Up To Saturday, November 24, 2012.

It seems all the calendar events in the park we're staying in start up the 1st of November because that's when the people start arriving, so we'll have to check the calendar and start being social. At home on Tuesday evenings I go to my mom's and play Kaiser with the residents that live there and I really miss it. Now that the calendar is up and running, I go Wednesday afternoons and Friday nights and play Pony Canasta (it's hand and foot canasta to me).

On Monday there was a block party, cocktail hour and potluck supper that we went to in the recreation hall. We introduced ourselves, and found out there are quite a few here from Canada, Ontario, B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Actually, we were outside today, when the lady across the street heard us playing cards and came over to ask if she had heard correctly at the block party. Was our last name Zerr? She's from Regina and her last name is Zerr. So, here we are in Mesa Arizona, living across the street from a relative of Larry's-there it is again-7 degrees of separation! Weird, eh!

On Tuesday the weather took a turn and the temperature dropped. We dug out the electric heater and turned on the furnace, it went down to 4C that night and only 19C during the day. On Wednesday afternoon, after Canasta, the street was shut down and everyone brought munchies, drinks and lawn chairs and partied until the wee hours. One of the guys here has a friend who plays for events and wanted to practice and get feedback, so we had music and dancing in the streets, it was great fun!

Friday I took Larry to see the "crown cactus".

Crown Cactus

Here's an oldie 

and a close up

We followed the road on to Saguaro Lake. WOW!

 Who'd'a'thunk?

A Marina in the middle of the desert.

Our last stop for the day, Fountain Park in Fountain Hills. The Fountain turns on every hour on the hour and runs for 15 minutes. It reaches a height of 560 feet, and the rainbows must spread out at least 50 feet to the side. We sat on a bench watching the fountain and the different birds, it was so peaceful I didn't want to leave!

On Monday, November 19th, we picked up Liza at the airport and dropped her of  at Camping World to pick up her motor home that was in for repairs while she was gone. We went back home and picked up our next door neighbours, Joe and Fern, and took them to see the Crown Cactus. Next, Larry found the smoke shop on the reserve, bought his carton and off to supper. Joe and Fern wanted to take us to  Organ Pizza, where the pizza was good, but the entertainment AWESOME! A Wurlitzer "French" console, finished in high ebony and real gold leaf rises up while being played. It is the largest and most elaborate design ever created by the company, containing 276 keys and 975 controls. From the mammoth console, the organist controls the nearly 6000 pipes, numerous percussions and raps of the world's largest Wurlitzer pipe organ. The organist played all kinds of tunes and all kinds of instruments all over the room also played, Larry got some good pictures!

Tuesday we sat outside playing cards with the neighbours until it was too dark and cool out. Wednesday morning we went to the grocery store for buns and butter for Thanksgiving supper tomorrow and  Canasta in the afternoon. Thursday morning was laundry and showers for all, and at 4:00 cocktails followed by a wonderful Thanks Giving supper, where we both ate way too much. After supper we went down the street and sat around the campfire with friends from BC and Alberta that we have met. Saturday morning we got up early to go to the Mesa swap meet for breakfast, then finished the Christmas shopping. Larry also bought himself a new motorcycle helmet that I will hide and give to him for Christmas, he doesn't want the traditional lump of coal he usually gets! What's up with that? Well, that wraps it up for the last two weeks, I'll blame my tardiness with the blog on retirement mode. It's wonderful, everyone should try it!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Remembrance Day, a quiet day for us.

The leak is no longer! Monday morning bright and early the new roofers came and shovelled off the roof, assessed the situation, went for supplies, returned and repaired. Apparently the first repair was a piece of tar paper with 1x4's nailed on the edges to hold it down. Now it's done properly with shingles and everything, and the kitchen is dry, Yippy!

No More Leak!

What Was Used For The First Repair

On Wednesday, (at 7:30 in the morning) Liza and I joined the lapidary club on a rock hunting expedition. They were going out to find new rocks and stones to bring back to cut, shape, and polish.  We went out the Usery Pass Road and stopped to see a very rare "crown cactus" on the side of this highway that one of the fellows wanted us to see. Then past Saguaro Lake and on to the wash side of  Sycamore Creek where we spent 3 hours all looking for "the rock".  There were 10 of us out there, and I'm sure to the passers-by we were quite the site, hammering and picking and calling out I found a good one come look, only to be told "it's just a rock, not worth hauling back, more times than, "that's a keeper". Next week I'd like to bring Larry out to show him this area and the "crown cactus".

