Saturday, March 31st

An early start to the day to get over to the hall and have breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs. The last one for the year. Sat with Kenny & Doris, who left right after breakfast for home in Kansas. Safe trip home friends. The number of well wishers probably delayed their departure by half an hour. After breakfast we went around the park wishing several others a safe trip home. I think there are something like a dozen leaving this weekend and another dozen through the week to follow. After lunch I went to play pool and only Don was there to play. A new person in the park came along with his cue and we introduced him to 1/15 8 ball. Turned out he was a pretty good player and the 3 of us had some good games. He was also a good humoured type and would fit in here just fine if all the other players were here. Turns out they have been full-time rv'ers for 3 years and plan to continue for at least another 3 before going back to their home in Colorado. Got new neighbours in the space Kenny vacated. They came up from Yuma and he said it was terribly dusty there with the winds all winter. Nothing new there, that place has that reputation, as well as - can't drink the water. Went for a swim this PM. Marg was there and was already starting to shrivell up from soaking for so long. It was very hot, 95F, so it was nice to cool down in the pool, the water was only 82F. Spent some time talking with a couple of guys I know about all kinds of things. Well now I can say I was in the pool, Hah! After we went to Larry & Nancy's for cocktails. She is the lady that organizes the ladies trips to Globe that Marg goes with. They have a regular cocktail gathering almost every day at 4PM. Bud & Lynette always go there and they are leaving tomorrow. She works on our ice cream social team, very nice lady. Bud's the character who buys all the cars & scooters every year. Spent lots of time kidding him about using a big rock for cruise control on his Zephyr as he really honks on it. Its about 9 yrs old, but even then had a 450hp Cummins. The replacement cost on the coach is about $560K. When he found out Pat & I just set our cruise at 65mph, he said us Canucks were the old guys he passes on the road. This will be their last year bringing the motorhome as they bought a park model. At the end of cocktail hour, a bunch more farewells. As much as we don't like all the farewells, we sure are looking forward to going home. Went out after for supper to the Old Country Buffet. I want to record the name of this place so that we don't ever make the mistake of going there again. Doesn't happen very often, but every so often you find a dud. Tomorrow is supposed to cool off and it will be nice for a change.

Friday, March 30th

OMG, it is almost the end of March. Hot one today, I think it must have been around 85F. We got up early and went to the Mesa market with Bingers. Picked up a few things we didn't know we needed until we got there, but were happy to bring home. LOL Marg got an outdoor mat with some southwestern design on it. I got a new chipper. I bought one last year and it doesn't work so I bought a new one this year. We picked up a few other things as well. The vendors are dealing now, they know if they don't get your buck today they may not get another chance. I played a bit of pool this afternoon. After we had cocktails with just the Blanke's & Binger's and then went out for dinner with them to the Native New Yorker. I think 5 of us had the haddock & chips special. It was very good and we got to use another coupon from our book. Laugh if you will, but the savings on our bill alone almost paid for the book. Marg & I ate there in a prior year, but for some reason had not been back til now. Blanke's are leaving for home tomorrow, we will miss them & look forward to seeing them next year. There are a bunch leaving this weekend, so will try and get around to say our good byes to all. The poker guys are starting to feel the end is in sight, so we had an unscheduled game tonight. I think they are trying to empty my money bag. I use a crown royal bag & it is pretty heavy with dimes & nickels. Lots of fun anyway and we are still scheduled for next Wednesday. Knowing these guys, they will probably want to ride in the motorhome for the first 50 miles when we leave so we can play one last game. LOL

