More golf and friends

We played golf again on Thursday with Jan Holt. Sorry to say that I didn't shoot my age again. Par here is 72. Oh well 96 wasn't too bad. It was a really nice day. We didn't get started until 1;15 so the end was rushed. No too fun when you have to rush because of the dark.



Friday we met friends at Romans Oasis's for lunch. George and Mary Ann Fewel. They are from Bothell. She is one of the Bothell Housewives. They have a southern home at Pebble Creek. Pebble Creek is just north of I-10 in Goodyear, Arizona. They are about 12 miles south of us. Herb and Phillis Breightenbourn from Twin Lakes also live there. We had a good visit and a good lunch. We had to get our picture taken with Elvis.







Romans is all quality. Here are a couple pictures of their entrance.





Saturday Charlie went for a big romp in the dog park. Sue said he ran and ran. Poor puppy it must have really wiped him out. He needed a rest in the window. Sue did the laundry and we just sort of enjoyed the afternoon.







I deiced to make my famous home made Chile for dinner. We invited Jan over and also Virginia and Beau. We haven't seen Virginia and Beau for a bit. Cocktails were at 5:30. It was a nice day so we got to sit on the patio until the sun went down. We moved inside for Chile and a visit afterwords. Charlie always gets in the game too.







Today (Sunday) we went out for breakfast at the Desert Palms. We came back home and Sue left to go to Fry's (Fry's is the Arizona Fred Meyer, Kroger) to do some shopping. I chose to stay home and not get in her way shopping that is. The NASCAR race starts in a few minutes. We will have to skip back and forth between NASCAR and the hockey race between the US and Canada.

I shot my age :):)

Yep, I actually shot 2 under my age today. In golf that is. I'll explain more in a bit. In the mean time, I need to catch up on the last few of days.

The week end was laid back. We watched the NASCAR races Sunday and then went to Dan and Marys house for a bit. We were in charge of a prodject. Monday was wash day and a bit of rain. We just sort of sat around. Sue did the laundry. We went on a quest to the local Costco store which is down Bell road. Most everything is down Bell road. We got back and I went bobbing. Another day in the desert.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went to Grand Avenue and went north to a bar we saw along the road when we were going to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. It turned out to be a really nice bar. It was a little nicer than our normal "Unique " bars. It was really good. Sue had chicken and I had a small pizza. I brought half home. I just finished my pizza tonight. (Sue is with the girls tonight so Charlie and I are batching it). It was called the Trackside Bar and Grill. There was no track however. We will go back.




After we got back to Snuffy Richard came for a visit. We sat around on the patio for a while while Sue made dinner. We had steak, broccoli and potato salad. (You missed that one Kent). Richard has a new truck. Another good evening.


Also poor Charlie. Besides going to the golf park in the morning and running his legs off, he also went to Arizona Fluff and Puff. (Hair Cut) This always wears him out. Her is before and after.




Today we went to Sun Village Golf Course which is up Bell Road a bit. We golfed with a nice couple from the Tri City area. Norris and Sharron. They are renting a house there for the winter. We had a really good time with them. The course runs thru the housing community. Everything was really green. The front nine has a few traps while the back nine has a lot of water.


This is the site where I shot my age. Now any golfer knows that to shoot you age or lower is a life long accomplishment. Arnold Palmer has done this many times. It is a major accomplishment. I have however found the secrets. Arnold did it on a par 72 course most likely over 6000 yards. I proud to say I did it on golf course with par 54 and 2000 yards. All par 3s. :):):). So I really have very weak bragging rights. It was fun. We even walked.


Tomorrow we are golfing again here at Great Eagle. Sue says I have to be 83 to retire, so I guess I need and 82 tomorrow. Fat chance..........We will have fun. Hope everyone is having a great time where ever you are. Thanks for reading all this stuff. Joe and Sue.


Poor Charlie.....He has such a terrible life................

