Jan 31st

Hard to believe the month of January has come & gone; time flies down here in the Valley of the Sun. Slow day here, got some light rain during the night and a few sprinkles in the early morning. Not enough to wet the pavement, more like a fine Scottish mist. It was a cool day, we had to wear a sweatshirt or light jacket to go for our walk today, probably only reached the high 60's today. I went for a long walk in the morning when Marg was doing laundry and then we both walked around the park in the afternoon. Played pool & we were 2 canucks and 2 yanks; the war of 1812 all over again. Some of these guys think they won that war, must have different history books here than the ones at home. I think their books forgot to mention the burning of the white house when the Canucks got there, LOL. Old Harold from Nebraska stopped in to watch & shared with us that he finally heard the origin of the name Canada. It goes - when they were searching for a name, they had all the alphabet in a hat & drew them out to make a name. The first letter out was a 'C' eh, next was an 'N' eh & finally a 'D' eh. After which they came up with the name Canada. He is a real character, never stuck for a funny line. Supposed to be cool here until Wednesday and start getting nice again after that, so long pants for the next 2 days.

Ice Cream social

Nice day - did I say that before, oh well, shorts day again, I think it was 72F. Had left over pancakes from yesterday for breakfast, they were still good. I don't believe there is any such thing as a bad pancake. ;>) I forgot to tell you yesterday about the biscuit & gravy thing. When Wayne told us we were expected to have this at breakfast, I said - none of us are familiar with that, we are Canucks after all. Ron thought I was joking, but after polling the breakfast team, he was amazed that none had and we don't have biscuits & gravy for breakfast way up north. After pancakes, Marg found the location of an outlet mall on the web and we went down there. She bought me a handful of shirts and some dishes and kitchen things for the rv. It was really her kind of place, the discounts ranged from as low as 50% to as high as 85%. She said it was better than Winners, now that is significant. Lunch was at IHop, but no pancakes. She had a vegetable crepe, me, well they had french toast a way I have never seen, so.... Went for a walk around the park and Gary was there. He's one of the guys who repaired the waterline. I stayed with them the whole time, holding the light. He told everyone I was the water foreman for the park & pretty good for a Canuck. You can imagine, how that made my day, LOL. Oh yeh, ice cream social tonight. There had been some grumbling in the park about the event, so all dishes were 2 scoops and sundae fixings included if you wanted them. Marg works on this team, but they were concerned with the extra time it takes to make sundaes, so she came running over to get me involved. We must have this mark on our forehead, volunteer, just make request here. But get this - I had a key job - ice cream scooper. Now - that I have arrived in this old world, I expect a new recognition - something like - call me scoop. Hah! Marg hands out cake, not quite at the ice cream level yet. Me, first day, ice cream. Almost forgot you could have 2 pieces of cake or cake & a brownie or cookie as well. There were some pretty loaded up dishes & I'm not talking about all those blue haired old gals leaving the hall. It was their biggest turnout for ice cream social to-date. It was cute, Bud & Lynet had their grandchildren there, they were nice kids. WE MISS OURS! already. After that we played cards with Ron & Sue. Marg was the big winner, yours truly lost the most quarters. Another great day in the Valley of the Sun..

Scottsdale - old town

Saturday Jan 29th

Early start today, 6:00AM for Marg & I. Our Canadian team made breakfast this AM in the park. My experience with the City of GP BBQ's came in handy today, we fed 85 or more breakfasts of: bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes & yes biscuits & gravy. Couple of little bumps, but the trash fixed that and we had a quality result. Lots of compliments from the group, so I think we did fine. Cleaned my first grill, let me tell you that isn't first choice of the jobs we had, I think it comes in right after mopping floors. The people here said it was their best turn-out so far for a breakfast event. After we finished kitchen duty, Dave & Elizabeth Chomik stopped by and we had a nice visit with them. When they left we went to the state fairground where the paper reported there was an rv show. Someone made a mistake, when we got to the gate, the attendant said it was a quilting & craft show. Good thing we asked at the gate or I would have had to pay $7 for parking. Quilting was a non-starter for me, so we left to spend some time touring around Scottsdale. We went back to that great ice cream parlor & had lunch there - no it wasn't just ice cream. Always a fun day in the old part of town there. You really feel like you are in part of the old west in that area. I took this picture of the guy who road up to where we were, but I have seen horse riders on an overpass & the other day a group of 4 girls rode their horses to school right in the city of Mesa. There are a lot of residential properties in Apache Jctn with horses on the property as well. When we got back to the park, Marg's friend Sue came by to share a glass of wine with her & tell her how Ron knocked out the power in half of their park model. The wine was Marg's idea, kind of a tranquilizer, I guess.

