Blustery Weather!!!

The above image shows our newly installed gazebo that we purchased in November. And, the photos below show the damage from high winds sustained last night to our gazebo. We haven't up righted the structure yet as it is still blowing pretty good today, but at least we don't have rain right now.



We will be able to assess the damage to the structure once we get it back to it's upright position. Hopefully it should be okay.

Temperatures have dropped here down into the upper 40's/low 50's today and expected below freezing temps the first of the week. Just hope the winds die down to zero again.

The Resort has it's big New Year's Eve "Gala Celebration" tomorrow night. We had not planned to attend but one of our neighbors gave us tickets to the event so we are going. There will be about 450-500 people at the celebration - live band,hats. horns, and midnight buffet. We went last year and had a great time.

We'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year with the best of everything for all of you. Stay healthy and happy throughout the year.

Happy Holidays

Time has just about run out before the magic Christmas Day arrives. We will be spending the day with fellow Workampers here at Mesa Regal RV Resort. Dinner includes freshly baked ham and all the trimmings for about 80 people.

Residents of Mesa Regal have a contest each year for the best decorated/lighted street. Grapefruit trees really look their best when the twinkle lights are shining brightly at night. Our street won first place this year with all of our white light wrapped trees and other decorations. Quite a coup for us!!!

And, the most exciting news is that our daughter Susan will have her last chemotherapy treatment on Dec. 28th. She has done fairly well through this process coping with her hair loss and feeling pretty punk at times and very tired over the course of treatment. Our grandson William went shopping for the Christmas tree and then spent about 3 hours decorating it and did a terrific job taking care of this chore for the family. Suzy has a photo posted on their blog (you can link to this from our Blog if you want to see the tree & William).

We wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and have the best New Year ever. Stay healthy and happy throughout the coming year. Love to you all.

Update, Finally

We've been settled in here at Mesa Regal RV Resort for the winter months since Nov. 1st. Seems like we have been busy getting things done catching up on the "must do" list like washing windows before putting the solar screens on, defrosting the refrigerator & freezer which takes all day and generally cleaning out the unnecessary items we haul around.

About a week ago we went shopping for something to use as a patio shaded area and ended up buying a 10' x10' gazebo with mosquito netting all around and a privacy screen for one side. It took us a while getting it together, but it sure looks nice and provides the shade we wanted. Our site runs east to west so we get all the southern exposure sun during the day. It's okay right now though since the weather has turned really cool. We had our neighbors over one evening for dinner and we set up the table in the gazebo for dining. Really nice way to spend an evening in our outdoor room.

Today I instructed a class on heirloom photo ornaments. Only 4 people signed up for the class so we had lots of time to complete one ornament each. My neighbors had ordered 15 ornaments with her only grandson's photo so she can give them to family members. Their 7-year old grandson was killed in a vehicle accident in June this past year so she wanted a remembrance for each of their family members. Really sad for all of them to lose him at such a young age.

Everyone is having Christmas parties throughout the park so we have to kind of pick and choose which ones to attend. It's usually too much food when it's potluck but it's nice to visit with everyone. Our Block Christmas party is on Dec. 11th and it's going to be catered this year which we think is great. Don't have to prepare anything to take, just show up.

Both of us are feeling okay and getting out and walking every day. Larry rides his bike twice a day when he takes CoCo to the dog park. Lots of dogs for CoCo to play with, some good and some nasty ones that are pretty aggressive. Not fun when there is a bad one at the park at the same time.

The big event in November was Larry's brother and sister-in-law's 60th anniversary party that was held north of Scottsdale. About 50 family members attending the dinner party given by their 5 daughters and son-in-laws. One of his nieces we hadn't seen in 20 years. Hopefully there will be a lot of nice photos of the event.

