New Years Eve eve

The day started out cloudy but nice.  The guys must have decided it was too windy or too something as they never came around to ride.  I had the bike out with my helmet and gloves on the seat, but alas it was not to be.
  With nothing planned today we set out for the Mesa market place and I traded in the 5 books I had read and picked out a couple of new ones.  Marg wandered about while I was dealing in high finance with the old gal who runs the stall.  It was kind of funny, she had her daughter helping her today and when she saw I had books to sell, she said she would get her mother, who was putting books on shelves.  I told her not to bother, we regulars know we have to wait until she finishes what she is doing and I wasn't in any hurry. 
  Having the day free, we had a store we wanted to check out.  A while back Marg found out that Dillard's had a clearance store at Fiesta mall.  Dillard's is a high end store, more expensive than Macy's or Sears.  When looking up the location, I found out that they had extra discounts this week and the store hours were noon to 7:00 PM.  The mall was quite a hike out west from here, well up the freeway.  When we got there we learned it is a huge mall, but obviously an older one.  The mall was anchored at one end with the Dillard's store and at the other end with a Sears store, both of which were clearance centers.  The mall had been a classy one and was in very nice shape and very clean, but it was mostly empty.  I would hazard a guess that more than 90% of the stores were empty.  There were a few places in the food court and we tried one where the main offer was a variety of cheesesteak sandwiches.  We had the chicken and both it and the fries were very good.
  The good news was the Dillard's was open, the store was huge, there was so much stock it was awesome and the prices were 65% less than the sticker price.  This week there was an additional 50% off on women's clothing.  Marg enjoyed success as they had a large petite selection and she found numerous things.  I think she had a pair of capris pants for $7 and a top for $6 and the list goes on.  She came out with two large bags of clothes, so a good day.  Me, well I got 5 shirts, 3 tee's and 2 golf, but they were just the regular 65% off.  Everything there was popular labels, like Jones of New York, Polo, etc.  Marg was actually looking for a new bathing suit and the Superstition store had sent all of theirs to the clearance store, but nothing there appealed to her.
  When we got back it was pretty much happy hour, so we joined the regular bunch.  After it was bbq a nice steak with baked potato for supper.  Then we went out for a walk around the park and ran into a few others doing the same thing and got caught in the rain, with the others.  The forecast is for rain tonight and tomorrow, so it may be a day to put our feet up.

Thursday, Dec 29th.

This year is fading fast.  Time passes so quickly it seems and so this week there seems to be a lot of focus on life's bounty or the events of the past year.  Into every life a little rain must fall, but these next few days I will be reflecting on the great things in my life.
  The day started out much warmer than we have seen for a while.  The daytime high temp was 76F, a beautiful day indeed.  I went for coffee and donuts.  A few new folks in the park, well not new, but just getting in for the winter season.  There were the usual announcements on activities and information sharing.  They were talking about the information appearing on the tenants FB site and mentioned all the pictures on it.  I think they said no one is anonymous down here any more when I am in the room, LOL.  It's not quite that bad, but we are starting to get lots on the site.  They also want some of the prior year pictures on a DVD so they can play it in the rec hall to share with everyone.  We'll see.
  I went riding with Patrick & Larry and we went out east a ways to see the donkey this morning.  Patrick had some carrots that he fed it and that happens quite a bit.  When anyone comes up to the fence he trots right over, sometimes quietly like to day.  We made about 2 1/2 miles and it was nice to get out riding again.  On our way back into the park we rode by a site where they are pulling the trailer out.  These park models really are trailers and all have axles even if there are no wheels under them.  The owners were just getting rid of it so they could park their motorhome on the lot as there were lots of problems with it.  The guys towing it were having problems as they couldn't raise the hitch enough to get it pinned on, so a bunch of us climbed into the truck box, so that it sat down enough to back under the hitch..
  Marg got out with the gamblin' gals early this morning to go up to the Fort.  It was  a disappointing day as they ran out of cookie jars, so were given a draw entry for a cash prize for a future draw.  Marg had give away the previous 3 cookie jars, so now is without, while the other gals still have the first 3 and are only out the 4th to make a set.  Why anyone needs even 3 escapes me, but I think Marg was planning on keeping this one.  Should have kept the first one I guess.  They had a couple of winners in the group, but unfortunately Marg was the one who was close.  She had a couple of those almost wins, where her winning number was shown on the monitor, just waiting to be called next.  It's kind of a good news/bad news feeling, you know your number is in the bucket, but not out in time.
  I went out and washed the truck.  It doesn't really get dirty, but there was a bit of wet roads in the past while and a bit of spray and some dust kind of builds on it.  It only took $5 at the spray wash and that includes washing the mats and spraying it twice over with spot free rinse.  When I got back the neighbour was doing some plumbing and came over to borrow my pipe cutters.  He was trying to make do with a hacksaw and judging from the amount of water on the ground, not having much luck, so knowing I had these came to borrow.  It's really a common thing here as most of us don't have all the tools we do back home.
  A bite of lunch, had to make my own sandwich today, and off to the pool room.  There were a couple of guys waiting there to see if I showed up, kind of like lions hiding in the bushes waiting for an innocent victim, LOL.  I played for close to 2 hours and have to admit the vultures waiting to play didn't get as many wins as they thought.  It was fun today, but even when I lose, it's usually fun.
  When Marg got back happy hour had already started, but we never went.  It's good to take a break sometimes.  Supper was dining in tonight, a nice stir fry with shrimp and mini-penne with lots of other good stuff in it.  We were kind of tired after, so just sat around.  One of the guys from the animal races stopped by to see if we were OK as we almost never miss.

Wednesday, Dec 28th

The day started out very cool.  When I left for golf I had on a sweatshirt and a vest and was non too warm.  Our group was small this morning, only 7 of us.  I took a power cart today again as walking is a bit of a problem right now.  Probably just the weather here causing problems that I'm sure will pass once it starts to warm up at night.
  The game went OK, although the score could have been better.  I blame that on the extra clothes restricting my otherwise perfect swing - Not!  The guys I played with were good sports and like to have a few laughs, so it was a good round.  The grass was newly mowed and very wet, so we returned with grass clippings all over everything.  I did manage a par and a couple of good drives, so that will keep me returning.  It was too chilly for the tortoise, so he stayed in his house and we never saw it.  There weren't even any turtles in the water hazard visible, so it was a zero turtle day.  True to form, no one went in the water because there were no turtles there to watch.  LOL
  Back at home Marg had been making our supper and getting it going in the crock pot.  it was lunch time when I got there, so my charming wife looked after that.  After lunch she went out to look around at Kohl's and Ross's, not the store from the prior day but a closer one.  She managed to pick up a few things and had a nice long break, probably from me, LOL.  I went and played pool, actually played fairly well, for me anyway, although Mike really struggled today.  I think he was getting a bit frustrated and that didn't help his game.  After I got back home, Marg showed up with her new acquisitions.  She's getting pretty darn good a backing the truck into the driveway and using the backup cam so as not run over the chairs out there.
  Saw a few new people in the park today, well not brand new, just returning from last year.  This should be a regular thing now that people are done with Christmas.  This will mean things or events will start to fill up or get busy and some events like Ice Cream Socials will start for the season.
  When she made our supper she had a lot more than we can eat.  It was so she could take a hot supper over to Richard & Brenda.  She also made up a plate of Christmas baking and some snacks and we took them over for their supper tonight.  Richard is a long way from being back to normal and Brenda has not been herself.  Marg has taken it on herself to feed them every so often and generally help them out.  Richard has always been a great help to us and in fact anyone who needed it in the past, so it's a bit of payback.  They were delighted when she showed up at the door and seemed very appreciative.  It was on our way to happy hour and just next door to where we go, so we stopped in at happy for a very short time.  I think it was lest than a half hour.
  Supper was all prepared, so it was back home for that.  It was very good, made me think twice about giving it away earlier in the day.  Well not really, but it was darn good.  A little later, one of Marg's buddies stopped by to chat with her. I imagine that was followed by dishes, not sure as I went to play poker.  Here again it was a small crew, only 4 of us.  The game went well, we had a good time and I think I might have made a dime. 

