Happy 75 Al

Tucson
Things have certainly been calm for the last few days as far as health issues go...kinda' scary! Al is doing very well. His arm has cleared up nicely and he is doing well on his oral antibiotics. It's about time things returned to somewhat normal around here.

Last week we enjoyed an overnight visit from friends from San Diego. Pete and Diane Reilly were here for a quick visit. Al and Pete have known each other for many, many years and we were with Pete in Saudi. We enjoyed their visit -- they are wonderful people.

Dick and Lano arrived from Yuma on Wednesday and will go home tomorrow :-( We really enjoy having them here. However, they wind up helping do so many things around the house one wonders why they keep coming back!!!! We certainly don't complain! Dick helped me repair a light fixture in the 5th wheel and wire back up some outside lights that had been disconnected.

Speaking of the house, for the last 2 weeks we have been in the middle of having the outside painted. It is finished now and boy what a difference. We went about 10 shades darker (the paint color is called "light mocha"..coffee anyone?) The painters did an excellent job on the house. Gary and Mike...thank you so much. Now they have started on the rental house....it needs painting as badly as this one did. And no paint sprayer...this is all roller and brush.

Last night we had Al's 75th birthday party here. I had thrown him a birthday card party and he recieved over 50 cards...thank you all for sending them and making his 75th birthday special for him. He enjoyed hearing from all of you. Last night we had 20 people here for his party. I cooked a turkey and made several different salads, people brought salads, appetizers and fruit plates to help out. Lots of food and fun.

The doctors are still controlling our lives right now. Last week we had 4 appointments; this coming week we have 6. ARG! Still no idea when the doctors will release Al to travel. We hope to head north the middle of May, but it all depends on when he can travel. Last Sunday we were both suffering from a bad case of cabin fever; so we hopped in the car and did some local exploring. We drove to Green Valley and then out to Madera Canyon...very pretty drive with GREEN TREES! Then we took a dirt road (I am getting used to these scary dirt roads)

over to Sonita and went to Patagonia Lake. Very pretty there as well. Then we came back to Tucson and had dinner with Al's cousin Gary. It was a nice outing for us and we didn't have to see a doctor once! Unusual for us lately as all of our outings have somehow involved a doctor or two!!!

It has been nice here, but a bit windy. I don't mind a nice, gentle breeze, however, sometimes it does get a bit "gusty" here...we had gusts to 60 MPH last week...that is not fun. I commented to Al the other day that I couldn't remember it being this windy last April. THEN, I remembered WHY I couldn't remember it ... we were floating around the Panama Canal this time last year! Now it makes sense!

That's about all from the neck of the woods for now. Later..............