at 25 cents.
  When we got home we had lunch, tuna on some very nice rye bread we picked up the other day.  Turned out very nice.  After lunch Marg did enough Christmas cards to put a dent in her finger.  Not sure how many that was.  I went to play pool.  There are fewer people playing so far this year, but that will increase as people get here.  Had good games today [all but the one where I made the 8 ball too early] and a few laughs.
  Supper was brats and fried potatoes tonight, very nice.  Dessert was the mini-apple cobblers Marg made the other day accompanied with a scoop of ice cream.

Sunday, March 8th

A nice day, not hot, rained in the morning then sprinkled once in a while, but still very pleasant.
  I went to the church service this morning in the park.  It was pretty well attended and the pastor did a fine job even though the piano player was not able to be with us and there was no singer to lead in the hymns.  I would like our pastor at home to here the sermons here, it might inspire him as they seem to be a topic among some of the congregation.  Well I have to admit the sermon did run a little long today, but maybe I am the one missing something here.
  While I was gone Marg took the time to shower and work on her hair.  By that I think she may have dyed it, as there may be some grey creeping in.  Not like me who is pretty much totally grey.  After I got back I made oatmeal and we sat down to a nice steaming bowl of porridge.  I found a different pot in the cupboard that I like much better for this.
  After we decided to go out for a bit.  I wanted to get a pool accessory that I could use to soften up the tip on one of my cues as I am having a lot of miscues, so went to Dicks sporting goods.  They never had it, but there was a Nordstrom Rack in the complex that we stopped at.  Marg never found anything, but got me a pair of slippers that she thought were much better than the pair I bought last week.  They are much warmer than the last ones, but as it turns out both pairs are made by the same company even though they come from different stores.
  Then it was on to a billiard store the salesman at Dicks referred me to.  As it turns out the store was closed, but it was in an area we are very familiar with.  Just up Stapely was the Organ Stop pizza and across Southern was the big Mexican grocery store we go to.  Same one we took Char and Phil to.  Being in the area we stopped in for some things: Mexican sweet rolls, Chicherrones, oranges, etc. 
  By the time we got back home it was just after lunch.  Not being too hungry after breakfast, we just had a snack with some great nacho's as well as: salsa, guacamole, sour cream and some shredded cheese.  Marg's buddy Lynette came over shortly after and they had a coffee.  It was then I discovered my facebook account was changed to Spanish.  At least with the French I could sort of figure out how to change it back to English, with Spanish - de nada.  I called the geek squad to get help with my laptop being so slow and reached their call center.  A fellow named Bolivar was very helpful.  I gave him control of the laptop remotely and he fixed a lot of the problems.  The main one was that the disk was 100% all the time.  He tried a few things, like using Readyboost combined with a flash drive, then a hard drive monitor, then a virus checker and over the course of an hour or two with me on the phone all that time I think he got it sorted out.  The scan he ran did turn up a threat that it deleted.  As he was ready to sign off I asked about the Spanish on my facebook.  While he still had control of the laptop he went in and turned it back to English.  A bit frustrating, but thankfully he took pity on me as my service contract on this machine lapsed long ago.  I have nothing but positive things to say about the geek squad at Best Buy.
  Somewhere through the day, Marg had set up some pork chops, potatoes, vegetables in a slow cooker.  Thankfully there was supper on the table at a reasonable hour and it was very good.  After supper we went to ice cream social.  Normally I have a split; but today we both just had a dish of ice cream.  The crowd was a bit smaller at ice cream tonight, probably because of the rain after supper.  After ice cream a group of 5 of us played some pool and Marg went back to our place to get some Christmas cards done.  She finished all we had and still needs a few more and a few American stamps to mail some to folks who are not here.
  A busy day, but a productive one.

