What a week!!!!

Tucson
March 5

Whew! What a week I have had...and NEVER want to repeat what happened on Thursday...

Last week started off alright...kinda. On Saturday, Feb. 24 we took Ric, Janet and Cammie to the airport at o'dark thirty to catch their plane back to Seattle. After we got home I was doing some laundry when the step stool in the laundry room came crashing down and attacked my left ankle. OUCH...that hurt, however, I didn't think to much about it and kept on going. Yes, it was swollen, but it didn't hurt to much. I lived with the sore ankle until Wednesday, when I happened to look at my left foot and not only was it swollen, it was black and blue! So, off to the doctor I go. He doesn't think it is broken, but sent me for an xray. He will call with results. For now, he has me in an ankle brace. NOW my ankle hurts! The brace is driving me crazy.

Thursday I am busy around the house as Billie and Dan are flying in that afternoon. Dan has his own plane and will land in Marana, which is about 30 minutes from here. They call us from the half way point and tell us they will be in around 5:00 p.m. Now, I have to tell you at this point, before I go any farther with my story, that our utilites for the house (gas meter, water and electic) are located right off the driveway to the south of the house. At 4:15 we are backing out of the driveway and I KNOW those utilites are there, but what do I do? I BACK RIGHT OVER THEM!!! CRAP! In my new car. CRAP, CRAP! Now not only do I back over them but I broke off the gas meter and the water pipe. Lucky for us I missed the electric post! Now, we have gas leaking and water gushing! CRAP, CRAP, CRAP! I try to move the car forward, but it is hung up on the broken gas meter. At least I had enough since to tell Al to get out of the car NOW...of course, he was on the downward side of the hill and it sure wasn't easy for him to get out. I call 911 and the Fire Department arrives (10 minutes later!!) In the mean time we still have gas leaking. As the fireman said, "good thing you didn't hit the electic meter or you wouldn't be here to tell us what happened!" Thanks guys! Anyway, the gas and water companies get the gushing water and gas turned off, the fire department get's my car off the gas meter, and I am one big basket case. In the mean time, Billie and Dan have landed at the airport and I call them to tell them we have had a small accident and we will be there as soon as we can to pick them up. In the middle of all of this excitement, my doctor's office calls and tells me "oh, by the way, you have a hair line fracture in your ankle...wear your brace for a few more days and see how it goes." What timing! I am done for the day! I called Holly to come rescue me....and drive me over to pick up Billie and Dan. After a long, hair raising day, we finally got gas and water restored to the house about 10:00 p.m. I don't want another day like that!!!!




Friday dawned a beautiful day. Sun was shining and no wind. Dan asked me if I wanted to go flying....HECK YES! So we off we go...what a thrill. Dan has a Cessna 172, old, but in good condition. We flew over our house, Holly and Bruce's house, Saddlebrooke and the valley in front of our house. Man, I never knew how many houses are hidden in this valley and how much new construction is going on! What a great flight tho. Since I love to fly, in anything, I was really happy. Saturday night we celebrated Dan's birthday, which isn't until next month, but what the heck...I made him lasagne, his request.


our house from the air



Saturday was Billie's birthday. Since it was too windy to go flying, we just rode around the area, looked at some model homes in Saddlebrooke and Dove Mountain, and generally goofed off. Al bbq'd ribs for dinner (Billie's request) and I made Billie her chocolate cake; Bruce, Holly and Cortney joined us for dinner. The wind blew all day....and not just a breeze, it blew hard.

Dan gave Billie a Coach Purse for her birthday!


Sunday was calm, so Dan took Al flying and then me. I would love to learn how to fly...but then I would want a plane, ... so guess it is best I just rely on Dan and the airlines to satisfy my flying habit. We went to dinner at Lil Abner's steakhouse and yum, it was wonderful.

Today (Monday) we were up early to get Dan and Billie back to their plane and they are on their way home...the weekend was just way to short! However, we have a lot to look forward to this week. Tomorrow Mike and Bev get here, as well as friends Kathy and Rowland. So our house will be busy this week. On Friday our good friends from Long Beach arrive for the weekend. They will be staying in a hotel close by...so we will be busy. Both of us love having company and are really looking forward to this week.

The animals are better...finally. Juanito got his stitches out and Schuster got his cast off. However, because he had the cast his foot got a yeast infection...dogs sweat through their paws. So now he has a collar on his neck so he won't lick the infected paw...good grief...he is not happy at all, and I get these big, sad, brown eyes looking at me saying "why?" He has to wear this collar until Friday and he and I are both counting the days!

So until next time, I will try not to break or run over anything and will enjoy our company.

Rocky

Tucson

Al's cousin, Holly, wrote this story about one of their dogs. After asking her permission, I had to share it.

ROCKY

The first weekend of April 2003 was a horrible weekend to go camping. The weatherman said “possible rain and cold wind for the weekend”, but we were determined to get out of town. There is a place called “Rock Creek” in the mountains, we would go at least once a year. It is secluded and far away from people and civilization.

My husband, our daughter and I love our pets, we had three dogs. Several strays have crossed our path, we would always feed and water them, but we could not keep them, feeling ”we didn’t give the pets we had enough attention”. So with heavy hearts, we would take them to the Humane Society and hope for the best.

Deep down we really didn’t feel like camping. Determined, we gathered all supplies, and hoped I didn’t forget the frying pan (which I have done in the past). The crew cab truck was packed full. Our three dogs in the bed, nestled among the sleeping bags and tents, our daughter and her friend in the back seat, my husband driving and I was riding shotgun.

Driving to “Rock Creek” was long and uneventful. Arriving safely, we set up camp, made dinner and cleaned up. The girls had their own tent and were protected by “Tootsie”, our sheltie mix. Extinguishing the fire and stowing the trash, my husband and I retired to our tent with “Riley”, a husky/chow mix and “Lady”, a rottie mix.

The weatherman’s predictions came true. Wind began to howl, causing an eerie conversation high within the pine trees. Feeling anxious about hearing voices and things that go bump in the night, a noise was heard from our campsite. Flashlight in hand, we peeked our heads out the tent door and looked around. Everything looked fine, and then off to the right a pair of eyes glowed. Seeing it was probably a coyote or a raccoon and not a bear, we were able to sleep, somewhat.

The next morning, our dogs ran off. The problem, we didn’t know which direction down the road. My husband went one way and I the other, calling, “Tootsie, Riley, Lady” over and over. I remember seeing some fresh scratch marks in the dirt, like a dog did it, thinking it was weird. We had not been down this way with our dogs and we were the only crazy campers in the area. I heard my husband yell, “I have the dogs”, so I returned.

Throughout the day, the wind kept building and bringing more cold. The girls found enjoyment getting wet in the stream. I had them change clothes and instructed them to stay dry. What did they do? They got wet again! No available dry clothes my patience ran thin. I told them to put on their pajamas and play games in their tent. My husband and I are miserable, we were cold, we were tired, and we had two board, pre-teen girls. There was no way we could expect them to stay in their tent when it was hours before turning in for the night. We looked at each other and decided it was time to go home.

I took the dogs for a walk, on the way back they ran ahead of me. My husband yelled, “I have a dog!” Thinking to myself, ‘yeah, I know they‘re our dogs’, it was not. He was peppered black and white with black liver spots. He was emaciated, his eyes were glossy and sunken, we could see every bone in his body, and every rib more defined with each breath, petting him was like petting a straw broom. My husband fed this dog, he ate like I have never seen any animal eat; we probably over fed him at the time.

Tootsie, Riley and Lady’s reaction amazed me. Our three usually show no restraint when protecting their territory. I feared they would hurt this dog. They reacted just the opposite, they were gentle, they gave him space, and didn’t try to eat his food my husband put down.