Friday Jan 28

Another nice day, temperatures in the mid 70's. Went to the Mesa market to exchange books, I think the old gal who runs it is starting to recognize me now, as it's a regular Friday event. Marg got some fruit & vegtables. We looked at a bunch of kokopeli & gecko figures, I think Marg wants one for the cabin wall. Played some pool after lunch & had a good group, ones you laugh a lot with. We stopped at a few yard sales, a big one at the church on Superstition. Marg was really disappointed & said to me - You know there is only one letter difference between garage & garbage in these sales. Now there is a theory I can subscribe to. After lunch we went to an antique mall, it was a huge place with old stuff all over. The only thing I saw that interested me was the old money, but Marg saw lots of other interesting stuff. Went to Fuddruckers for dinner, we hadn't had a burger for a while and have been bbq'ing lots. After dinner we had a meeting of our kitchen team in preparation for our Canadian breakfast tomorrow morning. Tne whole team were pretty apprehensive about the biscuits & gravy. I had to explain to Ron & Wayne that none of us were familiar with it. He thought I was joking around, but everyone in the group confirmed none of them had that for breakfast before. The rest: coffee, bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes we are good with and will just figure out the biscuits & gravy. Oh, the other neat thing is we need to start cooking at 6:30AM. Wayne said one of us needed to start at 6:00AM to plug in the coffee & steam trays, then looked at me. My reply was that I worked my way to an executive position so that I wouldn't have to be starting at that hour. At least it got a laugh. Should be an interesting day tomorrow, stay tuned. It will the western Canadian contingent on stage: Pat & Diane from Saskatchewan and Alan & Wilma from BC and us!

Happy Days

Nice day, we were in shorts again, the temperature reached 78F. Busy day today. Started off with coffee & donut event in the hall this morning. It was good, except Marg slept in and didn't go, bad timing. They introduced the new Canadian breakfast crew, asking them to stand. The first names called were Marg & I and when she never appeared, everyone started asking where she was. I couldn't make up a cover story on such short notice, so just told the group she slept in & that got a good laugh. I told Alan [from BC] the team had a meeting and he was the team captain. He never objected, so maybe Pat [from Saskatchewan] & I can stop calling each other captain - LOL. Ran around with Marg getting some stuff for happy hour today, our turn to play host. After lunch I played pool in the inter-park tournament & my partner and I won one game. The opposition really had our number, it was 8, as in the 8 ball. Had the neighbours and others over for happy hour. Marg made some snacks up to go with the wine. Bob & I drank beer, but everyone seems to drink wine. Lots of laughs. Harold from Nebraska stopped by, this guy is never stuck for an answer & could talk the ears of a telephone salesman. Anyway he went thru this elaborate story about how to call wild turkeys. Got everyone to bent a can tab, just so; hold it in their teeth ,, pull the bottom lip over, etc and then said call. When everyone said call what, he replied -The call is - Here Turkey. After he said - Hey I think I got some. I guess you had to be there. Hah! Also one of the others said that it's been so dry here that two trees were seen fighting over a dog.

Wednesday Jan 26

Hard to believe we left GP a month ago on boxing day. Got propane delivered to the park yesterday, $65 for 14 gallons. Seems like a lot, but it was delivered and I didn't have to move the RV. Marg played bingo last night with her regular group, but none of them won. Nice day today, went for a walk and almost everyone I spoke to asked me if I was the guy who caused the water break. I even had one old gal tell me there was a water shortage in Arizona and that I shouldn't allow that to happen. I must have told the story about the 4 ft deep hole large enough for Richard to sit in behind my RV so they could repair the MAIN line. Some BC people even accused me of being a typical Albertan; drilling for oil back there. Played some pool the last couple of days & we got kicked on last week so everyone is playing much more serious. Guys who never hook are dangerous now, I could be losing my edge, there used to be only a couple of us who play nasty. Slept in this AM, so missed the golf group, but Marg made me french toast for breakfast, so it was all good. Marg went and bought a new coffee maker and vacuum today, hot coffee tomorrow will be nice. In the evening we went to the dinner show- the Arizona Opry. It was a nice roast beef dinner with a musical show for a couple of hours after. There were 34 people from the park in our group, so it was popular. Some very talented and amazing entertainers, we both enjoyed the show.

