Sunday 27 February 2011

Around the park today

After the sleet. Just take a look at the needles on the prickly pear cactus.

The games room

The games room also has a library & card tables where we played with Ron & Sue

Brrr

Decent day yesterday. We hung around the park and I played pool, Marg went for some groceries & bought me a nice green shirt. Played cards with Ron & Sue in the evening for a while. What a cool start to the day, we had sleet and then rain. The sleet came down so heavy that it looked like snow. It lasted on the ground for about a half an hour. The other neat thing that happened was we had snow on Superstition Mtn, something most people in the park had never seen before. By the middle of the morning it was warming up already. I think it only got to about 58F/14C, but quite pleasant out. Kenny & Doris went to the NASCAR race today, as did many in the park, so we had to do the ice cream social without them. Jerry had everything well organized and considering the weather we had a pretty good turnout. Marg used the oven today for the first time and baked brownies for the social. It's ice cream and cake or cookies with different people contributing the cakes and cookies. The ladies dish out the cake & Jerry & I dish are the ice cream scoopers. Thought we should give you a look at the crew tonight. Oh yeh - the owls had their babies, will try for pics tomorrow.

Friday 25 February 2011

And fishing for all.

The kids fishing tank was full of rainbows & was free to all under 12, the other was the bass where the pro was casting spinner baits.

Trophy row

Elk & Deer big enough to make any hunter's day.

Sweet Ride

The side x side ATV was pretty deluxe and had an asking price of $42,000. The Geico group were there with their high speed unit as well. Marg may well be in their next commercial - NOT!

Desert Critters

They had some rattlers at the show - the lady said these were big even by local standards.

Show day

Nice day today, temp got to about 70F/21C. Went to the Mesa market and exchanged my pocket books, then stopped at Safeway to get the 3 bottles of Crown Royal rye on Marg's raincheck. It was worthwhile - $12.60 per 750 mil bottle. Drove all the way over to the stadium in Glendale [the opposite side of Phoenix]. When I say all the way over, I mean a trip of more than an hour at 65 mph on the freeway. Went to the international sportsman show that was mainly about hunting & fishing. This was in an amazing stadium & you can see why the Edm Oilers are hung up about a new arena. The team here is almost as bad, but the stadium is huge. There were some really neat booths, displays and activities. There was a tank full of bass and a guy casting various lures in the tank to demonstrate technique. There was a kids fishing tank, a fly casting lesson place, dog retriever demos, just to name a few. Sat through a demo and show on calling elk, pretty impressive. There were some Canadian fishing/hunting guys there, one from McLennan, by home. The most expensive hunt I saw was $25,000 for a trophy elephant hunt someplace on the African contintent. There some great deals on deep sea fishing in Mexico, one was $350 for the day & they get shark, marlin, bill fish, el dorado, tuna, etc. Looked pretty good except for the Mexico part. We spent about 4 hours there and left at 3:30 to try and beat the traffic back. Well as it turns out that wasn't early enough on a Friday. This would seem normal for those accustomed to heavy traffic, but for us GP'ers it was not good - bumper to bumper for about 20 miles. Oh yeh, mostly 3 or 4 lanes across, try changing lanes when your exit comes up. Blasting along at 65mph until you see brake lights everywhere and then coming to a dead stop. Needless to say, it took a bit longer to get home. You never see road rage here; I think it has something to do with the abundance of handguns & concern about who may have one. A BBQ rounded off the day. Marg said something about another Dday, but I think she really liked it; especially the camo ladies wear, even though she never bought any.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Election day