We leashed our visitor, intently he watched with a worried expression as we loaded the truck. I told him, “everything will be okay, we won’t leave you behind”. He kept his eye on the tailgate. All packed, I took him off the tether and held onto his only possession, a brown leather collar with no tags, I feared he would run off. There was no need, he soared into the back of our truck and nested down. This new dog had a few bowel movements on the way home, his very large feces contained mostly of grass and twigs. We would stop, clean up, and then continue our journey with all sorts of scenarios on how he became lost in a very isolated part of the mountains.

We had left home with three dogs, returning, there were four that walked single file into our backyard. Secretly each of us wanted to keep him, we didn’t know if he would live and if somebody already loved him. Naive as I was, I couldn’t imagine anyone not missing this beautiful animal. I reported him found with the local Humane Society, they scanned him, no microchip. I sensed they were relieved when I said, “he could stay with us”.

A week passed and no one claimed the Queensland heeler mix, I was relieved. I called a vet for a check up and prepared to put up a fight with my husband to keep him. What I didn’t know, my husband already intended to keep our visitor. The vet examined him, and found he was more than likely abandoned, around 3 ½ years old, and neutered. Receiving all needed vaccinations and prescribing tape worm medication, our job was to find a name. Since my husband first saw him, and he was found at “Rock Creek” he became ‘Rocky’, my husbands dog.

Rocky may be the reason our three dogs took off running that morning. The scratch marks I saw, probably belonged to him, as he scavenged for bugs to eat. I think Rocky had been watching us from a distance and it was his eyes we saw glow in the night. With our three dogs out of camp, Rocky knew he had to be brave, he had to take a chance and come forward, he had to ask for help, if he was going to survive.

A good bath, time to heal, and learning to trust us, we all fell in love. How Rocky became lost in the mountains, we shall never know. Now years later, gray is showing on his sweet face. Our seniors, Riley and Tootsie, have passed on and a special bond has developed between Rocky and Lady, they are like “peas and carrots”. Of all our camping trips, the one that was the most miserable turned out to be the most memorable. Rocky was meant to be apart of our family. We believe the only reason we went camping that cold windy weekend was because there was a lost soul who needed to be found, Rocky had too much love left to give. Someone else’s reject became our treasure.

By, Holly Sanderson

Willy, Caves, Ranchs, Rodeo's and Broken Animals!

Tucson Feb. 22, 2007

We have really had a busy last few days! Ric, Janet and Cammie are here from Seattle and we have really been moving! They arrived late on Friday night, so Saturday we just relaxed. We had Jude and Roger Hubbell and Pat and Patty Voss over for dinner that night and Al smoked a turkey...wow, was that ever good.

Sunday Ric and Janet took a nice long walk, Cammie went over to spend time with her boyfriend James, who is visiting his grandmother who lives here in Sun City. Sunday night AL and I went with Bob and Rob Grabow to see Willy Nelson at the Desert Diamond Casino! What a show Willy put on! I know probably most of you are Willy fans, but we are! He sang for over two hours and he was good! His pianist, who is is sister was fabulous. I could have listened to her all night. WIlly sang all his oldies and a few new songs he has written lately. He is still great at the ripe old age of 73.

Monday we were off again, this time to Tanque Verde Ranch to meet Gary and Jeannette for lunch. The ranch is up against the Rincon Mountains. It is so pretty and interesting. The ranch has been there since 1880 as a working ranch. In 1920 it was converted into a Dude Ranch, as it is today. This would be a terrific vacation spot....if you didn't live in Tucson and you liked horses!

Tuesday we were up and gone early in the day to Karchner Caverns.

Ric and Janet at Karchner Caverns This was a great trip! The caverns were discovered in 1974, but weren't open to the public until 1999 (Rotunda and Throne Room) and then in 2003 the Big Room was opened. We toured the Rotunda and Throne Room. Some things we saw: One of the worlds longest soda straw stalactites - 21 feet 2 inches; the tallest and most massive column in Arizona, Kubla Khan 58 feet tall; The world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk; how the discovrers walked in the same path so not to disturb the rest of the caverns; beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. I also discovered why I would never be a good cave explorer....don't like being in dark, underground areas for very long! It was a cool experience however and now I would like to go back to see the Big Room. And we also learned that the caverns are alive and still building!

After the caverns and because we were close we headed to Tombstone so Ric, Janet and Cammie could visit the old west town. We have been there many times, and it still is interesting to us as well. We got home about 7:30 p.m. and decided homemade pizza would be a good dinner. YUM.

And then there is Wednesday! My poor animals! First off, Juanito had to have surgery today to remove a growth on his neck. He is home and one very mellow, drunk cat still. To keep him from scratching his incision, I decided to wrap tape around his back paws. OOPS! Have you ever seen a cat try and walk while shaking his back paws at the same time? And he walks bow legged as well. Cammie and I laughed until we hurt watching him! Poor baby....and Ted, you be nice! But one broken animal isn't enough for us apparently. Schuster has been limping for the last few days, we had him to the vet last week and we were told he had a broken toe and there really wasn't much they could do for it. However, if the swelling didn't go down, we were to bring him back. Well, you guessed it, the swelling hadn't gone down, so back to the vet he went today! She decided it wasn't knitting, so she put a cast on his foot and lower leg. So now I have one cat who is very upset with me and one dog who isn't very happy with me either!!!! And a whopping big vet bill! OUCH!

One very unhappy Juanito!!!

Poor Schuster.....



And to top off the day, I just learned my long time girlfriend Peggy
(we have been friends since high school...yes, that long!!) has been hospitalized in Florida with intestinal blockage. When it rains, it pours, apparently!

Today was the Tucson Rodeo! All of us piled into the van, including Cortney and off we went for the rodeo. Traffic was absolutely horrible. First off the rodeo parade was today (I didn't realize this when I bought the tickets a few weeks ago...there should be a warning sign about parade being on the day we decide to go...)so we were dealing with parade traffic; then apparently a little girl was killed today at the parade, not sure if it was from a runaway horse and wagon or just exactly what (haven't seen the news yet... film at 10!) Anyway that STOPPED traffic for a while and after 45 minutes of basically going in circles, we finally got to the rodeo grounds. The rodeo itself was great...we always enjoy this rodeo. However, when I watch the bull riders I get a little nervous, since grandson Vic rides bulls (I still don't understand why) and I love watching the barrel racers (thanks to granddaughter Lori who barrel races) and the drill team was great! After the rodeo we went to one of our favorite restaurants, El Corral for a dinner of prime rib. I am now full, tired and ready to go to bed! Long,long day!

Stay tuned for the rest of our exciting adventures...............

New cars and Red Hats

Feb. 15, 2007 Tucson

Yesiree......we have a new car. Too bad I don't have a picture to share with you! I am remiss in not taking a picture of our 2006 Toyota Sienna Mini-van! Last week I decided, after much debate with Al, to buy another car. I didn't want a 2007 model and take the deprecation hit, so I started looking for 2006 model We looked at Ford, in fact at a Ford Explorer equal to my 1994 Explorer, only the 06 version. TOO MUCH MONEY! And the dealer wouldn't deal...so we walked away (only to have the salesperson call us the next day and offer a "better" deal!) We walked away from a Ford Freestyle as well. On our way to the Honda dealer we passed the Toyota dealership and Al spotted several vans in their used lot. So in we went, and out we came with a van 3 hours later. However, this is what I really wanted....and had been comparing everything else to. I LOVE IT. Yes, I sometimes feel like a soccer mom....however, it rides so nice and is so nice to drive and the dogs LOVE IT. They each have their own seat! And still room to spare. The Camry was getting to the point of needed some major work done and I didn't want to have to spend that kind of money and still have an older car. AL is adjusting to having a van...still isn't sure he likes it tho!



