Settling In

We are getting settled in after the holiday season. Yesterday we went to Goodyear and took care of the repair bill for the roof. Looks like they did a very good job. It was nice they picked the motor home up and brought it back. I just had to do the normal set up. As they are in Goodyear we got to have lunch at Roman's Oasis again. I got my order right this time and had a patty meld. It was really good as were the french fries. I have been telling Herb Brightenborn that he should go there for lunch with us. He said he had been there and its a dive. He is really right, but Sue and I like these places. We are planning on bringing Janet Olson there when she is down here. They have shuffle board. I'm surprised at Herb though as Elvis is in the corner.


We got back in the middle of the afternoon. I got here in time to go bobbing. Bummer the pool is under repair and there were no bobbers. So it was home and cocktail hour. We went for a bit of a walk with Charlie about the time the sun went down. It was a nice sunset.



After our walk we came back and had dinner. Sue cooked hamburger steak with vegis. Good.....It's simpler down here. We just sort of hang out and have a good time. Here be the cookie...



Like I said we just kind of hang out. Today after our 1 mile dog walk we went to lunch at the Great Eagle Golf course restaurant. It just reopened. We were glad to have them reopen as last year we ate there a lot. They had good food at a good price. Sue had a really good hamburger and I soup and a grilled cheese. Two beers $15.50. On the way back we stooped at the town center in the lending library for some new books. We picked up a puzzle as well. Now the kitchen table is full of little pieces of cardboard. Unfortunately Charlie found one piece on the floor, so now there will be one piece short.


And there is also the computer and Solitaire.

Tomorrow, New years will be another day. It is also our anniversary. As I type this I just realized that I have goofed up. I didn't get a card for Mrs Stevens. I will have to try and sneak out in the morning. She will never know, except she usually edits my posts, so I'll tell her not to read this part. Maybe I can use the excuse that we aren't celebrating our anniversary until later. I can't talk about that either. I'm in trouble what ever I do. Anyway we will be spending New Years with the southern Twin Lakes bunch. Nelsons are host. We will see Gleasons, Machados, Wards and Us. Happy New Year every body.

Back to the Valley of the Sun (With some clouds)

Yep, We are back in the Valley of the Sun. That's what they call the Pheonix area. We got in yesterday to temps of about 65. It is suppose to get up to the low 70s for the new year. This time of year it does get cold at night, but it warms up to 55 or so by mid morning. When we left Seattle it looked like it was going to be a nice day. The pilot drooped a wing just as we went past Lake Tapps. Got a good picture. Monica and Kelsey must be out there to the right.


The flight down was smooth. We watched as Charlie in his jail went up the ramp into the cargo compartment. He made the trip just fine. Was he excited to get out of jail in the terminal. We have been using a guy named Jack for transport back and forth to the airport. Dan and Mary Gleason recommended him. He is quite a charterer. He has about 9 drivers that work for him. Most all of them are retired Doctors, CEOs and that sort of thing. The other passenger (lady) asked why the worked if they retired at that level. His answer was to get out of the house. At any rate he filled us in on all the history of the area on the way back. We would recommend him to anyone. $90 round trip and we are about 45 miles from the airport. He picks you up right at baggage claim. Just call him on the phone. As I said be for Charlie traveled well, but he did look like he had an attitude.

We have been eating through the holidays with a lot of good food, Sunday evening we were at Jim and June Kovals for their annual Christmas party. June does such a great job of cooking all kinds of stuff. Everything from meat to seafood. She made Clam chowder this year. It was great. I even told her that it was better than mine, because it was and mine is good. Got to see all our friends before we left. Thank you June and Jim.

With all the good food and treats Sue and I were in need of some just plain comfort food, so we went to BJ's. That's the place we like down her that is in Sun City Grand. They have a great breakfast buffet there. Sue had Chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. I had spaghetti and salad. Couple glasses of wine and then we went home and sat back for the night.