Liza and I left 1 1/2 hours before the others, as she was expecting a phone call, and I'm still not sure how it happened, but (I) we got lost, arriving back home 15 minutes after the others. We did see a huge fountain in the middle of nowhere that they didn't see. Turns out it's the fountain in the park in Fountain Hills that goes off every hour on the hour for 15 minutes. When I finally got home and had some water and a rest, I'll blame the whole lost thing on sun stroke and not punching the right thing in the GPS, it was, after all, 30C out there in the dessert!

Thursday I was still a little under the weather so we spent a lazy day and managed to go out for a few groceries.  Friday I felt better and loaded my rocks up and took them to the lapidary to have them looked at. The others were busy cutting and polishing so I only got started on one, will have to wash the others and go back next week. That evening after supper, I went over to play hand & foot canasta, while Larry watched TV, an old spaghetti western with Clint Eastwood. On Saturday afternoon, after we dropped Liza at the airport (she flew to Calgary for her daughter's convocation and a visit) we went and  checked out the annual "Wild West Days" in downtown Mesa, hardly anyone there, must have been the cold and the wind. When we got home we dug out the electric heater and fired up the furnace, it went down to 5C over night, nothing froze, and today it warmed up to 15C. It's supposed to be a cool week, I see some adventures in our future!

Deep Fried Corn On The Cob?

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

For not really having done anything this past week, why do we feel so tired? Oh, yeah, the heat's back, it's been hovering around 32C. At least that's all weather wise we have had to deal with! My friend has been stuck in Fort Lauderdale since "Sandy" came along, almost 2 weeks ago, because his apartment in New York city is in evacuation mode! He's flying there tomorrow and hopes be allowed in on Tuesday.

We talked to Collin last weekend and he told us the ceiling in the kitchen has started leaking again, and we thought the company we had hired fixed all this before we left. Apparently not! I spent 2 days on the phone being handed from one person to another in that damned company and was so frustrated, I finally hung up after they told me it wasn't their problem, they patched the roof, find a roofer. Well, back in August when they patched the roof they said they'd come back and do the roof in the spring because they were too busy until then. They won't even come and tarp it to stop the leak, it's not their problem, and they don't do roofs, we must of misunderstood their "roof patch" guys. REALLY!! Finally on Wednesday, after a plea on face book a friend gave us the info for a guy they use, turns out I know him and he's going over Monday 8:00 am to assess the situation. FINGERS CROSSED!

On Wednesday afternoon a 32 ft. class C motor home from Alberta backs in and out pops this tiny little woman, Liza, almost kissing the ground to be here, what an adventure she's been on! She was hit by a truck, pushing her into the meridian on the Trans-Canada in B.C., while riding her motorcycle in 2007 and with all her injuries she wasn't expected to live. After 3 years in hospitals and numerous surgeries she started rehab and what she calls her new lease on life. A year later she told her daughter she was going to travel, first on her list was to visit her high school friend in Australia, so she rented her house out to her best friend and packed her bags. After 6 months she went back to Edmonton and bought this motor home, packed it all up, bought lots of maps and in June started her one year RV adventure. She headed East through the Maritimes, including P.E.I., then down the coastline, through New York,  turning westward ending here for the Canadian Snowbird special, the one we're here enjoying, 4 months for $295.00! She'll be heading down the highway in January and we will meet up with her in January sometime when we return after Christmas. So, on future posts, if I talk about Liza you'll know who I'm talking about.

As soon as Larry had Liza's sewer, water, and electric hooked up she joined us by the pool for the Halloween pot luck party. Didn't know it was a costume thingy, luckily Larry was wearing a duct tape t-shirt that kind of looked handy-mannish, and I looked Halloweeny-Hawaiinish enough to pass for costumes. Pot-lucks are always the best and this was no exception. I tried a new pasta salad recipe I found on line and served it in a Halloween candy pail we picked up the day before. There was so much food, salads, and desserts, everyone had plenty to eat, and the wine and beer supplied by Cal-Am flowed pretty good, too!

On Thursday, after a much needed sleep- in from the night before, we popped in to the Holiday Rambler dealership to price out a few things we need for our motor home, then to Camping World to discuss the repairs Liza needs done to hers. She now has her motor home booked in for a page of warranty work to be done and they will hopefully have all the parts. She'll drop it off next Saturday and we'll take her to the airport, where she'll catch her flight to Calgary for her daughter's convocation and a visit. We're all hoping all the work is done and it will be ready when she gets back 2 weeks later! I found an awesome little fan for my night stand while at Camping World and then we were off to Walmart for our other purchases and home for supper.

On Saturday Larry went to play pool in the billiard room and I joined in a game of 65 in the games room. Today was 35C and too hot to do much of anything. This week is supposed to be 32C all week, another week of doing nothing?, next week the temperatures are to cool down to highs of 28, I see exploring, WOOT! WOOT!  and that folks, was our week, how was yours?