Dec 27th, a Tuesday

It was pretty chilly last night and windy this morning.  No bike riders this morning, so we only hung around until it was apparent they were not coming.  As the day progressed, the sun warmed up the air and it turned out to be a nice day.  Marg threw a load of stuff in the washer as she already had some that had dried from yesterday.
  We went out to get a few things at Walmart, but went to the store by Superstition mall.  It is a super centre and very different from the one we have in AJ.  Marg wanted to see the Christmas stuff on sale as that is usually when she gets her cards for the next year.  Luck was with her and she got some nice cards as well as a few other things.  Then we picked up the grocery items we needed and headed over to the Ross's store.  She really likes that one and I had a pocket book along for just such an event.  She was also lucky there and found some very nice shoes, I would call them deluxe flip flops, but she said they were much more than that.  I think she also got some tea towels or something like that.  By then it was time to get back home so stuff didn't warm up too much.
  When we got home we had a bite of lunch, some half sandwiches broiled in the oven, very nice.  I had a visitor making a request while we were eating.  She wanted me to take some pictures and post a notice of the New Years eve party.  After Marg washed another load and steamed all the clothes that were dried so they were ready to put away.  I went and played pool for about an hour, taking my camera with me.  Then I just slipped over to the rec hall where I took a handful of pics of the organizers and stuff for the photo booth.  I managed to get the stuff posted on the tenants association FB page as well as schedule an event for the party.
  By then it was time for happy hour and Marg took a smoked wild salmon ball and crackers for a snack there today.  Again it was a small bunch as not many of the folks who left for Christmas have returned.  Then we went out to Denny's for supper tonight.  There is a new one just up the trail at Signal Butte, you know in the same centre as Harbour Freight.  It was good, but it made our time a little tight, so we came directly back home to get the bingo stuff.  Down to the hall where again it was a smaller crowd where we played without success.  Well Marg was very close [one number] several times, but we were not able to get a win tonight.
  By night the weather was still very pleasant.  The air seems to be warming up so it should be a nice day tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Boxing Day - December 26th

This may come as a surprise to you, but Boxing Day is no big deal in Arizona retail, it seems to be the day where everyone takes back gifts they either don't want, can't use or just want a refund on.  At home there are generally no returns on Boxing Day, instead there are big sales events in the stores and exchanges have to wait until later. 
  It was a cold night last night in the desert, while up in the high country [above 3,500 ft] there was snow.  When I got up the temperature was in the 40's and the wind blew hard and it took a while before it warmed enough to be called a nice day.  I think it got to someplace in the high 50's at the peak and was quite pleasant, but a day to wear a jacket.
  The weather was not a problem as we just wanted an easy day where we could relax around home.  We were sitting around in our housecoat when Patrick came to the door for me to ride with him.  Well it doesn't take me long to get dressed, so I went for a short bike ride [about 2 miles] with him.  He has not been well and was feeling better and wanted to start getting out more to get in shape.  I think he came by because I usually ride shorter distances and am OK when another rider tires or wants to quit early.
  We had a few visitors after I got back and Marg was still in her relaxing mode i.e.:  housecoat.  It was kind of funny really, but her friends were unfazed by it as they knew what kind of day she had yesterday.  After lunch I went and played pool for a couple of hours.  There were a few people playing, so it was easy to find a game and I played one on one today and had a few laughs.  Marg did a load of laundry, vacuumed the trailer and then cleaned up the mess the wind left in the breezeway.  Well that may seem she never had any laughs today, but she had those when her friends stopped by.
  One of the ladies in the park has been having difficulty getting on to facebook, so she came over after pool and we helped her get set up and then get some friends going on FB.  She was frustrated and really wanted to be able to see the pictures and activities on the tenants association FB page.  Between us we helped her with understanding how to interact with and make posts, how to invite friends and talked about what she can see or what others can see.  By the time she left she had friend invitations out to her children and grandchildren as well as some friends and siblings.  Laugh if you will, but it this techno-peasant is not at the bottom at the knowledge train around here, like I was at work.  LOL
  By then it was happy hour and in spite of the chilly weather there was  a small group there today.  We didn't stay long and then it was back home for supper.  Supper tonight was leftovers from the Christmas dinner.  We even had a few pieces of turkey which combined with our leftovers it was very nice.  While not normally a big fan of leftovers, the ones from Thanksgiving and Christmas are the exception, I really enjoy them.

Merry Christmas 2016

The day started out with clear skies, a bit change from the last couple of days, but it was very chilly last night and although the sun did warm the day, it was the coolest day since arriving in AJ some 6 weeks ago.  I think our day time high was 55F, so about 13C and although that is much warmer than home, to quote Marg, it is not the Az we signed up for.
  We were down to the kitchen for 10AM to put the turkey in the oven, make the dressing/stuffing and get it in the oven and make the gravy [5 gallons of it].  They had a church service this morning, which would have slowed us up considerably, but the congregation set the tables up to help us out, so it worked out well.
  We had a bit of a break so we went back to our place, make a few phone calls and bring our side dishes to the hall.  In our case that meant the cabbage rolls in the slow cooker, which we plugged in at the kitchen and the dish of crepes that Marg put in the oven with the dressing to cook.  Dinner was at 1PM, so we were ready by that time.  We had a good variety of dishes from the members of the kitchen crew, so had lots of food and it was very good.  Well not as good as the big dinner Marg makes at home, but a nice Christmas dinner in any event.  There were lots of desserts and one of the ladies at our table made a great lemon meringue pie.  I had a very small piece as I had over-eaten badly and was pretty much stuffed.
  Malcolm from in the park here had the DVD I made using 200 pictures I took of activities in the park since arriving here at the start of November and married it to some Christmas music. It played on the big TV screen at the front of the hall throughout the meal.  Although most of people have seen the pictures on the facebook site, it was interesting to see the reaction of those people who are not on FB and were seeing them for the first time.  After the board meets here, they will be discussing whether to pay for more of these to be made.  I have pictures from prior years and some people have expressed interest in them.
  The dinner went well and the clean did as well.  We had followed a practice of doing up the dishes as we went along, so not letting them pile up.  We still had some dishes, all the table clean up to do and then the garbage to haul out.  In addition there was lots of turkey pieces left over along with the juice the crew made to warm it in.  This is all saved and frozen to use in the turkey soup dinner later in January.  Then when we got back home Marg still had our dishes to do and the stuff to refrigerate.
  We pretty much spent the afternoon relaxing with our feet up.  It was too chilly to do outdoor stuff and to be honest we were tired and content to kick back for the evening.
  We enjoyed our Christmas here in AJ this year but are looking forward to being back in GP next year to spend it with family.  In fact it is the 3rd Christmas we have spent here and our thinking at this time is that future years we will be home for Christmas, just like in the old song.  God bless you all.

December 24th

Christmas Eve, the night all young ones have a difficult time falling asleep.  A night I can remember as a young boy laying there concerned Santa would not come until I fell asleep, the weight of my family having a happy Christmas heavy on my shoulders.
  It was a cool day here in the valley with an overcast sky that rained periodically as the temperature gradually fell.  The large weather system coming through Arizona bringing snow to areas above the 3,500 foot level and rain to the rest of us.  The last I saw they had almost a foot up in the Flagstaff area and a bit less along the mountains.
  Marg & I were off to the rec hall early, 9AM I believe.  We had some prep work to be done getting the five turkey's prepared for a day in the ovens here in preparation for the Christmas dinner.  They do things very similar to the way Marg cooks them, but with a few differences based on whomever is directing the cooking.  The differences from what we do at home: the birds are rubbed with oil and then placed in a roasting bag.  The giblets are boiled and then destined to be included in the dressing. There was lots of help, so it didn't take too long.
  Then we came back to our place to make a phone call to mom in Edmonton.  My brother and sister and much of their families were all going to Miller's Crossing, so we wanted to take advantage of their being there and speak with mother.  After that it was down to the hall where the turkeys were out of the oven and cooled down.  With the number of people helping we had them carved pretty quickly.  For the last couple of years, they seem to like the breasts taken out and carved in the Martha Stewart way rather than cut off of the carcass slice by slice.  There are a couple of other guys who do this, so Warren and I handled that while the rest did the dark meat.
 After it was back home to ready for our company tonight.  Marg had invited 5 people over for an evening of salads, finger foods and a beef dip followed by baking treats.  The 3 ladies are some of Marg's buddies down here, so are important to her.  It seems that appetizers on Christmas eve are almost traditional with our family when we are home, so she asked these people if they wanted to share this with us.  The ladies brought a few things and we had a few drinks making for a nice evening.  I had gone out and got a bottle of rum today and as it turns out that was a good decision as it seemed to be very popular either with coke or eggnog.  A very nice evening and we are almost falling asleep in our chairs, so time to turn in. 
  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Friday, Dec 23rd