Today is a trip to Roman's Oasis for lunch and go to the motor home fix it place and sign the check for the repairs to Snuffy while were were gone. Looks like they did a good job. Then I get to go bobbing in the pool this afternoon. So far it looks like Happy Trails is about as full as when we left. I expect a mass arrival after the New Year. So for now. Bye from Arizona. Below is a little movie I took as we took off in the plane.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Sue, Joe and Mr Green Eyes, Charlie

It's been a Merry Christmas for all. We had a good Christmas Eve with all the family. Here is some of the Christmas Cheer.

Kristy, Monica and Trish

The Lobster Tails. I didn't take a picture of the16 lb Prime Rib

The Whole Gang

Kelsey made breakfast fruit salad



And as always Charlie had a good time.

Now it is a few more parties thru the weekend and Monday we are on our way back to the warmth of the South. Our plane leaves at 10:10 Monday. Happy New Year to everyone.

First Family Christmas Party

Tis the Christmas seasons. I finally get to enjoy the holidays. I had to work for the last two weeks. Uchhhhhh!!!!!! Not use to that stuff. Anyway, I get to go back to relaxing now. Sue has been running around to lots of places. Exercise class, Golf parties, Friends for lunch and all kinds of other stuff, while I worked. We had a big party at Bob and Sharon's house Saturday night. They were great hosts. Lots of people there from the Golf community. I didn't get any pictures.

Sunday was the first of our Christmas get together. Sues brother Mike and his two kids Mikey (MJ) and Taylor (HB), Monica and Kelsey were all here. Of course so was Charlie. We all had a good visit. Cooked some on my lasagna for dinner. The deliveries from the race track are now complete. Kelsey, Taylor and Mikey all got their Kasey Khane Hats with the autographs that Sue stalked Kasey for in Phoenix.

No 1 grand daughter Kelsey

Mikey, Mike, Taylor and Monica

Kelsey and Monica

Taylor and Kelsey with Charlie

After the party it was rest time. Charlie had a long day. Besides the party he had a hair cut in the morning so he was sort of tired last night. Now we get to get ready for the big Christmas Eve celebration. Tony and Kristy, Jeannie, Monica and Kelsey and Jeff and Trish will all be here for the Prime rib and Lobster. I'll try and get another post for Christmas as we will be heading back to the sunshine in Surprise on the 28th. Only bummer is they are showing some rain when we get back. Rain is bad but the temperature will still be in the60s. So for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone from Joe, Sue and Charlie.

Brrrrrrrr !!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we are back in the Pacific Northwest. Or should I say we are back in a deep freeze. It hasn't been above freezing for the last two days. The worst part is I have had to work. The white stuff on the green behind the house is by now permafrost. Suppose to get warmer over the weekend. Please NO snow.




Was interesting last night we were watching the Jay Leno show when he got Arsenio Hall on for one of his little special things. This one was with NASCAR. He did a routine where he interviewed a couple drivers, fans and such. The funny part was when Sue and I were in the garage area stalking Kasey Khane, we saw this guy interviewing people. I took the picture below. We watched him talk to a bunch of people. We stood there for 10 minutes of so watching the interview. We didn't even recognise Arsenio, but I got his picture. I posted this before be cause of Ryan Newman.

Well, its back to work for me. I'll try and get some more stuff on the blog when I get time.

Back home to Indina, Opps Washington

I don't know what the weather is in Indiana, but it is suppose to be COLD in Seattle. Charlie knows something is going to happen.He got a bath today. I put his cage together today with the bolts that Alaska Air says we need to keep the cage together. This will be his jail for tomorrow. Just a picture of a balloon cruising down the valley.

Dinner last night at Richards was good. He is a really good cook. Met friends Neil and Judy as well. It was a nice evening. Charlie loves Richard.