Saturday, December 7th

Happy birthday Kevin, hope your day was special and if you are away from home working, I am sure your family will celebrate when you get home.
  It was another nice day in the Valley and another day in short pants.  There is a weather system moving in and as it is evening when I write this, the forecast rain has started.  Not like the downpours we saw in the last rain, this one is just a gentle steady rain.
  We got off to a bit of a later start today, so I never went to the breakfast in the clubhouse.  I went on Facebook to do some stuff and my settings were altered, to French.  Not sure how that happened, but it made for an interesting time trying to set it to English.  I finally had to go on Marg's page to see where the settings menu was so I could pick the same locations on my page.  I am pleased to announce I am an Anglophone on FB again.  After showers and a bit to eat we went out for a bit of a change.
  There is a coin club here that has a sale in Tempe the first Saturday of the month, so that was our first destination.   It was an address I was not familiar with, so we used the GPS.  It was a bit of a challenge at first as it wanted to use the Canadian map and B.C. where it was last used.  We could get an upgrade to put it in the truck, but didn't as we already have the Garmin.  It was about 25 km's from here, but traffic was light and we took the freeway where the speed limit is 65 mph.  I was doing about 75 and passed no one, but was passed many times.  Not much enforcement here, but the fines are pretty steep if you do get pulled over.  There were a few coin vendors but more were selling cards and comic books.  The first place I stopped was an older fellow who although not a dealer likes to buy & sell coins.  I was just looking at Canadian coins and it was apparent from the pricing that some of them had been with him for a while.  I picked up some nice coins from him, a couple of them were extremely good condition.  The oldest one I got is a small 5 cent piece [they are Victoria nickels & 92% silver].  I also got a 1917 Newfoundland quarter that is pristine.  The date is prior to Newfoundland becoming a province of Canada.  I learned from the Pickers show on RV there is a benefit in putting a bundle together, so I did this with 6 coins and got what I think is a good deal.  The book value on these coins is just about 3 times what I paid.  I went to a dealer at the next booth and his coins were all much higher priced.  Even though he had a lot more coins, 4 of them silver dollars that I coveted, I never bought any from him.  There was another dealer who had a lot of inventory, most of it in bulk and a lot of foreign coins.  I kind of like this mode, so I picked out 4 older English Shillings, taking the same approach.  I bought them for less than half his asking price and the book value on them is much above his asking.  A good day for yours truly.
  When I finished and got back to the truck, Marg had another address in the GPS.  It was for the Stein Mart store in the Outlet Mall in Tempe.  We were close, so it was her turn to look for deals.  She found quite a few: a sweater and two tops, which was nice.
  Then we went for lunch at Ruby Tuesday, one of her favourites.  I had a burger and it was good, she had the salad bar.  It was OK, but she said it was a little disappointing.  Not sure if the mega salad bar the other day at Souper Salad comparison was the cause or whether they just didn't do a good salad bar.
  After lunch it was over to Lane Bryant where she managed to find some more good deals, two tops.  The pricing on both was apparently very good, I heard of discounts on some of it in the 70% range, so she was pleased with that.  We then stopped at a Nordstrom Rack store, but it was disappointing.  While she was there, I went in to Total Wine [almost next door] and found a good price on a 30 cube of Miller, a quart of Svedka Vodka and a Glen Moray scotch.
  Our best return route was on the 202 as we were right there, so took it home.  Again traffic was light, so an easy trip. When we got back Marg kicked back a bit.  I went to get mail and then fixed a cue hanger in the pool room,  Well I did a bit of visiting as well.  Supper was in tonight and that was about it for our day.
  Oops it is raining much harder now.  As I keep telling myself they need the rain here,