Another sunny day, but a little cooler, probably only in the high 60's. Lots of talk of snow and cold around the park as almost everyone comes from a wintery place. We usually end up with the coldest numbers & people just say - I see why you are here or how can you live there. We both got up and went to coffee & donuts this AM, it was very well attended. Had a blueberry fritter, I highly recommend them. After the usual, the election for president & vp of the residents assoc was held. It took quite a while for Kenny & his team to count the votes. A bunch were waiting & I said it was a little like waiting for the white smoke from the vatican when they get a new pope. Got lots of laughs. I felt bad for Kenny, he was in the middle of lots of stuff, topped off by someone asking him to step outside - some idiot. Hey they make a joke about people from Iowa down here - it stands for: idiots out wandering around. I never saw it, but he surely was from there. LOL Oh yeh, the incumbents were re-elected as pres & vp respectively by a good majority. Marg went to Costco with Sue, I played in the inter-park pool tourney. We played Raindance & they beat us bad last time. We fared much better today, my partner & I won 2 of our 3 games. They guys were all talking & pointing out the better players & they picked out one they thought the best. Well guess who was on the pair we played. In the last game he scratched on the 8 ball, to give us the 2nd win & my philsophy was - a win is a win. Both Jim & I were psyched out by the talke of our opponents & missed some really lame shots. Later in the afternoon we asked Kenny & Doris for cocktails and they brought Ron & Mary and Almyra with them, so we had a toast to their election. After we all went out for a chinese buffet. Lots of laughs and a good time. Price of fuel sure going up, it has risen about 35 cents a gallon since we got here. I can hardly wait to fill the motorhome - sheesh. When they were complaining about gas prices, I told some of the guys down here to buy more Canadian oil & spend less with the arabs.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

D Day

Tuesday was a nice day, sunny & hot. We went for a long walk around the area. The only way to get a walk in here is to leave the park, otherwise it is hard to get 100 ft. Played pool in the PM while Marg went shopping with Sue. Marg played bingo in the evening and won again. It's getting to be a regular thing with her & her bingo buddies. Today was sunny, not quite as warm & Marg declared it was DDay - Dave's day. Gerry came over and we played golf in the morning with the Carefree group. Had probably the best round I have played in many years and the weather was great. Gerry was closest to the pin on 7 for a while, but got beat out. Pretty good deal, $15 for golf & it's a nice course. After lunch I played pool & got in with a good group, lots of laughs. Marg went to pick up a few groceries & got some rainchecks from Safeway for Crown Royal [$13/750 mil bottle]. After we went & bought a new mouse, the old one was getting kind of wonky & a frustrating thing to deal with, so it was well worth the $30 investment. Stopped by Harbour freight [it is in the same centre] to get my free flashlight & they are not in yet. Ron has lots of coupons for free flashlights & between us we have been trying to find out when they get in. For dinner we went to the park function, it was baked potato night - jacket potato for the Brits. They were huge potatoes and you could add almost anything to them. A bowl of chili was optional and we both had one. It was really popular, they baked over 100 potatoes. Poker tonight, a couple of new guys came. Bob & Greg played, they are the guys contesting the pres/vp positions with the tenants assoc. On one hand ,when I called Greg, I told him I thought I was just making a donation to his campaign -LOL . Jerry & I were the big winners, I made $7.20 so was the object of a lot of jokes. Good time was had by all. You know - the old line: Winners tell jokes, Losers say shut up and deal; well even the losers seemed to be having fun here tonight.