Today we started to get ready to head north. Like I said I put the Jail together. We got out the suit case and laptop carrier. Really there is not much to do. Most will be done in the morning. The RV roof repair folks will be here at 11:00 and we will be on our way to the airport at 11:30. We should be in Seattle around 5pm and home by about 6:30. Freezing for sure. Charlie is concerned.

Ralph and Margie arrived at Kent an Carolyn this afternoon from Sedona. They all came over here for a visit and and drink or to and then we all went to Kent and Carolyn's for dinner. Thanks again Kent and Carolyn. Everybody is going some place or another for Christmas and we will all be back here for the New Year.

So we will be back to Twin Lakes tomorrow. Somebody turn up the heat please!!!!!.

We found another one !!!! and other stuff

Time to catch up. Thursday we played golf. The course here is Great Eagle. It is a decent 18 holes. Not as fancy as some of the places around here, but the price is right. We bought a card that lets us play anytime for $25 bucks. With the cost of the card. It comes out to be around $31.00/round. Includes cart. That's good because they want anywhere form $29 to $44per round now and it goes up in January. We timed it just right and teed off at 11am. We caught the afternoon sun. We played OK.

We finished around 3:30. We had called Richard to come over for dinner. I stopped at Sams Club and got some wine. He was here when I got back. We had a good visit over cocktails. I had picked up a Papa Murphy's Pizza while out, so that was dinner. We introduced Richard by phone to our friend Jean in Enumclaw. It was a fun evening. Charlie and Richard are buddies.

So Friday we decided to go out for lunch. Now I know lots of you know Sue and I like to find, what we call, "Distinctive Bars". Well we did it again. For the last Four years when we have driving to the NASCAR race at PIR we driven past this place in Goodyear called "Roman's Oasis". It has really looked like our kind of place. We have talked about stopping in there for a long time. Well we finally did. It is a really big place. The main bar had TV from the horse race tracks in California. People were betting in the back room. Off track betting. In the middle was a shuffle board. Reminded us of the Red Lantern at Copalis BEach on the ocean. Janet and Glen should remember that one. If they had been here we could have had the rubber match.

The back room had all kinds of stuff. This place is kind of NASCAR related. So in the back they had all kinds of NASCAR stuff. A Dale Earnhardt #3 collection, lots of car hoods, dance floor, big screen TV and another bar. Another room had a band stand with a third bar. Kind of looks like this place can really get hopping. It was really cool. Sue had a Tuna Sandwich and I had a Chef's salad. We both had two beers. The bill was $18 bucks. Next time we go back we will take friends.

After our afternoon adventure we stopped at Walgreen's and bought Charlie a birthday present. Saturday the 5th is his 2nd birthday. When we got back and I went bobbing at the pool. I took the car because it has gotten a bit chilly down here. We have been use to the 80's and now its in the low 60's. I barbecued some Brocks on the grill, but we ate inside.

When we got up this morning it was 44 outside. Now I know that is a lot warmer than we will get next week when we get home for Christmas. We had to bundle up this morning for the Charlie walk.

After our walk we celebrated Charlies birthday. We taped a bow on him and gave him a new green toy. We tried to get him to pose for pictures. He liked his toy, but I don't think it will last too long. He has already started to chew some of the arms off. We'll see how long it lasts.

As we are going over to Richards for dinner tonight, Sue is making another Key Lime Pie. They are ummie. I got to squeeze the limes. I was worried about the plastic squeezer and I was right. I broke it as squeezed the last lime. Now we need to go to Bed Bath and Beyond and get a good metal one like Jeanne next door has. That should be a good quest to take up a day. After pie, Sue is going to do laundry while I go to the store. She needs to make potato salad to take to the Nelsons tomorrow night. Ralph and Margie will be arriving at their place around 2pm from Sedona. They all are coming over here for a visit and then we are going over there for dinner. Sue asked what we could bring and Carolyn said "what do you think" Kent loves Sue's potato salad.

