Sunday, March 1, 2009
Lorraine’s Report
Another week, another blog for me to write. Well, there’s not too much new here. We are still here in Yuma, AZ. The weather has been hot, into the mid 80’s during the day and probably the 50’s to 60’s at night. The first day we had to put on shorts and tank tops, we opened all the windows and turned on the fans. It was incredibly warm for us. This week it’s supposed to get into the 90’s; I find this hard to believe. This is February, and it’s still winter for most of the country. I know the folks back home had seven inches of snow and it was 30 degrees out side this week. The days here are hot and lazy.
Monday, Dave and Sandy drove over to visit us from Phoenix, AZ. We had a wonderful time; we just sat outside here with Sharon and TJ and visited. We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch; too soon it was time for them to go. We don’t know when we will see them again. They are headed to Red Bay, Alabama for work on their coach. Eventually, they will head home to Minnesota. Thank you for coming to visit, we will miss you guys.
After they dropped us home and left, Sharon and TJ and Kathy and Larry had the pegs and jokers board set up, so we played that game until dark. Thanks guys, a fun time was had by all.
Tuesday, we went to the new casino, Quechan, on the way to Mexico, with Joe and Alice and their friends. We enjoyed the buffet, really good food for a casino just opening two weeks ago. When we got home, we were invited over to Kathy and Larry’s for his very colorful campfire. He’s put copper pipe with holes in the pipe, and rubber hose. It makes the fire turn incredible colors. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but I tried.
Wednesday, we had some running to do. Then at 4pm, we met up with Joe and Alice and nine other of their friends and went back out to the Yuma lights. We brought food and had a hot dog feed, then waited for the lights. There must have been around 30 to 40 other cars full of people there to watch for the lights. One guy almost hit Alice with his car, trying to get one of the big fire circles. That night was very warm, the light breeze was warm and the stars were beautiful. The lights came out, but not as impressive as they were the first time we went this year.
Thursday, our friends, Jag and Bev from Ottawa, Canada came over to visit us before I went for my hair appointment. They had spent the winter down by Cabo San Lucas. It sounded like they had a wonderful adventure.
I made an appointment to have my hair colored. I ended up at a place called Cost Cutters. I thought it was very close to where we are parked. It turned out to be twelve miles away and I was late. But the young man said no problem, and did my hair anyway. Well, this isn’t the best color I have had, but I know it will need to be colored again in about four weeks.
When I got home Sharon had made dinner for us all. She fixed wonderful fajitas with beans and rice, and had strawberry margaritas for us to start; and I brought out the rest of the fruit salad and lemon cake I had taken to the Yuma lights. Good food, good friends, thank you Sharon. Then we all went to play pegs and jokers with a group of their friends who lived in and around the Puget Sound. There were three tables of six each. It was my first time on my own. My goodness, those guys were vicious, they ended up winning.
Friday we went back to the Swap Meet for things we decided on getting. It was very crowded when we arrived, but our car was the only one left where we parked it by 2:30.
When we got home, Sharon invited us to have dinner again with them. She had made pork steak, potatoes and carrots in her crock pot. It was delicious. Thank you again, Sharon. I told her I would cook for her on Saturday. Again we played pegs and jokers.
Saturday, I slept in; I hadn’t been sleeping very well this past week. After a lazy morning, Chuck and I decided to go to Cocopah Casino for a couple of hours. When we got home we sat out and visited with TJ and Sharon. I then went in to start dinner. We had steaks, which TJ grilled on the barbeque, thank you TJ; they were delicious, I made fried potatoes and onions and we had fresh pineapple and grapes. Dessert was fresh chocolate chip cookies.
After dinner, Chuck and I taught them to play 10,000. It’s a fast, easy game to play and most of the time doesn’t take too long, and any number can play.
So that was our week. Sharon and TJ are planning on leaving here Monday or so, they want to go visit with family and friends. We will be gone when they come back. I will miss all their company, their many kindnesses and being with good friends. Thank you again Sharon and TJ for letting us come into your lives and sharing a bit of our time with you. You guys are the best!
Till next time, I’ll see you sometime down the road……Lorraine
3/1/09
Chuck’s Report
This was a quiet week for us, one we have been looking forward to having. It is great to be retired and not have much on our schedule.
Sunday, TJ/Sharon and their neighbors, Larry/Kathy went four wheeling for a few hours. While they were gone, Lorraine prepared a dinner for all of us, pork steak in mushroom gravy, cooked in the slow cooker.
On Monday, our friends from Minnesota, Dave/Sandy, came down from Phoenix to visit for a portion of the day. They traveled over 200 miles ONE WAY to visit with us. Sandy had just returned from a quick trip to Minnesota, leaving Dave to play bachelor for a few day, all alone in their motorhome. We had a very good visit with them, went to lunch and wished them a safe travel back to their motorhome. And we were glad to hear the family and friend medical problems are looking somewhat better.