Christmas Eve Eve, the one day of the year you can say this.  LOL
  It rained last night and was still sprinkling in the morning.  By mid morning it was cleared up and the sun was starting to poke holes in the clouds.  Turned out to be a nice day.  The shortest day of the year has past, now the days get longer, I think down here it's only a minute a day, not like home.
  It was a big cooking day for Marg, not so much for me.  She started out boiling cabbage and making rice for the cabbage rolls [holubtsi].  Well it was lazy cabbage rolls actually, but I like them just as much as regular ones.  In fact if you are one of the later people to get the dish, you can't tell the difference between regular and lazy ones after everyone has dug through them.  The windows in here were steamed up pretty good, just like home.
  While this was going on she sent me to deliver some of the Christmas goodie bags she made.  They were fancy little bags with an assortment of sweets.  I got about 4 delivered as my instructions were not to leave them on anyone's step, but to make sure they got them and took the inside.  There must have been a melting aspect to them or something that attracted the birds, not sure.  Pretty cool when I dropped off the one at the park mangers' place as the kids were there and Aggie said oh look kids what Marg sent for you.  I said something about I know they don't like chocolate and would rather have vegetables and dip, but they know Marg is always good for treats and were all excited.
  When I got back she had done the first mountain of dishes and was making tiny crepes for the next dish.  This is the one with cottage cheese inside them and smothered in cream [nalyshnyka] and a big favourite at home and here.  Usually some of her girl friends come by to get a couple even if they are at another table.  One of the ladies questioned why Marg is making 2 dishes.  Her reply was she is accustomed to making a lot more because she tries to make everyone's favourite so that Christmas dinner is special for our family.  A couple of things have happened this past week that make me believe it is not our kitchen work they wanted in recruiting us to the team, rather the kitchen team want Marg's side dishes.  Typical of any pot luck, there are the folks who bring some small thing and eat the most, but hey, it's Christmas so she is just making lots.  I am only popular by default, I come with Marg.
  People have been stopping by pretty much the whole day, our Christmas card count is now at 30, with only a couple of them from home.  We also have a half dozen or so goodie bags.  It's a nice community that we are part of in Apache Junction; one of the many reasons we keep returning.
  By the time she finished it was happy hour.  Another one with a small group, but I like it better that way because you can actually have a conversation without all the background noise.  She took a plate of the chocolates she got from Costco.  They are dark chocolate sea salt caramels and were very popular with the people there.
  During the day Linda had made arrangements for a small group of us to go to Dirtwater Café.  It's a great place for the all-you-can-eat fish [cod] and is popular on Friday's.  I had the Rueben and a 24 oz beer.  About half the group had fish, the rest something else.  It was a fun group and we got sat back on the patio where there is always an entertainer.  A good day in the Valley of the Sun.
 

Thursday

It rained most of the night and the day started off very wet.  The water was running down the street, not just from the rain though as we had a water line break in the park. It was funny to see them running around with a  huge coffee pot to get water for our morning coffee.  We were lucky in this half of the park as our water was never out, but even the rec hall and the washrooms were out of action this morning.
  Marg got off with the gamblin' gals plus a couple more this morning and went up to the Fort.  There were 6 of them this morning.  They had a good day, but unfortunately there were no winners.  The big pottery piece of the day was a snowman cookie jar. I think that makes 4 cookie jars, but I know she has given a couple away.  They had a conversation about their day to go to the Fort as the new dish deal day looks like it will be Saturdays and will likely be in a very crowed casino as a result.  They will try it, but it looks like they may have decided on Friday if it doesn't work out.
  I went to coffee & donuts this AM.  It was a small group and we were lucky to have coffee with the water problem.  After I went over to look in the hole where the water line broke.  The job needed more supervision, LOL.  I spent most of the rest of the morning posting pictures on FB and cleaning up emails. 
  After lunch I went and got Warren to play some pool.  As it turned out there were only 3 playing pool and I could have just joined in, but he likes to play and he is good competition.  It's good to get new people interested in activities around the park, especially the pool room.  There are a handful of guys that play every day and a bit of a feeling that you have to be really good or that it is exclusive. It is neither, but sometimes guys just need to have someone show them the ropes.  Anyway he won a couple, I won a couple and we had some fun.
  After that I did a few things around the house and then to happy hour.  Another very small group today, there were 4 of us.  About that time the gamblin' gals returned with cookie jars in hand.  No big winners today, but they had a good day out.  Supper was a nice oriental type salad with chicken in it and then off to the Animal races.  Marg won 4 of 8 races, I won 5 so we did pretty well tonight.  The attendance was pretty good all things considered and we had some fun.  Clyde always tells jokes while the girls calculated the bets and payouts and sometimes I pitch in.  Tonight I never told a joke as I wanted something Christmas-ee I told a true story for a change.  It was about the time when the grandchildren were very young and we went with Bill and the kids to a Christmas eve party in the country at Dale & Sue's.  The adults decided they wanted to create a memorable Christmas experience and try and make it look like the kids could see Santa in his sleigh in the night sky, using my flare gun with a red flare.  It got a pretty good laugh, better than most of the jokes in fact.
  After we got back Marg made up 7 goodie bags that she wants to give to a few special people in the park here.

Wednesday, December 21st.

Wow, did you realize this is a special day?  Yes it's the Winter Solstice [first day of winter] or shortest day of the year and Patti's birthday.  Happy birthday Patti, hope you day was special and that you enjoyed Kassidy's concert.  One of my favourite parts of the Christmas season has always been the kids concerts at school, sorry we missed it.
  It sprinkled a little this morning, but I went golfing anyway.  There were three of us from the park here and we met up with Joe at the course, so we had just the one foursome, probably others thought it was going to be wet and miserable, but the opposite was true.  The game went OK, even though I had one triple to come in with a 46.  I walked the course this morning and probably should have taken a power cat as the knee is quite tender.
  While I was away, Marg did some laundry.  She had a load of sheets and towels in the Laundromat as they are kind of bulky for the machine here.  It also gave her an opportunity to put a scented bounce sheet in with them.  When I got back I went down and took them out of the dryer, bringing them home.
  By then it was a soup and sandwich lunch and then out to run errands.  Marg was looking for a few things for Christmas eve and the happy hour group.  Our first stop was the Mexican grocery store down on Stapely, where she loves the unique nature of the store, especially the bakery.  She got some nice pastries and a few grocery things.  Then it was back on the freeway, stopping at Costco on Sossaman.  Costco was busy and we got a bunch of grocery things as we are having a few people over Christmas eve and some of the Costco stuff is unique.  A funny thing happened at the cash.  The couple in front of us saw something we had and they had been looking for unsuccessfully.  They asked where it was, but he lady returned saying she couldn't find it.  The guy said that was not an option as the one we had was scanned and paid on their bill, so to go back.  Marg said, oh he [me] will go and find it, so I had run almost to the back of the store where I found both it and her and it ended well.  It would be nice to invite more, but it will be cool out so we need to be indoors and the space here is an issue, so there will be 4 plus us.  Finally a stop at the water outlet to fill the 5 gallon bottle for the water cooler and we headed home.
  By the time we got unpacked it was happy hour and we headed down for a break.  After a short time there and supper, it was time for the Cale Moon concert.  This was sold out as soon as the tickets came out and we were not disappointed, he was just as good as his last performance.  It was the better part of 3 hours and a combination of his music and some of others.

Tuesday

The day started out windy and it blew pretty much all day long.  Fortunately the wind blew in nice weather and we are experiencing a warming trend.  A very pleasant day.
  Late yesterday, Gary had asked if I would tow a trailer for the park.  It is an old, I mean old, run down bumper tow trailer.  I believe it is owned by the lady that was in it.  She is another story, a tall pretty rough looking older gal.  She got lots of visitors at all hours of the night, only a few during the daylight and every so often could be seen walking out of the park pulling a suitcase.  She had been told the trailer had to go, but when it was not, the park manager apparently called and she was half way to Tennessee.  The manager decided to move it to the storage area, so Gary & I disconnected it from services [pretty disgusting stuff] and towed it over there and stuck it in a corner.  We put all the cords and hoses inside [Gary had cut off the lock], emptied the fridge to a garbage bag and the interior was a sight to see.  It was about the roughest trailer outside a junk yard.  I towed it over there and while the door is unlocked, I don't think it's at risk.  It was quite an attraction for awhile there.
  We went out to the post office and it was probably the least busy we have seen it.  Mailed a few cards and a postcard to mother and picked up some stamps so we can send her more.  Then we sat around waiting for Mediacom much of the day.  I had a electrical circuit issue in the trailer that I dealt with.  Marg made french toast for lunch and then I went to play pool for a couple of hours.  Marg did the banking [on line] all the while having quite a number of visitors.  The women in this place are kind of the information network.  After getting back, it was almost happy hour, so Marg went there while I waited.  Mediacom showed up at about 4 and the guy was one of the best we have had.  He gave us a new piece of equipment and took away our modem and another unit it replaced.  The land line is finally back working and the internet is much better now.  I caught the tail end of happy hour because while with the service tech I had a call from Doris updating us on their status, so I wanted to share the info with everyone.
  Back home for some supper and then off to bingo.  We had a couple winners at our table, but we were the ones who were close, again.  Say something nice about the bingo caller, well he is easy on the ink [i.e.:  we don't use much marking our cards]. 