Friday, December 6th

Another nice day in AJ.  Some of the locals are saying it is cool out and asking why we are still in short pants.  Then oh yes, you are Canadians, well it is like a pleasant summer day..
  We had a bit of breakfast and then went out.  I dropped Marg off at Dillard's in Superstition Mall.  It's an upscale department store that Marg likes to bargain hunt in.  For my part I went to the Mexican barber shop, not sure what it is called. As it turned out I got the gal who gave me my last haircut in the spring, so I knew what to expect.  I had to wait a bit as it was busy this morning even though there were 3 of them cutting hair.  I ended up with a good result and when I picked Marg up she had a bag with 3 or 4 things in it, so a good outing for both of us.
  By then it was lunch time and being quite a ways from home we went to Souper Sandwich for lunch.  Marg had a coupon, so the price was great and the food there is very good.  The salad bar must be over 30 feet long and is stocked with a wonderful variety of ingredients for a salad.  After that there is an equally long soup bar that includes a taco station and then a desert table with fruits, puddings and things like that and another with ice cream.  The place is very large and very popular especially at lunch.  Oh how much is is well we paid $7.99 each.
  On our way back we stopped at Safeway for bananas and milk.  The bananas were 29 cents a pound and the milk with our loyalty card was $2/08 for a gallon [4 litres], so my purchase was $3.03 in total.
  Back at home Marg did laundry and it was a perfect day to put it out on the drying rack with sun and a bit of a breeze.  Being as I had no pressing engagements I went to play pool.  I took my old cue today as the tip on my other one has got so hard that it is causing a lot of miscues.  I am trying some things to see if it can be fixed, otherwise I will have to replace it.  I played with two other guys, one of whom is very good and the other an average player.  You may recall that with 3 it is always two versus whoever has the break.  I played about as well as I ever have, so i guess the pool gods smiled on me today.
  A group were going out for fish tonight and asked if we were interested.  There are a lot of places around here that feature fish on Fridays, so obviously better than others.  They were going to a place we had not eaten at called Red Mountain Cafe, so we decided to try it.  We rode with another couple here in the park that we have known for years.  There were seven of us and the place looked very quaint from the store front.  I was surprised at how large it was when we entered.  Fortunately we were early enough to be seated as soon as we entered.  The food was very good and the cod was all-you-can eat.  Marg said she thought it was the best fish she has eaten here and there was more for the asking.  A fun evening.

Thursday, December 5th

A gorgeous day in the Valley, another day in short pants. 
  We started out with some more of the great monkey bread and for me a banana.  Now if you don't appreciate the humour in that, I can't help you.  LOL  We put on our name tags and headed down to the coffee Klatch.  It was well attended for this time of year.  To my chagrin the donuts were free [well sponsored] this morning and neither of us had any appetite for more to eat.  The meeting went well and best of all finished in good time.
  After the meeting Marg went with 3 other ladies from the entertainment committee to set up and decorate a Christmas tree.  It is the memory tree that is set up every year.  Anyone can put an ornament on it with a name or names and the year.  All the ornaments from prior years are retained and put on, so a nice opportunity for the residents in the park.  It took quite a while as they had some issues with setting the tree up and later the decorations.  They did get it set up and it is an integral part of the Christmas parade and celebration to come.
  I went back to our place and pretty much worked on the computer, first to add the pictures from the coffee, then to scan and add the advert for the breakfast Saturday AM, then to answer emails, look at news, weather and Facebook.  Oh yes, sorry Char & Phil, to have a facetime with both of you that I really enjoyed.
   We did a few things around here and then went for a golf cart ride.  When doing that you have to be careful as visiting can make for a very long trip.  We visited with a couple of guys who it turned out were negotiating a car sale.  Then when we went on we came across two guys trying to level a fifth wheel trailer.  They were both new to trailer life and were trying to level one that had been in place for a few years, the owner having bought it from his brother-in-law last year. They had a bottle jack and were trying to lift the front end to get new blocking under it.  I suggested they needed to raise the back jacks so it would act like a teeter totter, or else they would be trying to lift the entire trailer weight.  Then I showed them how to raised the rear jacks, after which I left as they seemed to be on the right track.
  Lunch was cucumber sandwich.  Things like cucumbers are so fresh here that they really are like a treat. Then I went to play pool with a fellow who is not a regular player and in fact had not played for quite a few years.  He had bought a new cue, but was intimidated by the skill levels of players here, so when the pool room was empty I offered to play with him.  We had some laughs and he seemed to be getting more comfortable with the game we play in Az and his shooting.
  When I got home Marg had some company that we visited with for a while.  They are a couple who have been in the park for a few years, we just don't usually spend a lot of time with them and it was a good opportunity to chat about stuff.
  We went to happy hour at the Clifford house and it was a smaller group, I think 6 or 7 couples, so not too busy.  When the group gets too large, it gets frustrating to hear or be heard, especially for us hearing aid wearers, so a nice change.  After happy it was supper.  A special rice like a stir fry with shrimp in it was on today's menu and as always it was good.d
  After supper I went to the animal races.  Marg stayed in as she had over-done it a bit today and wanted to rest up.  We had a good turnout and as one of our jokers was missing I got called to duty to tell a few during the lull in action.  After the bets are all placed, they need time to tally the bets and money and the odds or payout for each of the six animals in order to expedite payout to the winners.  I won 6 races, so a good night.  One of my jokes:
  In a Catholic school cafeteria an nun places a note in front of a pile of apples - "Take only one, God is watching."  A little boy stops at a pile of cookies down the row and makes his own note - "Tale all the cookies you want.  Got is watching the apples."
  That was our Thursday.
 

