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.