Many of you have met our daughter, Susan, over the years. During her routine mammogram exam in late August a malignant tunor was discovered so she underwent a lumpectomy to remove the lump in September. The surgeon removed the lump and surrounding tissue, getting all of the affected area and took samples of the lymph nodes. None of the lymph nodes or surrounding tissue were malignant, thank goodness. She is half way through her chemotherapy now (all of her hair is gone at this point) but she is fairing okay and has a very positive outlook going through her treatment. Following chemo, she will have 6 1/2 weeks of radiation treatments and then go on a cancer drug regimen for several years. Her co-workers have designated Fridays as "Hat Day" to support her through her treatments. Her mother-in-law mailed her a wig that is styled exactly like her usual hair style in her hair coloring. Only complaint she's really had is that her bald head itches a lot.

This should catch up our news for now. Hope everyone is doing fine and had a very nice Thanksgiving with their families and friends.

Mountain Colors of Autumn

The following images were taken yesterday and show how much the leaves have changed since the last Blog Post on Oct. 3rd. It won't be long now before the leaves fall. The oak trees are just beginning to turn colors. An aerial photo would be spectacular right now as the colors progress.

First Look at Fall Colors

This is a sign that is posted at a fenced in area to keep the elk from eating the young sappling aspen trees. The elk seem to think the young trees are ice cream!


This is is your first look at some aspen trees at Apache Sitgreaves National Forest that are just beinning to turn colors. I will keep tabs on the colors as the season progresses further into October. Temperatures have been dipping down around the 38 degree mark some nights so I don't imagine the leaves will last too long now.

Since hunting season started the first of the month, we have begun to see more elk in the campground areas. It is an awesome sight when they are up close and personal.

Life Without Electronics

As you might have noticed, no updates have been forthcoming on our Blog. Due to our location, my computer has decided it needed a vacation so it has literally been AWOL for at least 5 weeks. We took it into a computer repair place in Show Low, AZ and the technician recommended that VISTA should be re-installed. So, that's what happened. All of my documents were saved on a flash drive and were reloaded along with MS Office, Picassa, Adobe products, and on and on! After being on the phone with Sprint for 1 1/2 hours twice, maybe things will work now. Biggest problem is Sprint doesn't have any towers around here so connection is almost non-existent.

Work has been going along nicely. Kids are back in school so the Phoenix Valley campers are limited to weekends only now. Temps there are still in the triple digits so the campground has been full every weekend. Sept. 15th RRM of America had it's employee appreciation dinner over in Show Low, AZ. Really good prime rib. We were lucky enough to win 2 jackets that were given away. Show Low is in the White Mountains about 63 miles from our campground. We had to be very careful driving home as Elk have a tendency to wander out in front of cars at night. Luckily we didn't see any that night.

Tomorrow we are going to get out and take some photos of the Aspen trees before they change colors. After they start to change we'll take some more photos of them so you can see some more beautiful scenery.

AH! Life in the Forest

We'll get the weather out of the way quickly. Rain has been occurring about every night for the past week (last Saturday, we had about 2.5 inches). Lightening is always a concern with all the tall pines around. One strike did a little damage to the contact station we work in. Temps have cooled down to about 53 degrees at night but the days are very pleasant in the mid to high 70's.

Larry knows first-hand about trees and it's dangers. He was visiting with some of our neighbors outdoors and one of the pine cones fell and conked him on the head. Luckily he had his cap on but he still could feel the hit. Those little suckers pack a wallop when they drop about 150 feet to the ground. Several trees were also uprooted during some of our heavier winds. Their roots are very shallow as they grow tall very quickly. He also knows now not to point out grey squirrels to CoCo as the dog took off literally dragging Larry, who was hanging onto his leash. Larry fell and finally CoCo stopped. A few scrapes, but nothing serious, thank goodness. It could have been a lot worse.

The contact station sustained damage of another kind during Friday night's downpour - one of our late arrivals plowed his motor home into the contact station and moved it about 12" from it's previous location. Two of the Workampers and the area manager, Tom, were inside when the building was hit. No one received any serious injuries, but communication lines and electrical lines had to be repaired. Nothing like a little excitement to keep things going! Our campground was almost full, many of them tenters, so it was a very wet night for them along with the lightening and thunder.