Big Excitement

Nice day today, back to shorts. More old acquaintences arrived today, all with stories to tell of snow at home and the weather on the way down. Funny thing, Marg did laundry & the dryer ate up too much credit from her laundry card, so we had to strip the bed and wash everything in sight so she could use up the dryer credit. Well it was funny if you were here at the time. Played some pool & as usual made the difficult shots, while missing the easy ones. Reminds me of a Robbie Burns quote - "There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing." Hey happy Robbie Burns day - raise a glass & toast the famous Bard. In the evening we went to the buffet down on Signal Butte. It's really the best one around, lots of variety and the food is all good. You have to see it to do it justice there is so much variety. When we got back to the RV, I heard water running & went around back to check, thought my water hose had ruptured. Well, it was much worse, the buried main line had. The water was bubbling up out of the ground just behind the rv and a river was flowing down the sidewalk. Went and notified the office and at first they seemed like it was after hours & I should have waited until morning. I say at first, because when Curtis saw the river, he called in the maintenance staff. They had to shut water off for half of the park, so we had a parade of concerned campers. The guys dug a hole right behind our RV to get at the break & by the time they finished it was big enough that Richard was sitting right in the 5ft deep hole. They had it all repaired & back in service about 10:ooPM. Earlier in the day the mtce guys were doing a repair & I watched for a while; joking that I was offering to supervise, if they needed a do nothing supervisor. This morning Gary was cleaning up the mess & again had lots of watchers discussing it and he said they wouldn't have been able to do it without my supervision, proving again - that what goes around comes around.

Sundae Sunday

For de wind she blew like hurricane - anyone remember the poem? Anyway that was us this morning, the wind blew cool well into the day, no clouds, just wind. Had to wear long pants today, but by mid-afternoon it warmed up and was pleasant. The temperature only got into the high 60's today, probably 17 or 18C. Marg went to Burlington Coat down by the Superstition mall, I looked at camping accessories and then back home for lunch. Roon & Sue arrived today, their car all covered in road salt, after 4 days on the road. They had some bad weather on their way down from Michigan. Everyone is talking about the winter in the north and along the east coast. After supper Marg worked at the ice cream social with Kenny & Doris and their crew. Instead of just a dish of ice cream with cake, tonight we had the option of a sundae. Marg had bought bite size brownies & fancy cookies as another option. I had a strawberry sundae with a brownie topped with a cherry. Pretty yummy. It's a great opportunity to socialize within the park, there were 70 or 80 people attending. Marg and the crew seemed to have fun in the process.

Saturday Jan 22

Got up early for bacon, eggs, pancakes in the hall. At breakfast we sat with a bunch of Canucks from BC. One of the couples are originally from the Manchester area, but live in Sorrento now. The kitchen team organizer, Wayne said Marg & I are on the team to make breakfast next Saturday, must fix my volunteer-itis. Then the newsletter gal came by to find out what the menu is. I am thinking burnt offerings. On the way back Marg had a slip and wrenched her knee, so it was in to the hot tub & then the swimming pool for her today. Went for a walk after & I never had to drag or carry her, so it seems better. Nice day, I think this made more than 2 weeks with shorts on every day. I played pool with the guys & they let me win a few. After we went out for a drive out east, as I wanted to see where the dinner theatre was that we are going to on Wed and later to pick up a few groceries. Stopped in at Ace Hardware, now there is a place to browse, for a car remote battery. Steaks on the BBQ for dinner completed our day. With any luck we may go to the Barrett Jackson car auction tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Thursday Jan 20