Sunday 20 February 2011

Feb 20

Weather cooled down quite a bit, even rained over night and today. Windy all day Sat & the dust was everywhere, could hardly see the mountains. On Saturday we went for breakfast in the morning, it was great - french toast, pancakes, etc. After we went to the Mesa market where I exchanged some pocket books & Marg went to the farmers market for some fresh produce. The old gal at the book place was glad to see me as she was low on dusters & that was pretty much what I had. In the afternoon I played pool & Marg did laundry. Played with some fun guys, but they are picking up bad habits from me. Went out for dinner with some friends. Marg had wanted to take Sheri out for dinner. Since the death of Tim she has become quite a home body & she has a great personality, just needs to get out more. Anyway she had also committed to go out with Ron & Sue, so the 5 of us went to Godon Biersch. Dinner was great as was the company. It's down the Santan freeway, so we stopped in at Total Wine before coming back [the restaurant was just across the street]. They had never been & were amazed at the selection. That is the place with 1,000 kinds of beer & 3,500 kinds of wine. Came out with a nice 8 yr single malt Irish whiskey - after all St Paddy's day is coming. Played cards with Ron & Sue after for a few hours after we got back. Sunday we slept in as the weather was cooler. There was no sun in the Valley of the Sun, saw numerous rainbows everywhere we went. Went to an RV show in Glendale. They had the 101 loop barricaded & I ended up driving past the show location & by the time I got stopped was almost out of the Phoenix area. Saw some nice iron there, in fact almost got tempted on a new motorhome. It was 32 ft, same as ours, but had some great features, much nicer than ours. The only thing that stopped us was money & the practicality of trading this one after 2 yrs - Hah! Thats what living on a fixed income will do for you - make you practical. After we stopped at Cabellas for lunch after, even the food is good there. It was really nice, they had a fishing derby for kids right in the front of the store. Then to get back on the 101 loop, arghhh. Remember the barricades, well we had to drive about 20 miles through Glendale & Peoria streets to get back on it. Ice cream social after supper and we worked it. Banana splits optional again tonight & a good turn-out. We also had a one more new flavour for the sugar free crowd mint with chocolate chip.

Friday 18 February 2011

Feb 18th

Shopping day - I went to Harbour Freight with Ron & Marg went to Kohls with Sue, a good time was had by all. Harbour Freight sells everything a guy needs from tools to thing-a-ma-jigs. Kohl's sells uninteresting stuff to wear and put in your house, like Burlington Coat or Winners [but - according to Marg - 100 times better]. Played pool in the afternoon with a good bunch, won some/lost some and had lots of laughs. There was a broken stool in the pool room, so I borrowed some wood glue and put it back together. Cooler day, it got into the low 70's and by evening sprinkled. Believe it or not, it was a nice break from the hot days and they needed the rain around here. Saw a real nice 1948 Ford coupe in a lot today that was offered at $14,000, got me thinking if only I had a place to keep it, that's less than what we paid for the Rhino. Dave & Cathy Trout were up from the Tucson area and we went for dinner with them at the chinese buffet. It was good and we met some other people from the park there. To illustrate the difference between RV Parks & condos, they are renting a condo there and don't know anyone while we have met more than 50 people here.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Feb 17th

Busy day, got up and went for coffee & donuts this AM, the hall was pretty full. They had nominations from the floor for Pres & Vice Pres and that caused quite a stir, as predicted. It was all the chatter around the park this AM. As I said we are out of it and just interested observers. The current Pres & VP are people we have had cocktail hour with and visited with several times. The guy challenging the Pres is a fun guy, plays poker with us & Marg bingos with him & his wife. The guy challenging the VP is not well known to us, other than he is not so popular with the people we know. The other thing that happened during the morning announcements was when the Pres mentioned today was a pool tourney at Eastgate [our toughest competitor], the pool team organizer got all huffy about holding the pizza event today when Thursday is always inter-park play. It was a little uncomfortable when he said she had taken away some of his best players. There were 3 of us at the pizza - oh well, the good news is I was included, no matter how I play! We went to Organ Stop Pizza, rode with Kenny & Doris and Almyra [the current president]. When we got there we sat with Ron [the current VP] & Mary as well. Greg [the challenger for Pres] sat with a bunch on the other side of the dining room. Poor Kenny is the election committee chair & has said he is just here to have fun, so will not be doing that job again. On a lighter note, we always wanted to see Organ Stop Pizza and it was great. They have a huge pipe organ with every type of pipe, bell, whistle attached; the music was very good. The theatrics around it were as well. The organist said it had over 400 keys and the pipes ranged from big ones that were 1,500 pounds to small ones that were 3 inches long & a bunch of other technical stuff. When he played O'Canada even the flag dropped down, pretty cool. They had a bubble machine which at times covered the audience in bubbles. The pizza was very good & was buffet style, so there were 4 or 5 kinds out all the time. Glad we went. Later it was BBQ for supper, but I must have had a senior moment because the potato & veggies were not well done, Marg made quite a show of the difficulty cutting them. HaHa, she thinks she is the resident comedian some days. When we got back we were treated to a marvelous sight with the moon hanging just over Superstition Mtn. Oh yeh, it was a nice day, temp was in the hi 70's.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Feb 16

