Sunday, Jan 27th

A much nicer day today.
  I got out to the service in the clubhouse this morning.  It was well attended and the music was good, for us anyway.  One of the reasons I attend is the sermons, but I would not rate today's as his best work.  It was obviously a subject and area of scripture he feels passionate about, but I didn't share the same feeling, although the service was fine.
  When I got back Marg had started in on the laundry.  Then we went down to the clubhouse to deal with some of the aftermath of the pub night.  There were things to put away in the entertainment committee storage space, that Marg did.  I had the back stop from the darts game to take apart.  Some of it went to the dumpster bin, the plywood to Malcolm and the remaining pieces to our place. 
  Marg made lunch today, french toast from a large french loaf [baguette] she had picked up the other day.  It really makes a difference to have a nice loaf like that to make it with.  We ate all but one piece.  Now that not may seem reasonable if it was really that good, but she did make a lot!  I know Charlene would have been impressed with the shaker of cinnamon and sugar.  When she was little there was always a saucer of it in the cupboard.  Not certain how many times it was spilled, but it was many more than one.
  I had read all my pocket books, so we went to the Mesa marketplace so I could sell them and buy more.  Marg was looking for Mexican vanilla, but gave up on looking for it.  I'm not certain if it was hard to find, or if the price wasn't right.  Hey they could make a show on that theme, a take off on the current one.  When we got to the truck -- it wouldn't start!  Arghhhh  The truck is 6 years old and it is still the factory battery.  Marg suggested I go see the Battery Dr, he was the one who put new ones in our golf cart.  I walked over there and his truck wouldn't start, he was in the process of getting a "jump" as he called it.  He recognized me so committed to come boost me as soon as he was running.  As luck would have it, that was about 5 minutes later.  No charge, get it - that's a pun.  LOL
  The truck fired right up and we were mobile again.  Now what to do, no roadside plan, 3,400 km from home and we really rely on the vehicle.  We made a decision to get a battery at Costco.  They have pretty good product, excellent warranty and we could get any claim handled almost anywhere, but especially at home.  Off to the Costco store we regularly visit in Mesa, they were out of the battery model for our vehicle.  He was able to find 5 in the Chandler store, so down the freeway for us.  Sure enough they had one that I picked up.  Oh yeh, we never shut the truck off at either store, Marg stayed with it, not risking being stranded.
  Back to the park where I installed it [Costco doesn't install batteries].  Then back to the Mesa store to turn in the core and get the deposit.  Our cost after the deposit return was $155 U.S., so a bit over $200 Cdn.  When anyone asks if I got a souvenir this year, this is it.  Marg commented that it was the year of the battery, after the golf cart and truck we are close to $1,000 U.S. in batteries. The other good news on return to Costco [other than the truck starting every time I shut it off] was we filled up on gas at $2.35 per gallon [about 61 cents per litre].
  With time running out, I threw some ribs on the bbq and Marg made baked potato and green beans for supper.  The ribs we had picked up while at Costco.  They were pretty good, but we prefer them with less fat and not quite as thick. 
  Ice cream social tonight, so another good news story, I had a banana split.  They are $3.50 while a dish of ice cream with a piece of cake is $1.50.  Marg always just has a dish anyway, but I gave them $5 and said this is for a banana split for me and she can have anything she wants with whatever is left.   Anything for a laugh - right?  Well that is what I thought when I got the mustache picture of her yesterday.  Man is that ever attracting a lot of hits.