Monday Dec 19th

The wind blew pretty much all night and then all day today.  It warmed up a bit and by mid-morning was very nice through the rest of the day.
  I went out to The Links at Queen Creek with Mickey & Gary.  This was my first time there this winter and the course was in nice shape.  It is 18 holes with nice grassy fairways, greens, etc.  The greens a are challenging as they are cut very short and mostly undulating.  I hit the ball fairly well, but had that couple of really bad holes that tend to make the score climb.  I did hit a couple of shots that are the ones that keep a guy coming back.  There was a 283 yd par 4 where my tee shot landed about 10 yards in front of the middle of the green.  When the final toll was taken, I was 97, so not bad for the first time on the long track since early summer.  They were great to golf with and we had lots of laughs, especially on the water hole where Mickey said well they have a real nice drop area just out at the bend in the fairway that you will really enjoy.
  Got some sad news while I was on the course.  Kenny phoned me to say that he got a call saying his son died this morning.  They were on their way back to Russell, so will be there for the service.  It was unexpected, but a terrible thing to happen just before Christmas.  Unfortunately we have dealt with something similar with other people years ago and know how difficult it is.  God bless them.
  Marg did laundry this morning.  She did a couple of loads and with the warming weather and wind the drying went very well.  She apparently had a steady stream of visitors all day and the Christmas card numbers climbed to where they are everywhere.  Millie came by to show her a blanket that her granddaughter made with all the family photos on it, then she went around the park with her to help her deliver her cards.  Then Beth stopped by to see if she could help with a missing button, everyone knows how Marg collects buttons.  Then Rhonda came to the house to cut both Marg's & Doreen's hair.
  After I returned home, we had visitors.  Apparently they were looking for my return.  There is an older travel trailer in the park that was supposed to leave here, but the owner is apparently half way to Tennessee, so the park is going to move it.  There is a whole other story around the trailer owner and we are not certain we know all of the details.  Well they want me to tow it for them and have it all set up for tomorrow morning.  Marg had earlier told them, well don't expect Dave to deal with the sewer connections for it.  LOL  Should be an interesting morning.
    Then it was happy hour and Nancy was back from S Dakota where it was 50 below with the wind chill.  She was glad to be back here in the Valley of the Sun and both Cooper and Larry were glad she was home, well winter home anyway.  Mediacom called to confirm our appointment, while I was at happy and I thought it might be Marg, so I answered the phone with "Joes pool room, Joe here".  Fortunately it was a recording, so I only felt a little foolish.  After we went out to Ihop for supper.  Marg had the spinach omelet and I had the 2x2x2, both highly predictable selections for each of us.  She informed me tonight that we will be eating out more, so stay tuned as any day could contain a review of some gastronomic delight.

Sunday, December 18th

Chilly morning in the Valley where it seemed someone had turned off the sun, although it did warm up to be a pleasant day.  It was a jacket day, well for me anyway, although I did see some guys in shorts, I was not one of them.
  Got up and around early and went to the church service.  The regular pastor was away and his regular stand-in conducted the service today.  He does a good job and this was one of his better efforts.  The hymns last week and this were pretty much what we know as Christmas carols and when sung by a larger group were very nice.  We also had a special part of the service where Cale Moon http://calemoon.com/about/ did one of his own songs and another by a well known singer.  At the end of the service instead of the planned hymn, he consented to a 3rd song and opted for Joy to the World in which the congregation joined to make for a stirring finish.  A nice young fellow trying to make his way in the music world and although he seems to be making a go of it; it's a tough career path.  They seem to like the RV park here, so are staying over to have their Christmas here.  Check him out.
  After Marg & I took her buddy, Lynette, out looking at carpet.  It seems her daughters want to get together on a joint gift of new flooring for her trailer.  Marg wanted to help her, fearing she would just put it off and knowing how much she wanted a new floor.  We made the rounds to Lowes & Home Depot where she found a couple of selections she liked at a price she seemed satisfied with.  I believe she wants to think it over, but she seemed to value Marg's input on the colors and the match to a piece of tile she had brought along.  She took home a couple of carpet swatches, so we'll see.
  After dropping her off we went to Fry's as we needed a few things.  Marg always buys the specials there and today was no different.  We needed some ginger ale as we drink it when we have an upset stomach.  They had pop on 4 cases for $8.88 and there are no can deposits, so a couple cases of Canada Dry came home with us.  I could take the empties home and pay for it with the deposits, if it wasn't against the rules and we had endless room.  Then I stopped at the pumps to fill up as we had enough points to get a 10 cent discount and ended up paying $1.89 per gallon, about 50 cents a litre and I made the most of it as the low fuel light was on, so I took on about 26 gallons.
  Returning home [well our winter home anyway], Marg delivered the Christmas cards she made for other people in the park who have already given us one.  While out she picked up tickets for the performance Cale is putting on here Wednesday.  Apparently they only had a few tickets left and it was only Friday he decided to do it.  I did some clean up in my shed and built a place to mount the bench grinder I bought.  Now I just need something that needs grinding.
  We went to happy hour as Kenny & Doris are leaving tomorrow and we wanted to see them off as did everyone else there.  They are driving back to Kansas in the morning.  Always makes me think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you're not in Kansas anymore!  Then stopped at their place on the way back as Kenny wanted to give me a key so I can check on it while they are away.  We will also pick up the paper as they will be gone a couple of weeks.  Even though his truck is 4x4, we all worry about them driving this time of year and our hope is they have good roads.
  Cheer up although it's chilly [well mainly at night] we have warm coats and it's supposed to warm up tomorrow here and be in the 70's [21C plus] all week and I am playing golf tomorrow morning.
 

Saturday

It rained again last night, the media reported it was quite a storm, but the total rainfall was only something like 1/10th of an inch.  The wind blew hard most of the night as the temperature fell and in the morning it was actually quite chilly.  It was humorous to hear the people complaining about how bitterly cold it is, the day time high reaching the mid 50's, probably 10 or 11C.  For me it was long sleeves and jeans, no shorts.
  Marg got a few things from Walmart and prepared the potatoes for scalloped potatoes.  She had company invited for supper tonight and we were having them with ham and other good stuff.  Doris was making a pie, which is always good, tonight was lemon meringue.
  No one was playing pool today, so I spent some time getting another notice of the musical performance for Wednesday on the tenants FB site.  Cale Moon is going to give us a second performance and is planning on attending our church service tomorrow where he will sing as well.  By time, I have to drag out the printer to scan them, and get everything plugged in.  So while I was doing this I tried to make a DVD containing most of the pictures I have taken in November & December this year.  Kind of a frustrating exercise as I was only able to copy the files to the DVD and we want to run a photo collage on the big TV in the rec hall when events are on.  Marg took the one I made to Walmart and for $6 she got the photo dep't to make a proper DVD with all the pictures.  It turned out pretty cool when loaded, it parades through the pictures pausing on each for about a half minute.  I think it will be interesting both to the tenants and their reactions to it.  We talked about some of the older pictures I have on my laptop and I offered to do some for years past if they want them and are prepared to pay for the DVD[s] to be made.
  Oh yeh, we got the electric bill today.  We were a bit concerned with it being so cool the last few days and now having our own laundry.  Some of the people with laundry see quite high bills, but I think the one we have is very energy efficient as our bill was only $55, probably half of what I have been hearing from others.  Perhaps now Marg will turn up the thermostat.  LOL  The next couple of days are forecast to be cold as we are getting the tail end of a very large storm creating very low temps all over the country.  Even so I believe Arizona is the warmest place in continental USA.
  Marg had a few visitors today, one of whom was Linda as they just got here yesterday.  They are buddies and took some time to get caught up on what each has been up to as well as things going on in the park.  I went down to Lynette's to get the things I bought from her: a bench grinder and a vise.  The bench grinder is a smaller one and I will leave it here where it will be useful; but the vise I am taking home for the shed at the lake.
  Down for happy hour today and then back to our place for supper with Lynette, Larry and the Blanke's.  Larry will be in better shape tomorrow when Nancy gets back and so will Cooper.  We ended up having an enjoyable evening thanks for a great dinner by Marg and desert by Doris.
 

Friday

A little chilly this morning as it rained a bit last night.  I don't think we got all that much, but the water tends to pond here rather than sink in.  You would think this dry sandy soil would soak it up and it does, but mother nature has looked after the rate it is absorbed by creating a hard crusty level just below the loose stuff on the surface so it soaks in slowly.  The sky was also a bit overcast, but the temperature still reached the low 70's, so a pleasant day.
  It was a day to change out of the short pants and back to the jeans for me.  It was enough to keep us from riding this morning.  It seems there are a few people with uneasy stomachs & yours truly is one of them. Not sure what is going on but this will pass.  There was no water aerobics for our gal this AM as the temp that early was a bit too cool.  In fact it was a bit of a pj day for a while, that is until after the second of two gals came to call on her.  Well one of them dropped off some cd's for me as they want a photo collage to run in the rec hall at group events.
  The internet was spotty yesterday and made it challenging to post anything.  This morning it was worse and I spent the better part of an hour on the cell phone with Mediacom.  I couldn't use the land line as we were plugging and unplugging and doing a factory reset on the modem.  The tech kept trying all his tricks, but was having difficulty getting the modem to co-operate.  When I did the first unplug, I learned that the phone also stopped working, so my pay as you go phone took a beating today, fortunately it is at 8 cents a minute.  Shortly after noon, he gave up and scheduled me for a service call, suggesting the local office may have a modem.  So it was off to the office, again fortunately very close to here.  The line up wasn't too bad, we were about #6, but they did give me a modem, even if it doesn't support the telephone we are connected and back on line.  By this time we were well into the afternoon.
  I made a cd of pictures from this and last months.  They show up fine on the computer, so I turned them over to Malcolm to try.  Well with the way this was going I wasn't to confident they would play in the dvd player and not to be disappointed, they never.  I also got back on the Christmas letter and managed to bang out a copy of it.  Given the late hour, it will not be a printed copy this year, rather will be electronic and attached to an email.

