Saturday, October 27, 2007

Oh boy---I am growing old FAST

Tucson
Okay...I give! I will be 60 in a few days, right now I am still 59.99, but after tonight I am pushing 60 FAST!

Our youngest granddaughter, Lori is out to her first semi-formal dance at high school. Lori is a Freshman this year and she is attending her first homecoming dance. Now, I have to say, this is the girl that I thought we would never see in a dress...she hasn't worn a dress in forever. I think she was probably 5 the last time we got a dress on her! Now look at her...all grown up and in a dress! How and when did this happen???

Isn't she beautiful? She is the one who loves horses, has 2 of her own, breaks her own horses for barrel racing, and can toss a bale of hay like it was nothing! Oh my!!! Lori riding in a Rodeo.

In other news, AL is home from Washington and we are preparing to go on our Greek Isle Cruise. I picked him up in Phoenix on Wednesday and our daughter Billie and husband Dan were on vacation in Scottsdale for the week, so we spent one night with them. Thankfully, Dan, a fireman in LA was on vacation and not on the fire lines in Southern California. He said he wouldn't have been anyway as he is posted to Station 99, Beverly Hills and they wouldn't pull resources from that station because of the Santa Monica Mountains that they cover. Those fires are horrible. One of my nephews who has a house in Rancho Santa Fe was evacuated, but the house was safe. And good friends who live in Lake San Marcos were safe, so we felt very blessed.

The other house is coming along nicely and should be ready for my brother by the end of next month. THe new carpet is in, most of the painting is done, new appliances have arrived, so the inside is coming together nicely. We will all be glad when this is done.

Until next time...when I am older....

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The 3 C's...cats, coyotes and carpet

Tucson

Well, it is over...finally! Our new carpet is installed in the house and it is beautiful! I am so pleased with the color and the way it matches everything. I wasn't very thrilled with all the chaos it caused while it was being done however. NOTHING was in the right place...everything was torn up and to some extent still is. All the furniture is back where it belongs, thanks to Holly, Bruce and Cortney and their help....I couldn't have done it without them. Thank goodness they are here to "take care of us" when we need the help! Great people!
This picture doesn't really do the color of the new carpet justice....



The next "C", actually the next two "C's" have to do with an incident in our wild animal kingdom that we live in here in Tucson. Last Monday morning, both dogs were barking and trying to tear down the front screen door to get out! WTH??? So I let them out and went out with them. Up on the ridge in front of our house was three coyotes (not unusual) and one, very large, bob cat! The coyotes were actually stocking the cat! It was interesting to watch the coyotes come up behind her (I decided she had kittens down in the draw that she was protecting as she kept the coyotes from going down in the draw) and then she would turn towards them and they would run and come up from behind again. Pretty soon, she would take off and come up behind them! This lasted for a good 30-45 minutes before the coyotes gave up and left and she went back down to her den in the draw. I haven't seen her since, but I have heard her a couple of times! And of course the coyotes sing to us every night. It keeps the dogs (and me) awake!



The new house is coming along. Most of the painting is done, the new carpet will go in next week and then it will just be a matter of getting it cleaned and furnished. I have been haunting the Thrift Stores for bargains and have found a few, but mostly have been watching the sales in the local furniture stores. My brother, Dick, will be here next month and we would like to have the house as ready as we can for him. There will be things he will have to buy, but we would like to have the basic's in for him.



AL is having a great time in Odessa. The hunting crowd was there last weekend and he enjoyed them, plus all 3 of his son's were there and he really enjoyed that. Now I understand it is cold and rainy in Odessa...oh boy am I glad I am here!



TOmorrow night Jack and Suzi Waddick will be here. Suzi has a show this weekend in Oro Valley so I will help them set up tomorrow night and take down on Sunday. I am sure we will have plenty to visit and plan for our Greek Island Cruise...which is rapidly coming up.



And I will share this with you....


As some of you know, this will be happening to me very soon....but Mike V, you get to go first!!!!!!!! Right now I am only 59.95!!!!

And on that note....until next time...be happy, be safe and keep in touch.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

We are REALLY WROAMIN' this time!

Tucson



We got home last Saturday to some very grouchy animals! The dogs were mad at us for leaving them in their luxury hotel (with Holly and Bruce) and for the first few hours they didn't want anything to do with us until dinner time! The cats, were pretty much cats. Juanito had a few choice "meows" for us when we first got home, but then he saved his big pestering for bed time!



Sunday we layed low and recovered. OH, by the way, we did get on the earlier flight out of Denver...we were the last two standby's to get on! But we didn't care, it saved us 3 more hours in Denver!! By the time our originally scheduled flight arrived in Phoenix we were already sound asleep in the hotel!



Monday was a work day...ya' I know, I hear all of you who really WORK, but there are certain things we work at...around the house! ALSO on Monday, I got my new horse! It is a 2005 Honda Rancher ATV! I love it! It is bright yellow so you can definitely see me coming! I think I am begining my second (or perhaps third) childhood!



Tuesday was was and pack day. Al is going to Odessa for the deer hunt so I had to get him ready to go.



Wednesday I took Al to the Phoenix airport, leaving here at o'dark thirty to get him there by 8:30 a.m.! YAWN! Cortney went along with me, and kept me awake on the way home.