On another note, last Monday, Feb. 12, was the Yuma County Red Hat Convention put on by the Bodacious Red Hatters. It was a great convention, attended by over 500 Red Hatters from all over the country! My good friend Lano was co-chairwoman this year and she really put a lot of work into the convention. I know she was absolutely worn out after the convention and she should have been. The entertainment was good, Joe Bauer, a comedian from San Diego was great and Melba Lynn, playing the keyboard and singing was super! There were lots of vendors there as well selling all things Red Hat...and I didn't buy a thing! I have so much Red Hat stuff I could open up my own shop! I had a great time and I am looking forward to going again next year. We also had a great visit with our friends in Yuma...always nice to be around them.

We are looking forward to company arriving late tomorrow night. Ric, Al's youngest son and part of his family are going to be here for a week. Janet (wife) and youngest daughter (Cammie) are coming; Ashley (oldest daughter) is in college this year and her mid-winter break isn't the same time as Cammie's; so she will be home. We have lots planned for while they are here, including taking in UofA women's softball games, Karchner Caverns, and the Tucson Rodeo, which AL and I love to attend. WAH HOO!

The weather is as strange as it can possibly be! One day it will be warm and sunny and nice (and I am dressed for winter), the next day it will be cold, windy and nasty (and I am dressed for spring)....I just can't seem to catch up! OH well, soon it will settle down and be nice.

We had lunch today with a good friend, Ann, from Bellingham. She is Schuster and Simon's "aunt"...so to speak. We got the two poodles from her mom; so of course I took Beau and Schuster with us today so Ann could see the mutts. Schuster is such a nut anyway! He NEVER makes up to people right away, however, he did to Ann. Wonder if he remembers her? Also, in his hurry to beat Beau in the door this morning, Schuster hurt his back leg and has been limping around all day. He doesn't seem to yelp or show any pain when we rub his leg, but we can tell it must hurt him and he just isn't himself, so tomorrow if he isn't better it will be off to the vet. As Ann says about her dog, she has a frequent visitor punch card to the vet, I am beginning to feel that way as well. Haven't been to the vet with sickness or injury in over a year and now I will have been twice in as many weeks. I had to take Juanito (cat) in last week for sneezing and runny eyes and a lump on his neck. Sneezing and runny eyes (he is allergic to people?) we got meds for and the lump will be removed next week...total cost == too much. Now I will get to donate to the vet again tomorrow. WHEW! Pet insurance is beginning to look better and better!

SO until next time something exciting, partly exciting or not exciting happens in our lives, we hope this finds everyone doing well and happy! As my mom used to say...TA-TA for now.

Sedona and More SNOW!!!!

Feb. 2, 2007 Tucson, AZ

We just finished spending a week in Sedona, Arizona. For those of you who are not familiar with Sedona, it is a beautiful area, approximately 100 miles north of Phoenix, near the Grand Canyon and the Mogollon Rim (pronounced Mug-ee-ooyon). Sedona is known for the red rocks and red rock formations that surround the area. There is Snoopy Rock, Coffee Pot rock, steamboat rock, nuns rock, you get the idea. The rocks will change color with the sun and at sunset they are truly at their best.

The town was founded in the early 1900's by Theodore and Sedona Schnebly. History says that they wanted to establish a post office and submitted the name "Schnebly Station"; which was rejected by the postal commission as being to long. So they then named the town "Sedona".

We arrived on Friday, Jan 26 with Gary and Jeannette Wraspir following us in their car. Driving through Phoenix was truly a nightmare! So much traffic, way too many cars for the road! We are staying at the Villas of Sedona, in West Sedona. Very nice two bedroom townhouse timeshare and within walking distance to grocery stores, restaurantes, etc. Matter of fact, we dined at Troia's Pizza Pasta Amore' for dinner. It is right next to the timeshare and what a great find! The food was outstanding! AND for dessert I had chocolate bread pudding (not your fav, I know suzi)and it was wonderful...gotta find a recipe for that!

Jan 27
After breakfast at the timeshare, Gary and Jeannette took off on a "power" walk...I knew I couldn't keep up with them, so I sat off to walk for 30-40 minutes to explore. What a beautiful day for a walk...a little on the cool side, but still the sun was out this morning.

After lunch we took a "Pink Jeep Tour" around the area.
Actually we took the "whoosy" tour...not a lot of off road and four wheel driving on this tour. Some of the tours offered were down right scary! Our tour, Coyote Canyon took us back through some canyons and up to an old cabin named "Van Deren Cabin" which was which was originally homesteaded by a local named Bill Fredericks, who was known for his "good whiskey".
In 1924 he sold the cabin to Earl Van Deren. Earl married soon after and expanded the cabin to two rooms!! Woo Hoo! Interesting place to visit. However, it was a little of a rough ride up to this cabin, even 4x4 wheeling at times. We were exploring the cabin and I walked behind it and lo' and behold, there was a beautiful golf course right behind it. Obviously, we were brought to the cabin the "old" way!!!! At any rate we had a good time and saw some wonderful red rocks and great views of the Mogollon Rim.

And Bev...these PINK JAVALENA'S are just for you!!!


















Later Jeannette and I went up to view the wonderful sunset over Sedona from the airport. Absolutely beautiful...the pictures don't do it justice.



Jan 28
Today we toured Jerome Arizona. Jerome is about 30 miles from Sedona, located high on top of Cleopatra Hill (5,200 feet). It is a historic copper mining town. Once known as the wickedest town in the west, Jerome was a copper mining camp, growing from a settlement of tents to a roaring mining community. Four disastrous fires destroyed large sections of the town during its early history, resulting in the incorporation of the City of Jerome in 1899.
Founded in 1876, Jerome was once the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. The population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920's. The Depression of the 1930's slowed the mining operation and the claim went to Phelps Dodge, who holds the claim today. World War II brought increased demand for copper, but after the war, demand slowed. Dependant on the copper market, Phelps Dodge Mine closed in 1953. The remaining 50 to 100 hardy souls promoted the town as a historic ghost town. In 1967 Jerome was designated a National Historic District by the federal government. Jerome sits above what was the largest copper mine in Arizona and produced an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. Today the mines are silent, and Jerome has become the largest ghost town in America.
The towns personality has changed dramatically in the past 30 years. Once a thriving mining camp between the late-1880s and early 1950s, Jerome is now a bustling tourist magnet and artistic community with a population of about 450. From its external appearances it hasn't changed much in nearly 100 years. Many of the buildings used by present-day business folks are those built after the fires of 1894 and1899. A number of the buildings have been restored and more are planned for restoration. Due to the 30-degree incline of the mountainside, gravity has pulled a number of buildings down the slope. To the delight of some, one of those buildings was the town's jail and in a back alley is where all the buildings were are part of Jerome's ill-famed "prostitution row." Very interesting place. We poked around for about an hour then went to visit my cousin Beverly who has her jewelry design shop in the old high school in Jerome. We had a short, but good visit with her and then we were off to Cottonwood to visit Jeannette's cousin Susan.

Jan. 29
Gary and Jeannette left to go back to Tucson today, but not before we had breakfast at the Coffee Pot Restaurant, home of 101 omelets! Once owned as a bar by the actress Jane Russell, the city fathers decreed when she sold it that it would never be used as a bar again. That was fine with us as the omelet's were wonderful and the menu was, as represented, very varied!

This afternoon good friends Carl and Ruby Skidmore from Lake Havasu arrived for a couple of days.

Jan 30
We woke to a gloomy, gray, rainy, cold day. WE decided to lay low for a while and see if the weather would change...it didn't. It just got worse. WE finally went across the street to JB's restaurant for lunch..and to our amazement it was their opening day. The owner of the JB restaurant chain was there and he visited with us for a while telling us all about thier restaurants. The food and service were great.

Tonight for dinner we went back to Troia's and it was just as good as before. And it was raining so hard we had to drive the short distance instead of walk.

Jan 31
Today's weather is the same as yesterdays, only the clouds are so low you can't see any scenry at all. After breakfast we decided to take a ride to Cottonwood then back to Sedona. We went up to the Chapel in the Rocks, but it was raining so hard we decided not to try and walk up to the chapel. We did see a HUGE, monster of a house being built right below the chapel...remind Al and I of gaudy Saudi houses!