   By then it was close to 4 so we went down to chat with Kenny & Doris as they are leaving for home on Monday to spend Christmas in Kansas.  Rita had put her dog, Bear in Kenny's car that he has been working on this past week or so.  It turned out nice and looks cute with the dog.  You can't see the tail pipes or the upholstery or floor mats I this pic, but its great.  There is a VW button on the hood and one on the trunk.  It is pretty neat and road in the parade on the roof of his golf cart.
  By then it was happy hour and even though I never had lunch, I went down as it is getting close to the last for those going home for Christmas.  It is also to keep Larry company as he is on his own these days.  It seems lots of folks had the same idea as the place was a packed house, well carport actually.  Gary & Linda pulled in today, so we got to welcome him back, so good thing we went.
  After supper, a very light meal, probably left Marg starving and me not able to finish what I had, we went out to Walmart.  We mainly went to get some pictures developed.  Kenny & Doris are not facebook people, so every year about this time we send them home with some pictures that they can share with their family & friends when they get to Kansas.   Marg is busy this evening making up a few Christmas cards for some of the people here in the park, the gals usually exchange cards.  Well it saves postage, LOL. 

Thursday, Dec 15th

Well I think I am back on track now, reporting on activities of the day, on the day.
  Marg got up and left early today for the Fort.  They were short one of the gals, but knowing how important the next cookie jar was, they forged on.  As it turns out, it was the right decision as Marg finally hit on a good one, taking in $300 after yelling out the magic words - bingo!  Well done on the win.  When she returned with the much sought after ceramic cookie jar, she gave it to the missing gal, who was away to attend her sisters funeral. 
  I went down for coffee & donuts this morning and there was a good turnout.  Doris was handing out donuts, which always works well for me if I get up early enough and being second table drawn was able to score one very nice apple fritter.  With the facebook site for the tenants association becoming very active, I gave an update on the numbers of views and activity on our posts.  Well they are actually mainly my posts, but the numbers have really climbed in the past week.  It was interesting to see the reaction and I believe a few people are starting to think about social media in a different way.

   By the time things wound up, I only had a half hour before we had to leave for lunch.  Lunch today was Organ Stop Pizza with a group from our park, I think there were about 3 dozen.  It's a good lunch and hear some music in a unique environment.  The organ is supposed to be one of the largest in the world and is pretty impressive, I believe he said the keyboard has something like 500 keys.  The organist played a medley of Christmas music with a huge variety of sounds.  He can even imitate bagpipes on it and has a large array of drums and trumpets and other horns. 
  When I got back, I put the slow cooker on that Marg had prepared for supper.  It was pork chops, potatoes, vegetables and I had pretty detailed instructions on when and how to set it up.  The pork chops were browned on the bbq last night and put in the sauce to keep them moist.  Having sat in the fridge, the pot was very cold and must have affected how long it took to cook, because when Marg returned, the vegetables and potatoes were still a bit crunchy, but in her way, she got it all ready to eat at just about the predicted time.  Predicted time was the time we told Larry & Lynette to join us for supper.  It was very good and they both gave her compliments, so all ended well.
  By the time we got cleaned up, it was time for animal races.  We were a bit late as the first race was already in progress.  Marg had a good night winning 4 races, while I won 3.  My nemesis, the elephant, a.k.a. Bimbo, lagged badly tonight and never won a race and of course I had to bet him as a card carrying member of the "Elephant Lovers of Apache Junction".  LOL  It's become a bit of a cause for me and creates lots of fun with all kinds of antics when it wins and lots of stuff from other folks when it does not [unfortunately the most common outcome]. Marg was able to add anther winning event to her day and me, well I pretty much broke even.
  An update on the stove, well it still works, as it should.

Tuesday / Wednesday

Not sure what happened to the post for Tuesday and at my age it's getting hard to remember that far back.  LOL  Well as I recall, Larry & I went riding and made a short track, but still got in our 3 miles.  When I got back Marg was in water aerobics and they had a good turnout, I think she said about 14 of them.  It seems to be getting very popular, or perhaps it is the weather that has been so nice that draws people to the pool.  For those concerned about my status at the pool, the regular pool boy has returned, so that is not just part of my history, but may prove useful on my resume or CV.  I stopped to help Kenny with the trim on the car and to insert the milk caps in the hub cap slots.  It is getting very close to being complete and is looking good.
  After lunch we went out for a few things, well Macy's was supposed to be having this big sale event.  Marg checked it out while I read my pocket book in the parking lot.  She didn't have much luck there, so went over to Dillard's without much luck there either.  She did find out that they have a store at the Fiesta mall where they send all their year end and clearance stuff, so I think we may have that in our future.  She is looking for a bathing suit, well apparently this is off season for them here as well as it is up north.  Now go figure that, I didn't think there was an off season for things like that here with the nice winters.  Well they are only nice to us folks from the north, down here they think it is positively cold.  I guess it's just what a person gets accustomed to.
  Time for a short happy hour with only a few of us, but we wanted to keep Larry company as Nancy left for home today and won't be back until Sunday.  After supper it was time for bingo, so we headed down to the rec hall.  It was a small crowd, a new caller; so we are thinking:  this might just be what will change our luck and we'll come away winners.  Hah!  So much for that theory.
  I thought I had written a blog entry at that point, but alas something went wrong.
  Yesterday I was dead tired, so almost falling asleep I opted to make a blog entry today.  It was busy day.  I started out with 9 holes of golf at Apache Sun.  We had a small group, there were only 6 of us, but the group opted to played for the putt & chip competition anyway.  I played with Mickey & Joe and started out with a rotten snowman [8] on the first hole, where last week I had a par; 5.  Fortunately I settled down and had a good game, for me it was anyway and I carded a 43.  That's about as good as it gets for this guy.
  Marg again in water aerobics, because it may be the last one this week.  We are forecast to get cooler weather for the weekend and she is not here on Thursday.  While she was there the UPS truck came with the part for out stove.  The large burner just got red hot and no matter where you turned the dial, the temp never changed, made for some challenging cooking.  The manufacturer sent the switch from Tennessee and I decided to install it myself.  Well I started out poorly as a wire shorted and blew off the element receptacle, so then I turned off the breaker.  Then I phoned the manufacturer service line and the guy talked me through the electrical connection.  It is a 5 prong rheostat type switch behind the dial and the new one never looked anything like the old one.  In the end I got it all together and re-connected the wire and voila, it works fine.  Should have had Phil here, it's 220 and he is more familiar with that voltage.  LOL
  The afternoon was spent getting ready for the evening activities.  Well I played a few games of pool, but Marg was getting ready.  Like she got some candy to throw to the people on the sidelines, who were almost out numbered by the people in the parade.

Oh yes I almost missed Kenny's car project, well he mounted it on the roof of their golf cart and it was quite a hit.  From this picture you can't see the tail pipes, but the back end is really cool.  There will be more pics of it.

We had out golf cart parade in the evening and Millie had hers all decorated, but decided not to go, so convinced Marg to take hers so it wouldn't be wasted.  We had a good number of entries, I think 45 golf carts, a couple of bicycles, an electric scooter and a mobility scooter.  The parade went around the walking track and then the park, with some stops.  Our first stop was hot chocolate, then one for Christmas chocolate, then 2 for popcorn, one for fudge and finally one for mulled wine.  After the parade there were hot dogs provided in the rec hall.  I think Gary cooked about 120 and some of the people like Marg helped serve hot dogs, chips and condiments.

 
  After the hot dogs and things were cleared away we were treated to a performance by Cale Moon. He and his family just checked in to the park this week, Monday I think.  The were happy to be at the block party as their site is on Tequila lane and he offered to sing at this event.  He did it without charging, but they put his tip bucket out and I think he did very well with donations.  He is an up and coming entertainer and has a website if you want to see more about him.  It was a great performance, some people saying it was the best they have seen in the park.  Anyway it made for a late day, so not blog was posted.  Well Marg's day was not quite done as she made up the dish for the slow cooker and put it in the fridge so we will have supper tomorrow night.
 