Wednesday, December 4th

Happy anniversary Charlene & Phil.
  It was a very nice day here in the Valley.  How nice, well I am in short pants.  The temperature didn't seem that high, but in the sun it was like a nice summer day.  The day started with a monkey bread Marg made, our first one of this winter season.  I had a large chunk of it and she also took a piece over to Janice next door.
  I went out this morning looking for window catches for two of our windows.  I check at both the hardware stores without any luck, so I went to the RV salvage yard.  It is really quite an experience, totally disorganized junk all from various kinds of trailers and park models spread out over about an acre of land and run down buildings.  I've bought a few things there in the past, but it really is a last resort stop.  The guy who owns it is a real classic junk yard dealer.  Anyway I did find what I was looking for but he wouldn't take the sliding windows out of the trailer they were in, he wanted to sell the window as a unit.  Marg was doing laundry this morning, so stayed home, a more productive morning than I had.
  Back home I started on a different project.  Marg and I put wallpaper on the back splash in the kitchen area a few years back.  One piece of it was in poor shape, so I stripped it off and then made a replacement.  If you have not heard my wallpaper horror stories, you cannot appreciate how I loathe wallpapering.  We did manage to get it cut, wet and stuck to the wall.  Fingers crossed, it may even stay on the wall.
  Lunch was cold roast beef sandwiches, the last of the roast from the other day.  That was a very good roast and made a great sandwich.  After lunch Marg finished the laundry and had a few visitors.  There are still some people arriving for the first time this fall and one of them was one of the gamblin' gals.  I went to play pool and got in with two from yesterday and another player who is one of our better players.  We had good games and a few laughs as usual.
  We wrapped things up a bit early as we had jobs at the hamburger offering.  Gary's burgers are a regular monthly event and we have helped in the past as it takes quite a few people to put it together.  Marg served at the counter, I as in the past toasted buns on the grill.  It is a bit of a challenge as Gary uses the majority of the grill space for the burgers.  Also offered are: french fries [in a deep fryer], chili, potato chips, all the condiments and an assortment of drinks.  I think we did about 120 burgers tonight and they all seem to happen at the same time.  They are large burgers and the very first time we went, I had a double burger and couldn't finish it.  When cooked it is bigger than a quarter pounder.  I am always amazed at the number of people who order doubles.  After an hour of a full grill [20 burger patties & 20 buns open to toast both sides] we eat and then clean the hall and kitchen.  Its a bit of an ordeal.
  When we finished the poker players had already started, so I drove Marg home, picked up my coin bag and went back to play for a couple of hours.  I didn't win any big pots and in fact probably came away down a little bit, but I sat at a good table and it was fun.  We'll sure sleep tonight.