Sunny day, but some weather moving in. It was 75F here today with a slight breeze, pretty near perfect weather. Gerry Canuel came over this AM & we joined the group from our park at the golf course, Apache Sun. Nice course, the greens were fast, the T boxes well manicured and the fairways lush. The were about 14 of us and Gerry won the longest putt. There was only one guy on the green for the closest to the pin, so he won. We had a lot of laughs, Gerry is a pretty good golfer. Me, well those of you who know how I play, enough said. It was fun though. We are planning to go back next week. Got back in time to take my wife to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. It's in the big Superstition mall & she got a new pair of shoes at Dillards, one of her favourite stores. Char would call it posh. Anyway then over to the sporting goods store to get some golf balls & cue tips, where she bought a new pair of crocs. No new shoes for years, then 2 in one day- go figure. Stopped at Costco on the way back home & got some good stuff. Amoung the good stuff was a giant frozen yogurt & mocha something. Oh yeh, this was at 4 PM, so when we got home we were not hungry. The kind of thing you give your kids heck for - LOL! As luck would have it when Marg gave the neighbours a few of the pears we bought, they invited us for cocktails - now there is an appetite builder. A quick sandwich and off to poker tonight. Won $6.05, doubled my money so ended on a high note. Big excitement tomorrow morning at coffee & donuts. The neighbours had their bike stolen, that has been a hot topic & the nominations for executive in the tenants assoc is expected to see nominations from floor. We can neither hold office, nor vote; but it may prove interesting. Kenny [next door] chairs the nominating committee, so he is in the thick of it. Supposed to rain by Saturday & everyone is looking forward to it. Stay tuned for the report from the coffee/donut session & our visit to Pipe Organ Pizza tomorrow.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Feb 16th

Another sunny day in Lotus land. Had to sit around waiting for the propane delivery truck as Marg went to crafts this AM. She normally doesn't do the craft thing, but today it was painting on rocks. The grande children will get a kick out of this, because it is one of her many activities for them out at the lake in the summer. It's an adult activity here & the rocks are flat pieces of sandstone they get from a quarry. She did a neat picture of a Kokopelli, so I attached a copy to share with you. I played pool, small group today. I told them I wouldn't be there on Thurs for the inter-park, not a popular message. My partner & I have been our strongest team the last few weeks, once again showing the value of playing safe even if I'm not a good shot. Marg & I signed up for the Organ Stop Pizza trip Thurs as we have never gone & are curious to see it. After we went out to pick up a few things at Fry's & Marg got some nice sauerkraut that she used to make rueben sandwiches for dinner. One of my fav's in the sandwich category. Washed the car on the way home, it wasn't muddy, just covered in dust. Some really neat people leaving tomorrow because of health reasons, we will miss them. Just one of the problems with this geriatric group. I'll give you a Gerry-ism: he said he took his wife to Walmart to read the valentines day cards. Said they weren't his words anyway & after all the years he didn't see the need to invest in a card, so just took her to read them. Another one of his is - when leaving, if you say - see you tomorrow; he will reply - thanks for the warning. Pretty funny guy! Big news we are expecting, no not us, the park. One of our great horned owls is sitting on a nest, way up in a palm tree, so we may have young ones. What do they call those anyway - owlets? For those of you who are curious, I have also attached a photo of the activity board for this week. As a friend from Nebraska always says - Have a Good Day Today & a Better One Tomorrow!