 
 

Monday

An early start today and Larry & I picked up Gary to ride.  No donkey visit today even though we could hear him calling.  It appears he gets lots of visitors, so we took our regular route that Gary has not been on before.  We got our 3 plus miles in and showed Gary the big housing development going on just south of here.  Larry was quite concerned about Cooper as he won't eat since Nancy left.  Earlier Marg had gone there and he seemed to eat then, but he suspects the dog hides his biscuits in his bed.  It would be funny, except she will be gone 5 days and the dog needs to eat.
  We got back just as Marg was leaving for water aerobics.  She convinced Janice, next door to tag along.  She is new in the park and said she wanted to meet more people, so Marg has been helping her get out.  They had a good sized group today, something like 14, I am surprised the pool didn't overflow with all the splashing and thrashing they would create.
  I went over to check on Kenny and his car project.  I kid him about running an illegal body shop, or chop shop using undocumented foreign workers [me].  We came up with a couple of neat solutions to his project.  He is going to use the lid of the spray paint can for the center of the steering wheel, like a horn button.  For hub caps he is going to use milk bottle caps, they are just the right size to friction fit in the recess in the rim and best of all between us we had enough red ones.  We did some masking so he could paint the windows in and put some chrome trim on the bottom of the bumper.  It should be ready tomorrow, so I will make sure I get pics of it.  He's kind of protective of anyone working on it with him, but seems to make an exception for me even after I told him if I was being to helpful to just tell me to get lost.
  We had a bite to eat and then I went to play pool, Marg went to the grocery store.  When I got to the pool room there was no one to play.  I looked around and saw Warren watching Gary & Aaron working on a golf cart to get some Christmas decoration problem sorted out.  Warren played pool once last year, but really hasn't been a presence there, so I was surprised when he said he would play.  He is quite good for a guy who doesn't play regularly and beat me twice.  I joked that I should know better than to play a carpenter as he seemed to know all the angles. 

  There was a block party on Tequila lane at 4 today and Marg made:  a Greek salad & a ham.  It was a picnic ham and was sliced at the market.  She made a glaze for it and put it in the oven to get it ready to take.  There were a lot of people there, probably close to 100.  The road was pretty much full around the party area.  Marg talked Janice into going and it was nice to see some of the year round residents in the party.  There was lots of food, everything I took was very good and best of all both of us got a piece of the peach cobbler Smitty made in the dutch oven.  This was only my second time getting a slice of one of his creations, they are legendary and delicious.
  After we went back to our place, Marg was speaking with some new folks across the road from us.  They are from around Slocan, BC but did not know Jock & Helen or any of Helen's family in the area.  They are only here for a week as their winter break strategy is to move around every week or two.
  After a bit of a break we went to bingo in the rec hall.  Here again Marg convinced Janice it would be fun, so she went as well.  We did indeed have about as much fun as you can without winning.  Marg was one number on multiple cards and singles so many times I lost count and she sat waiting for her number for many calls, but alas success was not to be.

December 12th, a Monday

Got off to an early bike ride with Larry & Gary this morning.  This was Gary's first day out and Larry gave him a bag of apples both to feed the donkey and Patti.  Last time he had an apple for the donkey, his wife ate it.  Gary also brought a couple of carrots.  This was our first trip down to see the donkey this winter and Gary is the one in our group who feeds him.  Funny thing was last year he ate apples, this year he was having no part of them, but was keen on the carrots.  We could hear the darn thing braying long before we got there, we joked about it calling Gary for his treats.  After we went west to Idaho and back.  It was just over 4 miles, a good ride for us this year, especially Gary on his first time out.
  When I got back, I caught Marg at the end of dying her hair and here I thought her hair was still it's natural color.  I am so disillusioned, not!  After she went for water aerobics and by the time she went the sun was starting to warm the day right up.  She said the pool was in the 80's, which is almost too warm.  They had a pretty good turn-out, 8 I believe she said.
  I went down to check on Kenny's progress with his toy car.  He has a child's plastic ride in car [VW] that when operational had a battery and electric motor.  He is fixing it up as a lawn [well front yard anyway] ornament.  So far he has painted it red, made black rubber floor covering, black upholstery on the seat, put on real reflectors for tail lights, painted the wheels black and the inserts.  He had some chrome pipe he wants to make tail pipes with, so I took my pip cutter and cut two short pieces off it.  Then I took my hole saw to drill the holes in the back bumper.  There will be a block of wood behind the bumper to hold them, so we drilled holes in the wood to make for a friction fit to steady them.  He is getting close, I think he mainly has to paint the windows on it to make them look like glass and do something with the steering wheel.  He even has a small license plate on it that says Kansas.
  After that it was back to the trailer for lunch as my mermaid had returned from the pool group.  After a quick bite to eat I drove to Superstition mall where she wanted to check out the sale at Macy's.  Funny thing but there were several other guys sitting in their cars reading pocket books like me.  I believe this both helps to reduce congestion in the store and keeps the guys from saying - are we done yet?  Anyway she returned to the vehicle empty-handed, so success was not to be had.
  We got back in time to string up another Christmas banner and read a few pages in my book. Oh yeh, she did some emails.  Then it was off to happy hour.  Marg really wanted to go as Nancy flies home tomorrow for her sister's funeral and she is one of Marg's pals.  The gals must have talked about the block party on Tequila lane tomorrow as they all seemed pumped about it after happy.  One of the guys tried to talk me into golfing tomorrow.  I have a bit of muscle soreness and I don't like to play 2 days in a row, so declined.  This guy plays every day.  Then it was perogy's for supper.  Marg got them from Costco and fried up a bunch of bacon & onions with them, so they were very good.  Well cheese cake for desert was good too and that was our day.

Sunday

Sunday, so I went to the church service this morning.  It's nice this time of year, the hymns have been what we generally call Christmas carols.  Attendance was good with some folks who are new to the park attending, as well as the pastor's daughter and her husband.  Both Pastor Don and his wife had birthdays the last couple of days, so they came from Colorado to celebrate with them.
  I knew Marg had a Bundt pan of pull apart rolls that she put together last night, so I was keen to get back as soon as the service was over.  They were nice buns covered in a caramel sauce and pecan nuts.  They were very good and we did our best to eat them all, but there were just too many.  So Marg took a couple over to Janice next door and there are a couple left for tomorrow.  Knowing Marg doesn't eat breakfast early in the morning, her chances of getting one tomorrow don't look very good.  LOL
  Marg swept and washed the floor in the trailer, I vacuumed the patio area.  We had to do a bit of clean up after the happy hour on Friday.  Although I couldn't see any food bits laying around we never take chances because we're never certain what kind of critters they could attract.  Some of them are probably OK, but things like termites & pack rats are not so great to deal with.
  We went out to he big Mesa outdoor market as I had quite a stack of pocket books to trade, well sell actually.  I got $11 for my books and spent $16 for 8 new ones, well new to me anyway.  We wandered around a bit as Marg was looking for a booth that she had success at last year, but without luck.  There was lots of good parking available and the place didn't seem all that busy.  According to our neighbour [who works there], business is down significantly which they attribute to the Canadians just not spending like prior years.  There is no doubt an impact from the value of our dollar, but a person only needs so many ceramic turtles or donkeys or ...  Marg bought some things to use for putting leftovers in zip lock bags that she bought in the "Saw it on TV" booth.  Well it's called something like that.  I will try to stay abreast of this breaking news story so you too can find out how well they work.  Hah!
  We never had lunch, but did stop at DQ on the way back.  Middle of the afternoon is the time to go there, it's their equivalent of happy hour.  Marg is not all that creative in what she gets there, although she didn't have her usual cone, rather an orange Julius.  I tried something new, it's called hot apple pie, but is a kind of pastry with some apple and ice cream with a bit of caramel on it.  It was quite good, but I had to forego a banana split or peanut buster parfait to have it and I don't think it was that good.  Oh well, life is about choices.
  When we got back after lunch, well I guess you can't call an ice cream lunch, but when we got back, Marg did a load of laundry.  Ever since we got this machine, she is always washing something.  Then she steamed what she washed the day prior.  Apparently this little dual washer/dryer unit does an remarkably good job.  She claims the washer is every bit as effective as the super duty one she has at home and is vastly superior to the machines in the Laundromat.  Apparently it is saving us a lot of money in the process.  I really can't say as this is not my area of expertise, but my clothes are clean.
  No happy hour for us today, but we did bbq for supper.  A couple of very nice steaks and roasted potatoes and veg were the menu.  We cook quite a bit, a lot more than many as they eat out a great deal.  While we enjoy eating out, especially the variety it provides, we tire of it quickly and enjoy eating at home every bit as much if not more.
  After supper we took a walk around the park so that we could get some pictures of the Christmas lights on some of the units.  Although the street lights bleach the pictures out in some places, they are very attractive to naked eye.  Lots of palm trees with lights on them, lots of cactus lights, stuff that you don't see at home.