We met my cousin Beverly for dinner tonight at Kaiser's West which is noted for their ribs and home cooking. It was good and we would go back. After we got back to the townhouse I decided to out in search of an ice machine that was in the building behind us. As I stepped out the back door I was pelted with snow! BIG, FAT snow flakes and coming down hard and sticking to everything. ARRGG! Can't get away from it! After a while it changed to a hard rain fortunately.

Feb. 1
Carl and Ruby left today after seeing absolutely NO SCENERY at all! WE will have to try this again. WE decided we would head home as well...no sense in sitting around watching it rain and snow. We got home late afternoon to 4 happy pets! Carl and Ruby ran into some bad driving conditions after they left Sedona, snow and slick roads from Sedona to Flagstaff. We only ran into rain and wind coming home.

Snow on the red rocks of Sedona Snow on the Mogollon Rim



Our next trip is planned in a week or so to Yuma so I can attend the Red Hat convention there and we can visit with our friends there. So until next time........

AARRGG!!!!! SNOW IN THE OLD PUEBLO (aka Tucson)

This is what our house looked like this morning!!! SNOW!! In Tucson??? Come on...how far south do we have to go to get away from this???? The poor palm tree in the picture is shivering!!!

It started to snow last night around 5:00 p.m.....nice, big, fat, fluffy flakes! Very pretty and I didn't really mind since I didn't have to get out in it. However, Gary and Jeannette were here and they had to drive across town to get home. Fortunately, the roads were only wet when they went home, however, this morning it was a different story. Schools are closed today due to icy/snowy conditions and the roads are treacherous! Especially since no one but the snow birds know how to drive in this slick, cold, icy stuff!

This is one of our plants in the yard...and it sure isn't used to the white "frosting" it has.

We didn't get a lot of snow, about an inch, however some parts of town got as much as four inches!

It is cold however, last night it got down to 26 and tonight is about the same. Our pipes froze up last night (didn't this happen to us last year in Odessa???) but fortunately, none broke, so we were without water for a couple of hours. Our high temp today was a whopping 48...so much for global warming!!!! It apparently hasn't reached us. El Nino is really putting the weather into crazy patterns this year.



Holly, Bruce and Cortney were here for dinner last night and Cortney built a very small snowman on our patio table....and it finally melted about 2 hours ago...the big HUMP on the table is a decorative sun we bought to hang on the house, however, hadn't gotten around to hanging it yet, so now it is "seasoned" by snow.




We are heading up to Sedona for a week at the end of this week....it could be a chilling experience as well. For now, we are frozen in Tucson!!!

The Frozen Northland; Rodeo Champs

We are back from the frozen north land, also known as Seattle. More on that in a minute...but first, I HAVE TO BRAG! (Hey, I am a Grandma, I have those rights!) The young lady in the picture is our grand daughter Lori, age 13, who, we just found out, won the Reserve All Around Champion, Jr. Rodeo Association, Willamette Valley, Oregon! Lori is our youngest grand child and boy is she ever a horse person! She and her dad are breaking a horse right now, however, the one it the picture is Cassy...which she broke as well. Lori rides in the American Thunder Drill Team, this past year carrying sponsor flags and the POW Drill, next year she hopes to ride in the rodeo drills. We are SOOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF HER! Her brother, Victor, is a bull rider....so between the two of them they keep their parents busy with rodeo's in the summer.

Very icy roads! Lots of slip and slide!












As I said before, we are back in Tucson after our trip to Seattle...which I froze most of the time. I had not brought enough heavy, warm clothes (I don't own enough clothes to keep me warm in Seattle!!) so I wound up wearing one of Jennifer's sweatshirt most of the time and good friend Kathy loaned me a heavy coat. Without those I would have been one frozen person. When we landed on Friday, the pilot announced that it was a whopping 20 degrees.....I was ready to stay on the plane and go right back to Arizona, which, for the record, wasn't much warmer! Our stay in Seattle was short, but we did enjoy it. We stayed with Jennifer and I am sure her heating bill will be outragous, but we were warm! And I remembered how to drive in snow and ice! Funny how those types of things are ingrained in a person! It was Minot, ND all over again! I actually had fun driving in it, however, most people have no clue how to drive in the snow and ice....I think it must mean to them to go faster and slam on the brakes! We saw several spin outs....oops!
This picture is taken as we were leaving Jennifer's house in Lynnwood early Tuesday morning...those white spots, incase you don't recognize them, are SNOW FLAKES! HUGE, SNOWFLAKES!

The memorial service for Bill Amble was beautiful...Beverly did a wonderful job arranging the services. After the service in the church there was a reception at Anthony's Restaurant in Edmonds...what a nice thing to do. The food was great and it gave everyone a chance to visit. Sad occasion, but very well done.

It also gave us a chance to visit with four of our grand children. Stephen, who lives in New York City was there, as well as Sarah who lives in St. Charles, Missouri and Natasha, our great grand daughter. We haven't seen Stephen in a couple of years and we had a short, but good visit with him. Sarah looks so good...as Al said, she looked happy and very pretty. Natasha is just a hoot...at 7 years old she is a whirlwind of activity and way to smart for us! She was selling me Girl Scout cookies and she said "Grammy, do you want to buy some cookies? They are $3.00 a box and NO CREDIT!" I laughed so hard at that! What a character. We also got to see Ashley and Cammie. Ashley is attending North Seattle Community College and seems to be happy with it. She had dyed her hair black (normal blond) and the black hair really looked nice on her. Cammie is a Junior in High School and very, very pretty. She is tall, slim and looks like a model. We are so proud of all of our grand children. And to keep you up to date on the rest, David is living and working in Kansas City and Danny is in the Army currently stationed in Germany (and we hope he stays there, and not bound for Iraq!...this worries the gramma!) And we were able to visit with friends Kathy and Rowland while we were there and see their son Jesse for the first time in a few years....very good looking young man! What I want to know is who gave all of these kids the right to grow up???? I certainly am not any older....much! We are so proud of all of our children and grand children...they have all turned out so well.

Now we are back in not so warm Tucson. It was 25 last night and we are hoping for some more rain. It does warm up to mid 50's to 60's during the day, so I am really not complaining. Compared to the rest of the nation, we are very, very lucky!

We have both shaken the cold/flu we had and feeling good again. I have plenty of things to do around the house to keep me busy for a few weeks. However, Gary and Jeannette are here for a month (they have a motorhome and are staying at the Voyager RV Resort) so we will be busy playing with them while they are in town...much more fun than working around the house. And we have a trip planned to Sedona at the end of the month, so we will be wroamin' soom.

So until next time.....we are unwroamin'...at least for a few days.

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....)

S-S-S-N-N-N-O-O-O-W-W-W!!!!!

Dec. 28
HUH? SNOW??? In Tuscon? Yup...it is snowing right now! And it's cold! BRRRR However, at our elevation (3,100 ft) the snow isn't sticking, but at 500 feet higher it is...which is the ridge across the valley from us. We have had snow off and on all last night and today, and it started with thunder, lightning, snow??!! Yesterday our high was 75 degrees, dew point at 9% and humidity at 6%....and today we have 43 degrees, rain and snow. Welcome to Tucson in the winter!! WE are really enjoying the rain/snow .. and we have stayed in most of the day -- didn't want to get in the snow plow's way! :-) haha....I bet there isn't a snow plow in this town!

We had a nice Christmas...Jennifer, Dick and Lano were here. The weather was perfect on Christmas day, 70 degrees and sunny. On the Saturday before Lano, Jennifer and I went to Mesa to the "Swap Meet"....> to do some last minute shopping. As we were heading towards Mesa from Tucson we saw what looked like smoke towards Mesa. But, no, not smoke but good old fashion FOG! HUH??? FOG??? In Phoenix??? Does NOT compute. And it was c-c-c-o-o-o-l-l-l-d-d-d! 43 degrees while walking around the swap meet...we made it through 2 aisles, then gave up, we were too cold! Whooses...yup...that's us!