Hard to believe it, but we have been gone from GP for over 3 weeks. Weather today was windy and cooler, probably only made it to 70F or so, alhtough it was nice and sunny. Coffee & rolls this morning at the rec hall. We sat with a nice couple from Kelowna and they advised us we are on the same kitchen team. A week or so ago Wayne had asked if we would volunteer to work on a kitchen team. I agreed on the understanding my lack of culinary skills would be considered. They are wanting a 5th team and we seem to be on it. After we went to Costco in the morning as Marg agreed to provide some cookies/brownies for the ice cream social on Sunday. Turns out they are making sundaes on Sunday & need help, so she has volunteered to help make them as well. The good news is we will get free ice cream, only had to buy $20 worth of cookies. Marg picked up a 1.75Litre of Tequila for Margaritas while there. After lunch I played in the inter-park pool tournament, road trip today. Played with Ray & last week we kicked butt, but sadly this week we got ours kicked. Some days the balls don't fit in the holes, their tables are the pits, we played their best team, etc. It's always more fun to win. We went to Kenny & Doris's for happy hour, they also had Ron & Mary & Almyra was there as well. Lots of laughs. I think Marg is planning on hosting next week with her big bottle of Tequila. After, it was too late to cook so we went to Village Inn for supper. Marg talked to the couple next to us and they used to farm next to Chomiks, small world. Anyway, that's the place with the awesome pie. Had a pretty good meal and some strawberry/rhubarb pie with ice cream.

Wednesday Jan 19

Interesting day yesterday, got my haircut with Chuck - the barber. Worst haircut I ever had, Marg still hasn't stopped laughing. Words cannot do justice to the injustice. Oh well, there's only 10 days difference between a good or bad one. Phil always jokes about his barber, shaky Bill or something like that, well I met his brother Chuck. After supper the Canuels stopped by: Carol & Deb went to bingo with Marg & Jerry & Phil played pool with me. Marg won the first game, so they were in good spirits. Speaking of spirits, introduced Jerry to fine Irish whiskey & he seemed to like it. It was probably midnight by the time they left. Fun evening. Today we went to a presentation from a medi-vac group. They sell insurance that pays to ship sick old folks home by air. Laugh if you will, there was a big crowd there to hear the details. Although in fairness, it might have had more to do with the free pizza. The pizza was very good by the way, but like most, I didn't buy the insurance. Notice no comment about the weather today, although I did get a bit of sun burn yesterday ;>)

hot day

I am probably losing readers because of the weather, but today was the hotest day yet, it did indeed reach 79F. We went for a walk around the RV park, a difficult task with all the stops for visiting. I spent much of the day laying about in the sun, interupted by a couple hours of pool. Marg went out on her own and came back with lots of shopping bags. I think she just went for the AC, lol.

Sunday

Today started off cloudy & looked like rain, but by mid morning the sun burned the cloud off and it turned nice. Got up to about 73F today & the forecast for tomorrow is 79. Shopping kind of day and we went into Mesa to: Bealls, then to Ross's & then Burlington Coat. I managed to read about 1/2 of my pocket book while Marg searched out the bargains. She was well pleased with her day, putting some bags in the trunk, so must have been good deals. Had an early dinner at Applebys, the food there is always good. After returning to the park, we went to the ice cream social tonight. The answer to your unspoken question - chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream & Marg had vanilla without cake. Took our new neighbours from Victoria so they would get an intro into a park activity. Marg signed us up for the Payson trip in Feb, we went on that last year and enjoyed it. Our sympathy's to everyone in Alberta with the terrible weather you are having. We know you are dealing with a lot of snow & ice. We are also dealing with ice here in Apache Jctn, but in the form of cubes. As Ron from Nebraska here says - have a good day & a better one tomorrow.

Saturday Jan 15

Another great day in the "Valley of the Sun", definitely shorts today, I think we must have got to around 73 or 74F. I played pool & Marg swam in the pool. It's an outdoor pool, but the water was 92F, Marg said it was bathtub warm. It was a popular place with the temperatures today. After, we washed the car on the driveway. Funny thing about this desert, it's very sandy & windy so no need to guess where the sand blows. The outside just mainly needed a wipe, anyway we needed to do the inside of the car from the trip down. I took the rubber mats out of the car to vacuum & left them out. There is generally no mud or slush or snow here. Had cocktails with our new neighbours, they are from Victoria, BC. Trouts were in town and stopped by late in the afternoon, so we had cocktails with them as well. Offered them some of the new Irish whiskey, but no takers.