Number 200 and Friends

I just looked and this is my 200th post on this blog. It all started on our way down here in October of 2007. That was our second trip south. The blog started with Avo and Cado. It has been fun writing of our adventures complete with photos. I have all this printed out in our Condo in our north home. It is a book about an inch thick. It will be bigger after this year. I hope that everyone who looks enjoys it all. The way I see it it should make a better record than a bunch of photos in a box. I have one of those at home from my mom and dad. I wish I knew who all those people in the photos were. So if anybody has lots of time, just go to the archives on the right side panel of the blog and have at it. It's all there.

This week has been really nice down here. Mostly in the mid 70s all week. Sue played golf at Arizona Traditions on Monday and Tuesday. They practised Monday and had a ladies member/guest on Tuesday. She said she had a great time. I had an exciting time. I washed the motor home and car. And yes I bobbed in the pool. Thursday Sue went to the movie with Ellen Edwards from Twin Lakes. She and hubby Gene have a home in Sun City West.

Last night, Friday, we went over to Traditions for a steak fry with the gang from Sunland in Eastern Washington. They are a bunch of fun folks who have homes at Traditions as well in Sun Land. Sun Land is a community near the amphitheater in Eastern Washington. It's on the Colombia river. We have been to there Arizona home before. In fact I saw a picture on the my blog from a November 2007 visit. I found it when I was looking back to see how long I have been doing this blog thing.

We got there about 5:30 and enjoyed a sunset. We all sat on the patio for a while and visited. Yes it is nice enough down here to sit outside at night. Although they did have a propane overhead heater. I call them Brain Burners. They help a bit. When the sun goes down it can get cold fast.

Don and Billie

Roger and Jan

Wayne and Janet

We had a great evening. They have a nice home with a big back yard which is enclosed, which is good as they have a nice black lab named Finn. It gives him a nice place to roam. We too Charlie with us so he had a big play mate. Charlie got along good. Mostly he liked Finns toys and also his food.

We did note this morning, that it is good to let Charlie have a night life. He didn't get us out of bed until 8:30. That was great. He has been sleeping all day.

Today was a laid back day. It rained a bit so this gave us a good excuse to go to lunch and then to Costco. Always need a Costco run once in a while. Now we are home and will have dinner and then more Olympics tonight. And, Oh Yes, NASCAR tomorrow.

Yippee !!! NASCAR is back

I'm excited.... It's Daytona 500 day. Sun is out and the temps are suppose to get up to 75. And here I am sitting on my butt watching a bunch of cars turn left. What a day.

Haven't done much since we got back from Indio. I played golf Thursday with the Ranch guys. Sue golfed with some of the Twin Lake gals Friday. While she did that I bobbed at the pool. Saturday Sue wanted to go to Macy's for some makeup stuff. She was merciful on me and we were only in the store 15 minutes.

After Macy's we went across the street to the adult candy store Total Wine and Spirits. I mentioned this place last year. It is a store the size of a Safeway Super store. The only thing they carry is booze. It's quite a place. The prices are really good as well.

After shopping we stopped at Richards house. We haven't seen him in three weeks or so. He went north to sell his boat. When he came back were were headed to Las Vegas and then on to Indio. So yesterday we finally got around to celebrating our birthdays Jan 26 and also Susan, his girl friends birthday.

Richard is trying to educate the local bunny rabbits. Seems they like to eat oranges which gives them a personal problem and a clean up problem for Richard. So Richards answer is a carrot tree. He put a bunch of carrots in a tree. I'll let you know if it worked.

So here I am sitting on my butt. 1st wreck has taken out one of Sues picks and one of my picks in our NASCAR Fantasy teams for the race. Hope they get fixed and back on the track. Not sure what next week is bringing yet, but I'm sure something will pop up. I know we have to go check out hotels for Steve and Mad who are planning on coming down here the middle of March. More later.

The week in Indio

We are now back at Happy Trails. We made the trip home in about 5 hours. It's pretty much leave Indio right onto I-10 and drive 240 miles to the turn off to Surprise. We have found a nice small restaurant at exit 45 off I-10 called the Cactus Cafe. Really good food kind of in the middle of nowhere.

