The Flock is back!

Well, well, well...the flock is back. At least most of them are. I would say 80%! What in the heck am I talking about, you ask? SNOWBIRDS! BACK IN FORCE! Good heavens. Now, I know, you are asking, "But aren't you a snow bird?" Well, technically, yes, kinda'. Snowbirds have been defined to me in many, many different ways since we have moved here. Some say they only come for 3 months, January-March. Others say they come for six months. Some say they only come in RV's; others say they also own homes. So take your pick. We say, we are "Sun birds"...we follow the sun! And, since we are usually here longer than 6 months (well, some years)we prefer the term SUN BIRD.

Every grocery store, restaurant, store of any kind is packed full! I went to my favorite organic (quit grinning Billie and Dan!) grocery store yesterday, Sprouts, and you could hardly move for the people in there! Good grief, I thought there was a special sale on that AL hadn't heard of! (Side note: Al knows where all the food sales are every week, and just exactly what is on sale and for how much.) Then I went to Home Depot and you would have thought everything in the store was free for the numbers of humans in there! We then went to Applebee's for lunch...usually, in "normal" times, there is a short wait at noon, yesterday it was 30-45 minutes! Barnes and Noble looked like they were having a fire sale....no room to "wroam" in there! Guess it is time to start staying home for a while, or go out to dinner at 6:30, when all the snowbirds are done with dinner (they go to the "early bird" special and are home by 6:00! -- or so the legend goes.) And start shopping at night when they are all home and in bed (7:00 p.m) Nuff said, regardless, we love them!

But the traffic! Have I told you about the traffic? Ouy vey! First of all, traffic in Tuscon isn't the best, better than Seattle, but not the best on a good day. THEN, add in the snowbirds! Hmmm...let's see, where am I? Where am I going? Oh, and let's never go more than 10 mph UNDER the posted speed limit...or slower. Oh? I have my left blinker on and have had for the last 10 miles? Well, I may turn, or then again, I may not or I may turn right! OH? Did I cut you off, well where I am from, that is par for the course! UGH!!!! So it goes! By March all will be almost back to normal! And to top it off, the Gem and Mineral Show starts soon...which means MORE PEOPLE will be here....from every corner of the world...all trying to fit in to the same stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. AARRGG! HOWEVER, after all the prattling I have done, we still love it here! Go figure!

I could say we have sun and warm...well, a couple days ago we did, but now the wind is blowing a cold front in...with rain...yes! Rain! I know, most of you from the frozen north land of Washington and Oregon cuss the rain, but here, we love it. We are still way too dry.

Speaking of the frozen north land of Seattle (I was speaking of it, I think) we are headed to Seattle tomorrow morning. No, we haven't lost our minds; nor are we gluttons for punishment! Our daughter-in-law's father died last week and are going up to attend the funeral. Beverly's dad, Bill Amble, was a wonderful man, we enjoyed him so much. He is missed, but resting peacefully finally. WE will spend 4 days in Seattle, staying with Jennifer. And after reading the weather forecast, I am not sure I have enough clothes to keep me warm! The forecast reads something like this: Friday, lows 13-23, highs 30-32? HIGHS??? 30-32??? BRRRR.. Saturday: lows 20-28, highs 33-35.....Sunday: mostly sunny, lows 25-30 (WHOOPPEE) highs 33-38 (HEAT WAVE?), and so on. I don't own enough clothes to keep me warm. Good thing Jennifer paid her heating bill! :-) However, on a good note, we will get to see some family and friends while we are there. Four of our grandchildren and our great granddaughter will be there as well...so there are pluses for freezing.

Gary and Jeannette (Al's cousin) are in town. Parked at our favorite RV Resort, Voyager. They will be here for a month and we are really looking forward to going out to play with them! We are planning to go to Bisbee for a couple of days; AL and Gary plan to go to do some MINING tours while Jeannette and I explore more of Tubac and other various places. Of course, Jeannette and I will have to boost the economy a little along the way.

We have both been battling colds, however, I think we are on the mend. I feel 100% better and AL is getting to that point. Right now Al and Bob Grabow are working on the 5th wheel. We haven't been able to get 110 volt power to the inside since last month and they think they can figure it out. I will keep you posted as to the condition. We were hoping it was something simple, but we should know better with the 5th wheel...NOTHING IS EVER SIMPLE! Looks like the inverter is not inverting...or what ever it is suppose to do. Oh Gordon and Denise, where are you???
Don't you want to take a vacation??? To Tucson? How about peach pie? Will that entice you?

So, until we are back from the frozen north land....keep on smiling. Life is good if you are living it the way you want!

AL and Jo
The FROZEN WROAMIN' WRASPIR'S
(well, not frozen at this minute, but we are anticipating....)