Thursday, Jan 30th

A nice day in the valley, started out cool and warmed through the day.  The wind blew most of the day, so not quite as warm as we like.  The water aerobics bunch did not go on today even though the water was beautiful, the morning air was not where they want it.
  We both went to coffee klatch this morning, it was well attended.  Our table was second last drawn for donuts, so the selection was not great, but at least we got one.  There were so many that about a dozen or more missed out.  They had a show of hands so the buyer would increase his order for next week.  I went to the president to say our table would buy donuts next, but they are paid for the next 4 weeks, so I had her schedule us for the last week in February.  Hard to believe there are that many who are committed already.  I don't believe I can recall a year quite like this.  Marg took her pair of salt candle holders to donate to the raffle.  She tells me they are very trendy and being new will be popular.  The list of items is getting quite long now, so ticket sales should be good. At the end I picked up some balloons to put outside signifying our sale when the patio sale is on.
 After coffee Marg had a meeting with the committee and the person running the pub night [now called games night] and the person running the talent show night.  With the funding the committee has, they wanted to offer support to both to help make the events successful. 
  When I got home there were 3 guys waiting to ride bikes.  We went out the west route this time, its a bit longer and more challenging.  We got about 4 miles from here and I phoned Marg to see if she was out of the meeting.  She was so we discussed a road trip Kenny had talked about after coffee.  When she said it was a good idea, I told the guys I had to ride back.  They wouldn't let me ride home alone, so we all returned.  We made good time, but it ended up being a good workout.  This bike I have here [a giant] is such a nice ride, much better than the one at home.  When I got back I learned that the trip he spoke of was tomorrow and as we are hosts for happy, it will not happen.  LOL
  With the rest of the morning free, we went out for a few things.  First stop was the dollar store.  Unlike home where everything is a multiple of a dollar, here it is one dollar.  We picked up some price stickers for the garage sale, battery for the smoke alarm, a card, etc.  Still short a few things we went to Walgreen [pharmacy] where she got other things hair dye, high liters, laundry soap, etc.   Marg did a load of laundry this morning then we had some lunch.  I crushed some cans, they don't have a deposit, but are sold for the scrap value.  Generally I give them to the food bank locally.  Then I went to play pool.  Had good games today and it was fun thing.  Marg had the association pres as her afternoon visitor to deal with some of the stuff around events.
  It was time to go for happy by then, so we packed up so as not to be late.  The couple hosting didn't want to use their driveway, so told folks it would be on the patio at the clubhouse.  There was a bit of controversy with the way the hosting couple handled it as everyone is welcome on the patio.  Something that has to be discussed for the future.  The patio holds quite a few and it was pretty much full today.
  Supper was left-overs from yesterday.  Marg dressed them up and they were very good.  After supper we went to the animal races.  I helped out in a couple of the breaks with some jokes.  Our picks did not produce as many winners as we would like, the elephant only won one race.  It was fun none-the-less.  It was a tough day for Marg as her back was really causing her an unusually painful time getting around.  There have been a few of these lately and she is starting to look forward to returning home to deal with the problem.