The previous week, one of Arizona's escaped murderers and his female accomplice, were captured in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. They were captured in one of the remote campgrounds. The forest Ranger who spotted them was very, very lucky that neither the man or the woman were anywhere close enough to their tent so they could reach one of their guns or he would have been killed. In fact, the man later boasted that he would have killed the Ranger if he could have reached his gun. Pretty scary. This couple had driven into our campground earlier that day to look at some of our sites. We are all very fortunate that they went on to a more remote area. Everyone is sure glad that they have been apprehended.

We spotted our first elk last week at dusk. The female was about 30 feet behind our unit grazing and didn't even hardly lift her head when I went out to take photos. Unfortunately it was just dark enough that none of the images were very good. Will try to get better photos next time.

Aspen Campground

Welcome to Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Our campground is 7,700 ft. elevation and is on the Mogollon (pronounced Mo go ee on) Rim. It is one of nine campgrounds managed by Recreation Resource Management of America that we work for. About 30,000 visitors a week are in the area, many of whom camp, fish or hike. Aspen Campground, where we work, has 136 campsites, none of which have electric, water or sewer hookups. Water and restrooms are available throughout the campground and a dump station is up the road about 3/4 of a mile. Employees however have full hookups, thank goodness.

The first image shows one of the roads that winds through the forest - AZ #260 west to Payson and Phoenix. The second photo below shows the view from atop the Rim of the area. It is approximately 3,000 ft. to the canyon floor.


We're scouting out some little groves of Aspen trees to take photos of so we can watch the progression of their colors changing as the weather cools down. CoCo thinks he's died and gone to heaven with all the trees around. Boy is he in for a shock when we get to Mesa and all the asphault and concrete at the RV Resort. The dog park will not suffice for him I'm sure.


A large lake is just a quarter mile from where we are and quite a few trout are caught from the bank every day. Boats are allowed but no big motors on the them. Down at one of the marinas close by, there is a nest of Bald Eagles and their 2 fledglings. We haven't been down to view them yet but plan on doing so soon. Maybe we will even get a photo of them.

It is about 8 miles to the closest post office (Forest Lakes) and about 33 miles to Payson for groceries and laundromat. We can go east past Forest Lakes to Heber-Overgaard, about 28 miles for laundry and groceries also, but is a smaller town and the prices are higher. There is a lakeside store on the Lake here but everything is double in price. At least we get our cubed ice and firewood free.

Arizona Destination

We just received confirmation this morning that we have been accepted as camp hosts at the Aspen Campground at the Mogollon Rim in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in northeastern part of Arizona. The elevation is 7,100 ft. so temps will be in the 70's during the daytime and as low as the 40's at night. Sure beats triple digits of Texas & NM right now. The photo below shows one of the nearby lakes in the area.


Can't wait to see all the aspen trees change colors while we are there. Our location is South of Holbrook, AZ and NE of Payson, AZ close to Heber/Overgaard, AZ area. The campground has 136 campsites and is very, very busy with lots of visitors. Our Recreation/Parks Manager assures us that we will be kept very busy, Dee working in the office and Larry working maintenance outside most of the time. Larry probably will work lots harder than I will because the sites must be maintained at all times.

As we get a chance to check out the area, we'll post more photos. Hope to hear from some of you also.

Isleta Lakes Park, NM

The following images were taken at the Isleta Lakes, NM RV Park and Recreation area where we are staying right now. It is really scenic here.



Several fishermen were out here trying to catch that elusive channel catfish. Lake is stocked every 2 weeks with catfish in the summer months and trout in the fall and winter months. Lots of fishermen as the Isleta Pueblo has a fishing promotion going on until the end of the month with tagged fish worth $1,000 and $5,000. One $1,000 fish was caught this week but the $5,000 one has not been caught yet. Yesterday the dollar amount was to be doubled if someone caught it. So you can see why there are a few fishermen here.



Larry could get a license and fish from the shore but hasn't had the itch to do so. Rules are pretty simple, you catch - you must take with you. It's not catch and release like it is a lot of places. No boats or other craft allowed on lake so it's really quiet.

Tomorrow we leave and travel up to Raton. Should be a fun weekend.