Thursday, Mar 29

Another hot day, I think it got up to the mid 80's around noon. Went to coffee & donuts this AM. There was a much smaller group there and next week will be the last one. The announcements were few, with the only real news being the Easter ham dinner. Some of our friends were asking us to sign up for their table, however we are planning on leaving on the Saturday, so will not be here. That's right we have made a decision and will be pulling out on Saturday morning. Not much for plans beyond that, but we will figure it out as we go along. After the Bingers were going to Sam's Club & I had never been so we went along with them. It's a lot like Costco, but I didn't think the deals or the selection were as good. Marg picked up a couple of things & they got quite a few things. Stopped in at Trader Joes on the way back, one of Marg's favourite grocery stores. She got a lot more things there. It's a pretty cool store actually and they carry some unique stuff. We had lunch at Appleby's after and it was good. That is the place with the all you can eat soup/salad for $7 at lunch. In an earlier blog posting I had scanned the menu, but there are a half dozen salad selections and 3 soups. By the time we got back it was around 3, so never played pool & Marg never went to the pool. Too bad to as it was a perfect day for lounging in the pool. The neighbours have been giving us a hard time about happy hour, so went over to Larry & Nancy's for cocktails. They have cocktails every day at 4 and usually attract quite a crowd. Bud had brought a gps unit he found in the car he bought and brought it. The unit had been programmed to German & he couldn't reset it, so asked me to have a look at it. Get this; these people are so techy challenged that I am consulted. Now that's a laugh, normally I am the one seeking help. Anyway I got the thing changed over to English, in spite of all the instructions being in German. It's actually quite a neat little unit. Bud seems to buy a car every year. He bought the big Ford Crown Vic for $200 last yr and drove it home. This yr he has bought a Subaru for $100 that was included with the park model they purchased & among other things found this in it. He also bought a couple of twist & go scooters this yr. But I digress, so we had cocktails with the 10 or 12 people they had over. They are leaving next week sometime, one couple is leaving tomorrow morning & quite a few others will be going within the next week as well. After supper Marg went with a group of girls to the park just east of us, several of whom are the ladies she goes to Globe with. The park was having their last bingo of the winter tonight. There was no repeat of her Marg's win from Tuesday, so that's probably it for bingo this winter. It's a little like the Lewis Carroll poem - The time has come the walrus said, to think of many things... Well this end of the winter season is like that - with everything coming to an end & our looking forward to the return to GP & our family.

Wednesday, March 28th

What a gorgeous day, the sun shone and it was very warm.

Started off with golf in the AM. Gerry Canuel came to play, as usual, and we took Steve with us today. He played with us last week and we had offered him a ride if he was going this week. He is here visiting his sister, Christine. She is from Tofield and her & Frank stay in the park. Anyway Steve and his wife are visiting from Leeds in Yorkshire. He is a very good golfer and pleasant company and really enjoyed the course last week. He won the closest to the pin on hole #7 today. My game was the best I have played this winter. Nothwithstanding some missed easy shots, I came in at 44. This may well be one of the best games I have ever played, it just doesn't work out this well.

Back in time for noon and Marg made a tasty lunch, then played some pool . This too is winding down and there were fewer players today. When I got back, Marg had webbed feet as she spent over 2 hours in the pool. It was a perfect day for that, but alas I have not been in the ole swimmin' hole this year.

After we went to Bob & Karens for dinner. Bob is quite a cook and he was determined to have fried bologna sandwiches, so had a small group over to try it. Apparently this is very popular in the part of Ohio they come from. He deep fries seasoned bologna and they had a nice potatoe soup with it. Everyone brought a dish, Marg made up a veggie tray. Lots laughs with this group as well. Gary's brother Mel was there and they are leaving tomorrow. Mel had golfed with Gerry & me earlier. Seems all the non-golfers have relations who like to play & play well, so they set them up with us to take out. Kind of funny, or it would be if I were a better hacker. But I digress, the bologna sandwiches were pretty good. Marg thinks we may just have been very hungry, LOL.

Had to leave early as it was poker night and our numbers were down. We had 6 tonight and I think I may have come out with more than I started with. Played some new games this week and that is good as it keeps us from getting in a rut.

Thats all folks!