Tuesday, December 3rd

A nice day in the valley and although the locals were wearing coats, most of the snowbirds were in shirtsleeves with the temperature close to 70 today. 
  We used the morning to clean house and organize the Arizona room.  We wanted to open up the hide-a-bed in the Az room.  It has a mattress that inflates to the desired level of firmness.  It is still working fine and it was the first time I have seen it opened up. Then I went to get the mail, nothing but flyers and promotional stuff, although Marg did clip a few coupons from some of the grocery flyers.
  When we finished we went for a bit of a ride around the park.  There was a power failure on the other side of the park and it left 3 or 4 lots without power or water when they dug the lines.  It turned out that an old power pedestal rusted off and collapsed requiring replacement.  The two fellows from the park repairing it offered to let me operate their Mexican backhoe [aka shovel], but I declined.  There was also a mishap with a guy trying to pin on to a 5th wheel trailer to pull it out.  His mother was living in it and has moved to a care facility.  He had a large Kenworth truck and when he pulled forward the trailer hitch pin pulled out of the truck hitch.  The trailer fell better than a foot which can be pretty serious in itself, but then it appears the trailer rolled forward creating a more serious problem.  The towing hitch on the trailer got jammed into the rear of the truck preventing them from raising the front of the trailer.  It also looked to have taken a hard bump on the fiberglass front.  Well this kind of thing is what passes for excitement here.
  After a bite of lunch I went down to play pool.  It was a group of four today and the competition was very tough.  My partner and I did manage a win or two but in our format you potentially change partners every game.  One of the fellows today is probably one of the best players in the park [much better than me] but I never did play with him as a partner.  The other two were not quite as strong, so we kind of manged it so we the very good player and I were never partners.  In the process everyone played on a winner at times and we had fun.  Marg hung around the trailer as she was expecting a visitor and she wanted to organize things at home and do a bit of washing.  Unfortunately the visitor wasn't able to come.
  Supper was in tonight, we had the leftovers from the roast Marg made in the slow cooker.  It was still very good.  We also had the last of the pumpkin pie she got at the casino.  Last Wednesday when at Casino Arizona they were each given a pie and it was pretty darn good.
  After supper we went to the bingo in the park here.  It was a case of close but no cigar for both of us tonight.  In fact we never even had a winner at our table.  Some days you are the windshield, some days you are the bug!
 

Monday, December 2nd

As always this time of year, chilly last night but the day warmed and was very nice, a shirt-sleeve day.  No short pants for me just yet.
  Started of the day with French Toast that Marg made from some buns she had.  It was very good and always appreciated, I've told her in the past she never has to ask if I want French Toast.  After I vacuumed the truck and the carpet on the steps then went out to wash the truck.  It wasn't dirty by the standards at home, but here it was time.  We had driven on rain covered roads a few days back and the desert sand gets washed on to them and splashes up a bit.  I went to the self spray at 4 Sons just up the road.  I put in 6 bucks and it was enough to spray, wash with a soapy brush, rinse and then spray with rinse agent to prevent spots.  The water here is notorious for spotting if not dried off or sprayed and it particularly a problem on chrome, mirrors and windows.  Besides all the drive thru car washes use brushes and I only go through brush-less ones.  Marg did banking this morning.  She checks all the Visa receipts with the statement to make certain the charges are correct.  While doing this the system asked if she wanted to use the points to make a payment.  We never realized our U.S. dollar Visa got points, so a pleasant surprise as is said we had over 6,000 points.  So she said why not and sure enough it applied cash to the balance, even though the balance is not due just yet.
  Speaking of the effects of the rain, there has been some serious flooding.  Quite a few people boon-dock or dry camp here.  Apparently there were some in low lying areas that have been flooded in at least 3 feet of water and can't get out until it recedes.  There was also a case of a couple with  kids in an big old army truck on a road who tried to cross through a closed wash yesterday morning.  It seems the morning water rose from zero to 7 feet in 4 hours and then started recede but then had a surge.  Anyway the truck became stuck in the water and they had to be rescued.  In the process 3 of the kids [all 6 or under] were washed out of the back of the truck and drowned  A terrible tragedy.
  When I got back I browned the roast on the bbq that Marg put it in the slow cooker, later adding vegetables and potatoes.  Lunch for me was the leftover spaghetti from yesterday, for Marg the leftover salad.  Not sure about the salad, but mine was just as good today.
  I went to play some pool this afternoon.  Not that many guys playing yet, but I took the cue that work so well yesterday and it was still performing just fine.  Marg went out to Safeway and got a great deal on some T Bone steaks.  They look very nice and were about 1/3rd what we would expect to pay at home and are large enough that one will make a meal for both of us.  She sure does well finding the sales on groceries.  Then she went to Cato where she found a top and a sweater, she usually has good luck at that store.  There is a dollar store next door where she managed to get a few things she needed.
  Supper was eat in tonight.  We have been enjoying the pictures on FB and being sent to us by Char & Jess.  Oh yes congratulations are in order to Lyzi.  Her home business of making drawings/ caricatures of people and families and selling them on line has done very well.  So well it seems a magazine featured her in an article. Well while I'm at it Sophie for an award at school and her mother Anna who prepared a bunch of  story writing kits and sold out on line in a day.
  Will try and get some pictures to liven up the blog, if I remember in the future.