Time Flies By

Tomorrow we leave Childress and head for Albuquerque, NM so we can pick up our daughter at the airport. She is flying in to spend a few days in Raton, NM to attend her 30th high school reunion. First time she has been back to Raton for a reunion. She also has a work-related seminar to attend in Albuq. on Thursday.

We'll drive up to Raton on Friday and stay through Sunday and then return to Abuq. so she can catch her flight out on Tuesday back to Portland. Hope to see some of our friends in Raton that we've known over the years while we are there.

We've had a great time in Childress staying at our friend's "campground" (rv accommodations in their backyard with full hookups). Played some bridge with former bridge groups and got a lot of visiting done. Larry got 1 new RV tire installed for motor home. Pretty soon all of them will be new tires. Seems like they wear out more being parked not being used than wearing out traveling. Hard to figure out how that happens but it does.

That's all for now.

Rainy Texas Days

We left Alpine, Tx July 1st and headed north towards Childress. Larry drove in rain from Ft. Stockton all the way to Midland, TX. Our campground was located midway between Odessa and Midland, TX. Larry's niece and her husband Chuck drove out to the campground and picked us up and took us to dinner at a neighborhood Italian restaurant. LeeAnn's friend in Midland had painted the interior of the restaurant a few years back - quite lovely with faux windows with shutters, trailing flowers on vines and some landscape views. Dinner was awesome. Of course, I predicted to LeeAnn that Larry would order spaghetti & meatballs and he didn't disappoint us because that's what he ordered!

We had planned on leaving on the 2nd but we were talked into staying one more night. On Friday, July 2nd Lee Ann came to get us and we spent the day "shopping". I think everyone was worn out by the time we finished. Chuck grilled salmon steaks for dinner that evening. He's a great cook by the way. It rained all day and most of the evening again. Streets were flooding in Midland.

On Saturday morning we got on the road to head for Childress, still driving in the rain. We arrived at our destination early Saturday evening and got parked at our friends home the morning of July 4th. We went to the "rainy" 4th of July celebration at the Summers home early in the evening and stayed to watch the fireworks after dark. Beautiful show, always love to see the explosions of color light up the sky. The rain subsided for a couple of hours so the show was spectacular.

This month is medical, dental and vision checkups so schedule is eating up our time here some. Of course, playing bridge is a must with all of Dee's former bridge groups. As a side note, the 100-year old lady in Alpine Dee played bridge with passed away last week from pnuemonia complications. She was a terrific lady and such a delight to be around.

Our friends, where we are staying, went shopping yesterday and purchased a Chevy Trail Blazer. The car is a 2008 but is in great condition. Really a pretty car. Not much else going on. Larry is clearing out our storage building completely and getting rid of most of contents. Also had to move our safety deposit box contents as our bank is moving to their new facility Monday. Interesting thing is only 1 access key now! The new security system scans the palm of your hand to identify who you are before you have access to your safety box. Quite a deal I think.

It rained yesterday and again last night but today it's just muggy and overcast. Maybe one of these days soon it will clear up and the humidity drops down where it should be. We do like these lower temperatures though.

Summer is Definitely Here!

Both of us are finally well. Followup appointment with the doctor verified both of our lungs were clear and no more heavy duty drugs to take. We're both glad to be up and on the go again.

Now if the weather would just cool down some. We are at about 4,600 elevation here and it is supposed to be cooler in the mountains, but we can attest that it's not working. Temps have been from 100 - 104 degrees for over a week now. We did get a brief sprinkle of rain this evening and it did cool down some. Now I know why the snowbirds travel back north every spring.

Sunday we ventured over to Ft. Davis and Larry took me out for brunch to celebrate my birthday at the Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains. The adobe structure was built in the early 30's by the CCC, government work program. Walls are about 17" thick. Very pleasant dining in a small venue. At least my birthday wasn't one of those zero years - I really hate those when they come up!