We had a good time in Indio even though the reason to be there was a sad one. We spent a lot of time at Elaines house. Along the way we met Kens Sisters, Ken and Elaines kids and grand kids. Some we have met before some not. There was a very nice memorial for Ken at Heritage Palms on Sunday. Dan, their Son, gave a really nice talk about his dad and mom. Their daughter had made a video of a lot of pictures of Ken and Elaines life. Kens best friend from Montana who had introduced Ken and Elaine to each other some years ago was also there. He told some funny stories about Ken. There was also a good turn out of some of the folks from Twin Lakes who were in the area. It was a good celebration with a lot of tears. Here a few pictures of the day.

Even with the sadness of the week we did find some good things to do. For breakfast there is a really good place to go called Goodies Cafe. They are just down the street from Emerald Desert. I can't believe the number of people that go thru. You walk in and order at the counter. They give you the plastic number for your table and bam. 5 or 6 minutes later you have breakfast. It's really good too and reasonable.

I was invited to play with Mark Garand (Hope I spelled that right) at Heritage Palms on Monday. He and his wife Joyce are friends of Ken and Elaine who we have met at some of the couples tournaments we have played at. They are also members at Heritage Palms. They are from Olympia. I played in his group. I think there were six or seven teams. We had a lot of fun. Our team even won and Mark got two skins and I got one. Thanks for the invite Mark. It was a fun foursome.

Our last adventure was dinner Tuesday night. Sues cousin Ray and his wife Bonny live at Shadow Hills across the freeway from Heritage Palms. We picked up Elaine and met them at The Nest Restaurant for dinner. We had a very good time. Three of them had Escargot. Not Me. The food was really good as was the company. I forgot to take pictures. Opps.....

So, it was back to Snuffy and Charlie for the night and now back here. Tharlie was exhausted as usual. I'm golfing tomorrow. I guess Donna and Dick are coming to visit and Sue is golfing Friday. All I can say is more later.

Trip info for the last couple weeks.

Home 56877, Las Vegas 57143, Home 57407.. Trip 530

Indion 57661, Home 57912. Trip 505. Total 1035

Indio and Emerald Desert RV Resort

We arrived here on Wednesday after a 250 mile drive from Surprise. We have stayed at this park (Emerald Desert) a few times in the past. It is very nice with good space for the RV. There is grass between the spaces. It use to be a lot bigger, but five or six years back they sold off about 2/3 of the place for housing. At one time it has a 9 hole golf course around the whole place.

They still have a couple holes and a putting green.

There is a big community center with banquet room. There is also a exercise room with lots of machines. Big pool with a large hot tub. It changed hands this past year and now the rates have gone up a bit. There are quite a few people who spend the winter here. I Think it cost somewhere around $1200 to $1500 a month to park

There are three dog runs. Charlie gets to run his little legs off. He is getting lots of exercise.

Yesterday we went to COD (College of the Desert) It is a college during the week and a flea market on the weekends. The weather was a bit bum so it was not as large as we have seen it in the past. Not really a place for for guys. Mostly all girl things. We walked around for about an hour and a half. I was disappointed in that they didn't have the beer garden this year. Maybe next time.

Another thing. The first time we stayed here about four years ago, we were walking down the road and say a sign on a motor home that said Larry and Toni Stevens, Shelton, Washington. I stopped and asked and found a that we were related. If I get this right I think its that Larrys grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. Anyway they are here again. We haven't gotten much time to chat yet as we are all going in different directions.

Today, Sunday, is Kens Memorial at Heritage Palms. After words we will go to their house with the family and watch the Super Bowl. Ken would approve. I'm playing golf there tomorrow. We head back to Surprise on Wednesday. Should be seeing Cuz (Ray and Bonnie) on Monday.

Catching Up.

Lets see, last I left you were were in Las Vegas. After Donnas birthday. Saturday morning we got up and just sort of relaxed and hung out until noon or so. We then went back to the Rio Hotel, the scene of the night before, for lunch and to cash in the tickets from our gambling. While were there we had lunch at Mc Faddens. We spit a club sandwich. It was very good. Splitting orders is good down here because the size of the orders are so large.