Friday Jan 14

This might sound like I am repeating myself, what a nice day. 74F today & sunny. This may be cruel to the folks back in GP, but we had to use the AC on the drive home. After breakfast, went to Wells Fargo and opened an account. We have been having some issues and with the current exchange rates thought the time was right to convert some money. The staff there were great. They have a big brass bell hanging by the door with a sign asking you to ring it if you got great service, so Marg gave it a ring as she was leaving. Pretty funny. Stopped at the Mesa market to exchange books & got 5 more dusters. Went to SoupRSalad for lunch, they have an amazing salad bar, oh yeh bonus we got the seniors rate. Marg has been dying to get back to Dillards, so after lunch we made a stop in there, but sadly she was disappointed and never saw the kind of deals she got last time. It was so bad she downgraded them from their prestigious number one position on her - Most Desirable Shopping places list. After lunch we went to Total Wine. This is the store that amoung other things claims: 1,000 kinds of beer & 3,000 kinds of wine. They have an amazing variety of everything with great pricing. I bought a nice 12 yr old Glenlivet and also a nice 8 yr old single malt Finnegan. An Irish whiskey. Mother always reminds me that I am as much Irish as Scottish. Good advice mom, the whiskey is very nice. One drink & you will know it's true. They really did invent whiskey so the Irish would never take over the world. The day was shaping up as almost perfect & then when we got back; discovered Marg had not taken out anything for supper. So we went out to IHop for supper. The end of a perfect day. 19 days since we left home & this is my first IHop & you don't even have to ask - I had pancakes. Marg had some crepes that were wonderful. CHEERS!

Thurs

Our neighbours cactus garden

Thursday

What a nice day today, sun was shining, about 72F or 22C. For those who know me, I had shorts on today & that is something that only happens in really nice weather. The day started out with coffee & rolls in the hall. It's a regular Thurs AM event and it's also a good social opportunity. Met some more Canucks, there are quite a few now, probably about 15 or 20 couples, 4 from Alberta. Seems like more than last year. We rolled out the awning today, first time since fall. To say it was dirty & gross would not do it justice, so we spent the morning washing it. If you have never washed an awning, you haven't missed much; it's not a fun thing & involves a lot of water over your head. Played pool in the inter-park tournament after lunch. Eastgate, they are usually the toughest in our little league. Of the 6 teams, most of ours got thrashed. My partner & I won all 3 of our games, but of our other 5 teams only 2 even got a single win, the other 3 lost all 3 games. We don't expect to beat these guys, but a few more reasons to smile would have been nice. Marg made a terrific stir fry on the grill - outdoors. Did I mention how great the weather was!<>

Sunny day

Wow - nice day today, sunny & warm. About 18C for you metric fans. The forecast is for temperatures to reach up to 20 or better by the weekend. If it keeps up like this I may have to dig out the shorts. Marg went to Fry's after lunch and they had a big sale on. Can you imagine 10 cans of soup for a dollar, well that was just one of her great deals. I played pool with a group that are lots of laughs. They giving me a hard time saying they were going to have to send me back to Alberta & the snow & ice. My reply was that they were blaming all their problems on me & would probably get around to making the war of 1812 my fault and want me to pay to renovate the white house that was burned down in that war. It was all good fun. Tonight was hamburger nite in the park, so we went out for burgers and chili. They don't BBQ the burgers, they grill them. Dinner was well attended and the food was good.