Jennifer left for home on Tuesday; Dick and Lano left Wednesday. I now have two very pouty dogs. They had so much fun playing with Buddy (Dick and Lano's dog) and Dick spent most of his time while here throwing the B-a-l-l for them; and if he wasn't Jennifer was. So, needless to say, they are now looking at me to play with them ALL OF THE TIME! Right now Beau has his head on my lap and Schuster is next to me looking at me with his sad eyes...ob brother! There will be no B-a-l-l playing outside today!

Al is fighting pneumonia again. HE has been feeling rotten for about a week, but didn't want to go to the doctor. Finally I made an appointment and took him yesterday. Doctor said it is a very light case of pneumonia, we caught it in time, however, Al is to rest and do nothing for 10 days to two weeks. The doctor hasn't prescibed an antibiotic yet for him as he wants to see the results of the chest xray that was done yesterday and because Al is on so many medications, he wants to wait to prescribe the antibiotic. More fun to be had!

Dec. 29 HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER....



I didn't post this yesterday..I tried to get a photo of the snow on the mountains behind us....however, you see what I got!















There was no snow today, however, it was still cold. And the cloud layer hadn't changed much...still backed up against the mountains. We are suppose to be on a warming trend starting tomorrow...we will see.

As the year ends and I reflect on the year, all of the good times, bad times and times in between -- and decided it has been a good year for us. My health has been fairly good, AL's has been just okay. We have lost family members this year; Al's brother and two of my aunts; and we have gained no new babies this year. However, next year that will change...I know of one on the way right now but I have been sworn to keep quiet for a while (do you have any idea how hard that is for me???) Let's just say I won't be the true gramma, but darn if I won't spoil that baby anyway...if I can get the real gramma out of the way for 30 seconds or more! Congratulations to you-know-who-you are!

We pray for peace in 2007; happiness and good health for all; and for all of you to live life to the fullest....this isn't a dress rehearsal, this is the only shot you get at life, give it your all!

PROSIT NEUJAHR! HAUOLI MAKAHIKI HOU!! MASAGANANG BAYUNG BANUA! FELIZ ANO -NUEVO! GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR! KIORTAME PIVDLUARITIO! KENOURIOS CHRONOS!

NO MATTER WHAT LANGUAGE...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

It's beginning to look like Christmas......finally

Dec, 19 Tucson



Juanito helps decorate the house!





It's finally beginning to look like Christmas around our house! The cards are mailed, and we are getting a lot of cards from friends and family, and we really enjoy that. Last Sunday we (we, as in, Cortney and I...Al disappeared) got the tree up and some lights on the outside of the house up. Cortney was my Santa's helper this year or I still would be struggling with the tree.
Now, you have to
understand that a few years ago we decided to go with a "fake" tree that was prelit...no more hassle with lights on the tree! Uh huh! It took the three of us (with a couple of cats and dogs thrown in to "help") to get that $%^&*() tree lit! You have to make sure all the "connections" are "connected" to the proper "connection"! I needed an electrical engineer to help put this thing up! FINALLY, I walked away and AL and Cortney got it together. Had I stayed around the tree would have been in little tiny pieces...I have no patience for that kind of nonsense! You see, my theory is, you plug it in and turn it on and it lights up! PERIOD! No hassle, no struggle!

Jennifer comes in on Thursday; friends from Yuma come in on Friday, so by Saturday our house will be full. Bruce, HOlly and Cortney will be here Christmas eve; and Christmas day will just be the five of us. A nice, small dinner of prime rib is planned. I haven't made the peanut butter fudge yet, nor the chocolate fudge; however, that activity is planned for Friday so Jennifer can help!!!

Our weather has turned a bit cool. Matter of fact, it tried to rain on us today and yesterday we got an actual drop or two of rain on the windshield of the car!! Now, I know, you people in the Pacific NW don't understand this at all, but rain around here is exciting! We also had some high winds on Saturday...I thought we were gonna' get blown off this hill top that we live on! Of course, we had nothing to compare to what Seattle had last week. WOW...I had to check and see if the State of Washington was still on the map...went on Google Earth to make sure!

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful 2007.

And the wheels on the train go round and round

We are home from LA...had a good trip. Here are the last few days of our lives.....

Wed Dec 6
After a very fitfull night of sleep in our hotel in Long Beach (lots of noise, a couple of what sounded like gun shots and I was done sleeping) we headed to Jo’s cousin Linda’s in Newport Beach for a visit. Linda took us to a nice restaurant (I can not remember the name!!) for lunch in Balboa. We were right on the water and besides having wonderful food the view was great as well. All to soon it was time for us to head back to Palmdale. We fought our way through LA traffic all the way up to Palmdale, it took us almost 3 hours! UGH!

Good friend Glennie Wilburn and Billie and Dan met us for dinner in Palmdale at Fresco II. We have ate there before and it has never disappointed us. We had a short, but great visit with Glennie. She is such a neat person and we always enjoy her company.

Thurs Dec 7 PEARL HARBOR DAY

After lazing around the house most of the morning, we wroamed around Lancaster for a while…going by our old house, which looks great. I still miss that house! If we were to ever build a house (which, by the way, won’t ever happen…too much work and stress) we would build it like this house. We still have the plans for it tucked away.

This evening we went with Billie and Dan to the LA County Sheriff, Altadena Station, Christmas party. We really had a great time meeting Billie’s (SGT GRAHEK) co-workers and we even got out on the dance floor for a couple of dances! Neither of us knew if we could dance anymore and we found out we could!

Fri Dec 8

Melanie (Jo’s oldest daughter) called today…she has really had one heck of a week…you know the kind, if it could go wrong, it did go wrong. She started out the week having problems at work, then found out her car insurance had been cancelled due to a mistake by the insurance company. She was involved in a car accident a couple of years ago (rear ended while she was at a stop sign) and has been waiting forever for her settlement. Her lawyer has been dragging his feet, despite her attempts to push him along. I would have changed lawyers, but she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Well, as it turns out, he is now among the missing….just up and left. So new she gets to start with a new attorney. Fortunately, her new attorney is in the same firm and knows of the case. What a mess. I just hope she gets her settlement soon….tooooo much has happened to this family in the past year. They need a break!

After battling LA traffic one more time, we are currently (2:30 PM) sitting on Amtrak waiting to depart for Tucson. It is warm today and of course, I am dressed for cold…this trip I was completely off in my clothing. When we left Tucson it was cold and my brain was locked on cold, so I brought warm clothes….when we arrived in LA it was warm and I really could have used some cooler clothes.

Dec 9
This train actually had round wheels. I am convinced the train on the way to LA had square wheels it was such a rough wride, however, this trip was very smooth and we were on time in Tucson at 2:30 a.m. Home by 3:30 a.m.; go to bed immediately, get up at 9:30 a.m. and head for Gila Bend to pickup dogs. We met our Yuma friends there and were greeted by two very happy to see us dogs!

Dec 10
Had a great time with friends Jude and Roger Hubbell today. They took us to see a local production of Cabaret, then dinner at their house. What a great day for us!

Dec.11
It was "get the Christmas cards done" day! I am really behind this year! Maybe I should just wait until next year to do cards? NOT...I love sending and getting xmas cards. So from 10:00 a.m to 10:00 p.m. I did cards. Now, I made most of my cards, so it took a bit longer, but all 195 cards are signed, sealed and ready to mail tomorrow. WHEW!

Dec. 12
CARDS ARE IN THE MAIL! It really is hard to imagine it is xmas...the weather is beautiful! Spent the day doing our xmas shopping for grand children, etc. DONE! Hey, I am really getting a handle on this! EXCEPT, our house is not decorated...it could be July if you looked at our house.

