Thursday, December 5th

A gorgeous day in the Valley, another day in short pants. 
  We started out with some more of the great monkey bread and for me a banana.  Now if you don't appreciate the humour in that, I can't help you.  LOL  We put on our name tags and headed down to the coffee Klatch.  It was well attended for this time of year.  To my chagrin the donuts were free [well sponsored] this morning and neither of us had any appetite for more to eat.  The meeting went well and best of all finished in good time.
  After the meeting Marg went with 3 other ladies from the entertainment committee to set up and decorate a Christmas tree.  It is the memory tree that is set up every year.  Anyone can put an ornament on it with a name or names and the year.  All the ornaments from prior years are retained and put on, so a nice opportunity for the residents in the park.  It took quite a while as they had some issues with setting the tree up and later the decorations.  They did get it set up and it is an integral part of the Christmas parade and celebration to come.
  I went back to our place and pretty much worked on the computer, first to add the pictures from the coffee, then to scan and add the advert for the breakfast Saturday AM, then to answer emails, look at news, weather and Facebook.  Oh yes, sorry Char & Phil, to have a facetime with both of you that I really enjoyed.
   We did a few things around here and then went for a golf cart ride.  When doing that you have to be careful as visiting can make for a very long trip.  We visited with a couple of guys who it turned out were negotiating a car sale.  Then when we went on we came across two guys trying to level a fifth wheel trailer.  They were both new to trailer life and were trying to level one that had been in place for a few years, the owner having bought it from his brother-in-law last year. They had a bottle jack and were trying to lift the front end to get new blocking under it.  I suggested they needed to raise the back jacks so it would act like a teeter totter, or else they would be trying to lift the entire trailer weight.  Then I showed them how to raised the rear jacks, after which I left as they seemed to be on the right track.
  Lunch was cucumber sandwich.  Things like cucumbers are so fresh here that they really are like a treat. Then I went to play pool with a fellow who is not a regular player and in fact had not played for quite a few years.  He had bought a new cue, but was intimidated by the skill levels of players here, so when the pool room was empty I offered to play with him.  We had some laughs and he seemed to be getting more comfortable with the game we play in Az and his shooting.
  When I got home Marg had some company that we visited with for a while.  They are a couple who have been in the park for a few years, we just don't usually spend a lot of time with them and it was a good opportunity to chat about stuff.
  We went to happy hour at the Clifford house and it was a smaller group, I think 6 or 7 couples, so not too busy.  When the group gets too large, it gets frustrating to hear or be heard, especially for us hearing aid wearers, so a nice change.  After happy it was supper.  A special rice like a stir fry with shrimp in it was on today's menu and as always it was good.d
  After supper I went to the animal races.  Marg stayed in as she had over-done it a bit today and wanted to rest up.  We had a good turnout and as one of our jokers was missing I got called to duty to tell a few during the lull in action.  After the bets are all placed, they need time to tally the bets and money and the odds or payout for each of the six animals in order to expedite payout to the winners.  I won 6 races, so a good night.  One of my jokes:
  In a Catholic school cafeteria an nun places a note in front of a pile of apples - "Take only one, God is watching."  A little boy stops at a pile of cookies down the row and makes his own note - "Tale all the cookies you want.  Got is watching the apples."
  That was our Thursday.