Saturday

A very early start, we were up at 6:15 AM and down to the rec centre to help out on the breakfast crew.  It was mainly because Patti & Gary have lost some of their crew while the others are not here yet.  Marg did her usual job, cooking the scrambled eggs and she does that so well.  Me on the other hand, I worked as the gopher.  I helped get the place set up, the coffee out and the dishes done up.  Then when the sausage & gravy ran low, opened a new can and got it heated up on the stove.  The hot water system was not working this morning so I had to keep heating water on the stove in the 3 gallon pots.  It ended up being a large crew and we only fed 45 or so which made the job very manageable.
  We were cleaned up and out by 9:30 so we went to a few park sales.  Marg had clipped the ads from the paper and was looking forward to it as a break.  We went to Happy Days where they had lots of vendors and got a few things.  Marg got a Santa figure, some stop drip pans and I got a nice 30 amp extension cord for the motor home at a good price.  Then on to Superstition rv park [a much larger park] where it was getting close to 12 when they shut down, so vendors were getting very negotiable.  Marg got a few more things and I picked up a couple of little things.  By then it was time to call it a day.  I had a corded drill from last year, but needed a chuck key.  I found one but it came with a drill that works for a buck.
  When we got back I had to wrap the gifts we bought for the Christmas gift exchange.  Marg did some laundry, but got a little carried away doing 3 loads.  She has been air drying to see how that works out, but that meant she was tight on hanging space, so a bit of a challenge.  Other than that we chilled at in the sun for a few hours.  Marg did a bit of visiting as she delivered two sympathy cards both to ladies who lost their sisters this week.  There was also a new arrival in the park, they are annuals, but just got in, so Marg convinced her to attend the party.
  Happy hour was brief and that gals talked mainly about the party and the margarita's and how much fun they had.  The guys talked about golf and stuff like that.  It was a brief one as we had to get supper before the party.  We ate in tonight, a shrimp sort of stir fry and rice.
  Then it was off to the rec centre for the party. I had agreed to be the photographer for the event so I could post pictures on the tenants association FB site.  The hits on the site have jumped dramatically since we got here.  Everyone brings a gift wrapped in newspaper so it can't be identified and then they passed around a pair of dice.  As soon as you roll doubles you go pick a gift from the pile.  There were about 80 people, so it was busy.  Then they allowed 15 minutes of exchanges.  The same process, if you rolled a double then you could take someone's gift in exchange for yours.  This was the mass confusion part of the process.  There was lots of food [snacks] and punch, then some caroling.  We also had a hilarious version of the 12 days of Christmas with 12 different groups sing their verse, each trying to be funnier than the rest.  Marg was in the 12 drummers drumming group.  We also had a 50/50 raffle with the proceeds going to a veteran [of Iraq I think] and his young family.  It was won by Paul [he is one of our happy hour group] and he told them to keep the prize and give it to the veteran for Christmas.  Paul and Doreen are full time rv'ers from Maine and are pretty decent people, obviously, when seeing what he did tonight.
  Then it was a scramble to get things organized and on the FB site when we got home.  Things should slow down for us now as our next commitment is the Christmas dinner.  It's funny, there are a couple of people trying to start a new breakfast crew as well as fill other crews.  It will be a challenge to stay off.

Friday, Dec 9th

Getting a little concerned, here it is the 9th and still have not written our Christmas letter.  This is a bit unusual for us, but we have been so busy and it almost seems poorly motivated.  Not sure but I think the letter this year will be an electronic one, although I will probably have to print a few.  Marg has some cards, so will have to try and get my act together this weekend.  Honestly us snowbirds do get too busy sometimes and this seems to be one of them.  LOL
  Out of necessity we got out and about early this morning.  I had the best of intentions to go riding with Larry, but my rear tire was flat. I tried inflating it, but nothing, so I knew it was a significant problem.  Larry went out on his own this morning while I took off my back wheel and pulled the tube.  It had a rip about 4 or 5 inches long on the side that faces the rim, so nothing was poking it through the tire and the tube was garbage.  It was the original tube that came with the bike, probably made in China as cheaply as possible.  Fortunately I still had the leak proof tube with the hole in it.  This is where you say, is that right or did I mis-read that.  I patched the leak and put it all back together, so we'll see how that works out.
  Then we went out to Costco.  Happy hour tonight was at our place, so we needed to get a few things as it was bring snacks, something we had kind of got away from.  Marg picked up some: spring rolls, chicken wings, salsa, a 6 layer dip for it and then we had a slice of pizza for lunch.  The place was sure busy, but not to bad at the cash registers.  There are a lot of seniors who go there on Friday because of the food samples and the traffic gets congested around them.  Not too certain whether this is about free food or nothing better to spend their time on, but it seems much the same at home.
  When we got back Marg went to Walmart to round out the things she needed while I went to play pool.  I played with 4 guys who are pretty good and we had a few laughs in the process.  There was only one other table with two guys, but they are kind of the grumpy old men in the pool room, so people tend to avoid them if there is another game where they can play.  Geez maybe I am becoming one of the grumpy old men.  LOL
  When I got back, Marg had picked up the rest of what she needed and started arranging the furniture in the breezeway.  We only had chairs for 12, but knew that a few people would bring chairs.  Happy was at 4, so she had to get the hot stuff heated up in the oven and then transferred into the slow cooker.  By the time everyone got here, she had her contribution to snacks all laid out and the blenders with the margarita ingredients all laid out.  I say blenders, as Doris brought hers over so they could have two kinds of margaritas on the go: lime & mango.  There was lots of other stuff brought by the other gals & the patio table was full to the edges.  In fact I would be surprised if any of them had to go out for supper after.  I think we had about 2 dozen here at the peak and rather than an hour, it was 3 hours long.  It was fun and a couple people said they thought it should be at our place more often.  I'm not sure how much people had to drink as they bring their own, but Marg went through a lot of tequila, a bottle and a half I think and I fed them some beer and whiskey after they drank what they brought, so they were well lubricated.  It was funny, the guys were hesitant about having something else, but the gals held out their margarita glass readily when refills came around.
  Another positive aspect of doing this was that one of Marg's very good friends who lost her sister yesterday was here and it was good for her to be around other people at such a difficult time.
  It was a nice day in the valley even though it started out cool, the mid-day highs were in the low 70's and we were back in shorts and hanging up our jackets.

December 8th, Thursday

An early start as Marg had to get ready for her weekly road trip.  They were on the road at 8:30, as usual with visions of the free cookware and big win in the heads.
  I went for coffee [coffee klatch] & rolls.  I pulled a bit of a fast one, I learned that the rolls were free and knew whoever paid for them would be at the first table called.  As it turns out it was where the Casteel's, Evans and other friends were seated, so I joined them.  The people I normally sit with: Blanke's, Binger, etc. labelled me a fair-weather friend.  Well I don't want to be known for only have one friend, rather like to think I am more open to spending time with anyone.  Are you convinced it was a good decision, well I am, I got a very nice apple fritter.  LOL
  After coffee [which was long this morning] I went for a ride with Larry.  He didn't think we were going this morning so went out on his own.  Then when I showed up he went with me for just over 3 miles.  The weather was a bit chilly, but a nice day.  By the time we got back it was downright warm.
  When I got back I wrote the blog for yesterday and did some emails.  I did some organizing in my shed, then had a bit of lunch.  By then it was time to look in to pool.  It was a road trip day for the pool tournament, so I picked up a guy waiting to see who was coming and headed over to Eastgate.  In prior years this has been a park that kicked our butt badly.  We had 6 players, so each team had to play twice, meaning 6 games.  Not sure how the other teams made out, but Andy & I won 4 of our 6 games, so a good result.  They were tough games, the guys we played were Canadians: one from Bonnyville [Alberta] and the other from Saskatchewan and were fun to play.
  By the time we finished and got back it was well into the afternoon.  After dropping off my rider, I went to wash the truck.  It was a bit dirty with quite a few bug splats on the front.  Then I went over to the hardware to get a spare set of keys made for the doors of the trailer. If we lock ourselves out, we will be out of luck, so am looking for a place to hide a key.  I wasn't back very long and Marg got back.  She had a good day at the Fort; winning at slots and not bingo, the net result being she was not out of pocket any dollars.  Although she did wait on one number for and $1,100 payout.  Lynette did well on the slots, winning something like $500, so they were in good spirits coming home.
  Happy hour was packed.  In fact there were a couple of people who normally don't come, one of whom was the park owner.  The women talked about.......... well not really certain.  I think maybe the happy hour at our place tomorrow as they will be bringing snacks.  Oh yeh, they are all excited as they know Marg will be living up to her margarita reputation once again. This will mean a busy day for us tomorrow morning.
  After we went to Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat.  Marg once again had the $5 meal deal: a hard taco, a meat burrito, a gordito, taco chips with spicy cheese dip and a drink.  I had the quesadea meal [not sure of spelling] and traded my hard taco for her gordito.  Then it was back so we could go to the animal races.  They were well attended tonight and Marg did well winning 6 out of 8 races, while I won only 3.  I endured lots of razzing as the elephant struggled tonight while their choices prospered. Although the one race it did win paid $1, the big payout tonight. We are still short of a few people, so I told a couple of jokes during the lull in the action to help Clyde out.  They both got pretty good response. 