We are at work again here at the Lost Alaskan. Just 6 more work days and we are through with our commitment here. We will leave around the 1st of July and travel on up to Childress, TX for 2-3 weeks to take care of annual eye, dentist and medical exams. The end of July we drive to Albuquerque to pick up our daughter Suzy at the airport. From there we drive to Raton, NM so Suzy can attend her 30th class reunion (first one she has attended). We will have time to visit with many of our friends that live there. We are looking forward to being there.

Need Applicants for Nursing Care

It's been a tough 2 weeks for us this month so far. Both of us got ill around the 12th of May with sore throats and coughs. We went to a local doctor to get some medication for our ailments. Larry had a sinus infection so he got antibiotics for 5 days. Dee had allergy related sore throat with cough, no temp so received allergy medication at $5.oo/pill. Upshot was neither of us responded too well to medication and our illnesses got worse.

On Saturday 22nd, Dee's temp was 101.2 so it was a trip to emergency room. She couldn't catch her breath and was wheezing a lot along with coughing. ER doctor admitted her and started pumping IV fluids and antibiotics. Diagnosis was Upper Respiratory Infection, which I don't know if it's better than pneumonia or not. Dr was also treating lungs with steroids which caused my blood sugar readings to skyrocket over 300 so insulin was being administered to keep it in check. Pretty scary! So....It's now Tuesday and I was released from hospital this morning but have 5 days of heavy duty medication yet to go: inhaler/nebulizer treatments every 4 hours, antibiotics, steroids, cough medication, ya da, ya da, ya da! Hope this time it works. At least the coughing has subsided.

Meanwhile, Larry went back to doctor on Monday morning. Chest x-ray showed he has pneumonia so he is at home on bed rest, $10/pill antibiotics, inhaler treatments and lots of fluids. It has really knocked the sails out of him. Our neighbor has been walking CoCo for him so he can keep resting. We truly appreciate their help.

So if any of you are bored and want to travel to Alpine, TX, like to take care of sick people, can prepare meals and generally hustle everytime the bell is rung to fetch and carry, you're hired. No cash incentives are offered but good wishes are welcome.

We should be back on our feet in about 1 week with better news

Desert in Bloom

These two photos were taken today of 2 varieties of cacti in the area. The blossoms are absolutely gorgeous right now. The huge yuccas are blooming as well, along with one of my favorite, the ocatilla (aka whip cactus).


The temperatures here have been all over the place, 2 days in the low 90's at the first of the week and now about 68-69 degrees the last 2 days with overnight temps in the high 30's. Really weird to run A/C and then some heat at night. At least we weren't in any of the latest tornado paths.

Work here has been very pleasant, 2 days work and then we have 6 days off. Office stays busy for Dee and Larry is out and about taking care of laundry room, rec room, and escort/security. There are 6 different RV groups coming into Alpine next month so telephone reservations are hectic. Groups range from 6 rvs to up to 30 rvs. Most of them are Good Sams or FMCA. One group is all women rv'ers.

The hail storm on Easter damaged one of our slide awnings so Larry is ordering replacement vinyl this week. The Manager's husband here at the Park can install the new awning for us while we are here. Larry also will replace one of the hinges on a kitchen cabinet door as soon as we get a replacement for it. Hopefully we can find one in Fort Davis tomorrow.

Saturday evening is Larry's birthday party so we're having ice cream and cake for him. I've made up the card bingo sets so we can play bingo at the party. It will be for big stakes, a penny a person for each game! If you lose all 10 games you're out 10 cents. In Mesa we always played a dime a game so the potential winnings per game was at least $1 a game with ten people. Should be fun, doesn't matter the stakes.

Hail, Hail Everywhere!

On Sunday, April 11th, we had one heck of a hail storm as you can see by the above photo and the one below. No damage to our unit even though it sounded like we were under siege. Other guests at the RV Park reported that the electric was surging and the automatic electric shut off mechanism would kick off their electricity. Long story-short, the electric company came out and replaced a damaged transformer and then had to also repair their sub-station transformer to correct the problem. About 40 RV'ers were without electricity about 2 hours until the work got completed.



