Thursday, Nov 15th

I slept in a bit this morning and Marg had been up and about quite a while by the time I got up, now that isn't something that happens every day.  We both had to go to Koffee Klatch this morning, so I had to scramble a bit.  The reason, well Marg had an Entertainment committee meeting right after coffee and I just like the donuts.  Well I usually have an apple fritter, but today to shake things up I had a blueberry fritter.  We were very fortunate to be the first table chosen, so that meant pick of the litter.  A great way to start the day.
  I left right after but got involved with a couple of guys in a discussion and before I knew it she was finished her meeting and gone, so I had to walk home.  When I got to our place she was already busy at making a stew for supper.  She has this new method where I season & brown the meat on the bbq.  The meat today was thick chunks of chuck steak.  When she bought it we had a lengthy discussion about the merits of this meat vs a nice steak, so the proof will be in the outcome.  What was kind of funny was she [as always] got a bit carried away and was using the small slow cooker.  After finding the cooker too full, she transferred everything to the large slow cooker and had to wash the small one to put it away.  There were no dumplings in the cards for today, rather the meal plan was fresh buns.
  A bit earlier she had discovered a bike rack for sale near here.  It is one that fits into the trailer hitch receiver offered at a good price after very little use.  She called and gave a commitment to look it over at 3:30 today.
  Then I went to play pool as it was tournament day.  The format was different today as none of the parks have enough players so we draw for tables and partners.  It was a fun way to play as the teams get mixed up pretty good and you get to meet different guys.  I started out well, but ended up with a 50% win loss, so I guess that's a testimonial on how well it worked to even up the teams.  While I was gone Marg finished up the stew preparations and then went shopping.  I was impressed, she went all the way to Superstition Mall as it's quite a ways.  She has done this often in prior years, but that was a while back and she had to deal with some construction road closure.  She had pretty good success at Ross's.  She found a high density foam pillow in the style she likes, some slippers she liked and a couple of other things, so a good day of retail therapy.
  When she got back I was finished at pool, so we went over to look at the bike rack.  It was a nice one and in very good condition, so we picked it up for $40.  I have two bikes here now and I want to bring one home and maybe ride a bit more.  Still have to figure out which one will be going to GP, but I've got lots of time on that.
  By the time we got back to Carefree we were a bit late for happy hour.  It moves around lots now and was in the opposite end of the park today.  With our friends who used to host most of these selling out, they are trying to organize a schedule so we know where to go.  Not sure if that is needed, but Marg did commit to a day next week, Friday I think.  Our hosts are going to Yuma next week and talking about going to Los Algadones [Mexico].  It's a border town where lots of folks go for medications, dentists, glasses and where we took the Proulx's when they were here.  He wants to go but she is concerned at some of the stuff they are hearing.
  After happy we had Blanke's over for supper.  With that much stew, we needed help. They were at the skin doctors most of the day.  They both have a bit of skin cancer, well Kenny more than a bit.  Every year they go and he gets a few chunks whittled off, no wonder he is so thin.  Anyway they were happy with the invitation as they never had an opportunity to think of supper yet.  Oh you think I forgot about the chuck steak.  Well it was fall apart in your mouth tender, that woman of mine really knows her way around stew.  We also had some very nice fresh buns we picked up on the way back with the bike rack.  Safeway had lottery sales, so I checked my tickets from last week, nothing.  Bought tickets on the Mega Millions and Powerball for the next draw, so the dream is still alive.
  The weather was much nicer today, back to the short pants.
  I was looking at yesterday's post, some serious typos in there, this darn word forecasting or spell check anyway.  Hope you were able to understand the hidden meaning.  LOL