Dec. 13
Still not decorated....not a xmas decoration one at the house yet. We are having our carpets cleaned on Friday...so Saturday I will start decorating inside. Outside? Well, maybe no lights this year.

WRIDIN' THE WRAILS WEST

We are once again on the wroad...this time on Amtrak to Southern California. We had a voucher from Amtrak that expired on Dec. 8, so we decided to take a trip. You know, that is so unlike us...NOT! We left Tucson at 0-dark-30 (1:30 a.m.) on the Sunset Limited heading west. Now, Amtrak surprised us...it is usually late by an hour or more (which, for Amtrak is on time) however, this time it was only 17 minutes late. Good thing we didn't count on it being late by an hour or more! We had a sleeper roomette (big enough for 2 seats, which convert to one bed and a bunk, which, by the way, it is a little tough for me to sandwich myself into! And the "roomette" is very small...)and we did manage a little sleep on our way to Los Angeles. The rails between Tucson and LA are in pretty bad shape, so we more or less, "bounced" our way west! We arrived at Union Station in LA only an hour late. Now, this is amazing for Amtrak; they don't own the rails and have to pull on to a siding to let most of the freights pass! Union Station is an place to see. It has been renovated and it is in beautiful condition...just like it was when trains were the only way to travel! We picked up our rental car and headed north to Acton to see Billie and Dan.

After arriving at Billie and Dan's we were so tired from the trip, we were in bed by 7:30 p.m. I think that is the first time in years we have been in bed that early...and we slept a full 12 hours! WOW...I can't remember the last time we did that. Guess our bodies were telling us something!

Saturday we all went into Lancaster and had lunch, then came back home and Billie and Dan fixed a wonderful turkey dinner. Boy, that was really good. YUM! Dan brined the turkey before he baked it and it was super good. Billie made the rest of the wonderful dinner....green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots....all the yummy stuff. And carrot cake for dessert. We were stuffed!

Sunday Al and I headed to Glendora to visit my brother Johnny for a couple of days. We took Hwy 2 "over the top", which means we drove the Angeles Crest Highway over the San Gabriel mountains instead of "going around" which means down Hwy 14, around the mountains and then back on the other side of the mountains (still with me?) on 210 Freeway to Glendora. It was a pretty drive and a beautiful day. When I was a kid growing up in this area, going over Angeles Crest was the ONLY way to go to Lancaster without packing an overnight bag!!! I learned to drive in the mountains on this wroad as well! After a stop at "The Hat" for a great pastrami sandwich,(if you like pastrami sandwiches, this is must stop if you are in the LA area) we arrived at Johnnys in time to watch a little football before we went out to dinner. My 2 nephews, Steven and Michael and my niece Taryn joined us for dinner. It is so fun to know these kids as adults now....I just want to know when they grew up and how they did this without my permission! All three are good, responsible adults and we are very proud of them.

Monday was my day to visit aunts and cousins. Well, I tried to at least. I got to have a wonderful visit with my cousin Patty and my Aunt Nell. It was so nice to be able to sit down and just visit and rehash old times. I can remember my parents doing this and I used to think "I will never do that!" ... well, all I can say is never say never...I really enjoy this! Does this mean I am getting old? Probably, but I had a wonderful time anyway. I wanted to see my Aunt Mae, however, she had a doctor appointment that day, so I couldn't.

It was strange not going to see my Aunt Martha and my Aunt Millie....that was always a big reason for coming to LA..to see them. Since they both have died in the last 5 months, it was a strange feeling for me -- I realized how much I miss them.

We had dinner with my brother and family. Julie fixed her wonderful eye of round (Cuban style) and her fablous cuban black beans and rice...needless to say, we stuffed oursevles once again! We waddled back to the hotel last night, both groaning and saying "we won't eat for another day or two we are sooooo full"...WRONG.

Side note here, there are horrible brush fires burning in the area. One near Ventura that is threatening 3000 homes and one near Fontana that we can smell the smoke. And it is very, very windy...good ole Santa Ana winds. I remember all of this from when I was a child....it scared me then and it scares me now.

Tuesday was really a fun day for me. My brother and I decided we wanted to go haunt a cemetary. Now, not just any cemetary, but Rose Hills in Whittier. We wanted to go visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and my brother's brother-in-law. So that is waht we did...but it really turned into a "treasure hunt" for us. First of all, Rose Hills is HUGE -- matter of fact, it is the single largest memorial park in the world, over 1,500 acres. This was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. I had a very vague idea of where our grandparents were buried, but that was it. After a visit to the administation office, where a very nice lady looked up all of the sites and gave us directions as to where to find our loved ones, and also told us if we had any trouble locating the grave sites we could call Security for assistance, we set off, armed with the directions and both my brother and I saying, this shouldn't be hard! HA! As we found out at the very first stop...it was a bit harder than we anticipated. We finally found the first grave, after a very long search. The next one was as difficult as the first. We were in the right "garden" but could NOT locate our Uncle. After a call to his daughter, we finally found him. Now, both my brother and I thought this adventure would only take us a couple of hours....we had just used 2 hours looking for 2 graves...at this rate we were going to be there the rest of the day and night (not something we wanted to do!) Plus it was about 80 degrees outside and we were walking up and down hills and rows and rows of graves. The next two were easier to find, so with this building our confidence a bit, we decided to take a break and go find something to eat. Al, in the mean time, is just waiting for us to find the grave and then on to the next one, he would get out and walk and try to help us, but he was as lost as we were. He was so patient with us. After lunch we went in search of the remaining loved ones. We found one of our uncles right off! HEY, we are getting pretty good at this. Now for the last 3 graves, our grandparents and our aunt that died before I was born. We found them with minimal effort....and it was only 1:30 p.m. We both were glad we did this, it had been on our "to do" list for many years.

We left my brothers and headed to Long Beach for the evening to have dinner some good Boeing friends. It was so good to visit with Eva & Bill and Donna. And Donna brought her grand daughter Natalie along...I was shocked! The last time we her saw was 7 years ago...it sure doesn't take children to grow up! Natalie is 13 and is turning into a very pretty young lady. We had a great visit, it is always so much fun to see these people. I wish we all could see each other more frequently, but I am also very thankful for the time we do get to spend with them. Eva, Bill and Donna just never change, they are still the wonderful people we have known over the years.

Bill and Eva Davey








Donna Bearden and grand daughter Natalie






Stay tuned for more of our adventures when we "wride the wrails" home on Friday.

Happy Day, Sad Day

Happy day, sad day....that is what yesterday was. It was a mixture of joy and sadness. Why, you ask? Well here goes....

Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful and to be with family and friends and that is what we did. Family: our Tucson family; Bruce, Holly and Cortney were here. Friends: Good friends Dick and Lano where here. We had a good dinner, Lano and I prepared it and had a good time doing it. When we are together we always have a good time, laughing, goofing off, doing silly things and we did that with the dinner as well. I have been putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for over 40 years....you would think I would have it down "pat" by now, but I always have to have an "oops" or two while preparing or cooking it. It just makes it more fun! On Wednesday, while making the cranberry jello salad (which is one of my favorites) I put the water on to boil an promptly dumped the jello into it to "boil" with the water...obviously my head wasn't with me! However, I learned that it is okay to add jello to the water before it boil and "bring it to a boil"...it still gels...making me think that jello must be "idiot proof"! The rest of the dinner went off well...Holly and Corntey were helping with the last minute touches and with clean up. If I didn't have to do the clean up after the dinner I would do turkey dinners all of the time! I have always hated to do dishes and that hasn't changed...what a boring job!