Wash day

It was wash day for us. Marg washed the laundry & I washed the motorhome. I have this long extendable brush that connects to a hose & managed to get myself just as wet as the rv. Lots of offers of more work from the other residents as they passed by. After the sides, I had to do the windows all over because they were streaked. I just use vinegar & water, trying to save the planet for my grandchildren, just like we try not to use plastic bags. ;>) By the time Marg steamed the laundry [she doesn't use an iron anymore], the unit was like a spa inside. Finished in time for so I was able to play a couple of games of pool. Funny thing about 8-ball, everywhere you go the rules are slightly different. I only mention this because we had a new player from Nebraska & he started arguing a rule over a scratch with our local expert [Mike] on the subject. It was much to do about nothing, but annoying, just someone's compelling need to be right. One of our neighbours, Norm bought a car yesterday. It's a 1991 Ford Crown Vic, it's in very nice shape & runs like a top. He is planning on taking it back to Michigan to re-sell, thinks he can make money on it. I tend to agree, he only paid $300 for it. Marg went to bingo last night & although she never won, she was able to get current on all the park gossip. Lots of talk in the park about the tragedy in Tucson & Obama going there. Tucson is about 2 or 3 hours south of here, very close to where Trouts are this winter. Under different circumstances we would probably go to get a look at the Obamas, but this isn't it. Been trying to get Marg to write this blog to get here perspective, but she claims I am the one with lots to say - Hah!

Monday

Spent much of the morning running around to the bank and then post office. We had been using Bank of America, but couldn't get what we needed, so switched to Wells Fargo. Marg said they were great to deal with & they are right beside Fry's, so we will probably start dealing there now. Our mail was forwarded and is finally starting to arrive here in AJ. Got 3 Christmas cards today & the bills are starting to find us now. My dad used to say that envelopes with windows in them were not mail. I think he may have had something there. Marg went to Bealls [its like Winners] after lunch and although it was seniors discount day, she only came back with a set of bowls. BBQ'd for supper, it was very good. Went for a walk after, it gets dark so early, we really need to make a conscious effort to get out because we are so conditioned to it being late when it gets dark & it's dark to early here for that. The people in the spot north of us leave tomorrow, they are boondockers, some call it dry camping. Typically boondockers sit out in the desert with the rattlesnakes & scorpions, only coming in to campgrounds for a week or so when they need services. They use this time to flush their tanks, fill up with water and trade all their books in the park library. The attraction of boondocking is free camping in the desert so they are usually pretty cheap. They guy was telling me he went to a garage sale where he got clothes for a dollar a bag [green garbage bag], so he bought two. From here he said they are going to Slab City. It's an abandoned townsite & all that remains are the concrete slabs where the houses used to be. RVers park on the slabs so they don't get as much dust. This is actually quite popular here, there are huge numbers of people trying to live cheaper than the next guy & they take pride, often bragging about it. If you get down around Quartsite, they are literally everywhere in the desert. I don't totally understand it, so can only explain it as an oddity. Cost to stay in a park here is quite reasonable & we prefer the amenities in the park.

Downtown Scottsdale

Sunday - Jan 9

Nice day today. When the neighbour went by on her way to church, asked her to put in a good word for me. Hope she remembered, as I need all the help I can get.

We went right downtown Phoenix today, we had never been there and wanted to see it. With traffic being slow, figured Sunday would be a good choice. It was interesting, but really not that much to do down there unless there are events on at the convention centre or Chase stadium.

From there we went to downtown Scottsdale for lunch. With the big football game on it seemed everyone was either in Auburn orange or Oregon green. Had a great lunch at a little bistro. Marg had some kind of deluxe salad & I tried the Rueben. Both were excellent and the portions so large we never had dessert, which was really their specialty. Ice cream social tonite in the park, so we really only need ice cream once a day. We mooched around the boutiquish stores in the sun & really enjoyed ourselves. The old downtown area in Scottsdale is very nice, it's one of the trendy places to go & was very busy. On the way back we stopped in teh Bass Pro shop in Mesa, it was good, but no Cabella's. Next time we will just go out to Glendale & the Cabella store.

Jan 8th

Since we hooked up the satellite dish we get to see more about the weather in Alberta & we were very happy to be in Az today. It was cold last night, got down to 31F, so just below zero. The roof of the car was white, but it warmed up & by noon people were out without coats.

Went to the breakfast this AM & had pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs. Passed on the biscuits & gravy. For those of you to whom this is new - they are like baking soda biscuits smothered in a white thick creamy gravy. Most of the Americans like them, although as with anything even some of them stayed with what I had.