We met them about one year ago and they have become very good friends already. We don’t know when our paths will cross again but I’m sure they will. I have mentioned before how many folks we have met in the past 18 months who will become life-long friends and I count these two in that group, they are good folks. Dave/Sandy, thanks for driving over 400 miles to see us, looking forward to seeing you next time, whenever, wherever that may be.
Dave and Sandy at lunch with us, good friends. Dave has a picture in his blog of a ~2 foot rattlesnake close to their motorhome. Sandy had just walked by that area and didn’t see it,if it was there. Be careful out there guys.
There has been enough rain this winter to allow the desert to green up and start flowering. We are having warm to hot temperatures during the daytime (high 70s to high 80s). We hear it snowed again back in Bellingham, about 7” in places. Sorry to hear that but we sure like this weather.
Hard to see but there are lots of purple flowers out in the desert.
Even the cactus are blooming, this one has red flowers on the tips.
Another Arizona sunset.
Tuesday Lorraine and I met Joe/Alice at a new casino where we had a a good buffet dinner. Afterward, we were invited over to Larry/Kathy’s for a campfire. Larry put a copper pipe with a piece of garden hose in it in the fire pit, it creates lots of colors, from greens to blues. We set around and enjoyed the fire and good company with Larry/Kathy and TJ/Sharon. The following pictures don’t do the colors justice but show some color.
Wednesday afternoon we went back to see the Yuma lights once again. We met up with Joe/Alice and some of their friends. This is the third time we have traveled out to see these, the first time (last year) we were the only ones there, a week ago there was another group who came in after us but this time there were about 6 different groups, maybe 30 cars all together. We had a good time visiting, cooked hot dogs then waited for it to get dark and the light show to begin. It did get dark but the light show didn’t thrill us, we saw lights maybe three times and very faint at that. We had a good time but were really disappointed in the lack of lights this time.
Most of our group shown here, notice the two other groups in the back. Lots of folks came out this day.
Joe doing a good job as head chef on the grill. Thanks Joe, good job.
Thursday Jag/Bev, our friends from Ottawa, came over to TJ/Sharon’s lot where we are staying and we had a good visit with them. We first met them last year when they came to visit with our group at Quartzsite and again at Red Bay, Alabama. They told us about their just completed three month trip to Baja. They were with a caravan on the way down and back only, the rest of the time they were on their own. I had followed along with their blog but listening to them sure reinforced the good time they had. They are leaving here today, good travels to you and looking forward to our next visit down the road. Jag has built his own web page and has one of the better blogs with great pictures.
Jag and Bev at TJ/Sharon’s lot. They sure seem to have good adventures wherever they travel.
Lorraine had to leave while they were here because she had a hair appointment that morning. I’m sure she will give more info on that but I will say it turned out nice again. I should have taken a picture but forgot, shoot. After Lorraine got home, Sharon invited us to dinner, she had made fajitas for us.
After dinner we went to TJ/Sharon to a nearby RV park where they play Pegs and Jokers on Thursday night. There were about 18 people there so we split up into three groups of six. We had a good time playing cards with this group, they were lots of fun. Even though we are relative newbies to this game, I think we managed to play ok. One of the gals, Diana, playing was in the Hospital Auxiliary with Lorraine many years ago in Bellingham, its a small world.
Friday we headed back to the Yuma swap meet, we wanted to pick up a few things. We stopped off at the Super Wal-Mart on the way back and got a few supplies for the house too. Once again, Sharon surprised us with a good dinner. She had made pork steak, potatoes, carrots and gravy, um, um, good.
Saturday, Lorraine and I went to another local casino for a couple of hours. Lorraine was planning to cook dinner for TJ/Sharon so when we got home, she started getting things ready. Lorraine made fried potatoes, a fruit salad and fresh, hot, chocolate chip cookies for dessert Meanwhile, I pawned off the job of cooking the steaks to TJ, who did an excellent job. Once again, um, um, good. I’m watching my figure and its getting out where I can see it again. What with all this good cooking going on, I’d better start taking Misty for longer walks.
During the week we managed to get a few games of Pegs and Jokers in with TJ/Sharon. Sharon must be thinking we know what we are doing as she “hacks’ me off every chance she gets. We sure have fun with them, sometimes the laughter goes beyond the boundary of their lot. Saturday night, Lorraine wanted to play a dice game, called 10,000, with them. Sharon won the first game, the second was a “no contest” because she got 5,000 points before everyone got on the board. She was sure rolling those dice.
We got one bit of bad news this week. One of the original foreman at the refinery, Andy (Leroy) Anderson, passed away. He and his wife, Shirley, and their son Brian, who I worked with at the refinery also, have become good friends of ours. Sorry to hear about Andy’s passing, your family is in our prayers. As the old Irish saying goes, “May you be in Heaven two days before the devil knows you’ve passed”, or something like that. Bye Andy, you were one of the good ones and will be missed.
That brings us up to date for this week. a quiet week. We have had good meals, good games and good times with lots of friends, just what we wanted. We had been planning on leaving Yuma this week but Lorraine found out about an event going on here this week so we are staying for one more week, more on that during next week’s report. So until then - - - -
Thanks Chuck
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