And the sad.....my Aunt Martha, my Auntie M, died yesterday. She was 81 years old and the last of my mother's siblings...that generation is gone now. Auntie M was always one of my favorites. When I was young she was my idol...I wanted to be just like her. As she aged, she was still my idol...she always had fun, no matter what she was doing. She bought my wedding dress when I married Al; she did all sorts of wonderful things for me through out my life. When my mom died, Auntie M was the one that got me through that bad time in life; became my surrogate Mom, gave me advise (sometimes whether I wanted it or not) and generally was the one I went to when I needed a little "motherly love". She is the one I helped move to Colorado Springs last year so she could be near her daughter and grand daughter and great grandchildren. I am so glad I could help make that happen. She has been ill for several years (sometimes, somewhat of a hypochondriac) but aging did take its toll on her, as it does everyone. I tried to see her every six months when she was living in California, or more if I could. I called her almost every week while she was in California and generally kept in touch as much as I could. Yes, I am sad she is gone. However, part of me is very happy she is gone....she is finally with her brothers and sisters, mom and dad, husband Ted and all the animals that have gone before her. SHe was a real animal lover...however she was allergic to dogs and cats and as badly as she would want one, she was always allergic to them. We would take our various dogs to visit her over the years...it always made her happy. I know I get my great love for dogs and cats and all animals in general from her (minus snakes, and that she and I agreed on...ICK....snakes are icky!) So one more gone, leaving me with a tremedous amount of wonderful memories. I will shed a few tears over her from time to time; but remember her with loving, fun memories. God Bless Auntie M...you are not in Kansas anymore! Her grand daughter did a wonderful thing on Wednesday and I will be forever greatful to HIllary for this...she called to tell me that Auntie M was doing bad and that she was failing fast. She was with Auntie M at the time and I got to tell Auntie M goodbye and that I loved her...may she rest in peace forever.

One Million and Counting!!!

Yes, Tucson has reached the one million population mark as of last Sunday. Glad they didn't do the count during snow bird season...it would have been one million permanent residents and one million additional residents that come here and don't know how to drive! But I degress! I didn't realize Tucson was that large! Of course it is spread out over many, many miles. And when AL is on a hunt for something from a grocery store, you could, concievably, cover all those miles (right Cammie?) The forecast is that by 2040 the city will be 2 million...I don't plan to be around to see that one!

We are getting settled in, but it is tough. I don't want to do anything but go sit outside on the deck and enjoy the sun shine and the 80 degree weather. And look at the beautiful mountains and listen to the gazillion of cars that use Lago del Oro as the main road to Saddlebrooke. I know, quit complaining!!!! I could be doing the back stroke in Seattle! NOT!

THanksgiving will be here before we know it and I am not ready....we will have Dick and Lano here, plus the Sanderson's, so it will be a nice, small gathering. AL is already trying to figure out how he wants to prepare the turkey and I can see an arguement coming...because I am going to prepare it in the traditional way! No smoking, brining, frying, etc....just a good, old fashing turkey! Speaking of which, we were treated to an early Thanksgiving dinner, which was wonderful. Cortney cooked it for us last Sunday and she did an excellent job! She is a wonderful cook. YuMMMMMMM

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH HEAT

Tucson
After a long, cold, trip we arrived home yesterday around 4:00 p.m. Home was a site for sore eyes....it was really good to be home. The animals exploded out of the trailer/truck and spent a few hours making sure nothing had invaded their territory! Cats came in a couple of times "fluffed" up...so something has obviously been here this summer! And we did have a visit from our Javalina's last night about 9:30 p.m.....Beau was definitely up on point and so was Schuster, however, not like Beau. BEAU HATES JAVALINA'S.

We finally got out of Odessa around 5:00 p.m. last Tuesday....a very cold Odessa to be honest. We traveled all of 40 miles to Moses Lake to spend the night there at Sun Country with Gordon and Denise and Charlie and Johnny. WHen we arrived we discovered our kitchen slide on the trailer had decided it was tired and didn't want to work any longer. Not a great way to start a trip! However, Gordon and LeRoy had it fixed by noon the next morning and we were on our way. It was a whopping 9 degrees on Tuesday night ... brrr! We drove to Baker City Oregon on Wednesday. It was a great 17 degrees there! Wow...heat wave! On down the wroad we went on Thursday with the HERD of snowbirds going south. We stopped for the night in Declo, IDaho, ya, I know, where is that? It is just south of Twin Falls and it was actually above freezing! Nice RV park right on the Snake River. The next morning I was walking the dogs when I looked over towards the river and lo' and hehold, here comes a BIG bob cat! He was stalking us! I think he thought he was having poodles from breakfast. Very soon the dogs and I were back in the trailer! The dogs never even got a scent of him/her. I have had my fair share of wild animals this year!
That night found us in Fillmore, Utah at the KOA. This is a nice park and we stopped there on our way north last May. The owners remembered us (acutally, they remembered the dogs) and the dogs love this park. There is a huge field for them to run in. That is, after I made sure there were no critters stalking us! Saturday night found us in Flagstaff, Arizona....almost home. Again, it was cold that night, but not freezing. We stopped in another KOA, not so nice this time. It is an old park and has very narrow roads and not very big sites.

Yesterday we stopped in Phoenix at the Arizona Casino for my birthday brunch. Boy, was that ever good. Not as good as Ivar's in Seattle, but it runs a close second. I drove from there home and then I let Al have the pleasure of parking the 5th wheel. For those of you who have never seen where we live here, we live up on a hill, which is accessed by private road, dirt. Last monsoon took out part of our road and we just had it repaired last week. And where we park the trailer is next to the house and not a lot of room to 1) turn trailer around up here, 20 said trailer. Al did a wonderful job getting it turned around and parked. We unloaded just want we needed to and then went to Jude and Roger Hubbells for a wonderful dinner. We were so glad to see them...they have been good friends for many, many years.

The house did fine over the summer, with the exeption of the wroad being washed out and having a hot water heater go out on us last week. Thank goodness for Bruce, he replaced the hot water heater for us. This has really been a "water" year for us...Odessa pipes freeze; trailer sprouts water leak; road gets washed out and then the hot water heater goes...hope that is the end of it.

Speaking of water....Seattle is really getting the rain. I think they are starting to build arks and installing snorkels on vehicles. WOW!

We are enjoying our 80 degree weather, and it is beautiful this time of year here. OF course, to me, it is always beautiful...now if I could only convince Al.

So until next blog...hope all is well with all of you!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Odessa, WA
It is currently 16 degrees on our back deck....and the target for tonight is 13! YES --13 degrees. We are so outta' here! Our poor animals are frozen, as we are. Even Al said it was cold today and it has to be dog gone cold for him to say that!

We are hoping to head south tomorrow. Our target is to get outta' here shortly after 1:00 PM after the water is shut off and we drain the house. We may only make it to Moses Lake, but at least we are heading south. We are going straight to Tucson this time....no side trips. We are trying to get ahead of a storm that is suppose to roll in and provide a lot of that frozen white stuff that is called ss.ss..nn..oo..ww.

More as we roll along.

This and That, and It is cold!

BRRRRRRRRRRR -- IT IS TIME TO MAKE LIKE A DUCK AND HEAD SOUTH! We have been to Seattle and back and I have to tell you....it is cold here in Odessolet (as one of my granddaughters calls it). Right now it is a whopping 40 degrees outside and about the same inside! Heater isn't keeping up very well tonight. And if I put on any more clothes I won't be able to move.

Al had his last Seattle doctor appointment today and the doctor gave him the okay to drive again, with a few limitations. He doesn't want him driving in real congested area's and prefers that he limits his driving on long drives to 4 hours at a time (which isn't a problem with a bladder like mine...we stop every two at least!) AL is feeling much, much better as well....and his new medicene seems to be really helping. Thank goodness.

So with that good news...we are hoping to be outta' here by the end of the month.

The trailer came home Sunday (thank you Sun Country) and is road ready, so now I have my work cut out for me...get the rest of the "stuff" in it. As I look at this pile of "Stuff" we seem to move every 3 months or so I wonder just what I could cut out. I could cut out the "bill" box, but that wouldn't be very practical....I could cut out the dog toys, but that would be less practical. I could cut out our clothes, however that could get expensive in the long run. I have decided to leave more clothes here however...especially the warm ones. However, I will take enough to get me to a warmer climate...like Arizona. I do remember that is does get cold in Tucson in January/February however, so I will be like a good Girl Scout and "be prepared".