December 7th

The day most commonly known as Pearl Harbor day, except in our family it is better known as Kevin's birthday.  This was a bit of a special day for Kevin with turning 55 as he now has his pensionable max formula so is eligible to retire with a full pension.  Speaking with him I don't believe that is his plan just yet, but even the youngest of my siblings is sure getting up there.  Happy birthday Kevin.
  I got out early this morning and played golf with the group from this and the other park.  It's still early in the winter season, so there were only 7 of us, but we still played closest to the pin and longest putt.  No winnings came my day, but with a bit firmer putt, well who knows.  Anyway it was good to get out and see some of those people again.  I played well enough, but as always there is room to improve.  I carded a 47 after taking a penalty stroke and having a 3 putt green, so that's why I say well enough.
  Marg went to water aerobics this morning.  In fact she went there a bit early, so had a very long workout.  The water was a bit of a surprise as it was chilly, only 78F, so mainly the snowbirds going near the pool.  She was getting prune fingers by the time she got back, well her 1 1/2 hour plus dip in the pool was a long one.  She loves her pool time that girl.
  We had a bite of lunch and then some visiting with folks in the park.  We stopped at Wink & Mayva's place to let them use Marg's blood pressure machine because he is having some issues.  We had several people at our place to visit, then a bit of a walk and the afternoon was gone.  Took time to call the manufacturer of our electric stove about a problem with the larger burner.  It heats up to high and stays there regardless of the setting on the control knob.  The service people at the company were very helpful, both diagnosing the problem and selling me the replacement switch and it's enroute.
  We had to pass on happy hour today as it was time to do the prep work for Gary's burgers and this seems to be the kitchen team we are working on now.  I may have mentioned this previously, it seems Marg has made this commitment that I am learning about.  Well that's not entirely right, we did work on the final hamburger night they did last year.  My job was toasting buns & Marg's was serving the customers at the counter.  The process is pretty well established and the response by park residents is as well.  When the serving counter is opened, the line up was pretty much to the end of the rec room & they were all hungry.  LOL  I joked about need someone with a whip to control the hungry hoard.  Anyway it is pretty intense at the start, but usually settles down when the early birds are fed.  The challenge is the grill size and the number of burgers it holds in meeting the demand.  The rest of the crew doing fries and chili, etc. have a lot more flexibility.  It's actually a bit of fun, if you make it that way.  A standing comment became nice buns, when I had them toasted just right; so I embellished on my booty shake when I heard it.  Patti said I would get more comments if I wore tighter pants, LOL.  Anyway we fed about 90 people plus ourselves, receiving lots of compliments - the burgers are really good, Gary does a great job.
  By the time we finished the clean up we were tired.  How tired, well I fell asleep trying to post this last night and that is the reason it is being done the next morning.  When we got back to our place I took an ibuprofen as my back was talking to me and then Marg made us each a dish of ice cream.  After we had a bit of a chance to relax and unwind the body started to feel better.
  Why is this important, well it was poker night and I was debating skipping it.  I ended up being a late arrival and there were already 6 players.  On sitting down I won the first hand and in doing so got lots of ribbing, in fact I started off winning several.  Unfortunately like the old saying win early, lose late, my good fortune went into the tank until close to the end.  As I never really count my win/loss amount, I just have a sense of how things went.  That sense leads me to believe I didn't win and if I did lose it wasn't a great deal.  We had a few new players, well new for this year anyway and that always makes for an entertaining evening.
  When I got back I started on the blog, but when Marg saw I had dozed off, suggested she was turning in early.  It sounded like a good idea, so we were in bed at about 10:30 and I don't believe I even woke up through the night.

Tuesday Dec 6th

Another nice day in the valley.  Although it started off chilly [a typical desert morning at this time of year] it warmed up quickly and became very pleasant.
  I got up to take a bike ride, but my partner was not feeling up to it this morning.  He must have over-done himself yesterday and felt he needed a break.  Shortly after I went to Sky Harbour airport to pick up Bingers from a Southwest flight coming home from Reno.  The traffic patterns at the airport have been changed a bit, most notably the cell phone lot.  It is now quite a way from terminal 4, where last year it was adjacent to it.  Why is this important, well because rather than read the signs and believe them, I went toward the prior location.  Then when I discovered the error of my ways I had to circle the terminal and then go where the signs directed me and sure enough there it was a nice and much larger lot just waiting for me.  They also upgraded the electronic signboard that lists all the incoming flights and reports their status.  It's very cool actually as you never need to leave the vehicle.  I started to read my pocket book & Jerry called asking where I was.  So then I made my way to the terminal and again misread the sign, so got to circle terminal 4 to get to the even number doors & as luck would have it, theirs was the last one, and sure enough there they were.  I can hear you now, just another example of how us seniors don't deal with change well, LOL.  The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful as traffic was very light.
  When I got back, I saw the Jim & Daryl were still working with Mickey's sewer problem.  They worked on it yesterday without success.  He bought this 5th wheel about 2 weeks ago and this was his first trip with it.  He is a buddy of Jim's from New Mexico.  For those of you who have seen Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase, et al, you may recall the part where cousin Eddy was dumping the sewer from his decrepit motorhome.  The neighbour came out seeing him pumping the holding tank into the storm sewer & he yelled out "Sh..ters full".  Well that could be Mickey in our story, worst case of it I have ever seen.  Jim finally connected a sewer auger to his electric drill and got it cleared.  There was another movie called RV or something like that with a sewer problem that comes to mind as well, and somewhat like their process.
  Marg had a house cleaning morning and got us ship shape.  Then she got some chicken and other stuff going in the slow cooker for supper.  After I got back I drove her to Superstition mall.  It seems the sweatshirt she bought me yesterday still had the anti-theft tag attached. Real effective process they have at Sears, the alarm never went off when it went out the door and when she took it back today, they never even looked to see that she had a receipt for it.  Well it was such a bargain [about 75% off], she almost stole it.  LOL  Then we went over so she could look around in Ross's & Burlington Coat.    She got a small rug for the front door & I bought a pocket book at the store next door so I could read while she shopped, so it wasn't all that fruitful for her today.  We stopped by the Red Rooster consignment store, but it was closed, as usual.  That is about the 4th time we have tired to go there.  Kind of a frustrating place.
  We were back in good time, well in time for happy hour anyway.  It seems while there Marg announced that it would be at our place on Friday and they all agreed to have snacks at that one.  When we got back home our supper was hot and waiting, so no delay in getting fed.  We had lots more than we could eat, so Marg took a bowl of it over to Janet next door.  She is a full-time resident here and lives alone.  It seems she was happy to have a prepared dish for supper, I guess, because she seemed happy to accept.  Usually Marg gives our surplus to Mark, so I guess she is increasing her meals on wheels program.
  After supper it was bingo in the hall.  To start off the lady who normally MC's was not there.  She tells a joke each week, so they asked if I would.  Well not being prepared I discussed a few that came to mind that Marg nixed.  Finally I came up with one that had a bingo theme and told it.  We had a tough night, no winners at our table.  Marg was close all night, well heck I even got close once.  In fact she was one number for the last game which is the double dab and the big payout of the night, but alas success eluded us.
  Oh almost forgot, I got the speedo working on my bike today.  It has been out of action since last winter and I was almost ready to get another one. As luck would have it, my cycling partner, Larry, gave me a suggestion and it now appears fine.

Monday

It was a nice day today.  I got out for a bike ride with Larry this morning, we made a little over 3 miles which as it turns out is getting close to his max.
  When I got back Marg & I went to the optical outlet that was recommended as a good place to fix glasses.  When the fellow looked at them, he indicated that the arm would have to be cut and re-built, sort of gluing it back together after the repair, giving her a repair estimate of $65.  When Marg went in to pick them up, she had a surprise that it was repairable after all.  The guy straightened it all up and got the spring working to tension the arm so that it works as well as it did before the damage.  Then best of all when she went in to pick them up, he said it wasn't as big a job as he estimated and that the repairs didn't take all that long, so he couldn't charge her what he quoted and that $25 would cover it.  She was so pleased that she asked if he could accept a tip & gave him one.  What a pleasant surprise as he could have just charged her the quoted amount and we would not have known any different.  Nice to see this kind of service.
  While we were waiting for the repair, I went in to Vans golf store which is in the same complex and looked at some cool stuff.  With some time to kill I then went in to the barber store between the two where they offered senior cuts for $12.  They were a couple of young guys & no line up, so I took a chance and got my locks shorn.  The guy did a very good job and I will definitely be returning when it grows out again.  So we both left happy with the stop at this strip retail complex.
  When we got back it was lunch at our place.  I had my wheel thump in a pothole near the driveway on exiting the park.  Its been a conversation item around here, so I took my shovel out front and filled it with sand & gravel.  That is one thing there is lots of in the desert.  After I went and played 8 ball for a couple of hours.  My play seems to be better this year, I attribute it to the snooker I played last summer at home.  The pockets on the snooker tables are so much tighter that it makes these seem easier than I recall in past years.  The bad news it will probably be difficult to go back to snooker at home.
  Marg did a load of laundry and is still happy with the Splendide and the way it works.  Then she went out went out looking for a bundt pan and in the process checked out a couple of places.  She came back with a potato masher and some odds & ends, but not pan.  So there is still a reason to go back in search of the elusive pan.
  The happy hour group were all there today and it was like a gaggle of geese.  There must have been 4 conversations going on at once sometimes.  Supper tonight was bbg steak which was very tasty and that's about it for the day.