Now, our big news...we are going to take a cruise to the Greek Isles! YES! THis is a cruise I have wanted to take for years and years...and we really got a good deal on the cruise (and no, we don't have to row!!) and our friends Jack and Suzi are going with us. What a great way to celebrate my 60th birthday! We leave Nov. 7...er, that's less than a month away! I AM SO EXCITED!!! Our itinerary reads like this

Day 1 Venice, Italy Arrive after a 16 hour flight (ugh)
Day 2 Venice, Italy depart 1:00 PM
Day 3 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Day 4 Corfu, Greece
Day 5 Katakolon (Olympia), Greece
Day 6 Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Dau 7 Mykonos, Greece
Day 8 Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
Day 9 Rhodes, Greece
Day 10 Santorini, Greece
Day 11 At Sea (FInally a day for rest!)
Day 12 Naples/Capri, Italy
Day 13 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Fly back to Phoenix (Another 16 hours)

I am so excited...oh, I said that already! This is really my dream vacation/cruise. Like I said, I have wanted to do this for many years, but it was always too expensive. Thank you Princess Cruises --- I am sure this is one of those "let's get this ship filled up" deals, but I don't care! WE ARE GOING TO GREECE. Al and I spent Thanksgiving there 20 years ago on a quick trip out of Saudi and I fell in love with Greece and have always wanted to go back!

We are getting ready to have our new carpet installed in this house so I am working like a dog to get the house ready. Everything has to be packed up and out of the way, the big furniture will be moved for me, however, the smaller stuff I have to move. This will be a two day install, the back of the house the first day and the front the next day, so Monday night, in between watching DWTS I will be moving things around...oh boy, what fun!

Our weather has been incredible...in the high 90's for the last few days, but the nights cool off to low 70's. Next week it is suppose to cool down to 80...may have to get my long underwear out!

Until next blog...............we are half way Wroamin'.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

WDC-St Louis-Phoenix-HOME

Oct 2 Washington DC
Today we spent just kinda' hanging around. Since my legs, hips, back and feet refused to walk to the Metro again, we took a cab to the Capitol and walked around it. It really is pretty, so clean and pristine. OF course, we all know what goes on inside is none of the above adjectives!

From there we walked to the White House. Of course, we stopped at Starbucks along the way. Did you know there are 365 of them here? I think we have found at least 360 of them! The walk down Pennsylvania Avenue was great...I enjoy doing that. Took the required pictures at the White House. We did stop at the National Gallery of Art again and had lunch in the Garden Cafe again. AND, I had their wonderful Lobster Bisque....I think I have had my quota of that for a while. Well, maybe.......................

Oh, before I forget, while we were in Arlington yesterday, there was a change of command at Ft Myer; and GW was in attendance. Needless to say, there was an impressive fly over during the changing of the guard that we were viewing and I we thought it was for that, but it was for the change of command. We saw GW's motorcade after it left the cemetery/Ft. Myer and was crossing the bridge going back into DC. DARN, I didn't have a chance to visit with GW and give him some advice!

Jennifer had a plane to catch at 5:00 p.m. so we were back at the hotel by 2:30 p.m. After Jenn left, Bev and I went back over to Pentagon City Mall for a while, nosed around and then decided it was time for dinner. We went to Ruth Chris Steak House for dinner and had a wonderful dinner. Yum-o!

Back to the hotel to watch Dancing with the Stars, results.

Wed. Oct 3 St. Louis, or to be correct, O'Fallon. MO
Alas, our DC trip has came to an end. Bev and I flew back to St. Louis today. It is still hot here! Very unusual for this area. Mike and Al picked us up at the airport. Al is doing well and has had a blast with Mike this last week. They have been seeing Missouri; to Hermann for wine, California (the city, not state) for Burgers Meats and to Sedalia to visit old friends Dave and Dorothy Macafree. So they have been busy and Al has enjoyed every minute of it. Tonight Sarah and Natasha came over for dinner, which was a great pork loin that Mike fixed.
Great-Granddaughter, Natasha



Thurs. Oct 4
Did some running around here in O'Fallon today and had lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger -- good burgers. Tonight I fixed paella...it wasn't the best I have done, but it wasn't bad either. Packed for our trip home.....ugh, I still hate that job!

Friday, Oct 5....Denver Airport
The song "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" is rolling around in my head! GET IT OUT! This song was popular when I lived in Denver, many, many, many (39 years of them....468 ) moons ago. I was pregnant with Jennifer then and in my first few months and had morning sickness ALL DAY! Enough of the needless information!

We are sitting in the Denver Airport....FOREVER! We are en route to Phoenix and have a 6 plus hour layover here. We tried to get on an early flight into Phoenix from here, but that flight is oversold by 6 seats (now, why in the hell do airlines do that? Where do they plan to get the extra seats?) so it isn't likely we will get to Phoenix earlier (another song just popped into my pea brain...."By the Time I get to Phoenix"...help, the song monster has me!)

It is kinda' fun sitting here...watching people. Some people make me wonder....of course, I am sure at times (a lot of time) I make people wonder as well.

We will be home in Tucson tomorrow, as we are spending the night in Phoenix tonight, since we get in way to late for me to drive us home! Then next Wednesday, we make another trip to Phoenix to put Al on a plane to Spokane. He has decided he wants to go deer hunting in Odessa, so he will fly up and spend 2 weeks in Odessa. I, on the other hand, will be home in Tucson getting new carpet installed in our house (doesn't that sound more fun than deer hunting??) and getting some things done on the rental house. Our life is way to busy for me right now. I think while Al is gone I am going to take some down time to start a new quilt! I have two baby quilts I need to get done in the next few weeks.

So, until next time, we are
THE WROAMIN' Wraspirs........

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