Monday 14 February 2011

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines day everyone. Another hot one in the Valley of the Sun. Had company from GP today, the Fergusons came for a visit. We went down to Totilla Flats for a burger & a beer with them. On the patio there: the sun was shining, the band was playing & the beer was cold, not sure about you, but for most of us that makes for a good day. On the way back we stopped at Goldfield, the ghost town for some real old west experience. They took so many photos, I thought we had Charlene with us - LOL. She is on her 2nd memory stick & thats a lot of pics. Laden with souveniers from both places we made it back to the park by late afternoon in time for Miller time. It was spaghetti night in the park and they stayed for dinner. That was cool because it gave them a chance to see what a regular event day here is like. They also saw how friendly everyone here is. For supper there was salad, spaghetti with meatballs, bread, coffee & desert. Well desert was ice cream & they were short a scooper, so... I ended up dishing out ice cream tonight - 2 days in a row. This is getting to be almost a full-time occupation. It was pretty funny, because people were still asking for banana splits. When I sat to eat, Marg took over & dropped a dish on the floor when she was getting some for Gerry. It was pretty funny. Marg brought the big 1 gal jug of Sangria she bought yesterday & was easily the most popular person in the hall. With that much, there was quite a bit left over, so she passed it to the kitchen workers. This volunteering sure had her thinking about the people who make it happen ;>) There were even multiple requests for the empty bottle. We enjoyed our day with Janette & Rick and they seemed to have a good day as well.

Sunday 13 February 2011

Hot Day

What a great day, highest I saw was 82F/28C on the window thermometer. We had a nice day around the park. Rarely any pool players on Sunday, so after lunch we both went to the swimming pool. This was Marg's umteenth time & my first. The pool temp was 90F & the hot tub was 100F, a little too hot on a hot day like this. After Marg went with Sue to the Sam's store, I guess it was like a Costco. Anyway she got some jumbo sized stuff, including a sangria & some flavoured husk-less popcorn. Or as they call it here - Kettle corn. BBQ'd for supper & Marg tried out her new potato bags. Apparently they are specially designed to microwave potatoes. We helped out on the ice cream social again tonight. Attendance was good. We had a special: either the regular dish of ice cream with a piece of cake for a dollar or a banana split for 3 dollars. We really had to hustle as more than half of them had banana splits. Jerry & I put the 3 scoops on the bananas & they the ladies had to add the strawberries, pineapple, chocolate, whipped cream & cherry. Marg was putting these on with 2 other ladies. The splits were great, but they were very filling. Another great day in the Valley of the Sun.

Nice Iron

A few more pictures from the car show at the AJ high school parking lot. Lots of nice iron, but these were some of my fav's. The '58 chevy in the other blog page would have been #1 for me. The police car I took because it is like the old straight 8 we entered in the demolition derby in the 60's.

Dancin machine

A few pictures from the valentines dance, the songs were - you think my tractors sexy & the bird dance, & we Canucks know who the cheeseheads are. The male singer was a character

Saturday 12 February 2011

Happy Saturday

What a nice day, the temp reached 77F/25C & we were in shorts right from breakfast. Marg passed on breakfast at the clubhouse, but I went & sat with the neighbours. Pancakes, eggs, bacon; now that's the way to start the day. Marg, well she stayed in and enjoyed her yogurt. Now there is an oxymoron, enjoy - yogurt. In the morning we went to the market & I exchanged pocket books with old gal who runs the book stall. On the way home we stopped at the AJ high school car show. What a great show they put on, some very nice iron on display. There must have been 75 or 100 great vehicles on display. Played some pool after lunch & Marg spent the afternoon in the outdoor swimming pool. She said the pool was in the 90's & what a great way to spend the day. Went out for dinner and then over to White Sands, the park where Carol & Phil have their mobile home for the Valentines day dance. The entertainers were a couple & the guy was hilarious. They were both great singers, but his antics & his many hats were what kept the crowd going. I can't remember the last time we danced as much as we did tonight, but it was a fun time. Carol, Jerry & Deb were all there and we had snacks & beers, a fun time was had by all. What a fun day!