After breakfast we went to the Mesa flea market. I exchanged a handful of books and got 5 new dusters. Also bought a coat & as the wind was quite brisk, wore it on top of my other coat. Marg just had a light jacket on, but she handles the cold better than me. Almost everyone handles the cold better than me. Also got a new wallet, the old one was wore out, no wonder I'm always broke. Marg got some lavender oil [for her feet I think] & a car charger for the new phone.

Stopped at the Superstition market on the way back. They had oranges - 4 pounds for a buck or grapefruit - 5 pounds for a buck. Marg bought a couple of large vine ripened tomatoes, they were 27 cents.

Took a few pictures tonite of our site and the view we have of Superstition Mountain all day long while I was bbq'ing.

Jan 7th - Happy Christmas

Khrystos Rhazhdaietsa [Christ is Born] today is Ukrainian Christmas! Didn't seem like Christmas, no snow. ;>) Busy day today, we got the remote for the satellite tuner in yesterday's mail, so after breakfast I set up the dish and tuned it all in. This is usually a stressful thing for me as I do it once a year, but a nice Albertan from Stettler came along saying, there is nothing to it, just set it like this & presto - we had reception. Took him about 5 minutes, this was after me working on it for an hour. Must make notes for next year in case there are not good samaritans. It's a bit of a challenge, these new tv's all automatically set themselves to digital tv down here & the satellite receiver wants channel 3 the old way. There are times when I think I am at the limit of my techie ability & the rest of the time I am way beyond it. All this so Marg can watch her shows, but she was happy with the result. Played some pool today, just with the guys in the park. Worked out pretty good except the game I got skunked. Mesa market tomorrow to get books & a bunch of other stuff we don't know we need until we see it. But first we must get up in time for breakfast in the park: bacon, eggs, pancakes oh yeh & the ever present biscuits & gravy - yes you heard correctly, it's an American thing. BBQ tonight & Marg made up her usual great veg & potatoes to do with the steaks - filets & they were so good they could have been Alberta beef. No Ukrainian dishes though; but I guess we had those back in December.

Jan 6th

Howdy - from AJ. Weather is pretty good here, bit cloudy in the morning, but clears off by noon and the afternoons are very pleasant. Happy Birthday Kassidy!

Thursday morning was coffee & rolls in the club house When they do the announcements of activities for the week; gives you an idea of what is available. Marg & I went and renewed some acquaintences. They always have a time when they introduce new arrivals & even though we didn't put up our hands, Kenny & Doris were both pointing at us with a frenzy. Marg wouldn't say anything, so it was left to me to embarass us. I told them we came back because I owed some of the residents a beating in pool from last year - it got a good laugh. Marg & I went for a walk through the park after coffe & it took over quite a bit more than an hour. Met so many people who want to chat for a moment that it's really not much of a walk.

Played pool in the inter-park event today, we played Mountain View and it was a road trip for our park - about 4 blocks. My partner & I won 2 of our 3 games, so that is considered respectable. That's how I'd like to be known - as respectable - LOL!

The satellite dish remote arrived today by mail from GP. Thank you Patti, it is much appreciated. We always forget something - not sure how I took the receiver & forgot the remote that was right beside it on the kitchen counter.

We went out to In & Out Burger tonight. Pretty good burgers & fries. Gave us an excuse to not go to the pot luck fund raiser for the food bank. We really don't do pot luck & I noticed the neighbours car gone when we left, so they obviously don't either.

Tomorrow or Saturday the plan will be to the flea market and get some books.

Jan 4th - AJ

Nice day today, sky was clear blue in - The Valley of the Sun. Took the car in for an oil change this AM, should have done it before, but with travelling it's difficult to make time for that. Got a great deal - $18.95 for Penzoil, filter & lube job. They are featured in the local paper & there were about 4 or 5 to choose from. Lots of snowbirds lined up, it's like they can all sense when I am on to a good deal. Marg went shopping to Bealls, they probably threw a welcome back party for her. Said she got some good deals & seemed happy with the day. I can't say for sure because I couldn't go. I had put a new tip on my cue & needed to test it at the tables today. Played fairly well today, but some concern. I asked Elmer to excuse me & he said there was no excuse for me - LOL. Put a new water filter on. There was a bit of a taste in the water that was affecting my enjoyment of the scotch I brought from duty free. Marg always buys fresh local navel oranges & they are so juicy & tasty that we are half way thru the 4 pound sack already. Weather good here, & our timing to get here was good, back around Las Vegas where we were, they got 6 inches of snow. We pride ourselves on being one step ahead of the weather. As I said yesterday, weather is always a topic. There are lots of reports of mountain lions in southern Arizona, we might go out to see if we can get a look at one, that would be cool. Tuesday night is bingo night & Marg went. She sat with the same group she sat with last year & she & 2 others won. It's really funny, if someone not from the park wins, they all mumble, but they were hi-5 ing tonite with 3 of them winning.