News that really isn't news and other nonsense!

I ask you, why are gas prices so friggin' high in Washington State? Headlines in the Spokane newspaper a few days ago was "Spokane gas prices highest in state"....and it goes on to say that gas is higher in Washington than in any other state. Friday gas was $2.71 here in Odessa. Now, you might say, "well, you are in a small town." Not relevant. In Davenport (another small town) it was $2.59 same day. In Spokane it was $2.66. Today it was $2.59 in Odessa. I don't understand. I see in todays news that gas prices are actually under $2 in some areas of the country. St Louis being one of them...and Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. Why can Missouri lower prices and we can't? Can we say gauge? And just why is gas so high in the first place? I know, some of you will say it is because of foreign oil...but what about the oil we have stored? Is that to be used for an emergency? Again, why? I remember my mom and dad complaining when gas went up over $.30 a gallon! Okay, I just really age dated myself! It doesn't seem to long ago whey we were complaining when it went up over $1. We would drive around and look to see if we could find gas under a dollar...that made sense--NOT! Okay...off the soap box!

It is getting cold here....it was 30 last night. We had both cats in bed with us last night, cuddled up so close we couldn't move. Of course, neither of us made them move. They are like little, portable, furry, heaters. The high tomorrow is suppose to be 48---me thinks it is time to get out of here and head to Tucson. Of course, I thought that 2 month ago. I still don't know if Al is going elk hunting, so our departure date for Tucson is still up in the air. The 5th wheel is in for maintenance and as soon as we get it home I will finish getting it packed and be ready to go just in case he decides not to hunt. We do have a doctor's appointment in Seattle on the 25th, and any time after that is time to leave as far as I am concerned. Not that I have ran out of things that need to be done around here, I just don't want anything to do with them right now...I want to go get warm.

Last weekend was opening of deer hunting season here. All the hunting gang from Seattle, minus one, came over. Frank has been down with pneumonia, so he had to miss deer hunting...which, I am sure, upset him. I left town as I do every year so the boys can have the house. I went to Spokane and spent the weekend with Al's cousin and my best friend. We had a great time...Jeannette and I went into Couer d'Alene and poked around the shops there. She and Gary spoiled me this weekend...and I loved it. And, just for the info, 3 deer were taken this weekend. Jesse & Rowland Brasch and Jim Jardine each got deer. And I almost got one on the way home...a nice big buck jumped out and ran across the road right in front of me!

I talked with my 81 year old aunt tonight. Oh boy, that was fun. All I heard from her is that she is dying (well, aren't we all?) that she hates where she is living (she is the one I moved to Colorado last year...it's taken me a year to get up enough gumption to call her!) She hates Colorado, it's cold (they had snow today), she hates her nursing home, blah, blah, blah. If I get that way will someone shoot me? She has always been a complainer, but she has it down to a fine science now! I think it will another year before I call again. Oh, and of course, it is my fault she is where she is. Makes no difference she asked to move there and my cousins and I made it happen. ARRGG.

Well, until I find something else to complain about....er....talk about, (do I sound like my aunt??) I will close this for now.

Irises, Irises and More IRISES!

Now, as most anyone who knows me, knows I love the Iris flower. And I point them out everywhere we go. I have seen them in every country we have traveled to with the exception of Saudi Arabia! I have Iris pictures, plates, etc. all over my house in Odessa. And six years ago I planted 60 Iris tubers all around the outside of the house. Just 60, which have all produced beautiful flowers, purple, salmon, black, yellow, champagne and purple, white and purple, etc. Now, to grow iris sucessfully, apparently you are suppose to dig them up every 3 years or so and "split" them and re plant. NO ONE TOLD ME THIS when I planted mine. WHAT??? It requires addition time and work after the initial planting???? AARRGGG! But, but, I'm retired! I have no time for this nonsense!

Well, after feeling "guilty" for the last year because my poor iris were being "crowded" I decided this year would be the year I would dig them up, split them and transplant them. Little did I know what I was getting into, besides one hell of a lot of work!!!! First of all, these things reproduce like rabbits! After digging them all up, which was a chore in itself and took nearly a week of dig some, rest, dig some, rest, repeat for better than 6 days I finally had them all out of the ground. Al and our son Jerry were really a big help here as I discovered my "digging" talents were lacking...in other words, I must have missed that class in school. Then I looked at all the iris...holy smoke! As Jerry put it "do you really need all of these?" Uh...no! I had over 200 tubers that we staring at me and that was before I split them! I could have Al dig up our extra corner lot and I could plant all of these iris and go into business as an iris farm....not damn likely! Everywhere I looked there were iris...I even dreamed about them.


Well, as of 20 minutes ago, I am officially done with iris! I have split and replanted 120 tubers, which left me with about 500 left over! I have decided I won't battle weeds in my flower beds again, so I planted tubers, then layed black landscaping material over it, being very careful to cut holes where my iris are to come up and then I have spread 22 bags of bark over the entire mess. And while doing this all I could think of "I bet my brother Johnny would tell me I am not doing this correctly" since he was in his past life a landscaper. Oh well....
My back, knees, hips and generally any other place on my body is screaming at me "you stupid old lady, you are too damn old to do this kind of work and not expect us to hurt!" and hurt they do. I hurt in places I didn't know I had! BUT IT IS DONE...at least for another 3-4 years...then I think I will find some young kid and hire him to do this!

Now, what to do with all the tubers I have left over????? I have given so many away that when people in town see me coming they go hide...it's like somebody trying to give away zuchinni...after a point no one wants it. I have even mailed iris to my cousin in Colorado...that's how desperate I am! If you get a box in the mail from me, better not open it unless you want iris! Wonder if they would grow in Arizona??? NO, I am not crazy enough to have two houses full of iris...besides they take more work than advertised!

We have had beautiful fall weather here in Odessa. The days have been warm and sunny and the nights cold and crisp. About 50% of the leaves have fallen off our trees and I love the crunch as I walk on the fallen leaves....and no, I haven't raked them up yet and probably won't -- I will just pray for a good stiff wind to blow them away. The apples are in season and we have a few fresh goldens, reds, gala's and johngolds...just waiting for an apple pie or crisp.

Spinach? Lettuce? Carrot Juice? I think I will eat chocolate

Since the recent out break of E.Coli in Spinach, lettuce and carrot juice, I have came to the decision that chocolate is the only "vegetable/fruit" that is safe to eat/drink! FINALLY! The world has come around to my way of thinking! I will have a chocolate salad, drink chocolate milk and be a happy camper!

Why is it that all of a sudden e.coli is showing up more often? Is it that our farmers/agriculture producers are taking short cuts? Hmmmm...back to the chocolate theory!

AND, I want to know why gas is all of a sudden dropping in price? Did we find a new oil supply? OR, more likely, were we being "gouged" all along....of course we were! Of course if you live in eastern Washington you won't notice gas prices dropping, we are still being bilked for all they can get! Gas was $2.45 in Seattle and $2.79 in Ephrata on the same day. WHY????

My fingers aren't working today!

Darn old age! Darn arthritis! DARN! I am not having a fun day! It is cold today and my fingers absolutely do not want to work! Matter-of-fact my whole body is rebelling today! Tired of working around the house, tired of being sore. But the way I was raised you work first and play second and darn, I can NOT get past that!

And I am sick at heart about all the school shootings, and what has become of our country. And the question always comes to mind,WHY? WHY shoot innocent children? WHAT GOOD DOES THAT DO? Have we become such an uncaring society that we don't care who we kill? Who we hurt? If you have a problem, SOLVE IT! Don't take it out on others! Off the soap box now.