Tomorrow besides company and dinner will be getting ready to fly home. We have been to the Vet for Charlie. We have his comfort pills. We need to get our stuff ready. The air porter picks up at 11:30 am. The motor home leaves shortly there after for a roof repair. Hope they keep it plugged in for the refrigerator. I'll try and post what I can while home, but I'm going to be very busy thanks to Boats U. S. Not use to work after being gone for so long. But the work just might allow us to stay here until the end of March instead of February. See you all soon.

More blogS

Jeff sent me a note today wanting to know what was up. He said I had not posted anything since Thanksgiving. He was right. I didn't get Thanksgiving up until Sunday, so I'm not really that late. Actually Saturday was a big day. We got up and read the paper and then went out to lunch. We stopped at the 99 cent store and then came back home. I went bobbing and we had dinner. Sunday we went out for breakfast and stopped at the grocery store. Came home and got rained on. It was a big storm that sort of blew thru. First rain we have had since we got here. The area needs the rain.

So as you can see it was a really busy weekend. Now Monday was bigger. As we are getting ready to return to the Pacific Northwest, we had to take Charlie to a Vet to get his traveling papers. Need to prove to the airline that the dog is healthy. Wounder why they don't do that to the humans. Charlie is healthy and has some pills to make him more comfortable. That all took up the morning. We were exhausted so we came home, we went bobbing and then had dinner.

Today was more exciting. Our friends from Twin Lakes, Ralph and Margie Winters are staying in Sedona which is about 120 miles north of where we are. So we met them for lunch today. We picked a place in Rock Springs called the Rock Springs Cafe and Saloon. This was recommended by the bobbers. Remember those are the folks that show up every day and chat. They have all been here for a while and if you need to know anything, they have an answer. Took them a while to remember the exact names but that happens to a lot of us. End result was a good experience at the Rock Springs Cafe. Was really good to see Ralph and Margie.

After lunch we headed back down south and stopped at Richards house. We had Charlie along for the ride. Richard has a very nice house that he has updated very well. It's for sale for$160,000. 1400 feet, 2 bedroom, new marble counters in kitchen, big fenced back yard a really nice place. Charlie had a ball running around everywhere. We had a good visit and came home.

Back at home we are watching the Biggest Looser. Charlie has had it and gone to bed. Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Sue said Full, I said Burp

Thanks giving day was hosted by our friends Kent and Carolyn Nelson from Twin Lakes. They have a beautiful home in Sun City Grand. Their patio is very large with some being covered ad some not. Their view is of one of the greens on the golf course. They are just past enough to not get any errant golf balls. Carolyn cooked two turkeys. One Wednesday for left overs and one Thursday for dinner. Here is before and after.








They had a house full. 22 in all as I recall. We all did the usual Thanksgiving stuff. Visited had a drink or two and then dove in to the turkey.

After dinner the clean up crew kicked in to do the dishes. We all rested for a bit and then went for the pie. I think there were about five of them. I got a picture of Kent taking a picture of me. Mary had me take a picture of here and her son with his girl friend. It was a fun day and we thank Kent and Carolyn for their hospitality.

Friday morning found me on the golf course with Kent, his son and Dan Gleason. We played One of the four courses that Sun City Grand has. We played the Granite North. They all did pretty good I was my normal bad self. It was a fun day. the weather was perfect just about 80. The course is beautiful.

Well we finally have it. We have been working on a deal to rent a golf car for a second mode of local transportation. My friend Richards ex wife lives here at Happy Trails and has a golf cart she doesn't use. It took a few repairs to get it going but now it's here. Now this thing is really old. I goes OK but not very fast. I dubbed it "Speedy" It does its job. Takes us to town center and the pools. I have our Noodles on board now.

After we went bobbing yesterday we just sat on the patio and watch the TV while we chatted. That's one of the nice things about being down here. You can spend so much time outside. Charlie likes it outside a lot. He does a good job of staying on the patio without his leash. He gets a bit dirty from the dust. I have to wash off the patio every so often. One thing Charlie has mastered is begging. Hope everyone had a great turkey day.