Life in AJ - Jan 3

The weather at night is chilly, must be down close to the freezing point. During the middle of the day when the sun gets out, it's very pleasant, T-shirt weather. Renewed lots of acquaintences today. While there are new people, the majority have been here a while. Yesterday we bought an attachment for the antennae to improve TV reception, but had to take it back to Camping World today. Now that is an RV store, they sell everything from light bulbs to RV's & some accessories you likely have not seen. They also perform every RV service you can think of. Renovations are big down here & they re-model units. Stopped at the superstition farm market & Marg got some stuff. Prices there are amazing - oranges 4 pounds for $1 & lettuce 25 cents a head. Then to Fry's, her fav grocery store. We were quite disappointed, no ice cream social yesterday, probably because it is early in the season & cool. Kenny & Doris arrived last nite & we had a nice visit with them. They are from Kansas & had some very bad weather. Marg chatted up Betty & it turns out her other pal, Sue broke her leg, so won't be down for a few weeks yet. Talked to Trouts and they made it down after much bad weather. That's the general tenor of conversation - when did you get here, how was the trip, how bad is the weather at home. We generally are the winners of - the weather at home is terrible - how cold is it, questions. It would be nice to be first at something else. After lunch Marg did laundry, I played pool. 3 loads of laundry, no soap [but ask her how much fabric softener she has], so I made a last minute run to get detergent while the machines sat full. One or two new faces at pool, but I played with some repeats: Steve [Washington state], Pat [Saskatchewan], & Ray [Minnesota]. Ray is a hooker & that's not a good thing when you shoot behind him [like I did today], but this was a fun group. Marg is already asking questions like, this is the road to Superstition Mall - right? This is the road to some shopping place or another. Won't be long and they will all know she is back in town. That's about it for now, stay tuned, something interesting is bound to happen ;-)

Jan 2 - Apache Junction

Well between travelling & out of commission need to do some catch up.

Dec 31st, we went for a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel [Avi], it was a nice 4 course dinner. After dinner went to see a show - True Grit. Trout sold me on it being better than the original with the "Duke". It was good & had some better parts, but I would not rate it better, maybe because I have trouble with that notion - a western better than one with John Wayne. Gambled for an hour after the show, then to the new years party to be in on the finger food and count down. Wore silly hats, blew on noise makers, stomped balloons & after a generally rowdy night got to bed at 2:30 AM.

Slow start to Jan 1st, 2011, head aching, could not bend over in case I should pass out. Check wallet, hey I think I won over $100 playing blackjack last nite. Marg on slots, not quite so good. Managed to disconnect all the hoses & cables and get hooked up by the crack of 10:30 AM. Must make miles - so the intrepid travellers pulled out - born to be mild, playing in their mind [we are just too old to be wild].

Drove back thru Bullhead city, up to Kingman & then down hwy 93 to Phoenix in the valley of the sun. Filled up with gas at a place called Smiths for $2.75/gallon. Few pics here Marg took around Kingman. Pretty chilly when we pulled in to AJ & Carefree Manor RV park. Curtis had called to say our old stall, #59 was reserved for us, but he was not working the weekend, so it would be self serve.

Got in & all connected by 4:00 PM. Went for dinner to the chinese buffet on Apache trail. Renewed a couple of old acquaintences - just like in the song -- Should auld acquaintence be forgot! I think that covers it- oh yes, the weather here this AM is gorgeous, sun is shining, birds are singing, feels too warm to wear a jacket. The orange & grapefruit trees in the park are full of fruit & one of the neighbours was giving away oranges this AM.