Tuesday, Mar 27

What a nice day, almost get tired of saying that - NOT, LOL. We had a busy day as we had some maintenance issues with our counter tops & table in the coach. The sides of the laminate finish were separating from the wood base & we were worried about them getting ripped off. When I took off a piece in the bedroom it had the manufacturers stamp on it, so I googled and found them in Iowa. Telephoned and they put me in touch with a technical guy who told us how to glue it as well as what to use. He then asked where we got their name & then what kind of coach we had & who built it as he was not familiar with this use of their product. Must have made for some interesting conversation around the coffee room. Anyway after a visit to the hardware store, we did as instructed and the counter tops are as good as new. Thanks to the power of the internet. Gerry & Deb C came over after supper, he to play pool, her bingo. Jerry B got conned in to playing bingo tonight so came and brow beat us guys into playing. I think the girls sent him. It was the last bingo of the season & the crowd was small, so we probably should have gone anyway. I would have got my butt kicked at pool, so no biggee. Well we were the lucky table. Gerry won the first game, Deb won the second and then Marg won twice. Let me tell you, I was the brunt of a lot of harrassement after that. Lots of laughs, and we came away with more than we started with. Nancy also won at our table, so it was a lucky table tonight. At intermission a few of us had ice cream, but it was also the end of season sale, so no drumsticks, just fudgesicles. Everywhere you turn it is the last something going on. The manager, Curtis, stopped to ask when we plan ot depart. It's starting to look like April 9th. If only it would quit winter back home.

Monday, March 26

The day was nice and we got off to a good start. Went out to Walmart and I got a haircut there. Not something I would normally do, but it was the best haircut I have had down here, LOL. We needed a few groceries anyway and were there for that, so took a chance. After we stopped in at Patriot to make an appointment for oil changes for the car & motorhomefor next Wednesday. The car will be $17.95 for oil & filter. For the motorhome he quoted me $35, which compares favourably with the $160 I would pay in GP. Mainly they do it with bulk oil, which saves quite a bit. Lunch today was back at the park. After I went and played pool for a while. Even pool has really slowed down, there were only 7 players today. We had lots of laughs, as usual. The mail this afternoon contained a surprise, the 3rd package on my birthday trilogy from the Smiths. It was a map of Canada/Alaska made in June, 1947, the year I was born. Pretty cool, I think Char got it on the internet and it was shipped to here from South Carolina. Pretty neat to see what the world around us was like at that date. Thank you all. The Blanke's returned from the rally and had asked Kenny's brother over for cocktails. Marg had been making noises about margaritas, so we packed the blender & stuff to blend over to their park model. Pretty funny as he had 2 bottles of Molson Canadian for himself and me. Marg blended drinks for everyone else and even a couple who were just passing by. On the way back to the rv carrying our blender and what ingredients were left; got waved in by another reprobate & poured some of the margarita mix in his glass to stop the - hey Dave stuff. LOL At the end of happy hour Marg informed me that I was the designated driver as she was in no condition to drive. Wait - what's wrong with this picture? Fortunately Jerry B was and we all 4 couples went to the Grand buffet, the Chinese buffet on the trail. A short walk around the park in the evening and that was our day.

Sunday, March 25th

A nice day today, although a little windy. It was not quite as hot as yesterday, but a warm one none the less. For some reason we were up and about by 7:30AM, not sure what was going on with that. Anyway we went out to Gilbert as Marg wanted to check out the Nordstroms rack store. It's quite a way from here, probably around 20 miles. This is about the only way we can afford to shop at a Nordstrom store. Stopped on the way back at a Ross's, which is now one of Marg's fav's, even if there are stores in almost every area of the city. She got some good stuff and was well pleased with the day. Supper was bbq and was very good, as usual. Had to finish up quick as Marg went to play cards - 31, at the hall. There is a group that usually plays after the ice cream social, however the socials have ended now, so they played earlier. She never brought home the cash, but she had a good time. A funny thing happened. One of the guys playing had been by earlier and declined the offer of a beer, which came up during conversation. Marg advised him the offer was still open and he should go to the rv & approach me, which he did as he was knocked out of the game at the time. It was kind of confusing for me, so I just said will a couple do and sent him away with 2. I knew one of the other players would almost certainly have one. In the end I guess it was good for a chuckle. This was Margs first time playing, going out while I stayed back, but it doesn't sound like it will be her last. After cards, Bingers pulled a surprise stopping by and we all went to DQ. I guess we were all suffering from ice cream withdrawal with the end of the socials, so went to make it up this way. When we got there they had a special on blizzards, so we all had them. Marg had a Hawaiian one & I had a banana split one, both were very good. Gave us a chance to look our competition over, Hah!