Friday 11 February 2011

Sale day @ Carefree

What a nice day, the highest I saw was 75F/24C. Big park wide yard sale today in Carefree Manor. This is common down here, a park organizes and everyone who has anything to sell puts it out. There were people crawling all over the park & deals to be had everywhere. You name it, it was here. Marg sold our old vacuum cleaner, well Sue did. They had a sale at their lot and Marg left her old vac there. I think she got $10 for it, but I suspect spent more than that on other stuff. Oh, I bought some pocket books as well, I think about 7 or 8 for less than $2. Marg also worked the bake sale for a 2 hour shift. In the hall they had half a dozen vendors, a bake sale & a cafeteria & a raffle. Marg had donated brownies to the bake sale & they were all gone early. We had lunch there, sloppy joes and apple pie. Remember the sloppy joes Marg helped make yesterday! Lots of bargain hunters stop in there for coffee & pie or lunch. One of the hall vendors was a tour operator and we are seriously looking at a bus tour that goes to the grand canyon. These park-wide yard sales are quite a phenomenon, you really have to see it to believe it. Everyone looking for deals, Ron had some items for $2 & people wanted to negotiate for less. There were so many bargain hunters in the park you could hardly get around. Friday & Saturday they are all over the place down here. After lunch Marg visited around the park and I played some pool. Then we had to find an Avenue store, it was out in Mesa at Indian School Road, thats' quite a ways, almost to Tempe. She found a couple great tops there and that completed the shopping day. By then it was too late to cook, so out for dinner.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Thursday Feb 10

Nice day, started off a bit windy. Coffee & donuts this AM at the hall and it was pretty well attended. It's a good social opportunity & we sat at a table full of BC people & one couple from Pincher Creek, Ab. I see the dollar is still above the US dollar, but edging down. The other day when I had to pay a 25 cent fine for not wearing my name badge at coffee, they were trying to get me to pay a Canadian quarter. My response was no way, it was worth more. That got a few laughs. I helped set up the hall for the sale tomorrow. Marg helped her friend Rita and some other ladies make Sloppy Joes [filling] for the big sale tomorrow. There are 2 old gals her that she always helps, Rita & Rosie and she says Rita reminds her of mom, so she likes to help her. Later we had french toast for breakfast today, must have done something right to get my fav. Now if only I knew what I did right, I could repeat it. LOL. Played pool in the inter-park tourney and my partner Jerry & I won all 3 games. We were the only Carefree team to win all 3, in fact half lost all 3. I must confess that the opposition played out of some nasty safety's & we had one win with their scratch on the 8 ball - while hooked. A win is a win - eh? After supper we went for our usual walk around the park & I discovered that the palms here are date palms. Elmer was picking a few, so we stopped and took a picture. This was the first time we have seen dates on them & Marg ate a few. Down in Yuma most of the palms are date, but it's unusual here. On the way back we stopped and visited with Sheri, nice lady & she shared some grandkid pics with us. She lost her husband last year, but she is making the best of it. After getting back, Marg packaged some brownies & took them to the hall to donate for the bake sale. She is also scheduled to help out in the kitchen serving for 2 hours. Should be pretty busy in the park tomorrow. Let me tell you - we are involved.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

The road to Payson

The road to Payson is thru the mountains and some of the valleys are full of Saguaro [pronounced - saw wer oh] cactus.

Casino Day

Wow busy day. We were up to board the bus at 7:30 for a 2 hour drive up to the casino at Payson. Yes you heard right, bit bus trip into the mountains today. Played some blackjack & Marg played slots. Me I lost most of my chips, Marg, she won, cashed in tickets for $290 from the nickel machine. She was a star today. Then we played bingo with Ron & Sue and some other gals from the park. The only winner there was Sue. When we got back they had hamburgers in the park. These are really good burgers, as you may recall from my last report. Word got around, as it does in the park and there were only 2 big winners, Marg being one, so she was quite a celebrity today. Poker tonight and there was mostly the usual group. There were 7 of us and as usual I played some games for the first time & some we played before, like Spit [in the ocean]. Didn't quite win there either, lost 20 cents tonight. There goes the kids inheritance. LOL