We are on our second day of Workamping, Dee is in the office and Larry is out and about escorting units to their sites, unlocking/locking electrical meters, reading meters, etc. Tuesday he helped post notices to all of the RV'ers whose electrical power was off. He stays busy. Both of us were worn out last night when we were finished. It is enjoyable though.

Today we are having intermittent rain again so all of the Harley riders are taking a rest day sight seeing indoor stuff. We have about 12 in the group of motorcycle enthusiasts. Really nice group.

Twice Dee has been downtown to play bridge and was high first time and bottom the second time. No explaining that one I guess but you have to have good cards to reap the high scores. Had a nice time anyway and she will play Thursday & Friday.

We have the next 6 days off work so we can explore the area some more. That's all for now.

Alpine, Texas Arrival

Saturday evening around 9:30 pm we arrived at the Lost Alaskan RV Park. We planned an earlier arrival but the time zone change with daylight time thrown in (Arizona does not do Daylight Time!) made the day about 2 hours longer than we thought it would be. At least we didn't encounter any severe wind/dust storms that are usual for eastern Arizona and southern New Mexico.

Today we set up the RV and then at one o'clock we went to the clubhouse for Easter lunch. There were about 35 people there so plenty of food to go round. We got re-acquainted with 3 couples that were here last November & December. All 3 couples are leaving for the summer months. We met Walter & Cleone Johnson, whose home base is in Boone, IA. Neither of them were born or raised in Boone but their son and daughter-in-law have lived there for years. Neither of us recognized the Boone connection. Small world though.

We stayed 1 extra day in Mesa so we could get results of Larry's brother's medical tests. He was hospitalized on March 29th and didn't get released from hospital until April 3rd. Hopefully with the right medication they can keep him stabalized now as his pancreas is not functioning at all and his diabetes is all of whack. It's been very difficult for him coping with all of this.

Our new temporary address is 2401 No. Hwy 118, Space E-17, Alpine, TX 79830 If any of you are down this way, call us and stop by.

Spring Break in Mesa

March 22nd Suzy, William and Bill arrived in Mesa after traveling by Greyhound from Albuquerque. They said the bus was full and the trip not "too bad". On Tuesday we celebrated Suzy's birthday. First time in many years that we all have been together on her birthday. We took them to Organ Pizza Stop in Mesa so they could see the famous Wurlitzer Organ that we blogged about earlier this year.

Wednesday evening we drove to Glendale, about an hour drive from Mesa through heavy traffic at 4 in the afternoon, to have dinner at Larry's niece Lori's place. Larry's brother John, his wife Del and another niece Ann and her family were there. Had a really nice evening, but no one took any photos - you're probably glad to hear that!

The above photo shows Maurice "Mo" Cole, William and Bill sitting out on the patio talking music. Mo has had a very illustrious career playing keyboard/organ for the past 50+ years. Some of his famous gigs have been with the one and only Elvis, and many stars at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. He is a member of the Opry. Mo plays organ on the patio here at Mesa Regal a couple times a week and our Workamper group moves his equipment ($7,500 organ & sound paraphanallia) in place for him. He hooks up all of his own speakers and sound boards because he knows exactly where everything goes. He can play just about anything you request.

This is William, our grandson, age 15 with his new shades! Of course he is way taller than me, which isn't saying much because I'm short. He's 5'6" now, even taller than Suzy. Grandparents have bragging rights so here goes: He gets A's and is on honor roll, plays violin in the high school orchestra and the North Coast Symphany, and just made the high school golf team. This summer the golf team is going to Seattle, WA with their coach to assist at the Senior Open golf tournament. The golf coach's mom is a travel agent in Seattle and is arranging a trip for the team to Ireland next summer so there will be lots of fund raisers for the trip between now and then. The big goal the next week or so is to complete his driving requirements to get his drivers license.

We sure had a wonderful time with them here visiting. We had rain one day but then it warmed up into the 80's so they got to swim one afternoon at least.

Mesa-Phoenix City Tour

We got on tour bus at 8:30 am and headed to downtown Phoenix to the Capital Museum. This photo shows the building. Note the White Pegasus weather vane at the top center of the building. It is completely functional and will be 100 years old in 2012. The Museum tour director told us that it recently had been refurbished and several bullet holes were discovered in it. Apparently the old west cowboys used to do some target practice on it!