After lunch we went back to Caesars Palace to meet Sharon and Mary. We had a drink in the bar while I went and put a couple bets on the NASCAR weekend at Datona. The 500 and the Bud Shoot as well as a season bet. Sue always picks Kasey Khane, so I hope he does well. I picked others. That done we went to the slots. Sue, Sharon and Mary were moving around. I just sort of sat at a Texas Tee machine. I loved it. 9 lines at a penny a shot. I sat there for a couple hours and had a couple free drinks only lost 8 bucks. .

For dinner we went to Trevi restaurant in the Forum. We have been there before as , you know me it was and Italian restaurant. The food is very good. The Forum is a huge building which has a painted celling to make it look like you are in the outdoors. The place even gets dark as you move into the evening. Thank you Sharon for the dinner.

We came back to the motor home and got ready for the trip back to Happy Trails in the morning. It is about 260 miles with a hour time change between Pacific and Mountain. We got back to Happy Trails about 3;00 PM. That gave us time to settle in before we went to Kent and Caroline Nelsons for dinner. There were a bunch of Lakers (My new name for the Twin Lake bunch) celebrating the arrival was Janet Olson. Dinner was great again. Thanks Kent and Carolin you guys are such good Hosts.

Monday was catchup day. Sue did the laundry while I ran some errands. I got to go bobbing with the folks at the pool. Later in the day we went for a drink at the Gleasons with Mary and the moved on the John and Linda Wards place for Chili. Another Laker gathering. they had been golfing that day. This you will see leads to the nest portion of this blog. Thanks Johns and Linda for the company and dinner. Opps I forgot the camera. That's probably good as this post is getting longer all the time. :))

Tuesday was golf day with Janet. OK - At this point I need to explain. It seems that when John, Linda and Janet were golfing a day or two ago. I don't have all the details, but somehow they picked up a guy named Robert Marcus in their round. I guess they had a good time so Janet invited him to be her $10 dollar rent a date for golf with us today. We all met up this morning and went to Estrella Mountain Muni in Goodyear. This is a place we have played and passed a lot, because it is really close to one of our favorite places PIR (Remember the race track). So, we played golf. It was a really fun round of golf. Robert turned out to be a really nice guy from Chicago. He comes to town abut once a month to visit his parents who live in Sun City Grand.

After the golf we went to our favorite local bar. Remember Romas Oasis our favorite distinguished bar. That's why we chose the golf course because it close to Romans. We had a great time. We could not eat so we just had a drink and visited. Another of the reasons we went there was because of the shuffle board table There was a couple playing so Robert challenged the board against Vickie and Gary. They are from the area and turned out to be a lot of fun. They beat Robert and Janet. sue and I made a good stand but lost as well. We traded numbers with Vicki so we hope to get together with them again. (I got an e-mail today)

As I have noted before Romans is a unique place. Vicki took us back into the kitchen where, believe it or not there is a tree growing thru the floor and out the roof. There is also a telephone pole in the corner between the bar and the kitchen. That's the tree right behind me. Also while were were there Elvis came in so I got a picture of the girls and Elvis. I still don't know why Herb B. doesn't come here. I told Elvis he was a fan.

Now a bit about Robert. Seems he owns a bar in Chicago. It is called The Beer Bistro. Click on that link for a view of his place. He said that they are in the neighbor hood of the Ophra Wimphry studios. A lot of the production staff come in for lunch. He moved to Chicago after living in Los Angles for some time. He was really a fun person. As I mentioned he says he comes here about once a month to visit his family. We gave him our number and hope we hear from him his next time in town. We had a drink home to visit Charlie and then went to dinner at the Rio Mirage Mexicans restaurant. Sue and I have been to the one close to us, but Robert suggested the original one a little further away. Boy did they have a big Margarita. Look at that glass by my hand.

After all this everybody went their way, except when we got home Sue said opps. My Cell Phone. It was still at the restaurant. I chased that down and now we are settling in for sleep. Its been a long day. Even Charlie was tired. He had to get a little nose.


Sorry its been so long getting this on line. And sorry about the length. We are currently in Indio, California to visit Elaine Bailey and be here for Kens Memorial on Sunday. We are spending a week. I'll put some stuff about this place later.