Couldn't resist this photo because it shows a partner's desk with a wax figure of the first Arizona Governor. Don't much care for the likeness of the governor, but our daughter and son-in-law have a partner's desk in their office similar to this one.


This photo shows the entrance to the Biltmore in Phoenix. It is built on the original site of Barry Goldwater's home. Note the shrubs in the front are sculpted to read Arizona Biltmore (in this photo only Biltmore shows). Above one of the hills behind the Biltmore is one of the Wrigley homes. It was not on the tour so we didn't get to go inside it. All of the homes in this area start at one million+ and include owners like Alice Cooper and The Shaq. They are so huge they look like hotels.

We had about an hour on this stop so we ambled around the interior and then outside to the central grounds. Next to the main dining room was this huge walk in wine cooler. What a way to go! Average cost of 1 night here is around $250/night and can go as high as $1,500 a night for the VIP/presidential suite. They have a golf course, fine dining and many convention rooms. There are several retail stores on the premises also and many of the prices were very reasonable on the clothing.

The photo below shows the center green area with beautiful landscaping and fountain. Staff was setting up an outdoor buffet while we were there. We were curious about cost but no one ventured over to inquire about the cost.

We then continued on through Paradise Valley, population 15,000, covering 15 square miles. Covenents require 1 acre of land per home with a minimum of 6,000 sq. feet. It was really mindboggling to see some of these homes. The Hormel family owns 2 homes in this area, AZ sports team owner lives here, and can't remember the list of other wealthy owners living here.

We continued on to Scottsdale for lunch and had quite a bit of time to look in the retail shops. There are really high dollar shops and lots of tourist shops. Average cost of individual pizza was $9.00 and an old-fashioned hamburger was about the same price. We opted for Schlotzkys - can beat a rueben on dark rye bun.

Anyway it was a really wonderful tour. Learned more history than I can remember.

Abundant Sunshine All Around

We've been enjoying wonderful weather here while watching most of the weather throughout the USA getting snow. Today is 76 degrees and for the next 7 days the temps should remain about the same.

It's been pretty quiet around the Resort. Larry is catching up on all of his list of "To Do" things like shampooing living & bedroom carpets, washing windows, etc.
I've made 3 more evening bags from ties and thought I was through but Larry was at the thrift store again and brought me 3 more ties. And, our grandson doesn't see how an evening bag can be made out of one tie so he is going to bring me a tie next month when they visit us.

Tomorrow is the City tour of Phoenix area. I will be leaving on the bus tour at 8:30am, lunch stop in old Scottsdale, and then return to resort around 3:45 pm. Should be interesting and will see lots of things we haven't been able to get to yet. Full report & photos later.

Be sure and check out our daughter's Blog http://www.brooksfamilydoings.blogspot.com because our grandson's Winter Ball photos are posted on it. You can just click on the link to the left and it should take you to their Blog.

The photo below is an evening bag made from one silk necktie. It was a 2 hour project today and it turned out pretty darned good. Since Larry no longer wears ties and got rid of all his ties, he went to the local thrift shop and purchased a colorful tie for my project.



Below is a photo of a gift box made from a greeting card. Couldn't resist the polar bears.

Raindrops Keep Falling

On January 12th we went to see Vickie Lawrence and her show was great. She just comes out and tells stories about herself and her life and some of the incidents she's been involved in, especially funny about some of the times on the Carol Burnett Show. She sang her medley of her one hit "When the Lights Went Out in Georgia" that her 1st husband wrote. The last 1/3rd of her show was in character as "Mama". What a grand time she has dressed as an old lady. She pretty much says anything she wants and really pokes fun at the seniors. We loved every minute of it as did the rest of the audience.

This is our fifth day of rain and we're starting to have webs between our toes! Last night there were even tornado watches/warnings around the county with 3 spotted out in the surrounding area. I haven't paid too much attention to the weather reports today so don't think there were any injuries or deaths. The annual antique car auction is this weekend and the autos were being held in large tents and some of them received damages because the tents collapsed on the cars. Most of the auto owners aren't real happy about it! Can't imagine why. We do have a little sunshine today but another storm will roll in Sunday. At least we're not close to Flagstaff as they have had 3' (yes, that is 3 feet) of really heavy snowfall with more coming down all the time.

We were scheduled to go to Quartzite, AZ on the 18th but rain prevented that side trip - sure didn't want to be at an outdoor RV show in the rain, especially after driving 150 miles one way to get there.

Larry has been playing poker 2-3 times a week and has been holding his own. It's a nickle, dime, quarter game so not much money is involved. One of the guys that plays regularly is 91 and Larry says he's a pretty good poker player.

I stay busy playing bridge 3 times a week, pinochle and cribbage. Also started Mah Jongg and Scrabble once a week. My skills at Scrabble are not up to par as I haven't played in a very long time but one of the players loaded a Hasbro Scrabble game on my computer that has about 10 levels of play on it so I can sharpen up my game. These players are mostly Canadian and play a very tough, competitive game. They like to win! My game is very laid back compared to theirs.

All of the outdoor activity has been temporarily suspended because everything is under 3 feet of water - tennis, racket ball, pickle ball, shuffleboard, boccie, etc. So there are a lot of die-hard athletes doing a lot of hanging around. Patio activities have been moved into the main events hall so that involves more work for us because we do the set up for them. Over 300 people moved to the hall yesterday afternoon for the Manager's monthly party - live music, free food & beer. It kept a lot of Seniors off the streets in bad driving conditions anyway.

Hope the weather is better where you are and that all is going good so far into 2010. We've had some sad news about two of our friends. One of my classmate's husband passed away on New Years Day (Jan was a bridesmaid at our wedding 50 years ago). They had been married 35 years. My former boss in NM banking remarried about 3 years ago after being divorced close to 25 years and her husband passed away in December. Both are going to be greatly missed. Enjoy your loved ones and give them a hug whenever possible because we never know what tomorrow brings.

Photo Op

Here are some of the photos that we promised of the Christmas Party.

This is the decorated hat that won 1st over my creation.

We got to tell Santa Ron our wishes for Christmas. Ron is a Workamper like we are and is from Delaware. The man at the organ in the background is a member of the Grand Old Opry and has done backup keyboard for some big name stars. He was with the Elvis Presley musicians at the time of Elvis's death. Needless to say, he can play.

Santa Ron was showing off his cowboy boots to go with his Santa short pants for our AZ weather. Today it's 77 degrees and are we ever enoying it.

New Beginnings 2010

Whew! The Holidays are over and we begin another year. The "Blue Moon" was so gorgeous last night and we hope you all got a look at it. All the Christmas celebrations are over and we rang in the New year at the Resorts big Gala event here in Mesa. About 450 guests attended the Starry Night feat with the Saguaro Sunset Band playing fabulous dancing music. The Resort had hot and cold hors d'ourves served during the entire evening. Only drawback was you had to BYOB (and that doesn't mean bring your own blond!). We both danced until our feet hurt -we're not used to having an evening out dancing anymore. Can you believe that after all of the dancing we've done since High School?

The above photo was taken at the Workamper's Christmas dinner. My hat creation got 2nd prize - first prize was a black knit cap with colored fur sewn up the middle so it looked like a Mohawk! Go figure. I took some Hershey kisses off my hat to bribe the judges and it almost got a first prize. Anyway it was fun. Always dislike photos of myself, now I know why as the lens is not too kind about all of my wrinkles, etc.


We'll have more photos coming as soon as some of the other Workampers forward them to us.


Larry and our neighbors Doug & Tami took CoCo and their dog Baxter (Chocolate Lab) out to the pet park so they could run and play. Larry said there were over 100 dogs at the park so they both had a good workout. CoCo also had a bath after playing in the shampoo area at the park. He really needed it badly as I sure do hate the dog smell!


We go back to work on Saturday and then get back to a schedule again. We've been off since before Christmas so we're feeling a little lazy.